Never Ever Blow Your Nose
Think twice before you reach for that kleenex.
It seems like the right thing to do to blow all the mucus out of your system but researchers say that it defeats the purpose, reversing the flow of mucus back into the sinuses and slowing further drainage. Coughing and sneezing generate little or no pressure in the nasal cavities but blowing your nose creates something comparable to someone’s diastolic blood pressure and allows mucus to enter the sinuses every single time. This could also cause more viruses and bacteria to enter the sinuses and give rise to further infection.
What’s the right thing to do in the event of a runny nose? blow gently out of one nostril at a time and take decongestants. Sounds like common sense, but I doubt a lot of people even have that.
Month of Midterms
It’s that time of the quarter when I find myself sleeping late and waking up early to cram in for the next exam. It’s stressful, lots of hard work and not fun at all.
Midterms are necessary. I see the logical point to their existence. To me, they’re more of an incentive for me to keep paying attention in class every week and try not to lag behind in all my readings. Because if I fail to do so, I will definitely be in horrible shape when the quarter winds down and I find myself clueless on the final exam.
This quarter, I’ve felt relatively on top of things. I quit my job at the dining hall to devote more time to my studies. That has turned out to be the greatest decision I’ve made so far this school year. I feel more focused and refreshed. I don’t have to come back to my apartment in the middle of the night reaking of cafeteria food, dripping sweat from walking my bike up a giant hill and too tired to get any homework done.
The stress just never seems to go away. I’m doing better in class but it’s always a struggle with exams and essays piling up on top each other. My midterms just aren’t seeming to go away. As soon as I get one over with, it’s on to the next one. Right now, I’ve got three down and one to go. For now, I feel like I can take a break.
I’ll wake up tomorrow regretting it.
I can’t see without my glasses
It’s the second day in a row that I’ve gone without my contacts. I basically can’t see anything in front of me unless I have my glasses on. But then I’m embarrassed of being seen in public with spectacles on my face. I have two more pairs of contact lenses stashed somewhere in my room but I’ve started rationing them to last me until spring break. That’s why I’ve been going the route of walking blindly to and from class. It hasn’t been the most pleasant of experiences I’ve had in awhile.
I hate it when I can’t see who’s walking towards me and they happen to be my friends. Everything’s such a blur that I end up squinting at them. Whoever waves in my direction, I wave back not knowing who they really are until they are about three arm lengths away from me. They must think I’m such a jerk for ignoring them when they’re feet away and walking straight toward my direction.
With my contact lenses on, I see the world in high-def-like quality. I’ve never been able to see the stars so bright at night ever since I was a kid. I’m finally able to wave at people from a mile away and not have to sit so close to the front during lectures. It’s a wonderful feeling, as if I were normal again.
I’m still obsessed with peanut butter.
Peanut butter. I love it so much that I want to write about it AGAIN. Here’s a link to an article published in the New York Times today that delves into how the salmonella scare has affected our willingess eat that GOOD STUFF.
It’s one of the safe go-to foods you’ll find in your pantry when you’re running late for class or work. It’s always better with white bread, jelly and a cold glass of milk. You can eat it for breakfast, lunch, an afternoon snack or dinner. Simply put, you can’t go wrong with peanut butter by your side.
When I started reading all about these recalls and people telling me to stay away from peanut related products, I felt like my daily routine had been put into flux. It reminds me of a section in my Economics class in which we discussed substitute goods, complements, normal and inferior goods. We also talked about the effect that something like a recall would have on the products we consume on a daily basis. In the case of peanut butter, it’s an inferior good, which in a time of recall would lead to a decrease in quantity demanded.In other words, we’re supposed to get scared enough of getting a case of food poisoning that we just don’t want anything to do with peanut butter right now.
I know that my parents will eventually read this. I might as well tell them the truth: Well, Mom and Dad, I just want you to know that I am not eating anything with peanut butter for the time being. Please don’t worry too much. I’m doing just fine with whatever cereal is left in my kitchen. Hope you have a great day at work.
This is weird. I feel like I just gave a shout-out to my parents.
Peanut Butter Recall
I was starving after class last weekand wanted to treat myself to a Reese’s Fast Break bar. The only thing was — the cafeteria wouldn’t sell it to me. There were boxes of chocolate bars piled on top of each other, just waiting to be eaten, yet no one was allowed to buy any of them. The clerk had then told me about the recent peanut butter recall and that any packaged chocolates with peanut butter in them were no longer for sale (at least for the time being). It seems that the culprit of the recent salmonella scare traces back to the Peanut Corporation of America, which is responsible for making such products like valentine’s candy and Clif energy bars.
Despite all this, I was still craving for a Reese’s Fast Break and asked if I could just take the boxes home for free. They said no…but I thought it was worth a shot anyway. I settled for some Pop Rocks, a Crunch Bar and a Snickers Almond bar. I was more than a little hungry for a dose of junk food that time. I consume peanut butter on a daily basis, whether it be through my PBJ for breakfast or the junk food I devour at the school cafeteria.
Forgettable Superbowl Ads
Superbowl XLIII was quite forgettable up till the fourth quarter, when the frantic Arizona comeback was derailed by Santonio Holmes and the rest of the Steeler offense and defense. As for the ads, I’d have to say they were quite forgettable too.
I think that Bruce Srpingsteen stole the show with his power slide that ended with his crotch ramming straight for the camera at the edge of the stage.
I had the feeling that a lot of companies, pouring down millions of dollars into 30 second clips, played it safe this year by sticking to slapstick humor or witty one liners. I couldn’t decide on a clear cut favorite even though the majority of people commenting online seem to gravitate towards the Doritos commercial with the crystal ball or the cash4gold ads with MC Hammer and Vince Mcmahon. The Sobe commercials in 3D were a little bit on the weird side for me.
The movie spots, on the other hand, had me at full attention. Our first sneak peaks at GI Joe, the Transformers sequel and the new Pixar film in 3D got the nerd in me all excited for the upcoming summer of blockbusters.
The New York Times have a great interactive feature on their website showing most of the commercials from yesterday’s game. Check it out here.
Oh, the weather outside is frightful…
I don’t remember it ever being this cold in the Bay Area. Snow in Berkeley? Since when was that even possible?
I got so used to the 50-60 degree beach weather in La Jolla that coming home to the Bay wasn’t quite the same anymore. I had to resort to buying a coat for myself since all I packed up in my suitcase were shirts and sweaters. I even got a cold when I thought I’d never get one for a long, long time. All I can do now is stay warm, stay indoors and basically resort to spending half my winter break on my couch.
First Time Voter
The excitement in the air was apparent from the amount of time it took just to get through to the polls near where where I live at UCSD. It took over half an hour in line to be able to bubble in my say for my first presidential election. I have to say that I think it was worth it. It was a good experience and I did my part as a US citizen.
I’ve been really busy with midterms these past two weeks but the buildup to the election was everywhere. There were Obama signs on almost everyone’s windows, hundreds of givewaway stickers and a cardboard cutout of Obama himself (which was quite creepy to walk by every morning) outside the apartment below me.
I didn’t want to miss my chance to be able to participate in this historic event but I should be honest in saying that I had no clue what most of the propositions were until I got my ballot and I said “No” to pretty much all of them except #2, which (I think) touched on animal cruelty.
Waiting in line for over half an hour caused me to be late for work but it turned out to be the best excuse anyone could ever give their boss. I had my “I voted ” sticker to prove for it too.
Lazy Saturday Afternoon
It’s already 5PM and I haven’t gotten any work done. So much for my plan to manage time wisely this weekend and get all my homework over with for Monday. It looks as if procrastination is once again catching up to me and biting me in the butt.
In a few hours I know I’ll be finding myself out of my room and without any kind of textbook in hand. All I’ve pretty much done so far today was do my laundry, attend an meeting, eat a buritto and now I’m back here in front of my laptop delaying the three page Spanish essay for some other time.
I don’t even really believe myself anymore when it comes to thinking I can manage to get some work done while I still can. It’s not too late…is it? Okay — one quick Facebook check and I’m hitting the books.
Adios.
College TA’s: A Game of Russian Roulette
You’re either lucky or screwed. That’s how I see it when I show up to my discussion sections for whatever class I’m supposed to be in. Teaching assistants (TA’s) are a mixed bag of grad students and advanced undergrads who show the credentials of being more than capable of handling most questions presented to them by students and the lesson at hand. They’ve got the brains and the know how, but when it comes to explaining concepts to googly or sleepy-eyed students, that’s where the talent pool begins to falter. So far this school year, I’ve been in the category of getting screwed…pretty badly.
When I mean screwed, I mean that the TA’s for my Statistics and Calculus classes are complete bozos. I’m trying hard to learn everything but my brain’s just not soaking stuff up. I know that I should probably be asking questions on anything I don’t understand but I’m having a problem mustering up the courage to do so for fear of being humiliated. That’s exactly what happened to a (once) confident student sitting in the row in front of me last week when he attempted to voice his knowledge on the term “falsifiability” in relation to constructing good hypotheses. The ignorant fool that calls himself a TA simply refuted everything he said and the student’s ears were glowing red for the remainder of the discussion.
Excellent TA’s I’ve had in the past have the talent to make things interesting no matter how bland the topic might be. They engage students into the discussion and are open to various opinions. They never put people down.
Recent Comments
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