Hot Air Balloon Ride Over Napa Valley

What a wonderful adventure!

Ginger: The Miracle Root

Today I had a horrible migraine. It was so horrible I could barely keep my eyes open from the pain. I tried pain killers, rest, tea... you name it, to get the migraine to go away. Ginger was the only thing that worked. That right, Ginger is the cure for migraines. Just slice some fresh ginger root and place it on your forehead/around where it hurts, and after a while the pain will subside... and with the left over ginger you can make yourself a nice cup of tea.

23 and Me

This afternoon, after coming home from work, I spat into a test tube. I spat in the name of science. I spat because I want to know about my ancestry, and if I have genes that might be prone the development of cancer. I spat for at least two full minutes to fill that test tube with my lovely and mysterious DNA.

23 and Me is a company that will take your saliva and map your DNA to the best of current scientific abilities. Then, they will give you a full report. (Here is their website: 23 AND ME.) You can find long lost cousins though their website, discover your genetic heritage, and also do a couple of silly things like confirm what kind of ear wax you are pre-disposed to generate. There was a discount on "DNA DAY", which is why Alan and I could afford to try it. I can't wait to see the results!

What I find truly amazing is that 23 and Me might even be able to tell me, if my husband and I were to have babies, what kind of genetic predispositions our children might have. Isn't that cool?

I am really eager to see the results of my genetic mappings, but I am also kind of wary. What would happen if my genetic information were to leak to unscrupulous sources? Can I really trust 23 and Me to keep my DNA anonymous and safe? What if they were hacked? I can't even begin to fathom the consequences. On the other hand, I don't think that my genes hold the power of ever-lasting-youth, or the cure for AIDS, so probably nobody will care about what my DNA has to say except for me.

But you never know....

Cheez- IT

It is about the time world new about my long-time love affair. That is right. I am having a love affaire, with Cheez-Its.  Cheez-Its are everything you could ever desire from a cracker. They are salty, baked to perfection and bite-sized. Additionally, they are independently delicious. There is no need to add cheese -or anything else for that matter- on top of this cracker; the cheese is already included. Have you ever met a cracker so convenient? They satisfy me in a way no other cracker can. They are delicious. Simply delicious, in a comfort-food kind of way. I could eat a whole box in one sitting and, in fact, I have on several occasions.

My favorite Cheez-Its are the "Reduced Fat" ones. You would think that "reduced fat" means reduced favor, but after many tastings I have concluded that the "reduced fat" actually taste better, and they leave less grease on your hands than the regular variety. This makes them the perfect snack for satisfying your hunger and in-between meal munchies. They are great for watching movies, and they are great at parties. They are great at picnics and they are great just as a treat to yourself.  Is there anything this cracker isn't great for? I think not! In conclusion, Cheez-Its are the perfect cracker and I love them with all my taste-buds.

San Francisco Flower Expo

There were lots of flowers...

Persian New Year

Fire Jumping: Make it ROAR!, originally uploaded by A Morld of Wonder.

Fire Jumping: Make it ROAR!

Persian New Year

IMG_3888, originally uploaded by A Morld of Wonder.

Fire Jumping.

Dear Blog Readers,

This year I am helping save lives from cancer by taking part in the American Cancer Society Relay For Life in my community, and I’m hoping you will support me.

Each of us has our own reasons for caring about the fight against cancer … whatever your reasons, I hope you’ll choose to make a difference by making a donation online to support my efforts. I’m so grateful to have great people like you in my life who want to see an end to cancer in our lifetime. Together we can save lives!

Click Here to Donate

As a donor to the American Cancer Society you can provide support to cancer patients and their families in the community. With your gift, the Society will be able to offer a broad range of essential programs and services at no cost to the recipient, such as:

• Your $75 helps fund Gift Coupons for our “tlc” product catalog provide women battling cancer with a wig or other personal care item.
• Your $100 helps fund eight round trips to and from cancer-related appointments for patients in need.
• Cancer patients sometimes need to travel long distances and stay away from home for long periods of time at their treatment location. Your $500 helps fund seven nights of lodging near the patient’s treatment center.

Thank you, and I will keep you updated on my progress.

(PS You can learn more about Relay For Life here.)

Born in the USA

I recently did a research project and presentation about pregnancy and infant mortality in the USA. Here are some of the key findings:

- The USA has some of the worst infant mortality rates when compared with most other industrialized, first world countries. The USA is currently in 30th place in international rankings, with 6.9 deaths per thousand live births.

- If you are African American, you are about 50% more likely than a white person to have a premature birth.

- According to the last census, 12.4% of all children born in the US are born prematurely. On average, more than 900 late preterm babies are born every day in the USA.

- The USA does not utilize midwives; there is a lack professionals trained to assist normal, natural births in our health care system.

- There are approximately one million children born each year to mothers who receive little or no prenatal care. (Approx. 23% of all births in a year.)

- Approximately 13% of pregnant women have no health insurance when they become pregnant. 

- Maternal death rates int eh US are abominable! Times article here. 

What an embarrassment to our country!

It's coming! It's Coming to America!!

After years of being a success in Europe, the Fiat 500 is finally coming to America. This car has replaced my dream of owning the mazda miata MX-5 hardtop convertible. A) Because it is projected to be a cheaper car than the MX-5, which means I might actually be able to afford it one day. B) Because it gets better fuel economy. C) Because it is Italian and sassy. The Fiat 500 is going to be a cute, small, well designed, fun car to drive. It has even inspired me to learn how to drive a stick shift.  The first Fiat 500 model is projected to be available in the US by the end of this year.

For the last couple of days I have been following this guy's blog, called Fiat 500 USA. The blog has all sorts of cool information about my future car.

Cupcake vs. Cake

Vanilla-cinnamon cupcakes with chocolate ganache frosting.

I know people who are really huge cupcake fans. They will go out of their way to obtain a cupcake. They will pay lots of money for designer cupcakes at expensive fufu-cupcake stores. I can appreciate their enthusiasm for I too believe that a good cupcake can be glorious. I also enjoy making cupcakes. However, I prefer cake. I will always choose having a cake over a cupcake. I prefer the visual impact of a large, full-fledged, layered cake, and the lack of portion control. When it comes to a good cake, bigger IS better.

Great News!

I don't like talking about major life events while said events are still in process and are not yet a done deal. Call me crazy, but I don't want my plans to be jinxed. And, I don't want to have to give long explanations to everybody if my awesome plans do not work out quite as well as I want them to, which is often the case. That is why I have not mentioned my new, awesome, amazing, super cool job until now. I started working recently and it is time you knew, blog folk, that I have a new job and I am super happy. I am especially happy about my commute, which is a grand total of 13 minutes. 13 MINUTES! It doesn't get much better than that in the bay area, especially if you consider peak traffic times. According to Payscale, people in the bay area usually commute around 25 minutes to get to work.

I really do believe there is an inverse relationship between time spent in the car commuting and quality of life, where your quality of life increases as  your commute-time (and thus time spent in traffic jams) decreases. My old work commute was well over half an hour; my new job is a major improvement in that area. Yay!

Jeopardy

Category: Crazy Culture

For 1000 points: "Dude, don't put your beef on my chicken!"

Answer: What is, things overheard at a Korean B.B.Q. restaurant, in California.