Summer Corn

This summer, corn is being sold in a California major grocery store in the price of 8 ears for $2. Or even 6 ears for $1. Even though over 80% of the corn in the world are genetically modified in some way, we still celebrate our cool and cloudy summer by eating the juicy and sweet corn on the cob.

Most people don't know how to choose corn without husking them. Jack thinks he is an expert, and I would say his "error" is 1 out of 8, which is not bad.

Here are 2 ears of corn we ate in a random summer night. Both of them are tasty.

Barbies and Kens

Back in college days, my first physics lab partner was a smart guy and has an interesting character. I'll call him Mr. H. At the time I met him, he already had an Associate Degree in Electrical Engineering from Hong Kong and worked in HK for a few years, which, to a simple college girl who was still trying to wrap her head around science and her own future, was a big deal. He went to university after migrating to San Francisco so that he could earn a BS degree in EE to get a better job.

Mr. H was honest and he spoke bluntly. I find it easy to be around people like this as it is easy to understand what's in their minds, and I can trust them. At that time I was still a pre-med student, but it was getting difficult for me to enroll in pre-med classes, because of the high demand, so I was contemplating to switch to EE or Computer Science (CS) major. Yeah, I had to pick one of the most difficult majors to study just for the sake of it. It turned out to be both good and bad depending on different perspectives.

One time Mr. H and I had lunch together, and we were talking about my major. He said something like this: "Well, people like us, not beautiful to be movie stars, we can't make money with our looks, so we have to work hard in school to get an engineering degree and have a chance to get a technical job to make a living." I thought to myself, "Well, thank you for your honesty Mr. H,"and quietly accepted his advice.

These days when I watch CNN, I look at the anchors and news reporters, Barbies and Kens, I call them. You can't get a job at a major news network and be on TV if you are not good looking. I think about fairness, but then I know that the universe eventually will balance things out one way or another.

When you feel weak, surrender

When you feel strong, do seva (volunteering).

This is a quote from Guruji Sri Sri Ravi Shankar of the Art of Living foundation.

Last week I watched the tearful 28 years old Winbolden champion, Marion Bartoli, announced that she was retiring from Tennis. The reason, her body was hurting and she didn't want to play anymore. Since I had been in pain, I had an appreciation to her action, as it showed her strength to make such a life changing decision for her own well-being.

Movies we watch alone

In case you are wondering if I'm feeling better yet, I regret to say that my pinched nerve has moved from the left side of my neck to the right side since last Thursday, and the spasm is just as bad. It's like the nightmare is happening all over again. So, once again, I'm defeated and still have to continue my stretches and practice my patience. When I'm sitting down and try to do some work, my head feels like it's twice as heavy as it should be.

I just read from Dr. Timathy McCall's Yoga as Medicine, back pain will last 6 to 8 weeks, even if you don't do anything about it. I checked the calendar, and my neck pain happened at the end of July, so it makes 3 weeks now. Lovely, that means I still have half way to go. Not sure why it feels like eternity already. The good news is, this time, I had 2 massages from Jack, which were amazing, and Ibuprofen seems to be able to reduce the pain.

Yesterday I got home early from walking the dogs, and I watched Legally Blond. This is a feel-good movie for me, which I will not watch with Jack, as there is too much pink for him. So that got me thinking. What are the movies I watch when Jack is not around and vice versa?

Here are some examples:
Movies Jack watches when I'm not at home:

• Avatar
• Hunger games along with all its future sequels 
• Transformer series
• GI Joe
• Dune series
• Animatrix
• Movies with Vin Diesel 

Movies I watch when Jack's not at home:

• Legally Blond
• Down with Love
• As good as it gets
• There is something about Mary

A Costco receipt

The other night I picked up a receipt in the bathroom, and I took a look.

"Hmm.. When did we buy BioSilk, 2 packs of chicken and 2 packs of ground beef?" I asked.

"I don't know, what's the date on it?" Jack was also puzzled.

"Oh, it's from 2007." I read.

A human head is the weight of a bowling ball

The human neck has to carry the weight of the head, and it is prone to injury, yet there are not a lot of exercises one can do to speed up the recovery or make a stronger neck.

So my suggestion? First, take care and try not to hurt you neck. If you do hurt your neck in any way, then seek medical care.

A quick update about my neck pain. I went back to work last week and it has been very busy. I worked 7 days straight, and my neck pain did not improve much. I have been just barely hanging in there. These 2 days, I could finally turn my head to the left to talk to Jack without turning my whole body. My head still slightly tilts to the right side out of pain or habit. I did receive 2 long back massages from Jack, who used to be a masseur back when he was in grad school. We still have the massage table setup in the living room in front of the big TV.

Here are the exercises I do to care for my pinched nerve in the neck these days. I wish you will find this helpful.

At first you may feel very weak and tender, so you may not be able to do the full set of exercises, but try breathing deeply to help ease the pain and to focus your energy. Do what you can, and when it hurts, stop. Use smaller range of motion until your muscles get stronger and less painful. Inhale deep into your belly and exhale from your belly when doing these exercises, the slower the breath the better. Slowness and gentleness are the keys here, because you don't want to unintentionally strain your neck or shoulders even more. If you are in a lot of pain, you should not do too much work to stress your physical body.

This set of exercises will take about 15 minutes to complete, and you should try to do it once every hour, if possible. Be patient with the exercises and with your body.

1. Gentle head rolls
Roll your head from left to forward to right, while taking a full breath each time you drop your head slightly in different position. When your head lowers straight forward, hold it there for 3 full breaths, then inhale, exhale and roll the slowly head to the right on each breath. When your head drops to the right, hold there for 3 full breaths, then slowly roll it from right to center to left, and hold on the left for at least 3 breaths. (Please do this only under the guidance of your medical care provider)

2. Turn you head from side to side
Slowly turn your head from right to left on inhale, then left to right on exhale. Repeat 3 times. Gently turn your head to the right, hold for 3 full breaths, then slowly and easily turn it to the left side and hold it for 3 breaths.

3. Shoulder shrug
Shrug your shoulders up on inhale, then lower them down on exhale, and do so slowly. Repeat 3 times.

4. Shoulder roll
Slowly and gently roll your shoulders forward taking a full breath on each shoulder roll. Roll forward for 3 times, then backwards for 3 times.

5. Modified eagle arms
Use the left hand to hold the right shoulder so that the right arm is straight across the front body. Stretch the right shoulder lightly if it feels possible. Hold this for 3 breaths, then do the other side. Repeat if it feels good.

6. Seated twist and staff pose
Sit with right leg straight in front of you, and the left leg bend and cross over the right knee, left foot on the floor and left knee up. Gently turn your body toward the left, hug you left knee with your right arm. Hold this pose and take 2 full breaths. Place both legs straight in front of you, and place your hands on each side of your body for support. Straighten your body and your legs so that your upper body and your legs are in a 90 degree angle. This is the staff pose. Hold the staff pose for 2 breaths before doing seated twist on the right side.

7. Recline knees to chest
Lie on the floor. Hold your knees to chest with your arms. Mildly move the knees around from side to side, and feel the whole spine and back slightly push towards the floor. Hold for 5 breaths, then repeat for 2 more times.

Other helpful tips:
a. Try to sit on a hard surface such as on the floor with a folded yoga blanket, or a yoga bolster with your back straight. Keeping your spine and back straight may help ease the pain on the shoulders and the neck.

b. If you are in pain, try breathing deeply, inhale into the navel center and long exhale from the navel center while meditating or chanting your favorite mantra. This is a good chance to use these methods to help you relief the pain for the moment. I used the Gayatri Mantra, which is a Hindu mantra for removing obstacles.

c. Do not sit or lie down for an extended period of time during the day. Try to walk around, such as taking a walk or do light housework to distract yourself from the pain. When you notice that your body is stiff and in pain, then start changing the position or moving around.

Walking around with an attitude

If you see me walking around with an attitude these days, that's because I have a pinched nerve on my neck.

For the longest time, perhaps since I started going to my massage therapist in HMB around 3-4 years ago, I have had a stiff neck mainly due to stress at work and sitting poor posture. Finally last Friday, I got this pain in the neck that was so bad that I couldn't turn my head to the left at all.

My neck and shoulders finally gave in and failed on me. I felt like there was a nail planted deep in my neck that was pinching me constantly. The based of my head hurt. When I move my head, I could hear and feel the internal fibers squeaking like a machine that was out of whack. My right arm and shoulder were so weak that even the simplest daily task such as brushing my teeth hurt. I tried different types of pain killer but none could relief my pain.

I felt defeated and handicapped. When I woke up in the morning, my body was so stiff I felt like I was 30 years older. Typing or reading were totally out of the question. I couldn't even sit to watch TV for more than 30 minutes without agonizing pain. So I just putzed around with my head slightly tilted to the right, and not doing much of anything all week. It was by far the most unproductive week in my adult life.

I need to take a break now, but next I will write down the exercises I have done for my pinched nerve in the neck. I believe some of these exercises should be done daily to reduce neck pain and back pain.

Stay tuned.