Monday, June 26, 2006

Wimbledon




It's Wimbledon time again! The magic of grass court tennis where the players serve and volley. What a beautiful game to watch (and play if your knees permit). Unfortunately, the weather in England has other plans of its own. It seems bent on raining over the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club this week. The opening match between Paradorn and Calleri was stopped midway in the first set due to rain. What a bummer!

But the good thing about the live telecast for the Wimbledon is that you get to see all the great games of the past while waiting for the rain to stop. Looking at the attire and the hair styles of the players in the 60s and the 70s is nostalgic. Even the small racquets we all used during that time. How could the the pros hit the ball at the sweet spot most of the time? Fantastic players.


'Moi" in the 70s!
Nowadays the racquets are large and the frames very light. The shorts are not shorts anymore. Look at Nadal. I don't know what he is wearing but he is a top class player. Sharapova dresses like she is in the bedroom getting ready to go to sleep! I guess we have to move with the times and that includes the way we dress. But anyway, my favourite male player to win this year's Wimbledon is Roger Federer. He stands a good chance. The female section does not have a clear leader. We just have to wait for the early rounds to be over to see who is in form.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Househusband?


As I was driving my son to school, I was listening to the car radio and the DJ threw a question to those wives who were listening. He asked them to call and tell if their husbands helped with the chores around the house.

There were many wives phoning in to tell their story. One told how her husband did the cooking. He would always make a mess of the kitchen but it was worth it as his cooking was very good. Then there was this lady who said that her husband was very understanding and would help her mop the floor. One guy even phoned in to tell that most husbands would help at home but the degree of 'help' would be different.

There was this fiery lady who called in and asked what do you mean by help? Isn't it supposed to be a partnership? Isn't the house ours and aren't we both living in it? Why is it that when he does something it is called help and when I do it, it is my job? I think the chores around the house should be the responsibility of both the husband and wife.


She sounded like my wife! I agree with her though. It not only involves both parties but includes anyone living in the same house which means the kids as well. We don't have a policy of paying our children to put out the trash or wash the car or wipe the furniture. That is part and parcel of staying in the house and enjoying all the benefits that goes with it. We have come to an understanding in which I do the things that she cannot do and she does the things that I am not 'good at'. So far it has worked fine with us. The boys have learned to do their chores without grumbling and I hope it helps with their family life in the future.

Monday, June 19, 2006

The Power of Prayer

This article appeared in Frank Kaiser's Suddenly Senior column. Should be an eye opener for many in the medical field.

THE POWER OF PRAYER IN MEDICINE
People Who Are Prayed for Fare Better By Jeanie Davis
Nov. 6, 2001 -- Here's more evidence that -- in medicine, as in all of life -- prayer seems to work in mysterious ways. In one recent study, women at an in vitro fertilization clinic had higher pregnancy rates when total strangers were praying for them. Another study finds that people undergoing risky cardiovascular surgery have fewer complications when they are the focus of prayer groups. The fertilization study -- conducted at a hospital in Seoul, Korea -- found a doubling of the pregnancy rate among women who were prayed for, says Rogerio A. Lobo, MD, chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Columbia University School of Medicine in New York City. His study appears in the September issue of the Journal of Reproductive Medicine." It's a highly-significant finding," Lobo tells WebMD. "I'm first to say we don't know what this means." The randomized study involved 199 women who were undergoing in vitro fertility treatments at a hospital in Seoul, Korea, during 1998 and 1999. All women were selected for the study based on their similar age and fertility factors, Lobo tells WebMD. Half the women were randomly assigned to have one of several Christian prayer groups in the U.S., Canada, and Australia pray for them. A photograph of each patient was given to "her" prayer group. While one set of prayer groups prayed directly for the women, a second set of prayer groups prayed for the first set, and a third group prayed for both groups. Neither the women nor their medical caregivers knew about the study -- or that anyone was praying for them. "We were very careful to control this as rigorously as we could," Lobo tells WebMD. "We deliberately set it up in an unbiased way. "That meant not informing patients they were being prayed for, so it would not influence the women's outcome. Whether the patients were praying for themselves -- or if others were praying for them -- "we don't know," he says. The women in the "prayed for" group became pregnant twice as often as the other women, he says. "We were not expecting to find a positive result," says Lobo. Researchers have re-analyzed the data several times, to detect any discrepancies -- but have been unable to find any, he says. Lobo admits there may be some "biological variable" that they have not discovered, which could account for the high success rate among the prayed-for women. He and his colleagues are already planning a follow-up study also involving in vitro fertilization.

The second study involves 150 patients -- all having serious heart problems, all scheduled for a procedure called angioplasty, in which doctors thread a catheter up into a clogged heart artery, open it up, and insert a little device called a stent to prop it open. Patients who were prayed for during their procedure had far fewer complications, reports lead author Mitchell W. Krucoff, MD, director of the Ischemia Monitoring Laboratory at Duke University Medical Center and the Durham Veterans Administration Medical Center in Durham, NC. His study appears in the current issue of the American Heart Journal. Krucoff enrolled 150 patients who were going to have the stent procedure, and then randomly assigned them to receive one of five complementary therapies: guided imagery, stress relaxation, healing touch, or intercessory 'off site' prayer -- which meant they were prayed for by others, or to no complementary therapy. All the complementary therapies -- except off-site prayer -- were performed at the patient's bedside at least one hour before the cardiac procedures.Seven prayer groups of varying denominations around the world -- Buddhists, Catholics, Moravians, Jews, fundamentalist Christians, Baptists, and the Unity School of Christianity -- prayed for specific patients during their procedures. Each prayer group was assigned names, ages, and illnesses of specific patients they were to pray for. None of the patients, family members, or staff knew who was being prayed for. None of the patient-prayer group matchings were based on denomination. "This was a very rigorously controlled study, just as we would look at any therapeutic -- a new cardiovascular drug, a new stent -- and see the results in terms of patients' outcomes," Krucoff tells WebMD. The goal was to determine which therapies warranted further study in a bigger trial. Those in the "prayed for" group had fewer complications than any of the patients, including those receiving other complementary therapies, he says. "Although it's not statistical proof, it's not certainty, it is suggestive -- to the point that we've already begun a phase II trial. "He has already enrolled more than 300 people in a phase II study.Why did prayer produce the best outcome? "There are no satisfactory mechanistic explanations," he says. That's why studies that measure patients' outcomes are best for this kind of study, he says. Even if you don't understand why it's happening, at least you have something to measure -- how the patient did. "Both studies are "well-controlled," preliminary trials "providing more evidence that there's something to it all," says Blair Justice, PhD, professor of psychology and psychobiologist (mind-body medicine) at the University of Texas School of Public Health in Houston.Justice, who has followed prayer research for several decades, reviewed the reports for WebMD. "Research into prayer has been going on a lot longer than is reflected in mainstream journals," Justice tells WebMD. "Since the 1980s, there have been several well-controlled prospective studies, good evidence that this wasn't some product of a good imagination. "Some of the studies conducted in Europe involved nonhuman organisms -- enzyme cells, bacteria, plants, animals -- which could not be affected by other complicating factors, including faith. Groups were assigned to pray for their growth; then the prayers were reversed, and people were praying against growth. Each time, the plants responded according to the focus of the prayers. "There seems to be something to it," he says. While current technology does not allow researchers to understand the mechanism behind prayer -- what makes it work -- it's much like gravity and other natural phenomena that were considered mysterious forces by earlier cultures, Justice tells WebMD. "Keppler was accused of being insane when he said tides were due to the tug of lunar gravity, even Galileo considered it to be ravings of a lunatic -- until Marconi proved the theory," he says. "It's just like anything else, you don't have to believe in it for prayer to have an effect," says Justice.
© 2001 WebMD Corporation. All rights reserved.

Sunday, June 18, 2006

Family Camp

Attended our annual church family camp at the Cinta Sayang Golf Resort in Sungai Petani. The resort is located approximately 36 miles south of our city. The camp was from the 15th till the 17th of June. Most of the church members and their families attended the camp.

The speaker talked about the mindset of many Christians today. The message revolved around Romans 12:2 "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."

It was a refreshing time for all of us as we also had the opportunity to fellowship and get to know one another better. You can be a member of a church for many years and still be a stranger to many! It is during such occasions that you 'discover' new friends. Below are some pics from the camp.

Me

My Family

The Room

The Driving Range

Session I
The Younger Generation

Sunday, June 11, 2006

What a day!

June the 10th, 2006. We were invited to a memorial service in a friends home. Their son died of cancer at the age of 16. There was some singing after which the Pastor led in a prayer for the family and friends and also remembering Raj (the son who passed away). It wasn't a sad atmosphere as some might have thought at a memorial service. The family knows that he is in a better place and that we will all be together one day.

This was also a chance for friends to get together and talk of old times and see the changing faces and shapes of our children. Some were taller vertically and others had grown sideways. There is always the one who plays outdoors so much that the aunties would comment, 'Haiyah! Why so dark one?'. The 'dark one' would reply 'I just came back from tennis competition la, aunty.'

The food was good. Chicken curry, mutton curry, 'vadai' chapati, tosai, etc... There was so much food the host insisted we take back some for dinner(they know we don't cook, heh heh).

That evening my wife and I had arranged a foursome for tennis. This was where we had a chance to burn away the extra calories. After three sets I was really tired. On the way home we stopped at the local 'mini market' and bought some durians and one big water melon. Together with the food from my friends place, this was our dinner while we watched the French Open Ladies Finals. And as I had predicted, Justine won. What a day!

For those who don't know what a durian looks like :

Durian

Saturday, June 10, 2006

The French Open

Who will be the King and the Queen of the French Open for this year? Can Federer capture the title? Will Henin be let down by stomach cramps this time? I don't know but if you ask me, my money is on Federer and Henin to capture the respective titles.















Latest : Nadal took the French Open crown!
Latest : The new French Open Queen is Justine! (felicitations my dear!)

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Lowering Cholesterol Level

When you have reached that age when you can't throw caution to the wind and eat anything you like, you start looking for solutions to your very serious problem of having a high cholesterol level. When I say 'high cholesterol level problem' I mean having a Total Cholesterol level which is greater than 5.2, having an HDL level which is less than 1.5 and the LDL level being greater than 3.4.

Any doctor worth his salt will tell you these readings are not good and that they would belong to someone who doesn't exercise, who smokes heavily and drinks (alcohol) a lot. I do not fit into this description yet I have the same readings. Final conclusion, hereditary problem. Both my parents had suffered from 'stroke'. So what should I do? I tried drugs to solve the problem and ended up with more problems from the side effects.

Now it's back to basics. Control the type of food that goes into the body, which means reducing the intake of oily or fried food. Continue the exercise program and try not to get injured in the process and finally take the secret recipe for lowering the cholesterol level! What is the secret recipe? Very simple and very affordable.

1. 1-2 cap of Red Yeast Rice 3 times a day before food.
2. Squeeze half a lime into a glass and if half a lime doesn't produce enough juice, use the whole lime like I do. Add a pinch of salt to adjust the PH factor. Add 1 tablespoon (teaspoon if too sweet) of honey, add water, stir ('but not shaken'- for the Bond types) and throw down the hatch every morning on an empty stomach. This is what I am doing. Does it work? Ask me in 3 months' time when I go for my blood test. heh heh..

Cheers mate!