Cuerpo Aztlan

Oh, I forgot to post about last night. My son had gone with my nephew to the "studio" - they really do go to the studio, but with as much time as they have been there they should have a two-disc CD now! They spend a bit of time getting high and such.

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Anyway, after my daughter and wife came home from picking up my son, the kids went to his room. And then I heard them going through the band song book! It was great. I kept muting the TV to listen and just smiled. My wife asked me if I was going to tell them something. I told her I was just going to let them enjoy it without adding anything they might perceive as pressure.

Woooooooooooooooooooooo Hoooooooooooooooooooooooo!

OK, I'm starting to get used to putting 07 on my checks and stuff like that.

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Tomorrow I will start walking for exercise again and see how that works. If it goes well I should be lifting again shortly!!!!

Thanks for all the positive support from Robert, Becky, Mauricio, Val, and the rest of the anonymous blog readers!

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White House Blocks info on Global Warming? Ya' Think?

KEEP LIFTING!!!

Hey everyone!

I'm still pleased with the compliment I got the other day. It's interesting how your own kids may try to blow you off, then you get a random outside compliment that gets you feeling good.

I've asked my kids and they say I've been a good parent. So I go with it.

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I'm still feeling a little under the weather, even for walking, but hopefully that will change soon! I'm looking forward to getting more active again!

Keep Lifting!!!!

I know this is a health blog - though its been more than that often - but I want to share this huge compliment I got yesterday.

I had gotten home from work and was thinking of taking a nap. This young guy who lived across the street from us for about 9 years called asking to speak with my daughter. She wasn't home. After he told me to have her call back he said "I wanna tell you something." I said sure. And he went on to tell me that he appreciated that I always offered to be there for him and that I was like a father he never had...

It's great to be appreciated.

Hello:

OK, I'm out of walking again for a couple of days. I can walk, just not for extended periods. I went into the garage last night and realized that its definately warming up here in Albuquerque and I should be able to start getting back into it soon!

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I realized last night that I am having lots of mixed feelings about the boys leaving the band. I was trying to recruit a friend's daughter to play drums and she said maybe to me, then her mom mentioned it to her and she said a loud NO!

My thinking is that the best thing is to let the kids work it out themselves, but I also don't want to be too long without band activity. Luckily being in music classes takes care of some of my angst. Also planning for a small home office and studio will keep me busy.

It would be easier if I had my computer at home, but my cousin is fixing it and what was a one day project has turned into a week. It's great 'cause its free, but the time drags out stuff. I had wanted to do some stuff on the computer to give to the kids for Xmas but it was getting fixed. I want to get some stuff done soon, but its getting fixed. So is my car! I'm not having much luck with things getting fixed quickly - well, except for me.

Anyway, it still seems like things are going well at home and at work. Thanks for the comments Becky and Robert. I appreciate it!

KEEP doing sumthin!

Saving Workouts for the Weekend

Sometimes, squeezing in a few walks or trips to the gym during the week is like wearing spandex -- you'd rather not. But can weekend exercise binges make up for it?

Depends on how healthy you are. If you have health-related risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or excess pounds to lose, burning the recommended 1,000 calories per week in just one or two exercise sessions doesn't appear to improve longevity. But spread that calorie-burning over four or five sessions during the week and you've got the makings of a longer, healthier life.

Exercise has short-term and long-term effects, but the short-term effects might be closely tied to the long-term benefits. For example, take a brisk walk and you'll immediately enjoy a lower systolic blood pressure. But that immediate benefit lasts for only a couple of hours. And if you walk only once a week -- whether it's for 20 minutes or 2 hours -- your heart is enjoying that short-term benefit just once a week. So long term, your health may not be impacted as much as if you'd walked every day.

Another example? Triglycerides. Exercise, and your triglycerides will be lower within a 24-hour period. Exercise every day and they'll be progressively lower after 4 days. But if you exercise just once on the weekend, you probably won't get the same cumulative benefits.

All of this may help explain why researchers recently determined that the mortality rates of weekend warriors -- men in the study who burned 1,000 calories in just one or two exercise sessions per week -- were not much different than the mortality rates of men who burned fewer calories.

One caveat: You may be able to get away with (that is, add years to your life) being a weekend warrior if you are in relatively good health. That means no risk factors, such as excess weight, a smoking habit, hypertension, or poor cholesterol values. But let's face it -- few of us fall into that charmed space. And keep in mind this additional interesting study fact: The weekend warriors tended to be heavier than the men in the other exercise groups. So spreading out your calorie-burning could mean less spreading elsewhere.


RealAge.com

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Maybe that's why I'm feeling a little better. I'll be off my feet for a day or so. So I'll have to get back at it as soon as my body is ready.

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Had a band meeting with the kids yesterday. Mezcla Experience no longer has Juan and Jaime as a regular members. They have "moved on" to hip hop. The girls are sticking with the band and another nephew is saying he wants to be in the band, but I'm wondering what that's about since he doesn't sing or play an instrument. He's the only one that said he wants to make music a career.

So I'll give them as much support as I can, but I told them I no longer buy people their equipment. We'll see how this goes. But it will be nice not to fight with any crappy attitudes at rehearsals anymore! The boys were more a pain than the girls as far as being moody, reluctant, etc.

I'm gonna chill for a little bit and then dive right back into it. The girls have been writing songs so I think we'll have some stuff ready by this summer but told them it would be OK to take a year before we started really going out to look for work and stuff.

KEEP WALKING!!!

Hey there!

I'm still walking daily.

Hopefully I can keep it up. I'm going to start trying to get up earlier and walking a little longer.

KEEP LIFTING!!!

Hi friends!

Still walking. I spent much of the weekend working on my home office. Putting up shelves moving stuff around and things like that. I'm starting to lost a little bit of weight.

I'll keep you posted!

KEEP WALKING!!!

I have to put this.... Bush's Approval Ratings SUCK - just like he!


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OK, still getting the walks in. Got 15 minutes a day this week. I will try and walk over the weekend as well. I'm feeling better already which is good, because I was doing a lot before an not necessarily feeling better. I have to say that the better financial security of the bigger check is making a difference on the stress level. I think the potassium and magnesium are helping me a little bit.

My headaches are fairly much gone. I'm not as anxious or edgy. Things are looking up! I continue to be inspired by Becky and her progress and optimism.

Being an optimistic Chicano is a good thing...

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My son has landed some work and is taking his practice GED tests. He's worked on some beats and rhymes. I'm looking forward to the three day weekend to clear up my office at home and turn it into a music room/studio/office. Wish me luck!

KEEP WALKING!!!

OK, I walked for 15 minutes this morning. I walked a little over an hour on Monday night. So I'm starting to feel back on track. Of course there's the lag time before the weight and fat will start to come off, but it will be worth it.

I started taking 400mg of potassium and magnesium this week. Hopefully that helps with the blood pressure.

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I got new responsibilities at work, which may not help the blood pressure, but hopefully the nice little raise will reduce some stress.

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Thanks Becky for the comments. Its always encouraging. And how cute your picture with the cat and your cool glasses.

I'm really missing Smacking... I hope your well homegirl.

I'm also missing my old work buddies. But there is a lot of good stuff going on here as well. Too bad the State blocks blogs. But hey, soon the Gov will be President and we'll all be under the happy big brother system!

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Here's an interesting article about Revolutionary Leadership.

KEEP LIFTING!!!

Adapted from RealAge.com

Small Changes Can Make a Big Difference
If you aren’t accustomed to regular exercise, you may want to start out by just walking for about 20 minutes per day, 4 or 5 days per week, and then gradually increase your program to 1 hour per day, 6 or 7 days per week. All you need to do is get moving to experience the benefits of exercise.

Eventually, you may want to add variety to your workouts by alternating between walking and another form of aerobic activity, such as swimming, bicycling, or rowing. Choosing activities you enjoy will increase your chances of sticking with your fitness plan for the long haul. Of course weightlifting is great for many reasons!

Need some motivation? Try setting some goals, such as walking half a mile or doing eight push-ups. Start with small goals and gradually strive for more. You can keep track of your fitness goals and your progress with this printable worksheet.

KEEP LIFTING!!!

Just Peachy Blood Pressure

Try this naturally sweet treat to help keep your blood pressure (BP) in the safety zone: dried peaches.

Bananas get all the credit for being a super source of BP-friendly minerals, but other fruits deliver them, too. High on the list are dried peaches and dried apricots. Ounce for ounce, they deliver nearly six times the potassium in bananas. And research shows this mighty mineral helps control blood pressure.

Your body relies on minerals like calcium, magnesium, and potassium to regulate blood pressure. So if you have high blood pressure, the right foods may help bring it down. When researchers compared potassium chloride, the kind in some blood pressure medications, and potassium citrate, the all-natural form in fruits and vegetables, they found both types significantly lowered blood pressure in people with hypertension. The extra potassium brought the study participants' systolic blood pressure (the top number) down by about 13 points and lowered their diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number) by about 5 points.

Getting at least 3,000 milligrams of potassium every day can make your RealAge as much as 0.6 years younger. Along with apricots and bananas, try these potassium-rich fruits and juices for variety: cantaloupe, honeydew melon, watermelon, orange juice, and grapefruit juice.

KEEP LIFTING!!!

Another Realage Tip!

Don't shovel your driveway in the morning if you have high blood pressure. Check the link for more info!

KEEP LIFTING!!!!

Happy New Year!!!!

My Resolutions?

HEALTH
To be in better health next January 1st than today. Measured by body fat, cholesterol levels, and blood pressure. I also want to run to Tome in 5 hours instead of 6. That will depend on my hip, but I think it may be doable. To bench 250lbs by April 1st.

MUSICTo be a better musician - measured by my ability to play "pasaditas" on the acordeon more to my satisfaction up to 120 bpm in most keys. My ability to maintain steady rhythm for up to 5 minutes on all of my instruments (acordeon, guitar, bass, keyboard, bongos). To hear and sing different harmonic intervals and values (major chords, minor chords, major 3rds, minor 3rds, 6ths, 5ths, etc.) To read and write more music, including songs for the next Mezcla Experience album which will be more hip-hop oriented.

KEEP LIFTING, KEEP JAMMIN'!

Asides:
NM LOOBS! The Quality of NM Education shows itself!!! (Govenor should be proud!) See paragraph 6 before the main story starts!

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James Brown Apollo Tribute

James Brown Funeral Coverage
Soul Generals Jam

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ALBUERQUE MINIMUM WAGE increases as of yesterday! And for the county on the 13th! Someday our politicians and worker advocates will push for living wages instead of minimum wages, but hey it's still an improvement! Thanks to the councilors who pushed this through!

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Column: A HEALTHY NEW YEAR from the NY Times (sent to me via email)

A Healthy New Year

By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: January 1, 2007

The U.S. health care system is a scandal and a disgrace. But maybe, just
maybe, 2007 will be the year we start the move toward universal coverage.
In 2005, almost 47 million Americans - including more than 8 million children -
were uninsured, and many more had inadequate insurance.

Apologists for our system try to minimize the significance of these numbers.
Many of the uninsured, asserted the 2004 Economic Report of the President,
"remain uninsured as a matter of choice."

And then you wake up. A scathing article in yesterday's Los Angeles Times
described how insurers refuse to cover anyone with even the slightest hint
of a pre-existing condition. People have been denied insurance for reasons
that range from childhood asthma to a "past bout of jock itch."

Some say that we can't afford universal health care, even though every year
lack of insurance plunges millions of Americans into severe financial
distress and sends thousands to an early grave. But every other advanced
country somehow manages to provide all its citizens with essential care.
The only reason universal coverage seems hard to achieve here is the
spectacular inefficiency of the U.S. health care system.

Americans spend more on health care per person than anyone else - almost
twice as much as the French, whose medical care is among the best in the
world. Yet we have the highest infant mortality and close to the lowest
life expectancy of any wealthy nation. How do we do it?

Part of the answer is that our fragmented system has much higher
administrative costs than the straightforward government insurance systems
prevalent in the rest of the advanced world. As Anna Bernasek pointed out
in yesterday's New York Times, besides the overhead of private insurance
companies, "there's an enormous amount of paperwork required of American
doctors and hospitals that simply doesn't exist in countries like Canada
or Britain."

In addition, insurers often refuse to pay for preventive care, even though
such care saves a lot of money in the long run, because those long-run
savings won't necessarily redound to their benefit. And the fragmentation
of the American system explains why we lag far behind other nations in the use
of electronic medical records, which both reduce costs and save lives by
preventing many medical errors.

The truth is that we can afford to cover the uninsured. What we can't afford
is to keep going without a universal health care system.

If it were up to me, we'd have a Medicare-like system for everyone, paid for
by a dedicated tax that for most people would be less than they or their
employers currently pay in insurance premiums. This would, at a stroke,
cover the uninsured, greatly reduce administrative costs and make it much
easier to work on preventive care.

Such a system would leave people with the right to choose their own doctors,
and with other choices as well: Medicare currently lets people apply their
benefits to H.M.O.'s run by private insurance companies, and there's no
reason why similar options shouldn't be available in a system of Medicare
for all. But everyone would be in the system, one way or another.

Can we get there from here? Health care reform is in the air. Democrats in
Congress are talking about providing health insurance to all children.
John Edwards began his presidential campaign with a call for universal health
care.

And there's real action at the state level. Inspired by the Massachusetts
plan to cover all its uninsured residents, politicians in other states are
talking about adopting similar plans. Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon has
introduced a Massachusetts- type plan for the nation as a whole.

But now is the time to warn against plans that try to cover the uninsured
without taking on the fundamental sources of our health system's
inefficiency. What's wrong with both the Massachusetts plan and Senator
Wyden's plan is that they don't operate like Medicare; instead, they
funnel the money through private insurance companies.

Everyone knows why: would-be reformers are trying to avoid too strong a
backlash from the insurance industry and other players who profit from our
current system's irrationality.

But look at what happened to Bill Clinton. He rejected a single-payer
approach, even though he understood its merits, in favor of a complex plan
that was supposed to co-opt private insurance companies by giving them a
largely gratuitous role. And the reward for this "pragmatism" was that
insurance companies went all-out against his plan anyway, with the
notorious "Harry and Louise" ads that, yes, mocked the plan's complexity.

Now we have another chance for fundamental health care reform. Let's not
blow that chance with a pre-emptive surrender to the special interests.