I don’t know if I’ve ever blogged about something I like to call “Research Mode,” but it is a huge part of my life.

I’ve always liked research. Test prep and studying was an activity I actually scheduled parties for. In school, while everyone else was groaning over assigned research papers, I was already making a list of off the crazy things I could find out more about. In the library, I loved the soft sound of the card catalog drawers, the buttery feel of the index. I loved walking down quiet rows of shared books, my finger grazing plastic-jacketed spines in search for a Dewy Decimal match. I’d let myself fall through the rabbit hole; one thread of ideas leading to the next, to the next, to the next.

Aside from learning new things, research papers made me happy because it was an excuse to write in classes other than English. History papers, science papers, sociology, economics, current events, theater, art–when you think that there was a time in your life that it was your job to soak up information on all these subjects and more it really makes you stop and realize that the life of a student is a pretty complex one. Loads of responsibility. 

I’m getting off track…

Research mode has followed me into grown up life. When I travel, I keep a notebook at hand and jot down things that interest me; historical sites, archeticture, statuary, art, antiquity, words, phrases. Once I’m home, I do a bit of research on my listed items; its like going on the vacation all over again. Also, when I stumble upon something I don’t know much about in daily life, I research it to death. The first time Shaun and I lived in an apartment with a steam heater, it woke me up in the night with its clanking, clunking, screeching. It totally freaked me out and I spent hours in the middle of the night doing online research on the mechanics and history of the machine; I can’t even tell you how much I know about all the various breeds of cockroaches.

When my doctor’s office called yesterday to tell me I had a sluggish thyroid, I was thrown into hard core research mode. After using the internet and phone interview sources to write yesterday’s blog entry, I went to the Chicago Center for Psychophysical Healing to see if the practitioners wanted to weigh in. I also went to the library to look at medical textbooks.

The staff at the Center for Psychophysical Healing were great; I mentioned that it was not in my budget to pursue their services at this time and was invited to be a clinic patient for their students. A complete homeopathic workup will be done on me in September, under the supervision of the founding practitioners (who will actually be physically present). Also, when I explained my issue, I was told by the founder that I need to take this seriously but its good that I’m not delving into meds right away, as that very well could make things much, much worse.

She was also astounded that I’m asymptomatic but thinks that its probably because thyroid just started to misbehave and that significant weight gain would be hard for my body to do with the amount I go-go-go. I described my diet to her and she confirmed that I need to be eating meat daily (and not just fish–beef is the best way for me to get the amino acid boost) and she gave me pills with dried seaweed in them: Fucus Vesiculosus. The seaweed is good because it will give me a huge iodine boost, which will make my little thyroid happier. Little thyroid is hungry for meat and iodine! The Psychophysical Healing lady is having my blood tests faxed to her to use in the clinical work up. After six weeks on the seaweed pills, I am to get my blood re-tested to see how thyroid likes it. Practitioner thinks that all my body wants is some seaweed and meat and things should realign. I hope she is right; I’d rather eat seaweed everyday than drugs.

Anyhow, after I spent an entire day researching (really, I was in the mode from 8am–6pm), I took a long walk around the neighborhood with my camera. I was inspired by my lovely friend Beth’s new photo-blog and hanging out with my friend Nick, who never goes anywhere without his camera.

I was playing around with lighting conditions, shooting in early evening, through to dusk. Dusk + florescent lights is very pretty, but sort of difficult to get right. 

Here’s some of the pics:

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These shadows are sort of what vertigo looked like to me.

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This owl crammed into a tree knot makes me laugh. It was so shady and dusk-like at this point that my favorite composition of the owl didn’t have the best apiture setting. I’ll need to take this into photoshop and make some adjustments, but I suck at that sort of thing (I am a stickler for maintining accurate colors/lighting conditions so I usually just end up getting frustrated with photoshop’s “brightness and contrast” tools). Any tips would be helpful!

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This is Mario and Sergio. They are construction workers that are often found smoking outside of a little pub by the hardware store. 

Moon v. Streetlamp

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Shaun and Giles the Kittenfaced arrive Tuesday evening. For keeps. I can’t beleive we lived through this. We even managed to be productive and have a nice time of things. I’m proud of us. And happy to have my family back. Can’t wait!!!!!

Also–I’ve started in on Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series, which is a slew of Young Adult vampire books. I keept seeing these books everywhere (the movie preview looks like a lot of fun, too!), but what really pushed me into making the buy was a girl on the subway. She was 16 or 17, wearing funky clothes with lots of crazy beads and barrets, and she couldn’t wait to tear one of the big, chunky Twilight books from her bag  and delve in. Everything about her reminded me of who I was as a teenager. And after finishing a chapter of the Twilight books, I am surprised to emerge as an adult, with a husband and a career and bills and a thyroid problem and a place of my own. How did all this happen? I’m still so much a vampire-loving drama queen of a teenage girl.
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What are your feelings on research? How about vampires? Also: healthy beef recipies are needed! If you’ve got a favorite and time to share it, I’d love to give it a whirl. Going from eating no meat except for maybe some fish or chicken 1-2 times a week to eating meat everyday will be CRAZY!

Please note: This blog entry contains medical talk. While a part of me thinks “why are you sharing your medical info with the world,” another part of me thinks “why is everyone so weird and secretive about sharing medical info?” I think that if we all talked about our health a bit more, it would demystify the whole thing a bit. Weird body things shouldn’t be shameful or make us feel like failures. We are just animals–alive things–and if we all talked about body stuff more, perhaps we wouldn’t feel so separated from that fact. Reading bloggers who write about medical stuff is sometimes helpful to me, so I thought that if I had something to say about medical stuff, I might as well just say it.

That said, feel free to skip this if the acknowledgement of me having internal organs is upsetting to you. But its my blog, damn it. And so I write…

Problem:
I think I have to break up with my doctor.

You know how I went in to talk to her about that vertigo I had? Well, she assured me that I was probably fine but did some blood tests just to be sure. The blood tests came back confirming that my vertigo was nothing to fret over, but that I might have a thyroid problem. She had me in for a second round of tests.

The nurse from her office called today to confirm that my blood tests say I have “slightly low” thyroid hormone production, meaning that I have something called hypothyroidism (not HyPERthyroidism, which means you gt to eat loads of cakes and be really skinny), which makes NO sense, since I have NONE of the symptoms, which are as follows:

1.) Fatigue/weakness–No. Remember how I love to bike 17 miles a day to work every day, hike up mountains, run 4-6 miles daily, go on evening walks, and play frissbe every night of the summer? Me? Fatigued? Sometimes I wear myself out, but its not like its coming out of nowhere!
2.) Low cold tolerance–No! Actually, if there is anything that I hate its the HEAT! AHHH! Cant stand it. Makes me pass out.
3.) Dry skin/hair–no! Opposite problem, actually. very greasy. lots of shine.
4.) Cold hands/feet–not really. Shaun says sometimes my feet are chilled in the night, but I’ve never noticed. I’m too busy sleeping.
5.) Weight gain–Not at all! At the doctors last week, I weighed in at 140 (I’m 6 feet tall). I hold it steady, man. Sometimes I’m 135. Sometimes, around Christmas, I can get up to 145. But after I stop drinking the nog, the weight goes away. Mostly, I’m a lean lady.
6.) Insomnia–Ha! I LOVE sleep time and I am very good at it.
7.) Constipation–HA! All I DO is shit!
8.) Depression–what? No! Not unless I’m having a completely valid emotional reaction to a horribly depressing fact of life! Like New York! And I think I handle it pretty damn well. And I’m very happy
now, thank you very much.
9.) Poor memory–what? What did you just ask me? I forget. Seriously though, my memory is not as rockin as Shaun’s is, but I think that has more to do with my very specific learning needs than anything. I like interactive learning and learning-through-teaching. 
10.) Nervousness–No! Just. No. I do not identify with this.
11.) Immune system problems–okay. Yes. There was the shingles. I have to baby myself and not get stressed  and make sure I get enough sleep. But I’m pretty good about putting health first, so usually I can manage this on my own, without drugs and doctors.
12.) Heavy periods–HA! NO! Not to get too gory or anything, but from what I gather, I have really light, short rag-sessions compared to most ladies. They are irregular, though. But I’m guessing that has to do with going off birth control; I suspect that my body is still learning to regulate itself. This must be a hard thing for lady parts to do; until fall of 2007, I’d been on the pill for nearly a decade. That’s got to confuse a uterus. Can we not be patient with it and stop demanding it act normally right of the bat?

Conclusion:
While I’m willing to believe that I have a “slightly low” production of thyroid hormone like the doctor says (blood tests are blood tests, right? Who am I to argue science?), I’m not going to take drugs for something that is not crating an actual problem for me (aka: symptoms). However, I’m going to keep an eye on my body and try to promote good thyroid health naturally. If I start to get unexpectedly fat and sluggish, I’ll be the first

in line to get me some drugs. But until then….

Thyroid Plan of Action:
1.) I have a list of questions for my doctor. She is scheduled to call me today and answer them. Mainly, they focus on her recommendations for natural treatment. 26 is no time to be starting a lifelong, daily dependance on prescription medication. That just seems so extreame and apt to cause more harm than good. Espcially for a “problem” that has gone completely unnoticed by me (and from what I understand, most of the time this hypothyroidism is pretty hard to go unnoticed–it reek HAVOC on ladies!).

2.) I scheduled a September appointment with the lady doctor, just to have my hormone levels checked and make sure my lady parts are handling the move away from synthetic hormones (birth control) okay.

3.) I scheduled an appointment for acupuncture next Friday. The more I read, the more I realized that the issues I have are the same ones that acupuncture promises to handle best: migraines and immune system issues and weird body “quirks” (like passing out and vertigo and zits!). Acupuncture is also supposed to be good at preventative stuff, making sure that the body stays healthy and good. Which is helpful to me, as all the research has made me paranoid that my thyroid will misbehave someday, which would be horrible. The only crap news is that acupuncture is expensive. $100 for my first-time visit! Then it goes to $75. I can probably afford to go once a month, but from what I understand, its normal for people to get pin-cushioned weekly. Oh well. I’m getting ahead of myself. Acupuncture could very well make me dry heave and pass out. I might hate it and never go again. Which would be cheaper. But with luck, it won’t gross me out and will comfort my little thyroid so that it never ever misbehaves. In which case, I’m happy to carve out a bit of my budget for it.

4.) Eat meat daily. Seriously. I researched the types of things that make a thyroid unhappy and found that it can be a lack of zinc, iodine, selenium, fatty acids, and an amino acid called tyrosine. Meat and salt are good ways of getting these and both items are REALLY scarce in my diet (I eat meat sometimes 1x a week and usually its fish. I don’t really like salt.)

5.) Do “thyrod healthy” yoga. I will look on Amazon for a DVD today. In the winter, I think I may sign up for a yoga studio, since its usually too cold to run and too icy to bike and I’ve always hated doing my wintertime workout tapes in the apartment (I do them to shed the eggnog weight and keep me fit for spring/summer/fall sporty fun, but its a CHORE).

Anyhow, do any of you have thyroid stories you’d like to share? Anyone ever try acupuncture? Advice? Thoughts?  Thanks!

This morning NPR ran a story on Denise Mina, a Glaswegian crime writer that I enjoy. Shaun and I read her and went to a few of her readings/lectures when we lived in Glasgow. Reading her books really let us into the parts of that city that–as outsiders–we’d otherwise never really encounter or understand. Plus, they are fun.

Anyhow, hearing a Scottish voice so early in the morning really brightened my day. Which is funny, because the story is about some of the grittier aspects of Glasgow. Nonetheless, I wanted to write a wee blog post about it, in case anyone else is interested in listening. I think Denise’s attitude, compassion, and humanity really encapsulate that community.

Click here to listen in.
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Did you hear anything that made you smile this morning?

Trek has an awesome component to its website up right now: 1 World, 2 Wheels. (I posted the cute widget for it below.) The site helps you determine how much coal you reduce, calories you burn, and gas money you save by bike commuting. Plus, if you register on the site and challenge yourself to a set number of bike commutes a week (or, if you’re like me: simply stating the number of bike commutes you already take), you are entered to win a new bike.

I bike to work roughly 4 times a week. I work 5 days a week, but Chicago loves to throw giant summertime storms, so my biking plans are thwarted at a surprisingly consistent rate of once a week. Those days, I take the express bus or the subway. The MCA is roughly 7.5 miles south of my apartment; on an errand-free day, I take Clark to Foster and bike the lake-shore path all the way there. Its a really nice commute. I’ve only been stressed once, when I was biking against a wind storm, trying to get home to meet friends for dinner at a certain time. Another time, a crazy storm broke out while I was biking and I was soaked to the bone. That was REALLY fun, though. Although, if I was riding TO work instead of HOME from work, I would have been horrified; while my commuting routine allows for me to arrive sweaty to work, I can’t show up looking like a drowned rat.

Speaking of my bike commute routine, I’ve included a summary of it below. I thought that sharing my way of doing things might be helpful to anyone interested in trying a bike commute of their own. It took my a while to get into a groove that suited me and this one does; its no more or less a hassle than any other type of commuting, but it is WAY more fun. Read on if this interests you, skip it if it may bore.

My Bike Commute Routine
1.) After my morning run/yoga, I put NPR on to listen to while I shower up and put on a biking outfit. Nothing fancy; usually a pair of shorts, grippy shoes, and a loose tank w/ sports bra. Then I brush my teeth, blow dry my hair, and breakfast (coffee and yoghurt w/ muesli–yumm!).

2.)  After a breakfast munch, I put my work clothes (folded nicely or rolled), cute shoes, makeup bag, purse, lunch, and a book (to read at lunch!) in my bike basket. If I’m feeling super organized, I prep my basket the night before. But usually I just throw everything in before I leave the house in the morning.

3.) BIKE—Wheee! I plan my commute so that I will arrive 1/2 hour before my “official” start time. Usually this has me leaving the house no later than 8; I like a slow ride and my day “officially” starts at 9:30. I usually get in at 8:40, but I like to leave time incase I need to fix my chain or incase I get a flat or any number of strange things that might occur. Mostly, though, arriving early allows me to grab a cup of tea and chit chat with people before I have to really dig in and work.

4.) Once I lock up my bike in the parking garage, I greet museum security, get my ID badge, and head up to my office with my bike basket in tow (it is awesome and detachable). In the bottom drawer of my desk, I keep a toiletry kit. I grab the kit and head to the bathroom with my basket.

5.) In the bathroom, I use baby-wipes to wipe zee sweat away and wash my face with face wash. I brush out my helmet hair and apply my makeup. I change into my worker-bee outfit. I’ve done all this in 10 minutes before, but usually it takes me about 15. I like to get my liquid liner just right.

According to 1 World, 2 Wheels, by biking 60 miles a week (thats my 15 miles, round trip, to work, four days a week), I do the following:

* Reduce 58.20 lbs of Co2
* Burn 2,820 calories
* Save $13.20 in gas (if I drove, but I don’t so thats $8 in public transit fare that I save those 4 days).

So, Xanga peeps. For the love of body and globe: I double dog dare any of you who don’t already do so to bike to work 1 time before the end of September. Just give it a whirl. See first hand if its do-able, what it takes, and how it might change your life, how it might make things a little happier.  

Well, its official. Summer is in full swing. Scifiknitter is making cat hats, Timshead is road trippin’ it, Boo is kickin’ it with psychics, and Panda is sufficiently Panda-like. With all this living, who has time to blog? As for me, I’ve been trying to get my shit together and adjust to this new and improved Chicago life.

Yesterday, Shaun flew into town for a job interview he went on today. It was so so so good to see him. I’ve been going a bit batty without the one person on the world who so totally *gets* the crazy that is the inside of my brain. He came to the museum and met my staff and wondered the galleries and listened to the free jazz on the terrace that happens every Tuesday night. Best of all, once I was finished with work, I got to take him to dinner at the amazing Uncommon Ground before showing him to our new home!

Last Friday, I moved in to the little home I picked out for my little family: Shaun, me, and kitten-face (aka: Mr. Giles Alejandro Scimitar). In the process, I made friends with a cool new neighbor who, in true New Millennium style, I met through Craigslist. His name is John and he replied to my ad requesting help in moving the Craiglist couch I bought from a nice lesbian couple in Andersonville.

Pictures of the new pad, in Chicago’s East Rogers Park neighborhood, are below:

Where we will lounge, dine, and entertain!

The back wall of the dining room has a fun little window that looks out onto a kick-butt private storage space.

See what I mean? Funny! I want to get little Chinese paper lanterns and outdoor cafe string-lights to put in the storage space, so that when we’re dining in and looking out the window we can pretend we’re in a cafe.

This is the private storage space. For tiny apartment dwellers like Shaun and I, this is LIFE CHANGING! Especially with all the art projects I have going on at any given moment, all of Shaun’s comics and ebay shite, not to mention bikes and rollerblades and tents and hiking boots and sports supplies and the fact that we don’t use a dryer to dry our clothes (trying to be a green-household, dispite all the horrible air travel we’ve had to do these past few months). Also: I can’t think in cluttered spaces. I like order. With a storage room, things have a home. It will make life oh so good. This little space was a major selling point.

As was this! ITS A YARD!!!!!! Holly crap! You don’t know how much I’ve missed being able to have breakfast and lunch outside, all quiet and happy with a book like I did on my parent’s deck growing up. I’m looking for a suitable, used BBQ too. No more fish-stink in the house!!!! (I like grilled fish a good deal and the grill pan makes the house smell a little aqua-licious sometimes.)

Anyway, back inside the house. We’ve got loads of REALLY BIG CLOSETS! Like this one! This is also a life changing event. Especially coming from NYC where closets are a myth. Like unicorns.

We also have a kitchen. See? Its a good one! Shelves! Roach-free! AMAZING!

Hey–a quick aside: this week’s This American Life is about Fear of Sleep and features a story about a house so roach infested that the roaches cuddled up inside the [human] tenants EARS when they went to bed at night! AHHH! AHHHH! AHHHHHHHHH! Obviously, I can’t WAIT to listen this week. Damn, I love that show.

Anyhow…

…this is where the magic happens.

Ha! Not really. I just always thought it would be funny if people said that about the toilet.

This incredibly tiny room is Shaun’s office. (I claim the entire storage space, since I also have crafts and sports gear in addition to my writing stuff.) We need to re-paint the walls, because this color is grotesque and oppressive. Tan! GAG ME!

This is our new used couch! The bear on it is Theodore T. Bearington. We go way back.

This is zee bedroom. It is little, but since we only need a bed in there, it should be fine. (Shaun and I both get sucked in to movies and books and music so easily, we make it a point to have ONLY a bed in our bedroom, to make sure we actually unplug properly.) Also, I got a 1/2 price dresser at Target. Its in bits on the floor!

Well kiddies, that’s the grand tour. I can’t wait until Shaun and my beloved rat ass puss get here with the rest of our family’s worldly possessions (mere days!!!). But in the meantime, I’m content to snuggle up on our cuddly new used couch and be happy with the direction life is going and all the crazy places its been.

Today, I used one of my “personal days” to stay home from work and hang out with Shaun-san. We chilled out around the neighborhood before heading to Lakeview for him to get a pre-interview haircut. Then we went downtown together for a pre-interview lunch, where we copy-edited the text on the paper place mats together. DORKDOM=GOODTIMES. I read in the park for an hour while he talked to his could-be future employers for an hour.

Shaun seemed totally confident coming out of the interview. I hope he gets this job–he’d be such an asset to this place and it seems like he would really enjoy the position. Its a publication production/editorial hybrid position at a literary not-for-profit.

He was off to the airport, headed back to NYC, just as I started this blog. Its not long now. I like my life. I really do.
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Are you at home with your home?

PS: Oh yeah! I few weeks ago I was whining about wanting a funny yet brainy good summer read. Well, this book–You Must Be This Happy To Enter–TOTALLY hits the spot. Funny. Fresh. Elizabeth Crane is spot on and my literary hero this summer.