This was written to be spoken, not read, so you're not going to get the full impact of it here.  Maybe one day I'll have a CD out though :)

Tamarah


Winds of Me

The edge is so near
I can feel the rush of wind
gusting in wild gales, nearly sucking me in;
The edge was where I had come,
and the edge was so near.
What does it all mean?

If I was a child, I would be playing under the swings
after the rain;
If I was rich, I would be celebrating my life
aboard a yacht, the Santa Maria, discovering
wild islands and foreign tongues.
If I had all the stars in the sky, maybe I would
halo myself with daisy chains of universes and time.

But I have the Gregorian calendar
tattooed on my wrinkled face,
as crushed, stained rose-colored paper
fitted over a terrible mortal skull, reminding
me of the time I have spent,
of the time I have.

Behind me lay the barren soil of my life.
I had worked so hard, and yet
despite every bead of sweat I endured,
every person I knew, every good deed, every mistake,
every unanswered question,
I have still brought myself here.

As I look up
and the breeze overtakes my breath,
and I can feel my heart slow to the beat of
the storm clouds marching across the sky.
I heard every story my grandmother told me
of “forever” and “eternity” and “everlating love,”
but I wonder if there is any proof of forever,
I thought I would have seen it in my life.

What is beyond this divide.
Will a gleaming city house me?
Will the crux of life end beyond this cliff?
What will become of me,
as I hardly know what I am looking for,
or who I am when I am alone.
But still the angel said to the women:
Do not be afraid, for
I know you are looking for Jesus.

I close my eyes and
in my mind I watch the rugged cross
being drug through the dirt, laced with his blood.
I shudder, fur even I have not suffered so much;
and yet, I suffer so much.
In my mind I can feel the nails crash violently into my skin,
 feel the shallow breaths slowly leave me,
I feel the cries from the women who cower beneath the shadow
of the cross.
And yet, the angel said to them:
Do not be afraid.
I know you are looking for Jesus;
at the edge of my life,
when the winds of change sweep me off my stubborn feet,
at the edge of my mind when the upheaval of thoughts crumble on my
flimsy excuses,
and when the meaning of my strife
drifts like smoke on the still river of life;
I feel the answers my grandmother spoke,
softly floating in my haze
and drifting along the river that
winds through life’s valley.
When I stop worrying about my own mortal swim
and what he  means to me
I see how much greater is the purpose
of how much I mean to Him.

I'm riding out some pretty good contractions right now, watching Tom & Jerry with the kids.  I thought I'd read where I am right now.

Your pregnancy: 29 weeks

How your baby's growing:

Your baby now weighs about 2 1/2 pounds (unlikely that he is this small) (like a butternut squash) and is a tad over 15 inches long from head to heel. His muscles and lungs are continuing to mature, and his head is growing bigger to make room for his developing brain. To meet his increasing nutritional demands, you'll need plenty of protein, vitamins C, folic acid, and iron. And because his bones are soaking up lots of calcium, be sure to drink your milk (or find another good source of calcium, such as cheese, yogurt, or enriched orange juice). This trimester, about 250 milligrams of calcium are deposited in your baby's hardening skeleton each day. (my appetite has definitely increased lately, but I'm eating lots of well balanced meals, with a few perks.  Like, I got a can of cranberry sauce just for me, and I'm eating it with chicken.  I also made a plate of gluten free brownies with chocolate chips.  This is super good comfort food during these contractions)

How your life's changing:

Your baby's very active now (he was before, but his kicks are a LOT harder these days). Your practitioner may ask you to spend some time each day counting kicks and will give you specific instructions on how to do this. Let her know if you ever notice a decrease in activity. You may need a nonstress test or biophysical profile to check on your baby's condition.

Some old friends — heartburn and constipation — may take center stage now. The pregnancy hormone progesterone relaxes smooth muscle tissue throughout your body, including your gastrointestinal tract. This relaxation, coupled with the crowding in your abdomen, slows digestion, which in turn can cause gas and heartburn — especially after a big meal — and contribute to constipation as well. (I am, thankfully, not having trouble with this)


Some women get something called "supine hypotensive syndrome" during pregnancy, where laying flat on your back causes a change in heart rate and blood pressure that makes you feel dizzy until you change position. (I've actually been having this for a little while, but I just ignored it because it didn't seem serious.  Good to know it isn't all in my head, though) You might note that you feel lightheaded if you stand up too quickly, too. To avoid "the spins" lie on your side rather than your back, and move slowly as you go from lying down to sitting and then standing.

Right now I just want the Tylenol to kick in.  I'd like to finish the laundry before Thanksgiving.

Ben was just talking to me about some Leviticus passages he was reading, and it mentioned not being able to eat 4 legged insects.  But all insects have 6 legs, unless they're an arachnid and then they have 8.  But there are no 4 legged insects.  I almost thought water skippers might have 4 legs, but they do have 6 as well, as they are part of the insect class. 

Leviticus 11:20-23 "‘All flying insects that walk on all fours are to be detestable to you.22Of these you may eat any kind of locust, katydid, cricket or grasshopper.23But all other winged creatures that have four legs you are to detest."

So I googled "4 legged insects," and it turns out there are some pretty good answers out there:

"Does the Bible Really Claim that Insects Only have Four Legs?

LINK

by John D. Morris, Ph.D.

After my recent university lecture on scientific creationism, a student referenced a Bible passage in Leviticus regarding insects to imply that the Bible contained errors and that Christianity and creation thinking are false.

The passage? "Yet these may ye eat of every flying creeping thing, that goeth upon all four, which have legs above their feet, to leap withal upon the earth; (including) the locust . . . the beetle . . . and the grasshopper after his kind" (Leviticus 11:21,22). Tucked within a list of dietary regulations for the people of Israel, it refers to a number of animals whose exact identification is obscured by antiquity. But let's look closely.

First, we must recognize that modern day taxonomic categories, like species, genus, family, etc., are not the same as the Biblical "kind." Even the term "creeping thing" finds wide application meaning, in general, small animals which exist in great numbers. In this chapter it is used for insects (v. 21), various small mammals and reptiles (vv. 29,30), as well as animals which "move" in the ocean (v. 10).

Likewise the term "flying" applies both to flying insects and birds (vv. 13-19). Obviously, the context and description must take precedence in identification, and in this case, the "four legged insect" applies, in particular, to the grasshopper/locust kind.

In our modern classification system, all insects have at least six legs. They are members of the large and varied arthropod phyla, which includes also the eight-legged spiders, the multi-legged centipedes, as well as crabs—anything with segmented legs. Some insects also have wings, but these don't count as legs.

Today, locusts are considered migratory grasshoppers. They all have two large hind legs, quite different in appearance, size, and function from the front four legs. Their front legs are used for "crawling, clinging, and climbing," while their back legs rest "above" their front legs and feet, and are used for "jumping." Furthermore, the Hebrew word translated "beetle" actually comes from the verb "to leap," implying a similar leaping insect, not our modern beetle. Thus, the Biblical description of grasshoppers turns out to be exactly anatomically correct. Far from being an embarrassment to Bible believers, this passage bears sterling testimony to the accuracy and inspiration of Scripture. As always, arguments which claim that the Bible is wrong are themselves wrong, and the Bible still stands!

*Dr. John Morris is President of ICR.

This article was originally published July, 2001. "Does the Bible Really Claim that Insects Only have Four Legs?", Institute for Creation Research, http://www.icr.org/article/1844/ (accessed November 23, 2008)."

 
Also:

"This is one of the few times in the Bible where translators have real trouble with nouns. Animal names and the names of jewels are two of the more difficult things to translate, believe it or not. As a linguist, however, I can see why. I work in four languages, and some basic concepts cannot always be translated exactly from one language to another. Colours are another. To Austronesian peoples (including the speakers of Indonesian Balinese, Javanese and the Polynesian languages), there was no "brown". Instead it was a variant of red.
In this case, we must go back to the original Hebrew and see what word was used for what, in English bibles, is translated "insects". It was, in fact, the word sherets, which CAN, indeed, be translated "insect", but has the general meaning of "swarming thing".
Here is a quote from an expert site I found, which explains it:
The word really refers to crawling or swimming creatures that tend to swarm together. For example, in Genesis, sherets refers to swarming sea creatures,27 in the flood account (Genesis 7) sherets refers to rodents,28 and in Leviticus, sherets refers to crustaceans,29 insects,30 rodents,31 and reptiles.32 The term sherets was never intended as a biological classification system, so to say that it specifically refers to "insects" is deceptive.

What is common among all the creatures mentioned is that they have short legs and often travel together in groups. In fact, the Bible defines sherets as "crawling on its belly" and "whatever walks on all fours."33 What is common in this group of crustaceans, insects, rodents, and reptiles is that they all crawl on "all four" legs. Some from this group actually have more than four legs. However, the Hebrew idiom "on all fours" refers to any creature that crawls low to the ground on at least four legs. Were the writers of the Bible unaware that insects have six legs? This statement would seem rather silly, but atheists actually make this claim. However, one of the verses clearly indicates that these "four-legged" insects have six legs:

'Yet these you may eat among all the winged insects [sherets] which walk on all fours: those which have above their feet jointed legs with which to jump on the earth. (Leviticus 11:21)

The key part of the verse is the phrase "above their feet jointed legs." The Hebrew uses two different words to describe the "feet" (regel) and "legs" (kera). What the verse says is that these insects walk on four "feet" (their anterior four short legs), with an additional two "legs" that are used for jumping. Therefore, all six appendages are described."

So there ya go.  Pretty interesting.

The bonus of spilling bubbles on your desk, is the sudden extremely clean spot it leaves behind.

Is Klaatu Barada Nikto Rockwood too pretentious?

I was listening to the classical station the other day and "Praetorius, terpsichore dances" came on.  It just caught my ear, it was so interesting, so I had to write it down.  It's on iTunes, and I'd encourage you to check it out.  I've found my ear is bent to Baroque music, which is funny because it's my favorite artistic genre as well (viva Caravaggio!). 

"Michael Praetorius is one of the major figures of German music during the early Baroque period. An organist and prolific composer of Lutheran church music, he was also an influential theorist whose major work in the field, Syntagma musicum (Treatise of Music) appeared in three parts between 1614 and 1618. In this work, Praetorius revealed his intention of publishing eight volumes of secular music to complement his huge sacred publication, the nine volume Musae Sionae (1607-1610), but he produced only one volume, Terpsichore (1612). This volume contains 312 short French and Italian instrumental and vocal dances in four, five, or six parts, with no specific instrumentation. Selections produced today therefore generally feature a wide number of the instruments of the period, including bowed strings of the violin and viol family, plucked string instruments, such as lutes and harp, wind instruments, including recorders, crumhorns, and sackbuts, and a variety of percussion instruments. Many of the pieces included are anonymous, although composers such as Vecchi and Certon are represented. In particular, Praetorius was much indebted to the music of Pierre-Francisque Caroubel, a French composer of Italian origin who was responsible for 78 of the five-part arrangements. Among the major dance forms included are courantes (162), voltes (48), bransles (21), gaillardes (23), and ballets (37), in addition to which smaller numbers of pavanes, canaries, and bourees make up the total. A remarkable work of musical scholarship, Terpsichore represents one of the major Baroque collections of French dances. ~ All Music Guide "

This isn't a list of things you should do if you face unemployment.  This is a more broad warning for the next few months.  I have this really bad feeling that things are going to get really bad in the next 6 months.  Analysts are proposing that the next low for Dow Jones is going to be 4000, and that will be the Second Great Depression for America.  Now, this is kind of good and bad.  It's bad because people are going to suffer like you would not believe, and it is going to affect everyone.  It may be good, because a lot of social wisdom was learned during the Depression, and things have gotten so out of control in the last 20 years, it might be good for my generation to face some honestly tough times; as opposed to "tough times" when you have bad cell reception or something.  But families are going to be hit hard, and there is nothing good about that.  Men are very keen on being the provider for their homes, and when this fundamental brick is removed from their lives, it's going to be hard on them.  Wives are going to need to be firm with their love and support for their husbands in this period, and marriages have to work together.  Maybe the new year is a good time to start a marriage devotional together, who knows.  There is a movie out called "Fireproof" with Kirk Cameron (if you haven't heard of it, maybe you should get out once in a while  :)  ), and there is a marriage devotional based on "The Love Dare," which is the book Kirk was given in the movie (you can find both the devotional and "The Love Dare" in stores, just fyi).

Firstly, I got a forwarded email about gift cards for the holidays:

FYI....

Not sure if it is all  completely accurate but thought that I would pass it along.  Never hurts to be aware before you buy a gift card!  

 

I wanted to give everyone a heads up that if you tend to give gift cards 
around the holidays; you need to be careful that the cards will be 
honored after the holidays.  

Stores that are planning to close after 
Christmas are still selling the cards through the holidays even though 
the cards will be worthless January 1. There is no law preventing them 
from doing this. On the contrary, it is referred to as 'Bankruptcy 
Planning). Below is a partial list of stores that you need to be 
cautious about. 


Circuit City (filed Chapter 11) 
Ann Taylor- 117 stores nationwide closing 
Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug ,and Catherine's to close 150 stores nationwide 
Eddie Bauer to close stores 27 stores and more after January 
Cache will close all stores 
Talbots closing down specialty stores 
J. Jill closing all stores (owned by Talbots) 
Pacific Sunwear (also owned by Talbots) 
GAP closing 85 stores 
Footlocker closing 140 stores mo re to close after January 
Wickes Furniture closing down 
Levitz closing down remaining stores 
Bombay closing remaining stores 
Zales closing down 82 stores and 105 after January 
Whitehall closing all stores 
Piercing Pagoda closing all stores 
Disney closing 98 stores and will close more after January. 
Home Depot closing 15 stores 1 in NJ ( New Brunswick ) 
Macys to close 9 stores after January 
Linens and Things closing all stores 
Movie Galley Closing all stores 
Pep Boys Closing 33 stores 
Sprint/Nextel closing 133 stores 
JC Penney closing a number of stores after January 
Ethan Allen closing down 12 stores. 
Wilson Leather closing down all stores 
Sharper Image closing down all stores 
K B Toys closing 356 stores 
Loews to close down some stores 
Dillard's to close some stores

 

  That is a whole lot of unemployment sitting there, if this is true. 

Secondly:

AP

Jobless claims jump unexpectedly to 16-year high

Thursday November 20, 10:45 am ET
By Christopher S. Rugaber, AP Economics Writer

Jobless claims jump unexpectedly to 16-year high as labor market weakens rapidly

WASHINGTON (AP) -- New claims for unemployment benefits jumped last week to a 16-year high, the Labor Department said Thursday, providing more evidence of a rapidly weakening job market expected to get even worse next year.

The government said new applications for jobless benefits rose to a seasonally adjusted 542,000 from a downwardly revised figure of 515,000 in the previous week. That's much higher than Wall Street economists' expectations of 505,000, according to a survey by Thomson Reuters.

That is also the highest level of claims since July 1992, the department said, when the U.S. economy was coming out of a recession.

The four-week average of claims, which smooths out fluctuations, was even worse: it rose to 506,500, the highest in more than 25 years.

In addition, the number of people continuing to claim unemployment insurance rose sharply for the third straight week to more than 4 million, the highest since December 1982, when the economy was in a painful recession...(rest of the story)  (I can't figure out how to get rid of those ads...I'm not sponsoring GM or anything)

Things are going to get tight around here soon.  I would suggest closing some wallets and being more economical about spending.  I'm curious, and a little nervous, about the new year.  I just have this feeling that it's going to be very different.

I like walking barefoot.  Shoes just ...stifle me.  Consequently I have some wicked callouses.  Recently I stepped on a teeny piece of glass which really got stuck in my foot, but there was so much callous, I couldn't get it out (plus, it was super small).  After a month of pain, I finally had a doctor give me a shot of numb-er and dug it and the dried blood out.  After about a week, the hole is healed and I feel better! (yay!) 

For my birthday my mom sent me a ped egg.  I had looked at those in the store, but I just never got one.  So tonight: I am going to try it.

It looks very scary, being a metal file that you use on your feet and all.  But I've had women tell me it works great and they haven't shaved their foot off or anything, so I'm hopeful.

First try, left foot:  So far so good.  I think it feels a little softer, but I don't want to do too much on the first try.  I can't figure out how to get the thing open to release the shavings like they do on the infomercial, so I don't even know if anything has actually worked.  I'm going to be putting BeautiControl's Save Your Sole foot balm on tonight, just to keep moisturized.  I'll see how it feels in the morning. 

Second try, right foot:  still okay, no blood yet.  Still can't figure out how to get it open.

Okay, finally got it off and there was a little powder in it.  Not nearly as much as in the infomercial, so I did it really light.  But I think that's the safest way for the first try.

So: success!  No pain or blood!  Booya

I'm just going to cut and paste the article.  It's kind of interesting.  Global warming is one of those issues which is absolutely impossible to have any firm opinion on, as a layman.  I think recycling and cutting back on driving, replacing lightbulbs and appliances with energy saving ones, etc., is fantastic.  But in terms of what is actually happening to the world: the data changes by day, by country and by scientist.  So who knows.  But it's interesting to read about and keep tabs on (ignorance is never your ally).

The world has never seen such freezing heat

link: By Christopher Booker

A surreal scientific blunder last week raised a huge question mark about the temperature records that underpin the worldwide alarm over global warming. On Monday, Nasa's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), which is run by Al Gore's chief scientific ally, Dr James Hansen, and is one of four bodies responsible for monitoring global temperatures, announced that last month was the hottest October on record.

This was startling. Across the world there were reports of unseasonal snow and plummeting temperatures last month, from the American Great Plains to China, and from the Alps to New Zealand. China's official news agency reported that Tibet had suffered its "worst snowstorm ever". In the US, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration registered 63 local snowfall records and 115 lowest-ever temperatures for the month, and ranked it as only the 70th-warmest October in 114 years.

So what explained the anomaly? GISS's computerised temperature maps seemed to show readings across a large part of Russia had been up to 10 degrees higher than normal. But when expert readers of the two leading warming-sceptic blogs, Watts Up With That and Climate Audit, began detailed analysis of the GISS data they made an astonishing discovery. The reason for the freak figures was that scores of temperature records from Russia and elsewhere were not based on October readings at all. Figures from the previous month had simply been carried over and repeated two months running.  (whoops)

The error was so glaring that when it was reported on the two blogs - run by the US meteorologist Anthony Watts and Steve McIntyre, the Canadian computer analyst who won fame for his expert debunking of the notorious "hockey stick" graph - GISS began hastily revising its figures. This only made the confusion worse because, to compensate for the lowered temperatures in Russia, GISS claimed to have discovered a new "hotspot" in the Arctic - in a month when satellite images were showing Arctic sea-ice recovering so fast from its summer melt that three weeks ago it was 30 per cent more extensive than at the same time last year.  (which is really interesting, since the headlines all year have been about the dramatic decline of sea ice in the Artic during the summer)

A GISS spokesman lamely explained that the reason for the error in the Russian figures was that they were obtained from another body, (i.e., it's not our fault) and that GISS did not have resources to exercise proper quality control over the data it was supplied with. This is an astonishing admission: the figures published by Dr Hansen's institute are not only one of the four data sets that the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) relies on to promote its case for global warming, but they are the most widely quoted, since they consistently show higher temperatures than the others.

If there is one scientist more responsible than any other for the alarm over global warming it is Dr Hansen, who set the whole scare in train back in 1988 with his testimony to a US Senate committee chaired by Al Gore. Again and again, Dr Hansen has been to the fore in making extreme claims over the dangers of climate change. (He was recently in the news here for supporting the Greenpeace activists acquitted of criminally damaging a coal-fired power station in Kent, on the grounds that the harm done to the planet by a new power station would far outweigh any damage they had done themselves.)

Yet last week's latest episode is far from the first time Dr Hansen's methodology has been called in question. In 2007 he was forced by Mr Watts and Mr McIntyre to revise his published figures for US surface temperatures, to show that the hottest decade of the 20th century was not the 1990s, as he had claimed, but the 1930s. (zing!)

Another of his close allies is Dr Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the IPCC, who recently startled a university audience in Australia by claiming that global temperatures have recently been rising "very much faster" than ever, in front of a graph showing them rising sharply in the past decade. In fact, as many of his audience were aware, they have not been rising in recent years and since 2007 have dropped. (see, it's hard to tell what really is going on when all these inconsistencies exist in the scientific world)

Dr Pachauri, a former railway engineer with no qualifications in climate science, may believe what Dr Hansen tells him. But whether, on the basis of such evidence, it is wise for the world's governments to embark on some of the most costly economic measures ever proposed, to remedy a problem which may actually not exist, is a question which should give us all pause for thought.

We were in the car with Ben's dad last night on our way to celebrate Nova's birthday, and I went right into a full tachycardia attack.  We stopped the car and I got out and tried getting it to stop, and it did a little, but then when I stood up to get out of the car again it just went right back into fast and irregular.  I was getting really dizzy by then and my hands were getting a little fuzzy, so Ben took me/us to the ER.  I really don't know what went on, because I haven't had this in years.  The part that worried me the most was when it came back a few minutes later.  It usually doesn't do that.  But in the ER they did some blood lab work and had me on an IV and cardio wires and baby monitors, and the baby is absolutely fine.  The nurse was having trouble finding his heartbeat because he wouldn't stop moving (which is pretty common for him), but he is doing very well.  And the nurses said my heart was doing better after they put the IV in, so we're thinking it might be a combination of dehydration, hunger and stress.  But that's really just a guess, because the doctor didn't have any answers either.  He said the blood work looked fine, but if it happens again definitely come in again.  I certainly hope it doesn't. 

The kids are doing fine.  They found a few friends in the waiting room, and according to Nova I was just having trouble with the baby kicking me, but "Mom's fine now."  We got a pizza and breadless hamburgers (for me) on the way home, had cake and candles and Nova made a wish and opened her presents and she's very happy.  They weren't fazed or weirded out, and we just tried to keep things very calm during the night which seems to have worked great for them.  Right now they're eating breakfast with their birthday/unbirthday presents very happily.

I'm a little depressed that this came back, since I've done pretty well with it for a while now.  But that's the way things are, so I'm taking it easy, eating and drinking water.  Reading up on tachycardia again, since it's been a while:

Symptoms can come on suddenly and may go away without treatment. They can last a few minutes or as long as 1-2 days. The rapid beating of the heart during SVT can make the heart a less effective pump so that the cardiac output is decreased and the blood pressure drops. The following symptoms are typical with a rapid pulse of 150-250 beats per minute:

• Pounding chest
• Shortness of breath
• Chest pain
• Rapid breathing
• Dizziness
• Loss of consciousness (in serious cases)

I had all of these except chest pain and loss of consciousness, but the latter was pretty near, it felt like, which was kind of freaking me out and thus, making the situation worse.

The term supraventricular tachycardia is often used differently in different settings. Properly, it refers to any tachycardia that is not ventricular in origin. This definition includes sinus tachycardia. Often, however, in a clinical setting, it is used loosely as a synonym for paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardiaAV nodal reentrant tachycardias. (PSVT), which refers to those SVTs that have a sudden, almost immediate onset. A person experiencing PSVT may see their heart rate go from 90 to 180 beats per minute instantaneously. Because sinus tachycardias (and some other SVTs) have a gradual (i.e. non-immediate) onset, they are excluded from the PSVT category. PSVTs are usually

So I probably have PSVT.  I saw a cardiologist for this a few years ago and he did the whole line on me, with monitors and an ultrasound of my heart and everything.  His conclusion was that I have an extra electrical current in my heart.  I told that to the ER doctor who said, "how could he tell that from an ultrasound?"  I shrugged and said, "you guys are the doctors.  Beats me."  And that seemed good enough to him.

Acute Treatment

In general, SVT is not life threatening, but episodes should be treated or prevented. While some treatment modalities can be applied to all SVTs with impunity, there are specific therapies available to cure some of the different sub-types. Cure requires intimate knowledge of how and where the arrhythmia is initiated and propagated.

The SVTs can be separated into two groups, based on whether they involve the AV node for impulse maintenance or not. Those that involve the AV node can be terminated by slowing conduction through the AV node. Those that do not involve the AV node will not usually be stopped by AV nodal blocking manoevres. These manoevres are still useful however, as transient AV block will often unmask the underlying rhythm abnormality.

AV nodal blocking can be achieved in at least three different ways:

Physical Maneuver

A number of physical maneuvers cause increased AV nodal block, principally through activation of the parasympathetic nervous system, conducted to the heart by the Vagus nerve. These manipulations are therefore collectively referred to as Vagal Maneuvers.

The best recognized of these is the Valsalva maneuver, which increases intra-thoracic pressure and affects baro-receptors (pressure sensors) within the arch of the aorta. This can be achieved by asking the patient to hold their breath and "bear down" as if straining to pass a bowel motion, or less embarrassingly, by getting them to hold their nose and blow out against it. Plunging the face into, or just drinking a glass of ice cold water is also often effective (dive reflex) as well as standing on your head in a headstand works well. Firmly pressing the bulb at the top of one of the carotid arteries in the neck (carotid sinus massage, stimulating carotid baro-receptors) is also effective, but not recommended for those without adequate medical training.

This is what I tried, and it usually works, but apparently not last night.  But it's very effective and has worked out great for me in the past.  I haven't tried standing on my head, but I don't think that would be advisable for a 5 month pregnant woman.  I also have never had a doctor suggest this either.  Mainly the bearing down.

Drug Treatment

Another modality involves treatment with medications. Prehospital care providers and hospital clinicians might administer Adenosine, an ultra short acting AV nodal blocking agent. If this works, followup therapy with Diltiazem, Verapamil or Metoprolol may be indicated. SVT that does NOT involve the AV node may respond to other anti-arrhythmic drugs such as Sotalol or Amiodarone.

In pregnancy, Metoprolol is the treatment of choice as recommended by the American Heart Association.

I've never had drug treatment, but there was one time my pulse was about 244, and the ambulence staff had a shot that would stop my heart for a brief second, and it would start again on its own.  So this was like a reset button-shot.  I had a very loud conversation with God as the needle was headed for my arm: "GOD YOU NEED TO LISTEN RIGHT NOW AND HELP ME OUT BECAUSE THEY'RE GOING TO STOP MY HEART!!"  And my rate was down to 98 just before they gave me the shot, so they didn't give it to me.  I was very. very. veryveryvery happy.  Very.  Praise God.  Seriously.

Electrical Cardioversion

If physical maneuvers or drugs do not work, or if the patient is extremely unstable, a DC shock delivered to the chest (synchronized cardioversion) may also be used, and is almost always effective.

Prevention & Cure

Once the acute episode has been terminated, ongoing treatment may be indicated to prevent a recurrence of the arrhythmia. Patients who have a single isolated episode, or infrequent and minimally symptomatic episodes usually do not warrant any treatment except observation.

That's me, which I'm pretty thankful for.

Patients who have more frequent or disabling symptoms from their episodes generally warrant some form of preventative therapy. A variety of drugs including simple AV nodal blocking agents like beta-blockers [[1]]and verapamil, as well as anti-arrhythmics may be used, usually with good effect, although the risks of these therapies need to be weighed against the potential benefits.

For tachycardia caused by a re-entrant pathway, radio frequency ablation is probably the best option.

I've looked into this and it is not for me.  I am REALLY thankful for that.

This is a low risk procedure that uses a catheter inside the heart to deliver radio frequency energy to locate and destroy the abnormal electrical pathways. Ablation has been shown to be highly effective: up to 99% effective in eliminating AVNRT. Similar high rates of success are achieved with radio frequency ablation in eliminating AVRT and typical Atrial Flutter.

Notable cases

After being successfully diagnosed and treated, Bobby Julich went on to place third in the 1998 Tour de France and win a Bronze Medal in the 2004 Summer Olympics.^[2] Women's Olympic volleyball player Tayyiba Haneef-Park underwent an ablation for SVT just two months before competing in the 2008 Summer Olympics.^[3] Tony Blair, former PM of the UK, was also operated on for SVT. Anastacia was recently diagnosed with the disease (News of the World interview)

So, this is what I have so far.  Not a lot of answers as to "why" it's happening, or what I can do to prevent it further.  I've been to cardiologists, and the last one gave me the medical advice to "calm down."  But I don't like being at risk, I definitely don't like dragging my kids to the ER, because pretty soon they're going to figure out that something is wrong and I don't want them to worry about Mom.  It's hard to say what exactly to do about this.  I get nervous about taking walks, because what if something happens when I'm too far away from the house with the kids?  I always bring my phone with me when I go to the park or go on walks, but I'm not going for now.  I'd just be too worried.  Or going to the store: probably not alone for a while.  So, I'm going to go lay down.  Prayers are so greatly appreciated.

We're back from Vegas, and believe you me: I have a blog post for that.  But in the meantime, I was reading this article and found it very interesting (read to the end.  I'm a little depressed about the ending):

Pastor Abandons His Church

Posted Nov 10, 10:47 AM | 32 comments | by Steve Knight | Link

From the Associated Press –

Hiam Shatir may look like your average pastor, but he’s not acting like one. In a nation filled with expensive mega-church buildings popping up, Hiam instead chose to sell his mega-church, Crestview Community Church, and attempt to live into what he says is the call to “be the church.” And although many doubt him, Hiam just knew it was the right move to make."

You have my attention.  The "emerging church" is  a new movement in churches these days, and I'm not terribly familiar with the term because I'm not interested in church trends, per se.  I am, on one hand, because I witness some of these trends and it's helpful to learn that other people have the same questions I do about them.  Wikipedia does an okay job summarizing the "emerging church" philosophy:

"The emerging church (sometimes referred to as the emergent church movement) is an Evangelical Christian movement whose participants seek to live their faith in modern society by emulating Jesus Christ irrespective of Christian religious traditions. Proponents of this movement call it a "conversation" to emphasize its developing and decentralized nature as well as its emphasis on interfaith dialogue rather than one-way evangelism. Members of emerging communities may be disillusioned with the organized and institutional church and often support the deconstruction of modern Christian dogma. The movement often favors the use of simple story and narrative, occasionally incorporating mysticism. Members of the emerging movement place high value on good works or social activism, sometimes including missional living or new monasticism; while Evangelicals may emphasize eternal salvation, many in the emerging movement emphasize the here and now and the need to create a kingdom of heaven on Earth."

So, in essence, the emerging church is seeking faith in action, rather than faith in attendance.  This can be an issue with some people, Christian and non-Christian alike: does following Christ mean you just have to show up on Sundays?  Many people think not, and therefore start small groups of Bible study, singing, crafts, sports, charity work, volunteer work, etc.  The list of small group topics is endless, with the motive of serving God to fuel them.  So why would a pastor of a mega-church of 8,000 members, suddenly give it all up?

“We just felt it was the right thing to do,” said Hiam, a businessman turned pastor, from his converted basement where he now administrates the church. “We couldn’t put our foot on the problem. People were sitting in the pews and not doing anything. They would come and sit and leave. And we began to ask if this is the Gospel.”

Modern churches, or at least many aspiring mega-churches, follow this path:

"Crestview was known for its amazing stage productions, heartfelt contemporary worship, and relevant sermon topics often based on current events and pop culture. It quickly grew in numbers—adding two satellite “video campuses” and a recently launched online church campus—and was cited as one of the fastest growing churches in the nation. “Having someone validate what we were doing like that was really cool at first. We were really good at creating the ‘Wow’ factor that would have them wanting more,” Hiam says in reflection. “But I would go home exhausted and consistently wonder what difference we were making. I didn’t like that. And I just reached a point where I couldn’t do it anymore.”

Reaching this point in a ministry is devastating.  Most people join or start ministries because they are following the good message of Jesus, and trying to encourage others to live in a more godly-centered way.  Things such as forgiveness, bitterness and anger are very difficult to overcome.  I have found that church fellowship, meditation and prayer make a world of difference in alleviating the pain we sometimes find in life.  And conversely, when you encounter joys and pleasures, the fellowship in church makes the experiences that much more meaningful.  But what happens when nothing happens?  A church of 8,000 is no small task: church memberships tend to peak at about 800, and for some reason it is difficult to get beyond that number.

"So what made this ultra-successful pastor of one of the city’s largest suburban communities take such a radical step? Hiam shared that it was faith. “One day I walked into the main sanctuary, and it was empty. It was this huge building that we were paying a mortgage on and it was dark. I just had this sense of wonder if this is really what Jesus would do. Would he have created this building? And then when the economy took a downturn, paying the mortgage became our primary concern. But everyone was hurting. We had to let people go from their jobs. All of a sudden paying the bills became our primary motivation.”

Hiam shared that his messages became motivated by how much those people could give to the church rather than the Gospel. And then a moment of clarity hit me. “I was standing there on a Sunday and, right in the middle of my sermon, I just stopped. I looked around and just realized that, if we let go of this burden, everything would change. It was at that time I started to really question our intentions. At the same time, some really good people asked if we were living ‘missionally.’ Were we really releasing people to minister to their neighbor? I didn’t have a good answer to that question.”

Hiam began to doubt his own faith and purpose. “It was a dark time. More than once I told my wife I wanted to quit and go back to business,” Hiam said. “I felt like I was losing my soul. But the board of elders stuck with me, and they began to ask how we could begin to use money to solve real needs when we saw them. We suddenly realized we had the power to release people to be ‘missional.’”

This is the part that is extremely true, and very often glossed over: "it was a dark time.  More than once I told my wife I wanted to quit and go back to business."  I can't handle politics very well.  It just drives me batty, and I have wanted to quit a few ministries a few times.  Some I have.  What is saddening for me is the lack of compassion for individuals in ministries who face obstacles and desire to quit.  It isn't the same as not liking your desk job at HP and deciding to quit; you are quitting a work you have put your heart and faith into.  It is a tough choice to make, but as Haim rightly puts it, it is "a dark time."  The idea that every work will be fruitful and prosperous, and everyone will be healed of cancer and no one will face hard times when involved in a ministry is a load of hooey.  Often, that is the time when we face our most difficult challenges and trials.  No disciple of Jesus in the New Testament had it easy: it would be pretty naive to believe things would be roses for anyone else.  We live in a world full of divisions of ideas, faiths, beliefs, experiences and opinions.  Just the day of Thanksgiving is difficult for many of us, let alone living in our economic and politically turmoiled times.  This is my own motive for belonging to a church, instead of living a solitary life.  I could easily read the Bible and agree with Jesus on my own; but I wouldn't be able to share ideas, help families in need, reach out to hurting women if I did.  And that was what Jesus taught more than anything: love your neighbor, love your enemy, help the poor, encourage the broken.  Be there for each other.  It seems that is what Haim didn't see in his church of 8,000.

"Hiam wrestled with the decision over a six-month period. He knew that letting go of the building meant doing things in a completely different way. “The show would be gone, and, in some ways, that was hard for my ego to let go. It essentially meant trusting God to work in the people and not being everything to everybody. It was like we had new glasses on. We quickly realized that, before, a small majority of people were doing almost everything. They were burned out and completely exhausted. Now everyone has responsibility and purpose. So many people came to me, thanking me,” Hiam said.

When the building was sold, many felt lost in the transition. “We immediately lost about 30% of the people who attended our church,” Hiam shared. That number roughly translates to almost a thousand people. “Everyone called me and told me they just wanted a place to go on Sunday. They didn’t want to go out into the world. People’s primary concern was the loss of our children’s program.”

In talking with several families that had left, one woman expressed what has become a common refrain of ex-Crestview members, “Who will teach our children about Jesus? We just felt we needed a good children’s program and didn’t want to lose that.”

I will add that this is also a common theme in churches, despite the size: a certain number of people will do everything.  At our last church Ben and I were absolutely, completely burnt out in helping with preschool Sunday school, because we were there for weeks, if not months, at a time, and never had the rest to go to church on Sunday.  I believe this was mismanagement of the coordinator, as we were among a few others who were burnt out teaching 3-4 hours of Sunday school for 6-8 weeks at a time.  Although I don't personally understand it myself, the fact is that there was a large number of people in the church who simply refused to help or participate (or tithe).  Hence, the workload of children's ministry, ushering, programs, etc, fell on those who were willing to work.  And though the motivation for serving in the church was, and is, noble and rewarding, we all have a job outside of church as well; whether it is for an employer or in our homes.  The burnout factor is very real for me, and I know it is for many others as well.  After a while you wonder what on earth you're working so hard for, or whom you're working for: following the teachings of Jesus, or just making sure the church has x ministry for the books?

"Life for Hiam and the church is now more complex but, he says, more rewarding. To accommodate the lack of facilities, Hiam took the radical step and converted his basement into an administration center. “We slimmed down everything and focused on following Jesus into mission. We asked what it would mean to love God and our neighbor as ourselves. We now meet once a month for a large gathering and meal, and put all of our focus on meeting in homes. It meant really getting serious about discipleship and putting our trust into the hands of our gifted leaders.”

Once a regular speaker at evangelical conferences on topics such as leadership and church growth, Hiam says the invitations to speak have all but dried up. The shift has allowed Hiam to focus almost exclusively on meeting with leaders. He now meets almost daily with those who run discipleship groups in their homes. One leader, Bill Jarvis, liked the transition, “For the first time, I feel like I am understanding what Jesus meant when he said, ‘Go and make disciples.’ And I like it.”

The lack of mortgage has allowed the church community to give almost 80% of their tithe away. “We’re now seeing people take initiative where they wouldn’t before. We’ve empowered them to be Jesus right where they’re at. And they like it. One part of the community is using their money to help single mothers get through college. Another group has renovated an old warehouse and turned it into a community art complex. A third group builds fresh water wells for third world countries almost every month.”

Hiam is now more aware of his impact on the community and can’t imagine going back. “Someone just yesterday came up to me and said, ‘I don’t have to drive to the church to feel like a Christian anymore. I just have to go out my front door.’ That right there told me we made the right decision.”

Wait a second:

This is a work of satire. We hope it causes some reflection and sparks some good discussion about how we steward the church in the midst of this economic crisis.

.....nevermind.  I didn't realize this was satire.  I thought it actually worked.  I hate finding out things are satire at the end.  Sorry about that.

I am extremely glad the campaigning is over, and I thought both speeches last night were beautifully written.  So here are some ending notes from behind the scenes of the campaigns (some are pretty funny):

Other highlights from the report:

-- McCain himself rarely spoke to Palin during the campaign and aides kept him in the dark about the details of her spending on clothes because they were sure he would be offended. Palin asked to speak along with McCain at his Arizona concession speech but campaign strategist Steve Schmidt vetoed the request.

-- The Obama campaign was provided with reports from the Secret Service showing a sharp and very disturbing increase in threats to Obama in September and early October, at the same time that the crowds at Palin rallies became more frenzied. Michelle Obama was shaken by the vituperative crowds and the hot rhetoric from the GOP candidates. "Why would they try to make people hate us?" Michelle Obama said to a top campaign aide.

-- On the Sunday night before the last debate, McCain's core group of advisers--Steve Schmidt, Rick Davis, adman Fred Davis, strategist Greg Strimple, pollster Bill McInturff and strategy director Sarah Simmons -- met to decide whether or not to tell McCain that the race was effectively over, that he no longer had a chance to win. The consensus in the room was no, not yet, not while he still had "a pulse."

-- The Obama campaign's "New Media" experts created a computer program that would allow a "flusher"--the term for a volunteer who rounds up nonvoters on Election Day--to know exactly who had, and had not, voted in real time. They dubbed it Project Houdini, because of the way names disappear off the list instantly once people are identified as they wait in line at their local polling station.

-- Palin launched her attack on Obama's association with William Ayers, the former Weather Underground bomber, before the campaign had finalized a plan to raise the issue. McCain's advisers were working on a strategy that they hoped to unveil the following week, but McCain had not signed off on it, and top adviser Mark Salter was resisting.

-- McCain also was reluctant to use Obama's incendiary pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright as a campaign issue. He had set firm boundaries: no Jeremiah Wright; no attacking Michelle Obama; no attacking Obama for not serving in the military. McCain balked at an ad using images of children that suggested that Obama might not protect them from terrorism; Schmidt vetoed ads suggesting that Obama was soft on crime (no Willie Hortons); and before word even got to McCain, Schmidt and Salter scuttled a "celebrity" ad of Obama dancing with talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres (the sight of a black man dancing with a lesbian was deemed too provocative).

-- Obama was never inclined to choose Sen. Hillary Clinton as his running mate, not so much because she had been his sometime bitter rival on the campaign trail, but because of her husband. Still, as Hillary's name came up in veep discussions, and Obama's advisers gave all the reasons why she should be kept off the ticket, Obama would stop and ask, "Are we sure?" He needed to be convinced one more time that the Clintons would do more harm than good. McCain, on the other hand, was relieved to face Biden as the veep choice, and not Hillary Clinton, whom the McCain camp had truly feared.

-- McCain was dumbfounded when Congressman John Lewis, a civil-rights hero, issued a press release comparing McCain with former Alabama Gov. George Wallace, a segregationist infamous for stirring racial fears. McCain had devoted a chapter to Lewis in one of his books, "Why Courage Matters" and had so admired Lewis that he had once taken his children to meet him.

-- The debates unnerved both candidates. When he was preparing for the Democratic primary debates, Obama was recorded saying, "I don't consider this to be a good format for me, which makes me more cautious. I often find myself trapped by the questions and thinking to myself, 'You know, this is a stupid question, but let me ... answer it.' So when Brian Williams is asking me about what's a personal thing that you've done [that's green], and I say, you know, 'Well, I planted a bunch of trees.' And he says, 'I'm talking about personal.' What I'm thinking in my head is, 'Well, the truth is, Brian, we can't solve global warming because I f---ing changed light bulbs in my house. It's because of something collective'."

Okay, today is election day.  Chances are you are going to vote, as I am.  But at the end of the day, there will be victories and losses.

Please keep your head on, regardless of the outcome.  We are Americans, despite our political affiliations and divides.  Both sides have been asking for and promising change and hope for the past 22 months, and it is imperative that we enforce these ideas within ourselves.  Change begins when we continue to love our neighbor, even if Obama wins.  Hope begins when we aren't hostile to each other in our homes if McCain wins.  Change and hope begin with us first, and I am begging America to take these ideals which we so desperately need and want, and start with ourselves on this day.  Bitterness and anger will come to us all at the end of the day.  There will be propositions that will pass and fail that I agree and disagree with.  But this is still America, and we are a great country built by great people and great ideas.  Today can be the day when things change.


For all other countries and continents: carry on.

If you haven't already, turn your clocks back!  :D

 I'm so happy.  I love Fall.  I have one extra hour to get ready for Sunday School (I'm Glenn's teacher today).