If you didn’t know, I am a huge soda addict. Diet Coke. Coke Zero. Diet Dr Pepper. I drink about 8 cans a day.
Well, I used to.
I recently signed up for life insurance, and part of the process involves getting bloodwork done. After going through the whole process, they send you the lab results for your record.
My results looked excellent for the most part. Good blood count. Good cholesterol. The only abnormal result was my creatinine. It was very slightly elevated.
Now, normally I wouldn’t be concerned about a study that was only slightly elevated, but there’s been some recent studies that show that chronic soda drinking can result in chronic renal failure.
This was enough to scare me. I knew it was time to put my excessive soda drinking to an end. So how did I do it? One day, I just decided to quit. I decided not to buy any soda for home, and I refused to drink soda in the house. The only time I could drink soda was out at a restaurant.
That was a month ago. So far, so good. I had some seriously bad headaches for about week after stopping cold turkey, but Tylenol and coffee helped. Now the headaches are gone, and I’m patting myself on the back for taking action. Hopefully I can continue this positive trend.
Is there anything you’ve been wanting to end in your life? Maybe now’s the time to take that step..
Thanks to everyone who went out of their way to attend our engagement party and puja this past weekend. It was a blast! I can’t think of any way it could have been better.
Here’s a link to the entire album of 150 photos on Flickr:
Here’s some highlights from the weekend:
Engagement Puja on Saturday
Engagement Party on Saturday
Tonight’s 60 Minutes included a story by Leslie Stahl on Al Gore’s continued fight for the environment. This piece was incredibly powerful and motivating as it discusses Al Gore’s new, massively expensive ad campaign designed to push enviromental issues to the forefront of our upcoming presidential election.
Will it work? Who knows. Regardless, take the 13 minutes to watch this 60 Minutes story. By the way, this is my first attempt at Flash video (I ripped this story from my DVR), so if the quality is bad, I apologize.
Click image for a bigger view.
Note: This actually occurred on March 9th, but my site has been having problems recently that prevented me from writing posts.
Of all the millions of articles on Wikipedia, guess what article is the featured article for today? Yes, that’s right.. the entry on Plano Senior High School. A little Plano Pride, I guess.. 
This is the second time this week I’ve seen a Plano reference in the media. The first time was a little clip on The Daily Show that showed people caucusing in Plano. Maybe my hometown is now finally becoming better recognized? It is the 9th largest city in Texas, after all.
A two month summer in Boston just flew by, and now I’m back in Galveston. The dreaded second year of med school starts tomorrow with CVP (Cardiovascular Pulmonary).
If you missed any of my Boston photos, here’s links to all of them:
I just wanted to give a shout out for Earth Day. Let’s work towards improving our environment and not letting it go to waste.
If you’re looking for a good way to help the environment, here’s one. Make it an effort to convert your light bulbs from incandescent bulbs to the low-power, energy-saving fluorescent light bulbs. According to the EPA, fluorescent lights use 2/3 less energy and generate 70% less heat.
A Flickr member has gone through the trouble of trying to recreate several early 20th century pictures. The results are absolutely amazing. Check it out on Flickr. It’s odd to see how little has actually changed over the years.
Almost a month ago, I visited Ed in San Antonio. We went to Hemisfair Park, which was built in 1968 for the World Fair. The place was absolutely beautiful, with green, lush trees, and lots of waterfalls and fountains around us. Very relaxing, and the weather was beautiful!
The park also houses the “Tower of the Americas” (think Reunion Tower in Dallas, or the Space Needle in Seattle), and it was quite an amazing experience to see the city from up high.
Take a look at the photos, and feel free to critique.
Done with the NHB (Neuroscience and Human Behavior) midterm. My brain doubled in size during the two weeks spent studying. Actual CT above.
Hope everyone has a great thanksgiving.
In the honor of today’s holiday, I’m posting a comic from probably my favorite comic strip on the web: PhD Comics.
