The other day I was craving freshly-squeezed lemon juice, again! Every once in a while I have to have it, not unlike my chocolate cravings that attack me like a pittbull every few weeks. In any case, I had always thought the lemonade thing was brought on by a specific type of thirst from salty food or something. But this time, I noticed I had been feeling sleepy all day along with the rainy weather and low atmospheric pressure. Which got me to thinking…how much our bodies and their functioning are affected by weather. It seems that doctors can find nothing completely conclusive about how rain causes people with arthritis to suffer more or how excessive heat causes criminals to act up. But Belfast Telegraph in the U.K. came up with an interesting list of 12 different natural weather conditions and their possible human symptoms, from humidity-induced migraines to insomnia brought on by wind.

In our fast digital age, how often do we take the time to write a letter by hand, send a gift (self-picked and self-packed), or even walk over to a friend’s house? Many time-taking social rituals have become near extinct, as our digital, virtual, and electronic lives rush into the future.

Well, the other day, I had the true pleasure of receiving a REAL package from my loving grandmother in Europe. She is from a time when people took effort to perform simple(now) tasks in their daily lives, and when everything was done by hand. No generic envelopes or force-fed commercial packing. Here is a picture of her package:

And inside:

And inside that? Well, you know, some german toothpaste I asked for (for my birthday), plus some typical german chocolate (Milka - you can’t get it here, really), plus some other little things, all neatly packed tight - you could tell she put thought into the whole thing.

You should have seen my face walking out with it at the post office: gleaming. I felt so special! Also, you should have seen all the passersby eyeing my box - they knew it was a unique treat you don’t see too often nowadays.

Great list by Mashable has all the info you need to download videos embedded in websites such as Youtube, Google Video, etc. It’s really a “must-bookmark” webpage…
(I used KeepVid and it worked perfectly!)

A month ago, the New York Times published an article named “Free Services to Inspire Your Cellphone,” and in it there are 2 absolutely free services that I find pretty jaw-dropping.

1. Free Directory Assistance, dialing 1-800-FREE-411 (does have an ad you have to listen to though). Or, text message 46645 (G-O-O-G-L) with what you need(in terms of directories, or even weather, stock quotes, definitions, directions, etc) in the body of the message. The third option you have is to call 1-800-555-TELL where an automated voice asked you what you need.
2. Free International Calls - call FuturePhone at their 1-712-858-8883 access number and follow directions. It is totally free, and it includes over 50 countries, not always mobile phones. Note: I did try this twice, and found that all ‘circuits were busy’, so it may not be as easy to use as it looks…

A couple months ago I came down with a cold. I guess my last-minute resort, Echinacea, couldn’t help prevent this one. In any case, a nice contact of mine at the time recommended “Emergen-C” to me, saying that during the winter he drinks it all the time to avoid colds.

I traveled to the nearest vitamin store to get it. It costs about $10 for a box of 36 packets. You can choose from different flavors, none of which sounded very appealing to me, so I chose “Super Orange.” It still tasted bad. Instead of mixing it in water, I would put it in juice or ice tea mix or something…I never liked it. BUT, it REALLY WORKS. As soon as you drink it, you feel a bit better.

So I decided I’d do some research on Vitamin C, to see what’s really going on. I found tons of stuff online. This article describes Vitamin C is high detail, in particular about Vitamin C reacting with other chemicals/supplements in the body. The one main side-effect from taking too much Vitamin C is diarrhea. Many people suggest taking as much as your body can handle (i.e. if you get diarrhea, then take it down a notch). Others recommend to stay closer to the daily recommended intake of under 100mg and not to go farther than 1000mg.

In the meantime, I also found pure Vitamin C powder at the local health food store. Vitamin C is really just abscorbic acid (though it can come in different forms), which is what makes those bright-colored sugary “worms” I used to eat as a teenager taste tangy. So about 3-4 times a day, I added about 1/2 teaspoon of Vitamin C to whatever I was drinking. I barely noticed the taste, and I was getting about 5-10 grams of Vitamin C a day.

Vitamin C allowed me to function with my cold. Most symptoms (stuffy nose, etc) were alleviated (by A LOT), and if I took a couple aspirin as well, any temperature I had was not noticeable. It was like taking an antihistamine or Advil Cold & Sinus but without the drugs (Advil C&S, non -drowsy version, is great but it has pseudoepinephrine in it, which is basically like taking caffeine to keep you up & going). Also, Vitamin C has other medical properties that benefit the body.

Since Vitamin C also has great anti-oxidant abilities, I try to take it as much as possible. My favorite method of ingesting it is the powder, but I also have big 1000mg (+1g) pills that are much more portable. Of course, if I feel tired & sluggish (like before coming down with a cold), I try to take more.