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• Links for 2010-03-12 [del.icio.us]

  2010 Mar 13

  • Help Your Family Cope with Your Chronic Illness | How To Cope With Pain Blog

• Links for 2010-03-11 [del.icio.us]

  2010 Mar 12

  • Impact of Chronic Illness on College Planning: A Guide for Teens

• Links for 2010-03-04 [del.icio.us]

  2010 Mar 05

  • The Press Release Handbook for ACB Affiliates and Chapters
  • FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

• Writer's Block: High notes

  2010 Mar 03

  If you could only listen to one music genre for the rest of your life (classical, rock, jazz, etc.), what would you choose, and why? Submitted By tabtakesall View 847 Answers

  
  
  If I could only listen to one genre of music, I’d probably have to pick country, although I have to say this would be very difficult for me because I love music so much. I find music to be incredibly healing and nurturing. But if forced to pick one genre, I would pick country and here are my reasons.
  
  First, country, especially the classic country, is real. It’s about real life issues which many of us can relate to. It doesn’t gloss over them and it it doesn’t sweep things under the rug. There’s never an elephant in the room with country music.
  
  Next, there’s the pain factor. Country really allows people to express the pain they feel. Song writers and singers can share their hard life experiences and tell the stories which don’t get told anywhere else or by anyone else. The song “Backwards” by Rascal Flatts makes fun of that if you play a country song, you’d get your dog back, your house back etc. But the reality is that much of country music comes from a place of poverty and pain, where hope had to be gotten the hard way.
  
  Which brings me to my next point. I’ve noticed that country music seems to have a greater representation of faith-based songs than other genres. Country and Gospel go hand in hand at this point. Country singers aren’t afraid to touch the darkness they feel but they also aren’t afraid to share the light their faith brings into their life.
  
  Country also inspires a lot of social action. I am specifically thinking of Johnny Cash’s song “Man in Black”, and why he wore black. He did it without demeaning others and without put-downs.
  
  Finally, there’s a lot of variety in this genre, from the classics, to Gospel, to the more contemporary, there’s something to fit most of my moods.

  

• Links for 2010-02-28 [del.icio.us]

  2010 Mar 01

  • Journal Your Way to a Brighter Outlook - Emotional Health Center - Everyday Health
    I've found some great applications for this type of stuff on the iPod touch.

• Singing my way to confidence?

  2010 Feb 25

  I know many of you out there love music, I do too. AsI work toward my goal of livinga full and fulfilling life, I find that music is often one of the medicines which allows me to do that. I've taken to making playlists of songs that help put me in a certain mood, make me laugh or have something vaguely to do with a certain theme. Right now, I'm working on one to boost confidence for something which brings back challenging memories. It's known (I'm cleaning this up here), as the "Kicking A** and Taking Names" Playlist. I I'd love to have any suggestions from readers as to what you'd put on it. I've got quite a variety, so feel free to give me something that you think you have to explain, I've got a few songs which probably would confuse people a lot. I've even got one movie clip and I'm considering another. So let me know what you think please.

  

• Hurts so Good: The best of Pain Blogging for the month of February

  2010 Feb 24

  It's that time of the month, the time when we get to read some excellent writing by and about people who deal with pain in their daily lives either as people in pain, family members or those who care about them. As usual, How to Cope with Pain has done an excellent job with the
  February 2010 Pain Blog carnival
  and no, I'm not just saying that because she was kind enough to include my podcast about the iCounselor application for the iPod. Now if you'll excuse me, there are a ton of great articles to go read!

  

• I may not be good lookin', but I did do some Cookin'

  2010 Feb 22

  I don't exactly enjoy cooking. Okay, actually, it scares me, and I usually avoid it for several reasons, especially because of the pain. But at some point, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do and that means I have to learn to cook if I ever want to be able to live on my own and truly care for myself. I need to face the fears and learn the adaptations so that I can feed myself successfully. Today, I took another step toward that goal.
  
  A few days ago, last Friday to be exact, a friend who also happens to have a visual impairment taught me to make macaroni and cheese from a box. I have to admit the thought scared me, but she explained it well. I know from experience that when I'm learning a new skill, it's often best if I can put it into practice right away, so today's lunch needed to be macaroni and cheese made by me, for me, with no intervention from anyone.
  
  I have to admit, again, I was pretty freaked out by the idea, but I also know from all of the learning I've done that some things we fear still need to be faced and I knew this was one of them. I want so badly to have choices in where I live and how I live. I want to control what I eat, how I eat and when I eat and to do that, I think I need to have some basic skills and the confidence to use them in the kitchen. So how did I make this work and how did it go? What would I do differently? ay, here comes my social work major:
  
  

  Pre-planning

  
  I needed to make sure I had all of the supplies. My parents had purchased the boxed mix and we had the milk and butter, I needed a knife to cut the stick of margerin, a pot to boil water and cook the pasta, a strainer, a spoon for stirring, serving and locating the pot while on the stove, hot pads, measuring cups, a small pitcher to pour some milk into to make it easier to measure a small quantity of milk and a pie tin to catch any spillage of the milk as I poured. Hot pads, or in my case, ove gloves were a necessity.
  
  It was also important to know the instructions which I felt pretty confident. Finally, I needed a way of timing the cooking of the pasta. I chose to try the iPod Touch's stopwatch since I knew I'd have it with me. Once all of these materials were gathered, I was ready to begin.
  
  I'll note here that since I wasn't using my own kitchen, it's not like I can assume everything will always be in the same place as I expect it to. This is why I had to prepare so carefully. That said, it's always good to know you have everything before you start.
  
  

  The Process

  
  The process wasn't too bad. We use a gas stove which allowed me to hear the level of the flame and the strength of heat being produced. It was actually quite easy to listen to and figure out when the water was boiling. I used the spoon to find the pot to dump the noodles into the water and stirred carefully. Then I poured them into the strainer and back into the pot and mixed in the sauce.
  
  

  Assessment

  
  I found the process to be rewarding in that I survived it safely and I am glad that I can do this now. I'm trying to let myself feel proud of this accomplishment too, but that's a process I'm still working on. Anyway, the pain and fatigue were the biggest barriers for me. I found that by the time I was actually ready to eat, I'd done so much problem solving for little things and stood so long that I felt sick and my pain was high. It's hard to enjoy the fruits of one's labor like that, no punn intended.
  
  I thought of a couple adaptations which might decrease the impact the of cooking macaroni on my pain. First, I could break the task into smaller chunks, for example, first getting out all of the pots, bowls and utensils, then doing something that is not standing, then filling the pot with water as appropriate; then taking another break. Next, I'd measure the butter and milk and refridgerate them. and, you guessed it, another break. Then I could do the actual cooking and while waiting for the water to boil or the pasta to cook, I could sit, instead of madly dashing around to measure the butter and milk. I think that would help a lot.
  
  Overall, however, I consider this a success, I made myself something to eat, and even though it was hard, I still did it. I'm facing my challenges and turning them into positive stepping stones with the help of my friends. I'm so blestt!

  

• Links for 2010-02-14 [del.icio.us]

  2010 Feb 15

  • Find a Physician

• Links for 2010-02-12 [del.icio.us]

  2010 Feb 13

  • Serotek Blog: A History Making Day For The Blind