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Thursday Ten: Marrow Is SO Pretty Edition

August 26, 2010 by 3 Comments

1. Several months ago, I signed up for the National Marrow Donor Program. This week, I received a preliminary call telling me I might be a match. The next steps are to fill out a questionnaire about my health (done) and then they’ll decide if they need to do further blood screening to see if I’m similar enough with the recipient to be a donor. And so, I’m waiting to see right now – even though the thought of having a needle poked into my bones doesn’t sound so fun, I’ll be thrilled if I can give some of my marrow (which I’m sure is VERY ATTRACTIVE) to someone who needs it. Joining the registry is EASY, and if you feel so inclined – please take the time to sign up. The first steps include a super easy cheek swab – you can do it.

2. It’s apparently National Dog Day. My dog is howling outside my window as I type this. We shelled out the bucks to fence in our yard so that he has a secure place to run around. He doesn’t run around though. He basically hovers under the deck. That’s alright though. His splint is off and his puny little chicken leg is on the mend. He’s still VERY high energy – so that fresh outside air will do him some good.

3. My friends from P & G sent me a bottle of their NEW Downy to try and I’m gearing up to try Clean Sheet Week. My favorite part of laundry is having clean sheets – but that clean sheet feeling is gone too soon. Bums me out. So, I’ve got a bottle of April Fresh Downy that was given to me so that I could try this out. I’ll change my sheets and start my test in the next couple of days. I’ll keep you posted.

4. New music this week… I’ve been listening to Chris Blake – who I’ve stumbled over on Twitter. His new EP, “Girl” is available on iTunes – and I bought it this week (He doesn’t love me enough to send me free music, which is okay – because it’s totally worth the dinero to just buy it). I also love the YouTube vid he posted below – though the song in this vid is not from the new EP (but it IS on iTunes, so… y’know… clickety click). I love some of the regrets listed – especially the person who should have gotten their ingrown toenail fixed. Yeah.

5. Last night, my friend and I went to a nearish middle school to photograph her daughter’s cheer squad for their team pictures. It’s been (ahem) a few years since we donned the polyester skirts (GO FIGHT WIN!), and it was a bit of a slap in the (wrinkly) face that it’s been 16 years (ugh) since we were in high school. What a huge difference in teens today from teens back in OUR day (get off my lawn). I still think my mom should count her blessings I was a teen in the age of grunge: big flannel shirts and baggy jeans. Certainly not a fashion trend that did me any favors – but it probably eased many a mother’s mind.

6. Yesterday, The Princess made sugar cookies while the Mother’s Helper was here. Don’t tell her I told you this but… they are like giant white hockey pucks. Hubs told me later that she was pretty disappointed with herself that she doesn’t make cookies “as good as mommy’s”. He told her it would take practice – and that I probably didn’t start out being able to make phenomenal cookies (Which is kind of untrue – my cookies? They’ve always been good. It’s just a curse. I make good cookies).

7. Netflix has an iPhone app? BRING IT ON. Our Wii has been acting very weird lately (as in, it just won’t turn on. At all. No power, no nuffin’). We thought the sucker was a goner. Nope – just a very cranky power cord, AC adapter thingamabobber. Til we get that replaced though, it’s nice to know that I can livestream Season One Prison Break on my phone (oh Wentworth Miller, I have missed you).

8. Started doing the Shred with a large group of virtual friends this week. This is Day 4. I think (they’re all starting to run together). I still love the Shred, though. Can’t deny – the stuff works. And it’s funny – because when working with personal trainers, I respond more to the Bob Harper type (encouraging, nice, tell me about your feelings) – not the drill sergeant type. But she’s not that way in the DVD, and my abs already look nicer, so YAY JILLIAN. I’ll ignore your overuse of the word “buddy” if you keep making my muscles look nice.

9. Speaking of muscles – the 100 Pushup Program is still in effect. I have NOT given up yet. I did a test the other day and can do 50 pushups without stopping. I eked out those last few reps, just to hit 50 – and then sat in the middle of the room in complete awe. I really have no idea how I’m going to get to 100 though. That just seems like a lot. But, I’m DETERMINED to do it.

10. Gearing up to get these kids back in school – just when I thought I had ALL the school supplies I needed…. I get another list. The Princess’s teacher has requested specific colored two-pocket folders. I guess the dude is going to be the persnickety type. Back to the store I go.

Filed Under: Do Good Feel Good, Mom Shtuff, music, Photography, Thursday Ten Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

iPhone App Review: Capzule PHR

August 18, 2010 by 1 Comment

Because I am almost never without my iPhone, I appreciate getting pitches for reviews for apps for the iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch (Side note: Anyone else visibly cringe to hear it referred to as an iTouch or am I just persnickety? Don’t answer that unless you agree with me!).

Some of the apps I’ve been exposed to this way, I may not have ever stumbled across other wise (Case in point: All of Oceanhouse Media’s Dr. Seuss story apps, which my daughters LOVE – including their latest, “Yertle the Turtle“).

Because I’m the keeper of all knowledge in my family when it comes to doctor’s appointments and medical whosy-whatsits in my family, I was intrigued by what I read about Capzule PHR, your Personal Health Record. This app allows you to store health records for yourself (and up to 30 family members), share information between i-devices, and connect and edit from PC.

I received the app free to review, and had a chance to tinker with the functionality and ask the creators a few questions. The UI is simple, easy to understand, and fairly painless to navigate. It’s NOT a tough app to use. It’s clean, it’s nice to look at – and this is key – because a confusing app, particularly one that is supposed to be helpful gets deleted from my phone. PRONTO.

There are a few negatives to this app – one being that you cannot share with NON i-devices (meaning that if you’re rocking your iPad and your spouse is completely bonded with a Droid – no can do). In my family, this means that I would be (as I am already) the keeper of the info. You can, however, email this data in plain text or html format.

I would also have liked to see a pop-up or push notification style appointment reminder. There’s currently a tab that allows you to see upcoming information – without being able to synch to your primary calendar or receive notifications, you would want to be sure to check back with the Capzule PHR app periodically to make sure you don’t miss an appointment.

BUT. Weighing in on the plus side: There’s a password option, which I think is a phenomenal idea — and a smart bet to use when we’re talking about your medical information. Since we’re talking safety – I’d also caution that when you’re emailing your medical information/chart information, you would want to use caution as well – making sure your internet connection is secure (Secured home connection = good. Emailing your medical chart from unsecured wifi at your local coffee shop = not so good). Use caution as you would any other thing – you wouldn’t do your banking in Starbucks… You probably shouldn’t monkey with this there either.

I can see that this app would be useful if you had a chronic condition requiring frequent appointments or you needed to track data (blood pressure, glucose, and the like) on a frequent basis. If you are using a variety of apps to track different metrics for your health, it may be easier to combine them into the use of one app.

For my family, we tend to only go to the doc as needed and (if we’re lucky) just for yearly checkups, I don’t know that I’ll get as much use from this. Particularly since I have a difficult time enough remembering to update my calendar – I don’t know if I can remember to update two of them, knowing that the Capzule won’t remind me of upcoming appointments.

The app is $4.99 from the iTunes store – but there’s a free version that you may want to tinker with before investing. I’d definitely give the free version a whirl and decide if upgrading to the full version is the right choice for you.

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I received this app free for review, but as always, the opinions are my own.

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