Last Saturday, I started a new physical therapy regime, making me officially old, I guess. It was prescribed by a therapist at Kaiser to manage, and hopefully reduce, the knee pain that I have been experiencing from “Jumper’s Knee” or Patellar Tendinitis. For the most part, it’s been going well. The exercises and stretches don’t…
Category: Health
I Have Jumpers Knee (Patellar Tendinitis)
On Friday I went to my first physical therapist session ever, at the advice of my doctor. My goal is to work on lessening knee pain I’ve been experiencing more and more over the past year. The good news is I don’t have arthritis, according to the very nice physical therapist I met with Mitchell….
2024 Intentions: More Stamina, Skate Travel and Video Essays
I don’t tend to set “resolutions” for the New Year, which feels a bit too confining and unrealistic. Instead I do like to set “intentions” to give me direction and motivation. These are more like things I am very interested in and want to explore, but without set quantitative goals or deadlines. So not “I…
That time I got my ass kicked in the basement of the UN
I randomly remembered a weird incident that happened to me 30 years ago: getting my ass kicked in a martial arts class in the basement of the UN. In the mid 90s, I was working at an accredited NGO at the United Nations. As such I had a few privileges like being able to attend…
Cat Food and Admitting Defeat
For 17 years I’ve been blessed with a very easy-going cat who basically would eat anything I put in front of him. So I guess I am past due to get a finicky eater in his senior years. Over the past 16 months, I’ve been struggling with Mole Negro’s diet, trying to find the right…
The Way to Prevent Alzheimer’s Is Right in Front of Us
My mom had a rich and successful life. A high achieving student in Manila, she graduated from medical school with high marks. She moved to America in her 20s, worked as a doctor in several states, then settled down in the SF Bay Area. She traveled all over the world, from Hong Kong to Paris…
2022 in Review: Cake Bakes, Feeding the ‘Gram, Flexing My Diet, Disney with a Kid!
The year 2022 was a return to “normal” post-Pandemic life, which was wonderful. There were no major life changes, but there were a lot of wonderful moments to remember. Health I feel blessed to be in my 50s and able to do all that I do, from skating to dancing to biking everywhere. The biggest…
Asthma and Gratitude
I have chronic and life long asthma. And it’s getting worse. I can’t leave the house without my rescue inhaler, in case I get a wheezing fit, which are becoming more and more frequent. Any physical activity can trigger it — walking up a couple flights of steps, rushing to catch a train, anything beyond…
Fly in the Bottle Trap: the Emergency Room Edition
So I got trapped in the bottle… again. This time involved a trip to the ER. So that’s new. The “Fly in the Bottle Trap” is a classic lesson I keep teaching myself. The bottle trap is a simple method of catching fruit flies using just a plastic bottle with an inverted top and a…
Why I Intermittent Fast: Overall Health, Weight Management, Longevity, Easy
I was talking to friends about intermittent fasting the other day and I realized I’ve been doing it for so long I had started to forget the reasons why I was doing it in the first place. On the one hand, it’s good that I have so incorporated this diet into my life that I…