Leeches and Other Unrelated Stuff

I have been extremely busy for the past couple of weeks, as you may have noticed, and really haven't had the time to sit down and write anything of great insight about MS. As a kid, I would play outside in any weather, and even as an adult I like to be outside. I have always been a little sensitive to the heat, and with the MS, summer can be draining. As long as I have a short rest in the afternoon (after work) and drink plenty of fluids I'm usually OK.

That being said, summer is the best time for bug hunting. And for frogs. And salamanders. And....and....and....so I'm afraid the bulk of my postings have been about bugs. And my new obsession, Cranky Baby.

Reading

Carl Zimmer is a talented and intelligent writer. I have mentioned him a couple of times in reference to parasites (not that he's a parasite, though you'd have to ask his in-laws I presume) and his writing can be found at Discover magazine. I'm currently reading his book about E. coli.
Yes, that sometimes nasty creature that lives in all of us, one that can sometimes kill. I have joked that when I've got a tummy upset I must have ingested someone else's E. coli. You see, your E. coli is good for you alone, but ingest something else's E.coli and there you can encounter trouble. Especially if you are immune compromised, very young, or very old.

I am also devouring other science blogs. Through Mr. Zimmer I have discovered one about leeches, by Mark Siddall, who besides being a curator at the American Museum of Natural History, is also Canadian. I can hear the collective "Yuck" as you read that(not the Canadian part). Actually, it was the sight of preserved leeches in the biology lab that convinced me to NOT go into marine biology when I was in university. They truly creeped me out. At 17 I didn't have the stomach for them, but as I have aged, I have become surprisingly tolerant of most of nature's creatures and now find them interesting. As a matter of fact, while swimming at a friend's camp a couple of years ago, I even found one in the lake and held it in my hand...it was a tiny thing, less than an inch long and actually very pretty, colourwise. No, it didn't latch itself on to me.

The other blog I have been checking out is Sharp Brains. I always knew that exercise was good for my whole body, but I never seemed to get any psychological benefit from it. Until I started biking that is. One entry at that blog struck a chord with me recently. Dr. McLeary talks about a holistic approach to brain health, something I have been harping on for a while.

Exercise

I used to hate exercise. But put me on a bike and I'm off and running(so to speak). I still have two more weeks to prepare for the NS MS Bike Tour so will be ramping up the rides til then. When I'm not doing PR for the MS society or raising money for the cause.

Work

Oh yeah, I go to work, too. If you can call what I do for a living work. But somebody has to entertain the masses.

So there you have it. Advance excuses for any lack of insightful posts about MS. The thing is, when I'm checking out blogs, books, bugs, and biking, I'm exercising my brain and coming up with new ways to relate the world around me to MS. So let's just say I'm doing research for my blog.

S.