Sometimes, even on a blog for business women, there must be room for offtopic thoughts. So, in a tribute of Dave Freeman, I want to join the many bloggers that are making a “Bucket List” this week. Dave Freeman passed away on August 17 in an accident at his home in California. His death was caused by brain trauma acquiring from a fall. He was co-author of the well-known book 100 Things to do Before You Die, which coined the term “Bucket List”.

So here is mine. Of course I will be doing everything with Thumper! Some of these places I have seen a few times, but when you see them with the one you love, you see them in a whole new perspective. I may have started to make this out in chronological order, but that isn’t how life works.
Read on →

The alarm goes off. Systematically, you  press the snooze button. Within minutes you panic as the alarm goes off again. It is now essential that you race to start your day. You muster up enough energy to get out of bed. You’re feeling the urgency for that nice big fat coffee mug. Time seems to stop until you smell the rich aroma. You pour the first cup of coffee. You taste it. It is almost orgasmic! You can already begin to feel the caffeine effects kick-start your day.

Is this psychological? Meaning - do you have a caffeine addiction, or is the urgency for a decent cup of organic coffee before the day begins just a routine habit?

Since the powerful stimulant running by the name of caffeine effects the central nervous system, you are basically jump starting your body. Once you have become accustomed to caffine helping you to wake up, be it your regular fresh coffee, your espresso cup, or your cappuccino, the question comes up - is this habit or dependency?

Caffeine Effects

Fact is, a couple of hours after you consume it, the caffeine effect wears off. Studies show that the effects from caffeine in coffee can be as long as six hours. By that time, you most likely are feeling more tired than before. This makes you go for more caffeine drinks: A good thing we have flavored iced coffee, or that handy Red Bull can!

And when you start thinking about the negative effects of caffeine (we will get to that), you might want to quit. In that case, here come the dreaded caffeine withdrawal symptoms: I have heard of many people who stop drinking it started to suffer from such things as caffeine headaches, fatigue, irritability, and even depression.

Concerns as to whether there is such a thing as caffeine addiction, or rather that mug being healthy coffee - that is, caffeine having a healthy effect on the human body - have been questionable over the years. People say this, and people say that. But what is?

Is coffee truly “the nectar of gods” or “the devil’s drinks”?

Top 28 Caffeine Drinks: How much caffeine they contain

Here are some very popular caffeine drinks we consume every day that give us that boost of energy. Since we usually super size everything, they are measured by 16 ounces servings, unless noted otherwise.

So: how much caffeine is in a cup of coffee?
Read on →

I scan the headlines for something intelligent and informative to read. Of course, depending on the site, this varies. What I try not to focus on is the election or President Bush. Every once in a while there is a headline that increases my curiosity of what Mr. Bush is up to now. What is his Public Relations and the media up to.

I find politics interesting when the politicians are actually doing something about the economy, labor and healthcare. To what extremes they will go to get attention, good press or bad press. After all, there is no such thing as bad press in Public Relations.

Dear Mr. Bush, you will go down in history for not only being the president who is in need of speech therapy, and perhaps math. And please - what a humiliating joke was the last election?

Take a look at this article in the Wall Street Jornal. It’s about the current administration drafting a regulation which treats the pill as abortion. This abortion law would not only target medical abortion (the abortion pill), but also your “standard” birth control pill. The Bush administration has presented some concerns about widely used birth control methods having the same effects as abortion.

From the Wall Street Journal’s article of July 31, 2008:

A draft regulation, still being revised and debated, treats most birth-control pills and intrauterine devices as abortion because they can work by preventing fertilized eggs from implanting in the uterus. The regulation considers that destroying “the life of a human being.”

Now I just would love to seat Walker down and ask him: why do you bring this to the table now? Why make a fuss of this? What are you trying to distract from?

I see the church and a side dish of HMO lobbying here. Yes, our good old HMOs.

If Mr. Bush puts the kibosh on the morning-after pill, there is a chance of the need for more abortion clinics, when the pregnancy actually exists.

The Dreaded Abortion Pill

Should the morning-after pill be limited to rape victims? I don’t think so. Too many binge drinkers out there, you know, enjoying their spontaneity and unprotected consensual sex.

I don’t feel that the abortion pill should be handed out like gummi bears. Abortion should be taken more seriously. If you are going to be sexually active, then you need to take responsibility. If you do not wish to become pregnant, it is up to us women to decide which method to use.

The pill: you can read on Wikipedia information about its roots in the 1930s, and that the government had no interest in pursuing the research at that time. Perhaps due to the church. Later in history of course, the need for birth control was taken seriously.

Even with contraception available, abortion was and still is an option for many women. I really think it is more of a matter of abusing what has been offered. It’s a lack of education or responsibility maybe.

My experiences with the pill have been short termed. I don’t like anything messing up my body’s natural rhythm.

Abortion Facts

The American Psychiatric Association (APA) reports that abortion is not a threat to women’s mental health. This is an article at salon.com with the full report linked to it. I would have to say though, terminating an unwanted pregnancy still would be a very hard experience for any woman.

Guilt and hormones mustering up a woman’s emotional chemistry after abortion - I would say has a lot to do with her mental health. The APA researchers who did the study point out that actually, abortion has become more acceptable nowadays and there are individual reactions that differ from woman to woman after having the abortion procedure done.

Public facts: A factsheet by the Center for Reproductive Rights entitled World’s Abortion Laws (PDF) states:

Currently, 61% of the world’s people live in countries where induced abortion is permitted either for a wide range of reasons or without restriction as to reason. In contrast, 26% of all people reside in countries where abortion is generally prohibited.

Abortion is an option for all women. Personally though, I find with the many birth control methods and the morning after pill being available for up to 72 hours after having unprotected sex, it shouldn’t have to go as far as that.

Speaking about the church, there even exists an organization solely dedicated to this issue. Catholics for Choice aims to “support a woman’s moral and legal right to follow her conscience in matters of sexuality and reproductive health”.

I am pro choice - every woman should have the choice to decide for herself when it is the right time for her to have a baby. If she chooses to be the one taking a time-out from her career or if her significant other is going to stay at home and raise the kid. This is up to the couple and not the church.

It is ludicrous to have the church still trying to jump in bed with couples after all this time.

Women have come a long way. I feel lucky, I went to a four year university, entered a male dominated career and now have my own business. This is something my mom could only dream of doing, but she made it possible for me.

Women have a choice to have a career as well as motherhood. Being able to find own means how to handle it is one’s individual right. Your life should not stop if an unexpected pregnancy occurs.

I have friends who have had abortions. Their abortions could possibly have been prevented if they had been more educated on contraceptives. These women have become career professionals and have since married and started a family years after the abortion.

I see the above mentioned fluff as a technique used by the Bush Administration to rally up some press. The agenda is almost certainly the upcoming election and an attempt

1. to distract from current events that throw a shadow on the Administration’s policies (meaning everything else they do), and
2. to lead the public to believe that a Republican Administration in the following term is the right choice.

What a rediculous pun.

Of course, the Democratic Party needed to respond to this kind of large-scale media fluffing. Their stand on this issue, which has also triggered an opinion article on The Carpetbagger Report (among many others), is to now make more assistance available to mothers who decide to have their baby. Basically, they want to associate the pro-life movement with a President Obama. Well, they do need to respond somehow, don’t they?

I have to wonder, with Pro-life being such an issue in the church, has the church fallen into a more political venue? Politics and the church need to remain separate. Let me rephrase that: the church needs to stay the hell out of politics. Besides, wasn’t this the exact foundation our forefathers built this nation on? Didn’t the pilgrims escape from the “Old World” for just the reason that the church had too much influence on their freedom?

We need to take responsibility for our actions. There should be better sex education classes in our schools informing students at an age-appropriate time and level. This is really where it has to start. Again, the keyword here is education. Educating our children to know the facts. Educating the people to know the facts. Educating facts, not some far-fetched, lobby-induced, agenda-driven, full-blown political race PR.

Birth control is absolutely necessary. It allows couples to plan a family when they are mentally and financially able. The Pro-life movement, which is merely a euphemism for Anti-choice, is trying to restrict existing rights in a number of ways. I’d like to recommend an eye-opening article to you: The Center for Reproductive Rights has quite a read on this issue.

Weapons of Mass Distraction

Robin Williams put it the right way in a funny yet very serious manner. The more I think of it, the more it amazes me that the government is able to use its resources to sway us away from issues so simple to resolve. We really need the right education before, and not after.

People are like sheep. They follow. Then there is the Darwin theory. Combine the two and you got yourself the perfect reason why going into politics has become a legit career choice in this country. Why would anybody want to educate people when it is working to their advantage not to do so?

America claims to be the richest and strongest country. But we are just an infant compared to the rest of the world. Just as an example, the majority of the world has had women in power for centuries. And I will not go off on the war and other hot political issues. Another example: I am concerned that the “greatest country” doesn’t provide Health Insurance. (Don’t tell me you’d actually call what we have by that name.) Like the majority of Europe, or Canada, or even Cuba. Let’s just call it by its real name: Health Business.

With Pro-life, anti abortion and Bush, HMOs will be able to expand this business and extend their market. This will be profitable to those few people who are educated about the system and know how to use it to their advantage. To the rest of America, it will not.

Educated people: who needs more of them anyway. Why educate the sheep when you can milk them.

I was feeling a bit creative while looking in my fridge this morning. I have been in a zuccini kick lately and thought maybe I would make a fruit drink using the zucchini squash and ginger. So I did just that, but then I decided it needed some lime or lemon. And lucky for me, I found some limeade ready mix concrete in the freezer. You wont believe how good this is until you try it.

But before I reveal to you my fantastic (and most delicious) fruit smoothie, let me tell you a bit about the ingredients ginger and zucchini.

Zucchini Squash

You might know the green zucchini squash already from passing it in your favorite grocery store and not knowing why the hell these people are selling such strange things. Well, you got it, on Bunny’s blog for business women, you only get healthy recipes and smoothies, so there must be a reason why I’m mentioning the zucchini vegetable here?

Right, zucchini is very rich in vitamins A and C. It also contains potassium and calcium. If you are growing zucchini, the best time of harvest is when the zucchini squash is six inches long. They seem to lose flavor after they reach this size. And if you are growing the black zucchini, that only takes 44 days to grow!

Zucchini Recipes

As for zucchini recipes, there are a variety of things you can go with a zucchini. The zucchini squash is perfect for dishes that not only taste good and are easy to make, but are also perfect if you are on a diet. There are lots of low fat zucchini recipes out there for you to try out. Maybe I’ll feature a few on here soon, if you’re interested.

Of course, you can als use the zucchini to make zucchini pie (which is very good, but I have yet to find a zucchini pie recipe that I really like), zucchini muffins or even zucchini pancake. Generally, recipes using zucchini are venturing more and more into the dessert neighborhood. As if it were not enough to cook zucchini.

So much for zucchini recipes, now let’s take a quick look at our ginger spice before we move on to the fruit drink.

Ginger

Fresh ginger is a pleasure and it is used more and more in modern cuisine. The ginger spice orignated from China. Ginger roots have soothing effects on the digestive system of your body, which makes it so popular apart from the spicy taste. The health benefits of ginger are indeed noteworthy - in fact, I have been cooking a honey, orange and ginger sauce for chicken just last week for Thumper. He was sick with the common cold (in the middle of summer, can you believe that?) and the ginger benefits kicked in just fine. It is very healthy.

Ginger roots are also a strong antioxidant and act as a diaphoretic. It also boosts the immune system (this is why I cooked it for Thumper).

Apart from growing ginger in your back yard or garden, you can also buy ginger extract or ginger supplements as tablets at the store if you want to make use of the ginger benefits for your body. How to grow ginger I do not know, maybe you can tell me that if you know it.

Ginger Recipes

There are lots of very tasty ginger recipe, my last week’s orange-honey-ginger sauce was only one of them. Ever heard of ginger carrot soup? I’m sure you have, but how about ginger cake? What I know you know is that there is ginger tea out there, which also can help with your health condition. I even ran across a ginger martini once.

As for food, this is something I want to busy myself with more in the future. I’m still looking for the perfect ginger recipe.

Ok now let’s take a look at my super duper fruit drink.

Bunny’s Zucclinger™ Fruit Drink

This fruit drink falls into the category of smoothie recipes and will not only taste delicious, but also add to your health.

Like always with a fruit smoothie, you need a blender where you mix all your ingredients in - and, of course, ice cubes. Smoothies recipes almost always work the same way.

The ingredients for my Zucchini Limeaid Ginger Fruit Drink are:

• 4 cups peeled and chopped zucchini
• 1 cup frozen limeade concentrate, thawed (ready mix concrete)
• 2 2/3 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
• 2 2/3 cups water (for it to blend nicely)
• ice cubes

Combine one and a half cups of the chopped zucchini with the rest of the fruit smoothie ingredients in the blender container, but don’t add any ice cubes yet. Cover and blend until the fruit blend is nearly smooth.

Then gently stir together the rest of the zucchini and the ice cubes. Blend until you can call it a decent fruit smoothie, and enjoy!

This healthy fruit smoothies recipe serves about 6 people, or six times yourself. If you make it in the morning, you can keep it in the fridge and have it all day. Yes, this low carb shake is better than Butterfinger!

I will be posting more smoothie recipes and fruit drink recipes from time to time whenever I run across a good one that is healthy and delicious at the same time. Here are a few healthy fruit shakes I have covered already:

• Spicy Fruit Shake with peach yogurt, banana and pineapple - this drink also uses fresh ginger root.
• Natural Pineapple Fruit Drink - along with some interesting facts about the pineapple.
• Blueberries Anti Aging Fruit Drink - good for your whole body and absolutely delicious.
• Tropical Fruit Shake Recipe with Mango - very, very tasty and healthy, too. There’s also a video about how to cut a mango.

…and if you’re looking for an alcoholic fruit drink, take a look at the Hemingway Daiquiri, along with a non-alcoholic fruit drink with Grapefruit.

I hope you enjoy my Zucclinger Fruit Drink! (Oh, and if nobody came up with this name yet until now, I hereby claim its invention.)

I become very agitated when I see young women not working to their full potential. Often smart and coming from well-to-do families, or maybe not so well off families - it doesn’t really matter where you come from. All that matters is making a commitment to yourself to gain the growth of experience and knowledge while you are still young and unattached. This commitment should be ubiquitious with all that you do, or you may end up with, let’s say, some idiotic endeavour for feminism.

Today’s Woman

It is a beneficial lesson for women in today’s society to be financially independent and to learn to live within our means. Taking the time to complete our education because there is always funding available for those who seek a career. Others are so overwhelmed by the adventures they encounter when growing up, and opt to pass on this opportunity. They are under the impression mommy and daddy are going to pay the bills indefinitely.

The recourse is to find other alternatives. A boyfriend, or other cohabitants to share expenses with. But I think that college, even if you work at the same time for a few years, and even if in the course of events college becomes part-time, is essential. No matter how much it seems to be out of reach, it is best to do it now rather than later, when the possibility of forced pursuit has become reality. After all, the future isn’t carved in stone. Read on →