FEV1 and Friends

Testing ...
Every three months I visit my pulmonologist to keep my lungs as healthy as they can be. After the last walking pneumonia incident, the five days of the wrong antibiotic and then finally finding one that worked, it was good to breathe again without pain. But it still frustrates me that he can't explain much of the other symptoms like the night sweats and joint pain - sometimes I feel like a menopausal octogenarian. And my blood pressure hit a new low (although I had just eaten a two slice pizza lunch at Famiglia) - 80/51. Wow! The picture is the fun nose clamp and breathing tube I use for my lung tests. I sit in a chair while breathing normally, the nurse tells me to blow out as hard as possible and then tries to cheer me on until every molecule of air is forced out of my lungs - and this feels like forever. It is a surprise more people don't pass out. But after my inhaler, I improved 12% so I was advised to use it more frequently. Just another fun accessory in my science geek gear arsenal.

and Eating
For dinner I went to see my friends Clay, Tory and their son Scottie. I picked up three desserts from Zabar's - a chocolate cupcake, a small fruit tart, and a pear tart. All were good but I liked the fruit tart the best. Surprisingly the cupcake was wonderfully moist and the icing not too sweet so I'd go back there for such a yummy indulgence - much better than Crumbs. Dinner was a yummy selection from Trader Joe's - salad, egg rolls, and shrimp stir fry. Thank goodness TJs arrived in Manhattan not too long after my arrival. Sure, the lines are insanely long* but I just wait until it rains or right before closing and I've never waited longer than 15 minutes. But I will still never get used to the very small aisles and crowded conditions while shopping in NYC. The dancing and waiting and turning and swiveling involved are stuff that makes for WWE champions. I'm just to weak and nice for force my way though so I naturally take 20 minutes longer to shop just due to the right-of-way delays.

*NYTimes: grocery lines in New York City
... lines often snake around the entire perimeter of the store. The wait on a typical Sunday night is about 20 minutes (which might explain why a screaming match broke out one Sunday after a customer tried to sneak into the middle of the 75-person line).

“It is something that we recognize and would like to remedy,” said Mr. Basalone of Trader Joe’s.