Strategies for success come in all shapes and sizes. While the post before talks about your responsibilities for your own health (in most cases), I’d also like to take the opportunity to point out that adding, losing, adding, losing… well you get the cycle… often causes varicose veins.

Pregnancy also has a way of making those not-so-lovely stretch marks, and with increased pressure the onset of varicose veins. Sometimes, it even “travels” in families.

The good news is finding a good vein doctor is no longer a chore. Nor is the procedure to eliminate them. I won’t get into the gory details of yesteryear’s way of dealing with this issue. Suffice to say that endovenous laser treatment (EVLT) works amazingly well, and even ultrasound-guided sclerotherapy (for spider veins).

Hmmm… Surgery or ultrasound/lasers, there’s no hesitation on which to choose is there?!

Do look for the very best vein clinics with the best reputations. And if you use the link above, you’ll easily be able to find such a clinic near you just by entering your zip code!

For years I’ve made my living working at home, of course from the internet. This often requires sitting for hours on end (no pun intended). Without the right tools, serious health problems begin to raise their ugly heads.

I’m here to state loud and clear that Office Chairs should be at the top of your list. Sitting at a computer keyboard on a folding chair, kitchen chair, or someone else’s used office furniture is never the way to go.

Think ergonomics! Also understand what the function of your chair is really going to be used for… executive, manager, or task chairs comes to mind. Each has a specific purpose, each is designed with a specific job in mind!

Look for quality built furniture, ergonomically shaped for your body. Arm rests are a must since you need to have a place to rest your arms while the computer “does its thing.”

Recently I had the huge pleasure, after 18 years using the wrong office furniture, to acquire THE PERFECT CHAIR!

In just a short time, I have noticed such a huge difference. I am no longer sore and limping around the house after sitting for long stretches of time.

Of course, get up! Every now and then you must move about, get the blood flowing.

But above all, look for the proper office chair, and a great place to start is Spacify.com. They have a huge selection to choose from… you’re sure to find exactly what you need.

By the way, they ship to the United States, Canada, and Internationally

Happy sitting!

It’s a rant day today. Actually this has been ranting around in my brain for more than a day and today just happens to be the day it comes pouring out.

I am SO angry at the manipulation of insurance and pharmaceutical companies and the inherent opposition to any proposed solution to bail this country out of the HUGE mess the former President and Company put us in – and yes it was him do not even try to tell me otherwise – that I am hoping, nay praying, that for those of you thinking health care reform means “pulling the plug on your grandmother” or some such idiotic nonsense, that you’ll be SENSIBLE ENOUGH to actually watch this.

In fact, all you Fox News fans, I dare you to watch this clip:

The most sensible thing I’ve read lately is this Letter to the Editor written by a local Henderson woman. I am quoting it in its entirety because for god’s sake all of us just waiting for things to magically happen for us (isn’t that what got us in this mess to begin with thanks to Bush, Cheney, and company?!? yes!), and for those who amazingly seem to believe anything their party tells them (yes I’m talking to Republicans or at least some – and remember I’m actually a registered Republican but that’s another story and NO I did not go the McCain/Palin way more than a half year ago) listen up because this woman, in a nutshell, expresses everything even our elected officials (and this time I’m talking to all you USELESS Democrats elected to office overwhelmingly this term, you bunch of idiots!!!) don’t have the GUTS to pull off (and here 70+ percent of the country believed YOU would make a difference – HA!):

Angry at industry’s misguided pawns

I hear there is “angry opposition” to health care reform.

Well, I’m angry, too, because these so-called angry opponents, in their zeal to “break” President Barack Obama at any cost, risk cheating themselves and the rest of us out of needed change and our very survival.

Please don’t refer to the town hall spectacles as “vigorous debate.” Unlike serious people who have real questions, concerns and suggestions, the “disrupters” have only been manipulated by the status quo forces (the insurance/pharma companies and lobbyists) to disrupt town meetings and unnerve legislators, to keep legitimate concerns and issues from being discussed. They prefer to scare people with outright lies.

If you don’t want your doctor to be reimbursed for counseling you on “end-of-life” decisions, then execute a living will yourself to make your wishes known.

If you don’t want “socialized medicine,” protest the Veterans Affairs system, our only health service that is in fact owned and operated by the U.S. government.

If you want fewer insurance benefits for more money, oppose a public option that would keep your insurance company honest and efficient.

The disrupters don’t seem to fear losing their insurance with their jobs, or worry that their employers will stop subsidizing their insurance, or that an insurance company bureaucrat will tell them they can’t have a procedure, or that a preexisting condition will disqualify them for coverage, or that high premiums and co-pays will force them into bankruptcy.

If we lose this chance to fix health care in America, it will be because the disrupters put their narrow political interests and the profits of insurance and pharmaceutical companies ahead of the best interests of the American people. We cannot let them!

(For privacy’s sake I am not putting in the woman’s name)

With 10% (or more most likely because a lot of people have run out of benefits) unemployment in this country and more states so underwater we’ll all need diving bells in the very near future just to breath, I am inflamed that so few can influence the outcome for so many.

How dare you Democratic’s sit there in Washington cringing and crippling not only yourselves but the rest of the country and LETTING THE SAME THING HAPPEN AGAIN.

Frankly, I HAD faith that the current President and his staff and Congress could finally pull off fixing the biggest challenges our country faces and put us back on course. Now, I sit here ashamed FOR THEM for not sticking to their guns. At the moment to hell with “bi-partisanship!” Just do what you were elected to do.

This country needs SERIOUS help willingly given by SERIOUS people. For god’s sake open your eyes and think and act with the brain given to you!

Here’s one more quoted Letter to the Editor (again written to our local paper by another local woman with a brain on her shoulders – and no I’m not putting in her name – though I’m sure neither of them would mind if I did):

Obama’s critics have selective memory

Many people are upset with President Barack Obama over the current conditions. Wow, what short memories!

Where was the anger in 2002 when the previous administration took a trillion-dollar surplus and began squandering it on tax breaks for big oil companies posting unprecedented profits, then started a war that was suppose to be paid for with Iraqi oil revenue?

The result of these actions was the precipitous rise in the price of oil (almost 400 percent) while the U.S. Treasury was drained of its surplus and plunged into debt by the cost of this unjustified war. The war cost is ongoing and the total treasure expended in lives is, as the commercials say, “priceless.”

Now the anger and the blame for the busted economy and tanked real estate get heaped on the current administration while it tries to right the ages-old wrong of poor, costly and unfair health care in this country. For many of us, this anger is eight years too late.

I’ll leave my rant – for now – with just this… ALL YOU TEMPORARY PUBLIC SERVANTS IN WASHINGTON – THE PRESIDENT INCLUDED WAKE UP AND DO YOUR PROPER AND RIGHTFUL DUTY TO THIS COUNTRY AND ITS PEOPLE.

I’m disgusted with the lot of you!

Okay, I confess I’m one of the millions out there who smoke, but as god is my witness I’d surely love to quit! Recently, my sister suggested a prescription she received from her doctor that she claims worked like a charm. Of course, she was ready in her mind to stop and stop forever.

The problem is I looked that particular drug up online and, holy cow, the potential side effects are super scary. And, the worse thing is you would not know if you were susceptible to these effects until, perhaps, it was too late (one is particularly nasty!).

However, I am determined to not just “stop smoking,” but QUIT. By the word “quit” I mean to end this habit once and for all (I do believe you cannot use the word QUIT if you have merely “stopped for a while”).

Lots of people have excuses, and I, too, have my own justifications – a huge amount of stress and the fall back to easing those moments by… yes… lighting up.

Yet we are all aware that the “smoking police” are out there. Granted, they may have my best interests (and their own) at heart, but it just irks me when other people start dedicating how a person can and cannot live their individual lives. I’m not talking about the truly great laws in place like “thou shalt not kill or maim or hurt children,” but laws that other people believe are “good for me.” What comes next? I can’t read Harry Potter or buy bread because other people believe they know better or should have a say in my life? (Sorry I’ll stop that tirade and continue onward… LOL!)

Yes, not smoking would be wonderful and I know I’m going to need more than just sheer will power (trust me I know and it’s a long and messy story). That’s when I ran across the website I Can Smoke Whenever and its product the electric cigarette.

If you’re not a smoker, you won’t appreciate this as much as the millions of the rest of us most likely will and do. Here’s the opportunity, not unlike a nicotine patch (which I had rotten luck with) or gum (it pulled just about all the fillings out of my mouth I kid you not!) to eliminate the tar build up in your lungs while slowly but surely weaning yourself off nicotine. And, since the byproduct is “a transparent vapor with no odor” that produces no carbon monoxide (hence no “second hand smoke” haters to inflame), you can actually “smoke” at your desk at work, pub, a sporting event, or even cruising your favorite mall.

Of course many are wondering is the electric cigarette legal? And the answer, as of this post, is yes – it is not regulated by the TTB.

Let’s face it, we’re all working very hard online (especially if you’re reading this and similar blogs and websites on marketing and internet promoting) – if you’re a smoker, don’t you want to be around to see all that hard work pay off?

Improving your health is never a bad thing, and investigating serious ways to quit smoking should be right up there at the top of your list.

Watch the video, read the website (it’s not large) and make an informed decision for yourself. And this time just may be the FINAL time you need to ever address this habit again.

And BTW, they offer FREE shipping!