Broadcom Holiday Party

Yesterday Matt's company (Broadcom)had it's holiday party. We all went F1 racing, and it was a lot of fun! I was surprised that I liked it so much because I hate driving on the road. When the racing instructor was briefing us before we got into the cars I was scared. He made it sound like we were going into an extremely dangerous situation. He said, "If you crash, make sure you let go of the wheel. Your adrenaline is going to be pumping and your hands will grip onto the wheel, and your knuckles will be white. You have to breathe deeply and let go." This freaked me out. But the track was small and the cars were actually karts! It was a lot of fun, and we raced for two hours. We had dinner there and it was surprisingly delicious, considering we were at a racing place. They had a dessert buffet, and I went up to the table to get dessert for both Matt and myself. I was debating what type of cake I should bring back for Matt, and the guys behind me was like, "Oh go one, take both." Then he got me a plate and put a big piece of chocolate cake on a new plate. Now, I had three plates to carry! When I was walking back to our table, I heard someone say in a very disapproving tone, "Look at her, she has three plates." I was embarrassed, even though I know I shouldn't be cause who cares. It was a buffet and people always take too much food. Still, I felt bad cause the whole second piece of cake was wasted.

It was interesting to meet all of Matt's coworkers, and to see the people he has been telling me about. They didn't look as scary or rude as he makes them sound. I got the feeling that there is a lot of stress and dissatisfaction at his company. The people at the table with us were saying how the guy had to work till 1 and 2 in the morning for the past week. I felt bad for him because he has kids. They said it would happen to Matt but Matt said it couldn't happen to him. It is unfortunate when people have so much stress in their lives. I think his company needs to do some team building exercises!

Cholesterol

I am back in school now, after a long, relaxing break...I had four days at home by myself before the semester started, and that was great. I cleaned the house, reorganized and cleaned out my files, and took care of all the stuff that seems to fall by the wayside while I am in school.

I am extremely excited for this semester because I like all of my classes, and I think it will be a fairly light load. I am keeping it light on purpose because Matt and I are going to India in February and so I will miss 2 weeks of school. My classes are: International Nutrition Programs, Monitoring and Evaluation of Nutrition programs, Nutrition through the Lifecycle, Health Communication and Chinese. The international nutrition class is supposed to be amazing, and the professor does most of his work in Bangladesh, so it should be interesting.

While I had time off I went to see my primary care physician. I had my cholesterol checked. I knew it would be high, given my family history, but I was still shocked when I got the results. My HDL (good) cholesterol was 51, LDL (bad) cholesterol was 290, with the total being 349. Needless to say, that is extremely high! On a positive note, my triglyceride level was 41. In the letter he sent me, my doctor said that this is normal, but when I looked online, the normal range for triglycerides was 50-150. So, my level is very low, which is indicative of my diet.

I try to eat very healthfully because I know that I have health issues (hypercholesterolemia and multiple sclerosis), but when I get blood profile results like that one, I get so discouraged! It makes me think, "What is the point of even bothering? Maybe I should accept my fate."

The other issue that this brings up is whether or not I should go on statins to lower my cholesterol. I really don't want to go on statins, because I am so young and I would have to be on them for the rest of my life. Plus, I do not have any other risk factor for heart disease. Also, the fact that Dad was taking statins religiously and watching what her ate, and then died at 43, makes me very bitter about the whole statin thing.

Then there is an article that I found from the Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, that says this:

"The LDL-C (calc.) level of the patient was much higher than the direct measurement level. We attribute this to the low TG value, resulting in an overestimation of the LDL-C value. Our finding suggests that, similar to high TG levels, low TG levels can also affect the calculation of LDL-C values. As to how low the TG levels need to be before affecting the LDL-C (calc.) is currently under our investigation."

This article may not be significant, but I am trying to make myself feel better about my high LDL levels! However, my triglyceride levels aren't extremely low, so the article may not apply to me. I am going to ask my doctor.

Cooking Club

Before Matt and I moved to Boston, I was looking on Craig's List for apartments and ran across a posting for a cooking club. Because I was used to meeting friends on the internet after Hong Kong (where everyone is on asiaxpat.com to meet people when they first arrive), I had no hesitation about emailing the founder of the cooking club. When I got to Boston though, our neighbors and old Matt's old high school friends thought it was bizarre and creepy that I would join a club I found out about online. Then I got scared too...Would everyone be freaks that couldn't find friends the normal way?

Despite being slightly apprehensive, I went to the cooking club anyway, and it was great! There are about 5 of us that meet once a month. We are all in our early to mid-20s and we really like food. There is one stay at home mom, one administrative assistant, one art student, and one girl just out of college working in a lab. Oh, and me! We all take turns hosting it, and the host makes the main dish. Every month we have a theme. Past themes have been Jewish food, Caribbean night, Italian night, Fall Harvest, and Spanish night. The theme for this month was Spa Cuisine...We figured that after the holidays it might be nice to start eating lighter, fresher foods.

Last night I hosted the cooking club. I attempted to make salmon as the main course. I had never made it before, and I was nervous. I kept cooking it and recooking it because it never seemed to be finished. In the end I had cooking it for about 20 minutes at 350 and it still seemed slightly raw in the middle. Oh well. I also made a chickpea salad and guacamole for chips, and chocolate covered strawberries for dessert. Other people made artichoke-crab dip with pita chips, edamame-tomato salad, pasta salad with home-made pasta, and crepes with ricotta cheese and berries for dessert. It was delicious!

I really feel like I am getting to be good friends with the cooking club, and it is great because these are people that I wouldn't ordinarily meet. It is nice to talk to people that are outside of the "nutrition bubble" that I live in. Also, sometimes it is nice to have friends that are completely not related to anything in your outside life...so conversation never devolves into a complaining session about professors or homework or your boss...

Grandma with Kate



Sarah Pulsipher with Bandido

While I was in San Diego I got to see Kristi's new baby, Kate. She is so adorable! I also got to hang out with Grandma, which is always great, and I got to see Jimmy and Camber's house and the new house they are building. The house they are building looks like it is going to be very big!

Christmas in San Diego

Makayla

Marissa

Maya

Malini
This year I spent Christmas with my family in San Diego, while Matt spent it with his family in Eureka. I was really sad to spend Christmas away from Matt, but neither of us was willing to compromis this year, so this we just went our own way. I think it worked out for he best, because I think we were both missing our own family a lot.

I had a very relaxing time in San Diego, recuperating from my first semester at Tufts and my first 6 months back in the US. It is a lot more work living in the US. In Hong Kong, everything was so easy...taxis to drive you around, maids, people treating you like a queen, and lots of yummy restaurants. I think it has been a bigger adjustment moving back to the US than it was to move to Hong Kong. It is hard to believe that last year for Christmas Matt and I were in Vietnam!

Having a traditional Christmas was fun. I love waking up and getting a stocking. It is so fun! Mom made me a quilt by hand, so that was really nice. All my sisters were going crazy for the Nintendo DS things that they got. Even Makayla, who is only 4, was playing games and instant messaging with her sisters on the Nintendo.

My Christmas present to Matt

My boring Christmas present to Matt this year...a scarf, a hat and some mittens! Strangely, he hasn't had to use them yet because it has been so warm here in Boston.