Tattoo Regrets -- An Update...

I am not sure that any of you, my dear readers, are following this story, but it is a fun one. Long story short, girl goes to tattoo parlour and gets face tattooed, has regrets, says that she fell asleep and then woke up with 53 more stars than she asked for, admits to telling lies because her dad was a little upset.

Having a look at the picture above, the 56 stars are nothing. She has a really long way to go before she catches up to her artist, Rouslan Toumaniantz.

After initially offering to pay for half of the laser treatments to get the tattoos removed, the artist has decided to withdraw the offer now that Ms. Vlaeminck has confessed to lying about being asleep.

On the positive side for the artist, this is pretty good free publicity. But, it has prompted a change in procedure as the artist is now going to ensure that he gets the written consent of all his clients before any inking takes place.

The Art of Power Napping

Or is it cat napping? Whatever it is there are vast swathes of cyber space devoted to these short bursts of sleep. Some of these sites purport to be academic, informative, or just plain after your hard-earned cash. However, for me it is the art of synchronizing my sleep patterns to those of Will.

He tends to sleep for a couple of hours and then needs a good feed. A good feed is obviously a very tiring experience as it is followed by more sleep. Thus the pattern repeats. Although, I must say the last couple of days we have had an arrangement where the little fella sleeps in really short bursts of 20-30 minutes. This has serious potential to kill me in a very short period of time. I do not need a lot of sleep but I am not sure that 20-30 minute bursts are my thing either.

Hence the need to learn the power napping skills. I was thinking of looking around, learning a little bit more, and then maybe buying a tape (or the more modern version of a tape, a CD, or more modern still download something to the mp3). However, the last couple of days seems to suggest to me that I have either worked it out or I am just getting more used to the parenting thing.

So much so that I am writing this after one such power nap.

Happy holidays to all. May they be safe and prosperous.

Sleeping Bullfrog

The bullfrog is the only animal that never sleeps!

Coffee and Stress

I have found the perfect reason to drink more coffee although I am not sure whether I have to be a rat to benefit. A South Korean trial has uncovered that just the smell of coffee triggers action in a number of genes that produce proteins with anti-oxidants that are good for you. It must be pointed out that these responses were measured in rats and not humans (picture was found here).

Nevertheless, anyone who knows even a little bit about scientific testing knows that the rats get it first! The results of the trial have been published in the "Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry". The report indicates that generally just smelling coffee alleviates the stress levels of the sleep-deprived rats.

So, I am going to drink more coffee today or at least go to Starbucks, Gloria Jeans, or the Coffee Bean and buy some fresh roasted beans to sniff because I am sleep-deprived after having watched the US Open Golf. As it turns out I could have stayed asleep as Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate have to go at it again today in a playoff!

It seems like catch-22 to me as the drinking of the coffee keeps you awake and causes stress increases but the aroma of the beans reduces that stress, weird! Apparently, previously studies have shown that coffee consumption reduces depression and the risk of suicide. All this time I just thought these big coffee drinkers were just wired on the excess caffeine but in fact they were not wired but enjoying levels of reduced stress.

In any event if you want to learn more about current coffee research you should go here, The Coffee Science Information Center or CoSIC.

Missing My Dogs & Sleep

I have been having trouble sleeping of late and I do not think it has anything to do with increased stress at work (although this probably should be a problem)!

I think that my "problem" is that I am so used to having two dogs sleeping on the bed and for the last six months or so one dog that both the better half and I miss the company! I am also missing going for the nightly walks and the barking when some one comes to the gate or the running round like a headless chicken when the local kids are letting off the fire crackers as they regularly do!

The beauty of pets, and particularly dogs, is that they are great listeners and you can talk to them without fear of being judged or getting an earful of this is what you should or shouldn't do! I am sure that my dogs of past and future will continue to be repositories of my greatest secrets and sounding boards for my stupidity.

If we were not seriously considering going back to Australia at the end of the year we would probably have already bought another dog.

I have never been a big believer in God or all things religious but I would like to think that my dogs, Chockie and Unyil, are together again and enjoying each other's company and looking after each other like they always did.