December 2002 Vol. 2 Issue 20
An Internet Newsletter publication of the American Society of CIM Alumni, Inc.
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December 2002 Vol. 2 Issue 20 |
An Internet Newsletter publication of the American Society of CIM Alumni, Inc. | |
THE ASOCIMAI OFFICERS: Dominador Ong, M.D. Board Members: Horace Cabasares, M.D. CME Coordinator: Ways and Means Committee BRAIN WAVES STAFF: Editorial Board: Maida Antigua, M.D. Editor: Staff Correspondents: Guest Correspondents: Send news, articles, pictures, announcement, obituary, etc., to:clems3ra@adelphia.net
| Editor's Column"Of course we all have our limits, but how can you possibly find your boundaries unless you explore as far and as wide as you possibly can? I would rather fail in an attempt at something new and uncharted than safely succeed in a repeat of something I have done." ---A. E. HotchnerThe Pursuit of Excellence - A New Year's ResolutionStriving to be better Striving to be better if not the best at whatever we do can be achieved by anyone. All it requires is the desire to grow, the love for challenge, and the realization that one’s improvement process never really ends regardless of age. But one thing to keep in mind though is that in pursuing new endeavor whether it is in sports, arts, computer, etc., the name of the game is the pursuit of excellence – not perfection. The problem when it comes to challenging ourselves with developing new skills like in painting, photography or playing musical instrument or even in sports like golf is that each one of these skills needs both time and money, not to mention a place to play, paint, or photograph. Of course, if you have the money, time and place, then this particular problem is eliminated. On the other hand, writing needs only time and of course the computer which is available in many work place. And writing is probably the best intellectual exercise and the best way of renewing yourself. "In writing," says playwright Neil Simon, "you start out stupid and end up brilliant. Each time you revise what you've written, you see what you did wrong, you correct your errors and deepen your understanding to make the next version better." Cultivating the neglected parts Let's be honest for a minute, for all the physicians among us, CIM or other schools, how many of us still like to read medical journals? How many of us still love, really love and enjoy doing the same job we’ve been doing for decades, sharpening the same skill over and over again? I for one no longer do. In fact, I quit reading anything related to medicine more than ten years ago. I got bored and irritable. The more I focused on sharpening my medical skill and updating my medical knowledge, the more I questioned myself: Is this all I'm going to be doing for the rest of my life or until retirement? Is this all I'm going to be in my stay here on earth? My life was lousy and meaningless. There’s no sense having so much knowledge that cannot be applied in practice as paperwork has become more important than patient’s care and welfare. It no longer made sense to me prescribing the latest and the most expensive antibiotics and other medications just to feel like I was keeping up with the modern trends in medicine. Don't get me wrong. I go to CME conferences regularly but mainly to get the required number of hours for license renewal and to meet few friends and colleagues. And I do prescribe these modern medications when absolutely necessary. But over the years, I've found observation more effective than medications. The only problem is, not too many patients would agree to be just observed. Thus you order x-rays, lab works, scans, etc., not because you want to as part of your work-up to come up with a diagnosis, but because you have to, for fear of malpractice. It doesn't make sense, does it? It's no fun, is it? Getting out of the doldrum Then a little more than two years ago, Internet connection was too convenient to ignore and my son already in high school needed it badly. So we finally got connected. At about that time, our office computer was also connected to an Internet and we had our own e-mail. Many state governments in the U.S. like Virginia are slow to technological innovation. They just don’t want to spend extra if they can avoid it particularly for physicians. Anyway, that’s how it started with me – building web site that I’ve learned on my own and then writing. Since then, I’ve found some meaning in my life. I feel like I've been growing spiritually, intellectually and emotionally. I've been able to put order where there was only disorder; harmony where there was once chaos; and balance where there was mainly uncertainty. I feel the closeness of my family, friends, classmates and colleagues. Every time I receive their e-mail messages, it seems like they are just inside my computer. |
Writing
Like any other skill, writing is a skill that can be learned. We don't need to go back to school to acquire and develop new skills like writing, nor is it necessary to have some kind of genetic predisposition. Learning new skill is largely a matter of practice and of training our minds. Some people seem to have stumbled on these principles early in life and they practiced and perfected their skills and they were labeled as "talented." And of course, they usually had interested parents, teachers, friends, or others in the family encouraging them to read and write. Many of us didn't have this good fortune. But this writing ability and most other abilities have been, in some measures, available to all of us. We just have to learn to unleash them. We don't have to become a second Shakespeare. We simply strive for excellence - to write better than we used to, not better than others, for there are always others who are better than us.
Writing was never one of my dreams when I was growing up. But as they say, like a wine, I have mellowed or have matured. My dreams have changed and so with my beliefs, principles and philosophy. I was taught or at least led to believe that people are born with skills or talents, otherwise they won't be able to develop one. Pursuing something we are not born with would mean mistakes and failures that would lead to disappointments, shame and humiliation. Therefore if someone wants to have peace of mind and happiness, avoiding mistakes and failures would definitely look like the best way to do it. It is such belief that gets stuck in our mind and keeps us from exploring our potentials and our abilities. Avoiding, not achieving; maintaining the status quo, not pursuing personal growth and improvement by taking risk on new change and challenge, are the principles behind that belief. Many of us simply conform to what we are taught to believe and follow what others are doing, for fear of disappointment and disapproval. But in doing so, whether we realize it or not, we are also denying our desires and values. And the very first time we suffer a setback in our new endeavor, instead of overcoming such setback, we let it paralyze, humiliate or destroy us. So we stay at the bottom or at our own comfort zone rather than risk rising to the top and grow.
Sources of Happiness
The greatest sources of happiness in life are meeting new adventures and accepting and mastering new challenge. You exchange the tasteless security of the world you've already dominated for another world that makes you grow or that could give you a sense of being renewed. There is nothing like personal growth to give you more self-esteem and self-confidence. Whatever you want to pursue, be it writing or something else, your goal or ambition should simply be to become the best you can be without comparing yourself with others. For if you compare, you won't even be able to start whatever it is you plan to do. Comparison is a formula for discouragement. It distorts your ability to think. It clouds and confuses your mind.
Once you start pursuing your new endeavors, keep in mind that there are toxic people. Not everyone will share your goal to become the best you can be. In fact, it may cause jealousy among people who find your endeavors and ambitions silly, stupid or waste of time. It’s not unusual to outgrow friends with your endeavors, nor is it unusual for friends to get jealous and even get upset as you grow away from them. Some of them will probably stay away from you. A minor misunderstanding would be enough to strain or break the relationship. You may lose them. But they probably don't deserve your friendship, anyway.
If friends poison your desire to grow or try to get you down particularly in time of personal disappointments that are inevitable, then they are not real friends. If possible, avoid going to them for any help or advice. Real friends will at least be empathic giving you words of understanding and encouragement to help you shrug off your setbacks and keep on going. They're eager to help support you to achieve your desire. Otherwise they'll simply listen and stay quiet as their way of helping you inhale the exhaust fumes of your disappointment.
Finally, if others don’t like you for trying to be the best at what you do, or they don't like what you have written or whatever it is you have achieved, so what? As a father advised his son in the movie House Party 3: "Son, if people don’t like you because you want to become the best you can be at what you do, then fuck them!… and fuck them hard!"
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU! May every one of you look back to the past year, stop for a moment, and then smile and begin singing or humming the Sinatra song, "It was a very good year..."
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"The way in which we think of ourselves has everything to do with how our world sees us and how we can see ourselves successfully acknowledged by that world." --Arlene Raven "Injustice anywhere is a threat too justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny." ---Martin Luther King "Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional." ---M. Kathleen Casey "When you hold resentment toward another, you are bound to that person or condition by emotional link that is stronger than steel." ---Catherine Ponder "Every worthwhile accomplishment, big or little, has its stage of drudgery and triumph; a beginning, a struggle, and a victory." ---Anonymous "Adventure is something you seek for pleasure ….but experience is what really happens to you in the long run; the truth that finally overtakes you." ---Katherine Anne Porter "Happiness is an endowment and not an acquisition. It depends more upon temperament and disposition than environment." ---John J. Ingalls Internet Speed The scientists at Lucent Technologies' research arm have demonstrated in a controlled laboratory setting that certain polymer materials have physical properties to channel data signals at tremendous speeds. The rate could approach a dizzying 145GHz - much faster than widely used optical networks that typically clock in about 10GHz, or 10 billion cycles per second. If such advances could be extended beyond the lab, the ability to transfer massive video and audio files in real time could become a reality. Kids would not have to stay on the computer too long to download video movies or audio music. They will be watching the movies they have downloaded on TV most of the time or listening to the music they just downloaded. The coming end of OPEC But the future is finally cooperating with working men and women like us. Oil will have the same future as coal and in the next decade, those kings, mullahs and ministers in the Middle East will have to drink their own oil or use it to fill their swimming pools. Why? Have you ever heard of hydrogen fuel cells? That's what cars will use instead of gasoline, producing clean air and you can even drink the water vapor coming from the car's exhaust because it's so clean and clear. You know the chemical structure of water H20 - 2 hydrogen and 1oxygen. Anyway, Ford, Honda and Toyota, among others, will introduce hydrogen fuel cell automobiles into the U.S. market as early as next year and in 2004. Every car manufacturers have been working on fuel cell automobile the past several years. A total of six hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles from various manufacturers were entered in the last year's event. Competition has become even fierce this year. And you know what car company won most of the medals? Hyundai. Hard to believe, but if Hyundai can do it, then it's almost a given that other car manufacturers can. Hyundai's hydrogen-powered fuel cell sport utility vehicle won two gold medals and two silver medals last October at the Michelin Challenge Auto Competition in Fontana, California. Chairman and CEO of Ford Motor Company, William Clay Ford, Jr., declared several years ago that fuel cell will finally end the 100-year reign of internal combustion engine. It could be in this decade that every Middle East country, including Venezuela, will have a bleak economic future because their economy depends solely on oil. The only problem is that, their main export might be more terrorism. But it's probably only initially because with no more money, terrorism is not easy to export. Every major oil company is now focusing on the mass production of hydrogen to meet the inevitable and enormous future demand from hydrogen-powered fuel cells. GM, Daemler - Chrysler and all foreign automobile manufacturers are preparing for the end of the internal combustion engine automobile. The gasoline-driven vehicles will become a history. And you know what? Keep your gasoline-driven cars for a sort of collectors' items. The car manufacturers' plans are to phase-in hydrogen-powered fuel cell cars and buses while phasing out all gasoline driven vehicles. Every major oil company admits the last refinery that converts crude oil into gasoline has already been built and thus no more refineries are planned. What's the use? They might as well convert them into public swimming pools. Senator Richard Gephardt while he was still the House Minority Leader has called for a "near-Manhattan Project" to develop fuel cells. Remember the "Manhattan Project" movie - a high priority project to build an atomic bomb during World War II? It was code-named the "Manhattan Project." The bomb forced an early end to World War II. Not surprisingly, this "near-Manhattan Project" will bring OPEC to its knees and eliminate automobile and bus pollution. We'll have clean air and more likely, we all will live longer, or at least our children will. I believe, however, that what these fuel cells will do, will be to bring down the prices of oil to perhaps less than $10 a barrel and stays that way forever perhaps. That should translate to around $0.50 or less per gallon of gasoline. It should help a lot the less developed or underdeveloped countries. Those oil-exporting countries would lose their power of influence on other countries.
AIDS/HIV Future Control As we all know, AIDS/HIV infection is cause by a virus, a retrovirus, that utilizes our body's DNA to reproduce more viruses and then destroy our immune system. It's like getting behind enemy's line, taking over the enemy's resources and then destroying the enemy. Since it is a virus, then the only way of controlling it completely is with a vaccine, the way other viruses' infection like Hepatitis B, smallpox, measles, chickenpox, etc., have been wiped out almost completely from the face of the earth. For those readers who could not keep up with the updates of this virus, I did a little research for you. The first two stages of the AIDS/HIV vaccine's human test, Phase I and II, have proven successful. The vaccine is said to be almost 100% safe. Everyone who takes it develops the antibodies needed to fight the disease. Phase III was started back in June 1998, when the first almost 8,000 volunteers received either the vaccine or a placebo in North America, Europe, and Thailand. The final report should be early next year, 2003. I believe the vaccine is given in three doses like Hepatitis B vaccine.
(Editor's Note: Every now and then, Brain Waves will do some research just to provide readers information that gives them hope for the future. Of course, we don't expect readers to believe it. But then, when Noah was building the ark, every one laughed at him. Soon the laughter was drowned. Perhaps a reader may ask why are we doing all of these - doing so many things for nothing? Well, we're just hoping we could make a difference. Who knows, you might be one of those who is interested in having a positive attitude. You see, every time you turn on the TV for the news, or read the daily papers, there are always the senseless human barbaric demonstrations like rape and murders, terrorism, suicide bombing, rebellion and the prospect of war, etc. We, in Brain Waves, happen to believe that the underlying cause of many of these disregards of human lives is negative attitude leading to the feeling of envy, jealousy, greed, skepticism, paranoia, hatred and hostility. We don't think barbaric conflict would develop if we can only become nice and friendly to each other and can get rid of our grudges, gripes and resentments. So what's that got to do with the information and articles we would like very much for you to read? It's our way of giving an example of being nice and friendly.) A pretty girl was driving down a country road in Arkansas one night when her car broke down. Unable to fix the problem, she walked to nearby farmhouse for help. The farmer said he would look at her car in the morning and in the meantime agreed to let her stay the night, but on one condition: "I don't want you messing with my sons Jethro and Luke." A minister sold a mule to a priest and told him that the animal was trained to obey only two commands: "Praise the Lord" to go and "Amen" to stop. The priest climbed on board the mule, said: "Praise the Lord" and the mule set off. The mule began to go faster and faster and the priest began to get worried. He wanted the animal to stop but he couldn't remember the key word. He kept saying "whoa" but it had no effect. A farmer was sitting in a bar one afternoon, getting slowly drunk. A man came over to talk to him. I pulled out of the church parking lot early this morning after my routine 15 minute daily visit with my Friend at the Blessed Sacrament chapel getting ready to start my day. The commute to work, which on a normal day takes no more than ten minutes, took forever, as the freeway was jammed due to a very early morning multiple car crash leaving 5 people dead, two of whom were children. On the radio news channel was a press release of the Planned Parenthood and the National Organization for Women, launching their Christmas campaign aptly called “Choice On Earth”. The NOW spokesperson gleefully announced that Choice on Earth T-shirts, and other ad items were selling like the proverbial hotcakes. What irony! – Here I am sitting in the midst of a parking lot of a freeway wondering about the lives of those just killed, not by their own volition, - wondering how their loved ones must be feeling – and this, happening a few days before Christmas. Also, here I am, sitting in the midst of a parking lot of a freeway listening to a news broadcast announcing a “successful” ad campaign to promote the choice to terminate life intentionally. Something is so very wrong with this picture. This picture did not sit very well with me and this picture left me seething with rage. Christmas is a celebration of life. Christmas is the celebration of the Incarnation, God’s assuming human form. At Christmas, we celebrate the coming of the second Person of the Trinity as a new born child to grow, to mature and to die in this world. We’ve seen violence, in every shape and form, thrust into our faces day in and day out. It did not start with September 11 – it started way, way before that. We see the unending struggle between the Israeli’s and Palestinians to recognize each other’s right to exist. We see crimes against persons, corporate white collar crimes, and the rights and goods of others snatched from many to benefit a few. We see hunger, poverty and disease in underdeveloped countries. We see superficiality and excessive consumption in developed ones. We see the ever increasing threat of terrorist violence and the impending reality of war. We see the Catholic Church struggle through members of the clergy betraying trust and their vows of ordination. We see families everywhere continuing to struggle with being a family. We see individuals struggle with their faith, with their jobs, with their self-esteem, with their drug abuse, with their health, with the meaning of life. Everywhere we see the devaluation of life. All of these bring in a more urgent reality - the reality of the fragility of life. It, likewise, brings into focus the great strides we make in our daily battle to maintain the dignity of life. Oftentimes, I ask myself why I waste precious time brooding over things I don’t have control of. Oftentimes, I don’t have the answers. But, sometimes, when my head is in sync with my heart, I think of possibilities. Possibilities, such as maybe I could start by respecting others. The Buddhist spiritual guru, Thich Nhat Hahn, once said that smiling is the most basic of all to establish peace, that warm hugs and warm smiles can help ease tension and transform difficult situations. Possibilities, such as maybe I could start by listening carefully. It means that I have to let go of my own agenda, and focus on the other. It can make a world of difference in relationships and become a critical element in a life of nonviolence. Possibilities, such as maybe I could start by forgiving, to let go of the grudges and the hurt to heal a broken or strained relationship. This also means my willingness to say “I’m sorry”, and mean it, for my own hurtful actions to make amends for the hurt I have caused. Possibilities, such as maybe I could start to take a stand with victims of violence and injustice, - possibilities which may lead to relationships that will challenge me to get involved. Possibilities, such as maybe I could start by giving people the gift of my time. Time, I have plenty – I received a lifetime of it from God, and some varied portions of it from people who gave me theirs. The possibilities are endless – I just have to go through this journey of peace one step at a time. At the very first Christmas, the angels sang “Glory to God in the Highest Heaven, and Peace and Goodwill to Men on Earth”. As we celebrate Christmas this year, we can make our first step to making peace a reality our own way. “Let there be peace on earth… and let it begin with me”. MERRY CHRISTMAS to one and all !!! Our hairs are gone and the kids have grown
Our sugars are sweeter and the trigs are much greater Our days are longer, our drives are stronger And I am not really understanding The Christmas Tree The decorated Christmas tree can be traced back to the ancient Romans who during their winter festival decorated trees with small pieces of metal during Saturnalia, a winter festival in honor of Saturnus, the god of agriculture. An evergreen, the Paradise tree, was decorated with apples as a symbol of the feast of Adam and Eve held in December 24th during the middle ages. Christmas trees were sold in Alsace in 1531. Alsace was at that time a part of Germany. Today it is part of France. The trees were sold at the local markets and set up in homes decorated. In the Ammersweier in Alsace was an ordinance that stated no person "shall have for Christmas more than one bush of more than eight shoe lengths." Sixteenth century folklore credited Martin Luther as being the first to decorate an indoor tree. After a walk through a forest of evergreens with shining stars overhead, Luther tried to describe the experience to his family and showed them by bringing a tree into their home and decorating it with candles. Some historians state that the first evidence of a lighted tree appeared more than a century after Martin Luther's death in 1546. The oldest record of a decorated Christmas tree came from a 1605 diary found in Strasburg, France (Germany in 1605). The tree was decorated with paper roses, apples and candies. In Austria and Germany during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the tops of evergreens were cut and hung upside down in a living room corner. They were decorated with apples, nuts and strips of red paper. The first record of Christmas trees in America was for children in the German Moravian Church's settlement in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Christmas 1747. Actual trees were not decorated, but wooden pyramids covered with evergreen branches were decorated with candles. The custom of the Christmas tree was introduced in the United States during the War of Independence by Hessian troops. An early account tells of a Christmas tree set up by American soldiers at Fort Dearborn, Illinois, the site of Chicago, in 1804. Most other early accounts in the United States were among the German settlers in eastern Pennsylvania. In 1834, Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert, was credited with bringing the first Christmas tree to Windsor Castle for the Royal Family. Some historians state that in actuality Queen Charlotte, Victoria's grandmother, recalled that a Christmas tree was in the Queen's lodge at Windsor on Christmas Day in 1800. Charles Minnegrode introduced the custom of decorating trees in Williamsburg, Virginia in 1842. By 1850, the Christmas tree had become fashionable in the eastern states. Until this time, it had been considered a quaint foreign custom. Mark Carr brought trees from the Catskills to the street of New York in 1851, and opened the first retail Christmas tree lot in the United States. Franklin Pierce was the first president to introduce the Christmas tree to the White House in 1856 for a group of Washington Sunday School children. The first national Christmas Tree was lighted in the year 1923 on the White House lawn by President Calvin Coolidge. The Bride's Tree An Angel symbolizes God. Well, these are all I could dig out about Christmas Legends. I got this Bride's tree legend from the government Hoover Archives. There are children who are curious. You might be able to tell them about the Christmas legends. So be home for Christmas. And to all of you: "Have yourself a merry little Christmas!" ---Clem To Visit the American Society of CIM, Inc., click on any of the ASOCIMAI below:****************
How would you like to open our web site and in a blink of an eye, the whole page is downloaded with all the pictures? It would be great, but is it going to be possible? In these day and age, everything is possible except perhaps being able to retire early. Anyway, CNET News.com reported that Bell Labs have cleared the first hurdle to potentially increasing Internet speeds to well above today's fastest rates.
Do you hate it when gasoline prices go up like nobody's business? I do, because those countries producing oil are basically holding us hostage. While the price of gasoline goes up, our paycheck stays flat, but we spend more and thus save less or none at all. These countries have the oil, while all you and I have is the toil. By the sweat of our brows, we eat. By the bark of their command, they feast. It's not fair, is it? Although they have the desert with more sands than soil, there is oil underneath. In the Philippines, we have the soil with more rocks and boulders, but nothing else underneath. They export oil; we export humans. They suck brains from other countries; we drain brains for other countries.
The world's greatest single health issue today is the increasing incidence of AIDS/HIV infection. On July 11, 2001 issue of Newsweek, it stated that about 15,000 people are contracting HIV every day. There is no cure so far although with modern medications, HIV infected people lived a normal life, or maybe just a little bit less than normal life. They have to take the medications for life and have to put up with its side effects. But those who have gotten used to these medications and have learned to live and enjoy life, they are a whole lot happier than many of us who worry too much about everything. For they focused on living in the present and enjoying life, not just enduring it. Many of us focus on enduring life and putting off enjoyment later. 
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The girl promised, but in the middle of the night the temptation of sleeping in the next room to two strapping lads proved too great to resist. So she crept into their room and said: "Boys, how would you like me to show you the ways of the world?"
"Huh?" they chorused.
She explained to them exactly what she wanted to do adding: "I don't want to get pregnant, so you have to wear these rubbers." She put the condoms on the boys and for the next four hours the three of them enjoyed sex.
Thirty-five years later, Jethro and Luke were sitting on their front porch, watching the world go by. Jethro turned to his brother and said: "Luke, you remember that pretty gal who came by here 35 years or so ago, the one who showed us the ways of the world?"
"Yeah, I remember," said Luke.
"Well," continued Jethro, "do you care if she gets pregnant?"
"No," said Luke.
"Me neither. Let's take these things off." **************
Finally he remembered and said "Amen". The mule stopped immediately. The priest looked down and saw that the mule had come to halt right on the edge of a huge cliff with a 500-foot drop. Wiping his eyebrow in relief, the priest sighed: "Praise the Lord."**************
"You look down," said the man. "It's a beautiful day. How can you be miserable on a day like this?"
The farmer mumbled: "Some things you can't just explain."
"Come on, tell me about it," said the man. "It might help you to talk to someone."
"If you really want to know," said the farmer, "I was sitting in the barn this morning milking my cow and I'd just got the bucket full when she kicked it over with her left leg."
"Is that all? It's not exactly the end of the world."
"Some things you just can't explain," mumbled the farmer.
"So what did you do?"
"I took her left leg and tied it to a post on the left with some rope. Then I carried on milking. And just as I'd got the bucket full again, she kicked it over with her right leg."
"I can see that would be annoying."
The farmer mumbled: "Some things you just can't explain."
"So what did you do next?"
I tied her leg to the post on the right and carried on milking. And just as the bucket was filling up, she knocked it over with her tail."
"You must have been angry by now."
"Some things you just can't explain," mumbled the farmer.
"What did you do?"
"I didn't have anymore rope, so I took off my belt and tied her tail to the rafter. At that moment, my pants fell down and my wife walked in. Some things you just can't explain."*********************
… Peace on Earth …
by:
Marie Belen C. Flores-Rosales, MD MPH - CIM’70
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Friends
by Deo Delfin
But we thank the Lord they still come home.
Our hearts are twitching and our bodies are shaking
They're also a- fluttering and a-stroking
We thank the Lord we are still recovering.
Our tummies are bulging our cholesterols are soaring
We thank the Lord we are still roaring.
To earn a living we still need to deliver
Food on the table and to pay the biller
We thank the Lord we still have some for dinner.
Why this turns out to be a corny filler
When what I intended is only a prayer
For my old friends who are oh so dearer
And to thank the Lord we are still together.**********************
Christmas Legends
When we were kids, how many of us wondered who, where, when and how did the Christmas tree start? I could never get anyone to satisfy my curiosity about the Christmas tree even when I came to the U.S. The questions about the Christmas tree came back to my mind again the other day and so I decided to look into it again. Here is what I've found from the University of Illinois Extension.
Many, if not all of us, must not have heard of the Bride's Tree. But it's one of the Christmas legends. According to an old German tradition, a newlywed couple's tree should include these 12 ornaments to ensure happiness for their life together. 
A Bird symbolizes good luck.
A House signifies family shelter.
A Teapot symbolizes hospitality.
A Pine Cone symbolizes eternity.
Fruit symbolizes plentiful blessings.
A Rose is a symbol of the Virgin Mary.
An Animal symbolizes peace with nature.
A Santa Claus is a symbol of giving and caring.
A Fish symbolizes Christ as well as fertility.
A Flower Basket represents beauty in the home.
A Heart represents true love.
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CIM Microbiology and Parasitology Faculty Members, 1975********************
San Diego, California
San Diego, CaliforniaTop
