Good Books!

We both love reading, and with Chelsea trying to recover, we've been reading a lot lately. Here are some good book suggestions:

Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart

This book is set about 50 years in America's future. The main premise is America's focus on technology and the latest gadgets and how that is ruining people's ability to function socially--the characters text message and email each other instead of actually having a conversation; no one reads books anymore because they are "smelly" and archaic; if you're not young and hip and use the latest slang, speak in abbreviations and are actively trying to appear younger, than you're dead to the world; the media is constantly bombarding you from every angle of your life; and instant gratification rules--you can find out whatever you want to know about anyone and anything, instantly, sent to you on your Ipad-esque device. And all of this has lead to a financial crisis where America is being split up and sold to other countries, namely China. Whew! It sounds like a downer but I liked how the characters struggled with wanting an identity different than "the norm" ,the consequences of being different, and whether or not you are who the technologically-crazed world defines you based on your "statistics". It was a good lesson about technology and a reason to reflect on why people feel they need to have the latest and greatest new phone/gadget/etc. I was reading this book as the latest version of the Ipad came out, and each morning on my way to work, I would see people lined up outside the Apple store, camped out, waiting to be the first to by the new Ipad. I was especially disturbed because the first Japan earthquake had just hit, and there were people standing in line with the first version of the Ipad, waiting to spend another $800 on the newest one, meanwhile images and descriptions of suffering were all over the news. Not that I'm a saint--I acknowledge consumerism and that I partake in it, I just found it thought-provoking and possibly an opportunity to re-evaluate my own spending habits...

Next on the list is Deadly Choices: How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All by Dr. Paul Offit.

Our cousins Claire & Sean had read it and I was interested in the topic, so Chelsea and I both read it. Wow! Very interesting! Over the past few years, I've heard about girls back home that I went to school with who are choosing not to vaccinate their children, mostly for fear that it causes autism. This book is written by an accredited doctor who is a believer in vaccinating children, so starting off you know it's going to be slightly biased, but I liked how easy he made it to understand the science that refutes the belief that vaccines cause autism (and a variety of other diseases). Not only does he describe study after study that have been done since the 80's to test whether vaccines cause child illnesses and the results that they do not, he also discusses many of the diseases the vaccines prevent and how terrible the epidemics of those diseases were in our history. The book talks about how those diseases are starting to come back and how devastating the consequences can be--for example, many doctors today don't recognize the initial symptoms of these diseases, like measles, because it's a disease from our grandparents generation that is just starting to re-appear.

Dr. Offit describes the anti-vaccine movement and discusses & refutes each argument, concluding by saying that since study after study have shown that vaccines do not cause autism, then the anti-vaccine movement should instead be focusing its time and money on autism research, instead of blaming the doctors and government as co-conspirators who hide the truth about vaccines. I think the saddest part about this book is that people who need to rely on "herd-immunity" (where many people who are vaccinated protect those who cannot get vaccinated from contracting disease) and cannot get vaccinated because of medical reasons, like children with Leukemia, are being threatened by ill-informed people who choose not to vaccinate out of fear. Having said that, I'm not a parent and I can hardly imagine what you would do if you thought vaccines might harm your child, but! I find the topic very interesting and didn't know much about the topic nor the arguments on either side of the debate, so I wanted to read more about it and inform myself. I think that is the main point of this book--he writes it in a way that says "Here are the scientific facts, now decide for yourself".

Next up is The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.

Now I have to preface this by saying I am only about 200 pages into this book, so my opinion may change, but so far this book has been fascinating! Chelsea's read it already so you can direct any questions her way...

This book is written by a woman who learned about the first discovered human "immortal cells" called HeLa in science class and their immeasurable value to the scientific world, but when trying to find out more about the woman behind the famous cells, found little to no information. The author felt that the person behind the most famous cells in science should have a story, so she decided to tell it. And what a story it is! HeLa cells belonged to a woman named Henrietta Lacks who died from cervical cancer at a young age in Baltimore in the 1950's. Doctors at Johns Hopkins hospital who were treating her took samples of the cancer cells. One of the doctors had a lab and had been trying to grow immortal cells, or cells that continue to reproduce and multiply on their own, outside of the body, and her cells were the first survive and flourish. He later sent the cells to other scientists to use, who then began growing and giving them to other scientists, which then became a business of labs selling the cells to scientists for research, and an estimated multi-billion dollar industry was born. The use of her cells by researchers has helped doctors and scientists to understand more about cancer and many other diseases; her cells also helped create the polio vaccine, as well as paved the way for the HPV vaccine for cervical cancer for women. Her cells are all over the world today--even Sean has used them in a lab when he was in college!

The most important aspect of the book is that Henrietta Lacks was a black woman from a poor family. That brings up a whole slew of other issues, such as informed consent, ability to understand what the doctors were doing during her treatment, racism within the medical and scientific community, and whether or not you have ownership rights to your cells and other "biological waste". As the author began her research, she discovered the family knew nothing of the use of Henrietta's cells nor their value until at least 20 years after she died. And even as she contacted the family, they still knew very little about it and were mistrustful of people asking questions about Henrietta because of the road-blocks they had met when trying to find out more about HeLa themselves from the very scientists and doctors using her cells. The Lacks family today still lives in poverty, has received no benefits from Henrietta's invaluable contribution to science, and some of them don't even have health insurance! This is unfathomable, considering the power and influence Henrietta's cells have in the medical and scientific world. Companies are making money selling her cells, and the family is still very poor and undereducated. What a shame! And why/how did this happen? Is it because she was a poor and black woman and so the doctors didn't think they had to receive her consent? Or did the medical community take advantage and choose to not follow the informed consent guidelines? I'll have to continue reading to see what happens, but I'm not confident that the family will receive the reparations they deserve.

I'll keep you posted! If you have any book recommendations, leave a comment with the name and we'll check it out. Happy reading!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! Hope everyone had a lovely weekend. Chels and I had a pretty good Sunday--we started off the morning making pancakes with Chelsea's new favorite gadget, her Darth Vader spatula! I found it last week while comparison shopping some of C&B's competition and it was hysterical, I could not resist :)





May the force be with our pancakes! Ha ha

Chels and Aunt Cathy dyed some Easter eggs a few weeks ago so we could have this pretty centerpiece. The sock monkey/bunny is a funny little thing I found for Chelsea that seemed perfect next to the eggs, how festive!

We spent the evening at Steph & Dan's and had a nice dinner. We all get a Bon Appetit magazine subscription from Grandpa Jack (thanks Grandpa!) and this month's feature is "The Italy Issue" on pasta. Dan learned some tips and made us a delicious meal.

Here's Chelsea the charmer--this is the face I typically get any time I try to take her picture. I had quite a time trying to find 3 decent pictures of us for our last holiday card!

We did some more planning for our trip and guess what I found at the grocery store? This awesome packable visor! Chels is mortified and says I look like an old lady, but the girl at PCC told me I can pull it off and I think I believe her...

We were also "that couple" who wore matching clothing as we were wearing our sandals and trying to break them in before the trip--it was freezing and rainy in Seattle so we did the dorky thing and wore socks with our sandals :) We're so cool!

We've got some fun things planned this week, including a Wii game & dinner date night with our friends Karen & PJ, yay! Bye!

Sun Sun Sunny!

We had a beautiful sunny day in Seattle today, 66, woo-hoo! This typically doesn't happen until after the 4th of July so we are very lucky today :) Started off the morning with my water aerobics class with my old lady friends which was great as always. Actually, there were some other younger women in the class today, so maybe water aerobics is becoming trendy... I'll keep you posted! Being in the water made me excited for our upcoming Costa Rica trip, YAY! We leave in less than 3 weeks :) Chels and I went to Target this afternoon to get some things for the trip and everything was so summery and bright, I can't wait! The only thing left to find is an embarrassingly large visor to shield my porcelain skin (or to embarrass my wife with, ha ha)...

We've had a pretty busy week. On Thursday night we went to a fundraiser trivia night for Steph to support Street Yoga. It was great! The event was held at a pub in the cute Seattle neighborhood Belltown--good drinks and food and fun people. Our team did an awesome job (even though we lost) and it was fun to meet some of the people that help make Street Yoga possible. Steph is the director of the Seattle branch of Street Yoga, find out more here: www.streetyoga.org . Great job, Boo!

Chelsea has been working on another present for our new little niece Delilah. She made her a bib that she cross-stitched, so cute! It had 3 smiling peas in a pod on the front, kind of reminds me of me and my sisters :) Chelsea is no longer working, just focusing on healing her back and getting stronger. We are definitely looking forward to some R&R on our trip!

Here are some cute pics of the nieces:


Ash, Claire, & Delilah, the Sjodin girls!


New sisters, so cute!


Ha ha, that smile looks familiar ;p Mom says Claire gets my devilish grin sometimes, usually when she's doing something she's not supposed to be doing... :)

Kisses for the new baby

Big sister loves new little sister!

Here's a closer-up picture of baby Delilah, can't wait to meet her!

We were supposed to have brunch this morning with our friends Steve & Caralee from out of town and our friends Nick & AnnMarie, but with Easter weekend being so busy, Steve & Caralee had lots of family to see so we'll have to catch up next time. Miss you guys! We're spending time with Steph & Dan tomorrow for Easter so we'll get some family time in which will be nice. And Dan is a great cook so whatever we make for dinner will be delicious I'm sure. Yay! :) Happy Easter!

Yesterday we got to spend time with our friends Kelly & Carl and their 7 month old daughter Siena Rose. She's so cute! She has the chubbiest little cheeks and a sweet little laugh :) We had a blast! Chelsea has gotten to play with Siena before, lucky girl, but this is the first time I got a chance to hang out with her. Kelly and Chelsea worked together, and Kelly was the photographer for our wedding. It was fun to get a chance to hang out!



Siena wasn't sure about us at first...


...but she warmed up! Look at that cute smile!


Here's Siena's kitty

Siena loves Chelsea, as all babies do.

Chelsea reading a book to Siena, or maybe Siena is reading to Chelsea?

Yay! We had a ton of fun and hope we get a chance to babysit her soon.

Yum Yum YUM!!!

Todd came over for dinner tonight and we had chips & guacamole, margaritas, and fish tacos, yum! He's been in culinary school since last fall so every time we make dinner together it's fun to put him to work and see his new skills. Very impressive! He made a mean guacamole, using fancy knife skills to boot :) We also watched a few episodes of Modern Family, hilarious and highly recommended if you haven't seen it.

Today was a sort of lazy Saturday--it started off productive though... I went to my water aerobics class, love it! The class is held Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays and I try to go at least twice a week. It's pretty fun and today one of my classmates said "it's not your grandma's water aerobics class". True! The Saturday morning instructor especially kicks your butt but it's a great workout and worth dragging yourself out of bed for. Chels has been steadily getting better and has been able to go to the gym and walk on the treadmill a few times each week, woo hoo! We'll be in Costa Rica in less than a month with her parents, Steph & Dan, and Andrew & Rachel. A much needed vaca and some R&R for both of us, can't wait! I "discovered" the library book sale today and it was AWESOME! I say discovered because I've known about it (Sean & Claire are big supporters) but have never gone before. I got as many books as I could carry for $1 each, which is awesome in itself, not to mention that the proceeds support the public library, again awesome! Okay, that word will be retired for the rest of this post, but seriously ******* :)

We have a new little addition to Candace's side of the family, our sweet new niece Delilah Mae! She was born on Monday morning and is super cute--the Sjodin family is doing well. Here's a picture of our two cute nieces, Clarabelle and her new little sister Delilah.

Can't wait to go to Minnesota in June to visit, yay!!!