What if you could get rid of your bad memories?  Would you do it?  Testing using a blood pressure medication showed a reduction in fear among people who took it, suggesting an affect on memories. Some say this could help people overcome anxieties and remove phobias.  To be honest, I don’t feel great about this.  While I understand that helping people overcome fears is a good thing, messing with memories could be dangerous, even the bad ones.  Though bad memories aren’t fun, they often times help us to learn from our experiences.

Posted: February 17th, 2009 under Crazy Stuff, Health News, Show Notes.
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Even though working out is good for us and keeps us healthy, that doesn’t make it necessarily desirable.  In fact, I have a theory that we have a built in dislike of working out.  It came from this morning.  My wife recently borrowed a workout DVD for mom’s to do with their babies.  The baby doesn’t work out, but mom can by doing crouches with the baby in a carrier, or doing crunches with the baby on their stomachs so they can look at them when they sit up.  Amy thought it would be great, and it looked like a fun idea to me.  Bekah decided to just scream the whole time.  I guess working out takes some getting used to.

Posted: February 17th, 2009 under Life at the Lansers', Show Notes.
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Loneliness is one of the un-fun parts of life.  Everyone feels lonely at one time or another, but persistent, long-term loneliness isn’t only a bad state of mind to be in, it could also be bad for your health. University of Chicago researchers determined that being isolated from others can up your blood pressure, releases cortisol a stress hormone into the body, and could also increase the chances of developing Alzheimers among other things.  If you’re feeling lonely, it’s time to get out and connect with someone.  There are lots of social connection websites like Facebook, where you can meet other Life 101.9 listeners. And of course, you can always hang out with me each weekday afternoon through your radio!

Posted: February 17th, 2009 under Crazy Stuff, Health News, Show Notes.
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I learned something important this week.  Making a great Valentine’s Day doesn’t necessarily mean a nice dinner or beautiful flowers.  It might just mean helping your wife take a load off.  That’s what we ended up doing.  My parents watched Bekah Saturday night while we went out to find something to eat.  After driving around for more than an hour, not really hungry or moved by any restaurants, Amy came to a conclusion.  She didn’t really want to go out to dinner.  Instead, she just wanted to hang out, eat in, and watch a movie.  So I was sent into Walmart to grab some frozen dinners, a bottle of sparkling grape juice, and a couple of movies off the 2 for $10 rack.  Then we called my parents, told them we were coming back, but that they could keep watching Bekah while we locked ourselves in the office and enjoyed a movie and dinner together.  The best part, when Amy said, “This is a great Valentine’s Day.”

Posted: February 16th, 2009 under Life at the Lansers', Show Notes.
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There’s a new scam out there, and they want to take over your phone.  You might get a call from someone claiming to be from AT&T saying they need to conduct a test.  In order for them to do that test, they’ll say, they need you to hang up and dial 9, then 0, and then # (the pound sign).  Instead of doing a test, this will actually give the scammer access to your phone line, where they could place long distance calls, among other things.

According to Cecelia Johnson with HVAAA (Hawkeye Valley Area Agency for Aging), here’s a few things you can do:

• Ask the caller for his/her name and telephone number.
• Tell the caller you are going to call the telephone company immediately to determine whether or not there is a problem with the line.
• Immediately hang up the receiver, do not dial any numbers or transfer the caller to an outside line before hanging up.
• Find the telephone number of your telephone service provider and/or its security office and report the suspicious call. Be prepared to provide details of the call to the telephone company representative.

Posted: February 16th, 2009 under Helpful Info, Show Notes.
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