Everything Old is New Again...

My journey has turned full circle.

After a six-year separation, my wife and I have reconciled. So, I resigned, liquidated my possessions and packed three suitcases. And as I type, I am preparing to board a flight from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and return to Orlando, Florida. There is always hope despite the turmoil one can endure during a marriage.

Marriage is never an easy arrangement. However, with perseverance and a sincere desire to strive for a successful partnership, the sky truly the limit.

Stay tuned.

- Giovanni

Pittsburgh Steelers, The Chief and Their Six Lombardi Trophies

Several days ago, during a business trip, I had the luxury of being inside
the Steelers training facility on Pittsburgh's South Side.
This is what I saw while visiting.

Locker room during renovations

Steelers Six Lombardi Trophies

Art Rooney, Sr. aka "The Chief"

Franco Harris and the
Immaculate Reception

Changes to Kitchenmandu

It's been some time since I published anything here - work often gets in the way. In the future, I plan to spend more time providing helpful and interesting content and sincerely hope the recent blog changes and updates will make things more appealing and easier to read.

Please feel free to offer advice and comments. Thanks for visiting.

-Giovanni

New and Improved

After relocating to Pittsburgh nearly four years ago, my wife has finally agreed to pay for the divorce she so badly wanted....SIX years ago!

Now, I can begin to seriously move on with my life. New city. New career. New friends. New beginnings.

Wish me luck!

Avoiding Ingrown Toenails

Whether it's work or play, many of us are on our feet for more than 8 hours a day. And because we spend so much time walking, running and/or even standing, caring for our feet is often linked to our overall well-being. I am no different.

My Personal Experience

When my feet hurt, I'm miserable. I lack tolerance. My patience is virtually non-existent.  Believe it or not, I have actually been accused of being 'abrasive' after a long day of walking around the warehouse on sore feet...feet that at times kick the corner of a pallet, or stumble over a small box I didn't see while carrying large cases of toilet paper! I am convinced that my big toe's sole purpose is to find sharp corners and table legs.

For years I made every effort to abide by the one rule I learned as a young boy about toenails....trim them straight across versus curved like fingernails.

It always seemed to work for me. It seemed to work for my daughter as well. However, there were rare occasions when I would experience a little pain when wearing shoes during warm days at work. If my toenails were neatly trimmed, I simply dismissed it as tenderness caused from wearing shoes for extended periods. Ya know, wearing socks and shoes too long causing the skin to become extremely soft and easily pierced. But then I done a little research.

Number One Tip

While square-shaped toenails are the rage nowadays, make sure you, or your manicurist, leave a slight roundness at the outer edges of your nails. Painful ingrown toenails "are more likely to occur when the corners of your nails are wide and square," according to Rite Aid Pharmacy's Rite Health Journal. 

After reading this tidbit, I decided to alter my habit of trimming my nails straight across. Now I'm feeling a little better -- except when my big toe finds a table leg or corner of a pallet.

For more foot care tips read, "How Can I Prevent Toenail Fungus?" on Yahoo!Voices.

Sources:

Personal experiences
Rite Health Journal, Summer 2011, Page 19

Flagging Libido?

As a middle-aged man, I often have concerns that my libido will eventually wilt....and that a low libido alone would be my internal signal that my eventual demise draws nigh. Have you experienced the same thoughts? Not so fast!

Testosterone therapy may help you regain your interest in sex!

According to Adrian Dobs, M.D., M.HS., an endocrinologist at St. Johns Hopkins University, "A treatment for erectile dysfunction and a flagging libido due to an age-related decline in testosterone usually involves testosterone replacement therapy."

However, and there is ALWAYS a but, before taking one of the testosterone supplements available -- pills, injections, skin patches, gum and gels -- it is extremely important to be medically screened to eliminate causes other than age. An example? Diabetes. Diabetes can cause testosterone levels in the body to plummet. Sleep apnea can as well.

While testosterone therapy might very well assist a few of us with a decreased libido, some studies suggest it might increase our risk of heart attack and/or stroke -- IF we have other chronic heath issues/conditions.

A Funny Joke I Read Today While Taking a Break from Facebook

It's a beautiful day here in Pittsburgh, so I decided to take a break from Facebook. As I thumbed through some old magazines I had lying around, I came across this doozy of a joke in a Reader's Digest. Hope you enjoy it as well.

Every night, Harry goes out drinking. And every night, his wife, Louise, yells at him. One day, one of Louise's friends suggests that she try a different tack. "Welcome him home with a kiss and some loving words," she says. "He might change his ways."

That night, Harry stumbles back home as usual. But instead of berating him, Louise helps him into an easy chair, puts his feet on the ottoman, removes his shoes, and gently massages his neck.

"It's late," she whispers. "I think we should go upstairs to bed now, don't you?"

"Might as well," says Harry. "I'll get in trouble if I go home."

Source:
Reader's Digest, August 2010, p.24

Author Rodney Southern shares his thoughts on fatherhood and boys.

Today, in the United States, it's Father's Day. A colleague of mine published a very heat-felt account of his recent conversation with his daughter. I couldn't resist sharing the short article since I cried reading it thinking of my own daughter, Carmella, who is only 13 and will inevitably ask me the same questions. Here is the link to the article. Enjoy it. I did!
"Teaching my girls about boys."
http://premeditatedleftovers.com/teaching-my-girls-about-boys-from-daddys-point-of-view/

The Voice

The is my first season watching 'The Voice' on NBC and I must say that all of the contestants being featured on the show are really great performers. I was surprised when a couple of them weren't picked despite giving me goosebumps when they sang.

I don't have a favorite one yet, but Holly is high on the list. Are you rooting for a particular singer?

My absence...

In the past few months, I have been too busy  to entertain any rational thoughts on helpful tips, recipes or things relevant for single living. I am dealing with a long-term divorce and unable to always think clearly. I will keep you, my readers, abreast of my situation in the immediate future and look forward to making your lives better through education.

Great marinade

Summertime isn't the only time steak is on the menu and an amazing steak marinade isn't limited to summertime cookouts. Here is a simple steak marinade guide from Bill and Cheryl Jamison, authors of The Big Book of Outdoor Cooking & Entertaining.

Start with an acid to add a bit of bite to the marinade. Then add an oil to balance the taste, carry the flavor, and contribute a subtle nuttiness. Flavor will be provided by the herbs and spices used.

What you'll need

• One part acid.Use lemon juice, white-wine vinegar, or balsamic vinegar.
• One part oil. Try olive, canola or grapeseed oil.
• Some flavor. Onions, shallots, ginger, garlic and herbs add tang. Use crushed red peppers for a spicier edge.

What's next

Once you've decided on your choices, whisk ingredients together in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Men's Health Magazine (July/August 2011) recommends seasoning the steak with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to "transfer seasoning to the meat." Then soak your steak for 2 to 12 hours. Remember, longer is better!

Making Great Iced Tea

Tea is, and always has been, a summertime delight. Once you taste this version by Matt and Ted Lee, authors of The Lee Bros. Simple Fresh Southern, you won't look twice at the syrupy swill in the super market.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED

6 regular-size bags of orange pekoe tea
1-lb ripe peaches (skin on), pitted and cut into wedges

HOW TO MAKE IT

1. In a saucepan or tea kettle, bring 2 cups cold water to a boil. Place the teabags in a pitcher and pour the boiling water over them. Let stand for at least 20 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, in a food processor, puree the peaches until smooth -- about 90 seconds.
3. With a wooden spoon, gently press the tea bags against the side of the pitcher to extract the liquids. Remove and discard.
4. Stir in 4 cups of cold water and peach puree; refrigerate 45 minutes or until well chilled.
5. Strain the tea into a pitcher using a fine-mesh sieve or cheesecloth.
6. Pour the tea into tall glasses filled 2/3 with ice cubes or combine 1/2 cup with an ounce of your favorite bourbon or whiskey to make a julep.

Energy-saving tips for your home

Energy-saving tips for your home often provide a modest cost-savings as a natural byproduct to conserving energy, but economic hardships needn't be your primary reason to be more aware of your carbon footprint.

Saving money while being energy efficient is easy! One example for saving energy and increasing your disposable income is to install dimmer switches throughout your home. For more helpful "green" tips, read "Eight Everyday Green Tips for Your Home" on Yahoo! Voices.

Alternative remedy to help prevent an asthma attack

Sipping a cup of black tea may help you relax your airways. Remedy Healthy Living magazine's Fall 2011 edition suggests brewing strong black tea (three bags for a cup of hot water) each morning and afternoon in addition to breathing exercises for relief from asthmatic symptoms. Tea contains the mild muscle relaxant aminophylline, which helps open up the airways.

Important note: While breathing exercises and drinking black tea can improve overall lung health, these tactics should be considered complimentary only and should not replace the need for medications prescribed by your doctor.

Play D for Good Health!

Last summer, Men's Health magazine (July/Aug 2011) cited a study in the journal Diabetes Care on the usefulness of vitamin D against diabetes. "Vitamin D may help cells recognize insulin," says study author Anoop Shankar, M.D., Ph.D.

Study results

If your vitamin D level is adequate, you might very well be less likely to experience high blood sugar. In the study, participants with lower blood levels of vitamin D were 47 percent more likely to have prediabetes than those with higher numbers.

For more information

Interested in more information? In an article I personally researched and published on Yahoo! Contributor Network, "What is vitamin D?",  I explain in great detail the benefits of vitamin D and how to determine if you are deficient. You would be wise to read it and play D against diabetes!

Sources:
"Play D against diabetes," Men's Health, July/August 2011 -- page 33.

Burn even more calories during your walk.

It seems as though the news on walking gets better and better with every step. Not only does walking burn about 100 calories per mile, it gives your heart a great workout, too.

According to Maggie Spilner of Walk For All Seasons, the University of Illinois recently discovered during a study that "regular walking might even make you smarter by improving the connectivity of important brain circuits.

The American Heart Association suggests that brisk walking for a minimum of 30 minutes per day for five days per week is a great target for beginners. One way to improve your success rate of meeting or beating the aforementioned goal  is to join a walking group.

Not interested in walking with strangers? Start your own walking group by asking co-workers, neighbors, family members or friends to join you at a mutually comfortable area or post an ad on Craigslist to get a foothold on forming a walking group.

Lower your blood pressure with celery.

Fresh celery. Photo courtesy of
www.commonswikimedia.org

For centuries, "celery has been used in Asia as a folk remedy for high blood pressure," according to Prevention Magazine. Researchers at the Univ. of Chicago Medical Center actually tested this ancient remedy after one man persuaded them. His persistence paid off in spades! Within one week of participation in the study, his blood pressure plummeted from 158/96 to 118/82.
 
Later, the researchers began testing the celery theory on lab animals. Once again, within one week, the animals' blood pressures dropped an average of 12 to 14 percent! Celery was found to relax the muscles of the arteries that regulate blood pressure allowing the vessels to dilate.

Earthquake rocks Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania!

Here in Pittsburgh, the earthquake visibly shook me today as I sat at a small table on the seventh floor of an office building downtown. It has been more than 25 years since I can remember feeling the effects of an earthquake.

In spite of today's activities, I believe I was lucky that things weren't worse than they could have been and think I should share the following portion of an article from Yahoo!News as an explanation:

MINERAL, Va. (AP) — Tens of millions of people from Georgia to Canada were jolted Tuesday by the strongest earthquake to strike the East Coast since World War II. Three weeks before the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11, office workers poured out of New York skyscrapers and the Pentagon, relieved it was nothing more sinister than an act of nature.

There were no known deaths or serious injuries, but cracks appeared in the National Cathedral, and three capstones broke off its tower. Windows shattered and grocery stores were wrecked in Virginia, where the quake was centered. The White House and Capitol were partly evacuated.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake registered magnitude 5.8. By West Coast standards, that is mild. But the East Coast is not accustomed to earthquakes at all, and this one unsettled some of the nation's biggest population centers.

In New York and Washington, people said their thoughts were of an explosion or terrorist attack. In some cases, workers in Washington mentioned the tremors in phone calls to colleagues in New York, and seconds later, the shaking reached there, too.

"We thought it was a bomb at first because everyone has 9/11 on the brain and that it's so close to September and the 10th anniversary," said Cathy McDonald, who works in an IRS office in downtown Washington.

Hundreds of people spilled out of the federal courthouse blocks from ground zero, workers in the Empire State Building rushed into the streets, some having descended dozens of flights of stairs.

"I thought we'd been hit by an airplane," said one worker, Marty Wiesner.

Adrian Ollivierre, an accountant who was in his office on the 60th floor when the shaking began, said: "I thought I was having maybe a heart attack, and I saw everybody running. I think what it is, is the paranoia that happens from 9/11, and that's why I'm still out here — because, I'm sorry, I'm not playing with my life."

The quake was felt as far north as Toronto, as far west as Indiana and Kentucky and as far south as Atlanta and Savannah, Ga. It was also felt on Martha's Vineyard of Massachusetts, where President Barack Obama, who is vacationing there, was getting ready to tee off in a round of golf.

The White House said there were no reports of major damage to the nation's infrastructure, including airports and nuclear facilities. Two nuclear reactors at the North Anna Power Station in Virginia were automatically taken off line by safety systems, said Roger Hannah, a spokesman for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The plant is in the same county as the quake's epicenter, about 80 miles southwest of Washington and 40 miles northwest of Richmond, Va.

The Park Service closed all monuments and memorials on the National Mall, and ceiling tiles fell at Reagan National Airport outside Washington. Many nonessential workers in Washington were sent home for the day.

The Capitol was reopened by late afternoon for people to retrieve their things.

At the Pentagon, a low rumbling built until the building itself was shaking, and people ran into the corridors of the complex. The shaking continued, to shouts of "Evacuate! Evacuate!" The main damage to the building, the largest single workspace for the federal government, came from a broken water pipe.

To read the article in its entirety, click here.

How-to reduce your risk of prostate cancer.

As a man approaching 45, I can't help to wonder about cancer and ways to possibly lessen my chances of being a statistic one day.

While reading a booklet a few days ago, I stumbled across some helpful tips for possibly reducing the risk of developing prostate cancer and wanted to share them.

Prostate cancer is cancer that starts in the prostate gland. The prostate is a small, walnut-sized structure that makes up part of a man's reproductive system. It wraps around the urethra, the tube that carries urine out of the body. More than 198,000 new cases of prostate cancer are diagnosed annually.

Prostate cancer is the third most common cause of death from cancer in men of all ages and is the most common cause of death from cancer in men over age 75. Prostate cancer is rarely found in men younger than 40.

Some ways to reduce your risk are as follows:

• Limit the amount of animal fat in your diet.
• Eat one or more servings daily of tomatoes or tomato-based foods, such as tomato juice and spaghetti sauce. Tomatoes contain the antioxidant lycopene, which may protect the prostate from cancer. Other food sources contain lycopene, but tomatoes are the best source.
• Talk to your doctor about screening tests, especially if you are at high-risk -- African-Americans and men with a close relative who had prostate cancer at a young age.

Men who eat fewer than five servings a day of meat, milk, cheese, etc. have a lower risk of prostate cancer. A great deal of scientific research has been conducted to identify the properties of animal fat responsible for the increase in prostate cancer risk. One explanation is that animal fat might affect different hormone levels and increase the risk of cancer.

Cell phones and your health

An Argentine study mentioned in the July/August 2011 issue of Men's Health Magazine, p.33, explains that cell phones worn on the belt may be related to lower bone mass. "Men who regularly carried a cellphone on their right hip had lower bone mass at the top of their right femur than men who didn't carry a phone."

The study comes on the heels of a recently released report by a team of international scientists claiming a possible link between cell phone usage and cancer. Read my article published on Yahoo! and Yahoo!News, "World Health Organization unlikely to get people off the phone" for more information about the WHO classification of cell phones as potentially "carcinogenics to humans."

It's worth noting that both studies speculate that radiofrequency radiation might possibly affect cell formation and alter the natural coarse of things and lead to health-related issues.