for my Mom.

Last night I followed up the Magnetic Fields show with a Manhattan at Martuni's. Naturally, I did an epic rendition of Suddenly Seymour with a Rick Moranis look alike while my dear friend Mira Carberry sipped a Cosmopolitan in awe of such raw talent. Ma, you would have been proud.

Make Your Own Chinese Steamed Pork Buns : Planet Green

Make Your Own Chinese Steamed Pork Buns : Planet Green

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Naps Can Seriously Improve All-Day Learning Abilities [Naps]

Naps Can Seriously Improve All-Day Learning Abilities [Naps]

Taking a 90-minute nap the day of a test or presentation sounds like a ludicrous luxury. But a recent study on the brain's ability to recall facts found that napping at noon could mean a lot more brain power at 6 p.m.

Presenting at this year's meeting of the American Association of the Advancement of Science (AAAS), University of California Berkeley researchers revealed the results of testing '39 healthy young adults' on recalling facts they had learned that same day.

At noon, all the participants were subjected to a rigorous learning task intended to tax the hippocampus, a region of the brain that helps store fact-based memories. Both groups performed at comparable levels.

At 2 p.m., the nap group took a 90-minute siesta while the no-nap group stayed awake. Later that day, at 6 p.m., participants performed a new round of learning exercises. Those who remained awake throughout the day became worse at learning. In contrast, those who napped did markedly better and actually improved in their capacity to learn.

It's not the first time, or the second, that we've seen naps and memory functions tied together. But each study has its participants trying out slightly different tasks, and this study suggests that if you're trying to cram in facts you need to recall later, a same-day nap before your last-minute cram might be more helpful than powering through your day with nervous energy.

It also suggests that the brain uses a sleep state between light sleep and deep REM phases to pull a kind of soft reset on the brain's memory recall powers, so a fear that you can't let yourself sleep 'too deeply' in a nap seems unfounded.

Need help getting yourself to drop into that mind-wiping state? Try our favorite cheat sheet for napping. Thanks for the tip Annalee!

A midday nap markedly boosts the brain's learning capacity [EurekAlert]

The Modern San Franciscan Has Real Boobs and Lives in the Mission

The Modern San Franciscan Has Real Boobs and Lives in the Mission: "

Local artist Mike Giant has a solo show opening in Milan next week. This diagram just might be part of the fun. (Click to enlarge.)

[via wombatbiker]

Previously:

Mission Hipster

Filed under: People "

Mama, I'm coming home.

Tomorrow morning at the crack of dawn, me and the Steve are homeward bound. Short and sweet visit, 24-27th. Excited to hug my family, eat Nana's food, and sit under Mom's tree(s). I'll miss the Pops, but grateful for the time I had with him over the Turkey holiday.

Though I'm feeling pretty ambivalent about my birthday, this looks pretty promising: CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): I'm happy to announce that 2010 could be the year when you become a more expert communicator. It's not that you do a bad job now; it's just that there is always room for improvement, and this will be an excellent time to attend to that. Life will be bringing you an abundance of experiences that will help you learn to listen better, cultivate more tact, read people's body language like a pro, andconsistently speak about the elusive truth with language that's both kind and effective. (Rob Brezsny horoscopes)

Better communication? Elusive truths? Yeah, I'm definitely into more of that.
Bring it on 2010.
I'm ready.

whoa.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): In his book The Way of Transition, William Bridges defines the "neutral zone" as "that in-between time, after you've let go of your old life and before you have fully discovered and incorporated your new life." Sound familiar? Maybe the neutral zone where you're currently simmering isn't as dramatic as that -- maybe you haven't been stripped of every single certainty and you're not wandering in limbo. But I suspect you have at least let go of one aspect of your old familiar rhythm and have yet to ease into the one that'll be familiar in the future. My advice? Don't rush it. Get all you can out of this unique and educational time in the neutral zone.

cray-cray

sawyer has been in the hospital over 2 weeks now with worst-case-scenario liver abscesses. after a terrifying couple of weeks, i am grateful to report that he is on the mend. he'll be at kaiser for a bit longer, but the counts are looking good and the end is in sight. family and friends, mom especially, have been taking amazing care of him. i'm so thankful for all the love from everyone. keep it coming.

now that mr sawyer is in the clear and that i have the go-ahead from my boss lady, i feel confident making a trip to madison, WI to see Dad, Suzanne, Alex, and Alex for turkey day. stevie is making the journey home with me -- i know what you're thinking and not to worry -- i purchased her a red parka at jeffrey's last night for stevie so she won't catch cold. yes, i've crossed over into inappropriate dog parenting behavior by putting clothing on my poor little canine dependent. aside from a little self-loathing, i'm pretty ok with it.

glide is going well. it's super weird and different work in a clinic that does not offer HIV care. i'm learning just how conservative regular western medicine and primary care can be. aside from the subtle and not so subtle differences, i love learning loads about Diabetes and am now a certified Health Coach for our Diabetes patients. i also get to use my mad Zumba skills and lead some aerobics workshops with our health maintenance classes. i'm psyched for structure and routine in my life. i'm such a capricorn. wooooooo to the woo.