Posted by aranya | Filed under Uncategorized
Instant Messenger Love Song
Really love this and hope that Nick comes Thune to Chi-Town =)
Words of Wisdom From Cesar Millan
Posted by aranya | Filed under Uncategorized
I absolutely adore Cesar Millan, aka, “The Dog Whisperer,” so I recently started following him on Twitter. He’s one of those people who automatically follows you back, BUT you also get a little bonus direct message that says this:
“Thanks for the follow! Stay calm and assertive!”
I was beyond amused when I read this. But then I realized, these are seriously words to live by. And they are particularly applicable to my life right now. Thanks Cesar…. once again, you prove that you train people and not dogs. You rock.
Pet Peeve Of The Day
Posted by aranya | Filed under Uncategorized
It really bugs me when people start off a sentence with, “No offence, but…”
I mean, c’mon! It’s too late. I’m already offended. You’ve essentially set yourself up for a guaranteed, offence-inducing comment. And who knows? If you hadn’t said, “no offence, but…” I might have actually gone on with my life, unoffended and happy as a clam. But by starting off with that opener you’ve shot yourself in the foot and planted the seed in my mind. I’m thinking, “Well where the eff do they get off with their holier-than-thou-I’m offended-at-the-drop-of-a-hat attitude?” If you’re going to say something rude, I’d prefer it if you didn’t set it up—just come out and say what you’re going to say. It’s better for everyone involved. I remember in elementary school, girls would say things like, “No offence, but I really don’t like your skirt.” I’d like to know how a person can hear a statement like that and not feel insulted. It certainly never worked for me. My response would usually be something along the lines of, “Oh, well no offence but I really don’t like your face.” See how the vicious chain of rudeness begins?
Anyway, THAT, is my gripe of the day, and I’m really not concerned about whether or not you were offended by it.
It’s A Dog’s World
Posted by aranya | Filed under Uncategorized
I’ve got another article in DVM News Magazine. It’s all about how we love our dogs more than our cats…. well no, not really, but it IS all about why we take our dogs to the vet more than our cats. You can read the full “It’s a Dog’s World” article on on the DVM website.
Sci Q In The Daily Northwestern
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Well, apparently the 12 weeks my classmates and I spent slaving away over Sci Q magazine were not in vain. It seems The Daily Northwestern has deemed us newsworthy after all. I think this is probably the first time that I’ve ever been quoted in an article, rather than the other way around. It was weird. I definitely prefer to be the interviewer, rather than the interviewee. Anyway, Sci Q is immortalized in the annals of Northwestern history here.
Horses Screwed Over By Recession
Posted by aranya | Filed under Uncategorized
Last fall I wrote a trend piece for DVM magazine, a trade publication for veterinarians. I examined the impact that the faltering U.S. economy is having on veterinary care of horses. I used to ride and jump horses regularly when I was younger, but my father would always tell me that I couldn’t own my own horse unless we moved to Oregon because the upkeep was just too expensive in the fancy D.C. suburbs where we lived. Land in Fairfax County, Virginia is a hot commodity, and you pay dearly for open space — and obviously, horses require land… lots of it. So going into this article, I guessed that the sinking economy was probably taking quite a toll on horse owners. However, I didn’t even think of all the factors that go into the upkeep of these awesome animals. Not only do they need a lot of land, but they also eat a substantial amount of hay (which of course has to be transported by vehicles that require ridiculously over-priced gas). And just like people, they have routine medical care that needs to happen in order for them to stay healthy. Yup. It turns out that health care for horses sucks too. Maybe Obama can help?
In any event, my article ran in the November print edition of DVM. Unfortunately, due to a glitch in the Matrix, I didn’t receive my copy of the magazine until today. I realize that there is a high probability that you don’t care about the state of equine medicine, but on the off-chance that any fellow horse freaks like myself are reading this, click on the link below to read my story…
Equine Medicine in Today’s Economy
Paging Playboy (Or More Specifically, Jimmy Jellinek)
Posted by aranya | Filed under Uncategorized
So, I’ve been sitting here ruminating over all the reasons why I think Playboy should hire me the MOMENT its editorial offices relocate to Chicago, and I thought, “Why keep this tantalizing and persuasive information to myself when I can post it on my website and use it for my own self-interested purposes?” So prepare yourself. I’m about to blow my own horn and share my personal opinions on why I think I’m rad, right here in the public sphere (hmmm… something about that statement sounds mildly inappropriate). I hope you can hear me Jimmy Jellinek because I’m talking to you! And when I say talking, I mean shamelessly begging.
1. I am a true fan of the magazine and even had a subscription for many years. Needless to say, all of my male friends really enjoyed the bathroom reading in my apartment.
2.David Standish (my second favorite teacher EVER — beat out only narrowly by my sixth grade instructor, the incomparable Rick Wormeli) worked as an editor at Playboy for 10 years and was a regular contributor after he left. David was my magazine writing teacher last summer, and the editorial adviser to the fall 2008 magazine publishing project at Medill. Since I was editor in chief of that project, David had to put up with me quite a bit… and yet he still agreed to be one of my references =) Needless to say, I heard a lot of great stories about the good old days, working in the Chicago Playboy offices and hanging out with crazy cats like Hunter S. Thompson. I’ve said all along that I want to be David Standish when I grow up, so if Playboy would just hire me already, then I could hurry up and get on with my life goal.
3. I watch The Girls Next Door regularly. Yup. I said it. I’m not ashamed. What can I say? It’s junk food for the mind & Hugh Hefner is a total pimp. Judge me if you want.
4. I think Penthouse sucks ass.
5. I have a twisted sense of humor and almost nothing offends me.
6. I wrote a quarterly earnings story on Playboy Enterprises for my business reporting class, and I got… drum roll please… an A. That’s right, I can rap about well-endowed naked chicks AND converse intelligently with shareholders about the ups and downs of Playboy stock.
7. I believe that for any publication to succeed in today’s ADD, instant gratification environment, it is absolutely crucial that a cohesive and innovative relationship exist between print and online. It’s all about multiple platforms these days baby, and I’m excited that Playboy recognized this, and is now heading in the right direction. I would stab at least six or seven people to be a part of this evolutionary process. Kidding, kidding… I’d only stab one or two people — maybe three.
8. I’m a guy’s girl through and through.
9. I stole my dad’s Playboy Jokes book when I was a kid and I used to pour over it when no one was looking. Coincidentally, David Standish started out as the Jokes Editor at the magazine. Okay, okay, so one really has nothing to do with the other at all. I just wanted to mention that David spent two years reading thousands of joke submissions (note to Jimmy: I’ll do that too if that’s what it takes).
10. I’m smart, an incredibly hard worker and a damn good writer. (Sorry… I’m not usually this arrogant, but I’m trying to get my dream job here people, so you’re going to have to cut me some slack).
I’m hoping this list will act as my Jedi Mind Trick in written-word form. “You were just about to hire me as an editor Jimmy Jellinek. You were just realizing how amazingly perfect I am for Playboy, especially now that it has decided to consolidate its print and online operations and I spent the last year learning all about multimedia magazine journalism. You were just about to contact me and offer me a job in the new Chicago offices.” Call me Jimmy… seriously… I won’t let you down.
aranya tomseth version 2.0 has arrived
Posted by aranya | Filed under Uncategorized
Okay, so I maintained my “Better Living Through Chemistry” blog for several months for the purposes of a graduate school class, but I’m not going to rant and rave about the pros and cons of pharmaceutical drugs anymore. I think I made my point, and well, frankly, I’m bored of that topic. Besides, I’m done with graduate school. That’s right. I earned my master’s degree, which means NOW I can do whatever I want on aranyatomseth.com. I am, ahem, “master” of my own domain if you will. $80,000 and all I got was this lousy website? Well, that’s not ALL I got, but the price tag still seems a tad high. But I digress…. (you’ll see that I have a tendency to do this)…
I’m currently in the process of upgrading and fixing my site… so stay tuned for totally new rants and raves that will have absolutely nothing to do with prescription meds. And for all you employers out there, feel free to check out my resume and clips. Fabulous job offers with huge salaries are encouraged and welcome =)
New Warning Labels for Epilepsy Drugs Coming Soon
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The FDA is preparing to put warning labels on epilepsy drugs that will notify users about the increased risk for suicidal behavior.
“Everything points in the direction of an increase in what we call suicidality,” said Dr. Russell Katz, director of the FDA’s neuropharmacological drug division in a Katz said in a June 6 Wall Street Journal article.
In January, the FDA announced that a review of 199 studies comparing 11 epilepsy drugs to placebos found that patients taking the drugs had about twice the risk of suicidal behavior compared with patients taking a placebo. Almost 44,000 patients in the studies, four people taking antiepileptic drugs committed suicide while none of the patients receiving a placebo did.
The drugs in this study included Carbamazepine (marketed as Carbatrol, Equetro, Tegretol, Tegretol XR), Felbamate (marketed as Felbatol), Gabapentin (marketed as Neurontin), Lamotrigine (marketed as Lamictal), Levetiracetam (marketed as Keppra), Oxcarbazepine (marketed as Trileptal), Pregabalin (marketed as Lyrica), Tiagabine (marketed as Gabitril), Topiramate (marketed as Topamax), Valproate (marketed as Depakote, Depakote ER, Depakene, Depacon) and Zonisamide (marketed as Zonegran). Some of these drugs are also available as generics.
Some epilepsy drug makers like Pfizer and Abbot Laboratories have contested the FDA’s decision to place warning labels on the drugs claiming that the risks for suicidal behavior are minimal and that the labels will negatively impact company revenues.
I personally find this to be pretty galling, since pharmaceutical companies are basically saying they don’t want the FDA warning labels on their drugs because it means they will make less money. Translation: the fact that our drugs might cause people to kill themselves is less important than the fact that we might not make as much money as we want.
More Bad Drug News in the NFL
Posted by aranya | Filed under Uncategorized
According to ESPN.com, a convicted steroids dealer who recently met with NFL security officials and gave them names of players he said bought steroids from him was found dead in his home in Plano, Texas on June 5.
Plano police made a welfare check and found 35-year-old David Jacobs and 30-year-old Amanda Jo Earhart-Savell dead. Both had been shot. Jacobs, who had been sentenced to three years of probation and fined $25,000 on May 1 after pleading guilty last year in federal court in Dallas to conspiring to possess with intent to distribute anabolic steroids, had told police that, “The kinds of people I know about could put a bullet in the back of my head.” It looks like that might have proven true.
Anabolic steroids have several side effects including liver damage, cardiovascular damage, blood pressure problems, increased erectile dysfunction, impotence, irreversible breast growth and atrophy or shrinkage of the testicles. It’s just so ironic that these athletes are using drugs to become more “manly,” and meanwhile the drugs cause some of the most unmanly side effects imaginable.
But most of all, it’s disturbing that some people are willing to kill for them.
