Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/56770
Wednesday, February 29, 2012 – Daily News FEATURES Pecuniary priorities pommel perennial pact Dear Annie: I have been friends with ''Laura'' since my husband and I moved here 22 years ago. She is financially better off than I am (and flaunts it), but it never bothered me until she decided we should exchange Christmas gifts a few years back. Laura can be very judg- mental, and finding the right present for her was difficult. Costume jewelry would be rejected, and the real stuff was out of reach. Mean- while, whenever Laura was selling Tupperware or purses, I always bought something in order to be supportive. Last year, she started a baking Annie's Mailbox by Kathy Mitchell and Marcy Sugar sorry I'd hurt her feelings, but a Christmas gift seemed like a silly reason to end a 20-year friendship. I heard nothing back. I'm still upset about it. My husband says I am better off without her if she measures a friendship by the quality of the gifts. The problem is, when Laura was selling real estate, she helped my son purchase his first home. He is getting married in July. Should I send her an invitation? — California business, so I bought her a cupcake holder for Christmas. However, she had a Christmas party a few days before the actual holiday, so instead of giving her the holder, I gave her a hostess gift of a cookbook, intend- ing to give her the cupcake holder at our personal gift exchange. The day after her party, she called and told me off. She said my presents were ''cheap.'' I tried to explain about the hostess gift, but she would hear none of it. I was angry, and so was she. On her birth- day two weeks later, I texted, ''Happy birthday,'' but she didn't respond. In fact, Laura has not spo- ken a word to me for more than a year. Last summer, I tried to mend things. I sent a letter saying I was Dear California: You are not obligated to invite Laura to the wed- ding. But if you do and she chooses to attend, it creates the opportunity to renew the friendship (if that's what you want). Unless you cannot afford to have her as a guest, there is no downside to sending an invita- tion. Dear Annie: Whenever my hus- band makes a mistake, does some- thing incorrectly or doesn't know the answer, he uses a very whiny voice and says, ''I guess I'm just stupid.'' Our children and I have remind- ed him on numerous occasions that he is not stupid. We have asked why he thinks a simple mistake is so ter- rible. We have tried ignoring the comment, asking him whether he is looking to garner sympathy or attention, and requesting point- blank that he stop saying that. Noth- ing seems to work. Lately, he is using this comment more and more often. Is this type of self-deprecating behavior normal? — Mary from Missouri Dear Mary: This sounds like a pattern from childhood combined with a need to be constantly reas- sured. If everything else about your husband seems normal, we'd ignore this, perhaps patting him on the shoulder and saying, ''It's OK, dear.'' But if you notice other unusual behaviors, or if this particu- lar annoyance gets out of hand, please suggest he see his doctor. Sometimes, when behavior becomes repetitive and obsessive, it requires medical attention. Dear Annie: I read the letter from ''Life Isn't Easy,'' whose wife ran off with another man but refus- es to sign divorce papers. He says he can't afford a lawyer. He should check his state law. I am a judge in Michigan, and in this state, he only needs to file a complaint, and if his wife fails to respond or appear, he can obtain a divorce. If she does show up or file papers, he can still proceed on his own but may need some limit- ed legal advice. — Michigan Judge Annie's Mailbox is written by Kathy Mitchell and Marcy Sugar, longtime editors of the Ann Landers column. Please email your questions to anniesmailboxcomcast.net, or write to: Annie's Mailbox, c/o Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254. Utility provides power outage safety tips According to weather forecasts, gusty south winds of 30 to 40 miles per hour will develop Tuesday afternoon along the Humboldt Coast and in the Sacramento Valley. Rain and gusty south winds will progress south Tuesday evening and early Wednesday. Snow is expected in low eleva- tion foothills in the Hum- boldt and the North Val- ley regions starting Tues- day evening and is expected to spread south overnight. The breezy to windy conditions combined with heavy snow will likely cause some out- ages in the Sierra Foothills. Snow showers will continue Wednesday afternoon and evening with additional snow accumulation likely at the lower elevations. PG&E offers the fol- lowing suggestions to help customers prepare for the upcoming storm: Preparing for Power Outages •Have battery-operat- ed flashlights and radios with fresh batteries ready. Listen for updates on storm conditions and power outages. • If you have a tele- phone system that requires electricity to work such as a cordless phone or answering machine, plan for alter- nate communication - have a standard telephone handset, cellular tele- phone or pager ready as a back up. • Freeze plastic con- tainers filled with water to make blocks of ice that can be placed in your refrigerator/freezer dur- ing an outage to prevent foods from spoiling. Safety Tips •Treat all downed power lines as if they are "live" or energized. Keep yourself and others away from them. Call 911, then notify PG&E at 1-800- 743-5002. • Use battery-operated flashlights, not candles. • Customers with gen- erator should make sure they are properly installed by a licensed electrician. Improperly installed generators pose a significant danger to our crews. • Unplug or turn off all electric appliances to avoid overloading cir- cuits and fire hazards when power is restored. Simply leave a single lamp on to alert you when power returns. Turn your appliances back on one at a time when condi- tions return to normal. Report a Power Out- age: 1-800-743-5002 • Before calling PG&E about a power outage, check to see if other neighbors are affected. This would con- firm if an outage has occurred in just your res- idence or within the neighborhood area. • If only your resi- dence is without power, check circuit breakers and/or fuse boxes to see if the problem is limited to the home electric sys- tem. • After performing the steps above, single or neighborhood outages can be reported to: PG&E's 24-Hour Emer- gency and Customer Ser- vice Line: 1-800-743- 5002 • Once your outage has been reported, you can call PG&E's Outage Information Line at 1- 800-743-5002 to get a status report on your out- age and the anticipated time your power will be turned back on. • If you lose power overnight, you can call PG&E to request a wake- up call. We'll be happy to give you a wake-up call, as well as up-to-date information on your out- age and time of restora- tion. Try non-surgical options first DEAR DOC- TOR K: I have a herniated disk in my lower back. What does this mean? And what are my treatment options? DEAR READ- ER: Your spine is made up of a stack of bones called vertebrae. In between each of the verte- brae are intervertebral disks that cushion these bones. Each disk is made of a soft gel core sur- rounded by a tough, fibrous outer shell. A disk's outer shell can tear. If the gel in the middle of the disk bulges out through the tear in the shell, the condition is called a herniated disk. Herniated disks often press on nerves, causing pain, numbness and mus- cle weakness. This pain usually begins in the lower back, then spreads down into the buttocks and down the back of one thigh and leg. Dr. K by Anthony L. Komaroff, M.D. long-acting steroid and an anesthetic into your lower back, near the herniated disk. If all else fails, you may have to consider surgery to remove the injured disk. Tra- ditional surgery can involve removing the whole disk, or just the part of the disk that is pushing on a nerve (called microdiscectomy). Microdiscectomy is today the more common proce- dure, because it involves a smaller incision and can be done as outpatient surgery. There are also various minimally invasive tech- niques with even smaller incisions, some of which use lasers rather than knives to remove the part of the disk that is pressing on a nerve. Does surgery work? In most cases, symp- toms from a herniated disk will get better without surgery. Treatments include limited bed rest, warm baths, heating pads and medications. Medica- tions generally include aspirin or other nons- teroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) or mus- cle relaxants. Extended inactivity can cause your back muscles to weaken, so it's best to start an exercise regimen after only a day or two of bed rest. After one to two weeks, you usually can begin a more strenuous, daily aerobic exercise and physical therapy program. The program should aim to build muscle strength in your back and improve flexibility in your back and abdomen. You may also want to consider ultrasound, mas- sage and acupuncture. Some people find these treatments helpful. Your back pain should gradual- ly lessen within four to six weeks. If these measures don't work, steroid injections may provide temporary pain relief. Your doctor will carefully inject a There have been a number of randomized trials that compared surgery to non- surgical treatments. These studies didn't involve the usual patient with pain from a herniated disk. Instead, they involved patients with persistent pain from a herniated disk who had not gotten better with nonsurgical treat- ments. In these studies, patients undergoing surgery seemed to do somewhat better than those not having surgery. We have a lot more information on herniated disks in our Special Health Report, "Low Back Pain: Healing Your Aching Back." You can find out more about it at my website. If your herniated disk is new and has not been a chronic condition, you will probably get good relief from nonsurgical treatment. If your treat- ment involves exercises, remember to stick with them. They really can help. Dr. Komaroff is a physician and professor at Harvard Medical School. Go to his website to send questions and get additional information: www.AskDoctorK.com. Sustainability conference set in Chico starting Thursday The seventh annual "This Way to Sustainabili- ty" conference is scheduled for March 1-3, a change from its previous fall sched- uling. Registration is now open for the dozens of workshops, demonstrations and three renowned keynote speakers. The con- ference is presented by the Institute of Sustainable Development, California State University, Chico and its many sponsors. It attracts about 1,400 partici- pants from throughout the state and surrounding regions. The three keynote speakers are Wallace "J." Nichols, a marine biologist who is a research associate at the California Academy of Sciences; Laura Stec, who is the corporate chef for Pescadero Foods, Inc.; and Peter G. Joseph, M.D., who was recruited by for- mer Vice President Al Gore to help educate people about the consequences of global warming on health. A complete schedule of the conference, including times for the keynote speeches and registration informa- tion, can be found at http://www.csuchico.edu/s ustainablefuture/confer- ence/ . Wallace J. Nichols, Ph.D. Nichols is a scientist, activist, community orga- nizer, author and dad. He works to inspire a deep con- nection with nature. He will talk about his exploration of the neurobiology of conser- vation. He is a pioneer in establishing this new branch of science. His interest in neurobiology comes from his belief that what really moves people is feeling part of and touching something bigger than themselves. That human need, he believes, can be used to connect people to the environment. As well as his role as a research associate at Cali- fornia Academy of Sci- ences, Nichols is founder/co-director of Ocean Revolution, an inter- national network of young ocean advocates, and cata- lyst for LiVEBLUE, an ini- tiative with a Web site where people can go to learn about unknown ecosystems and how they can help them survive. He earned his M.E.M. in envi- ronmental policy and eco- nomics from Duke Univer- sity's Nicholas School and his Ph.D. in wildlife ecolo- gy and evolutionary biolo- gy from the University of Arizona. You can read more about Nichols at http://na.oceana.org/en/blo g/2010/05/ocean-hero- finalists-wallace-j-nichols . Laura Stec Stec is the corporate chef for Pescadero Foods, Inc. and their local-food brands Wattle &Comb and Zoupka. She is also culi- nary health educator for Kaiser Permanente; former chef for LifeLong, Inc., and Kaiser farmer's markets; and former consulting chef at The International Culi- nary School, Art Institute of California. In 1988, Stec founded EcoEaters, one of the first food and environment pro- grams in the U.S., and has been connecting healthy people to a healthy planet for more than 20 years. As a green-cuisine consultant, she lectures nationally and internationally. Her book, "Cool Cuisine—Taking the Bite Out of Global Warm- ing," is co-authored with atmospheric scientist Eugene Cordero (Gibbs Smith, 2008). To learn more about Stec's work, visit www.laurastec.com or www.globalwarmingdiet.or g. Peter G. Joseph, M.D. Dr. Joseph is an emer- gency physician trained by former Vice President Al Gore's Climate Reality Pro- ject to help educate the pub- lic about the devastating impacts of global warming. He will review the latest scientific data and discuss both the technical and polit- ical aspects of humanity's greatest challenge. Joseph began practicing emergency medicine in 1977, joined the clinical faculty at Stanford, UCSF and Highland Hospital, and since 1983 has been a full time emergency physi- cian at Eden Medical Cen- ter in Castro Valley, Cali- fornia. He co-founded the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility, an organiza- tion of doctors dedicated to educating the public and world leaders about the medical consequences of nuclear war. For more information on the Climate Reality Project, go to http://climatereali- typroject.org/. 3B