Experiences with MeridiumXN

Green Power

So, a new school year has begun. At the end of Week 2, I can say that it is up and roaring like a very enthusiastic lion. This, by all counts, should be an easier year for me: it is the second year that I’ve taught 6th grade, so I should know the curriculum by now and what to expect, and I have a great new grade level partner to work with. She enjoys sharing the load and planning together, which is much more fun that doing it alone, and her class loves her, despite the fact that she may be even more demanding than I am.

I come from a family of fanatics. My best friends are fanatics in very interesting ways. Like it or not, I find that I too, am a fanatic, so with all this “extra time” I am supposed to find myself with, I’ve found excellent ways of filling to the brim, such as acting as the other half of a very ambitious science club…if you work at an urban school, you better dig in hard and run like mad to create an environment of stability and achievement, as that is what many urban kids are lacking in their lives. I seem to waltz right through every open door and find myself up late and up early getting everything prepped. In the restaurant world, “mise en place is God”…if you are prepped, no mad rush can take you down. So it is in the teaching environment: Be ready or Be Dead.

How, on the brink of turning 50, do I have the fuel to burn so brightly and for so long? Well, the calling and desire are certainly there, but I remember the notso distant past, coming home and being almost delirious from fatigue. THAT doesn’t happen, and hasn’t for a very long time. I am convinced that the green water my kids ask about every day is giving me the power to make all these bits and pieces fit somehow. Teaching is like juggling chainsaws and torches in the dark. Despite an exhausting schedule, MeridiumXN keeps me bright-eyed and healthy. I can honestly say that I have never enjoyed a longer period of excellent physical and mental health. On top of that, my greenly-glowing wife and I, now married more than 25 years, are enjoying what truly feel like halcyon days. It is good to be us.

comments off Saturday 15 Sep 2007 | Jim | Experiences

Power to the People

Blog readers, I apologize for lack of new thoughts on this site. It has been a busy life as of late. I’ll not always be a first-year 6th grade teacher, so the pounding my body and tender brain are taking this year is paving the greenly-brick road of the years to come. The endless string of 13 and 14 hour days are taking their toll, and without the power of MeridiumXN, I never would have made it through this ordeal (of my own making, of course).

I am grateful to a very supportive and patient wife, a cadre of supportive and patient friends, and of course, my family. Thank you all for hanging in there with me. Summer is coming. I need the sleep!

0 comments Saturday 14 Apr 2007 | Jim | Experiences

I’ll be back…

Due to shrinking student population, our school is projected to have enough fewer students next year to warrent losing a teacher, me of course, because I enjoy the lowest seniority…this came as miserable news, as this was my target school, it’s very close to home and I worked very hard to make a name for myself.

Well, by some Most Excellent Luck, fancy footwork, and appealing to the universe via The Secret, I have been reinstated as 6th grade teacher next year. This comes as a monsterous relief, even though the current crop of fifth graders coming up the pipeline are reputed to be a very squirrelly bunch, and very low achievers, to boot, all of which requires massive amounts of energy. Mulling this over on the way to the teacher’s lair for lunch yesterday, I sat down at my customary spot and began noshing my hastily-packed repast when a teacher sat down next to me and emphatically stated that she was glad and relieved that I would be returning because she enjoyed working with me on special projects so much. My quickly-prepped lunch suddenly became a delicious, gourmet meal served by lovely attendants. My aching feet, to my surprise, felt just fine now, and new spring and urgency was felt in my step.

As I reveled in those kind words, Reality stepped in to disperse my novel notions and to remind me of the pounding my body and tender brain are taking, keeping my flock in a learning mode, entertained and experienced in a word of No Child Left Untested, the school’s computers humming, parents who speak naught but Espanol informed, and the miriad of other things that suck the lifeblood from the short hours alloted for each day.

Reality reminded me that I have been remarkably healthy all year, and given that I live in a virtual bath of kiddie germs, each eager to invade and conquer this aging mass, that is a remarkable notion, indeed. The year is yet weeks from being over, and there are important milestones to be met, but it is the Green Flow that powers me through the morass I live in daily and nightly. If I survive this long series of 14 hour days, it is because I power my time with MeridiumXN. Other teachers are showing interest in the Big Green as well, as well they should. The real testimony is the activities my students get to do, as opposed to other classes, because I take the time to set it up that way, and believe me, art and science projects require massive preparation. The Green is getting me through!

0 comments Thursday 22 Mar 2007 | Jim | Experiences

Power Trip

Part of my morning ritual is to breeze through the Metro section of the newspaper as soon as it gets to my door. There I find local news, impending weather, and obituaries, which I peruse for names I might know, and to marvel for a moment at the smiling photos of people recently passed to Whatevertheheckcomesnext. Somehow, that final moment creates in me a driving urge to make the most of my time on earth…so what does THAT mean?

I have never been busier, nor worked harder in my whole life. I am not complaining, but this pace is more than I can sustain. It is an incredible life, however, full of amazing things to do, a fantastic wife and family, friends, neighbors, the coolest pursuits that I ever thought I would do. What drives all this? I think it is my desire to live and love deeply, to return as much or more than I take, and to spread the good I have come to know so well. I wish it didn’t take so many hours in the day, but thanks to The Green Flow, I have the power, the energy, and the health to push on.

0 comments Tuesday 20 Mar 2007 | Jim | Experiences

Splendor in the Glass…

bottle, that is. I did some quick math the other day. For many years, I have been a water drinker, usually pounding down about 2 liters per day. During the school day, this becomes a cumbersome liability, as I have the amount of water that I may consume exactly calculated and timed to the breaks we are able to take. Sometimes, I barely make it. The kids in my class know full-well when I am doing the potty-dance. I’m so glad they’re amused…I’ve come up with several unique and practical solutions, one involving our own portapotty (quickly and decisively vetoed by the chief), a modified condom/resevoir that is still in the design phase, and I am taking suggestions. One option NOT being considered is consuming less water, especially now that it is greenly enhanced. If anything, I am more likely to keep the flow going, and I can feel the power from within which helps motor me through the day. Spring has certainly sprung, and my flock of sixth graders have sprung with it! Escaped from the zoo is more like my every day!

Another thought I had this fleetingly-passing week was that by this point in the year, I have had at least one major cold/flu involving deep cough, throat raw and sore, the aches, pains, fatigue and misery…hmmm, apart from one day where I slept all day, I have not had more than a sniffle. Wonder what is making the BIG DIFFERENCE???

Big Green to the rescue!

0 comments Sunday 18 Mar 2007 | Jim | Experiences

The Big Detractor

When does scientific training become a liability? Does Modern Science prove beyond a shadow of a doubt the things that we believe are true, or not true? Last weekend, I encountered a Phd biochemist and recognized scientist who made emphatic claims denouncing the value of antioxidants and vitamins, claiming that such poppycock serves to part gullible people and their money. Without double-blind studies done at major universities using real people, the facts cannot be known.

Perhaps the detractor has valid points. These points do not negate the fact that I have not been to my chiropractor in over 3 months. The points do not negate the bountiful energy that I experience daily and that energy allows me to do my job of inspiring a flock of hormone-ridden sixth graders freshly escaped from the zoo. And what of the fact that I completely dodged a huge bullet with the ugly, seething word FLU written on the shell casing? Hey, am I the only one who experiences these benefits? I don’t think so, Mister Detractor.

Science is a wonderful thing. Finding what works over time is even more wonderful, and that is among the key points of this blog. Modern Life is comprised of Hard Science and Deep Faith. MeridiumXN is such a mix, based on Hard Science and lenghty research by a man who knows his business, and the Deep Faith on my part that it is doing its job, and that is Faith that I find tangible in the form of feeling good, sleeping deeply and living well.

If you don’t have your health, then the rest doesn’t matter.

0 comments Tuesday 13 Mar 2007 | Jim | Experiences

Crunch Time

This 6th grade teacher is finding out what 80 hour weeks are all about. Most of those hours comprise an incredible adventure, and some are spent filling out truckloads of paper work that drives me crazy…to the extent that I have written off the idea of being a special education teacher due to the unbearable paperwork load those teachers endure. On top of the lesson planning, grading, science projects, et cetera, we are putting on a full-scale play about the life and times of Martin Luther King Jr to be performed for the school and then the parents for a multi-cultural event.

Directing hormone-ridden sixth graders in a dramatic production is quite a lot like herding cats…they go every which way, hearts pounding, eager to be part of everything, distracted to the point of dispair on the part of the shepherd, and I am that lucky man. It takes energy that I never knew I was capable of, and despite very short nights and very long days, I am somehow getting through all this, and get this, I am oddly happy and well-rested. What? How can that be, day after day of 5 hour nights and grinding through exhausting days? Must be the Golly Green Giant to my rescue! I truly tribute the daily doses of MeridiumXN for powering me through my first year of teaching 6th grade. It’s that or Divine Intervention. Call it what you will, it’s working miracles!

0 comments Thursday 08 Mar 2007 | Jim | Experiences

The Power of Positive Drinking

Attached to my omnipresent backpack is a knee brace, always at the ready for those frequent times when my right knee begins its long and dreaded bouts of deep, aching, pain, especially tortuous for one who spends many hours per day upon his feet. Lurking in the background, ready to spring into sharp, spine-wrenching agony are my many hot spots in my lower back, upper shoulders, and deep into the back of my neck is the most vile and evil-spirited torture of all: when it gets out of whack, I cannot concentrate, stand up straight, drive, cook, take a shower, et cetera until the magical chiropractic relief sorts out the knots and poison-drenched points of pure, abject pain. My chiropracter and I are on very good terms, and until recently, I saw him frequently. It has been, let’s see, over three months since I have been to the Good Doctor who so carefully sorts out my spinal ills. I have not worn that irritating knee brace in about that amount of time, either…what gives? These are the things that I have come to know as weird old friends, loyal, painfully loyal, in fact, and as much as I dread their company, I can count on them being there from time to time to make my life miserable.

But they have been away, on vacation, perhaps, these past three months…oddly enough, the same amount of time that I have been taking MeridiumXN. How weird is that? An odd coincidence, or is this further evidence that powerful antioxidants can work wonders in amazing ways?

Am I really ready to bid my very old friends, Wretched Knee Pain and Dibilitating Spastic Back Agony adieu? Well, I just hope that they are enjoying their extended vacation, and I REALLY hope that where ever the heck they are that they take up residence and STAY there. And all this lack of searing pain for ~$2 a day? Oh yeah, Bring on The Green!

0 comments Sunday 04 Mar 2007 | Jim | Experiences

Funny little ways

I am lucky enough to be able to ride my beloved bicycle to work everyday, and do so despite the rainy season. I will tolerate some level of dampness as a consequence, but rarely do I spent my whole day trying to dry out and moldering in the process…but it happens, on occasion. The other day, it really was pouring when it was time to leave, and I accepted an offer of a ride, reluctantly leaving my bicycle alone in a dark classroom, knowing that I would be required to somehow get back there either with a car to pick up my bike, an indignity for both bike and rider, or find some other way to work…and guess what occured to me? Hey, why not WALK???? It only takes about 30 minutes, it’s exercise that I love, and it solves the problem.

This is the kind of “overall sense of well-being” that MeridiumXN delivers. Among the big reasons I keep this blog is to record such moments. Yes, the above fix might have occured to me sans Our Green Hero, but MeridiumXN seems to cause me to reach for the vegetables and water instead of cheese, crackers, and a great big microbrewed second or third beer. Every diet, lifestye change, or New Year’s resolution must be noticed and recorded in small, incremental steps, or the changes get swept under the carpet and lost forever. I just thought it amusing to hear that little green voice emphatically suggesting that I pull on my shoes and hike to school. At that clarion moment, the source of such thinking was clear to me!

0 comments Thursday 01 Mar 2007 | Jim | Experiences

Black and White Hats

Just thinking this AM about how antioxidants work…I was reading the story about a man who has lived with horrible sores on his legs, and despite the very best salves, potions and pills of military medical service, the sores persisted and made his life very hard…until he began taking Our Green Hero, MeridiumXN, and lo, his sores have begun healing. Pretty strong testimony that antioxidants are the guys in White Hats who shoot silver bullets at the Bad Bugs wearing Black Hats, who essentially are the terrorists of our bodies, spirits, and minds. The White Hat Crew charges around our bodies, down to the tiniest capillary, and blazes away at the Black Hats, clearing the way to good health.

At this point, of course, the White Hats have cleaned up the neighborhood so now it’s safe to go out walking again, which is exactly what we need to get up off the couch and GO DO. MeridiumXN, like every antioxidant, cleans out the bad stuff and sets us on the path to better health, but we need to keep our bodies moving, and that part is up to us!

0 comments Tuesday 27 Feb 2007 | Jim | Experiences