it's that time again....

when my facebook information gets way too filled up with quotes and i decide to copy and paste them into "blog storage".  enjoy.  they vary from profound words of prophets to ridiculous ramblings of roommates :)

"you have to live with your father, he's serious, just do it"  -wife of an overprepared man on "doomsday preppers"

"If awesomeness was a unit of measurement, you'd be the basic unit of measurement in nature that everyone would refer to so as to never forget what true awesomeness really is." --Joseph

"People would give you money for that. They wouldn't take it, but they would give you money for it." -Lyle

"I'm smokin' yarn!" -Ruben

"Oh Cassanndre, you're so cute! You still think boys are NICE!" -Hannah

"Boys are stupid, you have to use reverse psychology on them.
You say, 'you're stupid' and they think they're smart.
You say 'I wanna rip your heart out' and they say 'it's yours'.
You say 'I hate you' they say 'I wanna date you'
You say 'I like you' they say 'good bye.'"
-Sabrina

"Well, I'm glad we both STALK each other!! That's CUTE!" --I won't say who...

"Anger is hazardous to your health.... I wanted to kick something but then I decided that it would hurt my foot." -me

"Do you guys think a term of endearment, like... the ancient ones... is appropriate for your parents?" -Lyle

"You don't back [your thumbdrive] up?"
"Well, usually I do. Just not when it's important."
-me & Lyle

"I have learned that the head does not hear anything until the heart has listened and that what the heart knows today the head will understand tomorrow." -Jones Stephens

"It's like an out of body experience, but it's an out of speaking experience!" -me

"millie loves rice. she used to be asian but then she got something in her eye and it burned so she rubbed it and stretched it out and now she's not asian" -sabrina

"friends don't let friends get eaten... by friends." -cami

"cassataatatasaaasssandre!!!" -Roo

"Dear Heaven; I don't know when I'm going to die, but I need more time. Much appreciation, Alex Lofgran"

"A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the [opposing] army by fighting against it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means--the only complete realist." --C. S. Lewis (Mere Christianity)

"Tenors are for dating, basses are for marriage"
"Which are you?"
"A bass"
--this one guy who now frequents our apartment

"Have you guys ever seen a cotton ball?! They look like...."
"an echo?"
"a yummy thing!"
Millie, sabrina & I, Millie

"Not to creep you out. I'm just planning our future together." -Sabrina

"The clues have been deciphered. I must journey forth." -All abt Stv

"A good relationship is not a strong partner & a weak partner, it's two strong partners who respect each other & can communicate"
"...It's one thing to make mistakes, but how many times do we have to do that until we actually do something about a mistake - part of it is the caring, about oneself & about the other person, to do what it takes to learn...." -Damaris Fish
Love is not Blind. That is the last thing it is. Love is bound. And the more it is bound, the less it is blind." -Chesterton (quoted by Bruce C Hafen)

"maybe i died so that you could discover nadolol [a heart drug also used for migraines]
don't let me have died in vain!" -dan

"i'm not white, i'm just camouflage" -rob

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow. - Melody Beattie

"I didn't cry- I don't cry. I shed tears." -Ruben

"I am not here to make fun of you. I am a loving person." -Eddy

"I'm not walking away- I'm just shrinking!" -Robert

"What are we going to do at the park?"
"Lay around in the grass and talk about our feelings!"
--Taunalee & Becca

"If you smell my armpit, you have to come to FHE"
-Becca

"I will say, marriage is much fun. it's like having a torture victim that can't run away!"
-Chaz

"Maybe he's not bipolar... maybe he's just a man!"
-me to my mom

"People who don't think probably don't have brains, rather, they have gray fluff that's blown into their heads by mistake." -A.A. Milne

"Now sit down and think of ways to kill me." -CHAOS

the temple. and me.

I have half-written posts in my head, but I just haven't felt like writing much lately.  My septoplasty two-and-a-half weeks ago went very well.  I've noticed some interesting and positive changes since then.  Perhaps I'll talk about them sometime soon.  I've been tired lately and prone to headaches from overdoing things, so I've spent a lot of time at home photoshopping and watching shows like Castle and Bones.  I thought I would spend more time reading, writing, and studying, but I've found that I just haven't had the mental energy for it.  This past week I started journeying outside of the home to study and prepare for my CNA exam.  That has been good.  Oh, and I have in the past couple weeks practiced piano, mandolin, and flute a fair amount more than normal.  That's nice as well.

So anyways, I don't really have the mental energy to share anything profound.  So here's a semi-random scripture and a picture and quote of the temple.

"For behold, and lo, the Lord is God, and the Spirit beareth record, and the record is true, and the truth abideth forever and ever.  Amen."  -- D&C 1:39

Truth is truth.  It is eternal and reliable.  Just like God.  The Spirit, or Holy Ghost, bears record of Truth; of God.  The best way to truly know our Heavenly Father is to do things which invite the Spirit into our lives.  If we ask with faith for knowledge from our Heavenly Father- for truth and a testimony of it!- the Holy Ghost will leave a record of that Truth written on our hearts.  Then that truth is seared to our character.  It becomes a part of us and acting contrary to it becomes against our very nature.  This leads us to be more like Christ.

And a picture of the temple... because it's awesome and I love it.  The quote is about sacrificing for the temple. I know that when we sacrifice to go to the temple and serve and have one-on-one time with our Father (who loves us!), we are richly blessed.  Every expense and every inconvenience I have (and will) ever experienced has been worth it.  I know that my health has improved over the past three years because I made the temple a priority in my life.  I truly believe that if I had not followed the prompting of the Holy Ghost to go and worship regularly and frequently, I would not have been able to do all of the things I have done in the past three years.  I would not have gone to BYU-Idaho.  I would not have worked full time at Kentlake High School.  I would not have gotten engaged and I would not have survived the break-up.  I would not have gone back to Green River Community College and earned 3.9's and 4.0's in all my classes last year.  I would not have gone to Guyana.  I would not have been led to the very physicians who could help me most.

I don't know what my life would be like right now without this gospel and without the temple.  Maybe I would still be where I was three years ago- not able to work or go to school.  Maybe I wouldn't.  All I know is that I have experienced miracles and been given incredible opportunities.  I credit those miracles and opportunities to the love and mercy of my Heavenly Father and Savior, Jesus Christ and I credit them to the very real power and strength which come from the temple.

what do you do...

Oh, what do you do in the morning-time when all the world is black?
Do you lay in your bed, write blogs to be read, and yawn a big yawn and sigh?
Is that what you do?  So do I!

(inspired by Oh, What Do You Do in the Summertime?)


A lot of these posts get written in the wee hours of the night or the wee hours of the morning.  Today I woke up and wasn't feeling good enough to work, but was too awake to go back to sleep.  The time was o'dark-thirty.  Much, much too early to be awake with nothing to do if you ask me.  So two posts that have been sitting unfinished in my drafts folder got finished and published today.  And the above song (or ditty) was written as my facebook status.  I was so proud of it that I figured I just had to share it here on my blog so it would be less likely to get lost in the flood of social information.

So really-- what do you do in the morning-time when all the world is black?  Leave comments!

useful babblings... gatorade, kidney stones, diet, and salt

This post is very apropos to the given name of this blog: "Constructive Babblings".  It's really just me babbling, but it's also organized information!  There's this lady I know whose daughter was throwing up like nobody's business.  We were talking about that and the question of whether gatorade is good or bad for you came up.  She said her nurse practitioner told her it's bad for one's kidneys but neither of us were sure of the veracity of that information.

So what did I do?  What Cassanndre does at all times when struck with curiosity about medical things... I went to Medscape and Google!  I read several articles and thought I would only link to one but then I did more reading... so there will be at least a few interesting links at the bottom of this post.  Check them out (some will not even be heavily laden with medicalese).

Alright, alright, to the point-- what did I learn?

Gatorade

I have come to the conclusion that, like many things, Gatorade is bad in excess.  It has a lot of salt, which is good and bad.  If you have been sweating a lot or experiencing diarrhea and lost a lot of electrolytes, the sodium (and other electrolytes) in gatorade is wonderful.  My neurologist also recommended using G2 as an abortive at the onset of a migraine.  I find that it is effective at least 1/2 the time.  Electrolytes are probably to thank for this.  [Migraine side note: I recommend drinking 16 oz of G2 with 2 magnesium supplements at the very first signs of a migraine.  If you find 15 minutes later that the migraine is still threatening to attack, then pursue your normal course of action, whether it be a triptan, painkiller, nap, or whatever.]
Now for the bad about Gatorade: if you haven't been exercising & sweating like crazy, or losing lots of fluid and electrolytes another way (eg: diarrhea), then Gatorade is not the drink for you.  Go for water.  Water is good and under regular circumstances it's all you really need to stay hydrated and happy.  There is evidence to say that Gatorade is bad for your kidneys, but according to what I've learned that is only the case if you drink too much or are prone to hypercalciuria (too much calcium in the urine).

This discovery led to some curiosity for the effect of excess dietary sodium on calcium production.  So, without further ado...

Sodium, diet, and hypercalciuria

Excess calcium in the urine can form stones and get lodged in the kidney or elsewhere along the urinary tract (kidney stones!).
First, about kidney stones and hypercalciuria:

About 80% of all kidney stones contain calcium, and at least one third of all calcium stone formers are found to have hypercalciuria when tested. Hypercalciuria contributes to kidney stone disease and osteoporosis... [1]

Consuming too much sodium (whether it be gatorade, potato chips, yummy sauces, or prepackaged foods) leads to an increase of calcium being released from your bones.  This also can be associated with lower bone density.  Here are a couple extracts from Medscape (probably my favorite place to research medical stuff):

Sodium intake is another significant dietary risk factor for kidney stone disease and hypercalciuria. High dietary sodium is associated with increased calcium release from bone, further contributing to any existing hypercalciuria.  It also causes an increase in urinary calcium excretion through a direct effect on the kidneys....  [2]

and

A high sodium intake promotes various effects that enhance urinary calcium excretion and increase overall kidney stone formation rates. These effects include a rise in urinary pH, higher urinary calcium and cystine levels, and a decrease in urinary citrate excretion. In healthy adults, a high sodium intake has been associated with higher fractional intestinal calcium absorption as well as increased parathyroid hormone (PTH) and vitamin D-3 levels.... 

Increased calcium excretion is thought to be due to an increase in the extracellular fluid volume, which ultimately results in an inhibition of calcium reabsorption in the distal renal tubule. Reducing dietary sodium has been shown to decrease urinary calcium excretion in hypercalciuric stone formers, whereas high dietary sodium is associated with both increased urinary calcium excretion and low bone density.  

Sodium intake among stone formers is equal to or higher than the intake in control groups of non–stone formers. Enhanced renal calcium excretion from high dietary sodium is thought to be due to an increase in the extracellular fluid volume, which ultimately results in an inhibition of renal tubular calcium reabsorption. Sodium and calcium share common sites for reabsorption in the renal tubules. Patients with recurrent nephrolithiasis and hypercalciuria are also the most sensitive to the hypercalciuric actions of a high-sodium diet. Finally, in postmenopausal women, high sodium intake has been directly associated with low bone density in calcium stone formers. [3]

What the heck does all of this mean?  Um... give me a moment to reread it and jot down a few notes so I can figure out how to explain it in layman's terms...  Alright, here's my sparknotes version:

Regularly eating a lot of salt increases your chances of getting kidney stones and having too much calcium in your urine.  Doing so also affects levels of other chemicals, such as calcium, cystine, parathyroid hormone, vitamin D-3, and even urinary pH; in your digestive and urinary systems.  In regards to calcium, medical evidence suggests that a high-sodium diet leads to extra released calcium from your bones and so if you have this kind of diet, not only are you more likely to get kidney stones and have hypercalicuriea, but you're also more likely to have lower bone density, which leads to osteoporosis.  

Isn't that interesting?  And a little bit frightening?  Footnote [4] takes you to this awesome slideshow which tells you things you never knew about salt.  It tells you some things that have a lot of salt in them (like TV dinners, cereals, vegetable juices, canned veggies, packaged meats, soups, spaghetti sauce, spices, headache and heartburn medicines, and more) and how to keep yourself within a healthy dietary sodium range.  It's kind of fun, I highly suggest checking it out.

So there you go-- all you may have never wanted to know about Gatorade, salt, and kidney stones.  Yay.

[1]  "Hypercalciuria: Overview of Hypercalciuria" from Medscape Referance
[2]  "Hypercalciuria: Overview of Dietary Factors" also from Medscape Referance
[3]  "Hypercalciuria: Dietary Management of Hypercalciuria" from the same article as the above two
[4]  "Salt Shockers Slideshow: High Sodium Surprises"  a very neat photo + commentary.  I highly recommend it.

on photo editing: a process reader

When I first attended college, I took English 110: College Writing.  I had an excellent teacher who thoroughly introduced me to the beautiful processes of writing.  She even required analyses of each essay we wrote- a sort of personal review of the process we went through.  Indeed, the textbook for our class was all about analyzing the process of writing, not just what makes a finished product good and what it might mean.  (I am keeping that textbook... probably forever.)

I was thinking about this this evening and thought of how it is valuable to stop and do that from time to time on everything we do- particularly in my mind, to sit down and really think about what processes I go through as a photographer.  The following is written as if to a client, explaining why I do things certain ways in my photo-editing process and what to expect.


It normally takes me about 4-8 weeks to finish editing a full batch of photos (end product 15-20 photos).  In the week following your photoshoot, I will upload originals from the photoshoot to a private online album which you may review and leave comments- helping me to know which photos are your favorite.  That same week you will also see about 5 finished photos published to a public web album for your enjoyment, as well as my blog and facebook page.  Thereafter I tend to edit 2-5 photos a week (depending on my work schedule and the amount of editing required per photo) until I have completed at least 15 edits with which I personally feel satisfied.  A single photo may require only 5 minutes of editing (this is rare) or it may require 60 minutes (a little on the excessive side, but in no way unheard of with the perfection I strive to achieve with each photo).  I will spend on average probably about 30 minutes per photo.  With this amount of time required and understanding that photography is not a full-time job for me, it easy to see how I (along with other portrait photographers) may take 6 weeks to finish editing photos for my clients.


I have never produced just 15 edited photos for a client- I often produce multiple edits of one photo (and count that as only 1 of your 15-20 finished), and will end up producing less than 20 only if the edits required were of a more time-consuming nature.  It is important to me to have your feedback on which photos are your favorite and I make it a priority to produce edited photos that will satisfy you based on what you have told me and what I know about you. However, I rarely edit all photos you may have marked as favorites.  My artistic opinion and professional experience and knowledge guide my decision of which photos to edit, weighing in mind the primary factors of the finished quality, potential and client satisfaction of each photo I work on.  (I ask myself questions like: how will this look when i am done?  do i feel that this is a photo i would personally want to display in my home if it were of me?  will it make my client smile?  does it evoke an emotion?  how can i enhance this photo- what would it take to achieve the vision i have of what this image could be? etc etc.)

With every photoshoot, I learn and employ a new skill.  Sometimes that skill is behind the camera, during the photoshoot.  Sometimes that skill is something nifty I've learned in photoshop or using a new photo-editing program.  With every shoot, the end result is a product created from hard work and creative detail.  The photos are not only added to my portfolio, but the experience of producing them expands my photographic capabilities and skills.