If you see this post it means that BlogEngine.NET 1.6.0 is running and the hard part of creating your own blog is done. There is only a few things left to do.

Write Permissions

To be able to log in to the blog and writing posts, you need to enable write permissions on the App_Data folder. If you’re blog is hosted at a hosting provider, you can either log into your account’s admin page or call the support. You need write permissions on the App_Data folder because all posts, comments, and blog attachments are saved as XML files and placed in the App_Data folder. 

If you wish to use a database to to store your blog data, we still encourage you to enable this write access for an images you may wish to store for your blog posts.  If you are interested in using Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, VistaDB, or other databases, please see the BlogEngine wiki to get started.

Security

When you've got write permissions to the App_Data folder, you need to change the username and password. Find the sign-in link located either at the bottom or top of the page depending on your current theme and click it. Now enter "admin" in both the username and password fields and click the button. You will now see an admin menu appear. It has a link to the "Users" admin page. From there you can change the username and password.  Passwords are hashed by default so if you lose your password, please see the BlogEngine wiki for information on recovery.

Configuration and Profile

Now that you have your blog secured, take a look through the settings and give your new blog a title.  BlogEngine.NET 1.4 is set up to take full advantage of of many semantic formats and technologies such as FOAF, SIOC and APML. It means that the content stored in your BlogEngine.NET installation will be fully portable and auto-discoverable.  Be sure to fill in your author profile to take better advantage of this.

Themes and Widgets

One last thing to consider is customizing the look of your blog.  We have a few themes available right out of the box including two fully setup to use our new widget framework.  The widget framework allows drop and drag placement on your side bar as well as editing and configuration right in the widget while you are logged in.  Be sure to check out our home page for more theme choices and downloadable widgets to add to your blog.

On the web

You can find BlogEngine.NET on the official website. Here you'll find tutorials, documentation, tips and tricks and much more. The ongoing development of BlogEngine.NET can be followed at CodePlex where the daily builds will be published for anyone to download.

Good luck and happy writing.

The BlogEngine.NET team

I am not sure why anyone is still reading my predictions, I haven't been particularly accurate. In fact, if you would have simply chosen the opposite of what I said, you'd be 80% accurate. But here are my thoughts anyways.

Jets at Colts: AFC Championship Game
This is a matchup of the No 1 versus No 5 seed. I am a big AFC guy and will be rooting for the winner of this game to go on and win the Super Bowl (I wish it was the Broncos). The Colts decided in week 15 to stop playing and lose to the Jets. The Jets won, and thereby snuck into the playoffs. Now the Colts get to play them at home for a chance to go to the Super Bowl. Superior design? Or bad luck? We'd all like to think that the Colts had it planned to work out this way, but it may backfire. The Jets have the best defense in the league as well as the best rushing game. You can't argue with that. I really hope they win and punish the Colts for playing dead and not playing hard throughout the entire season. When they decided to stop playing, that really irritated me and got under my skin. It was very disappointing to see this. I hope the Jets come in, rush well, play good defense, and hang in long enough to pull off a win. Sorta like they did last week in San Diego. (I still can't believe that)

Unfortunately, I think Manning will pull off the win. They have too many weapons. If Revis shuts down Wayne, you still have Clark, Garcon, Collie, and others that can get open. It's a tough task, but the Jets can bring enough pressure to keep the Colts hurried and off balance. We saw that Manning can get rattled. The Ravens did it to him during the season, and the Broncos did to him the week prior to them resting and almost pulled out a win. The Jets sport the best defense and can pressure Manning. Who knows who will win. I want the Jets to beat the Colts, but I think the Colts will win in a fairly tough match up. Something like 21-17 or so. Maybe 24-21. But we aren't going to have either team go well over 30 points.

Vikes at Saints: NFC Championship Game
This is a tough game to figure out. The only game this week that is No 1 versus No 2. The Vikings have a ferocious front line and really get after quarterbacks. I think that will be the difference. The Saint's defense looks better than before, but it's a paper tiger when you really look at their statistics. They haven't played a particularly tough schedule and got ahead so quickly that the defense could blitz and get turnovers after the big lead. The Vikings should run against the Saints, and run often. The Saints defense is horrible against the run when the score is tied or 0-0. The Saint's offensive line is not going to be able to contain the Vikes pass rush. I think Brees will be running for his life all day. Of course, they could sprinkle in some screen plays to slow the rush down, but ultimately the Vikes pass rush will win the day. If Brees and the Saint's offense use faster drops and quick passes they can take advantage of the holes in the secondary and eliminate the pass rush. That is their only hope of winning. The Super Dome is a tough place to play, but teams like Dallas have shown us the way: get after the QB, and the Vikes excel in that department. Running against the Vikes defense, and the Williams brothers, is a futile experiment. Although not as stout as in years past, they will stop your run.

The Favre factor? Favre is more famous for throwing away big games than winning them. He needs to stay within himself and not try and force anything. Which he has done well this year. If he can limit his stupidity and just play within his team and within the game plan, he will do fine. I think the Vikes could run away with this one 24-10 or so.

"I'm overweight because obesity runs in my family. We're all fat."

Patients sometimes come in saying that they are overweight because it runs in their family and they can't help it. That is not actually true. There is no gene that makes you become overweight. Don't blame your genes.

What does run in families, is bad habits. Families that grow up together and eat together, end up "inheriting" bad eating habits from mom and dad. That is what explains why families sometimes all look alike.

One thing that is genetic is where you put on your fat. If your mom carries most of her extra weight in her thighs, you will too. If your dad mainly carries around a beer belly, you will too. That part is genetic; where you store fat. That's why you see sisters that look similar and have similar body composition and brothers that all look alike when they are overweight.

Yes, their are hormones and genetic factors that affect appetite and certain parts of metabolism. BUT.... there is no gene or genetic predisposition holding you back and forcing you to be overweight.

The only situation where you are genetically going to be overweight no matter what, is if you have "short stature syndrome." Very few people have this rare disease. These people rarely grow over 4 feet tall and have to be overweight. They are the ones that can't help but be obese.

With nearly 60% of our country being overweight and about 35% being obese, we have to combat these notions and myths so that we can get better and lose weight. 

We have to!

Back in May of 2008, the American Heart Association changed the CPR and resuscitation protocols. You no longer have to do mouth-to-mouth CPR and if it is an in-hospital arrest, you don't have to intubate right away.

They have done research and have found that doing proper chest compressions, in and of itself, provides plenty of air exchange. The air exchange is not the problem, the problem is circulation. They need blood to circulate the oxygen, so you have to do compressions. 

They also found that if you keep telling people to do mouth to mouth, they are less likely to help out. They just walk away quickly. That doesn't help anyone.

If you find someone down and without a pulse, start chest compressions. It's that simple! Nothing saves lives or prolongs lives more than chest compressions. Deep, fast chest compressions. 100 per minute. When a chest is compressed and allowed to recoil, that draws plenty of air and oxygen into the lungs. Further, stopping chest compressions to breathe into their mouths, is an interruption of blood flow to the brain. The brain does not tolerate those kinds of interruptions very well. You need circulation!

In normal humans, (who are alive and walking around) tissues and organs extract only 25% of total oxygen from blood. When someone isn't breathing, tissues and organs can extract more oxygen. Doing chest compressions, provides more than enough air and oxygen for tissues and organs to work with.

Being someone that lives in the hospital, I see it all the time. Whenever there is a cardiac arrest, everyone jumps up and down and gets excited about "airway". Everyone wants to be a hero and be the one to intubate. In reality, you can wait. Intubation is the last step. If they don't have a pulse, start compressions. You can always just "bag" the patient with the mask until later when you figure out what is going on. And that is what the American Heart Association recommends. Wait on airway!

Airways are not benign. Lots of bad things can happen when you are trying to get an airway. Just bag them until things are more stable. 

Unfortunately, old habits are hard to break. Physicians and other health professionals are always taught the "ABCs" of cardiac arrest:

Airway
Breathing
Circulation

I am not sure why airway and breathing are before circulation. Circulation should come first! They should just throw out A and B. Or put them waaaaaaaaaaay last! It should be C...... AB or C....... BA. But I guess it's easier to remember if you just teach everyone "ABC". Doctors are supposed to be smart and not need to rely on such sophomoric mnemonics to help them practice good care.

Next time you run to a code blue, you can sound smart by stating that, "We can wait on airway, that was taken out of the guidelines two years ago."

Wait till the patient has been stabilized, or you know what is really going. You can hold off on airway until you get to the ICU or a more controlled environment and wait until you know that nothing else will suffice and you have to have an airway. If you are in the mall, just do chest compressions until the paramedics arrive. You will have saved a life!

So how did I do last week?

Not good.  I only got the Cowboys game correct and I thought, it'd be close, but it wasn't. Once you are in the playoffs, anything can happen. All you need is a chance, and lots of teams got their chances. 

I was wrong on the Jets. They destroyed, and I mean, destroyed the Bengals. I was wrong on Baltimore, they demolished, really demolished the Patriots. 21-0 in the first quarter? Wow! The Patriots defense was exposed. It has been weak and leaky all year. They got into the playoffs, because their division was weak. And of course, Indy and the Bengals threw games to let the Jets in. The Patriots have been exposed. They stumbled into three Super Bowls (one of them by the goofy tuck rule), barely won those super bowls. They won by running the ball and smashing people. They don't do that anymore. When they started passing and finessing people, they lost the big one. They got beat down by the Ravens. Ravished! The Ravens didn't allow the Pats to do anything. Brady played scared and weak, and couldn't get a single pass out without it wobbling. Baltimore blew them up, the way the Pats used to try and do it. Surprisingly, the Ravens didn't commit any penalties or mental mistakes like they usually do. And not so surprisingly, Ed Reed pitched back an interception return.

The best game of all ended up being Green Bay at Arizona. Wow! Every team that "rested" lost, except for Arizona. Arizona seems to be the only team in the NFL that can turn it on and off whenever they want to. Pretty weird, they did that last year too. After they won their division with 9 wins (and no one else could come close), they shut it down and were getting blown out. Then the playoffs started and they went on the road and beat everyone. Looks like they are doing that again this year. That was the best playoff game I have ever seen. No one wanted to play defense, no one wanted to win. Finally, Arizona facemasked and roughing the passered Aaron Rodgers, and got the ball out for a TD in overtime. Why not call the facemask and roughing the passer? They have been calling it all year on lesser contact? Unless your name is Brady, Manning, or Favre... they aren't going to call that.

Playoffs Round Two

All the games this week are indoor games in domes, except for the Chargers game.

Jets at Chargers: Probably will be the best game of the week. How good is Darrell Revis? The statistics don't lie, he has shut down a lot of great WRs. But the media does overhype him. He is a fantastic CB. Plays his position well, shuts people down, and is extremely athletic. The only issue is that the WR for SD are all tall and he is not. We will see what will happen. He is excellent at baiting QB to throw to the WR backside shoulder, and then jumping it. I am sure Rivers will notice that. The Jets aren't going to be able to cover Gates. They are awful at covering TEs. And Rivers can get it to Gates and those tall WRs. The Jets only hope of winning is Thomas Jones and Shonne Green. Don't stop handing off to those two. The Chargers nose tackle position has been a revolving door all year after Jamal Williams went down. Guys off the street are playing for them. Ultimately, Sanchez is not going to be able to keep up with Rivers. I think the Chargers win in a closer than expected game.

Ravens at Colts: The Colts should not have rested the past few weeks. They are going to be flat. And we saw what Baltimore can do if you come out flat or weak. It's a tough game to call, but I have a feeling that Baltimore will win this one. Yes, Manning is an amazing QB, but they have never gone to the super bowl when they had a first round bye. The Colts are finesse and timing team, it's hard to regain your timing and speed. Baltimore's running game has been firing on all cylinders and Ray Rice can punish defenses. If he gets going early and Manning doesn't get on the field much, it may be over before you know it. But part of me says, it is Manning (probably the best QB of all time) and Flacco is only a second year player. I still will go with the team that hasn't rested.... Baltimore in a close one.

Cardinals at Saints: This may be the next "best playoff game ever" if no one decides to play defense. Both defense seem to have issues. Both teams can pass like crazy! The Super Dome is a difficult place to play in and the Saints have a tremendous home field advantage. Does it get any better? Warner (a sure hall of famer) against Brees (who may be a hall of famer)? It could be an offensive explosion like we have never seen before. Although, 96 points is hard to beat. Brees will pick on McFadden. He is the weak link the Arizona secondary. He was brought over by Wisenhunt from Pittsburgh to help install his defense, but he is a huge liability. Both teams have a running game that is just good enough to get tough yards when you need them. Saints run defense is porous when the score is tied. It's gonna be a tough call. I may have to go with the proven veteran, who has gone on the road before, has nearly every playoff and super bowl record in Kurt Warner. I think Arizona will do just enough to win. It may be a fluke play at the end that is the difference. Should be a fun game to watch.

Cowboys at Vikings: This one is going to be fun to watch as well. The Vikings haven't been playing particularly well the past few weeks and I think the Cowboys can take it to them. The Vikes play mainly out of a Tampa Cover 2 defense, Jason Witten will have a field day in the middle of the field. Austin has emerged as an excellent pass catcher as well as YACer. Can Favre do it? The last few times in the playoffs he has been the reason his team lost. Will he lose it for the Vikes? He doesn't have history on his side. Playing poorly the past few weeks is not a way to end your season. The Cowboys are going to use Felix Jones and Tashard Choice (I hate Marion Barber, he runs like a maniac and needs to learn how to really run) to bring the safeties and LBers in tighter and then unleash Witten and Austin. Just keep it simple. The Cowboys defense has been playing very well. I don't know if they will completely shutdown Adrian Peterson, but they will keep him under 100 yards. The Vikings defense hasn't been the same as they have been the past few years. Could end up being terribly close if turnovers are a factor, but I think the Cowboys will win it.

There you are folks! My playoff picks. Hopefully, I do better this week. Enjoy the games! February is coming sooner than you realize, and you are going to miss the luxory of being able to watch football all the time.

This week I will be predicting the wildcard weekend games.

But first of all.... WOW! What an awesome NFL season it has been. Up until week 15, there were 19 teams still "alive" for a possible playoff birth. Up until week 16, there were 18 teams alive, and it took week 17 to narrow it down to the final 12 playoff teams. That is amazing! I can't remember another year where 19 teams were still alive going into the last two games. Awesome!

What I find extremely interesting is that three of these games are exact rematches of the week 17 final game of the regular season. The NFL did a great job predicting who will be in contention.

Saturday's games:

NY Jets at Cincy Bengals: The Jets can run around and say they have the best defense and the best rushing attack, but I think they will lose. They shouldn't even be in the playoffs. If it wasn't for Indianapolis letting them win, they would be hopeless and out of the playoffs. Yes, they rushed for more yards than any other team. Yes, they have the "statistical" number 1 defense... but I don't think they can really keep up with real NFL teams. The Bengals have an explosive offense, although recently stymied, but they can put it together. They rested all their "studs" in week 17 which also contributed to NY Jets making the playoffs. I guess it's better to let a lousy team into the playoffs and destroy them the following week, than to beat them and perhaps have to face the Steelers or Ravens. I think the Jets will lose by a lot. Mark Sanchez will throw plenty of interceptions, and Zimmer will unleash his defense. Go Bengals! I think it'll be a blowout, something like 34-14.

Philly at Dallas: This is another week 17 repeat. The last time these two met, Dallas blew Philly out. Although, Philly didn't "rest" their starters, it seemed that they were mentally on vacation, missing tackles, no gap discipline and let Dallas walk all over them. Pretty bad loss. This is probably going to be closer than most expect. I don't think that Philly will falter and lose as badly as before. They may even pull this off. The Jones Mahal will be rocking and will be filled to capacity and it'll be tough. But Philly has won some very tough road games. The young players on offense for Philly will have to step up, I am not sure that they can. DeSean Jackson, LeSean McCoy, Jeremy Maclin will all have to put the past behind, and play. This game will be close. Both offenses are capable of putting up a lot of points. I'm thinking Dallas will win 31-28 or 28-24. Tough game to call.

Sunday's Games:

Baltimore at New England: I think New England wins easily. Baltimore's secondary is very week, and New England can pass. New England's offense is amazingly explosive. They don't rest players, they don't get off the accelerator. That's my kind of team. The weather in NE will be a factor. These guys love playing in the fluffy white stuff and will take it to Baltimore. Baltimore's only hope will be to keep it a ground game and keep the ball away from NE, but I don't think that Ray Rice will do much damage against this defense. They have Jerrod Mayo back and their safety play has been excellent the past few games. New England will win by a score of 35-10. But I can easily see them put up over 40.

Green Bay at Arizona: Another week 17 rematch game. I really like Green Bay's chances this year of going all the way. They finally have figured it out and are protecting Aaron Rodgers. Arizona has had some issues protecting Warner and Arizona has been resting players. I don't like resting and it'll work against them. GB has the superior running game by a wide margin. GB has an equivalent passing game, and uses their TEs more. Arizona's defense has lost a lot of steam, and I don't think they will get to Rodgers. Rodgers offensive line has been shuffled around, and is playing much more cohesively now. Green Bay's defense has been exceptional with the most turnovers. Charles Woodson (who I played against in high school) is playing out of his mind, better than he has ever played. He won the Heisman and a National Championship in college. When is the last time a defensive player ever came close to winning the Heisman? I think GB wins 28-10 or maybe even 28-3. I don't see Arizona pulling it off, nor is their "home field advantage" much of an advantage. Their RBs and QBs fumble too much. Sorry Zona!

Teams with byes:

I will predict these games next week. The teams I am most concerned about are Indy, NO, and Vikings. They haven't played particulary well the past few weeks and have been in quasi-rest mode (or full blown rest mode). That doesn't bode well for them. I am not worried about the Chargers, they always play with a chip on their shoulders and will beat anyone that has to play them. They play the highest seed to make it to the second round, while Indy plays the lowest seed to make it. Of all the possibilities, only New England could beat San Diego in San Diego. The only other team that can end up playing them is the Bengals... the will probably lose to SD. Next week should definitely be a lot more interesting, can't wait to see the matchups.

The American Diabetes Association and the World Health Organization, as well as a number of European and International groups have now finally agreed on the number needed to diagnose diabetes. Last summer they agreed that you can now use HgbA1c values to diagnose diabetes, now they agreed on the actual value.

Glucose tolerance tests and fasting glucose measures have long been the standard tests for screening and diagnosis of diabetes mellitus since 1997. In July 2009, the American Diabetes Association, the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, and the International Diabetes Federation Expert Committee published a consensus report recommending that hemoglobin A1c be used for the diagnosis of type 2 diabetes in nonpregnant individuals.

They have agreed that a HgbA1c of 6.5% or higher is DIAGNOSTIC of diabetes. And people who are 6.0-6.5% are "at risk" and should be watched closely. These are the new official guidelines. 6.5% = diabetes.

Surprisingly, a HgbA1c of 6.0% equals an estimated fasting glucose of 126 mg/dL which is diagnostic of diabetes. So, shouldn't 6.0% be used as the cutoff point? The American Diabetes Association has a nice conversion calculator on their website that has been verified and validated by tons of research. Try the calculator for yourself: http://professional.diabetes.org/GlucoseCalculator.aspx

What level A1c should you use?

Personally I think that a HgbA1c of 5.5% should be diagnostic of diabetes. That is equivalent to a fasting of 111. A HgbA1c of 6.5% is equivalent to a fasting glucose of 140, which is way too high and too late. Astute physicians have already been aggressive about blood sugars for anyone with a fasting over 100 or close to 100. No one's fasting glucose should be over 100 or close to it.

When they met, they argued and battled for a while. Some were arguing for 5.5% or even 5.1% to be the cutoff, since 5.1% equals a fasting of 100. But they were afraid that too many patients would now be considered "diabetic" that were unaware that they were diabetic before and would go into denial.

Why should we wait till 6.5%? Why not be more aggressive and start metformin and lifestyle modifications early. Why wait another 10-15 years before they are "completely" diabetic and already have kidney, nerve, and retina damage, and their pancreas is no longer salvageable? We should start them on metformin earlier and salvage some pancreas and other organs.

Why is HgbA1c better?

HgbA1c gives you a 90-120 day average of the patient's blood sugars. It is not affected by peaks and troughs. It is a stable average. It's nice to know what the patient's sugars have been running for the past 3 months, as opposed a one time reading.

It is more stable than fasting or random glucose. It doesn't change over time. When blood sits around in a laboratory for a few hours the glucose level can drop by as much as 10 mg/dL. If we use the cutoff of a fasting sugar of 126 to be diagnostic of diabetes, that can easily be missed or can delay diagnosis. So someone with a fasting sugar of 135 can be read as 125, and not be called "diabetic" and go on destorying their kidneys, nerves, and retinas with elevated glucose levels.

Additional advantages of HbA1c are that you don't have to fast prior to measurement, and the current clinical use of HbA1c results in daily management of patients with diabetes.

Caution:

People who have recently received a blood transfusion or carry the traits for Hgb C or S can have an erroneously low HgbA1c and you will need another test to confirm diabetes. To get a 2-3 week average on a sickler or pregnant patient, you can get a fructosamine test.

Pregnant patients (and people under any other high stress states: steroids, trauma, heart attack) unmask insulin resisitance (diabetes) for a short period of time. So you need a test like fructosamine which gives you a 2-3 week average to figure out how well their blood sugars have been controlled.

Insulin resistance is type 2 diabetes, certain states unmask it. The sooner you unmask it and catch it, the sooner you can start treating it. A pregnant patient that "became" diabetic during pregnancy, will always be diabetic. Don't fool yourselves. You either have diabetes (insulin resistance) or you don't. You are either born with it or you aren't. Certain states unmask it earlier than it would normally be caught. Be thankful we catch it early and can start treatment.

My thoughts:

FINALLY! But, I would use 5.5% or higher and be more aggressive. A HgbA1c of 5.5% equals a fasting glucose of 111. That is diabetic! Your fasting glucose should not be over 100!

I am not big on New Year's Resolutions. I think that if you decide to do something good, you should start right away. Not wait for some magical time. Don't delay, procrastinate and waste time. Just start your new habit.

If you are a big fan of New Year's Resolutionsm here are some that I think you should consider:

1. Stop smoking! This is the single most important lifestyle modification that will make the biggest impact on your life. Stop hookah, cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco, whatever it is.... Just stop! Nothing makes a bigger impact on your health and future than quitting smoking. If you have already tried quitting, try again! Most people try quitting 7-11 times before they finally kick the habit. It is the hardest addiction to break, we know that. But you have to fight it! I can't tell you how bad it is. Every patient I've had who has had a heart attack under the age of 50 has been a smoker! Smoking runs in families. If you smoke, your kids are more likely to smoke. Of all the things your kids could inherit, don't let this be one of them. People who smoke are dumber, have lower IQs, are more likely to be depressed and have mental issues, and teens that smoke are more likely to be obese adults. Please stop this God awful habit.

2. Stop eating! I know you aren't going to start an exercise program. Our lives are busy. We can squeeze in some exercise once or twice a week if we try. That's just life. Instead, stop eating! Eighty-five percent of your body composition is what you eat. The last 10-15% can be fixed by exercise. If you want to look good and lose weight, stop eating so much. I like to use substitution. Substitute good things for bad. Instead of mayonaise, use mustard. Instead of ground beef, use ground turkey. Instead of butter, use oil. Instead of white bread, use multigrain. Instead of sugar, use splenda. Salad instead of potatoes. Veggies instead of fries.

All diets work! Just pick one and do it! Atkins, Low Fat, Zone, Southbeach, Weight Watchers, whatever it is..... just pick one and do it! They all work. Pick one you can actually do! Then..... eat like that forever! A diet is not temporary! Do you breathe temporarily? A diet is a lifelong committment. Just do it!

3. Start moving! I realize that it's hard to get people to move and exercise. Just try to get moving somehow. Get an exercise bike or something. Get a health club membership (and actually use it). Get your kids and friends involved. Pick up a new hobby or sport that involves activity. Biking, weight-lifting, hiking, climbing, basketball, golf, anything. Exercise helps your mental health, mood, longevity, waist size, and overall wellbeing! Just do it!

4. Stay out of the sun! If you don't want wrinkles and don't want to age, steer clear of UV rays. It's that simple.

5. Change your worst characteristic! Figure out what you hate about yourself. Or what people hate about you. And change it! What is it that you do that you wish you could change? Temper? Lying? Condescending? Not romantic? Arrogance? Non-commital? Ignorant? Racist? Get better!

6. Change careers! If you hate your job and your life.... now is a great time to quit and be what you've always wanted to be. Stop making yourself (and everyone else at work) miserable. Take classes, move to a new city, explore your dreams!

7. Adopt a charity! If you don't give to charity.... you should. Find a cause you like and decide to adopt that cause. Find a charity for that cause and give them financial support as well as volunteer your time. It can be anything!

8. Spend more time with family! If you haven't seen your parents, grandparents, kids, spouse, cousins, whatever it is.... find them, call them, spend time with them. I am sure we all do this anyways, but put in some extra effort this year.

9. Stop spending! You don't have to buy everything on earth that you want. You don't need 300 pairs of shoes! You don't need 5 computers. You don't need new speakers. You don't need that dress. You don't need a new car. Stop spending this year, and save. Americans affinity for saving is only 5%. We only save 5% of what we make. Is that not insane? Find discount stores and purchase thing online if you need them. You don't need "brand name" everything. Get the Target, Walmart, Jewel, or Aldi version. They are all made in the same factory anyways and are exactly the same. Spend less! Only buy things you need! Make that a goal this year! You will be very happy!

10. Reconnect! Find someone from your past and reconnect. In a genuine sense. See what they are up to or how they have been doing. See if they want to hang out. Facebook has brought the present and past together. Find some old friends and hang out.

11. Visit someone sick. If any of your friends or family members are ill, pay them a visit. This is rewarding for you and very uplifting for them.

12. Help someone out! Someone needs a contact, needs a letter of recommendation, needs a phone number.... help someone out! If their life is made better, so will yours!

If you think of anything else, start right away. Don't wait a year!

I am disgusted and disturbed by the Colts loss tonight! I can't even describe the empty, sad, disturbing, unfulfilling, nauseating feeling when Coach Caldwell pulled the starters. I was extremely upset and can't comprehend the foolishness of this decision. Disgusting!

Seeing Peyton Manning sit on the sideline as his team slowly withered away and lost was excruciatingly painful. I know the anger, and rage pent up inside Manning as he sat around and watched. He was a gentleman and professional and towed the company line about not wanting to risk injury and letting some of the younger guys play. 

I hate the decision to not play and let the other team win. This is football. This is sportsmanship. This is competition. This is America!

You can't bend over and let them beat you! It's against everything we stand for! You have to play to win the game! You can't play to lose! Where is Herman Edwards when you need him? Coach Edwards made famous the phrase, "You play to win the game!" Give me Edwards!

What made this worse, was that Manning played the entire first half and most of the third quarter and they barely had a 15-10 lead. Why not play one more series and go up 22-10 then let the others play?

Does the offensive line get to rest? No. Does the defensive line get to rest? No. Do the safeties and corners get to rest? No. Who did they rest? Their star offensive players. The guys who least need rest. Why should Manning and the WRs and RBs rest? When was the last time Manning ever got injured or needed a break? The guy has never missed a game. Why does he need to rest?

Do you know a really good way to rest the defensive starters? Keep Manning on the field and let the offense retain possession longer. That's how you rest.

I don't buy the "rest" or "risk injury" explanation. That is bogus. Injuries are not predictable. You can get injured at any time. You could get injured on the first play of the Super Bowl. Then what? A guy like Manning and Favre has never missed a game. Why rest? Why should they rest him to try and avoid injury?

On the brink of history, on the brink of having an undefeated regular season.....  now, you suddenly don't want to play any more? Unbelievable!

How many teams have gone undefeated in the regular season? Only twice. Twice EVER! It's so rare. Why should you ever lose?

Michael Irvin a few weeks ago said he would trade in all his super bowl rings (3 of them) and his hall of fame bust to have one undefeated season. It's so rare and it's THAT good!

What about the big picture? What about winning it all? What's more important the Super Bowl or regular season games?

The Super Bowl is the ultimate goal. No argument there. I would rather win that than any regular season game. But, why not win all the games and the Super Bowl? If you can you should. Only the 1972 Miami Dolphins won every single game AND the Super Bowl. The 2007 Patriots lost to the Giants in the Super Bowl.

But remember week 17 in 2007? The AFC leading Patriots played the NFC leading Giants in a shootout that ended with the Patriots winning. That game propelled the Giants on 3 road victories in the playoffs, to the super bowl, and to the win in the Super Bowl! Had those two teams "rested" players, the outcome of the playoffs would have been different and the Giants would not have won the Super Bowl.

How many times have we seen the Colts rest players only to lose to the Chargers or Patriots? The only time the Colts actually did not get eliminated in the playoffs and went on two win the Super Bowl was 2006, when they didn't rest their players and did not clinch early! Want to win the Super Bowl.... play till the end! The Coltsare 0-3 in the playoffs when they have a first round bye. So, if you want to win the Super Bowl (or get there), you should play all your players. Or else you will be one and done again! The big picture is the Super Bowl, in order to get there, you have to keep playing. Especially, with all teh young guys on the team. Otherwise, you will not even make it.

I'm sorry but Bill Caldwell is a weak leader and has very poor vision and intelligence. Does Bilicheck rest players? Did Coughlin rest players? Did Walsh rest players? Did Cowher rest players? Did Gruden rest players? Did Reid rest players? Childress? Holmgren? Anyone?

Caldwell is an idiot, I'm sorry. His post game press conference was even worse. His interview on NFL radio was nonsensical. What a total disgrace and disaster. I don't understand how you can ever justify giving a game away and losing on purpose. Caldwell is the worst example of leadership I have seen in a long time. Wow! He inherited a darn good team, he better hope the don't fall on tough times, he can't lead them out of it! Sad, sad, sad case!

What about being the first rookie coach to ever go undefeated? Or the players to go 16-0? If you played all your players, and Manning got injured in the last game against Buffalo and Buffalo won, no one would say anything. I'd much rather get injured and not get to 16-0 than, be benched and not get to 16-0. How demoralizing and deflating!

I'd much rather explain to my kids that we lost, because I got injured than.... we lost because coach didn't want to win. Awful!

What about the integrity of the game? By resting you allowed the Jets to win, and allowed them into the playoffs. Is that normal?

Thirty years ago, the Raiders were playing the Bengals in the final week of the season. The Raiders already clinched homefield advantage throughout the playoffs. If they let Cincy win, the Steelers would be eliminated. No one wanted to play the Steelers. They destroyed Cincy in the final week of the regular season. Then demolished the Steelers the next week in the playoffs. Resting never, ever crossed anyone's mind. It just doesn't happen. Ask John Madden about that story. The thought of resting was never a thought!

Rest? I still can't wrap my head around this. As a competitor, I can not understand not putting forth your best effort. Whether that be on a football field or in the hospital with your patients. It's sickening! And maddening!

Do not rest players! For God's sake no one is worth resting! Players are players. Each and every single one matters. No one is more important than anyone else. If you get injured, Ho, Hum... it happens!

As someone who plays a ton of sports, I can't ever see myself telling my team mates or coaching my players that we need to take a game off to rest. How can you justify that or explain it? Is there a valid justification? How can I honestly tell my team mates that I am not going to play, so I can rest? What the hell are you resting for? How can I coach my players correctly while resting the star running back? What do you even say?

What about playoff implications? Other teams playoff hopes and dreams can be screwed up and or revived by outcomes of these "blow off" games. Is it fair that the Colts let the Jets win and keep them in the play off hunt? Screws up the competitive balance. The Jets have no business in the playoffs. Unless, the Colts wanted a weaker team to make it. so they can play them later. But that is unlikely.

Football is about competition and playing to the last second, the last breath. No one should ever give a game away! Even if you think you will win some ultimate prize later! It's just a game. Play it with heart and play it to it's penultimate finish. Millions of people wish they could play in the NFL. You have that opportunity. Do't waste it!

Carpe Diem! Seize the day!

Disgusted beyond belief! This goes against everything we are ever taught! This rocks your soul!

In the spirit of Christmas, I thought I'd expound on the Muslim view of Jesus Christ. I've been asked about this at work nearly every day for the past few weeks.

Muslims love Jesus Christ and consider him one of the top 5 historical figures in history, alongside Moses, Abraham, Adam and Muhammad.

In fact, it is a requirement of our faith to believe in Jesus Christ. Muslims have to believe in Jesus Christ! No other religion that I know of has a prerequisite of its own faith, to believe in a religious figure of another faith. Since we consider Jesus Christ to be one of our own prophets and messengers from God, we consider him as a part of our faith as well. We believe that God continually kept sending prophets to us over time to renew his message. We believe the message is the same, starting with Adam, through Noah, Abraham, Moses, Job, Lot, Joseph, Jesus and all the way through Muhammad.

In fact, Jesus Christ foretold of Muhammad. He said that if another messenger comes after him and tells us that Jesus is from God, then he is also from God. In essence Jesus told us about Muhammad. Take a look at 1 John 4:2 you will see that Jesus says, "Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is of God.” The word spirit in the Bible usually refers to prophets.

Want more proof that Muslims hold Jesus in the highest regard? The word "Jesus Christ" is mentioned in our book (the Quran) 33 times, whereas "Muhammad" is only mentioned 4 times. In fact, an entire chapter of our Quran is titled and dedicated to the mother of Jesus, the Virgin Mary.

We believe in the Virgin birth, that Jesus was taken up by God (resurrection), and that he will return (second coming). People don't realize this.

The Quran encourages Muslim to work with Christians, Jews and people of faith on common moral issues and values. The Quran says, “Oh Christians and Jews, bring your women and children, and we will bring ours, and let us discuss the birth of Christ.” (3:61) in another place it ends with “and let us agree on a kind word.” (3:64)

The Quran says that the closest people to you are the Christians. (5:82)

Prophet Muhammad said: “He who hurts a Christian or Jew has hurt me.”

Most people don't realize that there is so much similarity between Islam and Christianity. William Baker, a famous Biblical scholar and theologian wrote a book titled, More in common than you think, wherein he outlines the similarities between the world's largest two faiths. Check it out on Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/More-Common-Than-You-Think/dp/0910643016/

A very good friend of mine who is a Catholic priest once said to me, "You are more Christian than I am" after we discussed the above Muslim views about Jesus Christ.

Enjoy the holidays! Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Eid, Happy Kwanza, and all the other wonderful holidays!