Hashemian Blog Web Tools, Financial Markets, Technology Sunday, February 24, 2008 Tokio Hotel in New York City  If you are a teenaged girl (or a parent of one) in Europe you might have heard of the band Tokio Hotel. In fact, you may be one of the throngs of young fans. They are not so well-known in the US, but judging by the attendance at one of their shows in the Fillmore Theater in New York City last Monday, you might get to know them soon. They are a sort of a Rock/Punk/New-Age band started by two 18-year-old twin boys, one on guitar and the other androgynous-looking one on lead vocals. The quartet also has the obligatory bassist and a drummer to round out the band. The band started a few years back in Germany and has grown like wild fire in Europe among the younger crowds. I was introduced to the band by my kids a couple of years ago when they returned from their annual summer trip in Germany visiting their grandparents. So when Tokio Hotel finally made their first live debut on the east coast of the US, there was no denying my overjoyed children who were finally going to see their favorite band in concert. I can appreciate alternative music, but I have never been crazy enough about a band (or anyone for that matter) to wait for hours to get a glimpse, no less for a band that doesn't stir much for this middle-aged dad. The only other time I had been to a concert was back in 1987 as a teenager myself to see my favorite band, Boston, and there wasn't much waiting for that as seating was pre-assigned. But waiting for Tokio Hotel is what I did. 5 hours of it on New York City's concrete with my children, one of their friends and her mom in tow. It was an interesting experience seeing a small corner of Manhattan from a lower altitude for hours on end. That followed by a rush of crazed young fans as they shuffled (more like stampeded) onto the floor for the standing only performance. After an hour of waiting inside like cattle being taken to the slaughterhouse, the band arrived and went into their act. Most of the songs were performed in English, with a couple of German ones thrown in to keep things authentic. Thankfully I had come equipped with earplugs. The muffled sounds were plenty enough for me. The show went on for about an hour, but I had to rescue myself from the pushing and shoving waves of the young mass of humanity (including being trampled twice) long before the band took their bows. I just dragged my tired back (with the herniated disc, mind you) out of the floor and collapsed to the side with the other parents waiting listlessly for their kids. Driving home that night, I wondered why parents sacrifice so much for their kids. Seeing their faces flushed with excitement from their first concert put that question to rest quickly. As for me, I can only hope this event fulfills my lifetime concert obligations to my children. Of course that may not extend to any future grandchildren. tokio hotel,new york city,nyc,concerts,teenagers,manhattan Labels: entertainment <Tokio Hotel in New York City> // posted by rh 4 comments | Wednesday, February 20, 2008 Herniated Disc, on Steroid  I saw my doctor today and the diagnosis was as I had expected. I indeed have a herniated disc. Nicely ruptured, spilling material into the spinal canal, putting pressure on the nerve. At least I have confirmed results on the source of the pain. For now I'm on steroidal medication, Prednisone, 4 times a day. I suppose guessing the results in advance helped to ease the bad news for me. I actually went for a slow jog last night and this morning I was experiencing some moderate pain, so I had a couple of Advils in the morning to dull the pain. My doctor was pretty nonchalant about the whole event and that gave me some confidence in my prognosis. I suppose doctors see so many similar cases that they become rather accustomed to them. Other than the steroid pills, I am free to continue to with my activities, including jogging, as long as I don't have a great deal of pain. This week's nominal pain is nothing compared to my condition in the past couple of months, so I'm thankful for that. I know that my herniated disc will be with me for the rest of my life. But as long as the pain is kept at bay, I can live with that. It's not like I'm in my 20's anyways. This is just a part of mid-life and I have to be prepared to deal with lots more problems than a herniated disc as I go forward. That I'm sure of. herniated disc,pain,jogging,running Labels: herniated disc, jogging, pain, running <Herniated Disc, on Steroid> // posted by rh 0 comments | Friday, February 15, 2008 MRI, Back Pain, Herniated Disc, and Running  If you are an avid runner, you know that occasional pain is just a part of the activity. It comes in different intensities and it affects different parts of the body. Sometimes it's in the knee, other times it's in the foot, sometimes it's from a strained muscle, and other times it's in a joint. Take a look at my recent MRI and it's not hard to tell where my pain was coming from. Even my kids had no trouble spotting it. Mind you, my doctor is yet to see this on my next visit, but odds are he'll zero in on this anomaly too. The ordeal started about 4 months ago. At first it was a pulling and tightening sensation in my left hamstring. As time progressed it became painful, specially on long jogs and the hilly parts of my route. I would just attribute it to a strained muscle, yet strangely the hamstring was not tender to the touch. The discomfort would eventually subside, but kept returning with more intensity after each run. In my mind something was clearly wrong, but not bad enough to seek medical help. Then 2 months later my body decided to send a stronger signal, in the form of a nasty lower back pain. I've had lower back pain before. They would normally hit me every couple of years, and eventually go away after about a week. I would just ignore them and continue with my daily activities, including running. But this time the pain had no intention of leaving. In fact it kept worsening to a point that I could barely even walk. The hamstring pain was still there, but I was yet to connect the dots. My orthopedic doctor, however did make the connection when I finally decided to pay him a visit. An X-ray revealed no serious problems, so I was given some conditioning exercises, some anti-inflammatory medication and a follow up date. Slowly the pain began to subside and I started to resume my normal life and running. But a couple of weeks later, just before leaving for a week-long business trip, the pain returned with a vengeance. This was the worse trip I had every been on. There I was in Miami Beach near the beach where I should have been running after work. Instead I was nursing a debilitating pain. I couldn't sit, I couldn't stand, I could barely walk, and I still had my job to do. Things became even worse when I returned. Getting in and out of the car became a long exercise in pain. Turning in bed at night meant a certain wake-up with a piercing pain. Advil became a candy of choice in copious amounts. Finally I called my doctor again to see him before the follow up date. He discovered a distinct weakness in my left leg as compared to the right one. I believe this condition is known to some as Sciatica. He suspected a herniated disc and ordered an MRI scan, which took place yesterday. The MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) machine is truly a marvel of medical technology. It can virtually slice through the body and record images from multiple angles while the patient feels absolutely nothing, except his original pain that brought him there in the first place. Claustrophobics would certainly find the process disconcerting, as do people like me who can't hold still for even a minute. When I had to lie still in that loud coffin-like contraption for some 40 minutes, the desire to move became even more magnified. I don't know how I lasted that long, but somehow I managed to stay still the whole time. Moving around probably would have meant having to stay longer in there for re-scans, and my goal was to escape the mechanical beast as fast as possible. At the end of the session, I was given a CD-ROM to hand over to my doctor on my next visit. I hadn't intended to browse the CD, but by the time I got home, curiosity (both technical and medical) got the better of me and I started to browse the images. Many of them made no sense to my untrained eyes. I could almost make out the position of the sliced images, but they all looked like a mass of chopped meat to me, until I got to the length-wise sliced images. As I looked closer, I finally spotted the damming evidence, which I have indicated above with a white arrow on the image. Yes, that's really my spine. I'm no doctor (although I am a son of a darn good pediatrician), but this looks like an unmistakable culprit to me. It may be a herniated or bulging or protruded or slipped or ruptured disc, but it's easy to see how it's pinching the nerve between the L5 and S1 vertebrae. Ok, I googled their names. Obviously my doctor will have the last word on this when I see him next week, but this evidence is hard to contradict. The good news is that I know the cause of the pain, and the bad news is that I know the cause of the pain. Could this mean the end of my running days? I don't know, at least I hope not. For now I have replaced jogging with the much gentler walking. As depressed as the thought of not running makes me, there's no need for me to dwell on it and become inactive. Life is filled with all kinds of obstacles and personal disappointments. Whatever the case here, mine can be no worse than others'. MRI,sciatica,back pain,running,orthopedic,spine,herniated disc,lumbar,lower back,disc,jogging Labels: back pain, health, jogging, running <MRI, Back Pain, Herniated Disc, and Running> // posted by rh 2 comments | Sunday, February 03, 2008 Microsoft + Yahoo > Google?  For those of us who might have thought that Microsoft's acquisition of Yahoo was an ace in the hole, this blog post from a Google bigwig might give a pause. Could Google be joining the likes of IBM, SUN, RealNetworks, Borland, Novell and Netscape who've lodged anti-trust complaints in various regulatory bodies around the world against Microsoft? Alright, no tears for Microsoft here. We all know this company is predatory and brutal when it wants to subjugate competitors. But can Google with a 75% share in their market (online search) really have a valid complaint here? Apparently so, and I'm actually surprised that Google has even addressed this acquisition rather than giving its characteristic aloof response. With Google's market value markedly below its 52-week high and facing slowdown or saturation in some of its markets, I can understand why the giant is suddenly feeling worried about its prospects. Can this acquisition finally give Microsoft the needed ammunition to meaningfully challenge Google? Only time will tell, but the fact that Google is feeling uneasy about it promises some interesting jousting and parrying ahead. Whatever the case, I hope Google doesn't lose its grip and mire itself in a long battle with Microsoft. Instead it should just stick to its guns, do no evil, and continue to innovate around Microsoft. In the end Google may still get run over by the behemoth, but I really hope Microsoft doesn't win this match, with or without yahoo. It will be a dark day on the Internet if Microsoft strips Google of its status just by its monopolistic tactics. google,microsoft,yahoo,search engines,anti-trust,acquisition,hostile takeover Labels: business-finance, google, Microsoft, web, yahoo <Microsoft + Yahoo > Google?> // posted by rh 0 comments | Saturday, February 02, 2008 Face Cream Gimmick  Microsoft's $45 billion offer to buy Yahoo has certainly intensified the online advertising scrutiny. No doubt the entire advertising industry is going through turbulent times. At $20 billion per year, online advertising is still a small fraction of the entire advertising market, but that figure is estimated to rise sharply as more people turn to the Internet for their news, entertainment, and other personal and business matters. Indeed the cyberspace is no more immune to false advertising than other traditional methods. There are plenty of these online gimmicks around, many appearing on even reputable sites. From cars, to mortgages, to medical and beauty products, they make claims that are nothing short of miracles. And I suppose they sell well, because they seem to be everywhere. For example, this is a before and after shot of a woman's face on an ad banner touting some miracle cream to recapture youth. I keep seeing this over and over on msnbc.com. Is this an instance of false advertising? You decide. face cream,online advertising,banners,yahoo,microsoft Labels: advertising, health, Microsoft, web, yahoo <Face Cream Gimmick> // posted by rh 3 comments |

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