art of problem solving

Wen told me there are many kids here who are very good at math even though the math ability of the general population may not be so good.  She said it is not surprising at all that the US team got the championship in this year's Olympic math competition held in Thailand.  One way to train children in math is to start with a book called 'Art of Problem Solving'.  The set of books introduces ways to solve math problems and is worth buying.

face cream infinite aloe

When shopping in the costco, I saw someone selling skincare, infinite aloe, on a roadshow display.  I was planing to buy a new type of cream for my face, so I went to the table to get more info.  The lady was detailed and informative.  After I read the testimonials she showed me, I was sold.  There were three packages, large, medium and small, and I decided to buy the medium pack.  I tried last night.  It appeared to be working.  My skin feels moist. This brand did receive a lot of good moments on the Amazon page. 

Update:  I put the cream on my face before going to bed for two days in a row.  On the morning of the third day I had a splitting headache and it lasted for quite a few hours until I washed my face.  I knew the headache was caused by the cream as I had never had a headache before.  Aloe Vera is a Chinese medicine. When I put the cream on my face, it got absorbed into my body through my skin and it did not agree with my system.  As a result I returned the cream pack to the costco without delay.

flowers in our front yard

Mario, our gardener, planted several kinds of flowers in our front yard and they are supposed to be perennial flowers as requested by me.   These flowers are:

1. Gazania mix
2. Lavendar
3. Purpleish/bluish flower plant with long flat leaves, as the one in our flower bed (I don't know its name).  Its Chinese name is 百子莲 agipanthus according to a blogger
4. a small tree like plant

5. yellow chrysanthemum

I cannot wait to see them grow taller. 

our new sprinkler system and landscape

I have been wanting to install a sprinkler system in our front and back yards for quite sometime.  Today the system was finally installed by Mario, our gardener.  He also did new landscape along our picket fence.  When seeing how beautiful the added flowers are, I decided to add more flowers on all three sides of the yards. 

Mario promised that in a couple of weeks, out lawn will look green and flowers blooming.  I cannot wait.

My mini rebounder

My mini rebounder arrived yesterday and I started to jump on it right away.  It is indeed a low-impact exercises.  I am able to do 1000 steps in about 7.5 minutes.  I did 1000 last night and did 3000 today.
It is as not as strenuous as running and biking and is not as boring as walking.  I turned TV to the food channel while doing it.  So 7 minutes went faster than expected.

Hopefully I will see some positive change within 2 weeks. 

Carnitine and Olive Oil

According to a piece of recent news, eating carnitine 肉碱 is harmful to one's health.  Carnitine apparently causes bacteria in one's digestive track to act weirdly.  In the process of bacteria interacting with carnitine, more TMAO 氧化三甲胺will be produced and will get into our blood veins.  The increased TMAO level in our body causes increased risk of heart disease.  According to the news red meat contains a high level of carnitine.  Fish and chicken contain some. 
I remember in several protein products sold in Costco, carnitine is one of the main ingredients, as carnitine is believed to build muscles. Energy drinks all contain carnitine.  I have to read labels more carefully to avoid products containing carnitine.

Taking two or three tea spoons of olive oil is believed to be beneficial to our health. 92 year old 秦怡 has been drinking two teaspoons of olive oil for years.  She has also been eating a type of porridge for several decades. The ingredients of the porridge are as follows: 黑豆、黑芝麻、红豆、黑米、枸杞、燕麦各抓一小 把，红枣三颗，山药三片，黑豆和红豆要事先泡上三四个小时，然后一起放进去煮成五谷粥，枸杞最后关火5分钟前放进去.

揉腹

从四月十日看了明朝冷谦的健身法以后，我就开始了揉腹。每天睡觉以前揉三百下。上下一百下，顺时针一百，逆时针一百。两个多月来，只缺了两天。揉了一个多星期后，效果开始出现。以前，每次上厕所都觉得是一件大事，现在好多了，不用吃辅助食品，也不用运气。真是一件大好事。看来中里巴人推荐的揉腹法确实有效。今天有发现了一好处。脸上的皮肤比两个多月前紧致，没想到揉腹还可美容。网上说揉腹调理肠胃，治百病，肠胃好了，其他自然也就顺畅了。看来不无道理。

从今天起，我又加了一项运动， 敲打脚尖。据说此项运动可提高视力。那我就试试看吧。