It’s been fun having this subdomain for my blog, but it’s time for a change. The blog will be located on JoeRyder.com, my main site. I have moved all posts to that Wordpress setup and you will still see the same helpful information.

Please update your RSS feeds and links.

MyAware Repost – River Wired showcases a reclaimed wood processor >>>

An important consideration of environmental awareness and an easy way to do your part in helping the environment is learning about the market of reclaimed, repurposed, recycled and restored wood. Whether you are creating your own projects or having a contractor build it for you, reclaimed wood can be repurposed as building material for homes, businesses and furniture. While the video posted here, produced by River Wired, describes a reclaimed wood mill in the south, many communities have their own recycling centers that hold all sorts of materials, from wood to metal to plastics. Think of what you want around your house or want done to your house. How can reclaimed wood, recycled metals and repurposed plastics save you money while saving the environment?

MyAware Repost – Wood supplies in repurposed building debris >>>

Repurposing is today’s best defense against the waste of wood products in our society and the prevention of cutting down more trees to serve a wood consumer that has perfectly good supplies already in circulation.

My recent stockpile of cabinet doors, collected from my wife’s grandfather who was a general contractor for over 30 years, is giving me ideas galore for household projects that need sturdy plywood. One door is solid oak and square enough to be a perfect tabletop for a small folding table. Here are some photos of the cabinet I made from different doors in the pile (hosted on my Facebook page):

Pile of cabinet doors repurposed as lumber

Finished shelf box hanging in our living room.

I cut the lower part of the two boards used for the back panel to hide the fact that the doors were different lengths.

The cabinet is an example of what can be done with these old cabinet doors. The rest I plan to use as building materials for a play fort for my kids.

Consider other places you could find wood like this. At one time, I was huring for spare wood. Now, with foreclosures turning into demolition of old, worn-down houses, wood recycling centers are turning all sorts of usable wood into bark dust. That means less wood in the building cycle and more need for new timber.

Sorry, logging and timber industry, we need the earth more than logging jobs. Why not diversify and put laid-off workers back to work in repurposing facilities?

By the way, if you ever want old-growth timber, consider looking for old barns that are being torn down, if they are not already being repurposed. The cross beams and rafters make excellent, sturdy wood. Below is a video from Progressive Farmer Magazine about the process.

MyAware Repost – Farrah Fawcett inspires us to detect cancer early >>>

Farrah Fawcett, 62, died today after a grueling battle with anal cancer since her 2006 diagnosis. She has a celebrity’s lifetime to analyze by mass media. But her legacy is not her famous pin-up or Charlie’s Angels character (I’ve heard some people I know, in their early 20’s and fairly vested in gossip, ask who she was). I would think she would also agree with me. Her legacy, and what we are discussing today, is to attempt to fight cancer as early as possible.

My mother is a survivor story. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in the early 1980s. After almost 25 years, three recurrences after her first diagnosis and supplemental health issues, she is still optimistic that she will pass from something other than cancer. She attributes her ability to fight it for so long to new technologies over the years and early detection. She is turning 60 next year and still kicking, though not as strong kick as she once had.

Diagnosing cancer is not universal. The process of diagnosis is different between each part of the body. Skin cancers, for instance, can many times be noticed visually; breast cancer can be detected using several proven checks for lumps in the breast, methods that are also used to find lumps in testicles; and liver cancer has some visual signs but mainly requires a blood test. Anal cancer has symptoms much like hemorrhoids, which means you can usually detect changes in your body reasonably early. But symptoms are so much like other conditions that a more thorough check must be done to determine if cancer is the cause.

Biopsy is the universal detection method for cancer, but cancers can disguise themselves as other conditions, like anal cancer does. So how do we detect cancer early without getting a biopsy with every freckle and runny nose? Consider these quick ways to narrow your worries:

1. Know Your Family History – If you have a history of cancers in your family, you are more likely to develop the disease yourself at some point. Make sure you do routine checks like mammograms or blood work, whatever checks are recommended for your family’s historical conditions.
2. Can’t Hurt to Ask – WebMD is my favorite place to look up symptoms if they are lingering. What I find there I ask an advice nurse or a doctor. I don’t care if they think I ask too many stupid questions. Phone advice is free so they can’t complain. If it sounds serious, I can always come in and get checked out. Trust me, doctors don’t mind the attention if it means you need to pay them to tell you that you’re alright.
3. Environmental Knowledge – Skin cancer is not hereditary. Moles are the most common to go unnoticed and has bumped up the reported numbers of skin cancer, so those should be the most obvious to check whenever noticed. Skin tags are also common, and can be simply removed if found early. SkinTagHelp.com discusses ways to remove them at home.
4. Cancer Does Not Follow a Clear Path – It is possible to have a certain type of cancer, such as breast cancer, in your family history but develop other types of cancer. Some cancers come on without any family history at all. Don’t be a hypochondriac, but know that you are not necessarily safe just because your family history doesn’t say you are at risk.
5. Ask If You Should Be Screened – Many oncologists do not suggest having a spectrum of preventative screenings done at the same time. The American Cancer Society maintains a list of screenings and exams that can be taken for early detection, but a doctor will know more clearly if you really need these kinds of preventative measures.

The best way to fight cancer, however, is prevention. The ACS has an entire section of their reference database about prevention through good habits of health, fitness, diet and sociology. Reducing your chance for acid reflux can prevent stomach and esophageal cancer. Cervical cancer can often be prevented by not having sex with everyone you know (promiscuity can be dangerous to more than your relationships, you know). Thinking 0f sun screen as your skin’s condom against skin cancer from the sun is an obvious one, along with not smoking to prevent lung cancer. However, getting the right exercise and enough of it, along with the right diet, is the most effective way to prevent cancer and all sorts of other diseases.

Most doctors will tell you that early detection is the best way to fight cancer but is not a guarantee the cancer will be eradicated. In fact, most cancers are recurring, even decades before initial diagnosis. Cancer, in general, cannot be cured. The battle can be won but the war is ultimately in the hands of cancer; it will call peace or send in all the troops as it sees fit. Think of it as an enemy colony, with all the minds of each cancer cell working together against you. Each time America goes into battle, we don’t attack the same way twice, do we? Typically, neither does cancer.

I used to work in the veterinary field for Banfield, The Pet Hospital. Farrah once said she felt like “a dog who has been to the vet too many times.” I have seen what that looks like, and I have seen the Northwest Cancer Center where cancer patients get their chemo treatments. I can tell you she was very accurate, like treating a pet for heartworm. A lot of people won’t treat pets for heartworm and prefer to just put them down to save them the pain, but they go through chemo themselves often for the benefit of being around for their loved ones. That says something for us.

Oh, and Michael Jackson died of cardiac arrest. My review: don’t be the world’s richest mental patient and you’ll be fine.

I just read the stats on some of the scam posts I posted, along with other big news reviews. I have come to the conclusion that I am not doing myself or my readers any good putting all this into one very random and jumbled blog.

From today-on, I am separating my posts.

All social awareness, non-profit, call-to-join-the-cause and similar posts will be part of the content on MyAware.info, an awareness news and opinion source slated to provide “simple, accessible ways to get involved.” Hopefully I can stay away from being so political there. That might help my position in my writing.

I will still post personal and geek-related stuff here. It will still end up pretty random, but at least some of it will be dedicated to a more narrow topic.

I will not be transferring posts from here to the new blog unless I repost something that I find poignant to a conversation (I will still leave it here, though).

Love to all and find me writing more on MyAware.info.