I'm sure I'm not the only one today who is feeling very nervous. At the moment, I'm glad that I live in (as some have called it) Podunk, MO and I probably don't have to be worried about making plans about what to do in case of a nearby nuclear attack. Still, I'm going to be listening to the radio all day at work, and I've got the CNN website up. I'm sure everyone will breathe a big sigh of relief if/when this day passes without major incident. God bless us all.

I am glad to know that lots of security measures are being taken today, though. For example, IEEE had planned a visit to the campus power plant yesterday, but it was canceled because security measures dictated that only plant employees be allowed in the premises. (You'd think they might have thought of that when they planned the tour.) Yesterday the area public schools sent students home early from school, supposedly because of the heat. My husband didn't think it was all that hot yesterday, so he suspected it was really a ploy to empty out any possible targets. Of course, they are at school today, so if it was a ploy, it wasn't a very good one. Not that public schools in Podunk, MO are a big terrorist target or anything.

Anyway, on to the more mundane. You know how I mentioned in the last entry that I was feeling terrible physically and I wasn't sure why (ok, maybe I didn't mention that last part, but I meant to). The mystery was solved this weekend. One night after going to bed I had a nice long full body stretch. Apparently one of my calf muscles decided that it liked being flexed. It was the most painful and longest cramp I've ever had. My calf hurt for almost a day afterwards. (An interesting factoid: the pain of a cramp comes from the oxygen deficiency that happens when blood can not get to the flexed tissue.)

Well, I have read about people with anorexia having muscle cramps because of a potassium deficiency. So I went and looked up the other early symptoms of potassium deficiency, and lo and behold among them are unexplainable muscle aches and general fatigue, which were definitely my symptoms. The 'ol diet for my hives (which is, by the way, working quite well on reducing the hives) strikes again. I've been eating so poorly that I haven't been getting enough potassium, which apparently only happens to people who starve themselves or something. I've been taking a multivitamin, so I thought I was taken care of, but it doesn't have hardly any potassium in it.

So what is the first thing you think of when you hear the word potassium (after 'hu?'). That's right, bananas. I hate bananas. The second thing I thought of was Gatorade. Gatorade, that wonderful sports drink with all that energy (sugar) and electrolytes (including potassium). Imagine how disappointed I was when I got to the store to read the label on the back of a bottle of Gatorade and find that one serving had 1% of the RDA of potassium. 1 percent, how stupid is that. I could get more potassium from a handful of cheerios. Could someone please tell me what the point of Gatorade is, then? Is there anything in Gatorade that I couldn't get from a glass of Kool-Aid and a handful of cheerios? You know, besides that awful taste in my mouth for 20 minutes. Poweraide isn't any better.

Just thought I'd let you all know that incredibly important piece of information… At least I'm feeling lots better.