Several years ago, I had the good fortune to visit Hiroshima, Japan. I say good fortune because I believe that every human being on earth should visit this City and view the Museum there. Regardless of your beliefs regarding the war and the atrocities that occurred, nothing can compare to the aftermath of a nuclear explosion. This museum contains pictures of people crying as their flesh melts off their bodies, and one exhibit which features a tricycle and a little metal hat, all that was left of a child who was playing in his backyard when the bomb hit.

I took my children to see that exhibit, and my youngest son, who was 12 at the time, (the computer geek whom I mentioned in another post), was so moved, he based his “History Fair” website, the theme of which was “Triumph and Tragedy”, on Hiroshima. He even won third place in NY State.

But what is truly amazing to me, is the spirit of forgiveness and hope that pervades the City. Despite the presence of one of the bombed buildings, which is kept in the center of Hiroshima, as a monument to remind everyone of what happened. Every person we met there has a strong desire for world peace, it is a theme throughout the city, which has a very large Soka Gakkai establishment (a Buddhist peace organization – see www.sgi-usa.org).

So I am offering this website to you

I think everyone probably remembers having a junk drawer in the kitchen when they grew up. For some reason it was always in the kitchen, usually one of those really shallow drawers, near a phone (in the old days, when phones were stuck to the wall). The junk drawer somehow accumulates all sorts of things, tops from pens that have disappeared, pens that no longer work, old rubber bands, receipts for things you think you might someday need to return, spare change, old rabies tags from the dog’s collar, odd pieces of string, and pieces of something that you can’t quite remember what it was, but are sure if you throw it away, you will find out and realize that it is really important.

Well, we still have a junk drawer in our house, but it has now morphed to keep up with the digital age. It is filled with chargers. Wall chargers – maybe, 20 of them, for cell phones we no longer have, cameras that have long been broken or stolen or both, old computers that have been relegated to the back of the closet by obsolescence (yet the charger still sits in the drawer), even a charger for an electric screwdriver that has long since disappeared into that place that tools disappear to, probably with the socks that never come out of the drier. These chargers have tangled themselves into such a mess that no one goes near the junk drawer anymore. Perhaps someday someone will have a “charger donation” drive and we’ll take the whole lot and feel better for it.

Speaking of wonderful causes – the week, eBay is featuring North Shore Animal League as their spotlighted charity. For those who don’t know, North Shore is a large no kill shelter on the north shore of Long Island, that has recently been rescuing animals from puppy mills.

I am going to put the link here – if you click it you will go directly to the event:

I sell on eBay under the name myohomom and am selling things to benefit North Shore this week, my items can be found through the link.
I also have some new items on The Treasure Tower, including a really cool new line called Spare Soles – which are leather-like ballet flats that fold up into a wristlet/tote bag, so you can have them with you when you wear heels, and change into them when your feet can’t take it anymore. They look great! Not like cheap slip ons – and actually have a heel. They are also good for airplane flights, hotel rooms, and anywhere that you need to bring a spare pair of shoes and don’t have a lot of room.

(Remember – if you want to go directly to the listing on my site – just click the picture – just like in the Wizard of Oz – it takes you “home”).
And please – I’d love to hear your “junk drawer” stories. What’s in your junk drawer? Come on – I KNOW you have one……

I remember, in the dark ages, when I would get so excited with the thought of back to school – with it’s required shopping, including clothes and school supplies. How many of you remember the smell of new books when you cracked them open, and pencils freshly sharpened, and the crisp pages of a new notebook.

Well that is over now for my two High School boys. First, there is the anxiety surrounding AP and Honors classes that ruined the excitement of a new year starting, anxiety that would have seemed as foreign to me as a child, as the “Tablet PC’s” that they were issued somewhere around the second week of school. My sons announced to me that they no longer need their notebooks and looseleaf paper, because the school had issued computers to all Juniors and Seniors, and they would take notes and write assignments on these wonders of technology.

Of course, like all wonders of technology, including the computer on which you are reading this blog, there are still a few “bugs in the system” as they say. I don’t know what genius thought that you could give 100 teenaged boys (and girls for that matter) a bunch of computers and think that simply putting cyber-”locks” on them would keep them from modifying (or “modding” as I believe it is called) these innocent machines.

Within one week, my 15 year old managed to download a virus, after completely over-riding all of the protective software that had been installed, and after changing the orientation, background and anything else he could change without “getting into trouble” (he did stop short of hacking into the Administration area). The computer rewarded him with the “blue screen of death”, taking with it two weeks of physics notes, all of AP English and US History and all of his math homework with it, into the blue oblivion. I did ask the obvious question “didn’t you back it up” to be met with howls of anguish and “I didn’t have time” (?????)

My 17 year old had his computer for one day when it (no fault of his own) decided to shut down after he had written an entire English assignment, making me long for the day when “my dog chewed it up” passed for a reason that homework was missing. Luckily it just as mysteriously rebooted and the English homework reappeared. And this is just the first month of school!

My 15 year did take his dead computer to the High School IT person who looked at him and said “I have 200 computers here that are malfunctioning, I’ll get to it when I get to it”, so he is back to doing homework the old fashioned way (on his own Mac). This is progress?

I hope your Back to School transition is going more smoothly. If it isn’t, perhaps you need a good luck amulet to help you – I have just the thing. I now have in stock the new “Evil Eye” pendants from Michal Golan, the New York based Israeli designer whose enamel and crystal encrusted designs recall Byzantine or other ornate styles. I loved them so much I ordered almost the entire line. Here are two to give you a taste:

For those who have asked – just click on the picture and it will take you to my site where you may purchase these items or see more pictures and styles.

And please, I would love to hear your back to school stories, it’s lonely here in cyberspace without comments or feedback

As we wait for the remnants of Tropical Storm Danny to pass by Long Island, where I live, I thought of all those who passed away and those whose lives were forever altered by Hurricane Katrina, a storm that hit this very day. For those of you who do not live on the Eastern or Gulf Coasts, it is hard to explain how every November, those of us who live on this unprotected island that sits off the coast of New York, breathe a sigh of relief and live with the hope that we will be continued to be spared. We do not deal with tornadoes (or at least not until the last few years when they have been spotted with increasing frequency around here, but puny ones, maybe F1 or so), but we do live in the shadow of the great hurricane of ‘38, which altered the topography of the Island, it’s strength was so fierce.

This year, I am eyeing that area off the Cape Verde Islands, where these nasty storms often form, with even greater interest, as we have purchased a house in Queens (yes, New York City), which faces the Atlantic Ocean. Many people don’t realize that there is an incredible beach, just a subway’s ride from Manhattan. The area had fallen into disrepair, but is slowly being built up. And so, when Hurricane Bill was heading North, we bit our nails and waited, while the surfers who do their thing in front of my window, jumped for joy as the waves grew higher and higher.

So let’s all pray that the worst we see from Hurricanes this year is happy surfers (the one in front is my son, by the way). And lets continue to be kind to mother nature – wear organic clothing and recycled products.

And at The Treasure Tower we are now carrying a small line of organic cotton and bamboo clothing from KNOW Apparel:

and bracelets made of recycled magazine paper from Uganda and Kenya, by Acacia Creations:

Also – in case you don’t know – if you click on any picture of an item from my website in these blog posts – it will take you directly to where it can be purchased.

Here’s to hoping for the peace and safety of everyone reading this blog.

There is a famous quote by Mahatma Gandhi “Be the change you wish to see in the world”. Sometimes I wonder how many people actually live that way. I certainly hear a lot of complaints about how the world is going these days, especially about the government and how everything is such a mess. But I wonder how many people think about their own behaviors, and how they could make the world a little better?

I think sometimes we get overwhelmed by thinking, “I’m just a tiny human being, what I do really doesn’t matter”. But that thinking is quite foolish, one human being has always been the first step in changing the world. Daisaku Ikeda says at the beginning of his wonderful novel The Human Revolution: “A great human revolution in just a single individual will help achieve a change in the destiny of a nation and, further, will enable a change in the destiny of all humankind.”

I find the hardest thing is “walking the talk”. As a long time (greater than 25 years) practitioner of Nichiren Buddhism, I really do try to have heart to heart dialogues with everyone I meet, and treat them with respect, but sometimes, when someone is especially rude to me, at the Post Office, where I am often shipping packages, or on line at Costco, or on the Belt Parkway (a certain suburb of Hell, for those who are not from New York City) – I find it especially hard to be that change! But every time I am successful, I feel that I have contributed in some small way to world peace.

An example occurred last week, when I was on the train, on my way back from the Accessories Show at The Javits Center, where I picked up LOTS of great new items for The Treasure Tower. A young man next to me did not realize that the train required a Peak ticket and did not have the money to upgrade ($2.50). I paid it for him and suddenly the harried train conductor smiled and said “That sort of thing makes me so happy”, and the young man and I had a lovely conversation about the similarities between Buddhism and Orthodox Judaism, which was his religion. Who knows where that small gesture led…….

So if you need some inspiration to “Be the change…” – I have just started carrying home decor at The Treasure Tower and have a lovely wall hanging with that quote. And please, write me with instances of your own actions that have changed the world in a positive way ……

I was in the elevator the other day with a very dignified older gentleman (I work in a hospital), when suddenly the unmistakeable sound of “Jumpin Jack Flash” eminated from his pocket. It got me to wondering who this person was, and what the Rolling Stones meant to him. Had he been a teenaged rebel who bowed to convention and went to Medical School, did he harbor a secret dream to become a rock star, maybe playing in a garage band with his old friends on the weekend?

What does your ring tone say about you? Is it a generic “Nokia Ring” – (”I am afraid of deviating from the status quo” “I have no imagination” “I have no time for silly things like ringtones”), or the latest gangsta rap (”I am a poser”, “I see myself as a rebel” “I am a teenaged boy”). Or perhaps a lovely classical theme or a soothing jazz riff.

What is my ringtone? Well, it keeps defaulting back to the basic Blackberry ring because I have a loose SD card (good excuse), but for a while it was “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen (the guitar solo – I guess because I went to see “We Will Rock You” with my daughter in London for her Sweet Sixteen gift and it makes me remember those days), and then I switched it to one of Alan Smallwood’s pieces that is essentially kirtan style singing of Nam myoho renge kyo (http://alansmallwood.com), the chant which we recite in Nichiren Buddhism. I guess that one is obvious for anyone who has read my blog. What does your ringtone say about you? I’d love to hear about it!

And speaking of Nam myoho renge kyo, I have found the most wonderful person who is making custom necklaces for The Treasure Tower that are made of sterling silver and 14kt gold plate, with the words Nam Myoho Renge Kyo on one charm, and a lotus flower (for the Lotus Sutra, of which myoho renge kyo is the title). It is a lovely piece to wear, even if you aren’t a practicing Buddhist.

Ok – so health care reform is an odd topic for a blog about an accessories website – but for those of you who haven’t read my other posts, in “real life” I am a doctor specializing in kidney disease. This month I am working with the new trainees, seeing consultations in the hospital, and it is obvious to me that we will never be able to afford true health care reform unless we, as Americans, comes to terms with the fact that people die. The bulk of the money spent on care in this county is spent on babies who were born extremely prematurely, and in the last few months of life – for end of life care. Most of the patients we are are caring for in the ICU’s are over the age of 75 – and they have tubes that breathe for them, tubes that feed them and we dialyze them because their kidneys have stopped working. One woman has “lived” in the ICU for 4 months. And our hospital is not alone.

Today, one of the Republican Senators angrily declared that we are heading toward rationing of care – but in my opinion, as someone on the front lines, if we don’t come to terms with the necessity of rationing care (or maybe rational care), we will continue to face spiraling health care costs. The question becomes – how to ration and what to ration. And we will then face the situation that occurs in Canada and the UK, where people who can afford it, get the care anyway. I have no answers except that I believe all the proposals that are on the table now are naive – and blame is being placed all over the place, without the realization that we are all to blame for this mess.

And by the way – why is it OK to spend 4 billion dollars on weatherproofing homes, and not on healthcare??????

So what to do? Maybe go shopping! I am making a call once more for Zulugrass, the beautiful bracelets created by Maasai women in Kenya and sold through The Leakey Collection – between the downturn in the economy and the drought in Kenya, the Maasai are really struggling. These bracelets, which can be worn as necklaces or anklets or even hair ties, look great all summer and are so well priced, you can buy a few and feel great wearing them.

Or check out the new line we’re carrying – Seasonal Whispers. It is handmade in NYC and the designs are timeless. Ok – the price is a lot higher than Zulugrass, but the workmanship is gorgeous and you can wear each piece separately and layer them (maybe with your Zulu bracelets!)

And if I don’t get any comments on this post, I’ll know no one is reading this blog (lol)!

If you don’t live in the Northeast, you might not know that it has now rained for forty days and forty nights (well at least it seems that way). Seriously, we have not seen the sun since May, and my lawn has turned into a field of mushrooms. I am sure there is some meteorologic reason for this, but right now I could use some cheering up! It’s hard to believe that summer starts tomorrow when it feels like endless April.

As a physician, I know that this lack of sun creates Vitamin D deficiency, which causes depression and general grumpiness, so if you are reading this in the Northeast, talk to your doc about taking more Vitamin D right now.

As a website owner, I know that a nice piece of jewelry can certainly add some sun to an otherwise down day. I have just listed some lovely pieces by Michal Golan, a New York based, Israeli artist, whose studies of Byzantine and Middle Eastern art inform her intricate designs in enamel and beading. I have several Hamsa (the traditional Hand of G-d or Fatima, said to protect the wearer from evil and attract fortune) and several small crosses, as well as one piece from her general line.

That way everyone can pray for sun (ha ha). As always I welcome your thoughts and comments (I hope they are sunny ones)……

Recently I have been having many discussions with my teenaged kids about the “unfairness” of life – usually around some rather non-Earth shattering topic such as the fact that the only job one could get requires working on the weekend, or that one of the others has two NY State Regents exams on the same day and his friends are all “out having fun”.

But is life really unfair? If you believe in karma, which I do, then what happens in life is essentially the result of causes one has made in this or other lifetimes. Sometimes one can (often with much discomfort), discern the causes he has made leading up to an event, for example, driving too fast and getting a ticket. But many people drive fast and don’t get a ticket, so why were you the one singled out? We don’t have the ability to truly understand all the causes that lead up to any one event.

The good news is, that if you believe in karma, then life is not unfair, and if you believe karma can be changed or mitigated, then there is always hope for the future. In Nichiren Buddhism, which I practice with the Soka Gakkai, a lay Buddhist organization (no priests or nuns, and welcoming of all religions) we believe that most karma is “mutable”, that is, it can be changed with a tremendous positive cause in the here and now. One of those causes is chanting “Nam myoho renge kyo” which loosely translated means “I devote myself to the law of cause and effect through sound or vibration”. The chant also puts you in rhythm with the universe.  (For more information see www.sgi-usa.org).

For those who like a humerous reminder of karma, there are quite a few karma jewelry items on the market. One of my favorites is by Dogeared, a simple silver circle, to remind us that “what goes around comes around”.

In fact, Dogeared has quite a few “karma items” and I am happy to carry a few of them. In the hustle and bustle of our daily lives, especially when confronted with teenaged angst on a daily basis, it is easy to lose sight of the effect that doing good has on one’s life. Try it tomorrow – be kind to someone, especially someone who is making you angry, or who you don’t like very much. And see if it comes back to you in some small fashion. I’d love to hear your story……..

I am writing this post from Boston, where I am attending the American Transplant Congress, somewhat misnamed, as there are as many members attending from Europe and Asia as there are from the Americas. It is one of the premiere meetings for transplant professionals, and this year they started a new tradition – which is a 5K run to raise awareness about transplantation and organ donation.

For those who don’t know, a 5K is about 3.1 miles, and this one occurred at 6AM (!), which meant that if you wanted to take a bus to the course, you had to be on the bus by 5:30 in the morning. I used to run, but pretty much gave it up over 5 years ago. I do other aerobic activties though, and it crossed my mind that running this race would be a good thing. But I LOATHE getting up early, and I certainly don’t exercise at that time of day.

But then I thought of all my patients (for those who haven’t read my other posts, I am a transplant physician, nephrologist when I’m not managing my website), and of thier bravery, and especially of the donors and donor families who have made their lives possible. If someone could give a kidney to help another person, I certainly could get up one morning at 4:30 and run 3 miles. And so I did. I joined hundreds of others who came out to remind the Boston community that organ donation saves lives and helps people. One of the opening speeches was given by a young man, who had received a liver transplant, and he expressed his immense gratitude to the family that made his life possible. And he greeted every single person he could, as we passed the finish line, thanking us individually for running the race. He ran it too – and he is such an amazing runner that of course he made it in way before most of us did!

I am sure there was a time in his life when he never dreamed he would run again. So please don’t give up on your dreams. And please remember that organ donation saves lives.

If you need some help with making your dreams a reality – I have a lovely “Dreams Come True Action Kit” that may help. It contains a journal, a book of projects, 10 inspirational glass stones, a pen and glue stick and more! Wouldn’t this be a great gift for a new graduate? Please also check out the other inspirational items I have that would make great gifts as well, and as always – please leave comments and thoughts about this post…..