Modesto Pollen and Weather Recording

Modesto Pollen Count & Weather Diary

Purpose: To keep track of what weather patterns we’ve lived through in Modesto, CA – to help planning for the next year for issues such as outdoor events – perhaps even related to Plastic Surgical events or for dates for the Surgical Artistry Modesto Marathon and of course this may be useful for others too.

Sources: www.pollen.com

Zip code used: 95355

Relevance to Plastic Surgery and Surgical Artistry

it’s hard to see how Pollen Counts in Modesto could be related to plastic surgery. But a part of our plastic surgery practice with Dr. Tammy Wu is Acupuncture – which has some direct relevance to anti-allergy treatments with acupuncture treatments and acupuncture protocols with Dr. Calvin Lee.

However there is a direct relationship with plastic surgery. There has been some anecdotal reports that Botox injections into the forehead and glabellar area of the face has helped some of our patients with their allergy suffering. I have seen more than 3 botox patients who are fairly confident that this is the case and these are patients who normally have year round suffering for their allergies. This correlation with Botox is purely anectdotal. But perhaps the future will tell us if there is a true scientific correlation, as there is with Botox and headaches; and Botox’s relationship with muscle tension.

Pollen Count History for Modesto, CA

Rating is from 0-12. 12 being the highest.

High 9.7-12
Med-High 7.3-9.6
Medium 4.9-7.2
Low-Medium 2.5-4.8
Low 0-2.4

2013: Here’s the Pollen Counts Log and Weather too

5/14/13 Pollen 7.7, Predominant: Mulberry, Walnut, Grasses. Temperature 90 F – 61 F. May 8, 2013, I had a particularly bad day with my personal allergies to pollen, but these numbers didn’t register so high for the pollen count. I think wind has something to do with it.

5/15/13 Pollen 7.5, Predominant: Mulberry, Walnut, Grasses. Temperature 83 F – 55 F.

5/19/13 Pollen 8.1, Predominant: Grasses, Juniper, Walnut. Temperature 87-55

5/24/13 Pollen 6.7, Predominant: Grasses, Amaranth, Oak. Temperature 80-51

5/27/13 Pollen 6.5, Predominant: Grasses, Amaranth, Oak. Temperature 81-54

<My own allergies started getting better at this point in the year>

6/9/13 Pollen 7.2, Predominant: Grasses, Sagebrush, Olive. Temperature 95-69

6/23/13 Pollen 5.7, Predominant Pollen: Grasses, Sagebrush, Chenopods. Temperature 88-60

Around July 4th 2013, the temperature in Modesto, CA hit over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Now that the sun is dominant – please consider wearing your sunscreen with zinc all year round – even if it’s snowing or raining outside.

7/7/13 Pollen 4.0, Predominant Pollen: Grasses, Dock Chenopods. Temperature 94-61

Most of our pollen allergies aren’t to these nice visible looking flowers. (In April/May).

2014 Modesto Pollen Counts Log and Weather History for Modesto:

My own personal allergies started acting up around the middle of March this year. Specifically acted up on 3/16/14, although several weeks earlier there were indications of allergy irritations for myself. This acted as a trigger for me to continue posting to this pollen blog for Modesto, CA. I’m copying data down from pollen.com (source).

3/16/14 Pollen 8.8 mulberry, ash, oak. 81/47 F

3/25/14 Pollen 7.5 alder, ash, poplar. 69/51 F

3/30/14 Pollen 8.5 oak, alder, juniper 69/49 F

4/4/14 Pollen 7.9 oak, mulberry, ash. 68/47 F

4/21/14 Pollen 7.6 oak, grasses, mulberry. 80/54 F

5/21/14 Pollen 6.4 grasses, juniper, walnut. 81/54 F

5/27/14 Pollen 7.4 grasses, amaranth, oak. 94/60 F

7/4/14 Pollen 4.4 grasses, dock, chenopods. 98/65 F

8/24/14 Pollen 7.7 chenopods, elm, grasses. 91/61 F

11/16/14 Pollen 2.3 sagebrush, elm. 61/43 F

2015 Modesto Pollen Counts Log and Weather History for Modesto:

1/25/15 Pollen 5.7 alder, juniper. 68/42 F

2/1/15 Pollen 7.3 alder, juniper. 70/38 F

6/9/15 Pollen 7.4 grasses, juniper, hickory 90/70 F

6/13/15 Pollen 7.4 grasses, sagebrush, olive 90/60 F

2016 Modesto Pollen Counts Log

4/16/16 Pollen 9.6 Mulberry, Oak, Walnut.

2018 Modesto Pollen Count Log

4/21/18 Pollen 8.2 Oak, Grasses, Mulberry.

This is a work in progress. Every consider acupuncture for your allergies? We frequently perform anti-allergy acupuncture at our Surgical Artistry office in Modesto, CA.

If you need a Converter for Fahrenheit to Celsius, consider this Google link. Or consider this conversion link.

Modesto’s Jon Olsen Brings Home the Gold Medal in International 24 hour Race in the Netherlands

NEWS FROM STEENBERGEN, NETHERLANDS 5/12/13 – blog by Calvin Lee

Jon Olsen ran 167.568 miles in 24 hours.

You thought a Marathon was long?

jon olsen from Modesto with american flag winner of the 24 hour race in Netherlands

Victory for Jon Olsen, USA after running 24 hours.

Modesto’s Jon Olsen won the International Association of Ultrarunners 24-Hour World championships. Representing the USA, Mr. Olsen ran 167.568 miles taking the lead by 4 miles. Reading reports of the race, the weather conditions were challenging which included rain and hail which pelted the runners throughout the night. Individually Mr. Olsen won, and as a team, the men’s USA team won as well. Each team was composed of six runners, and each team’s top three distances were combined for the team score.

He writes before the race:

As blessed as I am physically to run, I’m even more blessed with the amount of loving people that God has surrounded me with. All I can do is say thank you and represent Modesto and the Red White and Blue to the best of my ability. Thank you once again!

He writes after the race:

Sorry I haven’t posted anything but between the drug test, awards ceremony, the nap, shower, dinner, and packing for my flight that leaves early enough my alarm is going off at 6am…I have had little time. Let me quickly sum up the race and you can read about it in the Modesto Bee Tuesday.

It was hands down the toughest race of my life. I race a nearly perfect race.(that includes eating the right foods and putting on the correct clothing when the weather got bad) I ran all but ten yards in the middle of the race and two minutes to end the race. The crowds were amazingly supportive and I was treated like a rock star. It was a “Jon Olsen love fest” on steroids:) absolutely crazy! I want to thank everyone’s encouragement and support. You all own a piece of this victory…thank you! I’m heading to bed now:)

Doing the Math

We should be practicing some math, especially since Mr. Olsen is a math teacher. He is a Math Teacher at Prescott Junior High School, in Modesto, CA. Jon Olsen ran 167.568 miles based on a timing chip for his 24 hour race. Calculations reveal:

Average speed of 6.98 miles per hour for 24 hours
Average pace of 8:35.6 min/mile for 24 hours

How does Jon Olsen’s measure up to American Records?

He now holds the second place American record behind Florida’s Mike Morton who ran 172.457 set in 2012. Less than 5 miles away from Jon’s winning distance.

Other Ultramarathon records

You can see a list of ultramarathon record accomplishments around the world and Jon Olsen is listed on there more than once.

Link to Ultramarathon records

Top Results of the Other Competitors at this Race

Men
1. Jon Olsen, 38, Modesto, CA, 167.568 miles
2. John Dennis, 32, Takoma Park, MD, 163.255
3. Florian Reus, 29, DEU, 161.518
4. Anatoly Kruglicov, 55, RUS, 159.717
5. Timur Ponomarev, 24, RUS, 159.484

Women
1. Mami Kudo, 49, JPN, 156.712 miles
2. Sabrina Little, 26, Waco, TX, 152.030 (American Record, old record 149.368 miles by Connie Gardner, 2012)
3. Suzanna Bon, 48, Sonoma, CA, 146.785
4. Traci Falbo, 40, Charlestown, IN, 142.730
5. Anne-Marie Vernet, 45, FRA, 142.538

We’re honored to know Jon Olsen,
once again proving excellence from Modesto, CA

He has won the Surgical Artistry Modesto Marathon twice, and is a coach for the Teens Run Modesto program. And we’re certainly proud to have Jon Olsen in Modesto. He’s a great role model for all of us, in our quest for hard work and excellence. He is also proof to us that anything can be done at the highest level in Modesto. This means a lot to us as we set out to continue our excellence in plastic surgery and acupuncture. He’s one of the great things about Modesto.

jon olsen surgical artistry modesto marathon 2013 captivating photos

Surgical Artistry Modesto Marathon March 24, 2013. Jon Olsen’s picture by Captivating Photos, in Modesto, CA, USA.

Cleaning Solar Panels Adds At Least 10% More Electricity

Solar Panels in Modesto, CA

How much improvement do we get from Cleaning Solar Panels, in Modesto, CA?

Let’s see, here’s a graph from the day before cleaning to the day after cleaning:
(May 7, 2013)

washed solar panel graph between one day and the next

You see a nice difference between these two days, but perhaps it might be unfair it might have been a cloudy day before cleaning.

So let’s take a look at several days before and several days after cleaning of the solar panels

This is a graph showing 4 days before and 4 days after

Four days before cleaning and 4 days after cleaning

Dirty vs. Clean Solar Panels. 4 days before and 4 days after washing. There is a 26.7% difference in my case here with washing!!

But I think there’s a better way to measure, taking the two best days of the 4 days before and the two best days of the 4 days afterwards, the difference comes out to 13.3% difference. I think two days before washing the solar panels, the skies were a bit cloudy. My conclusion so far is that washing the solar panels will increase output by 10% or more.

How much electricity does my solar panels produce in one day?

Let’s take one day in the solar energy/electricity graph above. Thursday, May 9th. They produced 61.3 kWh’s of electricity.

Let’s see 61.3 kWh’s = 61,300 watts hours so in terms of 100 watt light bulbs, you could run 613 of them for 1 hour. How does that sound?? Or I did another calculation… You could drive a TESLA electric sports car at 55 miles per hour for about 240 miles with that kind of electricity. Or if I did the calculation properly, you could run a 1200 watt hair dryer for 51 hours. Disclaimer: My calculations are approximate, not exact. Plus I don’t do calculations like this professionally.

I think it’s worthwhile to have the extra 10%+ of electricity especially on the higher producing electricity days.

How is this relevant to Plastic Surgery / Cosmetic Surgery

This very important to plastic surgery! We use energy based devices such as lasers for aesthetic purposes. Understanding power, electricity, kWh, Joules, are all important aspects of understanding how to work with lasers.

kWh = kilowatt hour = a unit of energy equal to 1000 watt hours or 3.6 megajoules.
1 kWh = 3600 kJ
J = Joule is a unit of energy. It is equal to the energy expended in applying a force of one newton through a distance of 21 meter.
1 Watt = a measure of power = 1 Joule per second. (W = J/s)

Lasers At Surgical Artistry

At Surgical Artistry, we have the Dornier 940 diode laser from Germany for spider veins and for endoluminal ablation of refluxing veins, it does measurements in Joules/cm2. Meaning about of energy applied to a square cm2 area. I’m always looking at these settings carefully when performing vein procedures.
I’ve always enjoyed physics, not just these formulas. Perhaps it runs in my family, as there are several physics professionals in my family. But there’s a whole field on the physics of electricity, energy, and lasers. And all this info is worth reviewing for physicians who work with lasers and other energy sources.
We may consider consider getting other lasers at Surgical Artistry in the future. Stay tuned. Contact us for more info if needed (209) 551-1888. www.SurgeryToday.com

Conclusions

Conclusion from the above experiment of cleaning the solar panels and measuring output before and afterwards? We have confounding issues of weather conditions ie. clouds. I think it is safe to say that there would be at least a 10% improvement. My measurements show 26% improvement by comparing 4 days before washing and 4 days after washing the solar panels. Then my comparison showed a 13% improvement taking the 2 best days of the 4 days before and comparing with the 2 best days 4 days after washing.
And yes, doing experiments like this is useful for me in my continued medical education.

Picture of me harnessing the power of the sun

Why the word “Plastic” in Plastic Surgery?

Reason for this entry

I frequently get asked this question about what is plastic surgery in our Modesto, CA surgery practice. I live in the world of surgery and of course it’s obvious to me the explanation, but I’ve just started to realize that the word “plastic” has some different meanings to those outside of the plastic surgery field.

Dr. Tammy Wu, Board Certified Plastic Surgeon, Modesto, CA

The American Board of Plastic Surgery Definition of Plastic Surgery

The ABPS defines plastic surgery to be a field that deals with the reconstruction, repair, or replacement of physical defects of form or function involving the skin, muscles, face/head, hand, extremities, breast, trunk, external genitalia or cosmetic enhancement of these areas of the body.

The plastic surgeon’s skills in making reconstructive decisions and surgeries are essential fundamentals for cosmetic surgery.
The plastic surgeon uses cosmetic surgical principles to improve overall appearance

There are two main subsets of Plastic Surgery

Reconstructive Plastic Surgery – for cancer, birth defects, deviations from “accepted standards, to improve/normalize function of a part of the body.
Cosmetic Plastic Surgery – aesthetic surgery in the absence of actual deformity or trauma.

How about the terms “Cosmetic Surgeon” vs. “Plastic Surgeon”

This has been a recent eye opener for me. I have originally been somewhat opposed to the term cosmetic surgeon, because it perhaps denotes lesser training than a plastic surgeon in my own world.
However, I’m starting to understand that some people think the term “plastic” means “fake” like plastic is a form of fake glass. Or a plastic form of something else like wood or leather, etc.
Or perhaps some even think in addition to “fake”, plastic could mean “superficial”.
Or to some plastic surgery could mean the surgical insertion of plastic/artificial grafts into the body.
Or it looks so smooth it looks like plastic.

Gosh, I’ve really never actually thought of it that way, because I’ve been in my own world where Plastic Surgery in my mind was placed so highly up on a pedestal, because this is what my wife (Dr. Tammy Wu) did, and she was board certified in Plastic Surgery. So the term “cosmetic” never got used too much.
Let me explain my own thought process: The term “plastic” in plastic surgery got derived from the Greek word plastikos which means “moldable” – so the body is plastic – meaning able to be molded and shaped.
Sometimes “cosmetic” got used by surgeons who practice aesthetic surgery who weren’t board certified by the ABPS (American Board of Plastic Surgery). So yet another reason why I’ve never liked using the word “cosmetic”
But I like to get educated and I like to know what others think. I’d like to thank those that have told me that “cosmetic” or “aethetic” are more pleasing terms to them than “plastic.” – I only really thought of “plastic” before as “plasticity” – the ability to reshape, remold, re-influence. Not as bottles of plastic… ah ha, I get it now. But how unfortunate, I say.

Discussion with Dr. Tammy Wu, Plastic Surgeon

Dr. Wu couldn’t even understand the quote from Joan Rivers,

“I’ve had so much plastic surgery, when I die they will donate my body to Tupperware.”

I let her think about it for a whole day, and she still couldn’t figure it out. I told her that the “plastic” that Joan Rivers is referring to is the plastic material. So, I think this is educational for us, that we need to try to understand the rest of the world when it comes to perhaps some confusion over what is “plastic” surgery.

So I’ll give it a try and use the word Cosmetic Surgery:

Visit our Modesto Cosmetic Surgery website’s home page
We specialize in Cosmetic Surgery of the face, breasts, tummy, legs, and veins.

Brilliant Distinctions Changes – Botox, Juvederm, Latisse

Recent Changes to the Brilliant Distinctions Program

Update: See updated section on the bottom – info directly from Allergan and the changes start May 15, 2013.

I heard some things about changes to the Brilliant Distinctions Program by our Botox Representative (from Allergan). I’m not 100% sure of these changes, as I don’t operate the Brilliant Distinctions program (BD), but of course, our plastic surgery practice accepts the coupons and rebates generated from the BD program.

SkinMedica – get points for purchasing

Allergan acquired SkinMedica – a skin care product company – prescription and non-prescription based products. You can now earn points for purchasing SkinMedica products. Our office currently does not carry Skin Medica products. I guess I wished it could have been easier / great if Obagi was somehow absorbed by Allergan, because we are a Obagi retailer and a user of Allergan products. But that merger didn’t happen. Instead Valeant purchased Obagi for $348 million dollars in April 2013.. Valeant is based in Montreal. Valeant has a dermatology portfolio. Obagi is based in Long Beach, California, and posted revenues of $120 million in the year 2012. Valeant Pharmaceuticals in September 2012 purchased Medicis for 2.6 billion. Medicis makes Dysport, Perlane, and Restylane.
Around December 2012 Allergan purchased SkinMedica for $350 million

New Brilliant Distinctions Mall

Get points for shopping online
Similar to a program offered by Chase.
Many many vendors online, and shop as you normally would except click through a link from the Brilliant Distinctions website.

Bonus points are going away

As fast as it came, it is going away: There was a bonus points program for the frequent users, in fact after about 12 visit, the bonus points added up to almost double the original amount which was originally $25 coupon after each Botox visit, and for those coming in on the 13th time and beyond, the $25 coupon got a bonus of another $25. However this is bonus is going away I heard.

The $25 coupon per Botox visit or $25 per Juvederm syringe is dropping down to $20

I also heard that the $25 is dropping down to $20. But the added ability to earn points from the BD Mall is supposed to more than make up for this difference. I’d like to know if this works out for folks in the future. Regardless, it is nice to have a program such as BD, so I guess we shouldn’t complain too much about the $25 dropping down to $20.

There’s the ability to print out a $10 coupon

This wasn’t available before. I think this is to help the Latisse-only users use their coupons, because Latisse purchases used to take longer to build up to a coupon.

I just checked with several patients today regarding Brilliant Distinctions. Most of these changes have taken place yet, but I know they are coming very soon – perhaps at the end of this month (May, 2013).

These changes the program summarized:

SkinMedica
BD Mall
Bonus Points going away
$25 return on each visit or each syringe is going down to $20
New!, ability to print out $10 coupon (half of the points required to print a $20 coupon).
New 9 month expiration period instead of I think it was 2 years before.

We’ll stay tuned and see how these changes take place and hopefully they will continue to keep our Botox / Juvederm / Latisse patients happy.

Surgical Artistry | Calvin Lee, MD | Tammy Wu, MD
209-551-1888 | www.SurgeryToday.com
2336 Sylvan Ave. Suite C | Modesto, CA 95355

UPDATE:

We got this notice from Brilliant Distinctions.

Starting May 15, 2013:

Points Values: In simplifying the points structure, the values will alter slightly. We’ve added a new coupon value. You can now create a $10 coupon for 100 points. For 200 points, the coupon value will now be $20.

Expiration Period: Points will expire after 9 months of inactivity from earning. We will send you reminders if you are getting close to your points expiring.

Bonus Points: All bonus points accrued to date will remain in your account; however, no more bonus points will be issued. If you have questions, the Brilliant Distinctions® Customer Support line is a phone call away: 1-888-324-2745 (9am-8pm EST. M-F).

Summary: See summary above also. But there are some great added features ($10 coupon, BD mall, SkinMedical) and some things taken away (bonus points, $5 taken away from 200 points, and the expiration period ahs been shortened)