The D-Event You Won't Want To Miss!

So on Wednesday I decided to challenge Cherise (@Diabeticizme) to a freestyle rap battle.

The first ever #d-rapbattle will be held tomorrow July 31, 2009, 7:30 PST. The #D-rapbattle will be brought to you live via Tokbox.com. You have to watch twitter for the invite. If you decide to watch/listen to the #d-rapbattle, make sure you are on Twitter and are following both me (@ninjabetic) and Cherise (@Diabeticizme). Also PLEASE make sure your have your headset/earphones on since the echo on tokbox can get a little crazy.

I hope you are all ready to hear this ninja spit some DOPE rhymes (And make a complete fool of himself.)

AHHH YEAH BOY!!!

Another Post about Roche

One thing that I felt as I sat in that room, with all those bloggers, was power.

Power to change things. To make a difference. To get our voices heard!

The only way this can happen is if we band together. If we unite as one voice and shout from rooftops about our needs, our dreams, and our hopes for a cure then we cannot be ignored.

But we must stick together.

We are all here online looking for advice, support, friends, a place to be heard, a place to get frustrations out, tips on managing, and maybe if read here, a little silliness now and then. But one thing that bonds us is the awful disease. We can take that and make it into something so much better if we use our numbers to raise some awareness and hopefully get the word out that those PWD’s who feel alone and who are scared can find support right here.

To attack one another and hate on one another or to NOT support another (even if you don’t click) is just letting diabetes win. I can not really get into a blog but still love that it is exists? Why not? I know not everything is for me but someone may be touched and moved by a particular post or writer and friends we have to celebrate that.

Different types, different people, different styles will always be around. The more voices the better. And I want to celebrate them all.

There is one caveat. If your posts are hurtful or if your intent is not supportive then there is no way I can support that. That is not what I am talking about. I am talking about helping each other and supporting our cause. We cannot unite if we fight.

So what now? I am not sure. I am not good at organizing stuff but I look forward to November 14^th and World Diabetes Day and I hope we can all band together in a new way that may reach many of those people who are looking for support or influence some major corporation to support diabetes causes the way Revlon supports cancer causes.

Ideas? Thoughts?

Who's to Blame?

One thing that came up during our talks at the Summit was guilt and how diabetes is unique in that, the patient feels a lot of guilt for what goes on in his or her body.

This got me thinking. When I think, I want to share. When I share I write. Check out my post on DLife and let me know what you think, either there or here.

Blame Diabetes

You Tube Tuesday #130

This is kind of a long clip which I try to avoid and it takes a few moments to get to the good stuff but I really think it is cool. I love stuff like this.

I hope you do too.

Enjoy!

Roche Social Media Summit

The lack of posts from yours truly last week was due to the Roche Social Media Summit I was attending.

I am not a fan of reinventing the wheel and here is a good chance for you to check out some of the awesome people I met. So here are some great posts about the social media summit (And a fun one too!) Go read, look at pictures (I took some with my iPhone but they look awful), and then come back and read my take.

What I loved:

• Meeting all these wonderful people that I had only dreamed of meeting.
• Seeing those that I have met before and whom I missed dearly.
• Roche for extending a hand to us and keeping good on their promise of not “being a commercial.”
• Seeing how test strips are made.
• Feeling so powerful among my blogging brothers and sisters.
• Knowing that we do make a difference and trying to figure out how we can work together better.
• People shouting “GEORGE!” when I walked in at dinner. (I get surprised that people are excited to see me. It is usually the other way around.)
• When the Roche exec asked me, “so what’s up with these people shouting your name when you walked in!” LOL
• Lots of Diet Soda and Bacon at breakfast.
• Laughing and Crying with people I love.
• Hugs.

What I did not like:

• Missing Sara.
• Almost missing my flight home.
• Not having enough time with my friends.
• When the Roche exec asked me, “So you call yourself a ‘Ninja.’ What exactly does that mean?” LOL
• Tim.
• Sitting on the plane home, alone in my thoughts, and wiping away tears that I could not stop for the life of me.

One thing you should know is that Diet Coke in Indiana sometimes comes with a surprise!

Look for more on the summit later this week.

You Tube Tuesday #129

MTV used to have a comedy sketch show called The State which I used to watch. Not every sketch was great but this is one that stuck and I am sure you will know why.

In fact, in all honesty, I sing the little tune in this clip often. When the time's right, and it usually is!

Enjoy.

Bleeding My Own Blood

My CGMS use has been almost 24/7 since I received my sensors from Minimed. I have however taken a day off between just to give myself a little break since I have been able to get 7 days out of each one.

Except for the one I put on Friday night.

I think I have mentioned how intimidating the needle is for this thing. I swear, it looks like a sewing needle and no I am not exaggerating. It does make my infusion sets look like nothing which is good.

Anyhow this one was a bleeder. Like massive amounts of blood. And what was annoying was it didn’t start bleeding until after it was in and all taped up.

I noticed it felt funny so I lifted up my shirt to take a peek at the site and what I saw looked like a sea shell in a small aquarium filled with blood. So gross.

I pulled of the Tegaderm, mopped up the blood that was everywhere at this point, and applied some pressure to get it to stop. After a few days (it seemed) the bleeding stopped and taped the transmitter back down.

Saturday morning was spot on. A finger stick and the CGM were 3 points apart which is pretty awesome. Later the day we went to a friends how for a BBQ. I snacked on some cheese and crackers when we got there as I chatted away with my friends.

We all went outside and cracked open beers as we played some Bocce Ball. I realized that I never bolused for the crackers and beer so I pulled my pump out of my pocket to check the CGM, it read 108 and showed that I had been at 108 for the last hour. Yeah right!

Try 364!!!

So I just stopped the sensor on my pump and took the thing off.

I think I will try again tonight but I was just too frustrated over the weekend to try again.

For those of you without CGMS, I still love it even though I do get frustrated and for those of you who do have it, does this always happen when you have a bad bleeder? Any suggestions on how to avoid this?

Short Post

My friend was taken off of life support yesterday but is still holding on.

My friend and co-worker’s father passed away yesterday.

My boss' father in law passed away last night.

I am here.

You are here.

Enjoy your weekend.

Enjoy it because you have it.

Enjoy it because you can.

Choose to enjoy life.

Love, George

When You're the Search Engine

As promised I wanted to tell you about Geocaching.

Here’s the deal, my buddy came over the other night to watch some X Files. He did not watch it when it was on and we were huge fans, I mean, we named our daughter Gillian.

Anyhow, We are currently enjoying season 6 and each week we will pick a night, watch a few episodes and just hang out. Monday night after two very great episodes my friend says, “Dude, have you ever heard of Geocaching?”

I know I had heard the term but it immediately made me think of Geology, a subject in which I fall promptly to sleep. Sorry guys it’s just not my thing. So I asked him to go on.

He told me about Geocaching and I was sold. Here’s what he said.

“Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world by adventure seekers equipped with GPS devices. The basic idea is to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, outdoors and then share your experiences online. Geocaching is enjoyed by people from all age groups, with a strong sense of community and support for the environment.”

Ok, so maybe I pulled that from the website but however he explained it, I dashed to the computer to sign up and find my first cache!

Later that night (11:00) my wife got home while I was putting on my shoes and getting ready to walk out the front door.

“What are you doing,” she said holding back a giggle since she knows I am so bizarre.

“Um, we’ll be back, we are gonna go find something.”

So Matt (Sorry dude but saying “My Buddy” a million times reminds me of that boy doll thing) and I hopped in the car

and drove around to find our very first cache. And when we found it, it was over. I am in. I love it!

I downloaded an app for my iPhone that helps us find them and am already thinking about places I could place

my own cache which will be very cool. Last night I took the kids out and we found a couple together. They seemed to have a good time after we finally found our first one together. It’s tough to find them especially with so many Muggles (people that are not Geocaching) around. You don’t want non-players to find them and remove them or disturb them.

Anyhow, I know some of you are into this. Please share your stories and advice because I am a total noob and would love some direction.

And let me know if you are thinking about checking this out. I would love to hear about your adventures!

For more info check out www.geocaching.com

One Last Assist

I am a people person. You may have gathered that from the way I write and the things I write about. I love making friends, and I have many I am thankful to say.

So at work, many of the people that work at the companies I deal with on a daily bases become friends. Sure most live in other states and I will never meet them but talking to a person everyday, at least for me, causes a connection and a friendship can blossom.

Last week one of those people that I talk to almost daily, with whom I have inside jokes with, whom I have actually met a few times, who has helped me out in several sticky situations, had a heart attack. She is 49 years old with 2 kids. And now, she is lying in a hospital in a coma.

I call the company she works for every morning to check on her condition. I pray for her and her family hoping they don’t lose hope and praying for strength to get through whatever is coming.

This morning I was told that there is no hope. They are taking her off of oxygen tomorrow and then only time will tell, but my friend Maria will never come back.

It’s awful that it takes things like this to get me to remember how short life is. I should know this. My dad died at 43. He was 7 years older than I am now! Why do we worry about tomorrow when today can be so awesome?

It was like last night when we saw Harry Potter. When the movie started Gillian nudged me with her elbow to signal her excitement. I could see her smiling and the screen and holding back a shout of joy when she saw the title.

I started tearing up.

Life is too short. Life is uncertain. All those things we know, and see on magnets, and yet still we continue to worry about tomorrow without living today.

I can’t do that. After hearing about Maria last week something went off in my head. Which was when I decided to have the little adventure with my family on Saturday. It’s what made sure I did not blow off the club fundraiser thing on Sunday and which had me out until 1AM on Monday searching my city for Geocache (a post is coming about that).

Seven years is nothing and who knows when my time is due. I have WAY more health issues than my dad so how can I sit here and not make every day a memory with my kids? I have to. I love them so I have to. My mom and dad were divorced so my memories were made every other weekend. I am with my kids everyday and every day is a gift.

I hate that Maria’s situation has ignited a spark in me that should have been there already.

But if anything, I can say she helped me out one last time.

You Tube Tuesday #128

Some of the funniest videos I have ever seen have videos of kids being kids.

This one is no exception and you may have seen this one before but I hadn't and I had to share it because it cracked me up!

Enjoy!

Calling 13,999 Diabetics...

…and me which makes it 14,000 diabetics all testing their BG tomorrow.

Check out the info from Manny at Tu Diabetes.

July 14, at 4:00 pm ET, 14,000 people worldwide will test their blood sugar simultaneously and share their results online through TuDiabetes.com, a social network for people touched by Diabetes which originated in March 2007, as well as through its sister Spanish language social network, EsTuDiabetes.com.

The idea for the test-in came from Kelly Rawlings, someone who has lived with type 1 diabetes for 35 years. Kelly is one of the nearly 10,000 members at TuDiabetes.com, which has been called the “Myspace on Insulin” and a “Facebook for Diabetes.”

“People with diabetes have to test their blood sugar as part of their daily routine: it’s like drinking water or brushing your teeth,” said Manny Hernandez, co-founder of TuDiabetes.com and a person with diabetes himself. “When Kelly mentioned having a collective test-in, I thought it would be a great way for thousands of us to connect and raise awareness about diabetes.”

Currently, more than 250 million people are afflicted with diabetes. In the month of July, TuDiabetes will pass 10,000 registered members, and EsTuDiabetes.com, the sister social network about diabetes in Spanish, passed 4,000 registered members touched by diabetes from Mexico, Spain, Venezuela, Argentina, the US and other countries. In both communities, initiatives to raise diabetes awareness are the primary focus, making the combined 14,000-member milestone yet another opportunity to shed light on this chronic condition.

Participating in this initiative to raise diabetes awareness is easy:

• If you are a member of TuDiabetes or EsTuDiabetes, click on the home page banner and share your reading.

• If you have a Twitter account, post your reading on Twitter (use the #14KPWD hashtag) and link back to: http://14kPWD.org

• If you prefer, update your status on Facebook or your preferred social network, linking back to: http://14kPWD.org

“We hope to see most readings posted at 4 pm ET on July 14. If you are a few minutes late, however, or are able to post your blood sugar reading earlier or later that day, it’s OK,” said Hernandez. “What really matters is that you test your blood sugar regularly. If you don’t have diabetes, just tell someone who does to test and share on July 14.”

I will be rocking the meter at 1PM PST Sharp!

And yes that pun was totally intended.

TGIV! Thank Goodness, I Vlogged!

This Vlog is a long time coming. I will say no more.

Enjoy!

Here's a link to the Facebook pics.

Move Along Please...

I would love it if you would check out my posts over at dLife. I try to write there a few times a week and so far have posted 6 times this month.

I can't wait until tomorrow's post. Stay tuned my friends. Stay. Tuned!

Dance for Life!

One of my coworkers lost her grandmother to cancer this year. Cancer is one of those words that when I hear it, I shudder. It scares me as it does most people and when I hear that one has it I think, at least this stupid diabetes thing I can manage somewhat. (I say somewhat because it is way harder then most non-D’s think it is but that’s for another post)

Her mom and her aunts joined up with Relay For Life which is a program from The American Cancer Society. You may have heard of this or maybe even walked in one, which we did a few years back, but it way to have smaller local walks that last overnight and that typically consist of music, food vendors, some special presentations. Always a great event to combat a great threat.

One thing her family is doing is planning a “club night” fundraiser. They found a local hotel that has a nightclub in which they are going to hold a private party on a Sunday night just to raise money for the ACS. The hotel doesn’t even open up the club on Sunday nights so for them it’s a win too.

They have a friend of theirs DJ, a guy who makes tacos on the spot for a buck a piece, and of course the bar from the hotel will be opened too. All for a 5 dollar cover charge and all that money goes right to the ACS! So cool!

Jasmine and I already have tickets and plan to dance the night away.

Walks are awesome but dancing is awesomtastical!

In a weird coincidence I got a call at work yesterday from a volunteer at the ADA. He wanted to know why Team Beat the Bete has not signed up for the walk this year. I wanted to tell him that from now on all my walks are going to be for the JDRF and that I need to focus on the organization that is working for my best interests. Since I am a Type 1 and I know I am in the minority as far as diabetes camps goes, the ADA is not really my choice.

Don’t get me wrong ADA, I think you do well what you do for who you do it for. ;) I just don’t think Type 1’s are a major focus of yours.

Anyhow, I told him that my family and I are planning a trip to Vegas the weekend of the walk for my sister’s 40th birthday which is the truth!

So when is the D dance party because I am ready to pay my money and get my dance on!?!

You Tube Tuesday #127

I love movies. I love trailers! I love movie trailers that look awesome.

Here is a movie trailer that looks awesome. And the story may be familiar to most of you. Honestly, I watch this all the time so I figured I should share it with all of you. October can not come soon enough for me. I can't wait to see this one.

Enjoy!

The Weekend Recap

This weekend was a good one. I had Friday off which meant I could get in a game of Disc Golf with my buddies. Sure it was a lousy round. Sure I hit a tree so hard I was almost sure I was going to cut it down. But it was well worth it.

After the game I had some “fix it” stuff to do around the house that I had been putting off forever. For a non-“fix it” guy you feel pretty cool when you finally do fix anything. I am not the guy who tries to fix the impossible. I choose my projects carefully but still, it makes me feel like more of a man (and not a little kid) when I do fix some stuff.

Saturday was awesome. We went out to my sisters house and had a good old barbecue. Burgers and Dogs and it was awesome. I got to hang out with my adorable niece, she 66% of my siblings, and some friends too! I was great.

My sister and her husband love to play games. Every time we go over we end up playing a board game, or a card game, or even an outdoors game. Last year it was Croquet which I am horrible at but this year it was Bocce Ball and it was a blast. My sister’s Father in law (also named George) and I were the Green team and we were kicking some serious butt. This was the end of our winning streak.

Sure it stung a little but going out like this is not nearly as bad as getting creamed.

Fireworks are over priced and are lame. But no one got hurt and there was no fire so yay 4^th of July.

Yesterday consisted of a very moving and yet upsetting church service and then another barbecue for my wife’s aunt’s birthday. This time it was Ribs and Chicken. It was a lot of fun and the cake my cousin made was out of control as usual.

All and all the weekend was a nice 3 days away from work. I always enjoy hanging out with family and this weekend was a great time for doing just that.

Born Again?

Recently I was asked if the “Born Again” in the name of my blog is a religious thing.

It is not.

When I started this blog over 3 years ago it was because I was going to start new. Like a brand new diabetic and get my act together. That has not happened.

But what has happened is that Diabetes is a bigger focus in my life. It is not ignored and pushed aside like it was for so many years. Day to day I struggle with keeping my disease under control but in the end I have stayed the path of trying and trying to get my act together.

But this is not a religious blog.

I am however a religious person. And a spiritual one which I think are two very different things.

I am at church every Sunday. I lead the contemporary worship band by singing and playing guitar and I love it. We attend a Lutheran church and I find that when I do miss a week I feel like my cup is not full. Church each week provides an outlet for my spiritual plug.

Being a church going Christian does not make me perfect, better than anyone, smarter, nicer, friendlier, or holy. I am NOT perfect. I am NOT good at a lot of things. I can be a total airhead. I drop an F bomb here and there when someone cuts me off. And my son was my ring bearer in my wedding so…perfect? No.

But I know who watches over me, who died for me, who loves me, who to thank for my blessings, who to look for when I need comfort, and who is my strength.

For those of you who are not Christians or believe in any higher power, I hope my blog doesn’t turn you away. I am not a judging person and frankly, if I am “Christian” then judging is something I am not supposed to do.

In this place, I am me. This is just me. The imperfect, fat, sometimes silly, sometimes sad, nutty, passionate, God fearing, life loving, diabetic me.

MJ and My BG

I was born in 1973. My parents were 25 and they were both very into music.

Now I was too little to really remember The Jackson 5 except from video clips and of course songs like “ABC” and “I Want You Back.” But for me, my love for Michael Jackson’s music started with the Off The Wall album.

I remember listening to lots of dance music when I was a kid in the late 70’s. Donna Summer, Earth Wind and Fire, Kool and the Gang, and of course, Michael Jackson.

When I heard about his death last week I was surprised how much it affected me. I never thought of myself as a huge fan but when I started to listen to all the songs they were playing on the radio, and seeing the videos on TV, I got really upset.

So many life memories pop into my head when I hear many of his songs. Trips with my family when we all would be singing songs in the RV on our way camping. Dancing in my living room with my sisters to “Wanna Be Starting Something” and even at my sisters wedding last year that sparked a massive “Thriller” dance when the DJ played it.

Even my kids love his music.

There is one song in particular that is not a “hit” song of his but by far my favorite. It is off of his “Dangerous” album and it’s called “Keep the Faith.” The song is not a danceable one but rather like a song you would hear a Baptist church choir sing.

"'Cause you can climb the highest mountain, swim the deepest sea, all you need is the will to want it and a little self esteem. So keep the faith. Don’t let nobody turn you ‘round. You’ve gotta know when it’s good to go, to get your dreams up off the ground. So keep the faith. Because it’s just a matter of time before your confidence will win out. Believe in yourself no matter what it’s gonna take, you can be a winner but you’ve got to keep the faith."

At the end of the song is this amazing vocal breakdown with Michael and choir just working it and every time I hear it, I get chills.

I know this isn’t a diabetes post except to say that dancing to good music always brings down my blood sugar so I can do that and pay tribute to one of the greatest entertainers in my lifetime.