A Whole Year.

Last Saturday, I drove down to my dad’s cousin’s house for dinner after babysitting for a little girl with diabetes and her baby brother. My great aunt was also there, so we spent some time catching up on work and life. I told them about my plans for moving, talked about my job, and I found out that her daughter, my cousin lives in Israel, is going to have a baby girl soon. Then I realized that it had been exactly one year since I moved to New Jersey and I was exactly where I started. A full circle.

Today is another important date. Well, to me it is. I started my job one year ago today. I feel a little self-conscious bragging about my job and co-workers because, well, they all apparently read this. (Hello co-workers!) But needless to say, I’ve learned more about social networking and blogs than I ever did in the two years of being a blogger and I’m very, very appreciative that none of the people I work with are psychos. They are a little nuts sometimes but thankfully just the good kind.

Besides growing professionally, I also feel like this was the year I became a full-fledged adult. I pay my own rent. I have my own 401K and health insurance. I have made new friends, including some that don’t rely on artificial insulin! When I wake up in my apartment, or when I get another bill, or when I’m standing in the hallway getting a new reservoir from the closet, I still get a little thrill that this is all mine. I don’t know how long this will last… Maybe I have only a few more months before I think being a grown-up is totally overrated. Okay, occasionally I think being a grown-up is overrated, but mostly I think it’s pretty cool.

I’m excited to see where the next year leads me, especially with my impending move, and seeing how my responsibilities change both professionally and personally. I have added new freelance jobs to my resume in the past few months. In November, I signed on as a writer for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and I’m leading the JDRF Blogger Round Table, this spring I’ve been working on a new article for Diabetes Self-Management, and on my trip to Oregon, I met with the founder of SweetSpot.dm and agreed to help with publicity. I continue to enjoy exploring New Jersey, which despite the rumors is actually very nice, and the entire East Coast.

Plus I have this whole list of exciting adventures to complete.

When I moved, I knew my life was going to change dramatically. But I couldn’t imagine just how true that was going to be. Although I am living in New Jersey, a state I never imagined living in (seriously, who grows up saying “I want to move to New Jersey!”) and although I’m working at a PR agency instead of that non-profit I spent five years preparing for, I think “Allison” has still stayed the same. I try to keep the same values that I was raised with. I still hate the humidity. I think sales tax is the most annoying thing in the world. I am still frustrated that my apartment complex doesn’t support recycling. I still wish I could see Mt. Hood, I still think trees are as important as people, and I still think people need to slow down and enjoy life just a little bit more.

You can take the girl out of Oregon, but you can’t take the Oregon out of the girl.

The Glass is Half-Full with Lemonade.

First, a big thanks to everyone for your thoughtful, supportive comments yesterday. Whenever I write one of those big, emotional pieces there’s a little part of me that’s always petrified that everyone is going to think I’m an absolute idiot, but thankfully that was not the case! I’m glad that what I wrote helped so many of you and I feel much better having written it. When I first wrote it, I thought I was coming off as being harsh and a little unreasonable. My initial focus was on what Penny said in the comments. That there are plenty of noncompliant diabetics out in the world and that she often has to keep her mouth shut in order to not argue with the many people who say there is no distinction between a compliant and noncompliant diabetic. But, as I wrote in my post, there are people who actually don’t take their insulin or test their blood sugar. My grandfather was one of them. He either had LADA or type 2 (no one knows for sure - he was an adult, but my grandmother said he went on insulin very quickly) but never took care of himself. My grandmother would give him his injections and then he would go off and eat candy bars and cookies. He eventually died from complications.

In my initial drafts, I focused quite a bit on what a noncompliant diabetic is. But I decided I wanted to take the opposite approach - I wanted to focus on what a noncompliant diabetic isn’t. I’m glad to hear it helped give some of you confidence, and I appreciate everyone who read it.

I thought today would be a great day for an encore. You may have seen the Five Pieces of Advice You Won’t Find In A Book meme floating around on a few of the blogs. Well, I think yesterday’s post was a pretty good piece of advice, so that will be my #1.

Here are 4 more things:

RELAX!
This has been the biggest piece of advice I have been giving to parents and the newly diagnosed since I can remember. Often I’ll meet parents who are seriously freaking out and I always wondered, How is this helping anyone? It isn’t helping you, and it certainly isn’t helping your child when your every move is filled with hesitation, sadness and anxiety. This does not help you think clearly - and thinking clearly is a very, very important skill for someone with diabetes. So breathe, step away from the edge, take things as they come, don’t worry about the future, don’t worry about things that are done and can’t be helped. Just do the best that you can and odds are, everything will be fine.

Avoid Auto-Pilot
This is the biggest mistake of veterans with diabetes. They go on auto-pilot. They do the same thing, over and over, day in and day out, without actually realizing that, ohmygod, their insulin amounts have changed! Imagine that… Seriously though, I know it’s not realistic to be spot-on with analyzing trends every single day, but it’s important to sit down with your records (digital or old-fashioned) and just read them. See if you can see anything, and if you can’t, double-check with your doctor or diabetes educator or your spouse/parent/child. They might see something you don’t. The more you avoid auto-pilot, the better your control will be.

Take a Diabetes Vacation
Okay, okay, before you start yelling at me about taking a vacation from a chronic disease which has no cure (uh, yeah, I got the memo), let me tell you that this idea actually originated from Dr. Bill Polonsky, diabetes psychologist extraordinare. The idea behind this isn’t to completely stop your diabetes management for a week, or a few days or even one whole day. The idea is to cut back just enough on your management that you can relax (advice #1) but not die - which is a good thing. To go on a diabetes vacation can go many different ways. When I go on “vacation” I tend to cut out testing my blood sugar a bit more. I might test my blood sugar 3 or 4 times a day, but I’ll take much longer stretches without testing. Another good one is to have your partner or parent do all the carb counting or even have them program your pump entirely (make sure they know what they’re doing first!). Sometimes a diabetes vacation means eating whatever you want without worrying about high blood sugars. I know The Powers That Be would kill me for saying this but a handful of out-of-range blood sugars will neither kill you nor cause permanent damage (Shhh! Don’t tell anyone!). A diabetes vacation, however, should only last about a day before going back to your usual routine.

Ask Questions
If you don’t know why something is happening, ask! You are perfectly well within your right as a human being with a chronic disease to ask questions about it. I mean, you always encourage your children to ask questions in class if they don’t understand something, right? Well, same idea. If you don’t understand why something is happening, how can you or anyone else expect it to change? People with diabetes need to be more vocal not just with each other, but with their medical team. And if your medical team doesn’t give you a satisfactory answer (i.e. an answer that actually makes sense and helps the situation) then you probably need a new medical team.

Also, if you are looking for some helpful suggestions on eating healthy in college, you should check out this new article I wrote for JDRF. It features two great diabetes educators and a handful of kick-ass ladies with diabetes (Sara, Allison, Ashley and Jenny).

IRL.

IRL, for those of you unaware, stands for “in real life” and was created as a differentiator between people you knew just from the online community - be it blogging, social networks, message boards, etc. - and people who you actually knew in, well, real life.

The real world.

Well, I know a lot of you haven’t met many people with diabetes, so I always like to share opportunities where you can meet people with diabetes and/or myself IRL.

First up, for all you New Yorkers, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation is throwing their annual Spring for a Cure event for young professionals on Thursday, May 8th at the Puck Building in Manhattan. Cost is $100, but the good news is that $75 of that is tax deductible! There will be food and beverage tasting from some of the hottest NYC restaurants, a silent auction, music and dancing.

Second, if you live within driving distance of Delaware, don’t forget we’ll be be having a Delaware D-meet on the shore on Saturday, May 24. Starts around lunchtime. Email me at amblass [@] gmail.com for the deets.

Lastly, Children with Diabetes will be hosting their 8,291 conference, Friends for Life, in Orlando, Florida this July. From July 22 until July 27, you’ll have non-stop education and support at one of the coolest places on earth. Some of the most respected minds in the diabetes field attend this conference - including some OC faves like John Walsh, Gary Scheiner, and Kelly Close - and you’ll get to spend a whole day at Universal Studios with some of your new best friends. This is definitely a conference not to miss. And if you’re thinking, “But I’m not a kid anymore!” So what? The conference topics for parents are often applicable to adults with type 1 and meeting new people, especially some of the people we read about everyday like Phil Southerland and Doug Burns, is definitely worth it.

I’ll be attending all three of these events, so if you have any questions or want to meet me, please email me.

And in case you missed it…

I’m not entirely sure why I bother posting things on Fridays since it’s one of the lowest traffic days I have (Sundays are typically the lowest of the whole week). But I want to plug something I wrote on Friday one more time in case you didn’t see it. Last Thursday, I attended the world premiere of Life for a Child, a documentary about families struggling to live with type 1 in Nepal, one of the poorest countries in the world. Please check out my reactions to the movie and thoughts on the campaign and let me know what you think we can do to help thousands of children who die from a disease that is completely survivable.

So. Much. To. Do.

I have less than three days left before I take off for my vacation in Boston with my mom. I’m leaving immediately after work - actually I’ll probably leave about an hour early to try to beat traffic - on Friday and I’ll be gone until Tuesday night. My mom doesn’t actually leave until Thursday, so we’re spending Wednesday in the city. Which basically means I have to prepare myself for being away for almost a week.

There is so much to do.

I had to pick up my contact today and buy an iPod USB cable (which went missing about a month ago). I also need iPod car adapter so I can listen to music on my drive up, get my oil changed because I’m way way behind, send out second round of questions for the JDRF Blogger Round Table, try to get some progress made on the Diabetes Self-Management article and JDRF article, and clean my apartment or at least enough so that my mother doesn’t gasp when she sees the way I’m living, which I have to admit isn’t very pretty at the moment.

Did I mention I work nine hours a day?

It’s a lot and I’m already tired.

By the way, if there are any college students or just-out-of college students who would like to answer a few questions about nutrition during college, please shoot me an email at amblass at gmail dot com or leave me a comment with your contact information.

Spreading the Word.

If any of you have read Bernard’s blog today, then you’ll know that a very important announcement was made.

No, I’m not talking about Abbott’s Navigator.

I’m talking about JDRF’s new diabetes blogger round table!

Featuring some of the OC’s finest, the purpose of the round table to gather a group of some of the most respected minds in the diabetes community to talk about topics that are on everyone’s minds including new technology, cure research, advocacy and the daily trial and tribulations of living with diabetes. The first round table discussion is on our favorite topic, blogging and social networks!

If you’re wondering how I know so much about the round table, it’s because this is one of the many projects I’ve been working on over the past couple of months. I’m very excited that it’s finally on the JDRF website and you should all check it out. Unfortunately these round tables are not in person - wouldn’t that be fun? - but I am leading the round tables by sending out discussion questions about once a month.

I am also looking for suggestions, so if you think of a great topic that you’d like to see some of our bloggers hash out together, please let me know at amblass at gmail dot com.

Old Friends.

Over the years, I have met a lot of people with type 1 diabetes at events like conferences, Walks to Cure Diabetes and support group meetings. It’s hard to keep up with everyone, which is why I enjoy blogging so much. The Internet is constant and my blog is (almost) always here, even when I’m not so I never have to worry about missing someone. I have met a lot of people at the events that I have kept in touch with over the years, but rarely have time to see because of distance and other scheduling factors.

So when I found out that Mollie and Jackie Singer were in New York City before they left, I jumped on the chance to see them. Mollie and I played Facebook Wall tag for about a day before we finally nailed down a time to meet. It was Friday night and we were going to meet at Penn Station for dinner.

It was a windy, rainy mess of an evening and I tried to contain my anxiety about missing the train to New York City. Mollie, her twin sister Jackie (who does not have diabetes but who knows more about the disease than most people with diabetes) and their mother, Jackie (who also happens to have a twin sister named Mollie - funny, no?) met me at Penn Station before we ventured back outside for dinner.

I picked Harrington’s Bar and Grill, a restaurant I had been to a couple times before and it has a great proximity to Penn Station. It’s just one block away and you only have to risk being killed by a taxi cab once.

The waitress led us to their upstairs dining area where it was slightly quieter away from the bar. Mollie, Jackie and I have known each other for over five years and I initially met Jackie at Children’s Congress in 2001. I recognized them from all the JDRF videos and promotional material that I had seen, but I didn’t get a chance to meet Mollie because of how busy we were as delegates. Not that it ever really mattered. Mollie, Jackie and I worked together for a couple of years on the original Diabetes Teen Talk, which at the time was “Teen Talk @ Diabetes Station.” Mollie and Jackie and I rotated hosting duties for the weekly chat. Mollie has also helped me on numerous projects over the years, so it was a thrill to finally meet in person.

The first part of the conversation revolved around why Mollie and Jackie were back in New York City though I’m sure Mollie will eventually post all the details on her blog so keep an eye out. We talked about how I ended up in New Jersey and I gave them a crash course in what I do for a living. I joked that six months after I started working in digital media for a public relations agency, my father was still asking, “But what does that mean?” I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to properly explain it, but I did feel successful when I introduced Mollie and Jackie to the idea of “microblogging,” which is blogging in short form rather than long prose. The most popular tools for microblogging are Twitter and Tumblr.

We also talked about diabetes advocacy and what it’s like to go from a child advocate to an adult advocate. Mollie and Jackie started a project called the Diabetic Angels at their school when they were younger, and now different chapters have popped up all over the world. They are planning on continuing to grow this project.

I mentioned how when I was selected to be a Children’s Congress delegate how mad I was at myself for starting so late.

“I remember telling my mother, I only have three more years!” I told them. We all agreed that it was important to continue this advocacy work even though we were passed that cut-off point for being a “juvenile” and hopefully it will help make people aware that this isn’t a children’s disease.

I have often said, “Juvenile diabetes is not a Peter Pan syndrome. It does not keep us children. We still grow up.”

I think we’re growing up quite well, if you ask me.

Mollie, myself and Jackie

Midnight Recap

I cannot believe I haven’t posted since Monday. Honestly, it doesn’t feel like that many days have gone by but I was actually on my blog today grabbing a link and I saw that my last post was on the 4th! Heavens! One of my many challenge goals was to start posting everyday or almost everyday, but it doesn’t seem like that’s been happening all too often lately.

Among the many things I’ve been doing this week was a trip to Manhattan for the day on Wednesday. Of course, I was working for most of it, though I did manage to snap a few pictures to recap the day.

I start out the day waking up a full hour and a half before I usually wake up, so I groggily shower and dress before grabbing my bag and driving the quarter of a mile to the train station. It’s a thirty-five minute train ride to Penn Station, followed by a five minute walk to the subway station followed by another five minute ride to Rockefeller Center. Timing is never perfect with public transportation and on this particular morning I arrived twenty minutes before our Manhattan office opened. Whenever I work in the city, I always get my breakfast at Pret A Manger, which makes delicious bowls of granola, yogurt and fruit preserves (this particular morning I had mine with blueberries). I added a mango tea to the menu and it’s a healthy yet yummy breakfast. I finished about five minutes before nine o’clock.

Before I head up to the office, I take a couple more pictures of my surroundings:

Sixth Avenue, looking uptown - that’s Radio City Music Hall on the right

The News Corporation Building, which is directly across from my office building

The morning was filled with emails and some blogging pitching followed by lots of research. Finally, around 11:30, I scurried out of the office and headed downtown for my lunch meeting which was the entire reason I was working in the city that day.

However, this wasn’t your typical work meeting. My meeting was about a new blogger project I’m working on with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, so I arrived at Fraunces Tavern and was greeted by some folks from the national office along with Gina Capone, who was there to give her feedback on how JDRF interacts with adults with type 1 diabetes (more details about the project coming soon, I promise!).

Of course, being the shutterbug that I am and keeping the Diabetes 365 project in the back of my mind, I asked one of the staff to snap a picture of Gina and I before we headed back to our respective offices:

After lunch, I hopped on the subway and headed back uptown to finish my afternoon at work. When I left work, it was unseasonably warm out so I decided to stroll down Sixth Avenue towards Penn Station.

On my way, I stumbled on some ridiculously well-dressed and well-groomed fashionistas outside of the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week at Bryant Park. Although the lighting was terrible, I snapped a quick picture as memento. This is probably the closest I will ever get to Fashion Week, and it was certainly an experience looking at so many high-fashion journalists, fashion gurus and socialites all in one place. I didn’t recognize anyone, but there were also throngs of people and it was very dark, so I very well could have been standing near someone famous. I wanted to avoid having my feet smashed by four-inch heels, so I crossed the street before taking a picture

Once I passed by the Fashion Week extravaganza (which is actually held all over Manhattan, I believe), I continued walking along Sixth Avenue, people-watching and window-shopping. These are my two favorite pastimes when I’m in the city. I find it fascinating how you can find such diverse people within such a small area of space. Not everyone is dressed up to the nines, as I could tell from the girl wearing a black fleece, ankle-length jean skirt and sneakers. I do find it fascinating watching people and how they put outfits together. I think that’s why I’m so fascinated by shows like What Not To Wear because there are so many ways to put together a look. There are so many options that you can choose from, which I think for some people is very attractive because oftentimes we don’t have nearly as many options in our day-to-day life. The way you dress is one of the few things you have full control over. Might be why people get so addicted to shopping.

Anyway, that was another adventure of mine in the city that I wanted to share. Now it’s 12:30 a.m. so I should probably crawl into bed. I have so much I need to accomplish this weekend, including cleaning my disastrous apartment (considering I’m hardly here during the week it’s amazing how much it falls apart from weekend to weekend!), return a pair of pants, do a bit of grocery shopping, starting a new freelance project, finish another freelance project, update the Directory (maybe… I’ve been saying that for months and it still hasn’t happened), laundry and call my parents and my best friend and go to an Ethiopian restaurant on Sunday with the New Jersey restaurant group I was telling you all about last month.

Wish me luck getting everything done!

Kickin’ Diabetes Ass Since 1994!

Today started out great.

I awoke to a slightly higher than normal blood sugar of 178 mg/dl, but since I wasn’t planning on eating very much until the late afternoon, I was quite pleased with this number.

I took a shower and then subsequently scrambled around through my closest looking for something to wear to the city.

Today is my 14th anniversary of being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and I had a dinner planned at a nice restaurant in Manhattan. I also, surprisingly enough, was also invited to the city by the NYC Type 1 Diabetics group from MeetUp.com, who just happened to decide to have a brunch on the same day as my anniversary! I didn’t want to be too dressed up, but I also wanted to look nice - which is surprisingly difficult! On top of that, I had two very specific accessories that I wanted to wear - red patent leather flats and a chunky jeweled necklace - that seemingly went with nothing in my wardrobe. After three wardrobe changes, I finally settled on a red sweater and brown slacks. Color-coordinated by not too overwhelming.

Before I could take off to the train station, I had to do a set change. Well, I didn’t have to. My blood sugars were decent and the site didn’t hurt, but it was starting to itch a bit and I just didn’t want anything getting in the way of me enjoying my day. So I did a quick site change and out the door I went.

Two trains and way too many transfers later, I finally arrived at Luke’s Bar and Grill on the Upper East Side. Out of breath and starving, I settled down at the table occupied by ten other diabetics - none of whom I had met - and quickly became absorbed into the conversation. Introductions were made and I was quickly announced as “the girl who blogs” (hello everyone!). One lady sitting across from me was testing her blood sugar, so I decided it would be a good time to whip out my case and do a some finger-poking myself.

396 mg/dl.

Eh??

And here I was thinking my dry-mouth was from gulping down icy winter air. No, no. That would be too easy. I racked my brain trying to figure out what happened when it dawned on me - I didn’t prime my set when I changed it earlier.

Whoops! The pump suggested just shy of eight units to bring me down from the stratosphere, and I quickly returned to the conversation. The discussions were typical diabetic talk - insulin pumps, various insulins, physicians we like (or more specifically, physicians we don’t like…) - while mixed with normal people talk - where we live, what we do for a living, and trying on necklaces that one girl brought (she’s a jewelry designer!).

Towards the end of the conversation, I tested again.

355 mg/dl.

Seriously? Come on!

Determined not to let a high blood sugar ruin the possibility of having a yummy dessert that evening, I decided to overrule the insulin pump’s recommendation of .2 units (because of all my insulin on board) and instead took two and a half units.

You all know where this is going right?

I had about two hours to kill after we left the restaurant, so I hopped on the subway and headed down to Greenwich Village anyway to have a look-see around. I stopped by the new Apple flagship store on 14th and Ninth, played around on a Macbook Pro (it’s nice, but I like my HP laptop that was free from work!) and while I was there, tested again.

149 mg/dl. Excellent!

Excited that I had so quickly nipped that one in the bud, I decided to keep walking around some more, despite the desperate please from my feet to do otherwise. Of course, it was a Sunday night and not a darn thing was open except bars and restaurants, so there wasn’t much to do except walk around aimlessly. Which I did. For a good long while.

With half an hour to go until dinner, I was starting to feel… you know… funny.

Setting up my meter on the windowsill on the outside of a warehouse (or maybe it’s a nouveau chic-y club, it’s hard to tell the difference sometimes!), I tested again.

59 mg/dl.

Oh, lovely.

Of course, being the amazingly brilliant fourteen-year veteran of diabetes, I neglected to bring juice with me. But never fear! There was a diner just two blocks up that looked like a good place to grab a soda. I walked into said diner and sat down at the bar.

“Pepsi please,” I asked the bartender (it’s Manhattan. They have bars in diners.). I handed him my debit card (!).

“Would you like to leave this open?” he asked.

“No, I just needed the Pepsi,” I replied. “I have low blood sugar.”

“Oh okay…” he laughed.

“I know. It’s weird,” I said.

Ten minutes later and I headed over to my second stop of the day, 5Ninth. On my way over, I ran into my two friends, Caitlin and Gayle (who also brought her fiance - I’d tell you his name, but then I’d have to kill you) and the four of us walked over to the restaurant. We had perfect timing, as we arrived at the same time as Tara (web editor for Diabetes Self-Management) and her boyfriend Andy.

Gayle’s tenth anniversary is this Thursday, so it was really great that we could do something special for it. Typically I just get a small gift from my parents. On my first anniversary I got my ears pierced, in subsequent years I received dolls or necklaces, and on my tenth anniversary I received knitting needles and yarn. I sadly never really got into knitting as much as I had hoped.

I find celebratory dinners are more my thing now that I’m older and more mature, and spending the evening at an intimate restaurant with good friends seemed a perfect way to start the fifteenth year. Like the early gathering, there was a mix of diabetic and non-diabetic conversation. The conversation flowed back and forth between insulin pumps and sensors to scuba diving in Malaysia to diabetes in third world countries to Caitlin’s experience of having her appendix taken out in South Africa during a diabetes conference (she tells the story much better than I). We all enjoyed our dinners and I indeed had my dessert: a chocolate brownie with peanut butter mousse and vanilla gelato.

No, I didn’t share.

I shared a cab back to New York Penn Station with Gayle and her fiance, and on the train back, I tested again.

126 mg/dl.

I have a feeling that will go up once the wine leaves my system, but I’m hoping I didn’t do too much damage. Of course, I completely neglected any sort of point counting for Weight Watchers today, but I figured, how many times does one get to celebrate fourteen years of complication-free diabetes with her friends at a fancy Manhattan restaurant? Points be damned!

Here’s a little souvenir from our evening, taken by our very patient waiter. Today also marks the day that I will start the Diabetes 365 Project with everyone. While I know the pictures need to be taken by me, I am hoping that this can be an “honorary” photo in the collection. I plan to take a picture of my life with diabetes everyday this year, culminating in the final photo which will be taken on my fifteenth anniversary on January 27, 2009.

From (l-r)

Me, Caitlin, Gayle’s fiance, Andy, Tara and Gayle.

Today ended great.

Want to be in JDRF’s Newsletter?

I tried posting this on TuDiabetes but I got shoved off the main page too quickly so I’m not sure anyone ever wrote back about this.

I’m writing a story about health 2.0 (websites, social networks, blogs, etc.) for people with diabetes and I need a few quotes from people who have used these services (including but not limited to: The Diabetes O.C., TuDiabetes, Diabetes Daily, Diabetes Talkfest, etc.).

In a few sentences, please tell me the following:

1. Why do you think health 2.0 is useful for people with diabetes?

2. How has it personally impacted your life? Please use specific examples if possible.

I’m only going to be able to include two or three quotes from people, so please do not be discouraged if I do not include you. I may use your quote for another story.

Also, this is time sensitive! I need to send my quotes in by 1 p.m. EST today (January 23).

Update: There’s still time! I’m not sending the quotes in until at least 2:30 p.m., so feel free to keep posting even thought it’s after 1 p.m.

An actual real post coming later….

Thanks!

I Am A Happy Diabetic… and Other Declarative Statements.

According to WordPress’s Blog Stats, most of the time when people use a search engine to find my blog they have entered in the following keywords: my name, the words “ironing”, “board” and “cleaning” (I believe this is used when searching for images, because the image of the lady vacuuming is what shows up in Google Images), New York landmarks, the word “diabetes” alone or in some context and/or some random noun in a recent blog post (most recently: “August Rush,” “Elizabeth Perkins” and “Al Roker”).

Sometimes, crazier things show up. For instance, today, someone found my blog after searching the phrase “I am a happy diabetic.” Now, I’m sure at some point I have written those words - though I don’t remember when or where - but I thought that it was terrific that someone would find my blog after searching that phrase because, yes, I do consider myself a happy diabetic. A somewhat unhinged diabetic at times, but happy nonetheless.

Here are a few more gems from the past week:

“my eye hurts when i blink” - maybe you have a corneal infection?

“JDRF ACTIVITIES IN N.Y.C” - you should probably check out the JDRF NYC chapter website

“delaware water gap, PA rail station” - Delaware Water Gap is a beautiful place, but unfortunately, I drove there

“christmas couch” - sounds festive!

“proper disposal of lancets in hospitals” - hopefully you read my post on safe needle disposal programs

“GUH” - I know how you feel

—

In other news:

A couple of people have asked me this week about the progress of the conference, and now with Amy’s post, I’m sure even more of you are wondering what’s going on.

I wish I had some positive news to give you, but unfortunately I don’t. I have been swamped the past month or so with other projects, so I haven’t had a chance to work on this as fully as I was over the summer. I have not given up hope on the conference though, but my personal projection is that we’ll see something sometime in 2009. Hopefully sooner, but there’s no guarantees.

I will keep you all posted.