Tonight I find myself looking at 12 months and no blogs. Time to re-engage.
I exchanged emails with a friend from high school whom I discovered had a terrific blog running… BitsBlog [1]. He encouraged me to get back into it, so here I am.
It’s an incredibly beautiful night here in Des Moines, and I love when we can have the mid-summer open windows.
Diabetes Corner
Recent thoughts… i started on an insulin pump recently (I am type 2 diabetic), and so far I love it! Not so much because of the fact I no longer need to give myself shots 5 or 6 times a day, but that my blood sugars are no longer wildly high or low on a regular basis… this works great! For those of you interested, I have a Medtronic [2] Minimed [3] 722.
Also, an interesting article [4] appeared at the Medscape [5] Diabetes and Endocrinology web site regarding the possibility of moving away from the use of the A1C test (a test of the overall blood sugar level for the prior 3 months) and replacing it with average blood glucose. Apparently, there is a study in progress, and early results seem to indicate this direction, although the article did not seem clear to me as to why. If anyone has any thoughts about why, please post a comment.
Disappointing news [6] was also found at Medscape [5] regarding the recently published results of a study using Continue Blood Glucose Monitoring (CBGM) technology to monitor blood sugars throughout the day. Evidently, the study found that the use of this type of technology did not appear to have any more impact on overall A1C results than the current test meter tools. This information was disappointing because it will likely delay any insurance coverage of this type of technology for some time to come. I believe it could be an extremely useful tool in helping insulin dependent patients identify problem situations (either hyper or hypoglycemic episodes) before they feel the effect of them coming on. The Minimed supports the addition of an RF connected CBGM device.
Politics
I hate to say this, but living in Iowa tends to make one tired of politics around this time due to all the people that want be President. I still don’t know why Hillary is running… I really think the 22nd amendment precludes her being elected (it really says: “…or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other
person was elected President…”).
Anyhow, the good news is that the communities around the Des Moines Metro area made it very clear this week that an additional one-cent sales tax (“Project Destiny [7]“) was not not acceptable. It was promoted as being a property-tax reduction and would stimulate growth by bringing more bike trails, parks, cultural attractions, etc. Bunch of *rap-o-la in my opinion, and evidently in the opinions of what was an amazingly well informed electorate. The biggest issue that I and many people have is a substantial lack of trust in the elected officials… we’ve seen far too many items of this nature turn into boon-doggles to fill the politicians pockets and never fulfilling the original promises. Although some of our local honorable officials have integrity (some are friends of mine), we have had far too much power-mongering amongst many, especially some of those that sit on the County Board of Supervisors (the county [8] will remain unnamed), and honestly part of the problem is the current state laws regarding county supervision and our occasionally less informed electorate. I’m just happy that my taxes aren’t going up (at least, not today).
My last bit of political wisdom is simple… Finish the fence… now!
Entertainment and Consumer Tech
Apple [9]‘s iPhone. I’d like to hear about the experiences of anyone that got their hands on an iPhone. I’m curious to know if it’s worth it. Please feel free to leave an anonymous comment if you’re afraid to admit you actually bought one. Everyone I know has assumed I would be in line the first day for one, but I’m not convinced that I actually have time to mess around with a phone that has everything, include Mac’s OS (and someone please explain why I care that it’s a tiny Mac if they won’t let you load any real software on it).
Sports
So yet another disappointing All-Star game (if you’re a NL fan). I was so proud when Beltran hit that triple, and laughed through most of the bottom of the 9th, but ultimately coming up short. Thankfully, NY is still on top of the NL East, but the injuries are starting to impact the performance. BTW, I don’t read SI, but a friend passed on the issue with the cover story on Omar Minaya [10] that was really cool. I got tickets to two games in August at Shea… looking forward to it!
Faith
I recently had the privilege to teach my Sunday School class at Valley Church [11] on Psalm 35. Read it. Then go to this link [12] and get a look at a little history. God is amazing!
Thanks for reading… have a great day!
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