What "Treating A Low On The Go, Go-To Snack" Do You Currently Have On Your Person?

I always have food on my person. No matter how small the bag or where I am, I ALWAYS have food on me.
Does it get to be cumbersome at times? YES indeed it does.
Do I bitch about it?? Yes indeed I do bitch out loud about my backpack being a mini CVS from time to time.

But if I didn't carry around so much crap (food, testing supplies, insulin, spare infusion sets, etc.,) I wouldn't be able to live an independent life, so I tend to get over the occasional grumpiness in that area pretty quickly.
Currently, there's an emergency granola bar and about a half used roll of glucose tabs (Mixed Fruit flavor) in my backpack. And then of course there's my lunch, which consists of Peach Greek Yogurt and two small apples and 4 cheesesticks sitting in the fridge at work.

Sidebar: Today's lunch (and backup food) is especially healthy because I'm going out to dinner with friends tonight for dinner - And that meal won't be so healthy - But I digress!

Now I tend to mix up my "on the go emergency snacks to treat a low" just so I won't get sick of them. Sometimes I carry Larabars, other times I carry the Trader Joe's Fruit Skins, and from time to time I've been known to carry Starbursts.
So my question to you dear Diabetesalicious reader is this: So what current on the go snack to treat a low do you have on or near your person? And do you change up your emergency travel time low treats just for shits & giggles or do you stick to the same thing??

Cash Back Recycling – Brilliant!

On trash pickup days, we put our recyclable materials in curbside bins: glass bottles, plastic bottles, tin and aluminum cans. The city hauls them all away for recycling. “Do we get the CRV?” my daughter asked.

“No, we just let the truck take it all away for free,” I said. “And we feel good for recycling.”




My daughter was aghast, We were giving away cash! Ever the industrious girl. She kept the recyclable containers aside until we had a month’s worth of bottles and cans. It was a huge pile of loot, with plenty of those big dime-value containers.

We drove to our local recycling center, and were promptly told to sort our cans and bottles into bins. No problem! We had already separated the glass and plastic. How hard could it be?

“Clear glass here, colored glass there, aluminum here, plastic there, tin here,” the guy running the place said. A gruff-looking man rode up on a bicycle with huge plastic bags full of recyclables that we guessed he collected off the street. He didn’t need a tutorial, he went straight to work at sorting his find. Hey, if he can do it, so can we.

“Just make sure it says CA CRV on the label,” the recycling station manager said to us.
“Don’t they all say CA CRV?” we asked.
The recycling station manager cracked a smile. “Nope.”

For the record – California pays cash back for containers that held water, soda, beer, wine coolers, mineral water, sport drinks, coffee, tea and juice. (The redemption value is added on to the price of the beverage when you buy it.)

Those milk cartons we brought? Bzzzt.
Those liquor bottles? (Whiskey, tequila, vodka, gin) Bzzzt.
Those plastic yogurt containers? Bzzzt.
Those tin cans that had healthy vegetables? Bzzzt.

For the stuff we returned that had redemption value, our cash back totaled a whopping 70 cents. That’s not even enough to buy a taco!

“So much for getting rich off our own recycling,” my daughter said.
My daughter gives up too easily. Clearly, we’re eating the wrong things.
“No more milk in your cereal,” I said. “Soda pays cash back.”

Caching!

What they should know!

What do I want people to know about diabetes. There are so many things that I wish people understood about type 1 diabetes. There is one that stands out. There is a quote that spells it out. "There are only two things people with type 1 can't eat. Poison, and cookies.....that have been made with poison." we can put anything into our mouths that we want to. We cover it with insulin. My 7 year old can eat anything that your 7 year old can. In fact, she needs those carbs to grow. She can have cupcakes if she wants. Apple juice did not cause her diabetes. I can eat ice cream when I feel like it. No, I shouldn't eat it all the time, but neither should you! So, mind your business and don't tell me about nutrition. Otherwise, I will spend 30 minutes educating you about diabetes. I will use small words and speak slowly to make sure that you understand. You still won't get it, but I will have tried.

Would you let you date your daughter?

I wasn’t always such a nice guy, There was a season of my life where I would lie and manipulate to get what I wanted. I was calculating and exact; like a master of deception I knew what to do, what to say, and how to say it. I would promise to call – and wouldn’t. I said I really cared – but I didn’t. I’d act excited the next morning – but I wasn’t. Shamefully, women represented for me a means to an end and as soon as the mission was complete, the victory achieved, and the thrill gone – so where they.

I wish I could say that this behavior happened during a time when games and dishonor would be blamed on youthful self-centeredness – but that too would be a lie. The fact is this narcissism occurred no so long ago when I knew better and had a very important reason to act like I did – I had a daughter.

As I think back at my actions in those days I am appalled at the hypocrisy. Here I was, this father to a beautiful little girl, engaging in a lifestyle that I would have been mortified for her to discover. Wasn’t I was supposed to be living in a way that showed her what real manhood should be? Wouldn’t she be getting her queues on how boys should treat her from the way I treated women? If that was so, the rate I was going she’d be pregnant or on a stripper pole by her 19^th birthday.

The first few years following my divorce I was easily able to separate fatherhood from singlehood. Because my daughter was far too young to ever grasp concepts like character and decency I could live one way while she was looking and live another when she wasn't. I hid my disgrace behind her naivety. But as she got older and our communication evolved from monologue to dialogue that little voice we each have started getting my attention. Now that we were having discussions around topics that would be the foundation for her eventual view on life, no longer would my conscience allow me get away with living a double standard.

If there is a litmus test, or barometer, for telling how well fathers are doing – as men- it’s summed up in the answer to this question:

“Would I let me date my daughter?”

How a man responds to that leaves no room for excuses and justifications. We can’t wiggle out of it, use the worn out excuse “you don’t understand”, or sweep it under the rug. All we have to do is replace ourselves, our behaviors, and how we see things with that boy who keeps texting and calling her. All the sudden those private corners of our life, the ones we don’t show anyone but continue telling ourselves is no big deal become a really big deal.

• Would you let that boy treat her the way you treat your wife?
• Would you let him date her if he was addicted to pornography?
• Would you bless their relationship if he had a gambling habit?
• Would you let him hang around if he did what you do – when no one’s looking?

Far too many parents, moms included, view everything in life on a case-by-case basis? We allow way too much subjectivity and leave more room for interpretation than we should. It seems almost every wrong deed we perform can be explained away with circumstance. We have an explanation for that affair on our wives or why we belittle, demean her. But when it comes to our children, especially a father and his daughter, we have no tolerance for circumstances, understanding, or forgiveness.

So we hide our disgrace behind our arrogance.

But as men and fathers we can’t live like that. We can’t disrespect and dishonor our wives but expect boys to treat our daughter like a princess. We have a responsibility, in fact a duty, to live in such a way that our daughters will know, from what they see in us, which boys to become involved with and which to stay away from. Through our actions, how we talk to her mother, how we treat her grandparents, what kind of father we are to her siblings, and how we treat the people around us she will learn to respect others, us, but most importantly herself. And in my own case, to live in a way that she will learn to distinguish a boy’s sincere interest and appreciation from someone who only sees her as a means.

The way I see it, if every daughter wants to marry someone like her daddy I hope to live the life of someone I’d want her to.

Chicago Trip at OneTrueMedia.com

The Best Vacation Ever!

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Six things not to say to someone with diabetes

"Should you be eating that?"

People living with diabetes are painfully familiar with the "Diabetes Police," those well-meaning friends, family members and strangers who might point out weight gain, drop hints about exercising more or relentlessly push sugar-free foods, even though both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetics can eat sugar.

So if you don’t have diabetes but know someone who does, remember the following six comments can be insulting.

•"Can you/should you eat that?"

•"Do you have BAD diabetes?"

•"If you'd just exercise…" or "If you'd just eat better…" (While no one wants to be blamed for causing their illness, Type I diabetes is an autoimmune disorder, unrelated to diet and exercise.)

•"You don't look like a diabetic!"

•"My grandfather had that and he lost his leg."

•"I could never do that." (Inject insulin.)

Highlight of my vacation

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There is nothing like watching a ball game at Wrigley Field

Wow!

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My hotel room at the Marriott

Father Daughter Hit The Pump

Over the years, I've watched my daughter mature from preteen girl to car-driving teen, and she’s become quite the confident, intelligent, self-assured girl (young woman). My daughter rocks! (Proud daddy moment. Sorry.)
While I've raised her with tons of love and nurturing care, I never treated her with princess gloves, fearing that would hold her back. I'm a father who wants his daughter to kick-ass on her own strengths, rather than wait for a man to take care of her. (Note to Ann Coulter: I have nothing against men and women coupling up. Lord knows I'd love some feminine energy and regular sex in my life. I just want my daughter to know she can take care of herself.)


My ex has a similar attitude – that our daughter is better off if she’s confident enough to fend for herself. (My ex is someone else who kicks ass in that department.)

This means now that my daughter is driving, she doesn't turn to mom or dad for gas. She’s a responsible teen who buys her own fuel at the pump. Right?


By the time I was driving as a teenage boy, I had a fast-food service-industry job that gave me money for gas, movies, and cheap dinners out with my girlfriend. I never asked for hand-outs from my father or mother. (Okay, when I was down to my last dollar.)

My daughter knows this. So when we hit the gas pump in her hand-me-down car the other day, she pulled out her gas card, pronto.

“How low is your tank?” I asked.
“It’s pretty much empty,” she said.
“And how much money is on your gas card?”
“Six dollars.”

That would buy her a few gallons. Sheesh. She’s got plenty of time in life to learn to be self-reliant. I filled her tank on my credit card.

Sometimes a father’s daughter really is daddy’s little girl.

iPhone 4s Pictures

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Don’t be that guy: Mr. Point-N-Shoot

If there remains a lingering doubt that the human male deserves most of the criticism he gets I’m about to put that to rest. Men are clearly their own worst enemies when it comes to reputation and perception. Take the following as proof, only men will light theirs or a friend’s farts, only men wear socks and sandals at the same time, and men alone would pee on an electric fence just to see if it shocks them.

They also are the only ones who believe sending pictures of their penis is a completely appropriate dating strategy.
I’m not sure if I was too hungover for class that morning or simply glossed too quickly over the reading assignment but nowhere in the Dating Manual do I recall that sending text message photos of your junk is a fitting method for telling a woman you’re interested.

Several years ago Polly and I were out with her girlfriends. After a few drinks the conversation, as it usually does with women, turned to sex. In a moment of intoxicated one-upmanship the youngest among them decided to show everybody else a recent text she was sent from one of her numerous suitors. Personally, I would have appreciated an advanced warning.

Somewhere along the way this dude decided he ought to take things to another level and prove to this girl how interested he really was. So with a determination that was admirable he pulled out all of the stops – quite literally. On her phone screen was a picture of dude’s manly essence in all its vertical glory along with the caption that read…

“thinking about you!”

Dude. Really?!?!
Now I get that sexting is all the rage for teenagers and college kids, but this guy was almost 50! Couldn’t he have just taken her out for a nice steak dinner, blooming onion, maybe a movie then ask if she wanted to come in for a night cap? Was the anatomy lesson truly necessary? And how did he hope she would respond, did he think she would be overcome with passion at the sight and head (no pun intended) right over? I have my own and frankly they aren’t that captivating.

And what if he had mistakenly sent it to his boss or God forbid his mother? I once sent a cute G-Rated “I love you, baby” text message, meant for the Polly, to my next-door neighbor’s wife and was mortified for three days. I also found myself in the stall of a women’s bathroom at Ontario airport once and barely escaped without getting arrested, so don’t tell me that could never happen. And isn’t sending a picture of your twig and berries over 3G just asking for it to blow up in your face someday? Does AT&T or Verizon keep a file of dude’s packages just in case one of them ends up in political office? And what if you and her don’t work out, you get caught cheating with the roommate, or accidentally call her by your ex’s name? Guess what, because you wanted be Ron Jeremy now your package is the laughing stock at GNO’s everywhere.
Andrew Weiner, that’s all I’m saying.

Besides is an 8-megapixel photo how you really want to introduce the goods? Everybody knows that cameras make objects appear smaller than they really are and you’ll probably just end up disappointing her with your manliness and blow your chances entirely. So at least wait until she’s seen it in person before giving her something to frame and put on the mantle. Or better yet save the picture taking for your six-year-old niece’s birthday party or that 6’2″ transvestite in line at Starbucks and leave the home-made porn for some other loser.
In other words, don’t be that guy.

Coffee addict

Untitled, a photo by benjamin_valadez on Flickr.

To all the people who don't drink coffee, Thank you.... More for me!