Monthly Archives: September 2013

Weekend Update – Cloning Plans

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Friday.

No time for blogging this week.  Not enough sleep… ever.  Must. NOT. GET. RUN. Down.

1.  JDRF NYC WALK- Still trying to get ready (there’s really no such thing as ready right?) and delivering as many shirts to people as possible the past few days (riding Citi Bikes like the Wicked Witch of the West also refering to myself as Mr. McFeely and making “speedy deliveries”).  I have no idea how I am going to get so much stuff (props, shirts, all my normal D stuff, baton, pom-pons) to the Walk site.  Must do laundry in next 48 hours.  Also must try cloning myself between loads of laundry.  Looking to make multiple clones.  Will definitely kill one clone for new pancreas.  If my current pancreas worked for 6 years-ish, I am excited for my new, cloned, works-for-6-years, pancreas.  Going to send other clones off to do projects.  I will definitely have my real self go to the Walk,  and will leave the clones at home to walk the dog and clean.  I hope they clean better than I do.  Hey future clones, the bar is NOT high at ALL (the home is a mess though).

IMG_42742. Due to demand (I know, that truly sounds ludicrous), we are offering a SECOND printing of our JDRF WALK Team shirts.  Lots of styles:  men’s, women’s, kiddie-poos.  I LOVE these shirts but, I am biased.  Proceeds go to JDRF.  Cool shirt goes to YOU!  <- Click there.  Get a shirt!

Our shirt sale ENDS Tuesday 10/1 (I can’t believe it’s almost October).

 

3.  A friend is making me a Dexcom case.  Yes, he has a rapid prototyping machine.  He is most likely going to kill me for posting this pic (but maybe he’ll be fooled by a clone and the one he kills can be the one I get the pancreas from?).  Hopefully he won’t see this before the Walk Sunday.  He was on my very first Walk Team in 2001.  As for the case, he has been prototyping samples with dimensions he found online (not using my actual Dexcom receiver).  Yes, this is kind of totally awesome.

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What I love about this photo… we are in a restaurant.  My friend has my Dexcom in a case that doesn’t quite fit.  There are calipers on the table.  We appear to be doing important stuff.  He is holding a glass of wine.  This is what we call a very productive design meeting.

4.  If you live on the East Coast and don’t already know this, WaWa makes the best coffee.  Also my favorite, and best tasting milk.  WaWa supports JDRF.  WaWa’s coffee just got THAT much better.  I wasn’t always a New Yorker people.  Support businesses that support JDRF.

Special thanks to my baby bro for taking the time to get me these pics. Let's go Eagles.

Special thanks to my baby bro for taking the time to get me these pics. Let’s go Eagles.

5.  I hope this laundry/cloning thing works out.  I change what I said before.  I would bring 2 clones to The Walk but dye their hair so everyone wouldn’t be confused.  I really need them to help me get all this stuff to Foley Square and pay for the cab.  One clone could carry my silver backpack (how else will people see the back of my shirt?) and the other one could help lug stuff around all day and get me a snack and maybe some coffee.  I’d put a clone in charge of our Walk Team table.  I’d go chat with the Animas rep about the VIBE.  I’d go visit my buddies over at Team Hoffmanderson and also a new friend at Team Pigs Are Precious. I’d put that clone to work (I “may” be taking this too far.  Lack ‘O Sleep).

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A Thorny Issue

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I have a work event tonight and am the acting office floral expert.

Was attacked by a rose while getting the blossoms in tip top shape.

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What’s a diabetic to do? Perfect timing for a BG check!

And almost as easy as 1-2-3 (the Dexcom pic was from earlier today.  I was too busy bleeding to take BG pics).

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Thinking Outside The Box, Or In A Pouch

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When it comes to having a JDRF Walk Team, it is challenging to get and keep people interested year after year.  Asking the same people to donate money, asking people to walk, asking people who are walking to please raise money, it isn’t easy, and involves a lot of asking.

I met my dear friend Kerry, my first day of college (Yes, a long time ago.  Dinosaurs carried our books.  They were very helpful). She is a wonderful friend and will be walking with me again on September 29th.  A few months ago, she started a new business venture with Initials, Inc.  At the time, I was carrying my blood glucose supplies in a ziplock bag (yes, it was convenient-ish, ok, not really).  When I looked over her website, I thought this was a great opportunity to not only support and cheer-on my friend, but also time to try out a *NEW* blood glucose carry case.

Kerry sells a design called Tune Keeper which is a fabric, zippered pouch, meant to hold an iPod.  It also has a keyring and lobster claw clasps on one end.  The pouch is padded and securely fits my Verio IQ, OneTouch Delica, Verio test strips, emergency cash, and if need be, my Dexcom G4 receiver.  Yep, I love it.  It also has a tiny interior pocket (that’s where I hide the $5… there’s the info robbers.  Come and get it).

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Kerry contacted me about an idea she had to help fundraise for this year’s JDRF Walk.  In separate news, her daughter is the one who reminded me to believe in miracles, when I needed a miracle believing boost.  It’s a whole story about inch worms, and bronchitis, and crying at a funeral, and the inch worms becoming moths.  I’ll save that story for another day though.  Anyway, Kerry is a special person in my life (as is her family) and this is what she’s doing (in Kerry’s words):

As a Creative Partner at Initials, Inc., I am excited to help fundraise for my friend, Alecia’s, JDRF Walkathon’s Team. This month, 25% of your Tune Keeper purchase will go towards her team, Alecia’s Stem Cells, as we walk for a cure in two weeks.

What is the Tune Keeper, you ask?  It is a cool little wallet meant to hold your iPhone & earbuds, but Alecia has found it perfect to case her diabetic supplies! We thought you might think it is handy for other uses, too. Plus it makes a great gift – never too early to start that holiday shopping!
Since being diagnosed in 1979, Alecia has benefitted from technology advances in diabetic care and treatments. Glucose monitors and insulin pumps simply did not exist when she was diagnosed, but these advances come from critical research – and research is the key component of JDRF.
I’ve set up a shopping link to purchase the Tune Keeper. Please visit my website !Click SHOP ONLINE at the top and click “Shop Now” to the right on the “Tune Keeper Fundraiser – JDRF event” link to make your purchase. I will personally donate 25% of my sales of the Tune Keeper towards my friend’s JDRF team, and will follow up with an email to you to let you know how much was raised from this sale. Please consider buying one of these great wallets and supporting JDRF!
(Please be sure to un-click “ship to host” to have your order shipped to you – otherwise it will ship to me.)
For more information about Alecia’s walk team, please go to:http://www2.jdrf.org/goto/AleciasStemCells
Please feel free to email me with any questions about placing your order.
 
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
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Pretty cool huh?

Love Spies

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As a New Yorker, as an American and simply just as a human being, 9/11 is wrought with emotion, deep sadness and many memories.  I have stories I could tell, my fellow Alecia’s Stem Cells teammates have many, many stories too, some of survival, some of hope and kindness, but quite a few of unbelievable horror and grief.

I can’t possibly do justice to any of these stories today and planned to post some Wordless Wednesday photos I’ve taken over the years of the Twin Towers, the blue lights that symbolized the towers from past 9/11 memorials, construction photos of One World Trade Center, and the 9/11 memorial pools.

911 pools

 

If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram (especially Instagram), you know over the course of the summer, I became keenly aware of “hearts” in my world.  On the sidewalk, in graffiti, a crumpled piece of paper in the street, gum on the curb.  Frequently, I see a “heart” somewhere.  Depending on what’s going on in my world, they symbolize different things to me.  I usually see them when I’m alone and they always make me think (or change my thinking), and usually stop me in my tracks (well I’m not taking action photos, so I do actually need to stop).  I try to change my walk routes now, in the hopes of finding an undiscovered heart.  Often these hearts give me hope.

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This morning I passed 2 familiar hearts on my way to work.  Hearts I now see all the time.  I was secretly hoping I would see a NEW heart today but it didn’t happen.  The 9/11 TV coverage I’d watched as I walked out the door weighed heavy on my heart.  I thought of the friend I was with on 9/11, who has since passed away, and how very much I miss him.

At the office, my BG skyrocketed, work stress elevated (like crazy yo), I very politely but firmly argued with a medical supplier and I glanced out my window.  I have pigeons that land on my windowsill often.  I call them Pigeon Spies.  I claim they are stealing my designs and that they are annoying, but secretly, I love them (even though they occasionally give me a heart attack when they tap the window as they land).  They taunt my dog and fall asleep inches from him.  They are bold, brave and curious.  Those pigeons are New Yorkers.

Every once in awhile, two pigeons will be on the sill at the same time.  One is always going after the other and there are never two on the sill for more than a few seconds.  Today, I watched something new.  Two pigeons.  One much bigger than the other one.  They stood together, side by side.  They watched me for awhile and mirrored my movements (yep, spies) and then they turned and sat down, touching, looking out on a corner of New York City.  The smaller one leaned over and the big one got down a little lower.  There’s a term for this, allogrooming, meaning grooming performed by one animal upon another animal of the same species.  Perhaps we all see what we want to see, but the smaller pigeon spent so much time fixing the other pigeon’s head feathers, it was remarkable.  I was less than 6 inches away, they would look at me, but they didn’t leave.  There was something tender about it.  I felt exactly like when I see hearts.  It felt like love.

pigeon love

So today, just remember to love.  On some level, we are all in this together.  Whether it’s helping someone in the DOC, or reaching out to a friend or a family member.  Just remember to love.

Thanks for bringing me some magic today, Pigeon Spies.  Tomorrow you can go back to taunting and stealing.

 

Giving the Shirt Off My Back (Well You Can Buy It)

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You know the NYC JDRF Walk is coming up (September 29th) and you also may know this is the 12th Year for Alecia’s Stem Cells (NYC) Friends and Family Team.  I’ve walked a lot of walks and I certainly keep talking a lot of talks.  If you’ve done the Walk, you know it gets maybe, just maybe, a we bit redundant over the years.  I am always trying to put a new spin on it. Boston team and NYC team in ONE weekend?  Check.  Design your own Alecia’s Stem Cells iron-on shirt party?  Been there, done that too (it took FOR-EV-ER).  Pirate shirts with me in a pirate beard (Keeping the ARRRR in JDRF?) and pirate sword fights over the Brooklyn Bridge?  Yep and arrrrr.

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So how do we spin it this year?  Ah my friends, this is the Until-A-Cure is found question.  I have been considering challenging my buddy Ben from Team Hoffmanderson to a Break-Off.  A Break-Off you say?  Oh yes indeed, I do say.  I would do my best breakdancing moves (I have 1 move, well sort-of 1) with Ben over the Brooklyn Bridge to raise money.  Does anyone want to even see that? Nah probably not.  Bikers would be yelling at us, kids would be tripping over us, we would give diabetes a bad name (Ha!  Like diabetes has a “good name”.  Funny stuff there).  So while I agonize over gimmicks, let me tell you a fundraising plan that IS happening… RIGHT NOW!

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Over the years, we’ve had some awesome and diverse Alecia’s Stem Cells shirts.  I’ve had a slew of friends take a stab at this (no needles were actually involved).  It’s been fun/crazy/ totally stressful getting designs ready, finding printers and making the Walk deadline.  I buy the registered team member’s shirts, but it gets tricky having a set number of walkers so far in advance.  This year, our shirts were a collaborative effort (Thanks so very much Deb) and then I had the same idea I seem to have every year … oh wouldn’t it be great if we could sell some shirts?  I saw a tweet from Tina over at Stick With It Sugar where she was selling her Walk Team’s shirts through a crowd sourcing printer.  It’s a long story, like a really long story, but I had such a great call with Tina, realized we needed to use a different printer if this was even going to be an option, looked up a Forbes article where the founder of the company Tina used named his competition (to all business owners, never acknowledge the competition in an article).  I called the competition the day before a holiday weekend, had a totally surreal conversation with the Principle.  He knows my work and is a fan of my former boss.  He also understood my Do Good, Feel Good philosophy AND they could do the job AND they wanted to help!!!

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So here’s the skinny.  I LOVE NY.  I HATE diabetes (See what I did there diabetes, I didn’t even give you capital letters, di-a-betes).  The back of our shirts have a tag line thought-up while looking over notes I took at a JDRF Walk Kick-Off/Research Update:

New Technologies, New Treatments, New York.

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So, we are in the shirt selling business folks, But ONLY until 9/12 (SOON people, so very soon).  The shirts are great quality (Canvas and Belle who supply T shirts for Nordstrom which I wouldn’t know since we don’t have a Nordstrom in my city…. yet) and come in Mens, Ladies and even Youth sizes (this is a first for us).  Not only are the shirts cool, rad, awesome, fly, tight, sick ( <- that one annoys me), BUT the proceeds are going to JDRF!  Yep, our team fundraising efforts have a NEW spin… Team shirt sales!!!

So check ’em out and most importantly, PLEASE forward the shirt link to anyone you think might like one (or two) too!  Thanks y’all.

http://inktothepeople.com/private-marketplace/ink-detail/11041

 

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I had another post planned today for Throwback Thursday, but I read something this morning that trumped what I had planned.

As long as I can remember, my Dad has had inspirational/motivational quotes typed on index cards and taped to his office desk.  Very cool.  One summer, I had a part-time job and to fill extra hours (ugh) I also worked at my Dad’s office.  When he wasn’t there one afternoon, I sat at his desk and connected ALL the paperclips in his drawer to each other.  A paperclip chain if you will.  I giggled endlessly imaging him reaching for a paperclip and about 50 of them would be attached to one another.  Tee hee hee.  I also remember sitting there and rereading quotes on his desk.  Quotes he frequently told us, his kids.  When I was in college, my Dad would periodically send me pieces of inspiration… quotes typed on index cards.  I grew-up loving a good quote.

THIS is the quote that felt like a hug this morning.

“I slept and dreamt that life was joy.  I awoke and saw that life was service.  I acted and behold, service was joy.”

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941)

poet, playwright, essayist

The view while walking the dog last night.

The view while walking the dog last night.

Oh and I almost forgot.  I waited and waited for my Dad to discover the paperclip chain.  When he FINALLY did, he called me.  As annoyed as he TRIED to sound, I knew he thought it was funny…well sort of.

 

Broken?

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Saturday afternoon, after a sweaty mini golf tourney, I took the ferry and then subway home.  In my rush, I bolted out of the subway turnstile and ran up the 6 train steps.  I believe I made it 2 steps, well maybe 3, before …*SPLAT*.  Yep, I tripped.  Yes, I fell.  Oh I fell alright.  I fell HARD.  Splayed out on the subway steps (Ewwwww, gross, gag, ick, blech, more gagging, phewy, dirty, yucky), I pulled myself up and quickly continued onward.  I believe I told myself, “DO NOT CRY” maybe 15 times in under a minute, well that mixed with, “DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING, YOUR HANDS HAVE NYC SUBWAY STEP COOTIES”.  Without stopping, I quickly walk/limped and tried to take an assessment of my injuries.  Right knee throbbing.  Right forearm and wrist not happy.  My Daddy toes (you know, the big toes) hurt and stung and hurt some more.  The right one hurt the most but the left one was bleeding.  I turned the corner to my street and the blood was making my foot stick to my sandal.  What the…???  The blood was coming from the center of my toenail.  More grossed out by the second.  Right toe pulsating.

bloody toeI arrived home and after antibacterial washing the hell out of my hands and considering drinking Purell, I investigated.  Yep, split left Daddy toenail right in the middle.  Ewwwwww.  BUT it was the right Daddy toe and right knee that felt the worst.

Fast forward.  Today I went to my podiatrist to get my orthotics that were ready a month ago.  Apparently they tried calling a phone number I had 10 years ago.  Nice try podiatrist receptionist.  You and your potty mouth have been confirming appointments with me on my current phone number for years.  Anyway, I casually mentioned my 6 train step run turned SPLAT.

feetAfter a bunch of, “Does this hurt?” Yep!  “Can you bend here?” Ummm kinda, questions with my doc, I found myself watching a video while I waited to see my Xrays.  I learned a lot of fun foot facts at 8:30 this morning.  I now know things about arthritis, plantar facitis and the importance of diabetic foot care.  The loop had already started playing again and I was back to diabetes and foot care being a team approach when my doctor returned and started reviewing my Xrays.

toe xray

It was a sweet moment.  I sat there reviewing my Xray with my doctor and cracking jokes about all the time I’ve spent at his office.  I’ve broken toes and chipped stuff quite a few times.  I broke my foot years ago and learned 2 major things.  1. Crutches are effing HARD and 2. NYC in the winter with crutches is a really crappy place that will make you unbelievably angry.  Anyway so back to my doctor.  Nothing broken.  Toe is just a bad jam and needs time to heal.  Yippee Skippy.

This all sounds very nicey nice but there’s a bigger part to this.  I actually paid attention to that foot video.  I half expected scary diabetes stuff.  There was nothing scary, just encouraging and stressing the importance of taking care of potential foot issues quickly and the reason’s why… decreased sensation, compromised circulation, blah blah.  it wasn’t scary though.  It was about staying healthy and having a good team.

I might have a small crush on my podiatrist.  He looks like Ed Harris, is extremely quick witted and even when my foot was a broken a mess and I was threatening people who stole my cab with my crutches, he always kept me laughing.  But there’s a much bigger reason that I like him so much…  he’s a T1D too.  He’s a 50+ year T1D.  I am drawn to these 50+ers like a moth to a flame or injuries to my feet.  Bad joke, sorry.

To my podiatrist: Thank you for being part of my team.  Thank you for being a 50+ yr T1D.  Thanks for having encouraging and informative videos. You may never truly realize how just talking to you gives me hope, but it does.  Rock on, or maybe walk/run on.

My view walking back to work. Not bad. Keep walking.

My view walking back to work. Not bad.