Category Archives: Like these links

Like these links. Lotsa stuff.

June 4, 2014 – 9:03 am

This being June, there are lots of D-happenings happening over the coming months. These events are always great ways to meet people, compare notes, and learn a lot in a short time. Here goes:
 
 
Taking Control Of Your Diabetes is hosting one of its big conferences in Washington, D.C. this Saturday. It will be an all day affair that includes fitness sessions, screenings, a Type 1 and Type 2 track, and chances to see and interact with Dr. Steve Edelman, founder of TCOYD, Kerri Sparling, former NBA star Dominique Wilkins, and many more. Twenty dollars gets you all of this and lunch if you register before Saturday; if you register at the door, it’ll cost twenty-five. All the information is available here:
http://tcoyd.org/national-conferences/washington-dc-2014.html
 
 
My local JDRF chapter, the Greater Chesapeake and Potomac chapter, is getting ready for its annual meeting on June 26. The meeting this year will take place at the Discovery Communications headquarters at One Discovery Place in Silver Spring, Maryland, just outside of D.C. The guest speaker this year is Moira McCarthy, a tireless advocate, an author, and writer of the popular blog Despite Diabetes. The event is free to all, but you have to register to attend. Find out everything you need to know here:
http://greatercp.jdrf.org/event/jdrf-annual-meeting/
 
 
This isn’t scheduled until next March, but I’m hearing a lot of buzz about the Diabetes UnConference, so you might want to get on board early. Brainchild of Christel Marchand Aprigliano, it’s happening next March 13th through the 15th in Las Vegas. The UnConference is specifically for adults 21 and older living with diabetes of any flavor. What is an UnConference? I don’t think I can do the description justice, so just click over here to find out more and register before everything is booked up and sold out:
http://diabetesunconference.com/details-2/
 
 
That’s it for now. Hope your Wednesday is sunny and warm. And don’t forget about the #DSMA Twitter Chat at 9:00 EDT (US) tonight!
 
 
 

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Like these Friday links.

April 25, 2014 – 7:54 am

There’s a lot for me to talk about this Friday, so let’s get down to it:
 
 
– Provided I can get through rush hour traffic and make it to Washington, D.C. after work today, I’ll be sitting in on the DSMA Live social media meetup at the Diabetes Sisters Weekend for Women conference in our nation’s capital. The event is free and open to the public. If you can’t be there, you can listen in here. Don’t forget to follow @DiabetesSocMed on Twitter, and look for all the virtual conversation using the #DSMA hashtag.

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DHC2014
– Thanks to the inimitable Scott Johnson and others, the Diabetes Hope Conference will be happening again. According to the official conference website:

“Through the magic of GoToWebinar and HD Faces, we’ll live stream all of the virtual panels and take questions live from the audience via Twitter and the hashtag #dHopeConf.”

The conference takes place from noon to 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday, May 20.

A bunch of your favorites will be on the panels. The content looks to be timely and important. Over 250 people joined the conference last year. Make sure you’re one of the multitudes attending the 2014 edition. So check out the conference agenda, do your virtual RSVP (here), and for heaven’s sake, participate!

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– Lizmari writes over at The Angry Type 2 Diabetic, and she wrote an interesting post about patient dignity back on April 11. She finishes with these words:

“In the end, the person who’ll end up costing more to a society is not the person with diabetes: it is the diabetes bully.”

Read the words leading up to that finish, and you’ll find a few diabetes truths in there to chew on.

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– On a non-diabetes note, Libby at I Have The Sugars wrote probably the best thing I’ve read yet about the Boston Marathon tragedy from a year ago. In it, she talks about how the bombings affected her, and what she carries forward from those scary, eventful days last Spring.

I was hanging on every word of it, and I know you will too.

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Finally, a quick reminder that I’ve updated the Blogs Worth Your Attention listed on the left side of this page. I took out three who aren’t posting anymore, and I added eight new ones that weren’t there yesterday. This is a long overdue update. All of those D-blogs are worth your time, and they will inspire you.
 
 
Enjoy your weekend… more about my recent endo visit (not great, my fault), and something that absolutely breaks my heart, coming next week.
 
 
 

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Like these links – Back from vacation.

April 4, 2014 – 10:28 am

Vacation was nice… but now I’m back!

I didn’t see as much baseball as I would have liked, but the weather is often unpredictable, or so I’ve heard. Since I’m still getting back into the swing of things, I’ll take this time to share a few diabetes-related things that are coming your way soon.

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You may have noticed the Tour de Cure icon on the left side of this page. Rather than hounding people for donations to my ride on May 17 this year, I put up the image so you can donate if you’re able. The American Diabetes Association Tour de Cure rides that take place all over the country are marvelous events that raise a lot of money for education and research, but also provide a place for all of us Red Riders (and Type Awesomes) to get together and enjoy a day on top of our two-wheelers. I won’t kid you… the money is tight this year. If you’re able, I could really use your help in making this ride happen.

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Locally to Baltimore, a digital marketing and technology agency is hosting a happy hour on April 16 at Sotto Sopra, which is one of the city’s great Italian restaurants. The goal of R2integrated is to raise $5,000 for the company’s team at the ADA’s Tour de Cure ride in Carroll County on May 3.

Twenty dollars gets you in the door, and gets you a drink and a chance at some awesome raffle prizes. There will be additional food and drink specials and live music too, plus some guest bartending.

Once again, the event is April 16 from 5:00 to 8:00 at Sotto Sopra on Charles Street. You can get your ticket in advance here.

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I may have mentioned this before, but… it’s always nice to say it twice. Diabetes Sisters is hosting a conference in Washington, D.C. in late April. Actually, it will be in Alexandria Virginia, just across the Potomac river from our nation’s capital.

Did you know that there will be a DSMA Live meetup on Friday night? It will happen on Friday, April 25 from 8:00 to 9:00. This event is open to the public (including guys like myself). If you’re somewhere nearby and you’ve never seen a DSMA Live meetup in person, here’s your chance. I’m definitely looking forward to it.

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One day later, JDRF and Children’s National Medical Center is inviting high school students living with Type 1 and/or their parents to a two hour session at Children’s to talk about the teen transition years, including handing off care of a student’s diabetes from parent to child, moving from pediatric to adult medical care, and of course, taking your diabetes to college. Speakers and panelists will include professionals from Children’s National Medical Center, and peers who are in college, or recently graduated from college.

The event happens on Saturday, April 26 from 10:00 to noon. Click here to register for the event.

I also hear that a similar event will be making its way to Baltimore soon.

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Hope your weekend is off to a flying start… get lots of rest and lots of play.
 
 
 

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Like these Friday Links.

March 14, 2014 – 10:59 am

Happy Friday everyone… Hope your weekend is shaping up to be a good one, even if the weather still doesn’t look much like mid-March. Let’s hope that changes soon. I’ve got a bike ride to train for!

Today’s samples from the Diabetes Online Community are on a number of topics. If you haven’t seen them already, I hope you’ll take a look. You might learn something new, or come away with a different perspective.

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First, some recaps of diabetes events:

From Christopher Snider at A Consequence of Hypoglycemia, a recap of the TCOYD conference in Sacramento last weekend:
http://tobesugarfree.com/2014/03/10/a-few-thoughts-about-tcoyd/
 
 
From Jen at See Jen Dance, a recap of the same:
http://seejendance.com/2014/03/09/how-much-is-too-much-data/

Both are great perspectives.

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From Karen Graffeo at Bitter-Sweet, a recap of JDRF Government Day in Washington, and a heartfelt plea for more D-Advocates. We can never have enough.
http://www.bittersweetdiabetes.com/2014/03/jdrfgovday-highs-and-lows.html

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After reading this, you’ll never look at flying with an insulin pump the same way again. Seriously. Here’s a great post from Melissa Lee at A Sweet Life that describes why sometimes we may have high BGs on airline flights, and why we may also experience “baggage claim lows” once we’ve touched down:
http://asweetlife.org/feature/what-you-should-know-about-flying-with-an-insulin-pump/

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Bea at Cranky Pancreas is a fantastic Type 2 advocate who I really enjoy reading. She recently talked about her start of the Type 2 medication Victoza, side effects, and what it’s doing for her BGs:
http://crankypancreas.com/?p=5244

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When you meet someone new with diabetes, the conversation doesn’t happen the same way every time. Check out these interesting encounters:

From Alecia at SurfaceFine

From Sara at Moments of Wonderful

From Scott at Rolling in the D

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Finally, ‘cause it’s Friday, you need to read this post (if you haven’t already) from Kelly K. at Diabetesaliciousness, who goes all third person when she describes reconnecting with her first diabetes friend 30-some years after diagnosis. This will give you that warm, mushy feeling you may be seeking on a gray day:
http://diabetesaliciousness.blogspot.com/2014/03/joe-my-very-first-friend-with-diabetes.html

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Okay… work needs me. And I need to work. Hope today is the start of a fabulous weekend. Enjoy!
 
 
 

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Like these links.

February 26, 2014 – 10:09 am

First, a couple of great deals from companies run by PWDs (People With Diabetes). Then a couple of posts that you’ll want to pay close attention to.

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Ethan Lewis at Level Foods has let me know that his Level Life Protein Bars and Shakes have made it to the shelf in your local Target store! He says you can find them in the Diabetes aisle. I don’t know what a Diabetes aisle really is, but I’m thinking you’ll find them near the pharmacy.

But wait… there’s more! You can pick up a coupon for $4.00 off your purchase by clicking here.

But wait… there’s more! Ethan’s also holding a contest on Facebook this month. Find your Level Life products on the shelf in your Target store, take a photo, and upload it to their Facebook page. Once you do, you’ll be entered into a contest that includes weekly prizes like a $50.00 Target gift card and Level Life hoodies. Still a couple of days left… get to Target and remember to take your phone.

Also: Be sure to watch this space for a Level Foods giveaway in the near future…

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From Christopher Angell at Glucolift comes great news: They are now fully stocked again with the best-tasting, low-chalkiness glucose tabs anywhere. You can get all flavors, in all configurations. And if you order soon, you can get 20 percent off any order over 50 dollars by going to BuyGlucolift.com and using the coupon code GLISBACK.

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Allison at The Blood Sugar Whisperer wrote the quintessential definition of what advocacy is all about. She reminds us that advocacy cannot be quantified. It doesn’t have to be flashy:

“Being a diabetes advocate means making a difference in the life of someone with diabetes. There’s no qualifier on that.”

So true, so true. If you haven’t yet, I encourage you to go read what she has to say. See if it doesn’t charge you up.

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C, writing over at C’s Life With D, is a Registered Dietitian and a Certified Diabetes Educator. She’s starting to wonder why a lot of people online seem to be making sport of bashing their CDEs.

She has a point, and I’ll even go so far as to say there’s a lot of Diabetes Online Community bashing going on about healthcare professionals in general.

I think if you read her piece, you’ll start to see why we all (myself included) need to cool our jets.

Like with the Miss Manners dustup last week, it’s important (at least for me) to remember that we should all be allowed to say what we want about a newspaper columnist’s advice, or about our professional care team. But with great freedom comes great responsibility. Try to mentally put yourself at a party where both sides of an issue are present. Remember that whomever you’re speaking to now has the opposite point of view of the person you’ll be speaking to in five minutes. What do you say? What will you say if you have five more minutes to think about how you’ll say it?

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It’s a busy week here. If you’re in the Mid-Atlantic, don’t forget about the JDRF Type One Nation DC Research Summit taking place in Bethesda, Maryland on Saturday. Find out more and register at jdrfsummit.org.

Happy Wednesday!
 
 
 

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