Fun Music Wed

In light of recent events, both nationally, and locally, I decided to chose a song that I think will resonate what I've been thinking about the violence.
This is the original Nickleback video, provided to You Tube.



This is the same song, but with different pictures and the lyrics displayed. It also ends with a religious message. I posted both, because I liked both, and I believe in people having a choice, and respect that choice.



In a town about 1 hour south of me, an armed man who had stolen a van, shot at three police officers over a 24 hour period of time (from yesterday to today). One of them was lucky, and the bullet hit his vest. One is in serious but stable condition at the best trauma center in our area. The third, a 29 year old, who was married with a 7 month old child, died of his injuries. The man who did the shooting appears to have died in his house after it went up in flames earlier tonight while the police had it surrounded. I hadn't posted anything about the Virginia Tech shooting because it was hard to find the right words. My thoughts and prayers have been with the families and friends of the victims, not to mention the classmates and all the school community. Everytime something like this happens, I wonder, when are we going to stop? When will enough be enough? And when are we going to change what is clearly broken?
Edited 5/2/07: In the course of the investigation, it was discovered that tragically the trooper who was killed was wounded by friendly fire. A total of 69 bullets were shot during an attempt to get the shooter to surrender, and it was in this fire fight that the trooper was fatally wounded. He had been shot once by the shooter in the chest, which just went into his vest. He was laid to rest today, with thousands turning out to support his wife and daughter and the rest of his family and friends.

Spring is here (Finally!!!)

I love all the seasons, and the fact that we get to experience all of them here in the northeast. However, I love how spring makes me feel so alive and how wonderful it feels after winter. There's something about the scent on a spring breeze, the warmth in the air, or maybe it's just the signs of life and renewal all around. I wrote this poem many years ago, inspired by a gorgeous spring day.

The cool breeze coming in through
The window caresses my skin teasingly,
As if to say, "Come out and play!"

I look out to see
Why it's calling to me,
And the lawn that was once
Covered with pure white snow
Is starting to show
Signs of life

Although is is mostly brown muck
That my shoes will get stuck in,
I grin to see the beginning
Of green grass

A pair of Gold finches flit by,
And I wonder what he sings to her
To convince her to come and play with him
Is it a reminder of how wonderful
His feathers will look
Against the blue spring sky
When they fly together?
Or does he tell her
What his heart is saying under
It's covering of down and feathers?

The breeze blows in again,
Causing goose bumps
To rise on my skin,
And my nose awakens
As the faint scent of the first
Spring shower
Brings back memories
Of my childhood,
When my imagination would
Go running to meet
The first day of spring.


Copyright Kate, 2000

Fun Music Wed

I loved this Nelly Furtado song, "Say it Right", when it first came out. It's one of those songs that gets turned up in my car as loud as I can handle it, with the bass turned all the way on so you can feel the wonderful heartbeat-like rhythm. It takes a few listens to hear the lyrics, but the verses are neatly written.

Fun Music Wednesday

I've been so busy working on a presenation for school that I almost forgot it was Wed! The video I chose this week is Martina McBride singing her recent single "Anyway" a beautiful song about living life. I love her songs because she's not afraid to talk about real issues, like in her song Concrete Angel, which is about child abuse. Not to mention her wonderful voice! Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn are who introduce her as she sings this at the Country Music Awards in this video, and they are another one of my favorite country acts. Enjoy!

Fun Music Wed

Chris Daughtry whose recent single "It's Not Over" caught my attention, has a great first album out. Since he only made it to the 3rd runner up spot on American Idol, he was able to write and play what he really wanted to which is rock, not pop. You'll notice I tend to prefer singer/songwriters, and Chris knows how to write great lyrics. Check out the lyrics to "Over You" below.

http://www.lyricsmania.com/lyrics/chris_daughtry_lyrics_8522/daughtry_lyrics_33540/over_you_lyrics_362867.html

Not all Skin Preps are created equal

I love my insulin pump, and I've had minimal issues with sites in my 8 years. The main thing I need to do is make sure I'm rotating my sites enough, and I'm fine. Ever since I've been on the pump, I have used the Sof-set and Skin Prep underneath the tape to reduce irriation. It has always worked well for me, sites have to be seriously yanked on or messed with to come off unexpectedly. So, a few months ago when I was ordering my test strips, I also ordered Skin Preps. Or so I thought. I hadn't needed to use them until a couple weeks ago, and discovered that not all skin preps are created equal. This is a picture of the skin preps I usually use:

Ingredients: Isopropyl Alcohol, Butyl Ester of PVM/MA Copolymer, Acetyl Tributyl Ctirate
However, this is what I received to use:


Ingredients: Purified Water, Diglycol/CHDM/Isophthalates/SIP Copolymer, Sorbitol, Glycerin, Octoxynol-9, Dimethicone Copolyopl, Diazolidinyl Urea, Methylparaben
(Editors note- my theory is that the glycerin was the culprit. Who puts something that is in soaps in a skin prep?)

Now, I notice that the packaging was different,but the box I received actually looked a lot more like the ones I usually use. So, I figured I'd give it a try. Then next day in the shower, I hear something drop, and I hadn't dropped anything. I look down, and there is my site, on the shower floor. Huh??? I've never had a site completely come off within a day, so this was strange. I figured, okay, at least I can just change the site-and at this point was suspicous of the skin prep. However, I don't like to forgo using it, and I figured once wasn't enough to blame on the skin prep- maybe there was another explaination. So, I gave it a second chance. And the next shower my theory of it being the skin prep was proven- site came out again. I quickly changed the site using just alcohol underneath and it seemed fine for the rest of the day. I went out with a friend and treated myself to a Starbucks frappacino, and guessed at the carb amount. 2 hours later I tested, knowing that my guesses on these things are often wrong, and I had been cautious since I had done a lot of walking that day and my site was in my left leg. I was 385, so I corrected, and I felt fine, so I thought it was just the frappacino. Well, the site must have been bad because at 530 the next morning I was 438 with ketones and feeling sick, and spent the rest of the day chasing that high down and flushing out the ketones with water. So, that's why I wanted to share this story- especially for anyone new to pump therapy. Luckily the week following that one day has been fine, and no more site issues have happened. And this past Saturday my blood sugars were the exact opposite because I woke up at 81- and spent most of my day under 141.

3/24/07
Time BG
539 438-manual shot and site change
640 387
800 259-correction
1100 443-food and correction
1219 410-correction, more water
218 235
400 174-set lower basal because I was walking a lot
616 169

3/31/07
Time BG
530 81
730 99- one of my best post breakfast reading
1030 129
1200 142
150 197
300 131
430 49-oops over did the carb ratio with my last snack

Isn't it amazing the difference a site and starting out the day right can make?