Educating Others...

No - this is not a statement about school education.  Today's blog is about how people need to open their minds and quit looking down a tunnel.

Someone decided to have a meeting and arranged to have coffee and donuts.  No one thought about bringing any fresh fruit, which could have been gotten from any grocery store.    All I could think of was being told how I never thought about the vegetarians in our group when I made food orders about 10 years ago.  Here, the same person was getting donuts and not thinking about those who might have rather had something a bit healthier.  I get that the cost for donuts is cheap, but it would be nice to have something more substantial than donuts to be offered in the mornings.  

Another day, I had dinner out with a friend.  Same friend has type 2 diabetes as I do.  Again, I was presented with another lesson regarding education.  The following day, this friend would need to get blood drawn for her A1C test.  When she asks about dessert, I figure I am fine with a few bites of something sweet.  She changes her mind with this excuse:  I do not want it to affect my A1C.  

Seriously, this friend has had Type 2 diabetes for several years, but refuses to take the education classes.  I looked my friend straight in the eye and said:

Really?!  Eating this dessert is not going to alter the A1C result because A1C is a measure of the sugar molecules stuck to the blood cells for the past 90 days.  Eating dessert is not going to change that number tomorrow.  Changing your eating habits for the next 90 days, that WILL change that number.  The best you are going to do is make sure that your blood sugar tomorrow will be a lower number, but it is not going to make a difference in your A1C.

I was angry that this person goes about acting like a "know-it-all" and how stupid I am, then does this.  I am tired of excuses like I do not have time for the education class.  I figure that the next time this issue is raised, I will make it a point to say, "Let's go together."  It would not hurt me to have a refresher.  For this person, to have this disease and act like a know-it-all and be completely wrong on all points, that is just stupid.

I am not perfect.  I do not assume to be perfect, either.  I just work hard at making the best decisions I can.  If I eat improperly, that is on ME and no one else.  It is my choice.  It is not my friends responsibility or even the wait staff's responsibility to make sure I eat properly.  I do not go around announcing I have Type 2 diabetes because I do not feel it is someone else's job to take care I handle my disease.  It is called being accountable for yourself.

This friend and I did have the same GP.  Since the incident with my blood urine numbers and how my GP refused to arrange a meeting, I have decided that this new GP needs to be weeded out.  Now, hearing that the GP has told patients to go to LabCorp for their bloodwork needs, this GP is purely lazy and that is not a good thing.  I do not want to hear about ObamaCare - that is just an excuse.  With my next visit to the endo, I am going to obtain a list of new physicians who can be my new GP.  She was dumping all meds and such over on my endo and why the endo was not taking care of it.  I started with the previous GB on these meds.  Apparently, she does not want to handle it.  No problem - I do not have time for some GP who will not scare me about my health and make no effort to contact me herself.  I am good with that.

So, I apparently have a lot of negativity in my system.  I just felt that it was sad how the situations were disrespectful.  Make matters worse, no one wants to change.  I want it to change, but sometimes you cannot move a mountain by yourself.  You need help.

Clean...

Clean

Something about this song just hit me this evening.  I am still working on clean eating, but I am getting my lazy butt and moving.  

This afternoon, I walked around the building twice around 3 PM.  Holy cow!  I was sweating like never before and it took forever to cool down.  The heat and humidity combo is a real killer.  However, by doing that, I was able to get closer to my 8000 step goal.  As I have said in the past, baby steps to get back to where I was in February/March.

I spent today pondering if I should still do the Turkey trot.  I would take Bo, but it is so hot to get him used to walking 3.1 miles.  I might see if I can build him up in late September when it cools a bit.  As for Chloe, I would need to get a buggy for her.  I could never in my good conscious make her walk that long.  That would be insane and I know it.  Bo, on the other hand, he handles the longer walk much better than her. 

When Bo and I walk alone together, he is much more well behaved.  Once you bring Chloe into the mix, he is barking, charging at the little kids that run, and so forth.  It is really frustrating for me to handle him when he is like that.  However, on his own, he can be a little angel.  He is probably doing it for the attention.

Summer is upon us and it is time to chop off the hair.  As much as I love having a "bob" hair cut, it is probably time to look at getting a pixie cut for the summer.  Short in the back and long on the top.  At least, it would be somewhat cooler on me.  As it stands, by the time I get finished taking a bath/shower and blow drying my hair, the moment I step outside, my scalp starts sweating.  My hair gets all sticky from the hair product used, then everything goes kaput. 

Today, I bought some hair clips that will keep my hair off the back of my neck.  My head and neck feel much cooler without the longer hair there - well, it is not very long, but enough to be a real annoyance.

This weekend, I watched the induction ceremony for those artists selected for this year's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  Different areas of the industry were well represented.  I have always been a huge fan of Peter Gabriel, Linda Rondstadt, KISS, Cat Stevens, Hall & Oates, E. Street Band, and Nirvana.  I was disappointed that KISS could not put aside their differences for one night and play.  

I felt fortunate to have been able to see Cat Stevens play songs I remember so well from my very early youth.  Linda Rondstadt was not able to perform, but I thought Carrie Underwood, Sheryl Crow, and Stevie Nicks gave memorable performances of her songs.  Peter Gabriel - honestly, the man is an enigma.  "In Your Eyes" is just a tremendous song.  I knew it the moment I listened to it when I bought "So" in 1986.  When it was released as a single, it shot up the charts as I knew it would.  It is just a beautiful song.

Knockout moment - Nirvana.  Back in 1994, I was in the process of leaving UNT to head into IBM for work.  I had to drive over to the ATM to get some cash and I heard of Kurt Cobain's death.  I did not cry, but I felt an incredible emptiness.  "Smells Like Teen Spirit" had grown on me, but I really got into the band with "Come As You Are" from the same album.  

Since Kurt's passing, I have been a Foo Fighters/David Grohl fan.  He is a pretty amazing man.  I loved it when he was on Dennis Miller's HBO show one week.  He talked about how he and the Foo Fighters got together, built a private studio, then had a barbeque.  He was all about just the music and nothing else.  That was all that mattered and he has proved over and over again, that is his passion.

Anyway, I was blown away with the performances by Joan Jett "Smells Like Teen Spirit", Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth) "Aneuyrsm", Annie Clark "Lithium", and Lorde "All Apologies".  

"All Apologies" - that song speaks to me in so many different ways.  It just really touched me back when I first heard it.  Hearing Lorde perform it, well, it actually made me cry.  I think it is because the song made me think about myself and how I constantly apologized for everything because I never felt I did anything right.  Hearing that song, brought back all of those memories.  If you have not seen this performance, here it is:

All Apologies - Nirvana with Lorde