Finally!!!

My bloodsugars have been crazy lately. I wasn't sure why since one's bloodsugar can be effected by food, activity, time of day, current health (cold/sick), insulin sensitivity, metabolism, etc. etc. Sooo, where do you start? I started by testing my BS like crazy, every time I did something pretty much. You have to get that frequent testing in to see where, when and why fluctuations happen.

**A perfect reason to call my Dr. to get started on CGM (continuous glucose monitoring) which talks directly to my insulin pump**

The problem seemed to be at night. I would wake up in the middle of the night with a BS well into the 200's (normal = 80-120). After night after night of tinkering with basal rates I got it!!! My basal rate between 8pm and midnight was too low allowing my BS to creep up like a bad wedgie. My 12am basal rate was perfect and would not let my BS go any higher but would not bring it back down like a bolus of insulin would, hence getting up to take a leak and bolus to bring my BS out of the stratosphere.

Bottom line, cranked up my basal rates from 8-midnight keeping my BS level and left the 12am basal rate alone since it was doing what it should have been.

Just another day in the life of a diabetic!!! Oh, then add the rest of life and work on top of all this. :)

2009 Goals and Races

A fellow blogger had posted her goals and races for 2009 and I thought it would be a good idea to get my goals out there for the world to see. It's harder to back down from them with everyone looking. I will revisit this at the end of the year to see how I fared.

Goals:
1. Successfully integrate CGM (continuous glucose monitoring) into my workouts and life. Tighter control = healthier me. I'm super excited to start, just have to make it through the red tape of insurance companies. You know, to see if I'm really diabetic enough for it! lol

2. Compete and complete at least two different genres of MTB racing. One endurance race (i.e. Mohican 100 or a 12/24 hour race) and one cross country race.

3. Drink less soda. Yes, it sounds funny but I drink way too much of it. Even if it's diet there can be sodium and it's been shown to make you hungrier and a diuretic if it has caffeine.

Potential Rides/Races:
1. Mohican Wilderness race - March 29th OMBC
2. Vulture's Knob - Aprin 18th OMBC
3. Mohican MTB 100 - Either June 20-21 or May 30th (seems to be a discrepancy between the race calendar and event info page)
4. Tour de Cure - June 14th

This is for starters, I'll keep you posted if any additional races are added.

Who loves the cold?!?!?!

I believe the windchill was -25. Here is what my car said on the way in:

Winter...is that you???

Yes, winter has reared it's ugly head earlier than usual this year. On Saturday we received a nice even 10 inches of snow. Did you know shoveling a 5' X 15' area covered in 5 inches of snow is roughly equal to moving a ton of snow in weight??? Who knew, thanks FOX 8!!! Anyway here are some pics of the damage. Molly and I had a great hike in the snow on Sunday, the hike-n-bike trail my apartment is attached to looked pretty nice. Molly also viciously attacked me with snowballs ;), and yes, we made snow angels too! Although every time I tried to make one, horns and smoke appeared on it. Hmm...I dunno.

The front yard


My poor car


Molly's poor car

I love my new food scale!

Yes, it's snowing outside and topics are few and far between. However, I got a digital food scale for Christmas and it is freakin' awesome! Being a diabetic is tough, especially when it comes to measuring your food. All of the insulin I take to manage my bloodsugar is based off of how much food I eat. Well...that mixed with time of day, activity for the day and insulin sensitivity for the day. It's all much easier in practice than theory, don't worry! :) Anyway, back to the scale. I made a one pound sundae today which most people would be like a diabetic + sundae = bad! I knew how many carbs were in that sundae down to the gram, allowing me to take a precise amount of insulin to cover for that, most delicious sundae!!! No harm, no foul!!! Which means I can eat all of the bad stuff non-diabetics eat as well.

On that note, time to do something productive. Like exercise!

My Adventures In Marketing

Working as a marketing manager has allowed me to see many beautiful places when I need to accompany clients on video shoots our agency is working on. Salt Lake City's beautiful mountain tops when snow was needed, the redwood forest in Northern Cali for passenger tire shoots through beautiful evergreens or the obligatory L.A. shoots when beautiful coastlines are needed. Yesterday's shoot took me to a new exotic locale, Killbuck, OH. It's almost 90 miles from Stow to Killbuck and only 35 of those were on actual highways, the next 30 was through Amish country and the last 25 were on paths that I would not necessarily call roads. I was willing to bet they would not show up on a navigation system.

Anyway, between the locals and the mild 26 degree temperature, we had quite the adventure filming the new products on Jeeps off-roading in Killbuck. I think the camera we were filming with probably cost more than some of the trailers that line the roads throughout the county. Anyway we got some incredible running footage and trail shots of the tires and vehicles to use this year. So Day 1 = success! Day 2 = today and hell no, I was not going to stand out there in the rain all day! I feel sorry for my creative team standing out in the middle of a muddy field right now filming tires on Jeeps. Here are some highlights from the shoot:

Our limos


The rest of the fleet


Yes, we filmed an off-road tire in a field


Action shots


This was in the barn that served as our base camp


This was why we didn't use the house at our base camp. Leatherface would not let us in.


Covered bridge used in "road" shots


Shooting under the bridge


Filming was halted for some onlookers, I can only imagine what they thought or the whole production!


As we were filming we noticed the waterline from the river flooding of 2005, craziness!!!

Happy (Whoops) New Year!!!

Happy New Year everyone!!! On New Year's day after spending an awesome evening with my brother and Molly, I went home to help my parents put away Christmas decorations. While working to maneuver the large Christmas tree Rubber Maid container from behind some shiznit I took a step back and right through the ceiling of the garage!!! Luckily my knee broke my fall. Other than a little bruise and funny story, I was ok. My parents on the other hand nearly had a heart attack!!! The large container I was carrying was close to the steps so when I fell the container fell down the steps and my parents thought I came with it. So the funny quote was:

Parents: "OMG Mike are you OK?"

Me: "Yes!"

Parents: "Did you fall down the steps?" As they hurried over

Me: "No, I fell through the ceiling"

Somewhat comical actually! I have made a new project for the spring! I've attached a picture of the damage as well as a few shots from New Year's Eve!

The new skylight I was working on!


The dog was attacking me!


Molly and me


Me and Kevin


Molly and Kevin