Ouch!!

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A review of the Diabetes Log iPhone App

The iPod Touch is like the iPhone except for the phone … and the GPS … and the camera.  Just like the iPhone I can browse the web and check email with Wi-Fi, and play movies, music and games downloaded from the iTunes App Store.  It’s a super ultra-portable.

I have an iPod Touch and I have diabetes and I am a geek.  So of course I launch the App Store on my iPod and search for “diabetes” and find a few diabetic applications.  One of these is, Diabetes Log, written by Chris Ross.  Chris has Type-1 diabetes and wanted an application for his iPhone to record his glucose reading, carbohydrates and insulin dosages.  And that ’s as much as this application does.  Chris is offering the application for free while he work out the bugs ( I didn’t find any ) and plans to charge a small amount when he feels the app is ready.

After launching the application click the “+” to bring up a menu to add a new record.  From here you can choose the type of record you want to add; Glucose, Food, or Medicine.

Choosing anyone of those bring up a record entry page that is similar for each record type except that the units for the values change; mg/dl for glucose readings, g from carbs, and units for insulin.  Tappingn the Date/Time or Category box brings up a tumbler wheel for data entry.  I personally would have preferred a keyboard.  The Value and Notes boxes use the keyboad for data entry.

From the main screen, tapping the littel “i” in the lower right hand corner of the screen will bring up a page where you can set the number of days worth of data to keep or email the entire log for backup.  That’s all there is to this app.  There is no graphing or analytical tools.  It does one thing and it does it well.

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New Year, New Intentions

Well it’s a New Year and time to set the direction of my intentions for the year. Some call them “resolutions”. My MacBook’s dictionary defines a resolution as “a firm decision to do or not to do something”. But resolutions without plans lead nowhere. Like a destination without a roadmap.

What I have are “intentions” for 2009. An intention is “an aim or plan”. I intend to get more exercise this year than the last. Last year I exercised about … well … I did not exercise at all. In fact, I have not exercised since 1996. The most I moved in 2008 was during the “Walk for the Cure” for the JDRF. That’s not a healthy thing to do. I know. While I may not have gained weight ( I weigh and measure every thing I eat and I eat like a bird ) my cardiovascular system may not be as healthy as it could be. So my plan for 2009 is to exercise at least 30 minutes a day. I have a treadmill and an elliptical exercise machine in my basement and miles of beautiful walkable neighborhood.

I also intend to be more involved with my blog, “Honey Sweet“. I started my blog just after being diagnosed with LADA ( Type 1.5 ) in 2006.  I was inspired by super start blogger with diabetes, Amy Ternderich. My goal was to journal my experiences with diabetes and I very quickly found that as a technology geek my blog entries tended toward the software and hardware aspect of the disease. Amy also mentioned a new social network for people with diabetes. On TuDiabetes.com, I discovered friendly people like Bernard and Kerri and Manny. People whom I’ve never met but feel a close connection to.

. So one of my intention is getting more involved with the community on TuDiabetes.com and giving back to the community that has supported me since I was diagnosed.

In 2008 I got very busy with work, family and other community projects ( I started a social network for fibromyalgia ) and my posting fell to about once per month.  But now I have a shiny new toy from Apple; an iPod Touch. It’s like an iPhone but without the phone and camera .. and GPS. But it does run iPhone apps. And of course I searched and found a few diabetic applications. So my near term plan is testing and reviewing diabetic applications for the iPhone/iPod Touch and other diabetic web applications.

But the big Intention for 2009, the one that will be most significant for me, is planning for this years JDRF “Walk for the Cure”. When I first did that walk in 2007, I walked alone. I raised just under $1000. In 2008, I reached out to my family and we walked together, raising just over $3000 as the “Sir Lance-a-lot and the Kinghts of Pokey Land” (my son Shaan and I worked on the team name and logo). Pokey Knights is a tongue in cheek nod to my sons newest infatuation, Pokemon and the face that lancets make hole.

In 2009, we are setting a new goal. We want to include our friends, neighbors, and towns and our goal for the walk is $20,000. Doable? Absolutely! How will we do it? I have no idea.  But if we set the intention the ideas and people will come.  But we will do and when it comes around in October this year, I’ll be in great shape to do it and I’ll have something to put in that blog.

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