T-minus 2 Days Until the Big Blue Post!

See a building lit in blue?
Wondering why?
Wondering what the Big Blue Post is all about?

It's all part of World Diabetes Day on Sunday, November 14.  Some things going on that may be of interest to you or someone you care about...

• Big Blue Test - a program of the Diabetes Hands Foundation (DHF). People with diabetes are invited to test their blood sugar at 2 pm (local time), do 14 minutes of activity, test again and share the results.  I did this last year (here's the post), and it was AMAZING!  I'm definitely going to do it again this year - stay tuned!  (Participants on Twitter will be using the #bigbluetest and #wdd on Twitter this weekend!)
  
• View the Big Blue Test promotional video before November 14, and help Diabetes Hands Foundation raise money to help the Life for a Child program, run by the International Diabetes Federation, and Insulin For Life.
  
• Walgreens is once again offering free blood glucose screening and a1c testing at participating locations this weekend!  From the press release: "Walgreens...will offer free blood glucose and A1C testing at more than 1,700 stores and Take Care Clinics nationwide Nov. 12 and 13, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The free diabetes health testing events, held in conjunction with American Diabetes Month®, are offered at most 24-hour Walgreens stores and Take Care Clinic locations throughout all 50 states and Puerto Rico."  Click here for more info.  (Good on ya, Walgreens, but perhaps not burying it in your press releases would be a tad more helpful?  I didn't see any banner ad on the main page.)
  
• See the World Diabetes Day events page to find an event near you!
  
• Need more information about type 2 diabetes?  I compiled a dandy list of diabetes resources.  I forgot to mention Dr. Sheri Colberg's web site.  She's the author of the excellent book, The Diabetic Athlete, and her site has some great diabetes & exercise articles.
  
• Some bloggers participated in the "Annual D-blog Day" on November 9th.  The theme was "6 things you want people to know about diabetes."  I was swamped and didn't write a post, but I especially enjoyed Kerri Morrone Sparling's (of the blog Six Until Me) compassionate type 1 perspective (click here to read).  Her first point was an especially poignant yet kindly worded observation - not all type 1's (or loved ones of type 1s) aren't quite as kind about the difference.  Would I be?  Would I be if one of my kids had type 1 or type 2 and people were blamethowing out of ignorance?  I'd like to think so, but I'm not sure.  As a non-insulin dependent type 2 person, I only have to help my pancreas, not be the pancreas - that's a whole 'nother world altogether.  Yet helping my pancreas has its own challenges, with regard to willpower in balancing my food choices and exercise; as type 1 folks experience, sometimes you can do everything "right" and still not get the numbers you're looking for all the time.  And sometimes I don't do everything right, and I stumble, and I pick myself up and keep trying.  It's remarkably like trying to lose unwanted body fat, or to maintain the loss of said unwanted body fat...easy-peasy, right? ;-)
• And I have to give major kudos to diabetes advocate and author Jenny Ruhl and her book and web site, Blood Sugar 101.  I really resonated with her approach, and I'm hopeful that I'll get to thank her in my old age for her role in my still having eyesight and limbs.  I especially recommend for those with type 2 or at risk of developing it her well-researched article, "You Did NOT Eat Your Way to Diabetes"; it was a very healing thing for me to read as a newly diagnosed person with type 2.  

Hope everyone enjoys a great weekend!