san francisco

A Big Move

/ Christopher / 1 Comment

Today my parents closed on a house in Nashville. The house I grew up in for half of my life will soon belong to a new family.

When I first learned my mom and dad were looking to move from Northern Virginia, I selfishly threw a bit of a fit. This was…is home. That miserable rush hour traffic around the Capital Beltway was a strange sense of pride when talking with outsiders. No matter where I go, I will always be a Virginian.

But I moved to San Francisco. And my sister is working on her PhD in Maryland. The nest emptied a long time ago. Who am I to try to put up a roadblock to something I know my family thought long and hard about.

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What’s Happy About Diabetes?

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What's happy about #diabetes? #muni

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I took this picture almost a week ago, and I still don’t know how I feel about it.

From a global perspective, all diabetes is a very serious issue. Lifestyle changes, including diet, can make an impact on some people’s life with diabetes. But for the people who, despite their best efforts, must succumb to genetics one way or another, is this advertisement supposed to motivate them? Is it even aimed at them? With such limited real estate to make a point, there’s hardly any room for fine print and clarifications.

One one hand, I understand the direct, sometimes shocking nature that’s required to get someone’s attention. Without their attention, how can you expect anyone to take action? But I fear that efforts like this do more to harm and reinforce stigma and stereotypes than inform and enlist new advocates in the fight to do whatever the ultimate call to action is.

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Lovely Weekend for a Bike Ride

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Lovely day for a bike ride.

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Of course, cycling with diabetes is going to have its caveats and asterisks.

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A Possible Path Through Scientific Sessions

/ Christopher / 2 Comments

Based on emails, status updates, tweets, and full-on hearsay, there appear to be a significant number of diabetes online community members descending upon the Moscone Center in the next few days to attend this year’s Scientific Sessions. That’s awesome. I wish I had the time, and opportunity to see all of you.

Alas, I will be working during the conference – but if you want to say hi, I’ll be monitoring sessions in rooms S-102 and S-104 pretty much non-stop.

While I won’t be able to pop in on every session that looks interesting to me, I figure it’s best to provide my ideal path through the week. You’re more than welcome to start here and modify as needed.

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At Scientific Sessions

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In an instance of irony that is not lost upon me, the American Diabetes Association’s Scientific Sessions will be in San Francisco this year – I drove across the country only to have them follow me here. Starting Wednesday afternoon, I’ll be working the floor as a “red shirt”, helping attendees find their way from room to room and assisting in the poster hall. This will be my fourth adventure at the largest diabetes conference in the world (San Diego, Philadelphia, Chicago, and now home).

I’ll be sharing my experiences on Twitter and Instagram when I can, so if you want to see what the conference is like from my perspective, you know where to find me. The hashtag du semaine is #2014ada if you want to follow the broader conversation – hopefully there will actually be a conversation instead of people spamming the hashtag or retweeting press releases.

Also, I’ll be moderating the Twitter chat during Johnson & Johnson’s Meet and Tweet. The chat will be covering diabetes stigmas, and I’ll be coordinating everything from the @DiabetesSocMed account that Sunday. Things seem to be appropriately timed for all time zones (in that it’ll be before Game of Thrones). If you’ll be around, I invite you to join the conversation. Here are the details.  Continue reading →

You Have One Missed Call

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Hi Mr. Snider, this is So and So from Dr. So and So’s office. We currently have you scheduled for an appointment on November 10, but your file noted (as a new patient with this practice) that if there was a cancellation you would like to take that earlier appointment. We just had a cancellation for August 29th. If you’d like us to move you up, please give us a call back at 555-0001. Thank you.

Yes, please.

Also, I get to meet with both my new endo and their diabetes educator. That will be an exciting first for me.

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