Changing the world, one Wiimote at a time

Click here to watch a video that shows how to create an interactive whiteboard and 3d video game using a $40 Nintendo Wii remote and about $10 of other materials. Way cool.

Someday I'll figure it out.

I promise I'll learn to embed videos eventually. Until then, learn what diabetes is, and the difference between Type 1 and Type 2 in this mildly comedic video.

Nerdmare?

This morning I had a nightmare that my laptop was stolen and those powerpoint slides I've been working so diligently on went with it. I hadn't backed up my data and I was paying the ultimate price. Perhaps I should take a hint...

Feeling better...and this makes me happy

I'm over my cold. My diabetes is back to the normal roller coaster rather than the wild roller coaster. Now, onto something fun. Francesca suggested I check this out, and I appreciate it. Well worth the 5+ minutes of your time.

Check out this video. I would embed it in the post, but I haven't figured out how to do that yet. Call me a novice blogger.

Gotta get worse before it gets better

In addition to (and probably because of) this summer cold I've been dealing with, yesterday around dinner time I found myself in the E.R.

I awoke with a blood glucose reading of 73 mg/dl. That's pretty good - even a little bit on the low side. I then forgot my blood test kit at home when we left for church. After church, we went to Red, Hot, and Blue where I had fried catfish, french fries, and broccoli for lunch, which came back up on the way home. When I got home and tested my sugar, I was around 380 mg/dl. I gave a correction bolus, knowing it would likely not have any effect, and went to lie down. An hour later, it was 353 mg/dl. An hour later, 342 mg/dl. At that point I had Scott go out and get some Ketostix to test my ketone levels. They were HIGH. I put in a call to my doc, and she suggested I go to the ER for an insulin drip.

Scott drove me to the hospital, where we wound up spending about 2 1/2 hours. Not bad for an ER trip on a weekend. However, I managed my diabetes the whole time. I put on my check-in form "Diabetic Ketoacidosis" and that seemed to shock the nurses. I even had one say "you're a pro at this by now - you can do what you need to do". Not so reassuring.

They gave me fluids and nausea meds (despite my nausea disappearing) via IV and once I got my blood glucose down below 200 mg/dl (194 mg/dl to be precise), they let me go home. After giving me graham crackers and apple juice to "see if I could hold it down". Yep, no problem - that's what nausea meds are good for. Of course, when I got home, I was back up around 250 mg/dl until midnight, when I finally reached 140 mg/dl and decided to go to bed.

At 2:00 am I awoke to a lovely 30 mg/dl and sweat-soaked sheets. I drank 2 juice boxes and Scott brought me a piece of toast. Apparently that was too much (I knew it would be, but sometimes when you're THAT low, you need to over correct to ease your mind). So, this morning when I got up for work my BG was 254 mg/dl. Dang it!

I blame the cold.

Sick and Tired

Well, mostly sick, really. I have a cold. It's the hottest June on record, and I have a cold. I hate being sick! Yesterday I left work an hour or two early because I didn't want to spread it to everyone. Today we took the dogs to a doggy pool party for Cavalier King Charles Spaniels (since Corgan is one). It was fun, but it woulda been better if I had felt better. We were supposed to start up Salsa lessons again today with Victor, but I didn't feel up to it. We'll start again next week, I suppose.

On another note, I just finished reading Something Borrowed by Emily Griffin. It was a great chick lit novel, and I recommend it if you want something fun and easy to read. I'm going to start Something Blue soon. I'll let ya know how it is. I'm also listening to She's Come Undone and am reading Moneyball, both of which are excellent so far!

I want to be a part of it...

...New York, New York! My new job is sending me to NYC to give a presentation at a symposium. After the symposium, Scott is joining me and we'll be spending 4 extra days in the city. We've booked the hotel, the travel arrangements, and WICKED TICKETS!!! I'm over the moon excited! I've never been to NYC, and I'm so looking forward to it. To prepare, I'm watching as many episodes of Sex and the City as possible. The girls and I went to see the movie over the weekend - good preparation, don't you think?!

Hot Dance Instruction

For Christmas, Scott bought me a new PS2 game I've been wanting called "Dance Factory". It's like DDR but you get to use your own cds, which is cool. It's supposed to be a great workout, so I had asked for it to get in better shape at home. Today (6 months later), we opened the box. In the box, we found 2 dance mats, much like DDR mats, complete with poorly translated instructions. We got quite the ab workout laughing at the "Hot Dance Instruction" and I thought I'd share a few of the best ones, in David Letterman's Top 10 list style.

10. Thanks for purchasing our product. This product is made for dancing and health-care. Please read this instruction carefully before using and please follow the steps properly and remember to take good care of this instruction.
9. Strong jump or shake may cause influence to the video and audio output.
8. Please do not jump strongly, that may bring troubles to the other person.
7. There is maybe have some white powder on the surface of the product, please wipe off by a piece of soft, clean cloth.
6. Young children must be guided to use it or need parents and teaches to accompany, in case to be tumbled by it.
5. High technology product, do not apart, separate or fix it in any way. Or the damage can not be guaranteed.
4. Do not keep it in the high or low temperature environment, especially far away from the fireplace.
3. Forbidden to use this product if your feet are seriously injured. Stop immediately if there is abnormal phenomenon in your foot, waist, and back when using it.
2. Please put it on a flat floor, but not too smooth.
1. Make sure to pave the cushion

I copied these word-for-word. You can't make this stuff up (we tried).

She's Crafty

A few Saturdays ago, I cohosted a baby shower for Caitlin who is due to give birth to Allison Claire on July 1 (or is it July 2? Either way, we're hoping for an Independence Day baby :) ). The theme we came up with for her shower was puppies, but apparently puppies are for boys and kitties are for girls because there was almost nothing that was either gender neutral or girly that had puppies on it!
So, I improvised. I made "pupcakes":


And I made a diaper cake out of diapers with little purple bones on them:


It was a fun shower and everything went off without a hitch. We ate, decorated onesies, and asked Caitlin questions during her gift opening. There were no baby shower games in sight, and I think the mom-to-be was glad of it. I know I was.
Chris suggested I post the "best and worst" of the pupcakes. I must say, they all turned out pretty well, but here's the worst one:


And here's the best:


All of them were equally tasty, though, and that's really what matters, right?