Google... It's not a post about what you think

Google likes to celebrate uncommon holidays. When they do that, we see a change in the way Google is presented on the initial search page. It's been dressed up for a birthday party when it recently celebrated it's ten year anniversary. It's sported Olympic rings and Chinese dragons to honor the most recent Olympic games. We'll be sure to see soon pumpkins at Halloween, turkeys in November, and possibly decorated fir trees in December. So why not urge Google to acknowledge World Diabetes Day. It may seem like a silly thing, but wouldn't it be great if the millions of users of Google were educated, if only slightly, about a disease that affects us all. Even if you don't have it, I bet you know someone who does. If you are interested in signing a petition to do just that, please feel free to click on the "sign the petition" button below. And thanks!

Web 2.0 Awards List

I browsed the awards list and found several that I recognized. Although there are many useful sites, I wanted to focus on one that I'd never visited before. There seem to be so many it was almost like looking for a needle in a haystack. Or maybe I was like a kid in a candyshop, and just couldn't make up my mind. In the end I found one that is health related, my initial looksy, but was actually listed under "Niche Social Networking". The site I chose to write my blog entry about is tudiabetes.com. It is, stating the obvious here, a social networking site for people who have been touched by diabetes. People who have it, who know someone who has it, who are experiencing pre-diabetes symptoms, who are type 2, or who are type 1. There are groups formed to socializing, for support systems, poetry writing, music, health related information, just about anything you can think of that someone who is dealing with this prolific disease might be seeking. My interest is two fold. My father was a type 2 diabetic and was diagnosed when I was fairly young. He initially started with oral meds and diet control but eventually his diabetes got so out of control that he needed to go on insulin shots to keep his blood sugar control maintained. My second reason is that I am a type 1 diabetic (what most people know as "juvenile diabetes"). I am insulin dependent and live with this disease every day. There is no cure (yet!) so finding a site like this where I can talk to people who are also Type 1's is comforting. I have a support system in place but like so many journeys in life it is difficult to truly understand all the nuances of a disease unless you are experiencing it too.