Month: September 2015

Blood Work Blues

At just over 13-months now since I was diagnosed with Type-2 Diabetes, tomorrow I’ll be going in for my now-regular A1C test, and other blood work; the A1C results I’ll get tomorrow but will have to wait a few days for the others to come back. I must admit that I’m somewhat anxious to get my numbers; I know that my A1C will be higher this time than last, I just don’t know how much higher it’s going to be. 

I thought that summer would be easier to control my blood glucose (BG) than the winter had been. After all, the warmer weather would, I reasoned, provide more opportunities for me to exercise since I generally feel better in the warmer weather than the cold. But as it turns out summer is hard, really hard, in other ways. Between the extra busyness of the season, trips/vacations, and the seemingly endless barrage of stress I’ve endured, my diet, and surely my BG, have suffered quite a bit. 

The busy schedule I’ve kept and traveling conspired to make it much more work to attempt to eat what I should, when I should. It really surprises me, looking back, at how much more difficult that was than making good choices during the holidays. Despite being more active during the summer, the unstable atmosphere of the season were much more challenging than holiday dinners and get-togethers last winter. 

Being stressed has always brought out the worst in my dietary habits: all good habits go right out the window to be frank. Sometimes, with some things, you have a degree of control over the stressors; I haven’t had much-to-any control over these in the last several months. I have, at least, recognized this and have tried to make choices that weren’t as bad for me. Learning, for instance, that fat helps to slow the conversion of carbohydrates to glucose has been a help; why are all the really good comfort foods so carb-rich anyway? I’ve also been trying to find extra ways to get more protein into my anxious-eating times. How well did I do at this? I reckon we’ll see tomorrow. 

Hopefully I’ve also learned from trial and error, including the above mentioned items, ways to loosen my dietary-stranglehold-grip at least some so I can lean toward a little less rigorous “plan” that I can live with day-in, day-out, no matter the situation I’m in or going through. After all, this disease isn’t going anywhere and, despite my trip-ups, I don’t have any plans to let it cause any more damage to my body or further decrease my quality of life than it already has: I will be the master not the slave to diabetes. 

Listen and Learn #BeWoW

If you’ve read many of my posts or know me very well then you know that my maternal grandfather, Papaw, was and still is a huge influence in my life. The stories and memories I could share involving him are almost endless. But today I’d like to share one specific story that has helped me my entire life, involving a small piece of advice he gave me. 

An eon or so ago when I decided to change careers and go into the car business I sought Papaw’s advice before actually taking the plunge. Of course, my wife and I had already discussed it at length but I wanted his input before I actually made a move. 

Although he gave me several pieces of good advice that day, after I had explained my position thoroughly to him, there’s one that jumped out in my mind today; that is what I want to share with you today: 

 

The Good Lord have you two ears and one mouth; use them in proportion. – Papaw

(I’m sure he wasn’t the first person to say those words but he was the first person I ever heard say them.)

These words served me well in my days in the car business. And they continue to do so today, long after that career has ended. 

You see, people need to know you care and listening attentively to what folks are saying shows them you do; it demonstrates your care for what they are saying, going through, in a way like none other can. It will help you to be a better spouse, parent, leader, and person-in-general, too. 

In the, in my opinion, extremely self-centered, narcissistic, “all about me” society, I think we would all do better to listen more and speak less. 

(This is my first time participating in Writer’s Quote Wednesday; make sure to check out the many great posts HERE.)

Winter Prowls: a #haiku

The leaves are changing, indeed beginning to fall, already. Nights are becoming more pleasant, cool and slightly crisp. Days, well, they are still fickle, ranging widely from summer-like to autumn-ish. But the winds that bring the rains this time of year, they are who betrays the trickery of the days, showing what lurks and will too soon be upon us. 

between gusts of wind
a bitter chill touches
winter prowls about

Inspired by Haiku Horizons weekly prompt.  

Small: a trimeric #poem

As I was browsing my blog feed this evening my interest was peaked by a prompt I saw; the word is small for this prompt from A Prompt Each Day. I immediately had an idea for this word and began to type away, planning to compose a haiku about my thought. Well, my thought was to big -ironic, I know – for a haiku so I write a trimeric poem instead.

from high above an acorn falls
finding a resting place
in a small crack in the ground
its roots soon will reach deeply down

finding a resting place
in the cool shade
a smile envelopes my face

in a small crack in the ground
my keys slip from my pocket
where they’ll never be found

its roots soon will reach deeply down
taking my keys far below
where man will never go


For those not familiar with this style of poetry I include the following information:

Trimeric \tri-(meh)-rik\ n: a four stanza poem in which the first stanza has four lines and the last three stanzas have three lines each, with the first line of each repeating the respective line of the first stanza.

The sequence of lines, then, is

abcd, b – -, c – -, d – -.

Tune Out the Rhetoric #BeWoW

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away … oh, wait, that’s a different story. What seems like a lifetime ago, all kidding aside, I used to be really into politics. But over the years my priorities have shifted, not saying politics isn’t important, to different issues/things and my interest in it has diminished. In fact, this is probably the first and last thing I’ll post about it – and it’s not even partisan, endorsing, or pandering. But hopefully it will be a little enlightening and thought provoking. 

In the United States we are full-swing into the campaigning season for the 2016 elections. (As a side note, I wish we were like other countries that limited the time candidates can inundate us with their too often untrue and slimey ads – but we don’t have that relief here, so onto my thought.) I am sick of candidates playing on our ignorance, and I use that word in the proper sense, not disparagingly, meaning the lack of knowledge. 

This is no new tactic; for years “they” have been feeding of the our collective fears of loosing our jobs, Social Security benefits, insurance, and much more. But now they (some anyway) are attempting to use our dislike or the unpopularity of the man who the country has elected president in the last two elections: Barak Obama. 

I know: many people don’t care for his policies or other things, many didn’t vote for him either. I get all that. But he is at his term limit; he can not be re-elected and come January 2016 will no longer be in the White House, no longer President, not longer making policy, etcetera. So why is it so many candidates are still saying in their ads how they’ll stand up to, fight against, or otherwise oppose Obama? Because of ignorance. By the time they are in office he will be out of office! 

Know who you are voting for. Know what they stand in/for and believe. And know who is playing the “ignorance card”. The. decide for yourself just who the ignorant one is: the candidate making these claims or the voter believing them. 

It has been well said that knowledge is power; empower yourself and vote for the candidates that align with your thoughts and beliefs, not out of fear. Tune out the deafening rhetoric and vote your conscience. 

Razors Edge: a #haiku

Normally I don’t do this but this week I’m taking a little “artistic license” with Ronovan’s weekly challenge; not only am I stretching the use of one of the challenge words I’m also breaking the syllable rule for haiku, which I never do! I hope with all that this still fits the proverbial-bill.

a stag handled knife
sharpened to a razors edge
speech dissects rhetoric

Seasons: a trimeric #poem

While browsing my blog feed this morning I came across a new-to-me poetry form called a trimeric. The style intrigued me so I thought I’d give it a go. (You can read more about this style HERE where I found it.)

The seasons change
Swinging to and fro
Crossing the spectrum
Wonder how it’ll go?

Swinging to and fro
Temperatures, humidity from
Very high or low

Crossing the spectrum
Winter freezes my bones
In summer I nearly smother

Wonder how it’ll go?
Forecasters seem to guess
Arthritis points towards a mess

The theme of the poem was inspired by prompt #83 from A Week for Writing, which is a flash prompt, limited to 50 words. I missed that limit initially and had to rewrite my poem to get it to 50 words from the original 67, not an easy thing for me but fun none the less!