This story caught my eye.

A recycling company owner plead guilty in federal court in South Bend, Indiana, yesterday for selling defective test strips.

Bayer paid the recycling company $8,000 to dispose of the test strips, which were part of a 2007 recall. Dispose of the test strips he did; On the Internet. Well, he attempted to. I guess the eight grand wasn't enough. I'm not sure if any of the test strips were purchased before they were removed from the Internet, but think of the harm he could have caused. What a scumbag!

I don't know the avenue in which one takes to sell defective test strips on the Internet (shocking as that may be), but I might be a little leery if I came across Crazy Kenny's Recycling, Pool Cleaning and Test Strip Hut while on the Internet. Maybe I'm just naïve. Perhaps it's a much more sophisticated racket than that.

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www.mothernature.com

I promise you, I don't go looking for bloggable moments from Charlie. I don't follow him around the house like the Verizon Wireless guy, asking, "How do feel about diabetes now? How do you feel about diabetes now? How do you feel about diabetes now?"

Take last night, for instance. I was minding my own business as I dried him off after his shower and we walked into his room, when he hits me with ,

"Dad, do you ever wish you had diabetes?"

"Well ,," I said, stalling while thinking how best to respond.

"Well, sometimes I do because I don't want you to feel alone."

"Oh," Charlie said with a thin smile. "I thought you were going to say 'no.'"

"Why?" (READ MORE)

www.google.com

"pink fingernails; blood under fingernails"

As early as 400 BCE, Hippocrates taught that the nails reflect the condition of the inner body. It is true that abnormalities of the nails can often provide early clues to common medical problems or severe systemic diseases.

Red or deep pink: Can indicate a tendency to poor peripheral circulation.

Half white/half pink: May indicate fungal infection or, more seriously, kidney disease.

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What you don't want to hear from your diabetes educator is "hmm, good question." That is, unless it's immediately followed by a good answer.

There has been a burning question of ours since Charlie started on the pump back in September of 2006. During that time, we posed the question to several different people along the way, but never really got a clear answer.

So I present this burning question to you - the true gurus of diabetes.

How can Charlie skip a meal if he wanted to? Is this a mythical notion or do people out there actually achieve this? If Charlie didn't eat something two to three hours after a bolus, he would most certainly go low. I'll ask you exactly what I asked the doctor and nurse practitioner the other day. (READ MORE)

If by some miracle diabetes is cured, I shall name my next two children after the two cancer drugs that made it possible. We will adopt two Eastern European brothers and name them Gleevec and Sutent. I just hope everyone gets along.

Charlie: Mom! Gleevec called me Sugar Boy!

Susanne: Carey, can you deal with this? I'm running out to buy more cake.

Carey: Gleevec, stop teasing your brother. Besides, he's cured now. We don't call him Sugar Boy anymore.

Susanne: We never … oh, forget it. Charlie, do you want some pie too? I can ask them to sprinkle jelly beans on top. Or would you rather Skittles?

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There's probably a good reason why iconic film characters don't tend to have diabetes. I was curious to see how diabetes might play out in a classic scene from a classic film.  Stay tuned for more to come. Here's the first installment. It comes from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.

The scene:

After landing on Yavin IV, the Death Star plans are analyzed by the Rebel Alliance and a weakness is discovered that could potentially destroy the deadly space station. Teenage moisture farmer and Jedi-in-training Luke Skywalker, recently diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, is called upon to destroy the evil Death Star and save the Rebel base from total obliteration.

Luke's X-wing speeds down the trench; three TIE fighters, still in perfect unbroken formation, tail close behind.

Biggs looks around at the TIE fighters. He is worried.

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