I have a trusty little pocked-sized notebook I carry around with me where ever I go. I wish I could say it's because I'm a writer or, better yet, a poet or songstress, and must commit the words to paper as soon as inspiration strikes lest they be lost forever. But no, those days are long gone. My pocket notebook serves a much more practical purpose these days. It's my food and exercise journal-slash-blood glucose and insulin log.

I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I'm not one of those technologically savvy girls who uploads her meter and spit out reports. Nope, call me old fashioned, but I keep all the information in my handy little pocket notebook. At least I'm not using quill and ink to write on a parchment scroll.

Of course, my doctor and dietitian don't find my trusty notebook nearly as useful. To them it's just a bunch of scribbles that make little or no sense, and granted, the further I get into my notebook, the sloppier my writing becomes. I always start out so neat and orderly, but with each passing week, the blood splattered pages begin to make less and less sense to the untrained eye.

No, the professionals always want the big chart with everything lined up by meal and time of day. And of course, each member of my diabetes care team seems to have a different idea of what the chart should look like.

I finally found a solution. Instead of re-logging my life on a half-dozen different charts, I enter all my information into the website dia-log.com. Once I put everything it, I click on reports and the site not only makes the chart my endocrinologist wants, it makes a neat carb-counting log for my dietitian, in addition to pie charts depicting the numbers of high, low and in range numbers and graphs pinpointing the times of day when I go high or low. With a few clicks, everybody's happy.

Of course, I'm still not about to give up my trusty notebook. It's just too handy. Or maybe I'm just too lazy to recount the carbs in the same meals over and over again, or do the convoluted math for the insulin-carb ratios. Another good reason for keeping it: When my husband accuses me of serving chicken three times in one week, I can look back and tell him exactly the last time we ate it.

Besides, who knows when poetic inspiration will strike again. My little pocket notebook will be just an arms reach away.