I used to wonder why I frequently saw people buying enormous amounts of hamburger at the grocery store. There were so many theories I had, but really just couldn't for the life of me figure out what the big deal was with ground beef. There were so many better-tasting dishes to be made with chicken and pork, I thought.

And then I found myself unemployed for a year--and needing to take care of my family. Debt piled up and I had to find new ways to cut corners and spending. Becoming a comparison shopper made me finally see what the big deal was at the grocery store. You can get four skinless, boneless chicken breasts and feed your family of four one meal, or you can get 4 lb. of ground beef and feed your family of four almost all week. And for the same price. Oh, and you'll likely shell out more dough for leaner meat. Ah, it had become so clear. It wasn't about taste, it was clearly money. (READ MORE)

Towards the start of the Passover seder, three cakes loaves completely-formed pieces of matzoh are raised with the incantation,

"Lo, this is the bread of affliction [poor bread, lakhma ani] that our fathers ate in the land of Egypt. Let all who are hungry come and eat..."

Traditionally, we consider this bread "afflicted" or "poor" because it was made hastily, without having had time to rise. It was "poorly" made, and "afflicted" by a lack of the airy texture we associate with bread.

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With a new year come new ideas, new resolutions, new solutions to old problems, and of course new problems needing solutions.

Among the last is, once again, need for a full-time job. Cell phone sales were not high enough to keep me on until Christmas, so I am once again navigating the waters of unemployment and job-search.

For now, enough of that. The meme going around the Diabetes Online Community has been that of "spreading the word" -- both telling people with diabetes of the online resources available to us, and bringing our online activism out to the world in which we live, visit our doctors, purchase our food and medications, and educate our children. While most of us talk about outreach in terms of getting our real-life neighbors to hook up with our online resources, I see a different reality.

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It's unusual for me to have nightmares — especially nightmares about flying. Mine are usually about family relationships gone completely awry. But facing a World Diabetes Day on which I am working at a place whose uniform does not allow even a touch of blue, having given Nick Jonas my last World Diabetes Day pin (and not having had the money to replenish my stash), and having failed to have the presence of mind to do the Big Blue Test at least once (even though I am bicycling to and from work at least half the time), I feel a bit like a diabetes failure. (READ MORE)

Last week's #dsma (Diabetes Social Media Advocacy) twitter chat topic was the delivery of diabetes education, medication, supplies, and support to others -- both in the US (and other "First World" nations) and emerging ("Third World") nations. I've blogged before about the logistical and political issues organizations such as the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and Doctors Without Borders (MSF -- Médecins Sans Frontières) have in delivering medical care and medications to those in need. But while we often talk as if everyone in the United States had fingertip access to smartphones (with unlimited data plans), cable TV, and the Internet, that certainly is not the case.

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In the rainbows-and-unicorns world of diabetes activism, it is often said that one of the most egregious oversights in international politics is the lack of available medical insulin in economically-depressed areas and emerging nations. Our standard-bearers act as if all we need to do is ship tons of strips, gallons of insulin, and forests-worth of needles to the middle of the African bush and every person with diabetes will live forever in the world of Blood Sugar Nirvana and No Complications.

The truth of the matter is much more complex.

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