Like the old ad for Skittles (chewy fruit-flavored candies), diabetes bloggers come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and flavors. [OK, all Skittles are square, but that's not the point.] Right here on Blogabetes, we range from parents of children with Type 1 diabetes (Carey, Julia), people who have lived most of their lives with type 1 diabetes (Nicole, Lindsey), people who were diagnosed with type 1 diabetes as adults (Michelle), and people with type 2 diabetes (myself, Mike). (READ MORE)

It's been a bit busy this week, leaving me somewhat late on reporting back on Saturday's d-group meeting to see Breakthrough: The Dramatic Story of the Discovery of Insulin, a special exhibit showing at the New York Historical Society. Since I had to work Sunday, this ended up as the total of my World Diabetes Day celebrations this year.

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I guess technically, I joined the diabetes online community back in October, 2005 when I joined dLife, and I became active in the overall DOC some time in 2008 -- but it wasn't until this year that I, and others, had the opportunity to "eyeball" the folk we'd been e-mailing, blogging to, commenting blog posts from, tweeting, and otherwise conversing with on various diabetes-related forums and social networks. 2009 is also the year dLife launched the dLife Community, and the year I started blogging here at Blogabetes.

Some of my year's highlights include:

March (READ MORE)

Mordent, or turn: in music, a grace of several short notes in tonic succession about the main tonal value.

Commenting on Amy Tenderich's Friday post discussing bloggers' viewpoints, I mentioned that the different types of diabetes blogs -- personal, technical, news, activist -- were like the various voices in a chorus, and that it is the counterpoint of different perspectives that presents the more complete view of how diabetes encompasses our lives (or how our lives encompass our diabetes). I had meant to pursue that line of thought here, but a key phrase in my draft -- "or like the instruments in an orchestra" -- set me off on a totally different tangent: if living with diabetes were a symphony, what would that symphony sound like?

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Time to close out your work week with a nice cup of coffee and the Blogabetes Weekly Round Up for November 30th.

Returning from maternity leave and ready to jump back in, Rebecca treats us to a four-part series on the birth of her first son. Great information here for anyone who is pregnant, or thinking of becoming pregnant, with diabetes. (READ MORE)

Last week I posted about my Insurance company giving me a scare about approving my insulin pump supplies.

Well, using a Minimed insulin pump in Southern California has its advantages since their products are shipped out of Northridge which is about 30 minutes from my house. Almost in my backyard! So my order which was sent via UPS 3-day select arrived at the Simmons house the very next day!

This made my stress level drop tremendously which we all know is good for the diabetes.

So that covers the first part of this post title. Now to the blogging.

I mentioned this insurance situation on my personal blog, where I often rant about my ups and downs with diabetes, and the coolest thing happened. (READ MORE)