Road Rage Quiz

Take the BOSD Road Rage Quiz:

 Add up your points, as indicated by the number next to your answer.

1)When driving, you don't want to be without:
0- your driver's licence and insurance card.
1- your booming loud stereo.
2- your loud voice for cursing out the other drivers.
3- your loud horn.

2)Turn signals:
0- are so important! Driving would be really dangerous without them!
1- are important to use when other drivers are on the road.
2- are important to use when there are cops around.
3- ruin that element of surprise!

3)The main use of the horn is:
0- for emergencies, such as to warn a child that you are coming if he runs out onto the street and doesn't see you.
1- to let someone know you are waiting outside their house...
2- to beep at someone who is about to back out of his driveway if you think he doesn't see you driving by.
3- to vent your anger at someone who cuts you off.

4)At a four way stop:
0- you have the right of way, but you'll wait for him to go just to be a little safer.
1- you have the right of way so you go.
2- you both got to the stop sign at the same time, so technically neither of you has the right of way, but you figure he'll wait, and you go first.
3- you slow down enough to make sure there are no cops around.

5)The light is turning yellow:
0- you were approaching the intersection slowly anyway, so you have plenty of time to stop.
1- you really wanted to make this light, but you'll wait for the next green.
2- you speed up to make the light. You are in a hurry after all.
3- if you close your eyes and don't see it turning red then it doesn't count as running a red.

6)The cop pulls you over:
0- oh my gosh it must be terrifying! It never happened to me.
1- my headlight is out.
2- I was speeding through a "yellow" light.
3- why can't they make up their minds? Last week they took my licence away and today they want me to show it to them?!?

7)You are in traffic court:
0- accompanying your friend. You can't imagine how scary it must be for her!
1- to show proof that you had your headlight fixed within 24 hours so your ticket comes off.
2- the lady at the desk is starting to look familiar.
3- the judge offers you a 3 for 1 special on your tickets.


8) Tailgating:
0- Is really dangerous. I don't know what people are thinking when they do it!
1- Is OK when you are following someone and you don't want to lose them, as long as you don't follow too close.
2- Can be useful from time to time.
3- Is the best tool to use when some little old lady decides to suddenly become all law-abiding right when YOU pull up behind her!


9) The light turns green and the person in front of you doesn't seem to realize. You:
0- just wait patiently. These things happen.
1- inch up a little, hoping he'll notice eventually.
2- lean on the horn.
3- swerve around him on the right, narrowly missing some pedestrians and a big wooden fence.

10)Your driving motto is:

0- "arrive alive, drive 25"

1- "this car is constipated; hasn't passed a thing all day"

2- "never drive faster than your guardian angel can fly"

3- "caution! I drive like you drive!"

Your Point Ranking:

0-5- Please stay at home.

6-10- You are the kind of people that irritate me when I am driving behind you. Please pull over and let me pass.

11-15-You should be taking some lessons on how to deal with irate drivers.

16-26- You aren't too bad. Just stay out of the left lane!

26-30-Caution! You drive like I drive!

Now tell me how you did. ;) I'll tell you soon....I need to find a calculator to add up all my points. :-D

D-Myths Lesson 5: People With Diabetes Can't Eat Any Sugar. Ever.

(this post is dedicated to a very special friend of mine who spent a very frightening who-knows-how-long on motzei shabbos on the phone screaming at me not to go to sleep and trying to explain to my sugar craved brain that I need to take the plastic wrapper off of the straw before I can drink the juice out of it. Darling, I am not naming you for obvious reasons, but please know that however thankful I told you I was, I was a LOT more thankful. More than you can imagine.)

In a previous post I alluded to this widespread, highly aggravating, and possibly dangerous myth. "Everybody" knows (perhaps the same "everybody" that goes out with the best bachur in Lakewood every night.) that diabetics can't eat any sugar. That's why, in the babysitters club books (remember those? :-p) the diabetic girl, Stacy, pulls out a package of crackers, or an apple when the other girls are eating candy and chocolate. Now, in an interview with the author, she said she knows all about diabetes because her cat has it. I hope this won't sound very depressed of me, but if I would ever have a cat (I wouldn't) and the cat would get diabetes, I'd have it put down. I mean, I don't think cats serve a purpose in this world, but diabetic cats have a very specific purpose. To use up your money. I mean, imagine using your hard earned money buying insulin and syringes for a dumb CAT?!? And then imagine using more hard earned money getting your claw marks taken care of when the cat doesn't show appropriate hakaros hatov to you for keeping him alive with shots...
Back to our friend Stacy, who was being unfairly excluded from the candy fest that the other girls had. If she would have pulled out a bag of celery sticks, or maybe some mixed nuts, it would have made some sense. I would have assumed she was high and was waiting for her blood sugar to come down before pigging out on a whole bunch of candy.
Let me explain:
Diabetes means the person has a problem processing and using carbohydrates. Carbs include all kinds of grains, potatos, fruits...things like that. When you eat these forms of carbs, the body breaks it down into the smallest form: glucose. From there, the body (through the use of insulin, whether produced or injected) absorbs the glucose from the bloodstream to the cells. Once in the cells, the glucose is converted into energy. There is a certain balance that needs to be maintained. The glucose level in the bloodstream needs to be about 80-100 mg/dl. A "normal" person's body maintains this level on it's own. A person with diabetes needs to do it manually. Here's the point: a person with type 1 diabetes needs to calculate the amount of carbs he is eating, and take insulin accordingly. While he does have to think about all carbs, it doesn't matter what kind of carbs they are.
So now you see why I was confused at Stacy's poor food choices. I mean, I assume this was in the days. Before insulin pumps, when we had to take injections when we wanted to eat, but it still doesn't make sense. Stacy had to take an injection for the apple, the crackers and the rice cakes, so why couldn't she just enjoy herself? Weird huh? Maybe she was a health nut or something...
Here is the second half of the myth, the dangerous half. I am running the risk of boring people, as I am repeating myself somewhat, but it's a risk I will take. I figure the knowledge I am about to give you might save a life one day, in which case, it's worth it. As I said, this myth is dangerous. If people with diabetes can't have sugar, then it makes sense to snatch the sugar out of that diabetic's hands, right? Or maybe the juice box in the glove carpatment of her car would be a good choice, as would the winkies in her pocketbook. Um... Nope. WRONG! as I said before, diabetes is about maintaining proper blood sugar levels through insulin injections. For those diabetics, like me, who failed 7th grade math, this could present a problem. (Thank God for bolus wizards, as you are about to discover inspired....;). And miscalculations do happen.
For example:
I am supposed to take one unit of insulin for every ten grams of carbs. Imagine I think I am eating 50 grams of carbs, and thus take 5 units of insulin. Turns out, it was only 30 grand of carbs. So I took two units more than I should have. That means that despite the fact that normally my body needs insulin, in a case like this, you would say that my body is suffering from an excess of insulin. Because blood sugar levels don't only need to be kept from going too high, they also need to be kept from going too low. As I said, it's a balance. Low blood sugar actually poses a more immediate threat to people with diabetes than a high blood sugar. So, back to this motzei shabbos. I can't tell you what happened to make it go so low. I was on the phone with my friend when suddenly I mentioned I might be low. To make the entire morbid story a little shorter, my brain was suffering from a real lack of sugar, and I couldn't even figure out how to check my blood sugar. (!) A lot of coaxing, coaching, and crying later, and I actually managed the incredible feat of unwrapping a plastic straw and sticking it into a little juice box. All that effort....just for a little bit of......SUGAR! Now you see what the dangers are? There are times when a diabetics lack of sugar can be life threatening!
If you learn only one lesson from reading my blog, please make it this:
If a diabetic is unconcious, if you are unable to check his blood sugar, JUST GIVE HIM SUGAR. It is a lot more likely to pass out from a low than a high, and thus imperitive to give some form of sugar to the unconcious diabetic. (An EMT who sees a medical alert bracelet saying that someone is a diabetic will give him sugar.)

Ok, there. I have gone through all the diabetes myths I can think of off the top of my head. This was by no means a comprehensive list. If you have other questions please post them as comments or email me justablob[at]gmail[com].
If you think I made a mistake, please bring it to my attention. I don't want to spread any misinformation. If you or someone you know has diabetes please email me at the above mentioned email address, I'd love to talk to you or help in any way I can.

Sorry if i bored you. Thank you for listening. Now I promise we'll move on from the diabetes posts, at least for a bit. Deal?

D-Myths Lesson 4: You Get Diabetes From Eating Too Much Sugar

This is probably the only diabetes myth that actually has a basis in fact, as remote as it may be. Now, I know that I keep promising an explanation of the various differences between type 1 diabetes and type 2, but please be patient as I want to finish these myths first. In order to understand this myth though, you have to understand something.
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease. That means that the body, for some Unknown, unpreventable reason, decides to attack itself. There are various things that the body will attack, and based on that, there are various autoimmune diseases. Type 1 diabetes is just one of many. (Unfortunately.) Type 1 diabetes occurs when the body attacks and kills the insulin producing cells in the pancreas. This results in no insulin production, which results in a need for insulin from an external source. There is nothing you can do to prevent type 1 diabetes. They don't know what causes it. Most of the people who get diabetes are young children, many of whom are skinny.

There are quite a number of reasons that someone would make this mistake. Let's go through them:
~The full name for what we know as diabetes is Diabetes Mellitus. Mellitus means sugar. There are other kinds of diabetes out there, but this one is Sugar Diabetes, (or sugar 'betes... ;). So it makes sense, that someone with deficiencies in their intelligence would think that sugar causes it, right?
~When the scientists first began to understand a little about diabetes, they realized that if the patient would be put on a starvation diet it would prolong their life. Now we know that it is because diabetes is a result of the body's inability to metabolize food properly, but in those days they didn't understand that. So I guess it stands to reason that there are people who are 100 years behind on their knowledge of medicine.
~This is, I believe, the main reason for this myth. Type 2 diabetes is not autoimmune. It is caused by a number of factors, including lifestyle and genetics. While many prominent endocrinologists insist that genetics play a stronger role in the development of type 2 diabetes, the fact remains that lifestyle options are a contributing factor. In addition, people are often diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, and told: "You need to watch your sugar intake". I will go into this more in a later post, but for now, suffice it to say that type 2 diabetes is preventable, and in some cases treatable, through healthy lifestyle choices. Type 1 diabetes is not.

Child Ish Behavior, I hope I made myself clear. The next myth will be a further explanation of sugar intake for people with diabetes.

I think I need some candy..... :-D

D-Myths Lesson 3: You Outgrow Juvenile Diabetes

(Little Sheep, this is for you! ;)

In the olden days, before they knew much about diabetes, they noticed a pattern. People were being diagnosed with diabetes, but it seemed like there were some differences.
Firstly, they noticed that people were being diagnosed at a very young age OR when they were older. They also noticed that the diabetes at the two different ages seemed different. So they decided that there are two different types of diabetes. Maturity Onset diabetes is the kind that older people get (made sense, right?). Juvenile Diabetes is the kind that children get.
That worked for a while, until the idiots came along.

SMI: oh, you have juvenile diabetes. I guess when you grow up you'll outgrow it and you'll have the other kind.
SD: Is your stupidity a transient thing also?

So they had to change the names. Well, ok, that's not why they had to change the name. It was more as a result if the confusion. Picture this scenario:

(A 90 year old man is in the hospital.)
Dr: you have diabetes.
NYOM: I do?
Dr: yes. You have Juvenile Diabetes.
NYOM: I DO??? (excited) maybe they'll start asking me for ID to buy alcohol!

So, as they learned more and more about diabetes, doctors realized they had a problem. Young people can get Maturity Onset Diabetes, and old people can get Juvenile Diabetes. So they renamed it type 1 and type 2. Type 1 is the name for the former Juvenile Diabetes and type 2 is the name for the former Maturity Onset Diabetes. I will explain the difference between them in a later post, but for now please realize that they are actually opposites!
Back to the names for the various types of diabetes types, they have a new problem. They are starting to see that there are more types of diabetes than those original two. Many of you may have heard of gestational diabetes, which is the type you get in pregnancy. I personally think that name is so boring. I mean, it doesn't leave people wondering. So the new names for the newer types of diabetes are much better: LADA, MODY....makes people wonder. Can you figure out what they mean? Maybe we should petition for the next form of diabetes to be called BOSD....
But I digress. The point is, aside from the fact that the term JD is totally outdated, it never had anything to do with the time that you are supposed to outgrow it. The depressing reality is, you never outgrow type 1 diabetes. It is for life. There is no cure. And it certainly doesn't go away on it's own. And please try to understand this now, because I get sad writing it, and I don't plan to repeat it.
So don't bother telling me to grow up. It won't make the diabetes go away....

D-Myths Lesson 2: Diabetes is Contagious

While many diseases are contagious, diabetes is not a disease, remember?
Type 1 diabetes is caused by unknown reasons, but they are pretty sure association is not one of them. I mean, take my friends, THEY don't have diabetes. And if I was able to give diabetes to somone, I know some of MWMF that might enjoy trying it first hand...
I'll admit that I never had personal experience with this matter. I mean, I was diagnosed too late in life to have kids in my class taunt me by calling me "sugar girl" and run and hide as a result of their fear of catching diabetes.
So, while I don't think this myth is very widely believed anymore, I wanted to throw it out there. Unfortunately, I can't give away my diabetes. I can't even share it.

D-Myths Lesson 1: People With Diabetes Are Sick

Fact: People with diabetes are fine. Period. End of story. I explained this in a detailed manner already, but let me explain some of the ways this irks me.
Allow me to introduce you to MWMF, or Mom's well meaning friend. The sweeter they are, the more they hurt. (Omg, I just realized that awful pun. Excuse me.)

MWMF #1: It's so sad to see a young girl like you having to deal with these terrible medical problems. It mamish breaks my heart.
SD: Drop dead.

MWMF #2: Oy, your poor daughter is sick with diabetes!
SD: Drop Dead.

MWMF #3: Oy vey, it's so sad that your daughter is so sick but at least it's only juvenile diabetes so she'll outgrow it soon.
SD: Drop dead.

MWMF #4: Wow, you are so accomplished even though you are sick.
SD: DROP DEAD.

Ok, I know I shouldn't be wishing for such sweet (:-p) well meaning people to drop dead so often, so I came up with a better solution. Encourage Mom to become a hermit. So far no progress on that front, but I'll let you know....

So, to sum it up: People with diabetes are not sick. People with diabetes simply need to work a little harder to stay healthy. Telling people with diabetes that they are sick will result in nasty wishes heaped upon your sweet (:-p) head.

Stay tuned for more diabetes myths....

The Power Of Syringe Wielding Parents

It's a little strange how these things bother the diabetes community, but they do. Tremendously. There are hundreds of people out there with type 1 diabetes and their parents (especially the parents-lol) who would be at your throats at the mere mention of any incorrect info regarding type 1 diabetes.
Now realize that I don't watch TV or movies, and if I did I would most definitely not be watching Hannah Montana (LOL). But I want to give this as an illustration. There was an episode of of HM that was supposed to come out, called "No sugar sugar".
Yes, supposed to come out. I say that because there is an online forum of parents of children with type 1 diabetes that found an illegal trailer of the episode. They were immediately up in arms. They felt that this episode portrayed many terrible myths about diabetes.
Let's go through some of them:
Firstly, they made it sound as if the boy with diabetes got it as a result of eating too much sugar. Which, of course, he didn't. Scientists still don't know what causes type 1 diabetes, but over consumption of sugar is not even among their choices. (On the other hand, vitamin D deficiency might be....omg.) the parents felt this may hurt their children, as people will accuse them of causing their own diabetes. Makes sense, IMO.
The more important one was this: they kept stressing the importance of not eating sugar if you have diabetes. While this myth is simply that, a myth, it can also be dangerous. Here's why. On a regular basis, someone with type 1 diabetes can eat all the sugar they want, there are times when they MUST have sugar. Imagine this scenario:

(SD is answering questions in a monotone and monosyllables. She also looks spaced out, and her hands are shaking.)
SMI: SD, are you ok?
SD: dunno.
SMI: is there anything I can do for you?
SD: dunno.
SMI: um, you have diabetes, right?
SD: yeah.....
SMI: so you need insulin or something?
SD: no.....sugar.....
SMI: sugar? For a diabetic??? I think NOT!! I wouldn't want you to get sick!
SD: ....but.....I'm.....low.....
SMI: listen, I don't know much about diabetes, but I know this: people with diabetes can't have sugar under any circumstances and no excuse you will give me is going to convince me to give you something potentially harmful!

Whether she pours out my orange juice, dumps my winkies in the trash, or simply yells at me not to eat that, you can see how this can become a potentially dangerous situation. If my blood sugar is low, I NEED sugar. My blood sugar doesn't get low too often, and it has hardly gotten to the level that I need someone to assist me in getting sugar, but the few times that it has, I recovered feeling very grateful that I hadn't been in the presence of idiots who were dangerously misinformed. (Or at least that I hadn't been in the presence of people who think they know everything because they watched it on Hannah Montana...)
So anyway, back to our super dedicated parents, they did everything possible to prevent this show from airing. They emailed and called the big shots at the Hannah Montana show. They rallied for public support. They did everything in their power. And it worked! The episode was pulled. And the illegal trailer was removed from YouTube before I could manage to watch it, which is a shame, because I would have loved to actually know what I was talking about rather than make it up...
The moral of the story: don't underestimate the power of overtired, syringe wielding parents in large groups. Oh, wait, the moral was supposed to have something to do with giving sugar to diabetics, well sorry, you'll have to figure it out on your own...

So what are the top diabetes myths? I'll let you know in an upcoming post. Right now I'm off to eat some sugar just to prove people wrong.... ;)

A Delivery of Sand!

I was looking through a shelf of books, when someone walked up next to me. It was at that moment when I noticed miracle ride on the shelf. Now, I probably read miracle ride about 10 times, but, being that the rest of the books there were....um I don't want to say lashon harah so let's just say not the greatest....I figured it was my best bet. PD (princess denial) looked at me and said "oh, so you never read that book before". I replied that actually, I read it a few times but I figured I'd read it again. So she replied "oh, I didn't like that book." I was surprised that anyone could read this book without loving it, so I asked her why. "oh well, y'know. I mean, ok, this girl was sick, buy why do I need to read about it? I'm not sick."
Now, I'm kinda non-confrontationalist, so I walked away, and answered this idiot in my head.
What do you mean why do you need to read about it? Yes, you're not sick today, but that isn't a guarantee for tomorrow! And, when was the last time you woke up in the morning and said "thank you Hashem I can see. Thank you Hashem I have legs with which to get out of bed. Thank you Hashem my senses work. Thank you Hashem there is no disease wrecking havoc in my body!" No, it's just "why should I mess up my happy little existence by reading about situations that are less than perfect? Those kinds of things don't happen to people like me anyway....
I bet this is the same type of girl who wouldn't read Little Sheep's blog. If she doesn't want to read about people having cancer, I'm pretty sure reading about a girl being abused by her own brother would push her perfect little self off the deep end! But, this is the sad world we live in. People get cancer. People are abused. It happens. We have to be aware, not bury our heads in the sand. We have to thank Hashem for every day that passes disaster free, not take it as a given. And most importantly, we have to be aware of what's out there so we can be aware of what's NOT in our lives.

But no, this person would rather order another shipment of sand!

Two Peas In a Pod

While I'm generally opposed to the idea of laughing at people for no good reason, I can't help but laugh at this pair of twins I met last shabbos.
They are twelve years old. A little too old, if you ask me, to be wearing matching outfits with matching coats and boots. And matching shabbos robes. And matching nightgowns. When I was looking for some way to tell them apart, I also noticed their matching earrings. And glasses. And watches. Oh, and did I mention their first names rhyme? (lol)
Of course they looked at me with the same huge eyes, with identical stares that wondered why I'm so different.
So, being that they are absolutely impossible to tell apart, I asked them how they take advantage of it. They looked back at me blankly (matching blank stares of course). "What do you mean?" So I told them: well, if I had an identical twin I'd really confuse people and use it to our advantage. (identical horrified grins. Perfect. I continue) for example, if you have two tests on the same day, you can each study for one and switch classes as needed so that you'll only have to take one of the tests (albeit twice...but the second time is always easier anyway...). Needless to say, both twins emitted identical horrified shrieks.
So we finished up our little conversation, and went back to our own lives.
Bit I can't help wonder. Will they wear matching wedding gowns? What about their kids? Will they have to match? When do you get to consider it embarrassing to match your twin? And what the heck is their mother thinking?

Driving (Me) Crazy!

You know what really irks me? I hate it when you are driving, and someone cuts you off.

 

Um......duh? You're probably thinking.

 

Well, you you know what makes me so angry? Like, really really really angry? I absolutely can not stand it when a car cuts you off and then hhhhhheeeeee ggggoooooeeeeesssssss rrrrreeeeeaaaaaalllllllllllllllllllllyyyyyyyyy ssssssslllllllooooooooowwwwwwlllllllllyyyyyyyyyyy.

 

I mean, here I am, merrily cruising down the road at a steady 40 miles an hour. And this wise guy decides that it would be smart to turn, when I am real close. I slam on my brakes, and wait for him to speed up. But it doesn't happen. He stays at that 25 mile an hour mark. I try tailgating him, brighting him, trying to get him move a little. Nothing doing.

 

But sir, MAKE UP YOUR MIND! If you are in such a lack of a rush (sorry, I know that made absolutely NO sense, but I think you get it.) why did you feel that pressing need to cut me off? Are you some kind of crazy sadist who enjoys watching people suffer? Do you even hear the nasty things I am muttering at you from my car? Don't you realize that I am in a RUSH? Ok, even if I am not, do you realize how stressful it is to have to tailgate you all the way to my destination?

 

*Sigh*

 

And yet, somehow, life moves on. Uh oh, I better watch out cause that might be a lesson applicable elsewhere in life...