“And I… love technology. But not… as much as you, you see. But I still… love technology… always and forever!!!”

Getting a decent internet connection speed has been a life-saver!!! Before we moved to Lookout Pointe, we used Qwest, who gave us anywhere from 1 Mbps to 3 Mbps downstream, which was really nice. We could watch TV shows on Hulu.com, watch Netflix movies without a problem, and playing on XBOX Live was pretty good. The only problems we faced were if I was playing online and Chey was using the internet on her MacBook at the same time. Not a bad gig, huh? Well, since moving to Lookout Pointe, we discovered that Qwest had TERRIBLE service up here. Their lines couldn't handle that connection speed, so they downgraded our account to only receive a max of 640 kbps downstream. The next few weeks were torturous as I was trying to perform SEO duties with a mode speed of 288 kbps. We even got down to about 150 kbps. It was the slowest, least productive month of my life, I think. How was I going to continue linking to web pages when it took approximately 1 minute to load a page?

Well, we decided to jump ship to Comcast. They have a promotion going on currently where for $30/month, we get 12 Mbps. 12 Mbps!!! You can't possibly understand how relieved I am, now that I can truly surf the web, play games, and watch movies AT THE SAME TIME!!! It's incredible.

I'm thankful that our apartment complex already has Comcast basic cable, so that we can enjoy this new-found freedom at an affordable price.

Diabetic Dreams

Today, I've been thinking a lot about one of my wife's ultimate dreams; something that I would love to do, too! So, Chey wants to run a diabetes camp one day, to help kids cope with the struggles of managing their diabetes during their adolescence. I know it was hard for me, being diagnosed at 16 years old, to make a transition that stuck with me. I still have somewhat of a roller-coaster of management of my diabetes, but I have been working on it. Chey is the same way with her diabetes. This camp will have your normal summer camp activities, such as hiking, camping, mess hall eating, rifle and shotgun ranges, horseback riding, fishing, rafting, sailing, and such. You know, a normal summer camp. The only difference is that it will be only for kids diagnosed with diabetes.

Our hope with this dream is that we can help kids realize that they can still do everything normally, and still keep tight control over their blood glucose levels and Hemoglobin A1C. After all, with the increasing number of children being diagnosed with this disorder, it's important to teach kids to take care of themselves.

During this camp, we'll also have guest speakers in the world of diabetes research and management talk to the kids about how important it is to take care of themselves, but also to show them that their dreams can come true, even with a disease such as this. We would like these researchers and doctors to also encourage the kids to look into careers in diabetes research and management.

During adolescence, it is very difficult to be strong in good habits and morals when you feel like you're the only one that does those things. To combat that teenage mentality, we would like to set up a mentoring program for the kids, where younger diabetics can have cool older friends (around the United States and beyond) who have diabetes, too.

We have high hopes for this plan, and we would like it to be run as a non-profit organization.

We understand the difficulty in running things like this, but I have thought of a great way to spread the word about the camp and stay connected with the kids.

I would like to host a website that offers a blood glucose monitoring system (that keeps track of results entered in; sends email responses to users who don't log their numbers in the system daily; allows the user to see a summary of their diabetes management history, with a summary page of averages in blood glucose numbers, as well as an At-A-Glance graphical view for results for given weeks, months, quarters, and years; gives projections of their future A1c results based on average blood glucose readings; helps people set short- and long-term goals for their health and diabetes management; and offers a "Carbs-In-Food" calculator to help people easily calculate how many carbohydrates are in their food and drinks, and how much insulin they should take. I would also like the website to help the people understand how the insulin reacts in their body over the course of the day, as an educational tool for people. All they would have to do is answer a few simple questions about their personal diabetes management (questions like what kind(s) of insulin they use, when they typically take them, how the insulin is delivered, when the person goes to bed and wakes up, when the person eats, if (and when) the person exercises, how much energy the person exerts during the day, etc), and then a graph and explanation would show up on the page, the graph showing how the insulin affects their blood sugar during the day, and the explanation describing step-by-step how their basal insulin and lifestyle affects their daily blood glucose levels, in general. Also, this website would act as a social network for those people looking for friendships and help coping with diabetes.

I know, it's pretty extensive, but that's my part of the dream. I am hoping the traffic on the page will allow for some advertising revenue, which would be put towards the camp. I would also talk with endocrinologists, pediatricians, and internists about promoting the website and encouraging use in the office, and in the homes of their patients. I am also hoping that pharmaceutical, health technology, research, and medical companies will band together with us to make these things happen for our participants, especially for the kids.

Another problem with diabetes: we cannot find college scholarships for kids with diabetes. So, we would also like to offer some scholarship money for diabetic kids getting ready to pursue their dreams.

It feels good to finally get these thoughts out on paper (well, sort of *LOL*). I want to know what you think. What do you like of our family pipe dream? How can we improve on these ideas? Are we leaving anything out? If you'd like to help out, by all means, let us know. This won't be happening for a little while, but I think that it can bring a lot of help to people as the frequency of this disability increases.

“I will be brief. I have decided to fulfill my dream of going into space. If you have a spaceship and are looking for a hilarious astronaut with an irregular heartbeat and thirty million dollars, I am prepared to leave as soon as tomorrow. I wrote that yesterday. I will not be taking questions.”

So, this morning I came to work and Liz just got back from Southern California with her family, where they went to Disneyland and Knott berry Farms. It sounded like she had a blast!!! She was talking about some of the rides, and one of them, she said, felt like she went from 0 to 80 miles per hour in about four seconds, and that four-second journey takes place all uphill. She then expressed that she would never want to go into space, for the sheer G-Force, among other factors. Well, that brought several things to mind:

1. Tracy Morgan as Tracy Jordan in 30 Rock, season 3, the episode called "Apollo, Apollo".
   
2. An article that came up on my RSS that Obama is trying to commercialize space travel.
   
3. My childhood days, where "I would look up into the stars and dream of going into space, escaping the slums, and killing an Ewok" (okay, so that's another Tracy Morgan quote from the episode mentioned above).
   

Just as a side note, if you've never watched 30 Rock, I suggest that you do so very quickly. That show is ridiculously hilarious and entertaining (one of the best comedy shows on TV).

The article I read was on DailyTech.com. It talks about SpaceX's successful space launch and talks a little about the history of commercial space flight, and some of the reservations that people have with it. In the comments under that article, someone mentioned that certain congressmen (and the author of the comment) were worried that with the commercialization of space travel would also lead to the loss of control that NASA and the US Government has on the cosmos, which (in their opinion) could lead to China militarizing space and leaving the United States of America in the dust. Personally, I think that man is paranoid. What's in near space that's of any value to the United States or China right now? So, what would be the point of militarization of that realm? I think commercializing space isn't a bad thing. It may be a waste of money, but not a security threat. Also, rich people spending millions of dollars on space travel will mean that those millions will trickle back into the economy. The more economic traffic there is, the better for the world in terms of economic recovery. That's just my opinion, though.

I'd like to sign off today with, yet, another quote from Tracy Morgan:

    "Space is very cold, but very beautiful. And sometimes it sounds like Jenna yelling in the distance."

Justice

My First Blog Post Ever

So, after hours and hours of learning new SEO techniques, and contemplating ways of improving upon those techniques, my mind began wandering. Then, I realized, "Hey, I haven't written a blog post yet for my blog". So, without further adue, I start my musings here. I will be getting my own domain, and posting work-related blog material on that, so any suggestions on a domain name would be wonderful. I've tried a few ideas, but they are already taken by attorneys and legal services companies (dang them for using my name). :D

Anyways…so, I think I should just talk a little about myself, what my interests are, and what I hope to accomplish by writing in this particular blog (like I said, work-related material will not be posted here, but may be mentioned or linked to from time to time).

• This blog is to help me sort out ideas, hopes, and dreams that I have for myself.
  

  I have some big plans, but they are still in pipe-dream phase. I would like to sort my ideas out in public, and I would like you readers to consider my ideas and give me feedback and criticism with regards to my plans. If you like my ideas, by all means, let me know!!! Let your friends know. Spread the word. Maybe we can make that idea a joint-venture. If you think of something to improve upon an idea of mine, please let me know. If you think my idea is crap, let me know and tell me why. I won't get offended. I promise.
  

• This blog is to share my concerns with how our world is turning out.
  

  Having a very young family (just my wife and I) has made me become a little more aware of what's going on around me, and, quite frankly, this world is going to hell very quickly!!! I will use this blog sometimes to just talk about politics, economics, business, religion, and whatever else is bombarding my home. During these posts, I would like comments about anything. Honestly, it doesn't really matter to me what you say, as long as you're serious. If you don't agree with me, it's fine. Let me know your side of the story. You're not only entitled to your own opinion, but you're entitled to express that opinion, too. Comment please!!!
  

• This blog is to talk about entertaining things that I find.
  

  Whether it's a new video game, an old movie that I recently saw, or a TV program that appalled me, I'll talk about those things.
  

• This blog is to express the deepest yearnings of my soul.
  

  Some of my blog posts may sound very religious in nature. Please don't take that as an offense. Spirituality is a HUGE part of my life, and without it, my life would be incomplete. If I sound preachy at times, I apologize in advance. However, I expect all to approach these spiritual musings with an open mind, and let the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Reason, your conscience, or whatever you call it, enlighten your mind. I can guarantee that, although you may not agree with my specific religious affiliation, you will learn some great things about yourself and the universe around you by pondering those topics of spirituality.
  

 

So, my goal is to write about something every day. I hope that my writing becomes better as I perform this exercise daily, and I hope that it stimulates my mind and the minds of the readers of this blog. Thanks for joining in.

Justice