Porterfield

… our lives were changed forever.

It was one year ago today that Ethan was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. As I ponder that, I have very mixed emotions. In many ways our lives have been blessed. After initial diagnosis I would have never expected that. But I have met some of the most wonderful people and have had truly marvelous experiences due to this terrible disease.

Many nights when I am tired, and I want to sleep, and his BG is too high or too low, I curse this disease. As I think about his future of always having to be aware of his BG; of how exercise, diet, sleep and everything else effects BG, I curse this disease. When I hear of a new diagnosis, I curse this disease. When I hear of another child who doesn’t live the long life that they should, I curse this disease.

The ultimate blessing will of course be a cure, and it can’t get here fast enough. But until that happens I will continue to curse this disease, and I will continue to be amazed at the new and wonderful way we continue to be blessed.

This year, I’ll be taking part in the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s Walk to Cure Diabetes along with a half-million other walkers across the country. Our goal: To raise $105 million to help fund research for a cure for type 1 diabetes and its complications.

The walk in Chattanooga is April 25th, 2010 starting in Coolidge Park.

Type 1, or juvenile, diabetes, is a devastating, often deadly disease that affects millions of people–a large and growing percentage of them children. My younger son Ethan was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes on April 20th of last year.

Many people think type 1 diabetes can be controlled by insulin. While insulin does keep people with type 1 diabetes alive, it is NOT a cure. Aside from the daily challenges of living with type 1 diabetes, there are many severe, often fatal, complications caused by the disease. Currently Ethan wears an insulin pump 24×7 and has his blood sugar checked 10 times each day to keep him healthy and alive.

That’s the bad news…

The good news, though, is that a cure for type 1 diabetes is within reach. In fact, JDRF funding and leadership is associated with most major scientific breakthroughs in type 1 diabetes research to date. And JDRF funds a major portion of all type 1 diabetes research worldwide, more than any other charity.

Please visit my Walk Web page if you would like to donate online:

http://walk.jdrf.org/walker.cfm?id=87663989

Ethan is a huge Star Wars fan so he chose our team name – Team Jedi. We will be walking as a family team but extend that to any friends who would like to join us on the day of the walk.

When the situation seems impossible, when it seems all hope is lost - that's the time when you most need to rely on your family and friends. There is always hope.

I've written about interesting UI's before. Ran across this one today - 10/GUI. Watch the video to see the concept in action.

10/GUI from C. Miller on Vimeo.

Essentially a GUI and hardware device that uses the fingers rather than a mouse to control what happens on the screen.

I saw this posted in a health related forum that I monitor and thought it worthy of raising the visibility. This is written from the perspective of an American who moved to Britain where there is nationalized health care. It is a well thought out and interesting discussion of the pros/cons of nationalized health care. Some interesting reading in the comments as well. http://potentialandexpectations.wordpress.com/2009/08/13/this-americans-experience-of-britains-healthcare-system/

If you've seen the movie Minority Report then you probably remember the scene where Tom Cruise's character was using a hand gestures to move images around. It turns out that the technology in the movie was based on some expermental technology that is now no longer experimental. See the following: And then visit Oblong.com for more info.

This article has me depressed - For South, a Waning Hold on National Politics. You have to read past the title. Even in the 21st century, it appears racism is still very much alive in the south. This shouldn't surprise me, but I had always hoped that things were getting better. Apparently not.

in Alabama, where Mr. McCain won 60.4 percent of the vote in his best Southern showing, he had the support of nearly 9 in 10 whites, according to exit polls, a figure comparable to other Southern states. Alabama analysts pointed to the persistence of traditional white Southern attitudes on race as the deciding factor in Mr. McCain’s strong margin

“Race continues to play a major role in the state,” said Glenn Feldman, a historian at the University of Alabama, Birmingham. “Alabama, unfortunately, continues to remain shackled to the bonds of yesterday.”

David Bositis, senior political analyst at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, pointed out that the 18 percent share of whites that voted for Senator John Kerry in 2004 was almost cut in half for Mr. Obama. “There’s no other explanation than race,” he said.

And then this:

Don Dollar, the administrative assistant at City Hall, said bitterly that anyone not upset with Mr. Obama’s victory should seek religious forgiveness. “This is a community that’s supposed to be filled with a bunch of Christian folks,” he said. “If they’re not disappointed, they need to be at the altar.”

So on the one hand I am excited that as a nation we have come so far as to be able to elect an African-American to the highest office in the land, I am saddened that there are still parts of the nation, including the part where I live, that still has a long way to go.

Chattanooga received some great news for its economy and jobs today. Volkswagen announced that they will be building a new assembly plant in Chattanooga. The plant will employ 2000 workers at capacity, with an annual production capacity of 150,000 vehicles. The plant represents a 1 billion dollar ($1,000,000,000) investement by Volkswagen. For more details see http://www.volkswagenag.com/vwag/vwcorp/info_center/en/news/2008/07/US_Tennessee.html

The Great Need of the Hour That's what the speech was called. If you haven't yet had a chance to hear it or read it, you need to do so. Not because of who made it and where we are in our country's history, but because of its content. The setting is Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. The date was January 20, 2008. The occassion was the anniversary of the birth of Rev Martin Luther King, Jr, or MLK day. I'll leave my comments at that, here is a direct link to the speech - http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/rospars/CGxG9

Microsoft announced yesterday changes to WGA behavior for Windows Vista with SP1. The full release can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2007/dec07/12-03wga.mspx A quick summary of the change is that with Windows Vista today, if WGA determined that your system was not geniune it would show you a message to that effect. But worse than that nag, it would switch your PC to reduced functionality mode. Reduced functionality means no AERO interface, no Ready Boost, no premium content. For more info on reduced functionality see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/925582. With SP1, if you WGA determines your Vista install is not genuine, it will no longer put your PC in reduced functionality mode. According to the press release:

Users whose systems are identified as counterfeit will be presented with clear and recurring notices about the status of their system and how to get genuine. They won’t lose access to functionality or features, but it will be very clear to them that their copy of Window Vista is not genuine and they need to take action.