End of the Year busy work

December is almost over with. I haven't written much this month. Work has been busy and I haven't done much with my Guardian this month. This left we will little time to write and not much to write about.

I did have great success with the Sensor I inserted shortly after the first of December. I managed to get six days out of it. There was no irritation or bleeding. I pulled it out on a Saturday and inserted a new sensor on Monday. There were not problems with this sensor either. No blood or irritation. I did notice the proximity of the CGM needed to be closer then with the previous sensor.

I believe I can only get two charges for the transmitter out of a single battery. The battery is not used up, but it does not charge the transmitter as fully, or it reduces the signal strength of the transmitter. This is not really a problem, but I do end up sleeping with the CGM instead of keeping it on the headboard.

I managed to get another six days out of the last sensor. this took me to Saturday December 15th. There is another story or two at this point. They will be coming up in future blogs. Enough to say here, I have not had a sensor in since the 15th. I will put in a sensor today and I hope my good luck will continue.

Happy Holidays to all

Excellent Pilot

I am traveling again. Packing was easier this time, as it was just a few weeks ago when I was in San Francisco.

I had to low BGs this morning. I must have really misjudged my insulin requirements. Cold sweats and very tired. I also had a mild headache in the works.

I made it to the Airport and through security. I found a quite spot in the Airport to take a business call.

On the plain I had a nap and I felt better when I woke up. A two hour flight, so I had time to read, do e-mail and listen to music.

The landing in Detroit was uneventful. Just the way I like them. It was cold, but no snow. I was concerned with the weather as the storm that moved through Denver on Saturday had moved to where I was traveling.

A two hour layover in the works, so I check my BG it is 110. It is time to find a bite to eat and then I walk the terminal. Detroit has a long terminal and I need to walk most of it to get to the C concourse. My gate is at the far end of C, so I walk some more. I purposely don’t ride the moving sidewalk. I need to exercise, so I walk. As I am passing the gates I notice the destinations.

Bangor. I have some friends that live there. I need to pay them a visit.

Washington DC. I am not interested in gong there, even though I have a friend living there.

Orlando. Sound warm.

I reach the end of C only to find out I still have a lot of time left. I might as well turn around and do it again.

Philadelphia. No thanks.

Tulsa. I have cousins there.

Oh look smoking bar in the Airport. I haven’t seen one of those in a while. The football game is on. I should see what the score is. I watch from outside, because I don’t want to inhale the smoke.

I have had enough walking, so I sit down and work on my blog. Look at the time I had better get to my gate or I will miss the plain.

They are loading the small plain. I can’t take my roll-on with me, so I check it at the gate. The sixty five minute ride should go by quickly. I work on more e-mail and do a little more reading.

We start our decent and we hit turbulence. Up and down and left and right we go. Bump, bump, bump. This is pretty rough. I look out the window and see the snow glitter in the lights of the plain. A sharp decent and then we level off. We slide to left and back to the right.

Boom, we touch down. I look out the window again and it is not just snowing, we are taxing down the runway in a full fledge blizzard. The snow is blowing across the runway so fast, I am rally surprised we landed. We must have had an Alaskan bush pilot flying the plain in order to make the landing without incident.

I get to the rental car desk. I am the last one to check in for the night and I get the last car. They give me a mustang. It is a nice car, but rear wheel drive a loads of horse power won’t do me much good in a snow storm.

I ease out of the parking lot and crawl down the road. Seven miles later I am at the hotel. I check the weather and we have snow for the next two day, then a clear day followed by another storm.

Storm day is the day I head home. I hope I can make off the ground before the storm hits.

Give a Gift and enjoy the Karma

A light dusting of snow fell around 10:00PM. By 7:00AM the next morning most of the snow had evaporated, the only way to tell it had snowed the night before was the remnants of snow in the shadows. The streets look clear on the north end of town.

I called a friend to see what the streets were in good shape further south. All clear is the word, but you will need to watch the bridges, both on top and underneath. It is 30 degrees outside and the high is supposed to be 37 degrees. What is the determination?

Time to Ride!

I need to dress for the cold. Hurtling down the highway at 70 miles per hour will cool your body temperature quickly and before you know it, you will be suffering from hypothermia. Thick winter socks on the inside and thermal waterproof boots on the outside. Two shirts are needed. A tight thermal T-shirt to wick away the moisture along with a thick warm sweater. Thermal lined jeans will keep my legs warm on the inside. Thick waterproof Thinsilated cold weather riding trousers will keep my legs warm on the outside. I put my jacket liner inside my leather jacket. I grab my full face helmet and my cold weather riding gloves. I am dressed for the ride.

I grab the two gifts, a game called Jenga and a small handbag. The gifts were bought for older children at the Hospital. Other riders will bring plenty of small children gifts. There should be few for some of the older children, which could be harder to find a gift that will meet their wants and needs.

The gifts are loaded on the bike. I mange to heft my leg over the seat on the second try. The first try was unsuccessful. I am bundled up so tight it is hard to lift my let. I have now worked up a sweat and I am just now sitting on the bike. I turn on the key, switch on the run button and wait for the Engine start light to go out. I push the start button, the bike comes to life and I am ready to roll.

I head east for 10 miles then south for 12 miles. I meet my friends and we ride south for another 40 miles. We ride into the parking lot with a thousand other bikers. We are flagged to our parking spot. We shut off the bikes and wait for the charity ride to begin.

Nobody is cold, the sun is out and we are all bundled up. I counted six Santa Clauses walking around. There were two Mrs. Clauses walking around and a couple of hundred folks in Santa hats. We walk around and look at other bikes and talk to fellow bikers.

I met a biker who now lives in Denver. He is a trucker by trade and use to live in Oklahoma. He couldn’t stand the flatness of Oklahoma, so he moved back to Denver. This was his first Children’s’ Charity ride.

The parking lot flaggers start to wave their flags. A few bikes start up with a soft rumble. A few more bikes start up and the rumble grows. The bikes first in line follow the police escort on to the highway. More bikes start and the rumble continues to grow louder then before. Soon all of the bikes have started as the excitement to hit the road has grown along with the noise of the bikes.

We pull out and head down the road. On and Off ramps to the highway are shut down. Highway signs warn cars of motorcycles on the Highway. On the bridges above the highway Fire trucks are stopped in the middle of the bridge with their lights flashing Firemen are waving to the Bikers as they pass below.

Fifteen miles later the line of bikes is winding its way off the highway and into a neighborhood. A few minutes later we arrive at the Children’s Hospital where more crowds greet the Bikers and wave to us as we pull into the parking lot. We drop the toys and gifts off and head down the road to grab some lunch. Ten more miles on the road and we are back at the north end of Denver. The ride was fun with over 1000 bikes snaking it way through town.

This days ride has taken six hours. It is time for our group of riders part ways, each heading a different direction toward home. I ride 16 more miles before reaching the garage.

I park the bike, shut off the engine and plug in the battery charger. In two months time the alarm system will drain the battery. The days continue to grow colder. Snow is in the forecast, so it looks like this was the last ride for 2007.

Spring is only a few months away with warmer days and dry roads ahead.