pancakes!

Behold – the source of my eternal happiness (and current carb overdose headache ) – gluten free delicious pancake mix!

Is it possible to have ankle splints? You know, like shin splints but the sides of your ankles? I think I do :p.

My semi-new year’s resolution is going to be to start running again. And, like NaNoWriMo 2008, I figure the more people I tell the harder it will be for me to embarrass myself and not get in shape to run. I’ve also decided to aim for a half-marathon in order to have a goal to work toward. Otherwise, I will easily continue sitting around and being a lazy bum! Huntsville’s half-marathon is usually in November. I’d rather have something sooner, but everything else is too far away from home and/or school and way too expensive! Who knows, maybe I’ll eventually get up to marathon endurance?

Yesterday I kicked it off by running a mile. Easy, right? Well, I did ok during the mile but it was hours later into the night and today that the outsides of my ankles started screaming at me. I’ve deemed them the ‘ankle splints’ and I bet they terrorize me for weeks until my ankles get used to me pounding on them again. I did gymnastics for a dozen years; ballet and pointe for several; my body’s just not as used to the pounding since I’ve had two years off of organized physical activity in college!

Well, it serves me right! But I’m getting back into the swing of things and looking forward to it. I’m going to play around with some neighborhood and city running routes in Ttown and here in Hsv. I have a friend who is an awesome runner and is the source of a lot of my inspiration. I’m going to try to do the same by showing how you can truly be in horrible shape and slowly work your way up to being fit and able to do anything! If I can do it and avoid nasty sports snack bars, even if they are gluten-free, more power to me :).

If you have any beginning runner tips, diabetes running tips, and gluten-free running tips, feel free to give a shout out! If you haven’t noticed, I need all the help I can get :D .

The first step is admitting you have a problem. Well, I have a “problem”. I’m a control freak.

But I come by it honestly, as my mother says, and even more than one would imagine. It’s not only that I come from a long line of stubborn women (hehe), but I also feel as if diabetes and celiac disease just further cement any “must be my way” and “cannot change” tendencies already ingrained in my bones.

In all honesty, who with these disease is not a control freak? How can you handle skyrocketing and plummeting blood sugars day in and day out, and not be motivated to keep the same schedule, do the same exercise, and eat the same things in order to keep your blood sugars firmly in place? How can you be a playful cook, be an adventurous eater in the dining hall, and stop at random restauraunts that look interesting?

If you can, please tell me your secrets – because I can’t do these things (yet).

I get frustrated when people call me a control freak, because I honestly can’t help it. Trying to control some things in my insane but awesome life give me something stable to hold on to. Changing our time-honored Christmas traditions? Very difficult. Watching my blood sugars do what they want, regardless of a continuous glucose monitoring system, a kick-a** purple insulin pump, testing manually 10+ times a day, and a heck of a lot of will power? Very difficult. Not being able to eat my favorite foods, go anywhere and eat anything like the rest of my glutenous (and glutinous) college friends? Extremely difficult.

I’m not trying to whine about diabetes or celiac but rather express my frustrations with the lack of stability it inserts into my life. I like excitement, but not when it comes to my body and my health. I would rather be predictable!

But the other thing my mom tells me keeps me going – there’s no guarantees in life, so I better roll with the punches. Any you know what? When you can’t take the punches, then it’s time for a cupcake :) !

You are an Inventor

This is crazy, but I came across the results of a ‘personality profile’ I did at some point in high school (9th grade I think? Those were the days of AIM and quizzes!).

Your imagination, self-reliance, openness to new things, and appreciation for utility combine to make you an INVENTOR.

You have the confidence to make your visions into reality, and you are willing to consider many alternatives to get that done.

The full spectrum of possibilities in the world intrigues you—you’re not limited by pre-conceived notions of how things should be.

Problem-solving is a specialty of yours, owing to your persistence, curiosity, and understanding of how things work.

Your vision allows you to identify what’s missing from a given situation, and your creativity allows you to fill in the gaps.

Your awareness of how things function gives you the ability to come up with new uses for common objects.

It is more interesting for you to pursue excitement than it is to get caught up in a routine.

Although understanding details is not difficult for you, you specialize in seeing the bigger picture and don’t get caught up in specifics.

You tend to more proactive than reactive—you don’t just wait for things to come to you.

Your independent streak allows you to make decisions efficiently and to trust your instincts

You’re not afraid to let your emotions guide you, and you’re generally considerate of others’ feelings as well.

You prefer to have time to plan for things, feeling better with a schedule than with keeping plans up in the air until the last minute.

You do your own thing when it comes to clothing, guided more by practical concerns than by other people’s notions of style.

Generally, you believe that you control your life, and that external forces only play a limited role in determining what happens to you.

You are Advocating

Being social, empathic, and understanding makes you ADVOCATING.

Some people find being around others exhausting—but not you! You are energized by spending time with friends, and you are good at meeting new people.

One of the reasons you enjoy conversation as much as you do is that you often learn about yourself while talking things out with a friend; you realize things about your own beliefs while discussing them with others.

You have insight into what others are thinking and feeling. This ability allows you to be happy for others, and to commiserate when something has gone wrong for them.

You are highly compassionate, and being conscious of how things affect those close to you leaves you cautious about trusting others too hastily.

Despite these reservations, you are open-minded when it comes to your worldview; you don’t look to impose your ways on others.

Your sensitivity towards others’ plights contributes to an understanding—both intellectual and emotional—of many different perspectives.

As someone who understands the complexities of the world around you, you are reluctant to pass judgments

It is almost terrifying how accurate this is – both then and now!

At the end of each semester in CBH, each person presents a 10-20 minute presentation on their research. This ranges from political science, analyzing leadership attainment in small vs. large state senators; computational chemistry discovery properties of WMDs; or creating an application or piece of technology to apply in real life. Tonight, I sat in on one discussing his research to create a ‘dashboard’ to help patients and doctors quickly review medical data and to see what is going fine, what is approaching a warning level, and what is definitely in the problem or ‘danger’ zone. I’ll get back to the project itself sometime, which I find very interesting.

But what caught my attention was his description of the application helping people with “long-term diseases”.

For some reason that just stuck with me. He didn’t use ‘chronic’ or anything else, but long-term. As in, it’s here for the long haul.

It sends shivers down my back because it always hits me at the weirdest times: I have type 1 diabetes. I have celiac disease. There is no cure. For either disease.

*Insert your choice words here*

You may think, “ok get over it”. And honestly, I don’t dwell on it all that much. But from time to time such as this, it strikes me that I plan and hope to live a long and healthy and successful life. These chronic illnesses may get in the way. These two things, diseases, won’t only appear on holidays like pesky relatives.

They’re here for the long haul.

They ain’t goin’ nowhere.

There are a number of ways to build a network. In most cases, it’s best to define what you mean by ‘network’ before you attempt to grow and/or create yours.

When I think of network, I think of a group of people connected by common interests. These could be subjects: Public Relations, sports (roll tide!), food, children, relationship status (single v. married), etc. They could also be through relationships with other people. My ideal network is a combination of both.

So how exactly do you create or build upon your network? And why should you care?

First of all, as an undergraduate already looking for a job after I graduate (eek), it’s important to build up contacts. The people I meet now, at the University; through my extensive volunteer work; through my family and friends, may have invaluable connections of their own that they choose to share or involve me in when I need them. These people will also form their own opinions and perceptions of me. Good or bad, they will then subtley spread these with each person they have a conversation with about me. Hoping that it’s the former, this allows me to be building a positive reputation and also to spread my name out among people who I may not immediately know, but may at some point come into contact with. This will give me an immediate rapport – “Oh, Dr. Soandso mentioned you when we were talking about volunteerism…“

So that’s the first perk you may begin to reap immediately by being aware of the potential of a great network. Also? You can learn as you go along! You can meet all kinds of professionals in your field or area of interest. Even better, you can meet people who have the same interests as a hobby, and are more likely to give you the time of day, provide assistance, and mentor or guide you. These people can be incredibly invaluable if you are learning a new trade, such as I am as an undergraduate.

Example: on Twitter, I was originally using it for personal use only. You know, tweeting about where I was and what I was doing. Randomly I came across some PR folks here in AL. My first thought? “Whoa! There are real, live public relations professionals in Alabama!”. My second thought? “I wish I could meet them!”

And you know what? I have. I changed my technique using Twitter to be more professional, jumping headlong into discussions about social media use and different PR concepts and tools. I moved from a dozen followers to over 50 in about a week. I don’t think this is important, but some value numbers. Me? I value the fact that I am able to follow more than those following me and gain their insights and valuable feedback. I pepper them with (hopefully) thought-provoking questions to gauge the various trends in PR and social media. I retweet (like re-post) interesting tweets, links, and add to that which I can. In essence, I have joined a community of incredible professionals and try to also offer insight from my perspective.

Twitter is probably the most interesting way to build a network, because if done correctly, it is a fun way to commence two-way communication with groups of people. You may choose Facebook or MySpace, but it is not as flexible and is creepier when someone you don’t know randomly requests to friend you. In the case of Twitter, it is slightly more impersonal unless you choose to commit and create personal relationships with other users.

What do you think is the best platform for building a network?

I started by using Twitter for personal use (Personal Brand), but I recently began following some bigwigs here in AL in social media, marketing, advertising, and PR. I’m already learning a lot from watching, and I can’t wait to meet them at the Hsvegas TweetUp we’re arranging for Dec. 30

I think I’m going to do some study on Twitter’s uses and brush up on these different areas of social media over the next few months. I was surprised when I talked to a lot of communications & PR professionals randomly and they had not heard of Twitter. I’m wondering now, will this give me the edge I need to have a fantastic job when I graduate, regardless of the recession and topsy turvey job market?

We’ll find out!

I did it! I won!

It’s an amazing feeling to set a goal of writing a novel, 50,000 words or the equivalent of 175 pages, and to accomplish this. This is on top of my full-time college course load; four part-time jobs; some how a social life; and actually surviving with sanity and a sense of humor – and the novel’s not half bad, either. :p

I have a list of things I want to do. Some are year-by-year; some are by the time I graduate; some are by a certain age. The physical list was vanquished in my last move, but it’s something like this:

Teach a class (done, first year class for students with diabetes, Fall 2008)
Be published in a mainstream non-diabetes publication (done, platform mag, Fall 2008)
Write a book (novel- done, November 2008)
Travel more (consistently done – South Africa, Germany, and this year Budapest, Hungary!)
The other things are things like hanggliding/skydiving (I’m not allowed to apparently until I’m on my own insurance).

I’m so proud of myself on working toward and reaching many of my goals that are non-academic but contribute to me becoming a better person as a whole! I need to rethink of some new goals to keep me motivated and moving. I am considering working on a senior thesis through the honors college next year; perhaps something to do with social media. A honors on Thesis on Twitter would be fabulous, but not sure if I could pull it off and/or if there is an adviser here at UA who could be my research director (lol). I’ll work on it, but I think that’s the next big thing. Of course, now that I’ve achieved and conquered in 2008, I think (hope) that NaNoWriMo will be a recurring goal in my life from now one!

Happy Holidays everyone – it’s Dec. 1, it’s supposed to snow tonight. So crank up those holiday carols and drink some hot chocolate!

2 weeks left in the semester. 8 hours left in NaNoWriMo! I was going to finish last night, but my 14 hour nap got in the way. Instead, i’ve been watching Project Runway all day, and now I’m about to finish the last 6,000 of my book.

It’s nice to say that:)

Otherwise, I have one essay due tomorrow for a scholarship app, an exam on Thursday, and an exam the following Thursday. I also need to get USA Today finished up and then work on Truman. Glamour was sent off successfully, so that’s a relief. Otherwise, I’m just hanging in there to take my vacation for 2 weeks the rest of December:).

It’s kind of hard for me, but in my ‘free time’ I’ve been trying to think of Christmas presents. I want to do something creative for the people I couldn’t find anything for in Budapest, like my Dad. His Christmas list that I asked for, tended to run towards things like Frangelico (which I can’t buy for him), a business card collage (which mom promised to make him years ago so i’m pretty sure they wouldn’t like it if I did it), a quilt like his grandmother can make (my craftyness extends to 5 minute projects), and a $136 something that I didn’t look at since it’s way out of my price range – as is everything else.

Yes, my dad is worth more than a $136 present. But as a student right now and saving for the next stage of my life (and looking at paying next semester’s student bill), I k now there’s got to be a better way to give a gift at Christmas. Especially one that won’t make me resent the hit to my savings!

So I started to think of some things to do. I know for my best friends, I’m going to make cold critters. For other friends, I’m going to make holiday balls (like candy balls for decoration). Googleing some new ideas, I came across Wordle. And I fell in love.

I’ve always been fond of logos and graphic design that incoporate words; to me, words and languages are art, the very essence. Every artist has been asked to describe their work at one time or another, and they do so using words. Every writer may be used to describe their work, but they may use the same words each time and it may come from the piece itself. Each is open to interpretation, and words to me have a beautiful connotation of visual pleasure. I have been writing since I was little, but never took it seriously until now – until I realized that I am more than 50% to the goal of writing my first novel, at age 20. No, it may not be good, but you know what? My mentor/head of the CBHP program here at school expressed interest in reading it, and I’ve had nothing but encouragement. As a result, I’ve decided that I shouldn’t put my creative and fictional (and even nonfictional) writing on the backburner until I graduate!

So in addition to submitting some abstracts for publication already, and of course writing my novel, I thought – what better way to give Dad a gift than to write him something? He’s loved my writing more than anyone ever – I never understood why – and I thought it would be great if I could write him something as a gift. Something that I could then turn into a Wordle, possibly put it in a double frame, for his office. A double-header in art, creative expression, and love.

So here’s an example (UA-style) of a Wordle I am attempting:

I’m not sure if I’ll be creating a poem or a short story or what, but I want it to symbolically do all of the things I will be incorporating in the Wordle. Not sure yet, but at least I have an idea.