Women love them and Diabetics need them

 My endocrinologist has been telling me for the past year I need to get a pedicure.  I have gone all my life with feet like goat hoves.  This does not bother me because I do not show my feet to anyone nor do I ever wear open toe shoes.  The thing is I get callus's on my feet that are pretty darn thick and when I go backpacking they sometimes can cause hot spots and on the rare occaision a blister.  Yesterday I went to my local hair stylist to get the few hairs I have cut and she has one of these feet pedicure things so I asked her if she did not mind giving me a pedicure.  She was delighted to do it and I gave her my warnings about diabetes, hoves as feet, and that I have never had one before.  She let me know that the best thing I could have done is tell her I am a diabetic.  She says people often don't tell her about diabetes and she does an intense pedicure that causes some blood to happen and it wont stop and the person now has to heal from wounds from a pedicure that they could have avoided just by letting her know to take it easy.  Then  she tells me to do something to distract myself while she does it because, in her words "women relax and enjoy a pedicure and men tense up and get nervous."  So I played games on my phone and she was so right, I was tense and worried about it the entire time.  In the end my feet now are de-callused and my toe nails are like a fancy goats feet.  She did also give me a suggestion to wear open toe shoes to let my feet breathe whenever possible to keep the hoves to a minimum.  There is no chance I will wear an open toe shoe but will try to not wear socks as much around the house to let the hoves breathe like a fine wine.

REI has a product of the month in their gels and health bar section where they discount the price on one snack/protein/meal bar and a gel.  This month instead of some sort of gel product on sale they had these "Sprot Beans" made by jelly belly.  I bought a few as a pre-run carb load or a to help with a low while on the road or at work.  These are not exactly great as an energy item but as a descent steady release carb item they are great.  The flavor is good for cherry and watermellon but as a good item for lows I would still stick with my gummy worms but these jelly bellies are great for work as a sweet snack or to help tide you over between meals without a sugar spike.

Safety First!

 Yesterday I wrote about my new sunglasses.  Whenever I think of sunglasses I think of the ZZ Top song "Cheap Sunglasses.  In the post I talked about my safety glasses with built in readers and then thought that maybe I have never shown pictures of my old man safety readers.  Above you can see the latest pair of +2.00 readers safety glasses from Walmart.  I have looked everywhere for better quality safety glasses with built in readers (I have had cataract surgery in both eyes) but only find them at Walmart for around six bucks and they last about nine months before they are overly scratched.

These work just like my shades where the readers are below your normal line of sight but when you are trying to do delicate work then the readers are in the right place at the right time.  Life is alot about the little victories and having readers in all my eye wear makes life just that much more sweeter.

Are you asking the right question?

 I had a teacher in college that used to always say "are you asking the right question?"  She was a computer science teacher and I was taking some sort software class that we had all sorts of issues with SQL and Access.  What the teacher meant was that the software would only give you the results you are asking and if the results are not what you are looking for then you are asking the wrong questions.  On a side note, how freaking bald am I going, and look at all the grey in the beard.  It looks like I am old and need to do something about that.

 I lost my favorite pair of sunglasses about a year ago when I had them on my head as I was trimming some trees on the ranch.  These were wire frame amber tint with a real nice polarization to them that made the world look nice, kind of like that song "Rose colored glasses"  I can't remember who sang it.  Ever since that awfull day when out at the land I always retrace my steps praying to find them until recently when I decided to replace them (I mean actually spend some money on new ones, I have several pairs in the truck that people have left over time).  The issue was I didn't want to spend a fortune and I like more of a classic look than any of the new fangled Oakley sharp edged models. 

 The look for a serious new pair of sunglasses went into high gear when at the fly fishing event on Saturday the instructors said you cannot fly fish without a pair of solid polarized glasses.  They let me know that sunglasses help you see in the water and helps you place the fly in the right spot.  So I left the class with a list of first get a new pair of sunglasses, then find a solid cheap fly rod, then get some flies, and last catch some fish.

I stopped by a few places like Gander Mountain that had some nice sock liners for sale but no sunglasses under 100 bucks and that my friend is way out of the question for some sunglasses.  Then while at Academy Sports I came across in the fishing section some sunglasses that stopped me in my trap.  the sunglasses had the +1.50, +2.00, +2.50 and I instantly knew what that meant.  These were fishing sunglasses with readers built in them.  I almost yelled: Yippee in the store because if you are new to this blog, I have had two cataract surgeries and when you have you eyeballs replaced with plastic they don't move so you can see but you can't read.  You have to adjust the written word to match what your plastic eyes can see.  I personally am a +2.00 and the pair you see in these pictures are just that.  See all this time I was asking the wrong question.  I was asking for sunglasses not knowing I needed to be looking for fishing readers because fishermen are older quite often and they have to see the fish so their glasses are tinted hence the reader amber colored sunglasses.  Look in the picture above you can see the line just below the "Atlantic" in the background (that is where I work) and that is where the readers are at.  These glasses are so sweet because they are amber colored, have an old man look, and the readers are low so you don't even see them unless you are actually reading.  Then guess the price?  Yes you are correct they cost me a solid 25 bucks.  Life is so good for this diabetic with my reader sunglasses, reader safety glasses, lighted readers with USB rechargeable batteries, and I have a set of prescription glasses.  Now I can read anywhere and at anytime.

OK so maybe a little fishing...

 Yesterday I mentioned how I went out a fly fishing event put on by the Texas Parks and Wildlife department.  We didn't do any fishing but they had lots of clinics on casting, fly tying, gear, how to find the fish, and even fly fishing for carp and Buffalo.  They did have a swimming pool filled with about 500 catfish.  If you have ever heard of the saying "like catching fish out of a barrel" well this was exactly that.  The hooks were debarbed which really helped the park rangers because they had their hands busy with kids pulling out fish here and throwing fish over there.

 For a moment I thought about using one of the poles and catching one of these catfish but realized this was way to easy with little sportsmanship for anyone over the age of 7.  I did get a chance to talk to the rangers about how they set this pool up and what you have to worry about when keeping fish in your own pool, not that I would do that, there was just a bit of curiosity.

 They had two fly fishing clubs putting on all the sessions at the event and one was Red River fly fishers and the other was The Dallas Flyfishers.

Fathers day I was supposed to be following our scout bus to camp so I could bring the driver back.  Lucky for me we had another father coming back from Minnesota and was dropping his son off at camp and was willing to bring the driver back.  Bad for me was I forgot to tell my wife when I received the news and she had planned on me not being home most of the day.  She updated her plans and let me come to church with her and afterwards we went to a hibachi restaurant with another family.  The chef was great and at the end of his presentational cooking of the food he did the usual onion volcano and choo-choo train.  What I have never seen though is he brought out this bobble head looking thing and pushed a button on the back and the boys pants fall down and he pees water on the flaming onion volcano.  This was so awesome and I have to get me one of these guys for around the house.

Free Fishing, sort of...

 I keep telling you all that you need to keep an eye on free classes through your state department of wildlife.  This weekend we had a "Learn how to fly fish" class on Saturday and if you remember my spring break to Tennessee and how bad I was at fly fishing, this was a must for me.  Above you can see my first class was "how to tie a fly" and I learned the basics of fly tying and made a real nice woolly booger.

 Here is my woolly booger almost done and really learned how simple fly tying is and how much fun it is.  The teachers were real patient for a non artistic person like myself.

 The woolly booger is all complete and they showed me how to cut back some of my wool and make it a great fly for future use.

 Here is another class where they teach us "how to find the fish" and it was a great learning class that had the students placing the fish on the mat you see on the table.  The class also covered a fun subject on how to match your fly to what the fish are eating.  They had sample critters in test tubes and as a real eye opener to see how the bug has to fit into the surrounding as well.

Most of my time was spent in this class "how to cast a fly rod" because I found out on vacation that fly fishing is about 90% casting and another 5% proper setting of a hook, then the other 5% is luck.  We had enough fly fishing masters there so that they could easily spend lots of time with each student.  They looked at my technique, adjusted what I was doing, and also showed me different rods that feel different.  I spent a solid six hours at this event and had a great time.  They also provided lunch for free and had a fly rod vendor bring out about a billion rods that they let everyone try out.  The only downside to the whole event was that we didn't actually get to fly fish.  What I am learning about fly fishing is that it is all skill and technique so guess I am going to have to invest in a fly rod and go out and give it another whirl.

Favorite Items

When camping or doing anything for that matter, there is one thing to remember and that is to be comfortable while you are doing it.  When you are at ease you do not waste energy and for us diabetics conserving energy helps keep us from going low.  One of my favorite items to take when doing trunk camping (trunk camping is where you pull your car up and get all the gear from your trunk to the campsite nearby) is my folding round chair thing.  I have sat in alot of folding camp chairs and they usually have something that bugs me.  Some chairs put you in too much of a relaxed position, some have skinny arm rests that cut into your skin after a while, some don't have backs, or any sort of irritant.  This chair I use is like the best of most worlds with its ability to sit up or relaxed, no arm things to bug you, you can lay sideways and kind of fetal position sleep, and it folds and goes.  There are downsides to this chair in that it is larger than most folding chairs and the tricky scissor thingies on the legs get stuck all the time.  So next time you decide to head out to see Shakespeare in the park and you want to just bring a blanket to lay on the lawn or watch a youth baseball or soccer game with just a foam pad to sit on in the seats remember you can do all this stuff in those manners but if you have comfortable gear you will look forward to doing it.  Just think about that romantic blanket on the lawn and having to either lay down or sit Indian style for two hours on the ground.  Then think about sitting in a comfortable folding round chair that you can set things beside you and enjoy every scene of the play.  When I have to buy a new item for the outdoors my first step is to see how I do it at home and then go to the Internet and research options and once I am knowledgeable I ask my friends and see what they use.  Stop trying to re-invent the wheel and just find the right wheel for you.  This chair is also the best thing to have while fishing.  Have you ever decided to go out and catch some fish just to realize that you either have to stand for five hours or sit on the ground?  Think before you do and if you have the space bring items that might help and if you don't need them you just don't have to get them out.

Distractions

OK, I admit that when driving to and from work I observe other drivers and what they are doing.  The big thing for me is trying to see cool cars but also I get a sense of what other people do in their car.  Recently I have noticed like probably everyone else that texting while driving is becoming the number one thing to do at red lights.  I don't think texting while driving is safe but I am OK with the red light texter, just as long as they go on green.  Recently I came across the motorcycle gentleman above.  Now this guy as you can tell is more of style than anything else.  First he is doing the no helmet thing and has a very stylish bike that you can tell he was not very good a driving because he never got above 30 mph and he did alot of wobbling.  The thing that caught my eye is the red cord you see hanging from his bag.  When I first saw this he reached into his back pocket and pulled out his phone which was attached to this red cord and I was like that is real smart to tether the phone to his bag so that if it slips out of his hand it just dangles and he can retrieve it with no damage.  Then about four red lights later I realized this was no cool device saver but the red cord was his ear buds and he was listening to his tunes while barely able to drive his bike at ten miles below the speed limit.  The thought came to me as to why does he need to distract himself so much and tempt danger to look cool and listen to your tunes.  This distraction goes for diabetes as well.  we often put distractions out there on our own that harm us.  I am probably the worst at it by not reading labels properly and doing more of the guessing how many carbs I have instead of verifying how many carbs I actually ate.  Then I rarely check the fat as well.  When I do take the extra time and do a good job my numbers run good and life is great but I seem to have to distract myself (just like the guy above) and not simplify my life by taking out the distractions.

Example number two here.  This was a lady I saw driving next to me and she had on the dash of her Suburban about 20 of these rubber duckies staring her in the eyes.  Who needs rubber duckies on their dash and how distracting is that?  If she hits the brakes real hard a hunter in a truck next to her my shoot these air born ducks or something.  Not to mention she is dangling things from her rear view mirror.  This seems as dangerous as the motorcycle guy.  I have a friend going to Africa in July and he mentioned to me how he had to go out and buy so much stuff for his trip.  I told him not to stress about stuff but to comprehensively go through what he has and what he will need for the trip.  The he needs to go out and get the other items he does not have and try them out in town to make sure these things work in his lifestyle and how to use them.  The worst thing I ever see when camping is people that come with us and pull out their gear and rip off the just bought tags from their gear.  Never travel with an unknown and never put freaking rubber duckies on your dash.  Remember those people in the 90's that put the beanie babies in the back glass of their Mitsubishi Eclipse cars?  To take a line from Dr. Phil: "Come on people and lets get real!"

A tribute to MoMo

 Everyone tells me that dogs are pets and that putting them down is part of the process.  My wife tells me that our pets are like my children and I need to let them go and also stop getting them to behave so badly.  I know all of this, just that pets are so awesome in how no matter what you do they are happy to see you.  They never ask you what your BG's are.  They just want to hang out with you and hopefully get some table scraps (yes MoMo got too many table scraps).

 Last night when I pulled into the driveway there was no barking to let everyone on the planet know I was home.  This morning MoMo was not barking to let me know she needed to be let out to use the bathroom.  When I left to work she was not there for me to pet her head before I left.  She was just our dog that had a bad case of allergies (she was even allergic to grass), busted hip, and extremely overweight. 

 When my wife took Baby Pan-Pan (our cat for 10 years) to the pound it wasn't that bad.  Maybe because she was peeing on everything, or because she was not the most friendly cat on the planet, but maybe because she was no MoMo to us.

 You can see how even Archie and Riley lean on MoMo as a parent figure to them and that she would protect them from danger.  The three of them always did this putting their butts Together and they loved to do it on any sort of rug or towel.

 MoMo had her own seat in the TV room and Archie would sit above her on the back and roll around till the backrest would rest on MoMo's back.  Last night this is the first place Archie went when my wife let the dogs out of the kitchen and when my wife wanted Archie and Riley to lay in bed with her Archie just went to MoMo's spot and layed there.  You can tell he knows she is gone.

 Our backyard was MoMo's sanctuary, she would rub her belly on the grass to scratch her allergies.  She would rub it so much we had bald spots in the yard from her rubbing.  I remember how MoMo used to sit in the yard and watch Pete (our chicken) like it was TV.  What she did the most in the backyard was sit and just watch nature, even when the mocking birds would fly down and peck her on the head.

 Here MoMo is at her last moments alive doing what she does best, just hanging out and being a 60 lbs lap dog that just wants you to put your hands on her.

In the end I think pets are a great thing to have for diabetics and MoMo was one of the best.  They teach us to be forgiving, patient, helpful, control our emotions, and to be friendly.  Then in the end we have to say goodbye and move on.  We still have Archie and Riley but we are missing the third amigo and things will get back into a new routine (Archie and Riley now get more canned food) and I will not be so sad but I just miss our beagle.  Will we replace her?  I believe you don't replace a pet just because one goes away.  You find a pet when the time is right and you need a pet (or they need you), not to replace a pet.  There will never be another MoMo  and I know alot of you might not have this same attachment to your pets, nor do you understand this but, for the rest of you out there  know what pets do for us.

Is that a camping stove plugged into your PC?

 Yesterday I received my new issue of "Popular Mechanics" magazine in the mail and the first thing I love to do when a new issue comes in the mail is thumb through their gadget review section and see if it is anything noteworthy.  Popular Mechanics magazine should really be called something like "the everyday mans magazine because it is amazing how they cover every sort of adventuresome guy stuff from camping, electronics, yard work, automotive, and the list goes on and on.  Very rarely do I get a boring issue and usually there are pages being torn out and saved so I can try them later myself.  This issue though topped them all when they reviewed the "BioLite Camp Stove."  This stove is a game changer in the emergency preparedness area, backpacking, and camping foray. 

The stove is designed with the jet flow technology to circulate air through the fire chamber and uses common sticks as fuel.  Then attached to the side of the stove is a thermoelectric generator that takes the heat and converts it to energy that is regulated at 2 volts of charging output through a USB port on the side.  How freaking awesome is that?  So now your stove burns wood and charges your electronics.  Take this to the diabetes mindset that if you have a USB rechargeable meter and if it goes dead while camping, just make a pot of coffee and charge it.  Then that new T:slim insulin pump has a USB rechargeable battery so if you are camping and your pump goes dead, just make a pot of coffee and recharge it.  This stove is probably the most significant advancement in modern camping technology (OK in my mind at least), and if we push pharmaceutical companies to create USB rechargeable diabetes gadgets we can be more prepared in the wild.

This not the right video but, BioLite has a video on their website that shows you how to use your stove for the first time and you all know about how off the wall things crack me up.  Well, the first thing you are supposed to do when you get your new stove is pug it into your PC, because technically the BioLite stove has a battery in the generator that is what charges your devices and the generator is charging the battery.  Just hearing that you have to plug your camping stove into your PC before you use it cracks me up.  Next we will be buying tents that have built in LED lights that when purchased new we will have to take out of the box and plug it into our computer as well to charge them.  Seems so funny a stove that needs a PC, I can see myself at work with the BioLite cooking me up some coffee plugged in so I have a full charge to go camping that weekend.

Sad news to report that today was the end of the line for MoMo the Beagle.  I had mentioned last week how she was not doing so well and today at 4:30pm Central time the vet said that putting her down was the right thing to do with how bad of an infection she had in her hip.  She was 11 years old and loved being in our family, she will be missed.

Does Diabetes and Water go together?

 So my wife has inspired me to do more activities this summer.  She has been doing a crazy amount of running, biking, and swimming not to mention playing on a soccer team and basketball team.  Seeing her do all this has inspired me to do more than camp and run.  We live in an HOA neighborhood that has a pool but this pool is for everyone and it is not set up for lap swimming.  What I do to get around the families at the pool is go early or about an hour before it closes and I can get some laps in.  Swimming has never been exciting for me except doing laps.  I love to just swim laps, no horse playing or throwing things entertains me, just laps.  The picture above is not of me it is a stock photo.

Currently I can go to the pool and swim for about an hour before even laps get boring but I never really wear out.  I guess I am like those dolphins or something and can just swim laps all day.  The thing is though about 12 hours after a swim my BG's dive like a rock and I get starvingly hungry.  I understand the hunger part but the delayed lows drive me crazy and now have started to wonder is it just me that swimming does this to or is it some sort of traditional diabetes routine that happens to all diabetics?  Does chlorine react with insulin and makes it work better, maybe diabetes plus sunshine and water do not mix, or is it some sort of diabetes and water do not go together?  Let me know if any of you out there ever come across this or if its just me and water.  If I could just figure out this diabetes swimming thing I could be on track to think about triathlons again.  Swimming is great if you are looking to get rid of some belly fat as well but just do be like me and eat half a pizza afterwards.  Kind of makes the swimming null in void.

American Digger

 Have any of you ever been a kid or are still a kid?  Have you ever played outdoors and found yourself trying to dig a hole to China?  Well if any diabetic out there has this diabetic has and when it came to being in my backyard  and digging holes I did it all my life.  The other day I was up late with some low BG's and stumbled across this "American Digger" show on Spike TV and I was hooked pretty fast.  This is Rick Savage the wrestler from the 80's and he now digs relics out of peoples yards.  Then he sells them at full retail and splits the profit with the land owner.  Sounds pretty simple right?  It is pretty simple, just getting to dig is the hardest part for Rick because he is not knocking on our houses he is in prime relic areas that people don't like you unearthing our past.

 This show was right up my alley because if you remember last year my post on metal detecting at my land well this show is all about the metal detector and I love treasure hunting and that is what these guys do and to top it all off they find treasure.  Finding something is very important in these shows because remember that "Gold Rush" show where the bumbling idiots go to Alaska to play in the dirt trying to find gold?  Yeah great show if you like to see next to no gold found and everyone going broke.  This "American Digger" show gets that kid spirit back out of you and makes you want to search for hidden gems in your yard again.  I still remember the time I buried a metal box full of Mardi Gras coins in it hoping they would be valuable when I grew up.  Then I forgot where I buried the box until my dog was digging in my backyard and when I came by with the lawn mower yellow and gold aluminum coins started shooting out of the mower and at that time I realized that the lost gold of diabetes had been found and the coins were all oxidized and worth nothing.

The bad part about this show is that it is on Spike TV so that means the production value is on the lower side.  Then the show progresses a little on the slow side so now I record the show and can watch the entire 30 minute episodes in about ten minutes.  Last there is the Rick Savage "boom" every time he finds something and it gets on your nerves knowing he does it for patent style points.  In the end this show is really good and Rick is great with his due diligence and historical knowledge.  The are good to the land owners by paying them their fare share and restoring the land to its original state.  Rick makes a great point that the people that don't want these items dug up are actually the bad people since the ground is destroying these great artifacts and if he digs them up people can see them and they can be appreciated.  Left in the ground they are gone forever.  I do wish they would talk more on how the art of relic hunting goes about.  He talks about that he does this research but never really goes into the detail about how someone like you or I can do it, nor does he go into much detail on his detectors and equipment.  They could have several episodes on just the equipment they use and why they use certain brands and how they use it.  Looks like I will be going out and getting a new 9 volt battery so I can find more of that diabetes treasure.

David 2012-13 Captain Fundraising's Fundraising Page

David 2012-13 Captain Fundraising's Fundraising Page

When do you call it quits?

 So our beagle has blown out her hip about a million times but now she is ten years old and has a huge hump on her rear either from some sort of growth or walking differently because of the bad hip.  The doctor said she basically has torn everything in her hip from all the falls.  Now she is having issues getting up and standing on her legs for long and it looks like the time is coming to an end for her.  The thing is she seems happy and the hip only bothers her when she needs to move but how long do you wait to pull the plug?

 Then she is real good about resting it up and bouncing back after a few days of rest so at this time I am hoping it is just stiff and she needs to just let it be for a bit but she has never been this bad ever.  Now I play the waiting game and see if she does better or if it goes south and need to make those calls to get pricing and how you go about putting an animal down.  This will be my first to put down if she does not do what we would all love for her to do is drag a tarp into the backyard under the drummed red maple tree and lie on it and pass away in the middle of the night. 

Then there is the personal factor that well, um I kind of get really attached to my animals like they are my children and it is hard for me to let them go.  My wife says I cried more when my dalmatian that I had from fourteen to when my brother had to put her down and I was twenty five than when my 97 year old grandmother passed away.  I personally think I cried equally for both but who really knows.  Then our son left for California just when this started (she is his dog) and I told him she might be gone before he gets back and to say his final words to her.  To me that is the hardest part, to put his dog down while he is off on vacation.  My brother was watching my dalmatian for me when he had to put her down and I felt real bad because I was not there.  Well in the meantime it is a wait and see but until then I will hug her and rub the hump on her hip until the time comes.

Religion and Diabetes

Church this past Sunday was a lesson on "The Hero's Edge" and specifically making sure we wear our religious armor all the time (this was the first lesson in a series).  The pastor did a great job on this subject and my son and I really thought of the "Bible Man" show the whole time since they had all sorts of knight suits all over the stage.  I only had one issue with the lesson and it is not really an issue but more of a different view than what the pastor had.  He was discussing how people have these underground bunkers built in the back yards where if a war breaks out or something happens you can go in these things and survive for a while.  He discussed how Christians should not cower or hide but we should always wear our armor and stand tall.  Now I look at this from a person with a disease and think that a person that has a bunker is actually preparing their family so they are ready and can survive to see another day.  I think it is more of a prepare your family first and then go out and fight in the name of the lord.  The reason we probably see this different is that he does not have to do all the prep work to live every day with diabetes or any other disease.  He is a healthy individual and that is OK, just there is not this survival mentality built in when you have a disease.  I think this is where religion and type one diabetes is hard to come to terms with.  You just look at all things a little different and religion is one of those things that a healthy person sees different than those with diseases.  A lot of the times they are like “we are all created in gods eyes” and diabetics are like “then show me a picture of god testing his blood sugars (the Leonardo picture above kind of makes me think that is what god is doing to Adam).  People tell me all the time that I am not religious enough but I feel very religious, just in a different way and I think that is what type one diabetes is all about.  Just like having food issues for getting yelled at all our lives if we even think of sweets, diabetes makes everything different and religion is just another item people don’t understand about us.  Have them go low once and they will know how close we are to god and how powerful he is.

Headphone issues resolved

 What do we all hate about headphones?  Yes, that is correct all headphones suck!  You know I am right because how many of us (everyone) has ever had the one ear go dead, or the jack messes up and you have to wiggle it to that perfect spot so you can hear out of it.  I have a love/hate relationship with headphones because when I am out doing week day runs I like to listen to my music.  The problem is my headphones die about every six months and being as cheap as I am wont buy a new pair but will live with tying the wire around my hand or holding the chord just right until I just give up and stop working out until I can get a replacement pair.  Then when you go shopping for a new pair the only way you can pick them out is by style (over the ear, in the ear, and around the ear), the price, and how they look.  You can't try them out to see if they sound right because they are in a box that you are not supposed to open.  My last pair of headphones, a nice 20 dollar pair of Sony over the ear model just bit the dust. Now I am in running mode to lose some of this jiggly stuff around my belly and also to keep those numbers in range so my running can't stop. 

The other day I had to be on a conference call but also needed to run.  The bright idea came to me that I could listen on my headphones, then it hit me that my headphones were one eared and I could not hear anything on the call.  So I then put the call on speakerphone and proceeded to do a 6.5 mile run.  I have told you all how awesome the Windows smart phones are and then add in my HTC Surround phone which comes with this Dolby surround sound speaker (they oversell the sound but it is still great) that nothing can compare to.  The Windows phones have the Zune player built in which if you have ever used iTunes you are being ripped off, because with Zune you get everything you could dream of loaded on your phone for 130.00 a year and you get to permanently keep 10 songs a month which can be uploaded to other peoples iTune account.  That means you basically are paying for 120 songs and getting all the rest to listen to for the rest of the year.  Think of it like cable TV.  So back to the story once the call was over I thought to just switch over to music and see if I could stand the noise as I ran.  To my delight it was great, kind of like freedom from the cord and everyone else at the parks and on the trails I came by did not mind either because this sounds like a boom box from my phone.  I am not sure if I will keep rolling with it like this all the time but for now I plan on it and finding a sale on a new pair of headphones.  If you have any suggestions on what I should buy please send them my way and none of those 100 buck brands.  I am looking for around 20 bucks with killer sound and maybe a warranty longer than six months.