Which one would you?

 The question was posed in one of my group emails from www.insulindependence.org weather you would like the ability to fly or breathe under water?  I had to think long and hard about this question and never replied to the group.  Then yesterday when I got home there was this bird in my front yard and I thought it was dead till I tried to move it with my foot and it got real defensive at that time.  At first I thought this was an old bird just dying of age but then I realized this was a babyish bird learning to fly and seemed to have issues with its feet (Now I am no expert at birds so do not take my word on if this is an old or young bird).  I thought at first do I put it out of its misery?  The ants were starting to get on the bird and if I did it in now I could remove it from my yard before I have a dead bird covered in ants.  The other option was to help the bird by getting a shoe box and making a nest for it and chewing up some worms and spitting them into its mouth and healing it back to good and let it go into the wild to poop on my truck and attack my dogs. 

In the end I chose option three which was do nothing and let the bird learn to fly on its own or maybe its parents were around and could help it out but I was not going to interfere with nature.  I did plan to check to see if the bird was still there in the morning but my ADD kicked in this morning and I forgot to check on it.

Back to the question at hand, would you want to fly or breathe under water.  I had a car accident in 2001 where I broke all the bones in the back of my head and when I go swimming now if I go further down than 20 feet my noggin feels like a cracked egg so I don't really care to breathe under water because I don't like staying underwater that long in the first place.  So that leaves flying and I look at the sky and it is completely empty most of the time.  There are the random birds and planes in the sky but overall if you could fly there is little in your way from stopping you from going where ever you want.  Then I look at birds and how they act, I saw a mockingbird attacking a grackle while on my way to work one day.  The grackle didn't have a french fry in its mouth or anything, the mocking bird just wanted to pick on the grackle.  Then my dogs when they are in the backyard get attacked by mocking birds and blue jays all the time.  So if the sky is so empty and wonderful why are birds so angry?  That made me think that flying probably is not as exciting as it seems to be, because if it was birds would leave us alone and they don't.

So I think in this choice of either flying or breathing under water I would choose to be a unicorn.  If I were a unicorn then I could help Charlie out from his two evil friends and stop them from getting his kidney.  That is my final choice.

one little thing I hate about Texas!

 I love living in Texas and all things that are Dallas.  Just there is this one stupid little bug that gets me at least once every summer.  that is the freakin fire ant.  You stand in the wrong place for just one moment and the next week or so is ruined.  They bite you so fast and so much that once a single ant is on you, it is too late.  They usually get me while I mow the lawn and this year they have come close to getting me while I mow but this year it was the trap of a mouse that suckered me into getting bit.  The picture above is about a week after I was bit because the bites look so nasty that I wanted to wait till my ankle would not make you throw up from any pictures of it.

This year my dogs were out barking at a mouse they had up a bush in the middle of the night and they would not stop barking at the mouse.  So I went out with a broom to get the mouse out and while I was knocking on the bush to flush the mouse out I noticed the wonderful feeling of burning around my ankle.  Then the burning intensified and I looked down to see my leg covered in ants.  So I jumped around and screamed like a little girl while swatting off all the ants and knew I was in trouble.  The picture above is of my middle finger where one ant bit me four times in the same spot.  Fire ants suck so bad for anybody but since I am diabetic I like to say it is worse for us.  You get the swelling afterwards, the ant fever, then it itches and if you scratch them you just added on days to your recovery.  In the end I am a moron and two days ago finally couldn't stand the itch and scratched the white heads off of all the bites and know that there might be another time like this for me before the summer is over and for sure at least once every summer till I die.

Another thing I forgot to do was use my Curazene that is always in my diabetes purse.  If you are not familiar with Curazene or missed my blog post about it, this is a staph infection antibiotic thing that is awesome on bug bites as well.  Consider it like the skin version of baking soda, you know how they say use baking soda for everything like putting it in your fridge and brushing your teeth with it.  Curazene is just like that for wound care.  So a friendly reminder is to not just have a personal first aid kit with you all the time but to go through it and note what you have and don't have in it.  If I would have done this more regularly I would have remembered that it was in my kit and would not have to had suffered the burn and the itch.  Make sure you go to their website and order yourself a free sample, I 100% guarantee you will love it and if you don't I will refund your full amount of free.

http://www.curazene.com/sample/

Great Diabetes News!

OK, so this is not any sort of real life news but sometimes movie news can cheer a diabetic up right?  I for some odd reason love everything zombie, and now I am not a recent zombie lover, I have always loved zombie movies and anything zombie related.  I think it has to do with being an outdoors person and the thought of "what if" that is the exciting part of zombies.  The movie "World War Z" came out last Friday and I knew it wasn't going to be the zombie movie to end all zombie movies but I just wanted to see it.  Right now would be a good time to stop reading my blog if you don't want to know the premise of the movie.  The zombies in this movie were the "super human" kind and I am not a fan of those.  They just don't make the setup real, I am a fan of the slow drugged up looking zombies.  The movie overall I would give like a C+ and would put it under the Will Smith "I am Legend" zombie movie.  What was interesting to this diabetic was how Brad Pitt figured out how to confuse the zombies into not eating him, and that was injecting himself with a disease.  That was the best news I have heard about diabetes in a long time.  So after the zombie apocalypse the diseased will survive.  For the first time ever diabetes is an advantage!  Score one for diabetics!

New Suit!

 Sunday we hosted a ride for a corporate team that is participating in the Dallas ADA Tour de Cure.  This is a photo of a large gaggle of everyone who participated.  The funny thing is the corporate team was a company called Trinity industries and I actually interviewed with them something like 6 years ago and they almost assured me I had the job but had to wait two weeks for HR and stuff to find out.  The same time I had another offer that came down two days after I interviewed with Trinity that was with a company a bit closer to home.  How small of a world we live in.

 I took this ride as a chance to see how my new tri-suit from www.insulindependence.org would be.  When it comes to anything new and different I tell you all to test it out in a control environment before either going out into the woods and then finding out what is wrong with it or during an event and find out an issue.  Diabetes never likes any sort of surprise, well and it doesn't play well with consistency either but when we have data from previous experiences then we at least have sort of an idea of how things will work.  OK, so first of all, these tri-suits are tight, and I mean tight.  I felt like I was 200lbs over the obese limit when I first put this on.  You can not hide anything in these suits because you swim in them, ride in them, and finally run in this thing so baggy and loose is chaffed and sore.

 The first thing I had to sort out with this tri-suit was where to put my tons of junk I keep in those back pockets of my normal cycling jersey.  These tri-suits only have two tiny pockets on each hip which I found a way to stash my chap stick, about 5 quick sticks, and another 6 gels.  So like I told you recently, us diabetics know ways to stash all sorts of crap in places.  The only thing I didn't have room for was my CGM and pump which of course have belt clips to keep in my pants, I just normally keep them in the pockets of my cycling jersey so to not have them fall off during my ride.  In the end I just left them on the old pants and they didn't go any where because like I said these suckers are a tight fit.

The ride itself was full of all sorts of calamity.  First we had one rider throw up after we climbed our first hill, and let me tell you we really don't have any "hills" in Dallas so that was a shocker.  The guy recovered and did the 30 mile ride with us.  He said it was just the hill.  Then I was recruited to be a sweeper on the 30 mile ride, which I have never considered myself competent enough (I have severe balance issues) to actually be considered a helper with any of these rides.  I am more of a person that adds comedy to an event.  Then last we were like five miles from finishing the 30 mile ride and we had one gentleman go use the bathroom with another rider and then just took off and disappeared from the face of the earth.  Now he finished the ride and everything, just he left us and didn't let us know or anything.  In the end the tri-suit was awesome (besides showing my arms, I am not much on showing my shoulders for some reason.  Makes me feel naked) the shorts felt awesome and the top was great.  Now I am motivated to sign up for another tri-event this year and actually almost look like I should be doing these crazy things.

What can scare me and my diabetes?

 This past Saturday a few of the people I work with were planning on doing a 5k.  The 5k they had in mind was one of those tricked up ones and the name was "Splash and Dash 5k" which meant there was going to be water and that sorts of stuff.  The event claims to be the wettest race in America.  Not sure if they can prove that or anything but who is going to stop them from using the title.  Now this is not any sort of race you ever want to try and "PR" (Personal Record) at because it is more of a change of pace event meant for fun and exercise not speed and skill.  I originally was going to be in Oklahoma participating in the ADA "Tour de Cure" up there but for the past two weeks I have been slightly under the weather and my training has been minimal and I just did not feel I had the legs to do a 100 mile event.  So I ditched the diabetes ride and decided to join my co-workers for this running event.

 When it came closer to the day of the event I suddenly started to feel nervous about this thing.  I have never been scared of a 5k so I was wondering why was I nervous about this one?  In the picture above you see three blue squares titled "splash stations" and I finally figured out what I was  so nervous about and it was these "mystery events" and my diabetes.  We live in a diabetic world where we do everything we can do to prepare for the hour, day, week, and forever but to be at an event that has water and stuff with three mystery events thrown in, I was panicking on what to do with my horrible friend diabetes.  I knew Dexcom was out of the question, and my diabetes low treatment stuff had to be water tight, with having the right clothes and making sure the old BG's were in order this fun event all of a sudden was becoming difficult to prep for.  So I felt like a bit less of "The Diabetic Camper" who is almost not scared of anything, prepared for anything, and was now thinking of not doing it because of the diabetes cryptonight which is "mystery." 

You all know me and my crazy panic attacks at times and Saturday morning came and I got over my fears and was actually excited before the race.  There was this slight nagging feeling of that scene from the movie "UHF" where the kid gets to drink from the fire hose and that made me a bit nervous and also the race day announced "penguin pool" made of four feet deep pool filled with 500 lbs of ice in it.  The good thing was my co-workers all decided we would run as a gang since this was not a timed race and we wanted to just have fun.  Now the picture above is of me wearing a woman's size small t-shirt because we had one co-worker not able to make the race and everyone else said since I was going to take her race bib I had to wear her shirt.  So you know me, I do what I am told and wore the shirt.  I almost look good as a small woman don't I?

Multi-useful-notepad thing

 I love it when my brain functions and works like most other peoples brains do and I come up with a solution to a problem.  The past month or so ago I purchased some Rite in the Rain products from the discount inter-web location www.dvor.com and one was this 4x6 notepad kit that came with a notepad, cover, and pen.  I am probably the biggest fan of Rite in the Rain products and lost my last pen on my abominable snow journey from Oklahoma to Texas last Christmas day.  So I have been looking to replace it for a while with the exact same model, but they cost like 20 bucks.  Then if I purchased one of the "kits" the pen was almost thrown in for free.  Also I have been wanting to try out these fancy covers they have so this was a win (new pen), win (cover), and win (on sale) situation for me. 

 The kit arrived the other day and I pulled it out and noticed that the 4x6 notepad cover was quite a bit bigger than the notepad.  So like any good diabetic our mind starts to race with things we can stow in this extra space.  If diabetics ran NASA we could get so much crap to the moon and beyond it isn't funny.  We are like storage guru's and masters of multi purposing everything.  So the first thing that came to my mind was to see if my cell phone fit into the cover, and yes it did but I still had more space.  Then while at work I have been using a different meter than my pingy one that comes with the ping pump.  I have been using a FreeStyle Insulinx meter and was thinking that it might be thin enough to also fit in the cover case.  Sure enough it fit and I was on my way to figuring out if everything else would work with it.

The next thing was fitting a finger pricker and it slid in right next to the meter and the cover closed with ease and I still had space so I tried the last thing to fit and that was the Freestyle test strips and I was devastated that the bottle did not fit.  Then I started scrounging around my office looking for any sort of random zip lock bag I could find to put the test strips in so they would fit in the cover as well.  Like I said us diabetics reuse, re-porpose, and save everything that might come in handy later.  I found a gaggle of small zip lock bags I keep that seemed they could benefit me in the future and low and behold one of them was the perfect size to fit 50 test strips and they worked with the notepad cover.

Now the reason this is more than exciting to me is that I have been trying to find a way to go to places and not have to cary my gigantic diabetes man purse that looks like a makeup bag or a "that time of the month" bag and to do that I just put a meter, finger pricker, and test strips in my pocket but that is not practical or comfortable.  This is for situations where I am going to be out and about for like three hours or so and might be around snacks and finger foods and don't feel comfortable with just my CGM on.  Now I have what looks to be a Texas Instrument graphing calculator pouch in my back pocket when doing these type of events and also can keep everything posted in my notebook that I keep record of so much stuff for absolutely no reason at all.  People ask me why I write down stuff in my notepad and I do it just to do it.  I rarely ever go back and review it.  Most of it is food I eat and when I eat it.  I think having a food log helps me eat better and also is the easiest way to remember things I do on a certain day.  We can always put the past together if we know what we ate.

Sharpie

 One thing I have learned over my vast amount of camping over the years is to have a few luxury items with you.  Some of these items are safety pins, hackey sack, and a sharpie or two.  I don't know what it is but a sharpie while out in the woods comes in real handy.  The best part is having one when camping with unfamiliar people for the first time, so you can put your name on your cup and mark your underwear and the likes.  Now having a sharpie with you is not essential or emergency gear it is more of just a luxury item that weighs very little and comes in handy at the right times.  Now I even bring along several colors besides a black one for those times that "art" is called for when using a sharpie.

 Some things you can do with a sharpie is color your Lamborghini car.  I saw this on the inter-web and thought it looked pretty cool.  Have not looked any further to see if this is actually done with a sharpie or the picture is just labelled "sharpie Lamborghini."

Then there is fun to be had with a sharpie.  The picture above is what alot of guys do to their buddies when they pass out and the rest of the group is bored.  You sharpie your buddy, usually with words and stuff but these guys went all out and did a tuxedo on their friend.  I love how they made it look like the guy is awake with the eyes kind of drawn on his eye lids.  A true sharpie classic we must all live to appreciate once in our lives.

I dislike it when I am weak!

 Not sure why this picture is so blurry but at work we occasionally have random visitors and people from our operations in other towns and places come for meetings and the likes.  When they come we usually have a catered lunch for them and when it is all over they place the remaining food out for the rest of the employees to enjoy.  I have been following my friend Dr. Mark's advice on things to eat and things to avoid and doing quit well if I don't mind beating on my own chest.

 Then as I was leaving work last week I saw this gigantic bag of fresh tortilla chips and I had an extreme weak moment and hat to take a nibble.  OK, so it was more like I crammed as much as I could get in me before I left work.  So I have a thing I learned from along time ago and have forgotten who I heard it from or if I read it but the thing talked about how you should never look at food in a bad way.  You know how people use the words like cheated, or fell off my diet, and the likes so I like to say things like reward and treat which puts food in a good tone (remember I am an accountant and none of this should ever be read or used as advice, these are just things to comptemplate or something) and with diabetes food is such a four letter word.  How many times to people tell us "don't you just like have to not eat sugar and it is all good?"  I want to punch people like that.  That is like me saying to a cancer patient "Don't you just have to do kemo a few times a week and it goes away?" 

So when I feel down about things like this, there are ways for me to overcome them in a positive and good way.  My favorite way to make myself feel better is to go out for a nice run and if I feel fast them I am like: hey those chips can't stop me, and if I am slow I say: they are dragging me down and I need to remember this the next time a giant 55 gallon bag of chips are left laying around the office.  Other ways are like just eating a salad for dinner or using the chips as a reminder that I had already treated myself and that I need to earn more treats.  In the end we all have issues with food and diabetes but the real problem (remember I am an accountant and this is just things to comptemplate and not advice or anything) from my point of view is that we need to decrease the negative process as much as possible and replace it with positive momentum that we can build upon.

When ordinary life turns tragic!

 I am the biggest klutz on this planet.  There should be some sort of game show I could go on for klutz's like me so I could win or something.  Recently I have been on a okra phase, where I just want okra in most ways I can get it (all forms but fried).  I started off with okra with stewed tomatoes then started doing black eyed peas with okra in it, and finally just had boiled okra by itself.  This thing with okra though has come to a point that I called my mother up to see how to make gumbo.  So for my first gumbo batch I was too scared to buy a bunch of crawfish and shrimp for a delightful seafood gumbo but instead went with the safe choice of chicken gumbo.

I had the pot of rue simmering and was beginning to take the chicken off the pannini/George Foreman grill thing when I reached behind the grill to unplug it, I touched the back and burned the holly crap out of my forearm.  Now I have this wonderful burn on my forearm that makes me look like some sort of hot curling iron suicide attempt person and throw on some diabetes and who knows how long this one small mistake will be there.  I have been putting the triple antibiotic ointment on it and so far my BG numbers have been OK so just the discomfort of no skin on my forearm is all.  I just wish there was some way to go through life without little mistakes like this that throw everything into disarray.  This burn is also in the exact place you rest your forearm when using a computer mouse.  How delightful for a reminder all day at work how I am just a klutz.

Product review update!

http://www.columbia.com/Omni-Freeze-Zero-Cooling-Performance-Clothing-Apparel-%7C-Columbia.com/Technology_Omni-Freeze_Zero,default,pg.html

 

 I told you all about the fantastic Columbia Omni-Freeze Zero shirt that I purchased like a month or so ago from www.REI.com  and at that time I had not actually "worked out" in the shirt.  I basically had worn the shirt around as an extremely comfortable hot weather T-shirt.  Last Saturday I decided to go for an 8 mile run to try to keep the running legs going in the Dallas heat.  This time of year is probably more suited for cycling than running.

http://www.columbia.com/Omni-Freeze-Zero-Cooling-Performance-Clothing-Apparel-%7C-Columbia.com/Technology_Omni-Freeze_Zero,default,pg.html

 

 Most runners in the Dallas area that are starting marathon trainings and what not are in the 5am running time zone, when it is the coolest but not this crazy diabetic.  I decided to go out on a nice 93 degree day with a 0 mph wind and the humidity was a great 65% or so.  This was the ultimate test for this shirt.  Hot, humid, and sweat was the order of the day.  Now I did have a friend of mine ask me if the shirt actually did the "cool" affect and they really don't so if you are looking for a shirt that makes 102 degree days feel like 99 degrees then I guess this one does it but when I am hot, I am hot and a T-shirt is not going to make that much of a difference.  This is probably the greatest feeling polyester shirt I have ever worn and it is so comfortable to do anything in.

http://www.columbia.com/Omni-Freeze-Zero-Cooling-Performance-Clothing-Apparel-%7C-Columbia.com/Technology_Omni-Freeze_Zero,default,pg.html

 

What I did find out about this shirt is that it holds 4 ounces of sweat.  Not sure if that is something you wanted to know or not but I had to take the shirt off three times to get a total of 12 ounces of sweat out of the shirt.  The good thing about wringing the shirt out was it dried in no time at all and I could feel the "cool" affect at that time.  Heck after a few good wringings and a quick shake of the shirt it was darn near dry.  The only real downside to this shirt is that 50 dollar price tag which I am sure if you are a savvy shopper you can get discount codes and find them on sale.  I highly recommend if you are less than smart like me and enjoy running at all the wrong times to get this shirt and at least you will have some good gear to make the bad times feel like they are great.

Can water heal Diabetes?

My editor and chief of blog posts (That would be Jeff the man with 1,100 Linkdin connections) has found this website that has a book that tells you that water can cure diabetes.  The website is: http://www.watercure.com/wow_diabetes.html and the author is a doctor as well.  Now of course what do diabetics do with these cures and stuff?  Yes, you are correct we have a comedy routine that we add it to.  Put the water cure along side the aloe Vera, the acai berry, and the antifreeze theory of curing diabetes.  None of this stuff is a cure (remember I am a diabetic camper not a doctor or anything else, nothing posted on this blog is advice and should only be used as interesting things you read on the inter-web)  but this does almost make me want to buy this book just to see what it says.  Is this book just one page and it says:  drink water or does it have more insight like: drink water, then go pee and repeat until you are cured.  Who knows, only if I get the book will I know.  Now don't get me wrong I love water and Dr Mark and his book tells me to drink half my body weight in ounces of water every day so yes, being well hydrated will improve your function of life but still not a cure.  I even found a website that has a home water kit that can give you the kind of water for a cure of your diabetes: http://www.freedrinkingwater.com/water-education3/water-diabetes.htm  This inter-web page talks about how to replace drinking sugary sodas with a glass of water can help reduce your "highs"  I never thought of doing that before (did you catch my comedy in there?) and they also talk about just replacing any sugary snacks with a glass of water can help as well.  Where have I been for so long to not get this good information?  Lets just remember to be good and drink water, test your numbers, and live a well balanced moderated diabetes life.

Going off the wagon

 So my editor and chief of blogging (my buddy Jeff) is always riding me about stuff I need to put on my blog.  Most of the stuff is just inside jokes between us, and some is stuff I have to be in the mood to post, and the rest is just nonsense.  Then the other day Jeff let me know he was going off the diabetes wagon and turning back to the 19th century and stopping his pump and freebasing insulin straight out of a needle.  I asked Jeff for some pictures but he didn't send any so all the pictures on today's post are just random things Jeff has sent me since the last time I posted diabetes funnies Jeff has sent me.

 With Jeff going off the diabetes insulin pump wagon I started to think about it myself.  Then real quick I put that thought aside and remembered I am not one to be doing everything the same way every day for the basal rates of a 12 hour insulin and bathroom stall insulin shots just creep me out and I would get caught with my pants down at my desk shooting up.  Not that I would ever not go off the diabetes insulin pump gravy train, just I get comfortable with everything in my life being a steady constant of chaos.  I do always like the thought of not being so dependant on Terminator 2 technology to keep me alive so I will monitor Jeff and see how he does and think about doing myself later this year.

One thing that is good about taking a break from the diabetes insulin pump wagon is that you know how to take care of yourself when the machines take over and nothing works right.  I have done the long acting insulin practice runs a few times but it has been way to long since my last end of the world with no insulin pump scenario so that is even more motivation to do it again.

Making Plans

 I have been feeling like the movie "Close Encounters of the 3rd kind" where the gentleman can't get the mashed potato place out of his mind.  The place on my mind has been Big Bend National Park located on the border of Mexico and west Texas.  Now this is a dessert climate mountain range but for some reason I just want to see it.

 This June's Backpacker magazine did a one page article about hiking the outer loop and how it is only a 29 mile loop that takes about four days total.  After reading this article I have been emailing, and texting friends to see if and when anybody can or will go with me to this land.  I like having goals and dreams of things to do in the next 12 months.  Gives me focus and drive to stay in shape and find another soul or two that are willing to jab a glucagon shot into my neck or something.

This is like the third thing I have received in the mail that had an article about Big Bend so now I must do it.  Also I have been pondering a trip to Peru.  I was watching public television and that show "Globe Trekker" was there and I think that michu pichu mountain thing looks cool and seeing the condors would be neat.

The best place to live in Diabetesville!

A while back I was driving around and saw the scene above, and you are thinking "why is Dave showing us a picture of a random CVS?"  That is not the whole picture.  So it got me thinking that what is the best place for a diabetes person to live at in this great town of "Diabetesville" that we all live in?  Some people are thinking Paris, or New York City, and all sorts of random beach towns, ski towns and all sorts of in between and you are correct.  Just the one thing that every diabetic loves is when they get "supplies"  that magic moment where you know you have enough "stuff" or "meds" to make it through at least a month or so.  Now lets not go into cost or anything but we need "supplies" to survive. 

Now if you have the ability and I hope you do but zoom in on the picture above and look to the left of the CVS (or to the right if you are in Australia since the picture will be backwards on your screen).  Back in the trees you will notice a house not spitting distance from the CVS.  So yes, these people live in the bast place in Diabetesville.  Their front yard is a CVS!  Not that I would want my front yard turned into a 24 hour condom and lube dispensary (I have mentioned condoms 2 days in a row, that is just wrong or a sign I need new jokes) but think of the benefits of just walking out your front door and in your front yard is your pharmacy?  OK, so lets talk about cost now, You just sold your front yard to CVS so I think you can afford to go and get your diabetes lotions, diabetes cough syrup, and insulin now.  I do feel bad for the people in the house though they live in a place I would kill for.  Across the street from them is a Target and when this house was built thirty years ago it was in the middle of the country, just a small 20 acre or so ranch house on the skirts of Dallas and walking distance to South Fork.  Now they have a six lane divided road across two sides of their property, a Target, CVS in their front yard and all the lights and noise they never wanted.  I hope you understand that the CVS is literally their front yard.

I am a sucker for a gimmick!

 I am what commercials are made for, a simple person that is willing to try something once.  Which reminds me, my friend Jeff was talking to my buddy Don and he was telling me Don had the funniest saying about me: "The good thing about Dave Hennesey is that he will try anything once, the bad thing about Dave Hennesey is he will try anything once."  I crack up every time I think about that saying.  how true it is.  Well this time I have been seeing that Columbia commercial with the clothes that actually make you colder when you sweat in them.  I was hooked because in Texas we get a warm season and I like to try and workout all year long so a shirt that actually gets cold when you sweat sounded like something I had to try at least once.

 OK, so first I did not believe that I would actually get cold or really much cooler with this new shirt made of unicorn blood that is sown together by people at a factory that sits on an old Indian grave site that possesses each shirt.  The first thing I noticed was how comfortable the shirt was.  Think of your favorite old worn out T-shirt combined with a modern polyester T-shirt, add in a bit of underwear softness to it and that is what you have here.  I just love having the shirt on and that is alot to say about polyester/nylon/spandex material.  My personal favorite when it comes to sitting around the house is an old cotton T-shirt but this shirt is so comfy I would easily move it to my favorite.

 Do you like my getting all of the angles of me wearing the shirt?  I am such the dork.  The next awesome thing about this shirt is that the arm pits are not the standard line down the middle of the pit.  They put like a piece of diamond material in the pit so that the shirt moves better with you and it doesn't stress the seams when you take it off.  Back to me being a dork, I just took in two polyester running shirts to my Tailor to have the arm pits resown because they had holes in them.  Most people would just throw the shirt away, or make a sleeveless shirt out of them, but not me I had them tailored back to new.  This new shirt wont have that issue though with the fancy arm pit design.  The material doesn't look like your normal shiny polyester either.  It has these little blue circles that are hard to notice from far away and the material looks almost like sci-fi cotton or something.

A little bad news is this shirt retailed for 50 bucks, but I used my www.rei.com 20% off coupon to get it down to an almost reasonable 40 bucks.  Then they put a tag down at the bottom that you could write the star spangle banner on it is so long.  Since the shirt cost so much I have not ripped out the tag yet and will probably take it to the tailor to have the tag removed and the shirt put back to like new status.  I guess I should give out an inter-web page so you can go and get one for yourself: www.columbia.com and the product is called: omni-freeze zero.  Next I am going to get a 40 dollar pair of their undies and let you know how little Dave likes the cold.

Bladder issues!

 I have a hydration bladder, but I would never in a million years ever go backpacking or just camping with only a bladder.  No matter what I always have a water bottle with me because if you have ever used a water bladder you know that first they always mildew, then they can have leaky parts, and finally they can rupture or tear.  I am scared to death of being in the backwoods with only a bladder and have it go bad for any sort of way.  Then I received Junes issue of Backpacker magazine and they have an article about what to do if you are stupid, I mean if you only bring a bladder with you into the backwoods and it springs a leak (morons, who does this sort of stuff?)

 I tried to take pictures of the article so you could read it and so that I would feel on the dangerous side by publishing something that is not supposed to be distributed without notification (don't tell Backpacker magazine I did this)  The article starts by talking about small and large holes in bladders, and both of which I am extremely familiar with.  For small holes they recommend using a small lighter to kind of melt the plastic back together.  That to me seems like it is only going to make a bigger hole.  For small holes I do this: USE MY WATER BOTTLE I BRING!  Then they do have a great idea for large holes and that is to put a piece of duct tape on both sides of the tear so that the water puts pressure on one side and the other side holds it in place and you don't have to taste duct tape glue flavored water.  Or do what I do: BRING A SPARE CANTEEN!

 OK so then the article takes a funny/weird/odd turn when talking about a full blowout of a bladder.  They say to line the bladder with a plastic bag which I can see having a spare trash bag around and using it, that seems OK.  Then they suggest using a "condom" because everyone brings a freakin condom with them into the backwoods and turn it into a waterballoon sort of thing to create like a dam to stop the leak.  I don't care if you are going on a baby making excursion, I don't want to know that there has or ever will be a condom in the backwoods.  If your whole goal for camping "is to get some" then go to the lake and get drunk with all the rest of the idiots out there but there just seems so much wrong in this article thinking that everyone has a "condom" in the backwoods.

In the end there are ways that I have learned to try and fix a broken bladder the next time my bladder busts.  Then there are things I learned about other peoples gear bags that now I know theose people will never be in the backwoods with me.  Last always remember to BRING A FREAKIN WATER BOTTLE OR CANTEEN INTO THE BACKWOODS no matter what else you have with you.