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.