World Diabetes Day

Today is a day that many would let come and go without recognition, but I'm going to dedicate today's blog to help change that - even if it's just for a single person. Every year, November 14th is World Diabetes Day. World Diabetes Day (WDD) is the primary global awareness campaign of the diabetes world. It was introduced in 1991 by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) in response to the alarming rise in diabetes around the world. In 2007, the United Nations marked the Day for the first time with the passage of the United Nations World Diabetes Day Resolution in December 2006, which made the existing World Diabetes Day an official United Nations World Health Day.

The reason this is an important day and cause for me is two-fold. First and foremost, I work for a company called Novo Nordisk. Headquartered in Denmark, Novo has been fighting against this disease state and towards a cure since 1923. It's what I see every day, what I live every day when I get to work. In my professional career, and having worked for other large 'American' pharma companies (e.g. Wyeth, Genzyme), the company as a whole truly believes it is our responsibility to help find a cure and change diabetes. It's a great feeling to go home with, and I'm grateful - especially in these times - to work for such an exceptional organization.

The other reason it's important is my paternal grandmother was a type-1 diabetic, and succumed to complications from the disease in a time when current treatment would have extended her life and improved the quality of her life. Additionally, my mother-in-law is a type-2 diabetic. So I have personal skin in the game of seeing our organization's cause through to the end. I'm sure I'm not alone either. With the diabetes rate growing year after year, I would hazard to say that most of us have either someone in our immediate family impacted by the disease, or someone we closely know.

The National Diabetes Goal is 'By 2015, 45% of Americans who are at risk for type 2 diabetes will know their blood glucose level and what actions to take." It sounds like such a modest goal, but understand that the level of education on the disease is so poor that it's not clear if that goal will be reached. Find out if you're at risk next time you see your doctor, and get tested. Treatment today is exceptional, but only if people make use of it.

Ok, that's enough of my soapbox talk for the day. Step outside, and if you see a building, a monument, or whatever bathed in blue, you'll know why.

The London Eye on World Diabetes Day

I should know better

Planning ahead = bad.  It's just not something men should probably do in general.  But either way, I actually had a minor stroke of genius a month or two ago with respect to my eldest son's xmas gift.  Rather than cave into the random crap he asks for, and then quickly starts rotting in the basement after one or two weeks, I ordered up a pair of tickets for the Metallica show in Philadelphia on January 17th.  This would be his first concert ever, he absolutely is in love with Rock Band, and has even started taking guitar lessons a few months ago.  I was going to be a hero.  Notice the term was.

While talking about his xmas list that is soon to be delivered to his grandparents, he is stuck on a Zune.  Well, expensive + electronics != good xmas gift from grandparents.  Halfway through the "And your mom and I probably wouldn't get you it either" sentance, thinking that we already had his gift bought and paid, I realized the issue.

We're going to be in Orlando.

Soooo....anyone in the market for some decent seats for a Metallica concert in Philadelphia? 

Pass the ears...

...I'm going to Disney World!

After catching a piece on the Today show this past Monday, my wife and I learned of an extraordinary deal that Disney is running right now. You buy 4 nights, and get 3 free. Now while we were planning on the family vacation in 2010, this bumped it up significantly ... to this January 16th through 23rd! And when I say extraordinary deal...here's what we got for a family of 5:

8 days, 7 nights at the Yacht Club, club level with consierge service.
7 days of passes into the parks, with the Park Hopper, Water Park, Sports Complexs added in.
Roundtrip air from Philadelphia
The top meal plan - 3 sit down meals, 2 snacks per person, per day, at any of the parks or resorts 100+ restaurants, dinner shows, etc.
$200 Disney card for miscellaneous spending
Full travel insurance (no lost luggage here...at least w/o hitting them with a phat $1000 bill if its more than 2 hours late)
Arcade voucher for family to a 5-story, ultra-high tech arcade (rainy weather insurance )

Total after everything, taxes, charges, whatever ... $6900.

For what should be a pretty much all-inclusive vacation, I think that was a pretty good deal. I looked at the dinners at some of the restaurants - $45 steaks. Mmmm....I'm going to eat goooooood.

Either way, I'm psyched for the first "real" family vacation we've had in 14 years of marridge with kids, and hope it meets and exceeds all our expectations. If there are any Disney experts on the site, please feel free to drop any advice in the comments. We're total n00bs to this, so any advice to us is good advice.

 

MechWarrior anyone?

Ok, the "Alien Meets Chicken Little" costume was great, but this one ranks right up there for top costume I've seen lately.

Only catch is carrying candy would be a bitch. 

Balek's Movie Review™ - Changeling

"Fuck you, and the horse you rode in on."

Every movie has a target audience. If you’re not a pre-pubescent girl, then I don’t suspect you’re excited to see the latest High School Musical movie. Only people that are more than just a little twisted are lining up to see what Jigsaw has planned in Saw V. Finally, anyone in the market for an excellent drama, and even more importantly is a parent, should get in line to see Clint Eastwood’s latest movie, Changeling.

I’ll try to keep this as spoiler-free as possible. The movie stars Angelina Jolie as a single mother in the late 1920s trying her best to raise a polite, responsible, and all around good boy. She works hard, and loves her son without limits. However, after being called into work sudden notice, and leaving her son at home for the day, she returns to find he is gone. What follows is a search to find him, not with the help of the L.A.P.D. as one would think, but rather struggling against an organization bereft with abuse of power, corruption, and a lack of humanity in the grandest sense of the word. After a short while, the police return her ‘son’ to her, but she is immediately aware that the delivered boy is an imposter. I can’t go into more details here without spoiling the plot, but the movie is based strongly on a true story – a fact that makes what is portrayed more disturbing than any bit of pure fiction.

The cast of the movie is rather limited due to the script and lack of depth in developed characters, but those that do play in the movie do well. Jolie is stunning both physically (not any surprise there) but more importantly emotionally. I am not sure what she tapped into for the role, but the effects of the events that impact her are palatable. She is taken to the very depths of despair, but somehow finds the inner courage and strength to continue fighting for her son. All in all, she delivers a convincing performance and one that may find her with a Best Actress nomination or two when the time comes. In a smaller role, John Malkovich does as he always does – command your attention. Finally, an unknown Jason Butler Harner portrays evil and depravity so well you start rooting for him to fall.

Technically, the setting is done well and believably. You feel like you’re in the swinging 1920’s, and get an idea of what it was like both for the men and women of the era. This isn’t an action movie or the like, so sound design and effects are minimal at best, but what did strike as better-than-average was the musical score. It matched with the pacing and timing of the movie well, hitting strongly at certain points to amplify what was going onscreen to another level. Kudos to the production for getting that right.

All in all, a much better experience than I was anticipating based on the initial reviews. I always love going into a movie with mild expectations and being blown away. Changeling did just that, and I’m happy to say earned my ever-limiting entertainment dollars.