Friday, April 27, 2012

InkStain'D Out: The Real People Sick Edition


Why do I call this the Real People Sick Edition? Well, this was a sick day for me because I was Real People Sick. Now, you might wonder what that is, but there's times when I feel sick because of diabetes - too high, too low, things just being "off". But over the last few days, I've been leading up to a kick*ss hacking cold - in the diabetes community known as Real People Sick.

Now, if one is commuting long distances - on a cramped train - those who cough get the withering stares evil eye from their fellow commuters. So to avoid the curse that they would bestow upon me, I stayed home to recuperate, and well, here's the RPS edition.

This edition features lots of blog posts from our DOC (Diabetes Online Community), and as it turns out, I must have been hungry, because there are lots of food-related posts, including a DIY recipe for Larabars. I've never seen them here in Canada, but I've heard they are delicious, and this recipe looks like something I might even try. Maybe I should call it the Foodie Edition. Anyway, some feature blogs and articles:

  • News Alerts: Kayla's Life Notes
  • Meggins and Patterns: Texting My Pancreas
  • Rage-Bolusing Cause and Effect: The Diabetic's Corner Booth
  • Neuropathy from Diabetes
  • New Data Mining Eatery App and What It Teaches Us About Our Diet
  • French Onion Grilled Cheese Sandwich: Portuguesegirlcooks.com
  • English Muffin French Toast: The Kitchn 

... and theres at least a couple of super easy kitchen tips. So check out today's InkStain'D to see what might be there for you.

Saturday, April 21, 2012

InkStain'D is Out: April 21st


This InkStain'D is coming out a day earlier than usual. You may say, when does InkStain'D publish anyway? Fair enough. However, what the heck, it's out and that's cool, right? So now you have the rest of the weekend, and beyond, to enjoy this Special Early Edition of InkStain'D.

As usual, some great blog posts! Check out the video that was uploaded as part of the You Can Do This Project, featuring some of our Diabetes Online Community T1 folk who were diagnosed as adults (as was this InkStain'D publisher at age 28). It always surprises me when people - especially medical professionals (the most recent being my rheumatologist) - who say to me, "That was awfully late to be diagnosed!". Um, not really, but that's okay, now you know.

Anyway, enjoy and see you again in a few days.

Some of the findings in this edition are:

  • Sorting Out a Tangle - Living Vertical
  • Now What? - Life After Dx - Diabetes Uncensored
  • Group Effort - A Consequence of Hypoglycemia (which has that video that I mentioned earlier)
  • Watch What You Say - LADA Life
  • Southwestern Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

And other great bits and pieces. If you have difficulty accessing the videos posted, Accessible InkStain'D is also available (check out link at InkStain'D or at top of this page).

http://paper.li/InkStain_d/2012/04/19

Thursday, April 19, 2012

InkStain'D: Thursday, April 19th


Well, after this post it's tax time in the Flying Furball / InkStain'D household, so this is the Official Pre-Tax Edition of InkStain'D (hopefully I will be finished in time to publish the next InkStain'D on Sunday). Once again though you'll find lots of great blog posts and articles, including:


  • Feature article - Gordon Lightfoot - Jian Ghomeshi interviews Canada's venerable Gordon Lightfoot (love Gord!) 
  • Child with Diabetes finds Hope with four-legged friend
  • Good Things Come from Bad Situations - My Diabetic Heart 
  • Does It Really Exist? - Strangely Diabetic
  • Gassing Up - Six Until Me 
  • Support for What? Musings of a Rebel Without a Topic - T Minus Two
  • Secret World of Blog Advertising - Art of Doing Nothing


The Accessible InkStain'D is also available (check out link at InkStain'D or at top of this page).

http://paper.li/InkStain_d/2012/04/19

Monday, April 16, 2012

InkStain'D: Read All About It...it's not too late



Well, life happened and I didn't get this post out there in a timely fashion, but this weekend's InkStain'D is timeless, and features a great story that has been out there for a while - I must have been under a rock or something. But with an amazing scholarship fund to a kid living in East L.A., now this kid is going places. Read about Caine and his cardboard arcade. If Caine can do it at just 9 years old, I'd like to suggest that just about any of us can rise above our own challenges. This issue includes posts:
  • Ninjabetic - Shall I Freestyle? 
  • Blue Heel Society - Day 14... My Dream Day 
  • Diabetic Aviator - My Life as a Pancreas
  • Victoria Cumbow - But wait, I have questions
  • Toucan Scraps - Life Savers
  • Keep Your Garden Pest Free with these Natural Pesticides, made with ingredients already in your pantry
  • How to make perfect French Fries (Ed. note: a guilty pleasure!)
Click here to read all about it.

Accessible InkStain'D

Also, for those of you who stumble on this blog who use a screen reader, the paper is largely accessible, and a link is included to an accessible page for the videos shared (also at the top of this page, link for Accessible InkStain'D.


Monday, April 9, 2012

InkStain'D: Monday, April 9th




Today's InkStain'D features many bloggers from the DOC (Diabetes Online Community), including:
  • My Life with Type 2 Diabetes - We All Talk to Ourselves, Right? (HAWMC, Day 8) 
  • The Diabetic's Corner Booth - Skittles on a Plane 
  • Victoria Cumbow - A new, real-life friend 
  • Texting My Pancreas - Failing 
  • T Minus Two - Many Kinds of Delicious
  • Bittersweet - Keep Calm (HAWMC, Day 9); and
  • what to do with that leftover, yet awesome looking Magic Mouse Container Terrarium
Click here to read all about it.

Accessible InkStain'D

Also, for those of you who stumble on this blog who use a screen reader, the paper is largely accessible, and a link is included to an accessible page for the videos shared (also at the top of this page, link for Accessible InkStain'D.



Sunday, April 1, 2012

Ready, Set, Fly!

There's a new kid in town. It's a little e-newspaper called InkStain'D.

To go back a bit, the Flying Furballs blog was born out of my need to share all kinds of things that go on in my life. I have shared posts about living with Type 1 Diabetes and it gave me a platform to be a diabetes advocate. I've also shared my husband Larry's accessibility 'adventures' as he lives with blindness caused by congenital glaucoma. He also lives with Type 2 diabetes which has, over the last few years, given me more insight into the diabetes 'world'.

But still, I kept wondering, how could I possibly add something to an amazing blogging community which has already done such a great job. Sure, I do have something to say, and Flying Furballs is still a perfect forum through which I can share, but due to limited time, I've been struggling with how to best serve the community and beyond.

InkStain'D is born

Read all about it, in InkStain'D
InkStain'D is an e-newspaper that I've been playing with for a while. It had humble beginnings (starting as the JamieNa Journal which morphed into the JamieAnna Journal), and I've had a few mis-steps to be sure. I've learned the ropes and now I can say I am the publisher and curator of this little paper. It proudly sports a new URL (paper.li/InkStain_D) and it will be published at least 2 days per week, assuming life doesn't get too much in the way.

InkStain'D is another way to access information - a kind of one-stop shopping. Because people prefer to access information in different ways. This e-newspaper format hopefully will bring information to more people, and hopefully introduce other people to the diabetes community. Essentially, it is another way to reach out to people - providing them with information in an interesting and entertaining way.

For those of you already familiar with it, the focus will be the same, but it now features some new stuff too. Not only will it have news and views from the diabetes and accessibility communities, it will also share so much more with readers, including:
  • Posts from bloggers of all stripes, from within the diabetes and accessibility communities, and "beyond"
  • Featured videos - educational, funny, creative and inspirational
  • Photos and drawings of all kinds - interesting, funny, and cute photos that have been shared
  • Technological advancements
  • scientific discoveries, and
  • other cool whatnots

What makes InkStain'D different?


InkStain'D was created, in part, to be an interactive forum for the community. Whether you are a blogger or "just" a person trying to raise funds in your community - whoever and wherever you are - you can use this forum to get your message out into the world. If you have a blog, just write about it, and it can be part of InkStain'D. If you don't have a blog, just write something up and InkStain'D (along with some space located on Flying Furball) will help you share your message.

What's this? Accessibility!


InkStain'D will be accessible - and this is huge. Why is this huge, you might ask?

Just think about it - so many videos are out there, featuring funky music with some floating script scrolling across the screen. This works for most of us who can see it, however, it's the same to blind people as silence is to deaf people. It may also surprise you that even though embedded videos are obviously sitting right there in a blog ready to click on for you and I, some screen readers do not even "see" videos embedded in blogs. Through Flying Furballs, this paper will provide a link to the source of the videos (at YouTube, Vimeo and other sources). For videos that are "silent", as well as many photographs, drawings and graphics, descriptive text will be provided to the best of my ability. This way anyone who has visual impairments can be included and "see" what everyone else sees. Look at the top of the page. There's a link there to bring you to the Accessible InkStain'D tab.

So now, no one is left behind. Anybody with vision issues or who navigate the web by alternate ways, can also enjoy what everybody else does while reading InkStain'D.

Ready to fly


I like to think of InkStain'D like the caterpillar transforming into a butterfly, and it's now time for the butterfly to take flight (I love metaphors, so please indulge me!)

I'm excited to be launching InkStain'D which has grown near and dear to my heart. I hope you will explore it with me, and please, tell me what you think.