The Corner Booth

Yes, I'm that guy posting about politics the day after the election. I realize that no one cares about this anymore, and that it's hardly what anyone wants to read a blog post about. But being who I am, this is more about chronicling my own thoughts and all that jazz. This is for me, not anyone else. So, here goes. Most of the people I voted for on Nov. 6, 2012 won their races, and I'm pleased with their wins. Including the president. I voted for Barack Obama in 2008 because I believed he wanted to bring a change to the political climate in this country. I agree with many of his policy decisions, but disagree on some. I see the U.S.A. moving forward, making progress, even though many of us aren't doing "as good" as we were five years ago. This is a different world now, and it means everyone needs to reassess what "good" means and adjust their understanding and acceptance of what their standard of "normal" must be. ...

What is preventing a cure for type 1 diabetes? We asked, and they answered. And no, there isn't a conspiracy by those power brokers with Pharma, FDA, and the diabetes research community. For as long as there has been research to cure diabetes, there have been people who believe that a cure will never happen because treating this disease is simply far too profitable. Those who believe in this so-called "conspiracy theory " are convinced that pharma companies have a vested interest in keeping diabetes around as long as possible because peddling their treatments is far bigger business than a cure could ever be. We all know that diabetes is a multi-billion dollar industry, including sales of insulin, oral agents, and injectibles like Victoza, and medical devices such as insulin pumps, glucose monitors and their pricey test strips, and new continuous glucose monitors. Type 2 diabetes is increasing exponentially, but even type 1 diabetes is growing at a dramatic rate, whic...

Not long ago, my dad and I got together for a game of golf. We had a swell time, and of course chatted about family and our beloved black lab, Riley.   Particularly, the Riley Dog's love for squirrels and her mission to capture them. Somehow, this golfcourse conversation derailed into the pros and cons of having dogs out there on the golf course and how it'd be GREAT to teach them to carry our clubs... Or drive the cart for us. And so, this came about... Thanks to the very talented cartoonist Jerry King (who also does some great drawing over at DiabetesMine !), since he took some of his own time to draw up my imaginary golf course scenario for a favor... Much appreciated!!

 Fingers gripping the steering wheel, a dizziness setting in — with a knowledge that the cold sweats and soon-blurring vision are on the way. Whatever the reason for the plunging blood sugar, the reality in that moment is that you are going low and need to do something about it. To pull over. To check. To eat something. But as sometimes happens when floating in a hypoglycemic daze, you can't bring yourself to take action even though you know it's needed. The brain just isn't connecting and forcing you to pull that treatment trigger. I've been there. More than once. And they've been life-changing lessons that have influenced my driving habits. With National Drive Safely Week running the first week of October, this seemed like ideal timing to share some personal stories about the dangers of driving with diabetes. My two significant driving-while-low experiences both happened during the workday, when I managed to find myself behind the wheel while...

Us in May 2012 at JDRF Indiana Gala. We celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary on Monday, Sept. 24, 2012. The sentiment remains unchanged since I'd last posted on our anniversary, at the five-year mark . But as I do every year, I sit back on this special day and re-read the newspaper I created to propose nearly a decade ago now (March 2003). This full eight-page broadsheet is the one I spent about three months creating back in late 2002 and early 2003, writing my own stories, editing and designing, selling ads to pay for the whole thing, and recruiting a roll of writers made up of family and friends. All of them keeping the upcoming marriage proposal a secret, of course! I still remember staying out late at night, telling you they were late nights in my real paycheck-providing newsroom job when in fact they were spent at my old college newspaper stomping grounds putting this paper together. It was tough, but it all paid off. This year, I realized (once again) the full...

Penned in August 2007, this story appeared in our county humane society's newsletter and was written about a month after we adopted Riley and brought her home. We've now been together for five years. By Riley Hoskins Sometimes, it’s funny how a newspaper can change your life. That’s how mine took a turn for the better, paving the way for a forever family and permanent home. Just call me Riley. Everyone else does. In a way, the name almost reflects the uncertainty surrounding the first chapter in my life. Memories of my early days are fuzzy, but it’s tough to describe the little I remember as bad when it led me to where I am today. They say I may have been abused as a puppy, but no one knows for sure. We don’t even know for sure when my real birthday is, though that V-E-T says I was about 1-year-old when brought home. All I know for certain is that the mysterious chapter of my life ended one fateful day when I stumbled into a Center Grove neighborhood at the tail end of 20...

You may remember my past post about the origins of my family history work started several years ago. This is a continuation of that, as part of my series publishing my past genealogy research and writing outside of the Ancestry.com world.  - - - - - - - - - -  When I was tracking the name Hoskins through the generations, I had a solid line dating back to the early 1870s before there was any question. My 2nd great grandfather didn't actually ever talk about his own father, and so that's when it became unclear who was in our line from that point back. Birth, death and marriage records - along with land ownership and wills - helped connect the dots going back to 1790, when there was again uncertainty. I couldn't confirm that my ancestor apparently born that year was actually related to a line of Hoskins dating back to the Civil War days and possibly even to the pre-colonial days. No documents seemed to exist, since the War of 1812 meant that any historical records fr...