The Ashtray Says ...

There's a song by the band Wilco with the opening line:

The ashtray says, you were up all night.

Well, here's our ashtray and yes, we were up all night.

The title of the song happens to be "A Shot in the Arm."

And yes, we had some of that too.

What Would You Do?

As the great thespian, Keanu Reeves, pondered in the movie Speed, what would you do? What would you do?

I'm curious to know what you would all do in this situation.

Susanne dropped Charlie off at art camp at 9:30 am. This was 2 hours after a 52 carb breakfast of pancakes, small banana and 4 ounces of milk.

At 9:30 am his blood sugar was 160 with 1.2 units of active or "on board" insulin. The class ends at 11:30 am.

So I won't tell you what we did next. I'd like to know what you'd do. I'll tell you what happened later. Let's see who would have made the right decision.

It's worth noting that Charlie is hardly ever out of our sight. The art teacher happens to be a mother of a 20-year-old girl with diabetes and she knows how to test him if necessary. Still, these two hours, a precursor to kindergarten in the fall, have us both on edge.

So, let's see it. What would you do?

Bush Bans Destruction of Pumpkins for Science

In an impromptu press conference this morning in the White House rose garden, President George W. Bush banned the use of pumpkin extract for medical use, citing "moral concerns."

The following is a transcript from this morning's press conference:

When I was a boy. A long, long, long time ago, [laughter] I remember sittin' down at Thanksgiving dinner - a great American tradition - with a plateful of my momma's pumpkin pie.

[rubbing his tummy] Now this pie was so good, people claim they could smell it as far as Fort Worth [laughter].

Researchers are now sayin' that compounds in pumpkins could possibly regenerate pancreatic cells and boost levels of insulin-producing beta cells, giving hope to many with diabetes. I have no idea what I just said.

I appreciate that we are a nation that has a deep desire to advance science and cure diseases, but I cannot ethically support the deliberate destruction of pumpkins. [applause]

It's a life. One of God's glorious creatures. [applause] I believe it may even be a mammal. It is a moral line I cannot cross. Pumpkins are a symbol of America. [applause] A symbol of our freedom. [applause] Freedom to carve Jack-o-lanterns on Halloween. Freedom for the great farmers of this country to enter contests to grow massive pumpkins weighing more than 1500 pounds. [applause]

Pumpkin soup, pumpkin seeds, mashed pumpkin, pumpkin pudding. [continued applause]

The Great Pumpkin! for Pete's sake [heh, heh]. Laura loves that Linus. [laughter]

What about those gourds. Those are pretty funny when you draw a face on them. I got one of those dried out gourds as a gift last Christmas and I keep it on my desk. I talk to it sometimes. I swear it looks just like Henry Winkler. The resemblance is amazing. [heh, heh].

After talking on the phone with world leaders such as Polish Prime Minister Jar-o-slaw Kac-zyn-ski or Italian President Gee-or-gee-o Nap-ol-itano, I like to look over at the gourd, knodding my head with two thumbs up and say, "Aaay!" Just like The Fonz.

Lastly, I'd like to remind you all that pumpkin extract has not been proven to be an effective treatment for diabetes. I think it's important that our researchers and scientists pursue alternative methods on mammals that are not as, uh, cool [heh, heh] as the pumpkin.

Have we tried radishes?

Thank you all for coming. God bless the United States of America. [applause]

The Auction

So we hosted our first auction fundraiser for juvenile diabetes at the house on Saturday. Sorry, I didn't even take one photo. Shameful. Too busy running around, filling mimosas, etc.

One of our contributions to the auction was an old 1960s-ish child's school desk. The old desk had been collecting dust in our basement for years. Finally an opportunity to do something with it. I pulled hundreds of pounds of boxes off of it. Walked through layers and layers of cobwebs. Came very close to killing myself lugging the extremely heavy desk up the basement stairs ...

only to have my son bid for it and win it for 8 bucks.

Unfortunately, no one had the balls to outbid the kid with diabetes at a diabetes fundraiser. Cowards! Even after our auctioneer (my friend Mike) embellished the item, declaring it a desk used on the set of Little House on the Prairie.

Great day though. It was a small invite-only gathering of friends and family yet we still raised about $800 for JDRF.

And I bought this awesome desk!

Bid Diabetes Farewell

To kick start the fundraising season, we will host Charlie's Angels' inaugural 'Bid Diabetes Farewell' charity auction this Saturday.

People are donating some very cool stuff for the auction. We have digital cameras, an mp3 player, brand new tennis rackets, tickets to a NY Red Bulls soccer match and much more.

A huge "thank you" to painter Michael Wommack for donating a beautiful piece to the auction. Check out some of his paintings and pastels. Very nice.

Strawberry Luna, an amazing designer of posters for bands and artists such as The Decemberists, Iron & Wine, Death Cab for Cutie and a ton more, was also very happy to contribute to the cause. I received two wonderful prints in the mail. Thank you to her.

If you're ever in the Princeton or Philly area, stop by Triumph Brewing Company. Great food and great homebrewed beer. I recommend the Bengal Gold IPA. The good people at Triumph forked over a very generous gift certificate without hesitation. All for juvenile diabetes research.

Lastly, thanks to Manhattan Bagel for providing the grub. These guys rock. Happy to help. No questions asked. Other than, "how much you want?"

Looking forward to great day on Saturday. Photos and recap forthcoming.