Cleaning Out The Ol' Inbox.

My email volume has gone from intense to WHOA lately - it seems PR folks have found me, which can be both good and bad. Sometimes they're all "Dear Blogger, please talk about how our cinnamon-based diet can cure you" (that's the bad, and makes me want to point them here), but other times they send a thoughtful, personalized email (that's the good) telling me about something, and ask if I would mind checking it out/sharing it/writing about it. Some of it is totally legit, and some of it I'm really not sure about - so you'll have to decide on those things for yourself.

Also, there are a couple of things I could mention that fall into the "stuff I did when I wasn't here" category, so things are about to get bullet-pointy again.(Twice in one week? I know.)

• A website called Sharecare named what they believe to be the top ten "influencers" in the diabetes online community, and somehow I ended up on that list. If you're like me and have absolutely no prior knowledge of what Sharecare is, they are self-described as an "interactive, social Q&A platform designed to greatly simplify the search for quality healthcare information". The website was formed by Jeff Arnold (founder of WebMD) and Dr. Oz. While I may not personally be the biggest fan of Dr. Oz, I do appreciate that the Sharecare site is trying to connect people living with diabetes with each other. I can always be on board with that idea.
• And apparently I'm also influential about diabetes on Twitter?
• JDRF and the Helmsley Charitable Trust (which is a name a lot of folks recognize, but I wasn't one of them until recently) have begun a collaboration which you can read about here. Also, you may have heard that JDRF has a new logo, tag line, and put a bold ad in the Washington Post and NY Times. (Yes, I'm a little slow on the reporting here, but better late then never.)
• Someone at Three Rivers Press (a division of Random House) sent me some information about a recently released book written by someone who is both a PWD (type 1) and a creative director at Nike named Chuck Eichten. The book is titled The Book of Better, and here's their description: "The book is designed to be for everyone: Type 1, Type 2, adults, children, people who have been living with Diabetes for years, or have just been recently diagnosed - even people who are completely unfamiliar with Diabetes will find something here. It’s ultra-visual, resoundingly positive, and completely different than any other book about Diabetes out there". They're also sending me a free copy of the book, so I'll be interested to know if that last claim is true.
• The folks at Glooko asked if I could review their "MeterSync Cable and Glooko Logbook App", but seeing as how I do not own any of the devices it works on, I can't really do that. It sounds neat, though! According to their email: "[These] are our first products. [They] are simple tools (a cable and an App) for people with diabetes to download their meter to their iPhone or iPod touch. Our first product is simple for two reasons 1. Make keeping a logbook easier and make it easy to share that information with whom ever needs it, and 2. Keep within the regulations that the FDA has put forth regarding a Class1 device."
• A company called Socks4Life has been making a conscious effort to be more involved with the DOC, which is pretty cool (even if "diabetic socks" aren't). They sent me a link to this infographic that is available for anyone to distribute/use as they see fit.
• Speaking of infographics, United Healthcare (!!) sent me a link to theirs as well.
• dLife kicked off Big Diabetes Month with a new initiative called "Declare. Share. Move Forward." designed to help PWDs acknowledge obstacles in their diabetes lives, and then move past those challenges. You'll find some familiar faces (including mine, for a brief moment) in the introductionary video!
• DRI has their own campaign this month as well: Reason to Believe, emphasizing their focus on cure-based research. You can watch videos from parents, researchers and patients who express their own "reasons to believe".
• And lastly, if you haven't participated in the Big Blue Test, please do it. The goal of 8,000 participants is still a long ways away, and there are only four days left, and a lot of money for charities at stake!