The ICI Experience:

I was cleaning out my drafts - or trying to anyway - as of right now there are 121 of them! And I accidentally posted two unfinished drafts on sleep. Then I went out of town for a few days and didn't even know it until a couple of days ago. So now I'm just polishing up the longer one, which will be the final post on my sleep study and it should be up for real soon. RE: the fact that after cleaning out my drafts I still have 121 of them, I don't know what to tell you. I'm going to try to stop adding new drafts every time I have an idea, and get the existing drafts down to a reasonable number like say, 15 or so. I can't imagine that I'll ever have writer's block. My problem seems to be more like diarrhea of the written word. That can be a problem too. I lose my focus on the purpose of this blog. So here's to getting organized!

Note: click any photo to see the larger version. I attended these events today at Blogher '08 in Second Life: DAY ONE, Friday July 18th (PDT) 1.) 9:00-9:15 AM, Welcome to BlogHer '08 from the Westin St. Francis Ballroom in San Francisco - This was streamed live from the real life (RL) event. The picture quality sucked but the audio was fairly good. Compared to what came later, anyway! 2.) 9:15-10:15 AM, "Speed Dating" for BlogHers in Second Life - this was a go-round-and-intro-yourself-thing. We were also supposed to ask about each other's blogs. I found myself having a much grander time taking pictures of all the interesting characters. See below. In SL you can get right up in someone's face and take their pic and they don't know it. heh heh. 3.) 10:30-11:45 AM, Second Life Break-Out Session #1: The Intersection of Blogging and Second Life - I totally misunderstood the meaning of the title of this session. I think I took it literally. What the...

There's an excellent collection of posts at Grand Rounds (the best of the medical blogosphere, weekly), Vol 4, No 42 - The Seinfeld Edition One post in particular touched me, probably because I am also one of THOSE people. Oh yeah, and because this lady is dying and our country can't figure out a way to take care of her while she is still with us. From The Cushing's Disease Journey, Not Dead Yet: It is too bad my last extension of COBRA insurance ran out in May. I finished testing to prove that the recurrence (or never-cured) remains to be dealt with. *POOF* Endgame. Uninsurable . High risk insurance pool only covers 70k. My pituitary can poop bigger than 70k! Now I am one of those people. The uninsured. The chronically ill. The unemployed and too apathetic to bother hiring a lawyer to go after my 5+ years off work with Social Security. Apathy. Yes apathetic, I think that is where I am. On a lighter note, also from this volume of Grand Rounds - did you ever see Elaine da...

Click the picture to see it bigger. Thanks to Chronic Babe for turning me on to Wordle.

In light of my current situation (details later), this post seemed appropriate. I've been twittering and blog hopping this happy doc for a few weeks. He has lots of interesting things to say, he's funny, he obviously likes his dogs and he's working on this project that I'm starting to submit my EOB data to. So send him your humbled benefits... "None of your personal information will ever be divulged should you wish to share your medical expenses with the world, to let them know how much you are paying. Should others like this idea, it could provide a spring board to competition and cost control. Who knows. We'll see where this goes. If nothing more than just pure curiosity." From Dr. Happy's blog: Wednesday, December 31, 2008 Explanation Of Benefits Do something good for others. I doesn't get any easier than this. The next time you go to the docs office, get lab drawn, get an xray or go to the hospital, save your benefit form fro...

I'll write more about it tomorrow. I'm OK but I need to rest today.

Created with fd's Flickr Toys . Check out the June Pain Blog Carnival on the How to Cope With Pain Blog , for lots of great articles on vacationing with chronic illness.

Right now, at the G8 summit Japan, Canada, and the United States are blocking discussion of targets for reductions of greenhouse gas emissions. Our friends at Avaaz.org are taking out an ad in the Financial TImes tomorrow and have started a petition demanding responsible leadership - the ad is funny, but the situation couldn't be more serious. Click on the ad to see it full size. Click on the title of this blog post to sign the petition. How many people have to become chronically ill or die before we take effective action?

I've been getting ready for Blogher '08 in SL. I'm going to try to check out the remaining free CNN classes on citizen journalism (see below). And I've got all my bling - my CNN cap, my "Click To See My Blog" button (yep, you just click it and a small screen shot of that person's blog comes up on your screen), and my Blogher '08 t-shirt. Check these sites for the scoop on the CNN iReport thing going on in Second Life: CNN.com iReport Trains BlogHers For Citizen Journalism and CNN SL iReports website. For general info check the Blogher '08 in Second Life blog posts by Queen Tureaud. The iheartsl.com Community Blog is an excellent place to check out some of what goes on in SL, especially the FASHION. I have my party dresses ready for the cocktail parties, too. If you're a newbie to SL, go here to download the software and for all kinds of pertinent info. Blogher is also ready and willing to help you: BlogHer '08 in Second Life is f...

My first ICIE blog post was May 19, 2007. I should be able to remember that because it's my brother's birthday. So Happy 1st Birthday to the ICIE, + 47 days. Raw, succulent veggan carrot cake Photo (and yummy food) courtesy of Bee Green Natural Foods Market , Albany, GA

I quit smoking 4 years ago today. Since then I've had NOPE (Not One Puff Ever). I used QuitNet for free support and they're still sending me nice emails like this one: Hello Sherril Johnson! Your Quit Date is: Sunday, July 04, 2004 at 8:00:00 AM Test Time Smoke-Free: 1460 days, 21 hours, 13 minutes and 59 seconds Cigarettes NOT smoked: 7304 Is this still your Quit Date? Yes No ...