DANGER Wil Robinson!!

We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology. ~Carl Sagan

Lo! Men have become the tools of their tools. ~Henry David Thoreau

I like my new telephone, my computer works just fine, my calculator is perfect, but Lord, I miss my mind! ~Author Unknown

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DANGER!!!!!!!

It’s amazing how we get used to something, (good or bad) if we do it long enough.

Ironically, I’m not talking about diabetes, I’m talking about life in general.

We humans get used to things the way they are. And even though we shudder to admit it out loud and to the masses, humans are afraid of change. Change is a hard thing to grasp our heads around, be it changing our jobs, a change in our relationship status, or just the way we make our morning cup of joe.

Change, while having the potential to be quite good, is almost always quite scary and stressful.

And as much as I love to change things up and say I'm all types of go with the flow, I’m still a little freaked out when it comes to change. Actually, depending on the type of change- I'm more than a little freaked out, I'm a lot freaked out!

I STILL haven’t upgraded to a new pump - And I’m long over due.

I still haven’t gotten a new car, but mine is paid for and runs just fine.

I still haven’t embraced the Kardashians or The Jersey Shore, and lets face it - I never will.

But I'm still all PRO change and I've made boku progress in some areas. I jumped head first into counting carbs and the insulin sliding scale in the mid 90’s with gusto!

I started insulin pumping 9 years ago this May, and I've never looked back!

I’m all about new diabetes tips of the trade - tech and otherwise. I welcome new diabetes tips of the trade with open arms and an open mind, and encourage others to do the same.

I’ve becoming an app savvy girl and my phone no longer looks app-less.

I became a chick who preferred mac over PC, and am quite happy to see that medical hardware co’s are starting to get all mac-a-delic !

Speaking of mac, yesterday morning reminded me just how much I've come to embrace, rely and fear technological change!

I had a mac attack, and it damn near made my heart jump out of my chest!

Out of the blue, after logging on whilst drinking my morning coffee, I kept getting kicked off the Internet. I mean I could log on, and I could even open up a page in my browser, but the minute I actually clicked onto the new page the whole application shut down.

I knew that not being able to keep my browser page opened had nothing to do with the amount of coffee that still needed to be added to my body, even thought I was still only about half cafed, my arterial flow was just fine.

NOPE, this had everything to do with my hard drive, motherboard, and everything in between - And I was scared.

I made an appointment at the Apple Genius Bar (ironically, itunes was the one page that wouldn’t crap out) and arrived for my Genius appointment at 12 noon. As I walked through the iconic doors of my local Apple store, I kicked myself for not bringing my external hard drive - Yet, I was totally impressed that I was thinking along those tech savvy lines!

But then I immediately told myself that I was being an extremest, and that it was probably just an issue with my Adobe Flash upgrade.

NOTE TO SELF: TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS AND ALWAYS BRING YOUR EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE WITH YOU.

After working with my super MAC Genius (whom, for the rest of this post, shall be referred to as Elvis,) for a good 40 minutes, it was decided that it wasn’t a flash issue at all. NOPE, it was a “DAMN, your hard drive is overloaded and in need of a new software overhaul,” issue.

Elvis asked me if I had backed everything up on my laptop.

Me: Ummmm, not in a while, but I have a big old orange external hard drive at home.

Elvis: You need go home and get it, bring it over here, and we need to back it all about and reinstall & upgrade the software on this puppy.

Me: OH, NO.

Elvis: It’s going to be OK, I’m not going to leave you stranded.

Me: Regarding my life, or my mac?

Elvis: Your MAC

Me: OH.

So with the phrase: "DANGER WILL ROBINSON,'' screaming in my head, I went home, grabbed my big, fat, external hard drive, returned to the Apple store, and spent a good 45 minutes to an hour clicking, dragging, and saving files & applications.

It was like my mac life was flashing before my eyes and I have to admit, I WAS FREAKING OUT.

But, it needed to be done, I needed to pitch and purge and save what was important and get rid of what wasn't.

Then I watched as my mac's mind was erased and it’s new brains installed, and every now and then, I found myself surprised that I was actually breathing. Because at that very moment, I realized that for the few seconds previously, I hadn’t been.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, my mac was back - Except now it was like a brand new computer, right down to a pristine desk top, Apple Works, Keynote and Time Machine. And all my old files were stored neatly and safely on my external hard-drive.

When I got back home and started playing around with my new applications, I realized that I become so reliant on applications like WORD, that’d I’d basically ignored some really cool shit on my computer. And thanks to Elvis, now I had some more "really cool shit " on my computer. Cool shit that could really help me in both my personal and professional life - and I needed to learn how to use them.

But, because I still feared my mac, (almost as much as I loved my mac,) I tended (not always, but alot of the time,) to concentrate on what I knew, not necessarily what I needed to know.

So I decided that instead of immediately reinstalling WORD, I would give this thing thing called PAGES a whirl and face my tech issues head-on.

OK, I’ll admit that it’s scary not having word at my finger tips, I’m a huge fan of spell & grammar check & I LOVE me my Thesaurus, BIG TIME.

But, I know that I have the CDs to reinstall WORD around here, somewhere. So, I’ve decided to shake things up- at least for a few days, and learn/embrace the wonders of my old/new mac - And learn some new things in the process.

I figure if I can survive a week of the “all new, all the time,” software on my laptop, I can pretty much survive anything.

Why am I writing this?? I’m not really sure, maybe I want you to tell me I'm not crazy, and that change is good for the soul/brain. Or maybe I want to challenge each of you reading to try something new and or that you fear.

So Diabetesaliciousness readers, what’s one thing that you’ve SERIOUSLY considered doing, but totally fear? And it’s doesn’t have to be diabetes related!

All I ask is that you put it out there by posting something that you fear, but really want to try in your life.

If you want to take it a step further, and actually take one day this week and do what you fear first, be it trying sushi or soy milk; switching from a PC to a mac, scheduling an appointment to meet with a CDE, even better!

But if you don’t do it right away, the fact that your actually putting that thought out in the universe, will bring one step close to doing and accomplishing what you fear!