Are any of you familiar with “Where’s George” ? Maybe you’ve gotten a one dollar bill with that website stamped on it? It is basically a fun website where people can go to see where their paper currency has been. The bills are tracked by their serial number, and if many people register the same bill you can literally see a map detailing where that bill has been.
A coworker of mine was recently talking with me about how she found a test strip in the inside of her sock one day. She said it was not even a “recent model” strip – but one from a meter she used long ago! “Must have gotten in the laundry somehow” she explained.
We chatted about the crazy places these test strips end up, and the little nod of recognition when you see a test strip out in the wild. An acknowledgement of another living with diabetes somewhere out there, not too far away.
We joked about a “Where’s George” type of thing with test strips and not paper currency. Somehow microscopically printing a website address and identifier on each test strip, then people who find them can go to the website and record a sighting. Picture a Google map with little red dots where people have found one of your test strips.
Don’t think too hard about the logistics of something like this, that these discarded test strips are bloody, and technically litter, and that we don’t leave them all over on purpose.
Just let your imagination run with the idea of what your map would look like after a couple of months, or a year, or a couple of years.
Funny post! It's true though, I was walking around the apartment and felt something on the bottom of
my sock…it was a test strip! Every few weeks I have to empty my purse of a little pile of them gathering in the lining! I try to be careful with them but you know what it's like, you test your bloods in bed, put the used test strip on the bedside table to put in the bin in the morning and you find it under the bed when you're vacuming!
Interesting post Scott,
I know just in the last couple years mine have been coast to coast, up north, down south, to the beaches and through the mountains. It would be funny just to see where some of them ended up.
An Ex of mine contacted me a year after the breakup to let me know he found a test strip in his truck.
Like I cared.
I’ve found them in between floorboards, in my glove compartment, and in an old gym bag. I’ve traveled a lot as well and like rachel, I’m sure my test strip trail is a global one!
They are everywhere!
k2
I think if they did somehow become currency, we would do a much better job of tracking them down…and who knows what else we’d find in the process.
What a funny post. Something only people in the world of diabetes would truly appreciate. I find those little God forsaken things freaking everywhere.
ours just since my diagnosis would include Colorado, Wisconsin, New England states, Mexico, Montana, Alabama, Hawaii, and everything to/from the West Coast.
(Don’t get me started on where test strips have followed behind Greg. Yes, we travel well.)
I had gotten a dollar bill as change with wheresgeorge.com written on it a few years ago. I thought it was pretty cool.
As for the test strips, who knows where Brendon’s has wound up. Between here and NJ, there could be thousands hitching a ride on people’s socks.
I’ve never seen anyone else’s test strips anywhere, nor would I ever pick them up! Although mine do end up in the strangest places. My map would only include a few East coast states.