Minnesota Props

For those who might be unfamiliar with the term “Props“, take a click and then come on back…

I spent most of my day at the Mall of America today.  I participated in the JDRF Walk for a Cure, and then stuck around most of the afternoon to listen to a handful of presentations.

The first was Dr. Bill Polonsky (www.behavioraldiabetes.com), of whom I am a big fan (Diabetes Burnout anyone?).  It was fun because I was able to shake his hand, thank him for all that he does, and chat with him for a couple of minutes before his presentation.  Very cool for me.  If I would have known how casual the atmosphere was going to be, I would have brought my book for him to sign.  It’s the little things in life people…

Then we listened to Joe Solowiejczyk.  Joe has lived with type 1 diabetes for over 47 years, and has an extensive resume of diabetes caregiving and psychology.  Besides that, this guy is funny!  My favorite line from his presentation?  “There’s no shortage of stupid around!”  Ha!

Then Dr. Bernhard Hering, M.D., Scientific Director of the Diabetes Institute for Immunology and Transplantation at the University of Minnesota, gave a presentation about islet cell transplants and how far they have come in the past few years.

And finally, as I was scanning through local news headlines tonight, I saw an article in the local news titled Diabetes cure might be homegrown, which again talked of Dr. Hering’s work and some exciting things happening nearby (Ok, so technically the pig farm is in Wisconsin, but let’s not get bogged down in details eh?).

So yeah, even though it is colder than a witches tit in a brass bra right now, it might be alright to stick around Minnesota for a while.