Tag: Thinking

chipotle: If I had one bit of advice to someone thinking of a startup—including myself, at times—it would be this. Solve a genuine problem, even a trivial one, that you actually have, and that isn’t being adequately solved by an existing solution. Then think about how you can get money for solving that problem. Be wary of scenarios in which your revenue base and your customer base have no overlap.

Coyote Tracks: When to call bullshit

Alex Payne — On Business Madness

What I disagree with is the notion that anyone should start or operate a business in the explicit mold of someone else’s experience, as reduced to a couple hundred pages padded with illustrations and diagrams. It’s a bit like starting a fad diet without considering the particulars of your health and lifestyle. It may be hard to subsist on kumquat juice when your neighborhood grocer doesn’t sell kumquats.

via Alex Payne — On Business Madness.

I am sometimes a victim to this sort of thinking. I work inside a large bio-pharma that is in the throes of change.

Diabetes Buzz!

IMG 0203

Read [Caroline's post](http://www.act1diabetes.org/2011/11/10/these-vagabond-shoes-are-longing-to-kick-back-with-a-diet-coke-after-the-new-york-city-marathon/) today about her experience training for and running the New York marathon. Hats off to her! I won't be doing any such thing anytime soon. Too much work. I'm too busy writing blog post while buzzed on a [Ti ponche](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QLL07rdAK4), a rum based drink I discovered due to an associate with [Warren Bobrow](http://cocktailwhisperer.com/). My version of the Ti punch involves pouring the rum, lime and simple syrup mixture over coconut juice ice cubes. As my wife said when she first tasted it, "Wow! That's strong!!".

Alcohol has a strange effect on blood glucose. First the sugars or carbohydrates that are often prevalent in alcohol cause a spike in blood glucose. I can try to adjust my insulin to account for that but it's hard to judge just how much cargo is in beer or a shot of tequila (or rum). That's not printed anywhere on the bottle and I can't seem to find the information online either. Alcohol can cause hypoglycemia and the symptoms are similar — sleepiness, dizziness, and disorientation.

So the drinking alcohol with diabetes things sound pretty dangerous. I could see it now. Go out to dinner, have a few drinks before the food arrives. In that situation I could see myself bolusing incorrectly because my thinking is impaired. Too much insulin and an hour later I've felt "buzzed" and behave erratically. My friend thinks I'm drink but really I just a bit of sugar. Scary shit right?!

That doesn't mean I don't drink. I love beer and I love my rum punch. t simply means I don't drink alone and I avoid overdoing it. Oh, just in case — wear a medical ID bracelet. Alright, time to make a new punch and oh yeah ... do another [blood glucose test](http://www.bigbluetest.org/).