I’ve heard that if you live in New York City nowadays that there’s no point at all in owning a car.  Traffic crawls and grinds to a halt across all the streets, making it next to impossible to get anywhere on time.  Thus, everyone relies on the subway to really get where they’re going.  In fact, New York City is basically synonymous with its subway system. 

            Having lived in Chicago all my life, I can’t comment much more on New York.  However, whatever neighborhood you live in, the local transportation will always be an important issue.  My parents live in Jefferson Park, which a northern Chicago neighborhood that actually borders the suburbs of Niles and Skokie.  Jefferson Park has its own CTA station standing right in the heart of the neighborhood.  The I-94 highway also runs right past.  Whether you need to go deeper into the city or out into the suburbs, Jefferson Park is a really convenient starting point. 

            When I left my parents’ house, I also moved out of the neighborhood into a different one called Wicker Park.  Wicker Park sits about 6 or 7 miles south of Jefferson Park next to the neighborhoods of Bucktown, Humboldt Park, and the Ukrainian Village.  It’s also only really a stone’s throw from the loop, or Chicago’s downtown area.  A really, really long stone’s throw, but it’s still not far off. 

            The Wicker Park area is one of the best places to live in all of Chicagoland.  All the local shops, grocery stores, bars, clubs, and restaurants are within easy walking distance, especially if you live on North or Division Avenue.  If something isn’t within walking distance, it’s an extremely short car drive away.  However, there’s still convenient local public transport.  The Blue Line of the CTA has stops at Division, Damen, Western, and California.  Its sister line, the Red Line, has a stop further down North Avenue (The Blue Line stop is at North and Damen) in another nearby neighborhood called Lincoln Park.  Of course a multitude of bus stops can be found from street to street and there are always cabs prowling up and down, looking for passengers. 

            Such local transportation becomes really important when you consider that main streets such as North, Division, and Milwaukee Avenues are all snow routes.  That means if there’s 2 to 4 inches of snow you can’t park there.  However, it’s really hard to get parking in the Wicker Park area any time of the year.  There’s hustle and bustle day and night.  Its actually much easier to get around by foot, cab, or the bus if you can.  Everyone loves their cars, but there are times when they’re just not convenient. 

            Even more importantly, the trains are now running on time.  For a few years, the city of Chicago was doing work on them to improve them, but, in the meantime, there were a lot of “slow zones” where the trains went very, very slow past construction sites and several stops were even closed.  Most of that work is done now and the trains are moving faster and better than ever.  It’s a short ten minute trip by train into downtown Chicago from Wicker Park, extremely convenient if you work in that area but live in Wicker Park. 

My Mom had to go to a class last night, so left me with my Grandparents.  I love staying there because there house is like going back in the past.  It is really clean and neat but has a country style to it.  I love opening drawers and finding treasures from my Grandparents early years together.  Grandma says everything has a place, and everything isin its place.  She has a special place where she likes to keep medical supplies.  When I got the mail for her today, there was a Free Diabetes Test Kit that was sent to Grandpa.  Grandma let me find a place for it with the medical supplies.  I also like to go through all of the old novels Grandpa has in his study.  I can spend days just browsing through there.  I don’t really have to go to the library if I don’t want to.  Grandpa even has comic books!  Those are my favorite when I have just a few minutes to spend there while Grandma and my Mom talk in the kitchen.  I am going to have to start my own library, so that when I have grandkids, they can come over and browse through all the old books that I have collected over the years.

Dianne does not look at the world the same way I do.  I say just relax when you have the time, sit under the maple in the back yard, read a good book.  Diane says, why waste all that valuable time?  Why not go jogging on the lakefront, or take a dance class?  I say go to the beach, spread a blanket, grab a cool drink and just lay and soak up the sun.  Diane says, oh no!  Too much sun is not good for healthy skin and hair.  She says a good swim in the morning, a nice cool shower, them lunch, - with which she takes her herbal remedies, whatever they may be at the time, and then off to the opera.  I must admit she does look the picture of health and can wear the most fabulous clothing.  It could be they look good on her because she takes such excellent care of her body, both inside and out.  She is also very good at not neglecting her mind.  She says a healthy body equals a healthy mind.  I say it all depends on how you arrive at it.  My way is the easiest.  I just don’t look as good in that dress.

There is a new line of glucose test kits, which focuses on the aspect of freedom for the patient. It is called the Ascensia line. Just think about how you would feel about taking your sugar levels often if you could write into your book (you should be keeping a diary of your blood levels) your sugar levels and be happy about them. The reason you are happy is because you will not have dealt with needles and insulin bottles. Yes, you really can stop using needles daily. You can start to use the latest innovations on the market. The new insulin pump will help you regain your happiness. Your insulin doses will only consist of pushing a button. The insulin pump offers you to only push a button to load doses and take your insulin. Imagine not schlepping supplies all over town. Imagine not collecting your stuff every time you leave the house. The worry about having the necessary supplies all the time can be relieved by simply having an insulin pump. Your worry will come from the uncomfortable side effects from your diabetes type 2. These will come around when you do not monitor your sugar levels as often as necessary or if you do not do what your must do based on those numbers, like change your diet or exercise enough. The insulin pump is not necessary enough for every patient. But, your physician can help you out and advise you on the best options and perhaps even some other likely candidates to make your life more free.