Soooo….we're gettin' a lot of email about the abortion clinic zoning amendment.  Most of it is in support of the amendment but I'm sure we'll hear from the other side soon enough.  The meeting on the 10th is shaping up to be epic.  I might wear shorts so that I'm comfy!  Hopefully the Mayor will schedule the vote after citizens time so that everyone can be heard.  If you want to email instead the address is councilmayor@manassasva.gov.  I promise to read whatever it is you send although if it's a crazy wandering screed accusing me of taking bribes from the abortion clinic I probably won't reply.  Not that I've received that email or anything.  As of the last meeting we've already spent $20k on this issue and that does not include staff time.  I'm sure it'll be around $30k by the time we're done.  Twice that if you counted staff time.  Amazing we can find money in the budget for this but not parks & rec, redevelopment or economic development.  We're the only locality in NoVa that has none of these things.  Yay Us!

It is also unfortunate that we're frittering time away on this (it's going to get done either way) as the next meeting is where our new City Manager is going to present his first budget.  That's a big deal.  We'll see what he has come up

with.  He had guidance from Council and the first time the citizens see that presentation is when we see it!  I'm hopeful he has some policy initiatives in there.

On the policy front, I think the new parking districts are set to get done in a month or two.  There will be plenty of people who are unhappy but it needs to happen.  The number of cars licensed in Manassas grew 8% last year.  We didn't add that many houses so….the homeowners in Point of Woods have complained and the Council really hasn't done anything on a policy front about it.  Let's hope the Manager gets this done right and soon.  It isn't going to win me any friends but we need to do it.

Looks like the Manassas GOP is going to have a primary instead of a convention.  That'll be a first.  At least for me.  I like conventions from the standpoint of being able to hear from all of the candidates.  I don't like that people start floor fights over junk that just delays things so the less zealous just get sick of it and leave – games really.  That part I don't care for.  I really didn't like giving my fist speech at a convention.  My legs were shaking so bad I thought for sure everyone could see!  Second time wasn't as trying and when I ran for Mayor it wasn't bad at all.  This time there will be none of that.  The filing deadline hasn't been decided but it's got to be pretty soon – next month or so.  I haven't heard from anyone if they're running or not.  I've had a fair number of people ask me to consider running again but I'm undecided at this point.

I had a root canal this week.  In talking with others, I was prepared for a pretty horrific experience.  Essentially surgery with no anesthesia.  Blood shooting everywhere.  Pain.  Agony.  It really wasn't that bad.  Not that laying in a dentists chair for an hour with a dental dam clipped over your yap is any fun but it certainly wasn't that bad either.  I wouldn't volunteer for it but if I needed another one it wouldn't be the end of the world.  I am getting tired of being able to chew on only one side of my mouth but that'll get better once I get the crown put on.

Happy weekend.

Before I get started on the general update, I'd like to take a quick moment to sympathize with many of you out there who have contacted me about the registration problems at Osbourn.  I share your frustration.  Why there wasn't more testing is mystifying.  Guidance as OHS continues to be a problem.  Been about four years since my first interaction with them and it's still an unrelenting pain in the neck.  I see that the schools have scheduled a handful of assistance sessions and that's good but I'm disappointed that this has been such a mess.  I know it's going to take time for our scores to come up but let's get the comparitively easy stuff right.  I'm not sure why fixing guidance seems to be such a herculean task for that bunch but it is.

So, as I relayed on this blogger forum software a coupla months ago I'm a diabetic of the fat guy variety.  Worse yet, I'm a diabetic who developed a fondness for carbohydrate-laden wine and fell off the blood sugar control wagon.  In my defense, I was riding bikes and I'm very active.  What, me worry about blood sugar?  Bollocks.  Then I injured me ankle and the Patient First people that took my blood pressure actually handed me a flyer about my blood pressure and made me promise to see my family doc.  I went there and threw myself on the mercy of the court.  Long story short, A1C came back at 10.  Lipids were a train wreck and my blood pressure was too high.  Promised to do better, lose weight, etc, etc.

Fast forward 90 days and the news is mixed/good.  My A1C is now 5.3 – right about where it should be.  Pretty far ahead of where my doc thought it would be.  My other tests were quite good as well.  The main problem I'm having is losing weight.  There are 2 general types of medication that are used to reduce blood sugar: those that help your body use your natural insulin more efficiently and those that drive your pancreas to produce more insulin.  The ones that increase insulin efficiency aren't quite as powerful as the ones that help you generate more insulin but you typically use them together to get the results you want.  If you force too much insulin production you can have some pretty terrifying low blood sugar events.  Balance is important!  

As my body has adjusted to the meds and I've sorted my diet out, my blood sugar has come down.  I've found that the current med load has become too much.  If I skip a meal, my blood sugar is low well in advance of the next meal.  I'm normally having to eat near bedtime otherwise my blood sugar goes low.  If you've never had a low blood sugar event you're in for a treat.  At first you just feel hungry.  Next you start to feel kinda weird and shaky and then you're an enraged food zombie – eating everything you can get your hands on.  I'd guess the last time it happened to me I knocked down a thousand calories in about 3 minutes!

This being the case, it has been impossible to lose weight as the only way I can keep my blood sugar up is to eat!  Eating means calories and even if they're healthy calories they're still calories.  When I met with my doc to get my results she cut the meds back so I could eat less and start to lose some weight!  So, in short, I'm in a much healthier place but I still have the significant challenge of losing weight.  I know that I can get there from here but it is going to take a lot of work and maintaining my diet.  During my first encounter with diabetes I managed to lose 70 pounds.  I'm 10 years older but I don't see why I can't do it again…..