Adventures In Coconut Flour.

Aaron and I have been exploring a culinary world free of gluten for the past several months. Not for us, but for our daughter. She doesn't have any aversions to gluten (that we know of), but if there's even a small chance that something we do can maybe lower her risk for developing type 1 diabetes, then we definitely want to do that maybe-thing when possible. Consuming gluten before the age of 12 months appears to be one of those maybe-things, so okay, sure. There are plenty of good things to eat that don't have gluten.

Sadly, this bread I made with coconut flour was not one of them.

Behold, a doorstop

It sounded so promising; I scoured Pinterest and found a popular recipe that inferred good results if I sifted the flour twice; I sifted the sift right out of that flour and it helped exactly zero percent.

I'm slightly ashamed to say that I took one bite and had to spit it out (I know, so dramatic). SO BAD. Super dense, super dry, super no thank you.

This made me sad, because as my friend Bigfoot puts it:

Before D, Bigfoot love baking for feeling of make something out of nothing. Now w. use alternative flours, more like feeling of Make Something Out of Eight Dollars. And since almond flour so dear, not want make anything crappy. Ever.

 I did get a couple of recommended recipes from friends to try in the future, but I wonder: if you've used this stuff, what's the secret? Was there a secret password I wasn't told? I have half of the bag left and am now a bit shy about trying to make edible things out of it.

Good thing the Rabbit girl likes her fruit and veggies; she doesn't know what she's missing.

Banana Pancakes.

I saw Briley tweet a while back about making banana pancakes. Not only did they sound delicious, but she promised me they were super easy to make - only two ingredients.

Only two? How good could they be?

OMG, you guys. So good.

Things to like about these:

• easy to make - just need bananas, eggs, and a bit of oil
• bananas tend to be nice to my BGs, but YDMV
• they are paleo and gluten-free, if that matters to you
• they received stamps of approval from both my daughter and my dog

You can find instructions on Briley's blog, and this recipe is the one I also consulted. Can you really call it a "recipe" if it's only two ingredients?

Whatever it is, it's delicious and doesn't cause the BG spike that typical pancakes cause for me. Wins all around.

The Sushi Bolus.

Aaron and I have very different sushi strategies and preferences. When I say I love "sushi", what I really mean is that I love the rice rolls that involve cooked fish. I can't handle the slimy uncooked stuff that Aaron orders (I just shivered thinking about it). On the other hand, I will eat the wasabi that comes with my rolls, whereas Aaron will not even look at it, much less eat it. He's not a spicy food kind of dude.

Sushi Night (it's not really an official event, but more of an "Ooooh, you know what sounds really good?" spontaneous sort of thing) happens about once a month, so I've gotten some degree of practice with the art of the Sushi Bolus. And it really is an art, not a science - who knows what is in those sauces? Whatever it is, it's delicious, and when in doubt on carb counts I go with my stand-by strategy* of:

Throw a bucket of insulin at it and stalk your blood sugar for the next several hours.

A pain? Yes. Worth it? Also yes.

Every situation and PWD are going to be different, but here's what worked for me in the instance above: I ordered two "cooked rolls" (think California or Philadelphia rolls) and ate 14 pieces, plus some soy sauce, wasabi, and ginger. 6 of those were also covered in some sort of sweet sauce and I have no idea what it was made of. I set up an extended bolus on my pump to cover 85g of carbs over 3 hours, with a 65/35 split, and ended up with the results above.

If you've never programmed an extended bolus on your pump before, 1. consult with your CDE/endo (and also, this DiabetesMine article from 2011 does a nice job of explaining what this type of bolus is all about), and 2. here's what I mean by the above: what happens is that of the total amount of insulin I'm programming for this meal, 65% of it was administered up front as a normal bolus. The remaining 35% was spread out over a 3-hour period. This helps me because for whatever reason, sushi digests kind of slowly for me and using this technique helps me avoid a spike later. In fact, in this case I seem to have overdone it a bit, so I had to (at the end of that 3 hour bolus period) set a temp rate of 10% for an hour to even things out.

It takes some practice, but having the ability to bolus in more advanced ways like this is so valuable to me. It's one of the reasons I stick with using an insulin pump.

*As always, this is not medical advice. 

Channeling My Inner DMom.

Some parents who have children with diabetes say they read the blogs of adult PWDs to get a glimpse of what their child's future may be like. They also read to learn how diabetes may fit into an adult's life, and find solutions to what their child may be struggling with.

Well, right back at you guys.

A lot of my carb counting falls into the "carb guessing" category, even when nutritional information is provided on the packing. (I KNOW.) For some reason, when I bought these particular snacks I decided - hey, I should probably count these out from the get-go and put them in marked baggies so I can measure something more accurate than "I ate a handful".

We learn (and sometimes, remember what we should have been doing all along) from you all, too.

Breakfast Woes.

"I think that's too many carbs for you right now."

My endo and I were reviewing several days' worth of Dexcom graphs, and it was glaringly obvious where my most consistent challenge lies: breakfast.

Overnight? Coasting beautifully. After lunch? No problemo. Dinner? Even that's not too bad. But breakfast? Breakfast is a jerk. Breakfast is a bastard who steals my lunch money and throws spitballs at the back of my head all morning. We hates it. We hates it forever.

"So what kind of stuff are you eating then?", my doctor asked. Every single day for the past handful of days, I'm soaring above 200 after my daily oatmeal, raisins, and glass of milk. It's a breakfast I switched to a couple of weeks ago as I had gotten tired of my usual egg casserole, and oatmeal is a breakfast I can eat while driving to work super easy and quick to make during my morning rush. I'm also trying to balance the whole "you're supposed to eat more whole grains and fiber and the baby needs carbs so quit low-carbing it at breakfast" thing, so I had thought oatmeal might be a good substitute.

It is not.

I explained, "I've been trying a different strategy pretty much every morning for the past week, without messing with my basal rates. Bolus early? High. Use an extended bolus? High. Up my insulin to carb ratio? High. Think about oatmeal? High."

"Maybe try something with some more protein? And let's increase your I:C ratio at breakfast, as well as inch up your basal rate a bit", she said, while I imagined her waving a magic wand.

And you know what? If improvement can be measured over just one day (it can't, but indulge me), she's right.

What's also encouraging is that my blood pressure measured lower than it has in years, my thyroid levels came back "perfect", my A1C result clocked in at a number my doctor and I were both pleased with, and I can't even get mad about gaining a few pounds since the last appointment because, hello, pregnant ladies do that.

I'm clutching to this moment where I feel full of win, and I'm running with it as far as it will let me go.

(Also, Baby Girl is moving around like crazy right now. She says "hi".) :)

Cauliflower Crust Pizza.

It occurred to me last night that I hadn't eaten any "real" vegetables in a couple of days, and seeing as how we had two heads of cauliflower sitting in our fridge, I should probably do something about that. Growing babies like veggies, I hear.

And so, this happened (and it was delicious):

The crust would qualify as gluten-free, I think, because it's made of riced cauliflower (if you're like me and don't own a ricer or food processor, a cheese grater will work just fine), egg, cheese, and oregano. And it's definitely lower carb than a normal pizza, which is always a bonus - the bulk of your carbs will come from the BBQ sauce. I peaked at 151 after eating two slices, and that's pretty much unheard of for me.

I should also mention that you can't go into this thinking that it will taste like normal pizza; it won't. But it WILL taste good, and that counts for something. I have no nutritional info on this one, so you'll have to do that research/guessing on your own.

Next time I think I need to squeeze more liquid out of the cauliflower before mixing it all up, as the center of the "crust" didn't get all nice and crispy like the outsides did. (This could also be because I didn't use a baking mat or parchment paper to pre-bake the crust?) Practice!

If you'd like to give this a try, here's the recipe I used.

Everybody Knows Somebody.

I'm not sure it's possible to live with diabetes, but without issues surrounding food or our bodies.

Food is never just food - it's medicine; it's a math equation; sometimes it's the enemy. The numbers on our glucose meters and on our medical charts often dictate, or reveal, our behavior. Are we skipping meals because we don't want to mess up that pretty little CGM line? Are we inhaling cereal at 2:00 am to bring us out of the sweaty, confusing haze of low blood sugar? (Really, who else inhales cereal but a PWD with a low BG?) How about the times we skip the healthy food - the fruit, the whole grains - because the low carb (but less healthy) options will wreck less glucosey havoc? (I'm looking at you, piles of bacon.)

And what about the times we binge - either mindfully or mindlessly - only to frantically attempt to carb guess and bolus accordingly afterwards?

What about the times we defy a healthy choice, simply because we can make the unhealthy one?

Growing up with type 1 diabetes, there were many things on the "nope" list. Hungry? Okay, you can only eat these things, in these amounts, at this time. Not hungry? Too bad - you have to eat these exact things anyway. Hostess products stayed on the top shelves of our pantry, out of my reach but rarely out of my sight. I'd linger there, leaning on the door and gazing with affection at all of the things I couldn't eat in whatever quantity I wanted to.

Now that I'm an adult capable of making my own decisions (and wearing an insulin pump that allows me the kind of foody freedom I never got to have as a kid), things get a little sticky. The cumulative power of "no" sometimes feeds an irrational sense of being owed; like I need to eat the things I couldn't eat previously to somehow make up for lost time. As if, somehow, I'm sticking it to diabetes by doing so - when, if anything, I'm only sticking it to myself.

Food issues? Yes. Yes, I absolutely have those.

The thing is, I know I'm not alone - many of us experience a tangled relationship with what and how and how much we eat. This week, February 24th through March 2nd, is National Eating Disorder Awareness Week (#NEDAwareness if you're Twittery) and the Diabetes Advocates organization is striving to "broaden and amplify the conversation on diabetes-related eating disorders by offering information and resources to the diabetes community, including those at risk and those in need of support", and I fully support this mission. This post on the DA site offers some great resources to check out, and I urge you to pass them onto others.

Everybody knows somebody.

Chosen Wisely.

Remember how a couple of weeks ago I got all sassy about how diabetes email pitches are crafted? Last week I received one that, for the first time in a while, I thought was pretty good (the fact that they used the term "diabetic" aside), so I thought I'd share.

It was for an app called iCookbook: Diabetic. I like it because it puts everything I want to know right where I want it, and in a way I want to view it.

High quality images of the foods? Check.

Stuff we care most about, like carb counts, shown right in the preview? Check.

All recipes under 350 calories per serving? Check.

Ability to filter by requirements like gluten-free, low carb, or vegan? Check.

Free to download from iTunes? Check.

And here's the other thing I was delighted by: see that "Rotate phone to prepare" note on the middle-right image? When you do that, you can turn on the "voice command" option. Which means that while you're cooking and getting your hands dirty, you can just speak aloud things like "next", and the app advances the pages for you. Say "back", and it goes back a page for you.

Which made me react like this, once I figured that out.

Nice work, you guys.

Would, Could... But Should?

"Would you, could you, have a treat?

Can you snack on something sweet?"

I could eat, I would eat

That little treat

But should I, would I

Eat that sweet?

I could eat them at every meal.

I could eat them with such zeal.

I could eat them day or night.

I could eat them out of spite.

I could eat them on the go.

I could eat them all - YOLO.

But I would not, should not

Eat all those treats;

All those sweets

Those tasty treats.

I know I can, I can eat that treat.

But should I invite that glycemic leap?

But I want it! It's yummy!

It would fit so well inside my tummy!

(But you don't need it, you dummy...)

Those treats are right there for the taking

Despite the insulin my pancreas isn't making.

Just a few buttons pressed; it's not painstaking

But the true cost - to that, I'm waking.

The "just one"s add up.

The "I could"s are expensive.

The "once in a while"s seem to travel in packs.

The urges are sudden; sneak attacks.

I can, I have, I won't, I could

Another story, that dastardly "should".

Learn and try and learn once more.

I will, I can, I have before.

After assessing the accumulation of this past weekend's consumption - cake at a graduation party, desserts at a family reunion, s'mores at a baby shower (yes, you read that right), ice cream on Monday... I've got some work to do.

Om Nom Nom.

Aaron and I are headed out for a family reunion today, and here's what we're bringing:

Cherry tomato, basil leaves, and mozzarella with a
bit of olive oil and Italian seasoning. On a huge toothpick.

Low carb, totally fresh (just picked the basil from our garden this morning) and I want to eat it all RIGHT NOW OM NOM NOM.

Meggins and Patterns.

The internet can be a pretty smart place.

There are certain things I'm not going to go online to find answers for - I won't, for example, ask someone what my insulin to carb ratio should be, or start taking certain vitamins because I see that someone else is. That's not really the role of this whole online health-related space - that's for a doctor and a patient to sit down and discuss.

What I do use social media for are things like suggestions for new foods to try, a reassurance that I'm not the only PWD who has a gusher/rarely changes their lancet/spends hours above 300 sometimes/thinks CGMs are the best things since sliced cheese. (Bread is overrated.)

I recently posted on my Facebook page that I was looking for new ideas for low-carb breakfast options that I could eat on the go. We've gotten into a food-related rut of sorts in the Vlasnik household, and I have been seeing numbers higher than I'm comfortable with after breakfast each morning during the week. For a while. Like, I've been in the 200's after breakfast for weeks and I've done pretty much nothing to work on it.

Sigh.

Several of the suggestions centered around "egg muffins" of a sort. (Muffin eggs? Muggins? Meggins? Eggfins?) Given that we had some asparagus, bacon and cheese on hand, I gave it a go. And guess what?

THEY WERE DELICIOUS. And I topped out at 182... not bad.

There is no real recipe; I just scrambled up some eggs (I added a splash of milk) and threw the rest of the ingredients in; baked for 25 minutes on 350 heat... boom! Breakfast, you got served!

And secondly, I'm kind of bad at spotting patterns. (Maybe you knew this already.) Case in point:

I'm glad someone could see a pattern, because I sure failed to notice it. My adjusted basal rates thank you, Sara.

The internet: useful in ways that continue to astound me.

So Good You'll Want To Quiche It.

That was the best quiche pun I could come up with.

Sorry.

Anyway.

If we're not Facebook friends, you might not realize that over the past two weeks, I've turned my kitchen into a fine-tuned holiday carb-producing machine.

I've been baking Christmas cookies, pumpkin bread (last night, and my house still smells yumm-o), and last weekend I - for the first time ever - made quiche. And I'm in love with it!

It's super easy. You'd have to try pretty hard to mess it up. And pretty much anything flies - throw whatever veggies you want, bacon, sausage, ham, cheese of every kind, etc. It all works.

Plus? If you're cutting it into 8 slices (and packing each piece separately to be reheated for breakfast each day during the week, as I did), each serving of the pie crust is only 12g of carb. TWELVE!

If you want to give it a go, here's the recipe I used.

OLD COUNTRY QUICHE

1 9-inch unbaked pie crust (Pillsbury is what I used)
1 tsp. butter/margarine
1 small yellow onion, chopped
2 cups shredded Swiss (though I'm told that Sharp Cheddar works better)
6 slices lean bacon, cooked and crumbled
2 Tbs. all-purpose flour
3 large eggs
1 cup low-fat milk
Optional: 1/4 tsp. salt and 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg (I didn't use these)

Heat oven to 400 degrees. In a small non-stick skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onion (BTW, I thought the whole onion was way too much. Use at your own risk. I thought half of it would have been plenty, thank you.) and sauté for five minutes, or until soft.

Roll out your pie crust and stuff into a pie plate (or, if you're fancy, a specialty quiche plate).

Transfer onion to medium-sized bowl. Toss with the cheese, bacon and flour. Spread in pie crust.

Using the same bowl that you just emptied, whisk the eggs with the milk (and the salt and nutmeg, if you like). Pour over pie mixture and bake uncovered for 35 minutes - or until center is set and top begins to brown slightly. Makes eight servings!

P.S. I also want to wish my Mom a very happy birthday today! (And thanks for sharing your quiche recipe!)

The Plague, And Other Things I Avoid.

I tend to go back and forth between two schools of thoughts when it comes to diabetes and food. 

The first says that people with diabetes can eat whatever they want - you just have to figure out how to bolus for whatever it is you're eating.  The second says that some foods are just too evil, and should be avoided.

I'm not sure I can totally jump on board with either one.  I do believe that I can eat just about anything (in moderation) and figure it out, but I do have one exception.  In the spirit of that second school of thought, I thought I'd share which food I've totally given up on.  (Or, that I'll eat when I'm feeling spiteful and defiant.)  Try and try as I might, I just can't get it right bolus-wise.

The offender:

Man, I think my blood sugar jumped a few points just from looking at that picture.  It doesn't matter what kind - sugary, healthy, high fiber-y, small portion, not-so-small - all breakfast cereal messes with me.  I've tried bolusing 20 minutes prior.  30 minutes prior (and promptly dropped low before eating, then spiked like crazy).  I've tried a combo bolus.  I've tried a super bolus.  I've tried yelling.  Nothing works, and it bugs the heck out of me that I can't figure it out.  It's funny, because I'm pretty sure that cereal has always messed with me - but until I started using a CGM, I never noticed it.  And now that I know, I can't justify risking it most of the time.  Even though I Really.  Love.  Cereal.

Are there any foods you avoid, diabetically speaking?

D-Feast Friday: Cream Cheese Penguins.

As a follow-up to yesterday's No D-Day post, I'm sharing how to make the adorable little dudes known as Cream Cheese Penguins!

Ingredients:
18 or so jumbo black olives, drained and dried off
1 oz. of reduced fat cream cheese, softened
18 or so small black olives
1 carrot, peeled


Directions:
Cut a slit in the side of each jumbo olive, lengthwise.  Okay, that was the easy part.

If you want to get fancy, scoop the cream cheese into a Ziploc bag, and snip off one of the corners. If not, use a knife to carefully fill the jumbo olive with cream cheese.  If you're using the bag, fill that sucker.  Make sure the cream cheese is really packed in there.  We don't want him to be easily smooshed.

Cut the carrot into about 1/4" slices, and cut out a notch for the foot (keep the notch - this is the beak!).  Stick the jumbo cream cheese-filled olive on top of the carrot slice.  Hey, it's sort of looking like a penguin torso.

Set a small olive on top of the large olive for the head, with the top facing forward (so you can stick the beak in there, pointy side out).  Stick a toothpick vertically through the whole thing.

Do this 18 or so times until you have a small village of penguins.

Admire your hard work, but not for too long.  Those things need to be kept refrigerated.

Enjoy!

Cute Food.

There is a Thing Of Which We Do Not Speak today. The community of those of us who live with this same chronic condition, this Thing Of Which We Do Not Speak, have decided that we're taking a day off.  As George put it, “We are more than a disease - a lot more.  Tomorrow is a day to share some of that. There are many facets to each one of us and since we do talk so much about our D lives, we maybe miss some other cool stuff about each other."

So here, today, I will share something else about myself: my love of making cute food, and my according affinity for the kitchen gadgets that help make them.

I find it kind of funny, because I don’t think of myself as the traditional ‘domestic goddess’ or whatever. I’m not all that girly – I’d much rather be wearing jeans and a t-shirt than a dress. I dread having to color my hair or get it cut. High heels? HA! Not likely.

But, for some reason, I totally dig food prep. Specifically, baking and appetizer assembly. Something about the presentation and preparation of food really appeals to me – it’s a calming ritual, in a way. I had a brief stint as a Pampered Chef consultant, but my lack of hard selling skills put a swift end to it after a few months. I’m actually okay with that, because I ended up getting some pretty neat kitchen tools in the process.

My husband and I like to have people over often, so it gives me a lot of opportunities to try stuff out. Here are a few of my favorites.

Cream Cheese Penguins.  On a penguin plate, of course.

Guacamole Deviled Eggs.  They are delicious,
and yes, those are Wheat Thins.

Baby Cupcakes! 

And, of course, Baby Bottle Mini-Cupcakes.

The Saturday Seven.

...Because I missed the boat for posting the more typical "Friday Five".  Whoopsie!

1. Today marks the return of Husker Football, and I'm pumped.  (Ha!)  Apparently so is Facebook, as my feed has nothing but "Go Big Red!" and "Can't wait for the game tonight!" for the past several hours.  I think I can already hear the Tunnel Walk music in my head.  I work about 3 blocks from the edge of campus, and it's always fun to see the beginnings of the football festivities on Fridays.  We're watching the game at home tonight, and the food will be mostly low-carb snacky food:  veggies and dip, deviled eggs, little smokies, etc.  Yay snacks!
2. My blood glucose levels have been kinda stellar this week, and insulin seems to be going to work faster than I'm used to.  My meter tells me that my 7-day average is 123, and I can be pretty happy with that.  My 90-day average is still 140, though.  I just need to keep plugging away at it.  I attribute this streak mostly to increased exercise.
3. This past Wednesday was Diabetes Art Day, and wow, were there a lot of participants!  You can see a lot of d-art in one place on Lee Ann Thill's website, The Butter Compartment.  She's the one who started the whole thing!  (Thanks, Lee Ann!)
4. I'm starting to really dislike Blogger.  Inserting images and trying to edit formatting can be downright infuriating.  Grr.
5. After almost a quarter-century, my "kidneys don't know I'm diabetic".  That's what a doctor told me this week after I had completed the 24-hour creatnine clearance testing I have to do every once in a while.  YAY!
6. I'm debating whether or not to attend TCOYD in Des Moines at the end of the month.  I've never gone to a Diabetes Conference before, and this one seems to be the closest one to me (even though it would be at least a 3-hour drive).  But...  I don't really know Des Moines, I don't know where to stay, and the JDRF Walk in Lincoln is the next day.  But it could be fun, and I'd get to hopefully meet some other T1's there.  Decisions, decisions.
7. Oh, hey, Hurricane Earl?  James Jones called.  He wants his middle name back.  (P.S. Glad all of my east coast friends appear to be unharmed.)

Hope everyone has a stellar weekend!

That's What I Get.

For today's post, I do not aim to be eloquent or elegant.  What I do hope for is a gentle ear (or eye?) upon which I can recount this tale.

Simply put, Today seems to be what happens when I get cocky, and it's bleeping annoying.

For reasons I can't completely explain, Saturday and Sunday were great diabetes days.  I stayed around 90 most of the time, despite multiple snacks (yes, with carbs) and some SWAGing (no, I haven't kicked that habit yet).  This type of shenanigans-free blood glucose behavior is not normal for me; especially on the weekends.

Every once in a blue test trip, I'll get a day or two like this.  It gives me some confidence, and a sense of relief.  I almost start to think, Hey, you - this isn't so bad after all.  See how well you're doing?  And you're hardly trying!  You've got this!  It's all falling into place!  I want to give myself a big ol' pat on the back; like I've earned it somehow.  As if my 24 years of diabetes knowledge and experience has culminated to this focal point of awesomeness.

But, Today?, Oh no - today, that streak of awesomeness came to a skidding halt while I was at work.  Twice.

"Twice!!!"

One of the most frustrating parts is my inability to see where I went so wrong.  A little wrong?  Maybe.  But not 35 mg/dL wrong.

I ate the same breakfast.  Took the same insulin for it, 15 minutes ahead.  Then I drank my coffee - like I always do - and took a few units for it, like I always do.  I watched my number creep up to just below 130 on the Dexcom, and was still headed upwards when it was time for my daily 15-minute morning walk.  When I returned, I felt... normal.  Nothing out of place.  I got back to work, but after a few minutes felt a little weird. 

Ping and I consulted:  35 mg/dL.

"What?!?!", I shrieked, in the safe silence of my own head.  This didn't make any kind of sense.  A 15-minute walk at that time of morning is very consistent in bringing me down between 50 -60 points.  I had the same amount of IOB as I always do.  NOTHING CHANGED.

I ate some dried mango (in retrospect, not the most fast-acting choice, but that darn dietician I saw two weeks ago is still in my head:  "You need to eat more fruits!").  I waited 15 minutes, then checked again.  I was 65 and heading back up.  Whew!  Back to work.

An hour later, I'm feeling weird again.  Ping, what say you?

41 mg/dL.

"You have got to be flocking kidding me!!!", I once again yelled in my head.  Puzzled, I busted out the Starbursts.  I ate four, waited 15 minutes.  Still reading "LOW" on the Dexcom (which means under 40). 

Ate four more. 

Waited. 

"LOW". 

Ate the last four. 

Waited.

Ping told me I was at 100, and so I stayed above that for a little while - but only a little.

Lunch came and went.  My one-hour post-prandial blood test was 113.  (Sweet!)  But it came at a price - half an hour later, guess who came a-knockin'?

45 mg/dL.

I ate some more mango, the yogurt I brought but didn't eat yet, and then proceeded to also get a cookie later that afternoon.  And you want to know what that did?  I peaked at 152.  (....really?  That's it?  After all that carbtasticness?  Um, okay...)

I just really don't get it.  My basals have been unchanged for weeks, I was eating the same foods I always eat.  Bolusing the same exact way.  Nothing in my routine changed... except the outcomes.

Um, excuse me, Phil?  Could you come back out here, please?  I just need...

"Outcomes!!!"

Thanks, buddy.  I'm glad to have you on my side.

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(Sidenote:  Phil is a ClipArt image a co-worker and I use frequently.  Phil gets his name from the fact that he has "had his fill/Phil of this crap".  He always speaks in italics, and with multiple exclaimation marks.  Sometimes he says "Roight!!" with a Billy Idol-esque flair, but mostly he's just peeved about everything.  I have a feeling he'll be making more guest appearances on this blog in the future, so I thought I'd introduce you all to each other.)