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3,000 Mile Challenge

Chris Stocker 1 Comment

I have been very competitive my whole life. I don’t know if it stems from being a younger brother and competing with my older brother, or my long athletic career, or even the fact that I run my own business. But one thing that I do know is that I love a good challenge. When I am challenged, either by myself or by somebody else, I seem to turn on a different switch and my body and I am more motivated to do something than if I wasn’t challenged. Read More

Finally a Normal Day

Chris Stocker

Today is my first day back from my holiday vacation to Pennsylvania. I actually got back last night, but it was late. So waking up today in my own bed (actually I was waking up in my own bed in PA too, except it was my old bed) felt great. Not waking up in my parents house sucked a bit because visiting family and being in your home town is always fun, but it was time to get back to the normal way of things. Read More

What the $%^& Are You Doing?

Chris Stocker 4 Comments

What the BLEEP are you doing?  That’s a question that I asked myself yesterday.  This question came after a lunchtime twitter conversation that I had with Kelly and Courtney.  It first started off about PR companies and their lousy pitches to diabetics about losing weight and blah blah blah.  It then turned into a conversation about how I actually do need to lose weight and it brought up some of my horrible eating habits that I know that I have.

And then I asked myself that question.  How many times have I said that I was going to stop eating unhealthy. How many times have I said that I was going to exercise more. How many times have I said that I was going to blog more. Or do this more, and do that more and then I just don’t do it.  This isn’t just in my “diabetes world” but also in the other worlds I live in, like running my own business.  I have a to-do list of things I want to do to help grow my company about 10 pages long and none of them are getting done.  Why?  I know I’m short on time, but I know that I can better manage my time.

Which leads me to think about my time. The more of this unhealthiness that I put myself through the less time in the end I may even have.  What the $%^& are you doing Chris?!?

I think yesterday really lit a fire under my ass.  I’ve been reading a lot of productivity and time management books and blogs and listening to podcasts over the last few months to help me become a better business owner and person.  It has led to a lot of note-taking and to-do’s but not action.  It’s time for some action.

And isn’t it funny how one simple twitter conversation can make such a huge difference?

 

Interview with Jerry Stoner – Winning Agency from The Pitch

Chris Stocker 2 Comments

Two Sunday’s ago, JDRF was the featured company that two agencies were to create pitches for on the AMC show, “The Pitch”.  The winning ad agency was Bozell.  I was able to have the opportunity to ask Jerry Stoner, their executive creative director, a few questions about the show and the ads they pitched.  For more information about the show, you can check out The Pitch at AMC.

For now, let’s get on with the questions. Read More

I’ll Be On DSMA Live Tonight

Chris Stocker

So today’s post is short and quick.  I will be the guest on DSMA Live tonight.  I am honored that I was asked to be a guest on this awesome show.

Please go to http://dsmalive.com/2011/08/23/dsma-live-with-chris-stoker-on-8252011/ and click on the Live Feed link at 9:00 PM EST.

Hope you all can listen.

Dan Kane the VP Marketing of Roche at Summit

Chris Stocker 4 Comments

So far I have gone out of order of events from the summit, by talking about the International Diabetes Federation and their O is for Outrage campaign and then the lunch time talk by Jeffrey Brewer from JDRF.  Let’s go back to the future. The first part of the Roche Social Media Summit two weeks ago was a 140 character introduction of all the attendees.  I didn’t remember what I wrote, so I was a little nervous.  Most people seemed to guess everybody’s, so it was a cool introduction.  The first speaker was going to be an introduction from Dan Kane, VP Marketing for Roche.  Usually the first thing that you think of when it comes to a VP of marketing is, “this guy is going to be a smooth talker to take my money somehow.”  Dan Kane was a smooth talker, but he also seems genuine and understood the importance of social media.

As some of you know, one aspect of my consulting business is social media management, and getting companies to understand the meaning of Social ROI and that it isn’t about a bottom line number.  Dan Kane seemed to get this fact, or at least sounded like he understood it.  Dan used his speaking time to relate this summit to a first date and a new relationship.  When you first Don't Try and Kiss Me Dan Kanemeet somebody, you don’t just ask for a kiss right away, you slowly build somewhat of a relationship and let the kiss happen naturally.  I believe that I tweeted during the actual #dsummit itself, “flashbacks of the birds and bees conversation my father gave to me as a child”, or something of that affect.

One quote that stood out to me the most was when said, “In order for us to be a better company, we have to know you better.”  At that exact moment I said, “This guy gets it”.  Dan Kane understood the fact that Social ROI is not measured the same way as most ROI is.  Social ROI is all about engagement.  Responding and reacting to the DOC, sharing DOC stories, and not just pushing your own information and your own agenda.

I was impressed with Dan Kane and what he had to say.  He made me feel like he really meant what he was saying and trust is key in the beginning of a relationship, especially when a kiss is needed!

Up next tomorrow is about the Dr. Polonsky speech.  I think that I may disagree with a lot of people on this term.  He seems like a great guy, but for me, his speech almost put me to sleep, and I will explain more tomorrow.

 

Re-Design In Process

Chris Stocker

I am in the process of re-designing the site.

Hang with me.  If you see things that are messed up and don’t look right, please let me know so I can make sure that I get it all working properly.

I wanted to make the design a lot more simple and easy.

Have a good one.

Blind Bolusing : Don’t Try This at Home

Chris Stocker

Wow, what a spectacular Sunday Morning.  I am not able to sleep past 9 a.m. ever.  My body has just become so trained, that I can’t sleep in past then.  When I was just a few years younger, I was still able to sleep in late on the weekends, and then re-adjust my sleeping schedule back for the work week, not anymore.  I feel like I am just wasting the day away.  Plus, I live on a golf course now, so I don’t get to enjoy this view during the week because of how late I get home every night.  Sitting out here writing a blog is one of the most amazing things that I get to do on the weekends.  Enough of this side story, let’s get into what I really want to blog about today.

Since I moved, almost a month ago, I still don’t have all my things unpacked and situated.  Which means that I don’t know where all of my meters are.  I have my main one that I keep in my work bag, which comes home with me and that is the one that I try to use 99% of the time.  However, that was left in the car overnight, so last night I had no meter to test.  At about 11 p.m. I had to use the bathroom, then again at 12:30, and then again around 1:30.  Hmm, sounds like my blood sugar is high to me. Since I couldn’t test, I took about 10 units of insulin (to you that may be a lot, but to me it’s not, my sensitivity level is 1 unit of inuslin per 11 “points” my bg is).  After this, I continued to still wake up every hour or so to use the bathroom, so I took 10 more units again.  I do not recommend doing this at all!.  Finally, around 5-6 am this morning I took 10 more units.  That was a total of 30 units over a 6-7 hour period.  When I woke up this morning, my bg was 275.  So even after all of that extra insulin, my bg was still high!

That means that today, I will find all of my meters and make sure that there is one right next to my bed so I don’t ever have to deal with a situation like this ever again.  I know the consequences of this.  What if my sugar wasn’t really high and I just had to use the bathroom, and I took 30 units over 6 hours and my bg crashed horrifically?

This will be the last time I do that.  Time to go look at Sunday morning ads.

Have a great Sunday everybody.