Cripcast

This is a longer show since I played about five songs from Jessy Moss. She saw that I had played some music on the podcast so decided to send me two of her CDs; Down At The Disco and Fast & Cheap. I did not play them back-to-back but throughout the show. I played Beat To A Pulp and Old Glory both from Down At The Disco. I also played Wishbitch, NYC and Bitten Off all from Fast & Cheap. I got these songs from the Podsafe Music Network so there is permission to play these on the podcast.

Here are the links to her web page and her myspace page.

http://jessymoss.com/

http://www.myspace.com/jessymosscom

I talked about a post on the Disability Nation Blog about killing disabled babies. You can find this Blog post and others at the following link.

http://disabilitynation.net/blog/

I briefly spoke about the election results and about my night out on Saturday. I then talked about getting rid of one of my nurses due to sleeping. I also talked about some changes with my ventilator settings (contain your enthusiasm).

I then talked about two movies I saw from the Spiritual Cinema Circle. Emmanuel's Gift and Speechless. These were both from 2006 - Volume 6.
You can get more information about the Spiritual Cinema Circle at the following link.

http://secure.spiritualcinemacircle.com//Public/Welcome/index.cfm

Here are the links for the things I talked about during the show.

This is a link to be a phone volunteer for MoveOn.org's Call For Change

http://pol.moveon.org/phone/volunteer/c4c.html

For more information about MoveOn.org you can go to their website at the following link

http://www.moveon.org/

For those of you who are not already subscribe to Disability Nation you can find out information about the program, about the iPod shuffle giveaway, and information on subscribing to that podcast

http://www.disabilitynation.net/

And here is the video of this crazy guy doing stunts in his wheelchair

It has been quite awhile since I have done a show so after a several month absence I am starting with some new shows. I now have a new web page which is located at www.cripcast.com

I have a blog there with all of the shows. I will also be posting show notes on the old site for at least a few episodes. I also have a myspace page where you can listen to a feed of my show. You can find me on myspace at http://www.myspace.com/cripcast
You can call and leave me voice messages on Skype at the following telephone number (206) 201-CRIP or (206) 201-2747

http://www.myspace.com/etherealvox

http://poptrashradio.com/

http://www.disabilitynation.net/

http://www.seductioncode.com/seduction.html You need to scroll to the bottom of this page to subscribe

www.brotherloverocks.com

I start with an update of what I have been up to in the past few weeks. Dinner on two different nights. Romano's Macaroni grill and J. J. Muggs (I think that's the right spelling). Upcoming trip to Orlando, SunFest, upcoming visit from friend from California. I play two songs. Fade Out by Harvie from the United Kingdom and Wake Up by Butterfly Catchers also from the United Kingdom. A review of other podcasts. Ski Adaptively and Proud, Angry and Strong.

Here is a link to the bio of Harvie on The Podsafe Music Network.

http://music.podshow.com/music/listeners/artistdetails.php?BandHash=e3c32da9f8f01681d2f30a1eabaa6de8

Here is a link to the Web site of Butterfly Catchers

http://www.butterflycatchers.net/

Here is a link to the Blog of Ski Adaptively

http://adaptiveskier.blogspot.com/

This is the actual feed (right click on the link and then click copy shortcut and then paste into your aggregator)

http://adaptive.podbus.com/podcast.xml

Here is a link to the National Disability Arts Forum (they are in England)

http://ndaf.org/

This is the actual feed for Proud, Angry and Strong

http://ndaf.org/rss.xml

And finally here is a link to the Yahoo! Group for the show

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cripcast/

If you are having trouble downloading the podcast. Right click on the title of this Blog entry and you should see an option to download. Different wording for different browsers.

I first start by telling you a little bit about some issues I have been having lately with my nursing. Basically I have had some large changes but things are finally starting to come together. I then tell you a little bit about my friend Rebecca who is coming to see me. I then play a song and two promos for other podcasts. The links connected to these things are as follows.

Link to the homepage of Smallfish
http://www.smallfishadventures.com/

Link to the homepage of Scott Sigler's podcast of the audiobook Infection
http://scottsigler.podshow.com/

A link to the actual feed of Infection (right click and then select copy
shortcut and then paste into whatever program you are using for your
podcasts)
http://feeds.feedburner.com/scottsigler

Link to the homepage of Shelly's Podcast
http://shellyspodcast.blogspot.com/

Link to the actual feed of Shelly's Podcast (right click can then select
copy shortcut and then paste into whatever program you are using for your
podcasts)
itpc://feeds.feedburner.com/shellyspodcast

I then talk a little bit about my personal situation and and how I nearly ended up in a nursing home. I then talk about the organization ADAPT which is working on legislation to move some funding away from institutions and more towards community-based support or programs. I then play two more songs.

Link to the ADAPT web site
http://www.adapt.org/

Link to pending legislation by ADAPT or at least a lot of information
about this legislation called MiCASSA
http://www.adapt.org/casaintr.htm

Link to the web page of Adama
http://www.adamaworld.com/home/

Link to the bio of whitenite on the Podsafe Music Network
http://music.podshow.com/music/listeners/artistdetails.php?BandHash=59cf0189e85f0ab77a4783767baf4bb6

I start the show by telling you what I have been up to the previous week. I describe my visit to Downtown at the Gardens, Johnny Rockets, and Cobb Theater. I then bitch a little bit about the fact that the Paralympics is not going to be televised in the U.S.. I then give you a few links regarding the Paralympics and the U.S. team and a Web site where you can watch some coverage of the Paralympics on the Internet. I ask for some feedback and play some music. All I Really Wanted by Jim Fidler and Really Really Happy by The Muffs. At some point during the podcast I talked about the fact that Murderball is being played by A&E in the month of March. They originally aired it on Tuesday February 28 at 10 PM Eastern time. They will air it again on Wednesday March 1 at 2 AM and then again on Sunday March 12 at 12 PM.

Websites mentioned in the Podcast:

International Paralympic Committee (IPC)

ParalympicSport.TV (player to watch Paralympics coverage over the Internet)

The Official Site of the U.S. Paralympic Team

Passion Lives Here (another Web site for the Paralympics with information on what events are when put it has very small print)

A&E web site about Murderball with the times it is being shown

In this show I discuss how the disabled are portrayed in movies and TV. I specifically talked about ER and Blind Justice from television and on the movies side I discuss Million Dollar Baby, The Waterdance, and Rory O'Shea Was Here. For more information on these movies and TV programs I recommend looking them up on the Internet movie database at www.imdb.com

I also play two songs from Jim Fidler who is a Canadian musician who is also blind. I played Trampled and Mr. Ambassador. You can get more information on Jim Fidler by visiting his Web site at www.jimfidler.com

I am finally posting the first episode of the Cripcast. The sound on this one is a bit rough since I was having trouble with my throat being scratchy. In this podcast I simply tell you a little bit about my disability and how it progressed throughout my life. I am including a link here with some information on my disease from the MDA web site. I hope you enjoy and if not I hope you will stick around long enough to get to know me and then decide if you like this podcast or not. Until next time.

http://www.mdausa.org/disease/dmd.cfm -- information on my disease from the MDA web site

You could feel the love.  You could feel the positive energy from every single person in the arena.  It was an awesome show which made for an awesome night whose energy carried me through the week and will carry me for weeks to come.

We arrived at the American Airlines Arena at around 6:00 p.m. for the Sunday Nov. 13 date of the U2 Vertigo Tour.  We get out and see a line forming so just get in the end of the line.  After about 10 minutes we get to the front only to find out we are in the line for the VIP party.  A fellow fan in line behind us asked if we could get in with her.  Very nice offer but the staff girl working the door said we had to have actual VIP tickets.

We only had to wait about maybe another 15 or 20 minutes before getting in though when they opened the doors at 6:30.  Had plenty of time to kill since the opening act wasn't supposed to come on until 7:30.  So we had time to stop at the bathroom on our way to our seats.  Once we found our seats decided to have a drink and wait for the show to start.

The opening act was Institute which is Gavin Rossdale's new band (lead singer of Bush and married to Gwen Stefani of No Doubt).  I couldn't really understand the words of any of their songs but that music sure did kick ass.  And even the 2 Bush songs I knew I could barely understand.  They played for about 45 minutes.

U2 came on at around 8:30 I believe.  Even before they took the stage the energy of the crowd was near a boil.  At first the lights of the main stage came up revealing the band excluding Bono which caused both the energy level and the decibel level to double.  And then after another minute or two a light comes on at the age of the section of stage in the middle of the crowd revealing Bono which caused the energy and decibel levels to increase at least tenfold.  The energy of the crowd stayed at this level and above through the duration.

It was an awesome, exhilarating feeling which just left me in awe of the power of the human experience.  I didn't want the feeling of those few hours to end.  You could feel the release of a city that had been through so much in the previous few weeks.  From a very intense hurricane to a few weeks without power.  A feeling of just being glad to be alive.

About half way through the show it turned into a short peace rally.  No political party or politician was mentioned but a definite call for peace could be felt.  During Sunday Bloody Sunday and Bullet The Blue Sky you could feel the energy of a country fed up with being led by a group of warmongers.  A desire to find peace in a world of anger and war.

I can't remember every single detail of the show which is probably a good thing or this Blog entry would be a book.  I do remember that they had 2 encores and ended the show with 40.  For those of you who might not know 40 is based on Psalm 40 of the Psalms of David.  Asking "How long must we sing this song?"  Very fitting for the current state of affairs in this country, Iraq, and the world at large.

How long will we go on hating each other when we are all on the same path only calling the path by different names?

Enough already!  This hurricane shit is really getting old.  Hurricane Wilma makes the 2nd hurricane I have sat through and the 3rd hurricane my house has gone through.  Thankfully we had less damage than last year, a lot less actually.  

During the eye of the storm we discovered my mother's car had its rear window smashed in by a flying tree limb.  One of our neighbors had his entire shed ripped apart and thrown into another neighbors house.

According to the weather people most times the back end of a hurricane is not as severe.  Not in this case.  The wind was even stronger than the first half and knocked our satellite dish off the roof.  Not bad considering it didn't even budge during Francis and Jean last year.  Also a few shingles came off but last year every single shingles came off between the two storm's.

The only scary part about the storm was every time there was a wind gust you would literally feel the wall moving from whichever direction the wind was blowing.  During the first half the wall that was getting hit was directly behind my bed.  Every time it would shake my bed.  needless to say I got the hell out of the bed.

I don't know if I was just tired of going through the shit or if that was really happening but I would swear the walls were shaking even more than last time.  So I have decided next time I will not be staying in the house during the storm.  Too much stress and after a house making it through 3 hurricanes I would say that is pushing your luck.

I just wanted to take a moment to send a few thoughts and prayers to anyone affected by the bombings in London. I don't personally know anyone who lives in the area but I do have a friend or two with family members and friends in the UK.

I will never understand how people can be so cruel to each other. The anger that the people who performed these acts are actually mad at the fact that some countries are better off than themselves. The anger is really towards the governments not towards the ordinary people of our countries. I wish this could all just stop. I think we all do.

Unfortunately, the United States has made things worse throughout the world. It wasn't the choice of our citizens but the choice of an ignorant government or at least an ignorant president. Even though the accountability for the "war" on terrorism lays at the feet of George W. Bush I would like to give my sincerest regrets and apologies to the entire world.

I would like the rest of the world to know that there are Americans who do not have their head up their ass. Some of us are actually trying to work to change our government from extremist Christian fascist control more towards a liberal and more humanitarian structure.

I had the greatest idea for the Fourth of July, or so I thought. Decided to go on a 5 hour cruise aboard The Palm Beach Princess which is a local gambling ship. What a joke!About two weeks before the 4th I called to get a little information and was told the whole ship would be accessible. I think they need to look up the meaning of the word accessible or at least the legal definition according to the ADA. Not even close.
We were told about three times that it was accessible by three different people spoken to on the telephone. I was told once and my mother was told at least once when she called to order the tickets (her credit card).

We get on the ship and immediately look for the elevator so we can find something to eat. We find the elevator and I use the term elevator loosely. I would say the measurements of the elevator were only 3 feet by 3 feet, if that. I have a rather wide chair but the width wasn't the issue. I went into the elevator straight and the back of my chair was sticking out by about six inches.

Luckily we discovered this with about 10 minutes to spare before the ship was to leave the
port. We got off of the ship and were able to get a discount. This still didn't compensate for the wasted evening. We would have made different plans if we would have known.When we went to the front desk on the ship they were not one bit apologetic about the situation. I realized there was nothing they could do about the situation at that moment in time but their attitude was almost like oh well.

The only person who really did their job appropriately was the girl at the registration desk before you get on the ship. She was very courteous and apologetic afterwords. I need to start being more observant as to the names of people who are helpful and those who are extraordinarily unhelpful or rude. That way when I write to companies with complaints I can give credit where credit is due and lay blame where where it belongs.And this is not to mention the way things were handled getting on the ship. Every line you have to go through on the way to the ship is a zigzag which is not very easy with a wheelchair. There were a handful of people who were helpful but everyone else seemed oblivious.

When we get to the security checkpoint they guy just waves me and my father who is pushing my chair through the line. I obviously couldn't fit through the metal detector but he didn't even use a wand or pat me down. I could have brought anything on board.We get to the next guy who is just about yelling at us that we need to go back and wait. We do and the security check point guy tells us to go ahead again. Then the other guy in a slightly less aggressive tone explained that it is their policy to have someone who is certified (whatever that means) escort any disabled person on to the ship. Didn't have a problem with that.

So this guy comes up and decides he is going to just start pushing my wheelchair. Not cool! We would not let him so they just had him follow us on to the ship. If this "certified" person had actually had any training when it came to dealing with the disabled he would have known better than to just start pushing. He would have asked me or at least told me what he was going to do.

Anyway, we did not let this ruin our evening. We were able to get into a restaurant and have a nice dinner at least.

I plan on writing a letter to their corporate offices. I don't know if it will do any good but it will be brought to their attention. The ship is registered in Panama so there is a loophole where they are not legally held to the standards of the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act). Even though this is true most cruise ships comply with it anyway.

This whole experience made me wonder how many other people have gone through similar situations. Or even how many other people have hesitated or not even tried going places because of fear of similar situations. Why not start a web page of what places are accessible and workplaces are not in West Palm Beach? Could even expand to South Florida and beyond that have other people write reviews of places in other cities. Going to look into that.

I am a bit concerned and confused about what is going on in the U.S. today. We say we are going after the terrorists who attacked us on September the 11th but abandon the battles in Afghanistan and head towards Iraq. What on earth did Iraq do to us? The people were told there was all this evidence that they had helped al-Qada in the attacks on the Twin Towers and had weapons of mass destruction. And then after the fact we find out none of this so-called evidence even existed. And on top of that some top-level officials actually knew of information to the contrary and went ahead and made the case for war.

We as a country were wrong to attack Iraq. What was our response when it turned out we were wrong? Oh well. And then we tried to justify our actions by saying that we freed an entire country from under a despot. It is that the reason we went to war? No, not even close.

We went in with barely a plan for attack and even less of a plan to get out. We were under the impression or had a false notion that we were such a great big superpower that we could not go wrong. Who can stop us? Certainly not the Muslim world. We claimed that al-Qada is nothing but a bunch of religious zealots and the insurgents who later rose up against our military presence was also labeled as that.

But who is the real group of religious zealots? The Republicans in the House and the Senate are the real ones. Every decision they make is claimed to be a mandate from the American "faithful". And if anyone opposes their decisions they are labeled as haters of "people of faith". Is this the 1950s with McCarthyism? If you disagree with the government you are against the government and the American way? Do we really want to go back there?

I do not think people in Congress are wrong for having their strong religious convictions but they were not elected to be our spiritual advisers. If people want a lesson in religion and/or spirituality let them find a church. The government is supposed to be molded by the consensus of the people. Not the other way around. Not everyone is going to agree with Christianity. I think they need to take a lesson from the Bible where Jesus says if a household doesn't accept what his disciples have to say they should just leave and shake the sand from their shoes. Don't try to force what they think or how they interpret what God wants on the rest of the world.

They claim to be so concerned about the welfare of the poor and disenfranchised while at the same time cutting programs to help these same people. On top of that, giving great big tax breaks to the rich and corporations and at the same time making it more difficult for the working to get out from under debt which is caused by illness and the lack of medical insurance.

The latest hypocrisy is the Terry Schiavo case. Don't really want to get into the whole right to die issue in this posting. That issue is beside the point for what I am talking about. The politicians claimed they were doing it to protect her rights. Bull shit! They were using her as a political pawn. They could care less about taking care of her or other disabled people.

If she had no insurance and/or didn't get a settlement for the doctors not diagnosing her correctly her family would not have had any money to provide the quality care she did get or the rehabilitation attempts. If they had no money, what do you think would have happened to her? She would have simply been placed in a nursing home and forgotten about by the system. No attempt would have been made to rehabilitate her.

If the government really cared about people in similar situations or the disabled in general more programs would be in place. In most states, the only option people have if they do not have family willing to take on the burden is nursing home placement. Statistics show that 1 out of 3 nursing home patients is abused or neglected. What type of help is that? Just put them away and if you don't have to see them there is no problem.

I am lucky enough to live at home thanks to a Medicare waiver that the state of Florida applied for. I am lucky because as I write this the waiting list is growing. There was a point where I was facing the very real possibility of being placed in a nursing home. With only a few weeks before my nursing care would have run out this waiver took affect.

I guess the government would just rather kill us all slowly so they don't have to feel so bad. I guess if it happens quickly it causes too much guilt feelings, not enough time to rationalize what is going on. What do they care? After all, everyone in Congress has the best insurance ever. In their old age or in sickness they don't have to worry about a damn thing. Everything they need will be paid for in full. If they were to lose this privilege I am sure the very next day there would be an act to institute universal health care for everyone.

That is all for my ranting for now. I hope our country wakes up to what is going on and doesn't let the politicians get away with their tricks and with screwing us.

I have not quite been feeling myself this week. I think there is mold in the house from the water damage. Ever since our power and AC came back my sinuses have been clogged and draining. Woke up with a terrible sinus headache Friday morning. Felt like someone had hit me in the head with a hammer. Today I have just felt sort of flat. Not happy, not sad. Didn't want to get my ass out of bed today either. I did feel better once I got up and got something to eat. Maybe it is the post cruise blues. Did so much that week seems sort of boring just sitting here in the house for the past week or so. I'm sure once I get out of the house and do something I will feel much better. Get out of the moldy house.

We got a new DVD player today because the other one was a piece of crap that only work when it felt like it. It was an off brand that I never heard of but this time we went with a Zenith. Really simple to hook up too, only took about two minutes and actually works perfectly. And you can actually look at the remote and tell what it is. I had never seen a remote so confusing until I saw the one from the old DVD player. Also bought a few movies. The Punisher, The Alamo, and Scooby-Doo 2.

So we watched The Punisher tonight. I had seen another version of it at least ten years ago with Dolf Lundren (probably spelt wrong) who was the Russian guy in one of the Rocky movies. This one was a little different from what I remembered of the other one. Same basic plot though. I like the fact that there was a little humor thrown in with the new movie. It was a good movie overall.

I said I would write a post about the cruise I went on but haven't really felt like it and still don't. So will have to do that another time.

I almost forgot, our insurance adjuster came out today. I think we are going to get screwed. First of all, they said they no longer pay for damage to trees. That would have been a big chunk of money. Our deductible is $7,000. And the guy was saying he hadn't seen anybody reach their deductible yet, even people who had much worse damage than us. Translation, you're fucked.

After living in Florida for 18 years I finally experienced a hurricane firsthand. Only thing I have ever been through is tropical storm winds when hurricane Andrew hit down in Miami. I live in West Palm Beach. I thank God it was only a category 2 by the time it hit us. I only need to experience something like that once. Next time I am at the very least leaving my house and going to a hurricane shelter.

This whole past weekend has just all run into one unnerving blur. By the time Monday came along I lost track of what day it was. For a few days before the storm was definitely going to hit we were just waiting to see what would happen. It wasn't until Wednesday afternoon I believe that it was definitely going to hit us. So waited until that evening to discuss everything when my father got off work, as to what we would do.

Our first plan was to head over to the west coast to wear my grandparents live and get a hotel room. That night we were looking and everything was booked. We couldn't figure out why at first, first thought everyone else just had the same idea. We had forgotten it was Labor Day weekend. Another factor was probably the fact that anyone who lost their homes in Hurricane Charlie probably was in a hotel. Not to mention volunteers were probably staying there too.

So the next plan was just to board up the house and ride it out. We had to move quickly because if I wanted to go to the special needs/medical needs shelter I would have to be there by 10 AM Thursday. As it was the television was showing nothing but long lines and stores running out of plywood. So in the early morning on Thursday, about 5:30 my parents headed out on a quest for hurricane supplies. 8:45 came along and I had not heard from them. It was getting kind of close to what I would have to get going to the wanted to go to this shelter. So I gave them a call and they said they had just left Home Depot with the wood and were headed to Publix for some canned goods and any other supplies.

I did not sleep well at all on Wednesday night worrying about what we would do. Was able to take a little nap while they were at the stores. After I've heard they actually got some plywood I was able to relax quite a bit. It was just that not knowing and cutting things close that was getting to me. Once you actually have some sort of plan of action it gives you some sense of control of your situation, even if it is a false sense.

On Thursday afternoon my brother came up from Fort Lauderdale to help us and to stay during the storm. When he arrived him and my father started putting up the plywood over the windows. At about 8 or 9 that night they stopped after having completed about half of the house. The storm was not scheduled to affect us at all until Friday night at the earliest so was not a problem. They were able to finish Friday morning shortly before noon I believe.

Friday night was rather uneventful as far as the storm was concerned. Could hear the wind and some rain outside but not much more than you would hear during a thunderstorm. The closer it got to morning the worse it got. By the time my nurse arrived at 8 in the morning the wind was blowing pretty steady. At about 11 AM the power goes out when it was really that bad yet. But who knows how bad it was in other areas near us.

So at this time we got the generator out because it was obvious the power would be out for quite some time since the storm hadn't actually made landfall yet. I couldn't believe how many things you could power with this thing at once. We had our refrigerator, the television, the VCR, my ventilator, some fans, the microwave (could only have about 7 plugged at once with the amount of plugs we had on our power strip). Even had the computer at one time. And while it was being set up was able to let the neighbor hook things up to it.

So we spent the day and the night on Saturday either watching the 24/7 coverage of the storm on whatever channel decided to come in over the air on the TV or watching videos on the VCR. As the night went on the sound of the wind got worse and worse and you could hear things start to get blown around. From time to time with the wind gusts you could hear what sounded like things being blown around in the attic. Afterwards we discovered the sound was actually the shingles flying off the roof. And as more time went by you could hear the trees hitting up against the roof and walls. I was sitting in my bed and sometimes could actually feel the wall bumping up against my bed.

Then at about 1 in the morning things really started to get bad. There was this large gust of wind and you could hear something crack and then a large bang against the wall that moved my bed. So of course everybody turns around and looks at the wall. There is this one point on the wall where it meets the ceiling and you could see a crack had formed.

Then within a few minutes you could actually see the wall and the ceiling start to separate about an inch or more. So at this point my father just about throws me into my chair and we all pile into the little hallway. Had to go over some wires so ended up smashing the VCR onto the floor in the process, better a smashed VCR than a smashed up body. All of this happened as the eye wall was passing over us. We were more than halfway through the hurricane I believe. Coming to the back end of the hurricane when the wind shifted directions to come from the South instead of the North.

So we stayed in the hallway for several hours. The wind did start to die down and it never got any worse than those few minutes that were rather scary. I don't think anyone slept that whole night. When things calmed down a little sometime Sunday afternoon I think I only slept a few minutes here and there. You would be amazed how long you can stay awake on nothing more than adrenaline and a little fear.

The important thing was that everybody made it through the storm alive and healthy. And the damage to the house was not catastrophic. Every one of our trees had fallen down and was leaning against the roof. We believe this is what kept the roof from coming off when we could see the wall and ceiling separating. We have a deck or should I say had a deck outback that is not safe to be on any more. We are not sure what the damage is exactly to the wall yet but it's sounded like something broke inside the wall. Wish I would think it would have had to have done in order for the ceiling and wall to separate. Some of the flying shingles scratched up my brother's car and put a huge dent in the side of my nurse's car. Other than that and a little water damage from a leaky roof in the attic we had little damage compared to the devastation some other people have received.

If you want to see some pictures of the damage at our place just click below

http://photos.yahoo.com/u2lightmyway000075

I don't know about anybody else but going through something like this really makes you appreciate life. I guess it just depends on the person as to whether or not you can get that out of an experience. When I didn't get to get out for a little bit on Thursday evening it seemed like it affected people in one of two ways. Either they didn't change at all and were still just as inpatient and so self-involved that they don't see the world around them, still bitching and moaning about the same old shit they always have. And the other group were more friendly and helpful and just in a sort of more appreciated state of mind. I would consider myself in the second group. After all of this my family can really use a vacation and luckily we have one coming up in a week. :-D

Computer went on the blink last night at about 2 in the morning. Was doing some Internet surfing when all of the sudden the screen goes black. Damn video card went bad again.

Should have seen it coming because the whole day was acting funny. Would go to load a web page and just sit there. Had the same problem about a year may be year and a half ago. It was under warranty at the time though thank God.

I don't want to get the same brand (NVIDIA). Only going to get me twice. But when I went to the BestBuy Web site most of the video cards they have are by the Company. Looks like him going to be paying about/at least $100. Have a connection through my father though that that might give a little discount.

It's amazing how spoiled we are. Only been using this old laptop for a few hours on dial-up and miss my DSL already. Makes you wonder what we ever did without computers. Wonder if people felt the same way if their radio broke during the golden age of radio.

I have not done much traveling in my life but am going to start a month from now. Only traveling really was when moving to Florida from Ohio and going to California for a surgery. Doesn't quite count.

Going on a family Cruise on September 19 for 7 days. Traveling with Royal Caribbean on the Explorer of the Seas to the Eastern Caribbean. We have stops in Puerto Rico, St. Marteen, St. Thomas, and the Bahamas.

Have been doing so much reading about cruising in general and the Eastern Caribbean. We ordered the cruise about a month ago and still has about three weeks to go. Whole family is starting to get excited.

Even went so far as to buy tuxedos for the formal nights. Were not as much as I thought they would be. For about twice the price of renting one you can own it. If you wear it just one more time after the cruise it pays for itself. Very good deal.

I plan on writing a daily entry on here for each day of the cruise. Might not have time to do it daily while on the ship but if not will have one long one after returning.

Everything I have heard is that the ship is very accessible but as far as the shore excursions go I am basically screwed. Only one that is accessible through the cruise line. Other than that they suggest taking a cab which is not at all practical in my case. Between the ventilator and my power chair won't work. Even if I did have a fold up wheelchair I would be so uncomfortable it wouldn't be worth my time.

Luckily though in at least 2 (probably 3) there is plenty to do write their off the ship or at least in a short walking distance. In Puerto Rico you are let off directly and old San Juan which has tons of things to see. Plenty of photo opportunities.

Even if there is not much to do in port I hear there is so much to do on the ship that it will more than make up for that. There are people on the same cruise you are on the same ship for the third time in a row. That's has to tell you something about enjoyable cruises are and this particular ship.

Check back to see how the trip went.

After being on Blogger for a mere 8 or 9 months I finally decided to start posting. I could give some self-serving explanation as to why I want to post my thoughts for prosperities sake, but why? Does anybody actually care what one of us has to say years from now? Maybe, maybe not.

I have been told by several people that they think I should write some stories of what has happened to me in life. The only problem is I have forgotten many details over the years. I figure if I make a habit of writing events and thoughts on the site I will not have that problem. Let's wait and see if I can stick with this. lol