Fly Fly Away, Not so Fast you Suspicious Character

As you might recall, earlier this month I wrote about the ease of flying for those of us with mobility impairments.  If you would like to have a read, it can be found here … Okay, so have you ever said something or in my case wrote something, then ate your words later..yep, this was one of those times lol…

The day starts off rather uneventfully – we are all very excited, the day we have been looking forward to for weeks has finally arrived – we are Texas bound J  We all woke up really early as our flight leaves at 7:00am, smiles on everyone’s face, our airport shuttle is there to pick us up as scheduled.  We even enjoyed the other couple the shuttle service picked up on the way… My understanding is they were headed to Hawaii for a week and they seemed really excited, as the gentleman in their party wouldn’t stop with the corny jokes all the way to the airport…. I think he’s one of those people that just likes to hear himself talk, but nonetheless, it was a nice ride J

We arrive at the airport, get our bags checked, and 50 bucks later we are headed into the terminal where a nice guy stands there waiting with a wheelchair for me…. I climb aboard, and off to the TSA checkpoint we go….this is where the fun begins…lol

We approach the checkpoint and the TSA agent asks for our documents, September gets everything out, hands it to the agent he gives it a glance and waves us on to the next agent… September walks up to the metal detector, walks through…..BEEP, BEEP.  The agent stops her…  Ma’am please make sure everything is out of your pockets, she checks and walks through again…..BEEP, BEEP.  Ma’am who else is with you today…um, the guy over there in the wheelchair and the two little girls… Well Ma’am we are going to have to pat you down, and him too since he’s with you (oh wonderful, I say to myself, a pat down, just what I was wanting, as I roll my eyes and look over at my wife lol)

Next thing I hear…male assist please…. Good morning Sir, how are you today?  Oh, I’m just peachy, and you?  Doing well, would you like to go to a private area for the screening or is here ok?  I think to myself, well I might as well get this over  and done with as quickly as possible…. Here is fine, I grumble under my breath lol..

Ok Sir here is how this works – what’s going to happen is I am going to do a complete pat down of you and when I reach “sensitive” areas I will use the back of my hand… I think, oh what great news instead of feeling me up with the front part of your hand you are going to use the back, what a relief… As he goes through the procedure, I look around thinking…nice getting frisked in front of all these people just what I wanted at 5:30 on a Thursday morning lol..  We all finally made it through, and the rest of the morning was rather uneventful, but it was quite the experience… Come to find out, the cause of us getting stopped was a metal ring embedded into September’s blouse…gotta love those fashion accessories of today…lol

The moral of the story - check all clothes for metal accents before flying the friendly skies…

Bad Girl Bad Girl what You Gonna Do, What you Gonna Do When they Come for You?

Over the next few days, I am going to share some of the highlights from our recent adventure to the great state of Texas. 

So it’s Wednesday morning, we are trying to get everything ready to go for our upcoming trip and had stayed up a little later than normal the night before… well as a result, we both woke up late and were making a mad dash rush to get to work on time, which is something I’m sure most of you are all too familiar with.  You know the panic felt when you know you have to be at work in 15 minutes and you live 16 minutes away, yeah that one lol J   

Luckily, I am only 10 minutes away from work and I have to be in really early, so most days there is no one else on the road, much less your friendly police officer…..so the consequences of doing 50 in a 30 are almost nonexistent….  

Well, let’s just say September isn’t so lucky in either regard….She works 30 minutes away from her job and there are many officers patrolling the streets of Bellevue at 7:30 in the morning -- they can and do ticket for doing 50 in a 30 as we found out lol….

As she reaches the top of the hill, she sees three cars, each lined up one behind the other, lights flashing behind them… as she looks up, what does she see, that’s right, your friendly Bellevue police officer flagging  her down and signaling for her to get to the back of the line lol….. Yep that’s right… turns out the cost for doing 50 in a 30 is 154.00…

The moral of this story ladies and gentlemen is if you speed, don’t get caught…..oh wait, I mean don’t speed keep it within the speed limit….yeah right – drive safe lol  

From the Other Side

Part of the reason this blog exists is to bring awareness to those things in our society that so often go unsaid… to answer that innermost curiosity that all of us have about people that are different than what we consider “normal, to show that all people are people, regardless of circumstance... To show that just because someone is different, doesn’t mean they can’t and don’t live fulfilling and productive lives...  For others to be able to have a glimpse of what life is like from the other side of the wheelchair, or in my case the crutches…   For you not to let a day go by without remembering the blessings that have been besowed upon your life  God Bless...

Enjoy the video… (turn on the sound)

Southbound and Down

Sorry all - I’ve been absent from the blogosphere for the last few days, as we were gone to Texas and apparently in my family working computers with a working internet connection are somewhat scarce…. Oh do I have some stories to share about our trip to the great state of Texas…. from speeding tickets, to TSA pat downs and everything in between….   I’ll be back sharing the written word with all you fine folks tomorrow…You don’t wanna miss this…. J

Special Thanks to You!

I have something that is completely off topic, but I received this email earlier today and thought I would share.  Hopefully you will get a good laugh… I know that each of you can relate to this one in one way or another unless you have been living under a rock for the last 10 years …

PS.. Make yourself read to the bottom of the post, it’s the best part

Happy reading…

I just want to thank all of you for your educational e-mails over the past year.

 Thanks to you, I no longer open a public bathroom door without using a paper towel.

I can't use the remote in a hotel room because I don't know what the last person was doing while flippin g through the adult movie channels.  

    I now can not put lemons in my ice tea

I can't sit down on the hotel bedspread because I can only imagine what has happened on it since it was last washed.
I have trouble shaking hands with someone who has  been driv ing because the number one pastime while driving alone is picking their nose. (Although cell phone usage may be taking the number one spot)
Eating a Little Debbie sends me on a guilt trip beca u se I can only imagine how many gallons of trans-fats I have consumed over the years.

I can't touch any woman's purse for fear she has placed it on the floor of a public bathroom.  

I must send my special thanks to whoever sent me the one about poop in the glue on envelopes because I now have to use a wet sponge with every envelope that needs sealing.Also, now I have to scrub the top of every can I open for the same reason.
& lt; /FONT>I no longer have any savings because I gave it to a sick girl (Penny Brown) who is about to die in the hospital for the 1,387,258th time.
I no longer have any money at all, but that will change once I receive the $15,000 that Bill Gates/Microsoft and AOL are sending me for participating in their special e-mail program.
I no longer worry about my soul because I have 363,214 angels looking out for me, and St.Theresa's novena has granted my every wish.
I no longer eat KFC because their chickens are actually horrible mutant freaks with no eyes or feathers.

        II will never drink from a hotel glass that is in the bathroom

I no longer use cancer-causing deodorants even though I smell like a water buffalo on a hot day.Thanks t o you, I have learned that my prayers only get answered i f I forward an e-mail to seven of my friends and make a wish within five minutes.

Because of your concern I no longer drink Coca Cola because it can remove toilet stains.

I no longer can buy gasoline without taking someone along to watch the car  so a serial killer won't crawl in my back seat when I'm pumping gas.
I no longer drink Pepsi or Dr. Pepper since the people who make these products are atheists who refuse to put 'Under God'  on their cans.

I no longer use Saran wrap in the microwave because it causes cancer.
And thanks for letting m e know I can't boil a cup o f water in the microwave anymore because it will blow up in my face...disfiguring me for life.
I no longer check the coin return on pay phones because I could be pricked with a needle infected with HIV.

I no longer go to shopping malls because someone will drug me with a perfume sample and rob me.
I no longer receive packages from UPS since they are actually Al Qaeda in disguise.

(I liked that one)

I no longer shop at Target since they are French and don't support our American troops.
I no longer answer the phone because someone will ask me to dial a number for which I will get a phone bill with calls to   Jamaica ,   Uganda ,  Singapore  and   Uzbekistan ...
I no longer buy expensive cookies from Neiman Marcus since I now have their recipe.
Thanks to you, I can't use anyone's toilet but mine becaus e a big brown Afric an spider is lurking under the seat to cause me instant death when it bites my butt.
And thanks to your great advice, I can't ever pick up $5.00 dropped in the parking lot because it probably was placed there by a sex molester waiting underneath my car to grab my leg.

I can no longer drive my car because I can't buy gas from certain gas companies!

If you don't s end this e-mail to at least 144,000 people in the next 70 minutes, a large dove with diarrhea will land on your head at 5:00 PM this afternoon and the fleas from 12 camels will infest your back, causing you to grow a hairy hump.  I know this will occur because it actually happened to a friend of my next door neighbor's ex-mother-in-law's second husband's cousin's beautician...
Have a wonderful day....Oh, by the way.....
A German scientist from   Argentina , after a lengthy study, has discovered that people with insufficient brain activity read their e-mail with their hand on the mouse.
Don 't even bother taking it off now. it's too late!!

The Hidden Beauty of Renton Washington

Saturday afternoon we sat out on a family shopping trip to prepare for our upcoming adventure to the great state of Texas this weekend.  As mentioned in an earlier post, we are headed there for my brother’s wedding reception.  If you haven’t been to Renton, let’s just say it’s not one of the most majestic cities in the great northwest.  Not to say that there is anything wrong with it; it’s just not where one would expect to find a little slice of unexpected heaven LOL…  

We make the short trek from Issaquah to Renton, and as we are about to exit the interstate, I notice a sign for Ivars.   For those of you who haven’t had Ivars, it’s a must try.  At the time, we had only eaten there once before when September and I took a weekend trip sometime back, but we absolutely loved it. So when I saw the sign for it, I was like a huntin’ dog on the trail – I was determined to find it.  Heck I even broke out the GPS…. Lol

We continue guided by our turn by turn directions and finally arrive at our destination and to our utter surprise, it turns out that this particular Ivars is located right on a beautiful portion of lake Washington… The sun shining, the wind blowing through our hair and a beautiful view while we ate…. It made paying 10 bucks a piece for fish and chips worth every penny…..lol.

The Nightmare of Handicap Parking

Article Source: Baraboo News Republic

Interesting article from the Baraboo News Republic regarding the disabled parking challenges. This was something I had planned on writing about in the near future, but I ran across this article and had to share.

Pull into the parking space, get out of the car and walk inside the store.

Sounds easy. Right?

For someone with a disability – especially one that requires a wheelchair to be loaded and unloaded from a vehicle – it’s no simple task.

And when those who don’t park in handicap stalls aren’t mindful of those who do, the task becomes even more difficult.

“What we’re finding is that people are being extremely lazy,” said Steve Pribbenow, director of the Sauk County Disabled Parking Enforcement Assistance Council.

The council consists of seven members from throughout Sauk County who are trained and empowered by state law to enforce the proper use of handicap stalls, plates and identification cards. Members can compel businesses to comply with the law, as well.

Pribbenow said abuse of disabled parking rules is not simply limited to vehicles parking in disabled parking spaces without a pass.

One of the most frequent problems is that vehicles encroach on a handicap space or the striped area next to one, he said. Those access aisles are a “no man’s land” used by vehicles with ramps to load and unload wheelchairs.

Too often, people with disabilities are forced to squeeze themselves in and out of their vehicles because other cars have parked too close, Pribbenow said.

“These people are of the age where if they break a hip, they aren’t going to live much longer,” he said.

While people without a disability can squirm in and out of a vehicle if others are parked too close, that’s not always possible for a person with a disability.

“A driver using a mobility aid whose vehicle allows her to get in and out through the use of a side lift or ramp needs the entire width of an access aisle, along with the van-accessible stall, simply to gain access to a building,” Sauk County Mobility Manager Ashley Nedeau-Owen said.

He said he notices disabled parking violations every day, even in the parking lot outside his office at the county’s West Square Building in Baraboo. And he’s concerned about the general public’s lack of knowledge about handicap parking rules.

Although Nedeau-Owen regularly sees Baraboo Police Department officers writing warnings and citations, he said many violations go unenforced.

Some people use the “I’ll be back in a minute” excuse to temporarily park in a handicap space while they load or unload cargo from their vehicles, Nedeau-Owen said.

Baraboo Police Department Lt. Rob Sinden said it’s important for the public to understand how valuable the marked spaces are to the daily lives of people with disabilities.

While the most frequent handicap parking citation written by police officers is for vehicles that park in marked stalls without a pass, Sinden said officers also have noticed a number of disabled parking permits improperly displayed.

“(State law) mandates the permit be hung from the rear view mirror unless one is not available,” Sinden said. “All too often we see authorized disabled persons placing them on a sun visor or somewhere else far too difficult for an officer to see.”

Common handicap parking violations• Encroachment on access aisles (striped lines) next to handicap spaces

• Use of a disabled parking pass by someone who is not disabled

• Improper display of a handicap parking pass

• Unloading a disabled person near a building and then unnecessarily parking in a handicap stall, even with a proper tag

• Blocking access to a handicap stall

• Using an access aisle to park a motorcycle

• Temporarily using handicap stall or access aisle to load or unload cargo