Archive: March 2005
Deconstruction of the News
Here are two goofy news items that caught my attention:
SUV driver knocks down woman in wheelchair in a parking lot
Wheelchair-Bound Man Suspected Of Shooting Wife As She Drove
Let’s look at these in a little more detail:
CLEARFIELD — Clearfield police don’t know why a 64-year-old woman in a wheelchair was in a parking lot Monday [...]
Wanted: Pianist
Santiago Episcopal Church in Lafayette, Colorado, is looking for pianist. They would be looking for an organist, but Santiago is a mission church currently meeting in a school, so no organ. They already have a choir director. They seem like very nice people.
Are we speaking the same language?
In my next life, I want a program where, when the system engineer says, “Black” and the programmer nods understandingly and says, “Yes, black”, they both mean that black that is the absence of all color, and not, say, chartreuse and magenta.
What’s in that drink?
Should have known better.
My normal Starbucks/Peaberry/Vic’s drink is a 12 ounce non-fat latte, pretty inocuous.
Yesterday I tried Starbucks’ new chocolate drink, the Chantico (why do they give things these weird names?). Tiny cup. Drink is apparently a melted bar of chocolate. I felt faintly ill after finishing it.
Today I went hunting for info. Are you [...]
Interesting (sitting vs. standing, another view)
While I’ve witnessed a fair amount of discrimination, condescension and patronisation of wheelchair users (including myself), I really think (thought) it wasn’t the norm in my experience.
But…
There’s a restaurant I’ve been going to for years, maybe once a month, every couple of weeks. It’s Italian. They clearly pride themselves on being good to their regulars, [...]
Sitting vs. standing
I’ve been agonising over whether to take the wheelchair and crutches to France, or just crutches. This despite the fact that I know I should take the chair. But I’ve been walking so well, and the chair is just another thing to haul around, and …
Then I read Jill’s account of waiting in the immigration [...]
Go, girl, go
The Daughter participated in RMVR’s Precision Driving School this weekend, driving the 1972 BMW Bavaria. She was a little stressed; who wouldn’t be, with only a couple of months of street driving behind her, and a dozen race-happy guys on the track with her? At the end, she was named Most Improved Driver.
On the [...]
Travel
The trouble with making spontaneous plans is the damage you leave in your wake.
Listen, kiddo, I want to travel with you. Probably more important for you, I want you to travel and have adventures. So plan for it! Get the job in Japan teaching English after you graduate. Make some money and go to Morocco [...]
Progress
Scary, but true: today I paid for a ground floor apartment on the Ile St. Louis and three plane tickets to Paris.
Spontaneity
Ok, here’s the deal. My husband is working like a dog to remodel our house, doing all kinds of stuff he hates like plumbing and hanging sheetrock.
A friend tells him he’s going on a week long French vacation called “Chase the Tour” - during the Tour de France, riding over some of the same [...]
EDF accessibilité : le film TV
Via Aleja, a French language public service announcement by EDF; a twist on accessibility showing able bodies trying to cope in a world full of disabled.
About the ad campaign
The ad
Disability Funders Network
Disability Funders Network:
Disability-inclusive grantmaking is the mission of DFN: inclusion of disability in grantmaking programs and inclusion of people with disabilities in grantmaking organizations.
Some good articles amongst DFN’s resources:
Accessible Web Design: An Introduction
A Disability Policy Primer for Funders (contains an excellent overview of the shift from the medical to social model of disability)
DFN’s Response to [...]
Headlines
International Paralympic Committee: Nominees for Laureus 2005 Announced
Proposal urges wheelchair-friendly home design
And here is what makes this a no-brainer: Experts in architecture and design estimate the total average cost per dwelling is $98 (on a concrete slab) and $573 (for a dwelling with a basement or crawl space).
Right Column in IE
I just noticed that in Internet Explorer, the right hand column (starting with the Search box) is not next to the main content, but below it. Has it always been that way? Or just since I upgraded WordPress?
Turns out my stylesheet (based on Sub:Lemon) uses the underscore hack. Not sure why it’s behaving this way. [...]
Aww
From a user of a website I maintain:
You put out a nice product with lots of attention to detail. I’ve never ‘clicked’ on anything that did not function or sent me to oblivion or somewhere else than what I was aiming for. I have complete faith in you.
Now I’m going to feel warm and fuzzy [...]
Stupidest Question Ever
A thread on WheelchairJunkie, starting with the following:
Today, someone admired my new Jazzy 1122, and said…
“Did you get it at Costco?” (Costco is a warehouse store like Sam’s Club.)
I must look damn healthy.
Noise
Many office moves are taking place around me. The gentleman who moved into the office next to mine last week plays the radio, and uses the speaker phone for (as far as I can tell) every call. This is somewhat annoying. We do not work on the same program or in the same field, so [...]
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