Christmas postcard date unknown, circa 1900. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) I can be pretty anal sometimes. For example, I keep track of all our spending, to the penny, in Quicken. I use Google Calendar to manage my time, including three reminders each day to take pills and a daily 4:00 reminder to watch Ellen. I have… Continue reading Christmas Cards
MITCH STURGEON
Author and Blogger
Living With MS
Category: Uncategorized
Standing As Therapy
The human body is not designed for prolonged sitting. Office workers and truck drivers know what I mean. But at least they are able to stand up and move around before and after work and during breaks. Not so much with us wheelchair users. Besides looking up at the world all day, which is bad… Continue reading Standing As Therapy
Forty million people need a wheelchair but don’t have one
And for people in developing countries, if they do have one then there is a good chance that it does not meet their needs. Amos Winter, from MIT, is trying to do something about that.
Drinking the Kool-Aid
(Photo credit: rob.knight) Drinking the Kool-Aid has become a metaphor of blind faith, or being committed to an idea without justification. The term references the November 1978 mass suicide, when 912 followers of the Reverend Jim Jones drank a Kool-Aid type beverage laced with cyanide. Brand loyalty is one common manifestation of Drinking the Kool-Aid.… Continue reading Drinking the Kool-Aid
Is That the Best You’ve Got?
A cacophony of disastrous events has recently plagued Maine. The only reasonable explanation is that Armageddon is upon us- the End Times. Prepare for final judgment. Or not. Yesterday and early this morning we endured Hurricane Sandy, a.k.a The Storm of the Century. I live on the south coast of Maine, where I can see… Continue reading Is That the Best You’ve Got?
Political Advertising- Out of Control
Obama Change (Photo credit: Atlantian5) Here in the United States we have a presidential election in two weeks. We are also voting for just about every other possible position in federal, state, and local government. During these election cycles we take great pride in demonstrating to our children the importance of democracy in action. I… Continue reading Political Advertising- Out of Control
Head Games
I decided to go to the grocery store one day last week while Kim was at work. For the first time in months it was cool enough that I really needed a jacket during the day. But I just couldn’t get the zipper started. My hands refused to cooperate. I had to wonder, did this… Continue reading Head Games
Yesterday, at the End of My Street
Yesterday, I was lounging around on my deck, looking out over the ocean. I noticed a bald eagle sitting on the rocks in the middle of our little cove. I grabbed my camera, put my wheelchair in third gear, zipped the hundred feet or so to the end of our road, and snapped these pictures.… Continue reading Yesterday, at the End of My Street
Adventures in Public Transportation #2
Before I stopped working, I was a proficient airline traveler, even in my wheelchair. My adventures are usually more modest today. Now I’m dabbling in, gulp, city buses. For some first-hand accounts of my business-related wheelchair travels, click here and here. There is a bus system transportation hub only two blocks from our house. Although… Continue reading Adventures in Public Transportation #2
“Remember, There Is Always Someone Worse off Than You:” Is This A Valid Coping Mechanism?
(Photo credit: Wikipedia) We’ve all heard this platitude before, and I wouldn’t blame you if you had some reservations about it. After all, isn’t it a perversion of basic human decency to use another person’s suffering to improve our own circumstances? Shouldn’t the acknowledgment that others are suffering make us feel worse, not better? Does… Continue reading “Remember, There Is Always Someone Worse off Than You:” Is This A Valid Coping Mechanism?