I just found out last night that Chapter 9 of my book is going to be published in the Oceans anthology this fall. They donate all the proceeds to ocean conservation. I'll post the information about the anthology once I receive it.
HOORAY!!!!! Thanks to my pal and fellow writer Hans Hartman for passing the information about the anthology on to me. And thanks to my family for dealing with my neurotic ramblings at Thanksgiving last year when I was editing the story.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Monday, July 4, 2011
CP
Last night I also got to hang out with a new friend, Kristen. I met her Friday night. She has cerebral palsy. It's caused by a bruise on a baby's brain. If treated before the age of 2 the outcome is usually really good. Her parents didn't believe in hospitals so they didn't get her treatment until it was too late. She had to have surgery on her hip and her parents took her out of the hospital immediately afterward so she didn't have any physical therapy. She laid in a bed for 6 months until her surgical incisions were so infected that she had to be rushed to the emergency room.
She has a lot of problems she shouldn't because of her parents' irresponsibility. She has severed all ties with them because they always wanted to hide her problem. Socially she runs into a lot of issues as well. Most people see people with CP on television and think it's really severe. It depends on the person. She also has guys who have dumped her because they were afraid the CP would get worse - it doesn't. Some times people think she's mentally disabled because of her walk. She told me "I feel like I walk normally and I always hate walking by a mirror and I can see that I don't". She endures a lot of ridicule from people who don't realize she has CP but she's at the point where she just ignores it and gets on with her life.
Kristen was never much of an outdoors person until 2003 when she met a woman at the airport who asked if she had tried hand cycling. Kristen was like "what the fuck is a hand cycle?" She started attending events like No Barriers and now sky dives, hand cycles, rafts, and horse back rides. She spent every day of No Barriers doing two new sports she never tried before.
Like me she often travels by herself. We cooked up some adventure trips to go on, and hopefully we will get to do a trip together this year. Though, Kristen and I are a lot alike, and we like to get into trouble, so it might not be a good thing for us to hang out together. Or, it could be the perfect thing!
She has a lot of problems she shouldn't because of her parents' irresponsibility. She has severed all ties with them because they always wanted to hide her problem. Socially she runs into a lot of issues as well. Most people see people with CP on television and think it's really severe. It depends on the person. She also has guys who have dumped her because they were afraid the CP would get worse - it doesn't. Some times people think she's mentally disabled because of her walk. She told me "I feel like I walk normally and I always hate walking by a mirror and I can see that I don't". She endures a lot of ridicule from people who don't realize she has CP but she's at the point where she just ignores it and gets on with her life.
Kristen was never much of an outdoors person until 2003 when she met a woman at the airport who asked if she had tried hand cycling. Kristen was like "what the fuck is a hand cycle?" She started attending events like No Barriers and now sky dives, hand cycles, rafts, and horse back rides. She spent every day of No Barriers doing two new sports she never tried before.
Like me she often travels by herself. We cooked up some adventure trips to go on, and hopefully we will get to do a trip together this year. Though, Kristen and I are a lot alike, and we like to get into trouble, so it might not be a good thing for us to hang out together. Or, it could be the perfect thing!
Herr doctor
On Saturday night Dr. Hugh Herr was the keynote speaker at dinner. He was a child prodigy climber who lost both feet due to frostbite (he and a friend spent three nights in -20F temps after getting lost in a blizzard). Now he designs, builds, and wears bionic legs.
After his talk paradox invited him to come drinking with us. I thought he would be a boring professor but he isn't. He told me as we sat down at a table that he had just gotten back from Geneva after giving an important talk. I was like "Oh, I thought you went there to eat chocolate" and he said "I did eat chocolate, and it was decadent".
Of course all the amps wanted to know more about his legs, and when they would be available. His legs have flashing lights on them like R2D2 and they have processors on them. I asked him if someone could hack his legs and he said "definitely" and we were joking that someone would make him walk somewhere he didn't want to go (I was picturing him being forced to walk into a sleezy lingerie and sex shop).
Somehow we ended up with two bottles of wine on the table. Dr. Herr poured me a third glass of wine and I was like "dude" because I was afraid I would start babbling like a drunken idiot. He said "you're hotel is close by isn't it? you don't have to drive" and I was like "yeah, but I still have to walk there" prompting great laughter from around the table. I was the only one there with two legs.
Then Dr. Herr said he was thinking about starting a facebook page for his legs, and that he wanted to set up an account so they could send out tweets like "Dr. Herr is walking to starbucks". I started trying to explain the episode of Wallace and Grommet called "the wrong pants" but everyone was asking him questions so I started talking to Rob about side stix.
It was a fun evening, unfortunately cut short at midnight when the bar threw us out for being too noisy. I have to say most non-profit events I've attended in the past were boring with weird people. No Barriers was like a non-stop adrenaline fueled party and I met lots of cool people that I will hopefully be climbing and hiking with in the future.
After his talk paradox invited him to come drinking with us. I thought he would be a boring professor but he isn't. He told me as we sat down at a table that he had just gotten back from Geneva after giving an important talk. I was like "Oh, I thought you went there to eat chocolate" and he said "I did eat chocolate, and it was decadent".
Of course all the amps wanted to know more about his legs, and when they would be available. His legs have flashing lights on them like R2D2 and they have processors on them. I asked him if someone could hack his legs and he said "definitely" and we were joking that someone would make him walk somewhere he didn't want to go (I was picturing him being forced to walk into a sleezy lingerie and sex shop).
Somehow we ended up with two bottles of wine on the table. Dr. Herr poured me a third glass of wine and I was like "dude" because I was afraid I would start babbling like a drunken idiot. He said "you're hotel is close by isn't it? you don't have to drive" and I was like "yeah, but I still have to walk there" prompting great laughter from around the table. I was the only one there with two legs.
Then Dr. Herr said he was thinking about starting a facebook page for his legs, and that he wanted to set up an account so they could send out tweets like "Dr. Herr is walking to starbucks". I started trying to explain the episode of Wallace and Grommet called "the wrong pants" but everyone was asking him questions so I started talking to Rob about side stix.
It was a fun evening, unfortunately cut short at midnight when the bar threw us out for being too noisy. I have to say most non-profit events I've attended in the past were boring with weird people. No Barriers was like a non-stop adrenaline fueled party and I met lots of cool people that I will hopefully be climbing and hiking with in the future.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
not your average amputee
I spent this weekend up at Winter Park doing a charity event called No Barriers. Mal invited me and in the evening I got to hang out with the paradox athletes. Since I'm still suffering from the parties and lack of sleep, I decided to post a few pics and write a real blog tomorrow.
I also am REALLY psyched that I am now the proud owner of a pair of side stix. One of the paradox athletes recommended I talk to the company about my knee problem. They gave me a pair of side stix and then I went for a half mile walk with Jon Arnow.
We went up and down a rolling hill, then up and down a steep hill, and then up a bunch of rocks. I could not believe the difference that using the side stix made with my leg. It was the first time in over 14 years I've been able to walk down a hill without excruciating pain in my femur. And my leg was a lot more stable. I used the side stix for the rest of the day because I was on my feet (I ended up working 12 hours Friday and Saturday as a volunteer) and I was amazed when I got back to my hotel that my knee not only wasn't swollen but it was barely hurting at all.
I told Jon that I had been feeling a little bummed out because I couldn't do long hikes anymore (after an easy 6 mile hike at Roxborough I couldn't walk the rest of the day). I'm taking my stix out tomorrow to Roxborough to see how they do on a steep-ish 12 mile hike. If they work out Jon said he would do the rim-rim-rim in the grand canyon with me in september and we'll post a story on the side stix web site.
BTW, if you go to their web site you'll see this adorable guy named Nico doing an aerial with the side stix (his leg was amputated right below his hip). He's a competitive soccer player and can out run almost everyone with his stix.
The best part of the weekend was meeting a bunch of athletes that are hardly gimps even if they have a few missing parts.
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| You think you know what a double amputee looks like? Check this girl out. With her prostheses she's over 14 feet tall. Loved the butterfly wings too. |
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| One of the prosthetic designers at the show offered to let me use demo boots to see what it's like to walk with fake feet. My feet are in the boots and the feet you see below the boots are two different types of prosthetics. I got to experience the difference between a stiff foot and one with ankle movement. |
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| This is a new design for a prosthetic foot, made from a plastic called PEEK and aircraft aluminum. I told them the name they had given it was boring and suggested they rename it the Darth Vader foot. |
We went up and down a rolling hill, then up and down a steep hill, and then up a bunch of rocks. I could not believe the difference that using the side stix made with my leg. It was the first time in over 14 years I've been able to walk down a hill without excruciating pain in my femur. And my leg was a lot more stable. I used the side stix for the rest of the day because I was on my feet (I ended up working 12 hours Friday and Saturday as a volunteer) and I was amazed when I got back to my hotel that my knee not only wasn't swollen but it was barely hurting at all.
I told Jon that I had been feeling a little bummed out because I couldn't do long hikes anymore (after an easy 6 mile hike at Roxborough I couldn't walk the rest of the day). I'm taking my stix out tomorrow to Roxborough to see how they do on a steep-ish 12 mile hike. If they work out Jon said he would do the rim-rim-rim in the grand canyon with me in september and we'll post a story on the side stix web site.
BTW, if you go to their web site you'll see this adorable guy named Nico doing an aerial with the side stix (his leg was amputated right below his hip). He's a competitive soccer player and can out run almost everyone with his stix.
The best part of the weekend was meeting a bunch of athletes that are hardly gimps even if they have a few missing parts.
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