What Does It Take To Make A Toothbrush Holder For An Old Quad?

Funny you should ask, because I want to tell you what happened to me today when I went to get my six-year-old toothbrush splint replaced as it was beginning to fall apart.

First of all, I was to be at the outpatient hand clinic in the 2800 Building of the Abbott Northwestern Hospital complex. My attendant, Danyell, parked right in front of the building. My instincts kicked in and I hurriedly rushed to the outpatient clinic in the Sister Kenny building. Where I was told I was in the wrong building and I had to go back to 2800. That clinic is for inpatient patients and the 2800 Building is for outpatient hand therapy.

My original appointment was set for 12 noon. I got to the clinic with about five minutes to spare. They got me checked in and quickly assigned me to Teresa who helped me form the basic splint. That is the black part of this following picture.

After almost an hour with Teresa and forming the basic splint, I went back to the correct clinic in the Sister Kenny building and re-met a longtime acquaintance, Christina. She and I went on a great Odyssey over the next few hours! We went to the Occupational Therapy Department I have been in as a patient and visitor for many years. Christina did what she could, but we ran into a problem with riveting the straps to the split. The therapy department no longer has the capability to rivet; so, I mentioned the idea of going down to the maintenance department and see if they could help us. Eureka, we were greeted by several SEIU Healthcare MN members who took us back into their woodshop to see if they could help us get the straps riveted onto the splint.

It was about 1:45 and one of them said they punched out at 2 o'clock. A couple of them said I'll go punch out, but I'll be right back. They looked in every box they could find for the exact rivet I needed. That is when Jim went and got his own little rivet gun box with the exact rivet and four union members stayed for another half hour to get my splints made to fit on the splint. When they finished, I thanked them profusely and Christina and I were off to her clinic to finish the project.

The finished product looks like this:

The image from the other side looks like this:

As always, click on the image to make it larger. I am not sure what the final cost of a split like this will be; however, I can assure you it is in the hundreds of dollars range if not more than a four-digit number!

We were running late and Danyell's shift was way past 2:30 PM. When I got to the van, she was patiently waiting for me, as it was now just about 3 o'clock. She asked me if my blood draw went okay? That is when it hit me, I needed to go back to the main hospital lab and get my blood drawn. I was so proud of myself and finally getting my work done for the day, I forgot I needed to get a blood draw because another infection is starting and my doctor wants to check all of my blood levels.

I got back to the van and it was almost 3:30! The problem was besides her running on overtime was I had an appointment with my friend Mike Ross at 2:30 to help me fix my computer. I finally was able to call him and he had been sitting in my driveway for the last half hour! We had a discussion about what was going on and he agreed to come by tomorrow or the next day when I am here. He is my savior when it comes to keeping my computer running. He has been ever since we were friends in college in Berkeley in the 1974-'75 school year.

Back to my original point in writing this post was to show how creative problem-solvers and people who are committed to their work get things done. All in all I had a fun day despite everything that took longer than expected! Writing this post even went longer than I expected.

I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

On Monday I Chatted With Tuesday

I had an interesting experience on Monday with my Facebook friend, Di Niven who lives in Invercargill, New Zealand. Invercargill is a small city of about fifty thousand people and is one of the southernmost communities in the world.

We chatted back and forth over a period of a couple hours and at one point I asked her if she was getting tired because it was 6:50 PM here and it must be getting late there.

She replied, it was not late at night there, but rather 10:50 AM Tuesday morning. That struck me as rather peculiar that I was indeed chatting with someone halfway around the world and at the same time we were communicating it was two different days!

I understand how the world turns and time zones are different everywhere. However, I had never had the actual experience of communicating with someone on a different day. It seemed odd for me and has taken me all week to figure out exactly what I was going to write about my experience with my friend Di who I will never meet, probably never hear because there is a large fee to use Skype for her and International phone calls of any length get to be expensive even with free minutes.

I gave her my website so she could listen to my accent on the videos I have plus the television interview from several years ago; however, even though we communicated for several hours off and on, I will probably never know what her accent is like.

Here is a picture from her Facebook page and after our conversation she went around and Liked several entries on my Facebook page. It was if our conversation gave her permission to browse my site.

Click on the image to enlarge:

I thought that was a stunning image of someone with a very beautiful heart and well-nourished soul.

We had carried on a brief friendship with short chats here and there and comments over posts and pictures we liked over the last year and a half; however, I believe our long distance conversation took our friendship to a new level.

She asked questions about my accident and wondered how I dealt with all of the issues I need to deal with on a daily basis. Our conversation took us to many different subjects and spiritual levels. When she commented one time about my spiritual strength in dealing with the issues I have to deal with, I replied, "It takes one to know one."

As a grandmother living in an incredibly remote part of the world with grandchildren literally everywhere, she deals with issues of the heart and spirit I could never imagine. She occasionally comes to the United States and visits Virginia where her son-in-law is in the military. She told me her daughter gave birth to her grandson not long ago and soon she plans to travel to Virginia.

Maybe we will get an opportunity to Skype then and I can hear her accent, which is very curious to me.

Here is another photograph of grandma Di:

 Again, click on the image to enlarge it:

Technology is always changing and allowing people to communicate instantly from around the world as evidenced by my conversation with my friend, Di. The change that goes with that constantly amazes me.

I am never short of meeting new people. In fact, for those of you that know me, you know I am a fairly outgoing person. (That is the understatement of the year!) The interesting thing about meeting new people is learning about them and their stories. As a professional speaker, I meet new people all the time. I am often the last person to leave a conference, office or school at the end of my day.

I find it happening all the time when people will delay going someplace even when they are in a hurry because they are comfortable talking to me. I had that happen yesterday with my acupuncturist, Bob Decker. I made that comment to him, as he was getting ready to leave to see other patients in another clinic. Bob said, "It's you Mike. You draw that out in people. You make people want to talk to you because you have something to say, and people enjoy listening to you as much as you enjoy listening to them."

Bob and I have great conversations before he needles me up because after I get an acupuncture treatment, I am pretty useless and can barely carry on a conversation! However, I did yesterday! By the time I got home yesterday, I was pretty calm and relaxed so I leaned back in my chair and took another twenty-minute nap after he had just given me one during my acupuncture treatment. I swear sometimes he never leaves the room when I get my treatments because I fall asleep so quickly after he leaves the room and have conditioned myself to wake up about two minutes before he walks in the room and twenty minutes just flew by.

I am convinced we all get back what we give out. Maybe that is why my conversation with my new friend was so meaningful to me? I am sure I will find out someday soon.

I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

Good Grammar Part Two

Last year in my March third and my September thirtieth posts I wrote about how I believe good grammar is going the way of the dinosaur. I mentioned several examples of how people who should know better are using poor grammar. I still believe that is wrong. I strongly believe we are dumbing down not only our youth in schools, but the adult population as well. In my September 30, 2013 post, I stated, "Those are just two suggestions. I have many more. I will save those for another post." 

Well, this is that post. You may reach those sites by clicking on these URLs:

http://iamnotdoneyet.blogspot.com/2013/03/what-happened-to-good-grammar.html

http://iamnotdoneyet.blogspot.com/2013/09/are-we-dumbing-down-our-young-people.html


A few days ago, I posted this graphic on my Facebook page in the form of a test, and asked people if they had passed it. I received several comments agreeing with me and giving me examples. I would like to share both the graphic and some of the comments made in response to it:

My comments started out with one from Laurie in Maine with this, "… I see them all spelled wrong every single day but I have learned to let it go! I realized it was making me crazy to see it … now it just doesn't. All I have to care about is if I spell it right!  Makes for much less stress inside me!

Amy from Worthington wrote, "I also notice it a lot. My Mom was a stickler for good grammar, and now, so am I. I still cringe when I hear it spoken!"

Then I stated, "I have learned to pick my battles." What I meant by that was there are certain times I will correct someone because they have told me they want to change and they appreciate my teaching them. Other times, I just consider the source and have given up on trying to change someone's bad speech patterns. I figure they will learn in due time; and it may sink in sooner or later.

Another situation will happen when I do not know the individual and figure I am not going to change his or her behavior by correcting her or his grammar. Like I said, "I have learned to pick my battles."

Amy then followed with, "I never say anything to the offender, but I mentally thank my Mom."

Jeanne commented, "An advantage of working at school, I passed easily! However, I agree with you about picking your battles!"

Angela from Ireland, then stated, "Thank you Mike! Please send this to everyone everywhere; these are all errors that make me unreasonably upset on a daily basis. Becoming pedantic in my old age."

Eric, is now teaching in Egypt for two years along with his wife, Donna, wrote this, "Don't you guys get it ... Mike will NEVER stop picking this battle. And he shouldn't! …" He followed that with,  "Us old farts have to keep the language alive if we possibly can."

Eric also said, "Teaching in the Minneapolis public schools for 30 years has caused me to take a hit being able to speak proper English … but keep on fighting the good fight my friend!"

There were a couple more, longer quotes from Eric and other teachers; and I started talking about other grammar mistakes that bothered me until I got a quote from Di in New Zealand who stated she passed my little grammar test with flying colors!

My last post was this, "Another grammatical faux pas that really bothers me is when people split their infinitives! I get especially annoyed when professionals on the TV news or sports broadcasts say something like, "They play that way, still." That is just wrong! One would think professional journalists never took English Composition 101."

The thing I found remarkable about my Facebook post was how I had received Comments from three different continents and Likes from approximately fifteen states. I love the fact the Internet can teach all over the world! I have Facebook friends from five continents and I do not know how many countries are represented by people that read this blog either on Blogger, Google+ or other means of Internet transmission. I do know my website has been visited by people from well over one hundred countries!

I also do not know how many people have bought my book that live outside of the United States. I believe that is kind of cool, and incredible to think someone halfway around the world is reading this post right now!

I look forward to your comments and any grammar related issues that cause you pain to hear!

Later,

Mike

Little Girls And Daddies

I received a great article from a friend who saw it on The Huffington Post on February second. The title of the article was "What Little Girls Wish Daddies Knew" and was written by Tara Hedman. It was a very good article and I will give you two ways of going to the article in the next couple paragraphs.

Ms Hedman was sitting in an auto repair shop waiting room when she experienced a father playing with his four-year-old daughter. She found their play very rewarding and came up with these twenty-five points little girls wish their daddy's knew. Go to the link by clicking here.

If that does not work, try this link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tara-hedman/what-little-girls-wish-daddies-knew_b_4581782.html One of them should get you there.

The reason I am posting this is I am a member of a group of men and women called The Good Men Project. I have written about them before, and we are trying to help men help boys transition into manhood.

One of the interesting discussions we have in our weekly, hour-long conference call has to do with men not only helping little boys succeed, but also what we can do to break some of the stereotypes about men and little girls. Some of those stereotypes are good, and as stereotypes go, some of them are bad.

I have always contended there is a reason for stereotypes, both good and bad stereotypes. That reason is because people fit the stereotype. That is where the stereotype comes from. We all know the squeaky wheel gets the grease. When a man does something wrong to a child, it makes the news. Too often in our society today, we are not recognizing positive experiences men have with children. I believe that is wrong. That is one of the goals The Good Men Project is trying to address.

The Good Men Project always has interesting posts from many different perspectives and on a wide variety of subjects. For instance, right now one of the leading stories is about divorced fathers raising their sons. It is an interesting read.

Whether you are a parent of a young child, teenager or adult, I believe you just might learn something by reading some of the posts on our site. It is growing exponentially and has a wealth of information in helping us all become better citizens, whether we are parents or not. I strongly encourage you to check us out.

As always, I welcome your comments.

Later,

Mike

Our Ever-changing Technology Part II

If you read my last post on changing technology and how rapidly we are seeing the entire world change around us, you know how I feel about some of the changes. After reading that post, one of my subscribers who happens to be a very high-level quadriplegic with no arm function, sent me an article showing this next high-tech toy soon to be on the market that will have the capability to grow that change even more dramatically.

It is called Google Glass and looks like this:

As always, click on the image to make it larger:

According to articles in New Mobility magazine, Popular Science magazine and a Wikipedia entry, Google Project Glass had originally been designed for paraplegics and quadriplegics who cannot use their arms as a way to maneuver their wheelchairs with voice recognition software. It is expected to be released to the general public sometime in 2014.

Initially, the idea was to wear them as you see them in the picture. However, they are still working on a version where someone could wear them with prescription glasses. They are even working on a version that would come with your prescription glasses built into the unit itself.

I can see tremendous opportunities for everyone, not just people with disabilities to benefit from an item like this.

However, I see a huge downside in this technology and how it could be misused by that multitasking person who is already trying to drive, text, eat a sandwich and keep his or her children behaved on the way to school during the morning commute.

As if distracted drivers do not cause enough traffic accidents already, just imagine what introducing this technology could do to that distracted driver in the lane next to you!

I am all for this technology and its appropriate applications for people with disabilities and/or able-bodied people in the workplace, or in the comfort of his or her own home. It does scare me to think of how it has a huge potential to be misused and will cause people to be even more distracted from their already busy lives.

Like I stated in my last post, I am all for new technology and the changes we see coming. But, like everything else, if it is not used properly, I see some tremendous downside to this new idea.

I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

Our Ever-changing Technology

I had an interesting experience yesterday with a virtual friend. While chatting on Facebook with her I watched an entire football game and she was about fifteen hundred miles away from me. I have never done that before. It was a reminder about how much our technology has advanced in the last several years.

We all know change is happening exponentially. This was just one more example of how we are communicating in the twenty-first century. It was the perfect example of multitasking.

We were watching the Washington Redskins played the Chicago Bears and commenting about the game as well as carrying on a three-hour discussion about a number of things. It was fun because we would be in the middle of discussing something and all of a sudden I would see "TOUCHDOWN!!!!!!!" on my screen. Washington beat Chicago in a wild game 45-41! It was the second-highest scoring game in the NFL this year.

I know I wrote a few weeks ago about professional sports and some of the things I believe are wrong with them. I still believe that, and feel strongly about all the injuries in sports at all levels, but I still like to watch football. I especially like exciting games like this one.

At one point, I asked her if she wanted to switch over to FaceTime and watch the game while we were able to see each other. She said she could not do that because she was talking to a mutual friend on her smart phone! It was just another example of new technology and multitasking at its finest.

I want to show you a picture I found recently I find rather humorous:

Click on the image to make it larger:

I think you will agree with me when I say, "Technology is changing all of our lives in one way or another, sometimes on a dramatic basis."

I remember as each one of these new devices came out thinking to myself, "What will they think of next?" Little did I know just what was coming down the line.

It is often said, "If you think what has happened in the last ten years is dramatic, just wait until you see what happens in the next ten years!"

There is a classic example going on right now with the new iPhones. We are already at iPhone 5, and now we have the iPhone 5C and 5S. How long will it take Apple to come out with the iPhone 6? I am guessing it will be available for holiday gift giving. Call me cynical, but Christmas is only a little more than two months away. That is a long time in our new world of constant change.

I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

Interesting Conversation

I had an interesting conversation yesterday with a wide variety of opinions on the importance of education and how important a college degree and/or an advanced degree was to people. Then, my favorite show, 60 Minutes, ran this piece on the very subject we were discussing. They put the topic in a very good perspective for me. If you missed it, check it out. Just click here:


I find it interesting we have millions of highly-skilled jobs available and not enough people who have the skills to fill them. There are programs available to teach people who are trying to learn these new skills, but they are few and far between. Some of the resistance is coming from an older group of people who are resistant to change. We all know how difficult change can be, but we all need to accept it and adjust to the jobs of the twenty-first century. If that happens, I suggest you get at least one mentor to help you along the way.

Remember, even the buggy whip manufacturers needed to change once Henry Ford and his ilk came along and rendered the buggy whips extinct!

If you are losing your job to downsizing, or robotics, are you ready to step into another job? What if you are over fifty, or do not have the savings to support you while you get training to prepare for that new career, or you cannot live on the salary you will make in that new position? Have you thought about any of those possibilities?

I read a survey of employers several years ago that stated when they look at new hires, they said more important than your GPA were three things: Your ability to be an effective communicator, cooperate well and are a creative problem-solver.

Of course, every job is going to have additional necessary skills, but I believe it is a good start.

I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

The End Of An Era

Imagine you are Karen Aho and you recently married Tom, the love of your life. You are having a conversation about having a family and he asks you how many children you would like to have? Would you say, "four, five, six, seven, — no, let's have fifteen, and twelve of them will be boys who love to play football"?

She goes on to say, "In fact, let's space them apart so we can go to a high school football game every fall Friday night for about a quarter of a century. Yes, let's do that!

"We'll name the Alpha male 'Steve' and have him so he can start playing in about 1989, and go to 'Seth' the Omega will finish in 2012. Yes, I like that!

"Twenty-four years of high school football games, Homecoming dances, parades, countless highs and many lows, winning seasons, losing seasons, even five of them good enough to go and play college football. That is how I want to spend about half of our married life. Yes, Tom, sign me up!"

Does that sound like something a Hollywood screen writer could come up with? I do not think so! But yet it happened in a small consolidated school in Central Minnesota at Dassel-Cokato High School. Read more about the Aho family and their amazing story by clicking here. That Yahoo! Sports article leads you to a good article from the Dassel•Cokato Herald Journal, which you may reach by clicking here. The family picture appears in both articles. The article shows the years the boys attended DCHS. Since I was there in 1989 and 1999, I wonder if Steve or Joel remember anything I said in my assembly?

It would not surprise me if they did remember something. Just today, I came across a woman who remembered my speech from a presentation at her company sixteen years ago!

It is a story of commitment, family, teamwork, mentoring, communication, love and so many more positive family values. This was a fun story to learn and write about. I first learned about the Aho family watching the news last night.

I laid awake thinking about the family and all the lives the boys experienced, including all the other sports they competed in and thought about just what I was going to write. Turns out, as I read what I have just written was not at all what I was going to write. I wonder how many writers experience that phenomena?

As always, I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

Technology And Autusm

I know this is a few days late, but if you saw the 60 Minutes homage to Steve Jobs Sunday night, you saw this piece on how the iPad is changing the way, as they put it "autistic people" are communicating with the new toy. I have two things I want to point out about it before I show you Lesley Stahl's piece.

First of all, most people in the people with disabilities community prefer "person first" language. Another words, Instead of referring to "autistic people," why not refer to them as "people with autism"? It may seem like a small thing to many of you, but a movement has been growing for many years to try and change the culture and that begins with language.

The other thing I had a problem with was the way they chose to jump from a laminated piece of paper with letters and phrases right to the wonderful new iPad. There have been many devices that have helped to bridge that gap for many years. Ms. Stahl failed to mention them.

That being said, please look at this piece and see what you think:



She starts out using person-first language, but quickly changes to using "autistic people." I find that interesting. When you finish watching the segment, read some of the comments. I found many of them fascinating.

The other two segments on Steve Jobs were enlightening to those of us who did not know much about his personality and life story. I know I could not have worked for him, but I certainly like using his computers!

I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

Effective Listening

Last Saturday I got to hear another speaker friend do his thing. I've known Kit Welchlin since 1991, and haven't seen him for several years. I was giving two breakout sessions for the annual Metro ECSU's Winning Strategies Conference for paraprofessionals, and I saw Kit's name on the agenda; so, I decided to go out early and listen to Kit do the keynote. I'm glad I did.

The title of Kit's address was Problem Solving & Decision Making Through High Impact Communication. I discuss problem solving, decision-making and communication all the time; so, I wanted to hear what he says about those three issues. I wasn't ready for the high energy/impact he let rip for about an hour. It was a great presentation with many highlights.

His list of 14 Characteristics of Effective Listening I've posted here really hit me. Simply click on the image to make it larger:


I love listening to other speakers, especially when they are saying many of the same things I say. It reinforces to me I'm doing the right thing and I'm on the right path. I especially like #7 which simply states, "Ask Questions."

I wrote an entire chapter on asking questions in PreTeen Power which was published in 1997. I'm rewriting it for I'm Not Done Yet. Stay tuned, I'm working on it.

Later,

Mike