Details, Details, Details!

I am constantly telling my Personal Care Attendants (PCA's) it is all about the details! Last Friday the details came back to bite me in the butt to the tune of one hundred seventy dollars! One hundred thirty-eight for a tow to the Minneapolis Impound Lot and thirty-two for a parking ticket!

I was on my way to an elpisenterprises board meeting on the twenty-third floor of 150 South Fifth Street, in downtown Minneapolis. Since I cannot park in parking lots if I am alone because I cannot pull the tabs out of the dispensers, I pulled in to the last meter on the corner of Fourth Street and Marquette. I did not bother to look up and see the sign that read, "No Parking 4 to 6 PM." That was a big mistake! With my handicap plates, I am able to park at a meter for up to four hours. I knew I would not be in the meeting that long, so I decided to park there.

I left the meeting a little after 4:30 only to watch the tow truck pull away with my van a block and a half ahead of me. I had this sickening feeling I was going to have a very difficult time getting home.

I knew that tow truck was taking my van to the impound lot, so I took off across downtown Minneapolis during rush hour and people walking to the Twins game.

My chair has six speed settings and C is the fastest. You have heard people talk about multiple-choice tests and questionnaires, and they will tell you to, "Always answer C." That is the way my power wheelchair is. I clicked on C and took off the 1.4 miles to the impound lot. I cannot tell you how many times I told people as I was approaching them, "Passing on your left." I always do that so people do not get scared when I go speeding past them. It is also fun to watch oncoming pedestrians as they oftentimes do not know what to do as they approach me.

I asked a couple people who were waiting at bus stops if they knew if the bus stopped at Glenwood by the impound lot? One man told me, "That's a long ways. You can't get there in a wheelchair." He was not sure which bus I would take; he just knew I could not get there in a wheelchair.Obviously, he did not know my wheelchair!

Once I got on the bridge going over the freeway, I knew I was home free. I saw a gentleman in an SUV that was marked City of Minneapolis Protective Services. I managed to flag him down and he was very helpful. He got on his walkie-talkie right away and asked someone about the impound lot and their hours. He told me they were open until 11 PM. That eased my mind considerably as I knew I would not have to hurry and get there by 5 PM.

I only had a few blocks to go and as I was turning off Aldrich Avenue, I saw the tow truck right in front of me. He was turning to go down Colfax and enter the impound lot. I got a charge out of that! I almost beat the tow truck who was towing my van to the impound lot!

I did catch up as he was entering the lockdown area. I asked the woman in the booth if she would ask him to park the van somewhere where I could get in the passenger side door so I could get in my ramp. She was less than cordial and I am sure not in a good mood because of the angry clientele she deals with all day long. If you have ever been to an impound lot you know they can be places you do not want to spend any time! 

I was pleasantly surprised when I went inside to settle up with the towing fee to get my van back. There was only one woman in the waiting area with me! I could not believe there was nobody in there. The only problem was I could not get the door open! I believe  that is in direct violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

I approached the first window and started to talk to the man on the other side that was also not wearing a smile. 

He told me what I needed to get my van and when he asked for my ID which I cannot get out of my wallet. My wallet would not fit under the window and he was not willing to come around and help me get my ID and a credit card.

Fortunately, my new friend, Allison, who was there to get her car because it had been towed after she had a little too much to drink the night before. I love to start conversations with complete strangers and get their stories. She was more than willing to tell me her story.

Allison took my ID and slid it under the window. After a quick check of finding I had no outstanding warrants, the nice man behind the window passed my ID back for Allison. Then she gave him a credit card and helped me through the entire process.

The nice man behind the window told me to go over and wait by that door and another nice person would come and take me to my van. I did as he instructed.

When I was waiting at the door a woman drove up in another nice SUV and told me she would take me to my van. I told her, "No you won't, because I cannot get in your vehicle. If I could, what will we do with my wheelchair?"

She agreed and told me to just follow her through the lot. My van was parked in the far lot and she told me to take these papers and give them to the first nice lady at the exit to the lot. 

I told her I would not be able to pass them to the first nice lady, and asked her if she would please go ahead of me and pass the papers through to my first new friend. She was more than willing to help me. She was very nice and very helpful.

We got back up to the first nice lady to check out and my new friend handed her my papers. Then she took off! She left me alone with the first nice lady and I knew I was in trouble as she wanted to hand back my papers. I told her I could not reach them and asked her if she would put them on my passenger seat?

She would not get out of her booth, so she threw the papers through my window and fortunately landed on the seat. I did not look back at her and did not say thank you. I guess I was being rude. That was not nice of me. In my defense, I was in no mood to extend any courtesy to the impound lot employees. I was just glad to be out of there and have my little urban orienteering adventure finally over.

The bottom line is, "Pay attention to the details!"

As always, I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

'Tis The Season ...

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkuh, Happy Kwanza, and Happy, Happy to everyone else who does not celebrate any of the above! In this season of giving, I want to give you yet two more options for doing your holiday shopping. That's right, if you have not finished your shopping yet, consider Twice the Gift and Elpis Enterprises.


Twice the Gift is a great little shop located on the street level of the Crystal Court in the IDS Center in Downtown Minneapolis. If you cannot get downtown, and you want to learn about this unique seasonal store and all of the charities and products, check out their website by clicking here.

Their website states, "The 67 organizations participating in Twice the Gift represent an incredible diversity of size, mission, and area of focus. We encourage you to browse through the organizations and learn more about them. You will be sure to find an organization that supports a mission that speaks to you and to those you want to honor."

If you cannot get downtown, you can purchase a gift card online and give it to a friend or family member to help benefit your specified charity with a money gift.

And, Elpis Enterprises just happens to be one of the charities you can help by buying our products and/or a share card. I say "our products" because as many of you know, I am on the board of directors. You can learn more about Elpis and purchase our products by clicking here.

In this season of giving, let us all consider keeping at least some of our gift giving dollars right here and "Buy American!"

Let me know if you have any questions and/or comments.

Happy Holidays!

Later,

Mike

Lost Generation

I received this video from a friend and knew right away I had to post it. We have all heard how the current generation is lost with no hope for the future; and how they are apathetic, shiftless, misguided and lack motivation.

In previous posts, I have given examples of young people who do not fit that stereotype like Dalton Sherman, Severn Suzuki, Quinn Sullivan, Oscar Pistorius and others. Now, I want to share a very creative video that was created by another young person from this so-called Lost Generation. Jonathan Reed created this for AARP's U@50 Video Challenge in 2007. Recently, it has gone viral on YouTube and yesterday it went over seven million views!

Check out this creative prose:



It won second place; and after watching the winner When I'm 50, I have to ask, "Who was judging this contest?" I think they got it backwards!

Personally, I have friends like Eric Chester and Earl Hipp who are working with adults and youth in their own way to help transition this generation into adulthood. I also serve on the board of directors of a small non-profit organization entitled Elpis Enterprises. We are doing our own tiny bit of mentoring a few inner-city youth as they struggle to find their way in this ever-challenging world.

If you are an adult, are you doing anything to help the youth in your community? If you are, that's great! Good for you. If you are a teenager or young twenty-something, are you doing anything to procure and work with a mentor(s)? If you are, what are you up to?

I would like to hear what you are doing. Please feel free to share.

Thank you in advance!

Later,

Mike

When Bridges Fall

I live in Minneapolis, and have crossed the 35W Bridge more times than I can count since moving here in 1975. In fact, my mother and I crossed it on Tuesday night, about 22 hours before it fell. My sister, Vicki, and her two children, Gavan and Sinead, had also crossed it on Tuesday. I found out later, my second cousin, Jeremy and his girlfriend, Kelli, had crossed it about 5 PM, just an hour before it collapsed. They are going to school on the edge of downtown and live about a mile from the bridge. Then, I got an email from a friend who told me he and his wife crossed it on their way home from work at about 5:30. One of their coworkers crossed it at 5:45! That was too close!

I know there are stories like those all over the Twin Cities because it is such a major artery and carries about 140,000 vehicles each day.

I was working a youth program that night with Paul Ramsour, the executive director of a small non-profit group called Elpis Enterprises. We were at a Minneapolis City Park doing one of our birdfeeder workshops when people started walking up to our booth and telling us the 35W bridge had just collapsed over the Minnesota River in Burnsville, a southern suburb.

When we were done with our workshop, Paul had to drive 35W to get to his home, also south of the Minnesota River. As often happens in events like this, initial information is wrong. After several minutes, people started telling us the bridge that fell was the bridge between downtown and the University of Minnesota spanning the Mississippi River.

It came as a bit of good news he would be able to get home. Little did we know the magnitude of the story until we got home and started watching the coverage on television. It's going to be a major story in these parts for years to come.

It's another one of those life-defining events where you remember where you were when you heard some incredible news. It's like for those of us who are old enough to remember where we were when we heard President Kennedy had been shot. Or, most recently, where we were when we first heard about the attacks on 9-11.

Hopefully, this will be a wake-up call to start fixing our infrastructure. I've been reading about the state of the bridges and roads in America today, and it's a sobering fact: we need to speed up the fixing and building of our aging, and crumbling infrastructure.

My prayers go out to the people who were killed and injured, the people still buried in the river, and to their families and friends whose lives will never be the same.