Doug Landis Is An Artist

Once again, my inspiration for my post came from a friend. I learned of an extraordinarily talented artist who found his passion by breaking his neck! This is a wonderful story of how a sibling challenge has helped a young man with a hidden talent, find it and make a career out of his new-found passion. Hmm, does that sound familiar?

Here is Doug Landis plying his trade:

It is the photo on his home page. You can see more of his art, purchase it and read his story by going to his website if you click here:

He broke his neck wrestling while in high school. My injury came in a football game. I know  many guys who broke their necks in that fifteen to twenty-four year age bracket. I tell all my audiences to measure their necks by putting their index fingers and thumbs around their necks. I ask them to touch their fingers, note where they touch, then, bring their hands around in front of them and look at how big their necks are. I tell the adults to look at a picture of their necks when they were teenagers, and I tell the younger students to look at pictures of their parents when they were teenagers. I get some interesting reactions from all age groups!

Eighty percent of all spinal cord injuries happen to young males between fifteen and twenty-four because the neck musculature is the last muscle mass of the body to develop.

When I got hurt, I had maybe a thirteen or fourteen inch neck. Now, it is about twenty inches all the way around. Part of that large neck comes from aging, but some of it comes from a disease I call secondhelpingitis!

You can see Doug has a large neck. I am guessing it is off the strength charts because as he states in the video on his site, he uses his neck to move the pencil. He only uses his teeth to hold the pencil.

His is a fascinating story. Of course, I believe everyone has a fascinating story. You ought to hear some of the stories I get after a speech, or at the end of a school day! I am often the last one to leave.

I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

"It's cool to be smart."

"It's cool to be smart." was a quote from young Francois Rice, a student at the University of Maryland Baltimore County or UMBC.

It is one of many great quotes from a segment of my favorite television show, 60 Minutes, that aired last night. It was a rerun from last November. I missed it then, so it was new to me. If you have you not seen it, you will love it. At least, that is my opinion.

I believe it is a wonderful story about attitude, learning, passion, mentoring, the self-fulfilling prophecy and many more lessons we can learn about ourselves, especially in accomplishing goals.

I will not go on about it; you can view it by clicking on this website:

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7411990n&tag=contentBody;storyMediaBox

What did you think?

As always, I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

Discrimination Takes A Blow

I know it has been almost two weeks since I last posted, but I have my reasons. I will not go into them here, but it has been an extraordinary period.

I want to tell you about a couple who both have cerebral palsy and live in Mississauga, Ontario, a suburb of Toronto, and have been given permission to keep their newborn son, William, to raise on their own.

I first learned of their situation shortly after William was born through a friend I met at one of the Virginia Youth Leadership Forums I spoke at a few years ago. It is great fun for me to keep in touch with these young people as they finish high school, go off to college and share their stories as several of them keep me informed of their lives and accomplishments.

Anyway, back to Charlie and Maricyl's story. They were initially told their baby would be taken from them because of their disabilities. At a family conference they showed they were capable, with an extended support system, to raise their child on their own. It truly is a wonderful story of the system working. You can read the Toronto Star's story by clicking here:

The article was written in early May. I wonder how they are doing? 

As always, I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

Is Coaching Changing?

I grew up as a CK. If you were a CK, you know what that stands for. For those of you who did not grow up in a family with a father and/or mother who was or is a coach, CK is a Coach's Kid.

I loved it! It afforded me many opportunities none of the other students had. It started before I was even old enough to go to school. My dad played for a living and I got to go along for the ride. I talk about it quite bit in my ebook I Still Believe in Tomorrow.

I grew up with a ball in my hands. Literally, My first basketball came along before I did! Here is a shot of my dad and me at six months old:

I love the wallpaper and my bib overalls!

It was not long after I started walking before I was learning how to dribble!

I want to share one more picture of my first coach and mentor before I get to the point of this post. My dad started coaching me in organized sports in summer league baseball when we lived in Edgerton, Minnesota and I was eight or nine years old. This shot was taken in our backyard in Sibley, Iowa the summer of 1968 and I was thirteen:




In Iowa, they played their school baseball in the summer because there were always rain outs and cold weather in the spring, so they could rarely get a full schedule of games played. The benefit for us athletes was, we could participate in four sports. It was GREAT!



Now, the Minneapolis StarTribune claims: Coaches no longer make decisions in a vacuum. Some parents second-guess every move, and some coaches resent it. ... You can read the Updated: May 24, 2012 online article by clicking here.

I can relate to this story because my dad's contract was not renewed twice because he did not do a few of the points on the following list. So, the movers came, hooked up to the trailer and it was off to the next town. One of them was his home town in 1960! With all due respect to the author of the referenced article in the StarTribune, Jason Gonzalez, this phenomena is not new.

It is my experience parents have always had a problem with coaches for a number of reasons like:

1. Their son or daughter's team did not win enough
2. Their son or daughter did not get to play enough
3. Their son or daughter got cut from the team
4. The coach was too disciplined
5. The coach was not disciplined enough
6. The coach was too loud
7. The coach was not loud enough
8. The coach picked on their son or daughter
9. The coach had favorite players and treated them differently
10. The coach did not win the big game.

The article refers mostly to high school coaches, and a recent rash of resignations and firings because coaches have had it with their decisions both on and off the field. There are a number of reasons given in the article, but their main reason was the coaches were bullies.


Many of us have heard of the recent rash of scandals in the college coaching ranks. I find them disgusting! We have heard the old adage There is a bad apple in every barrel. It happens in every profession, and coaching is no different. However, there are the vast majority of both men and women coaches out there, at all levels of competition, who are good, honest, decent people who are doing a great job coaching! There are also good men and women who spent their entire careers teaching young men and women to be good people, not just good athletes! I like reading about people like John Wooden, and recently retired, Pat Summit.

Those are just two examples of great coaches. I had several I could list as well. Do you have any good coaching stories you would like to share?

I look forward to hearing about them.

Later,

Mike

Uncle Warren And Uncle Bill

Imagine you are sixteen years old, you are a World Class Ping Pong player with a very good chance of winning the first medal ever for your country in your sport in next month's London Olympics, and you can call two of the richest men in the world "Uncle"!


Well, Ariel Hsing can and does, just that! Young Miss Hsing has known Mister Buffet since she was nine and was even invited to his seventy-fifth Birthday Party. Can you imagine the party guest list at that party? I wonder if she slept well the night before?


The CBS News ran this video story two nights ago. Check out the story here:





If the video does not play, click here. Did you check out the size of Bill Gate's paddle?


What did you think of the video? I believe with those two in your corner, being an excellent student and hopeful Olympic medalist, her future looks pretty good! I got a charge out of her comment about how her career choice has maybe changed to business. She will no doubt have excellent references on her resume!


I look forward to your comments.


Later,


Mike


P.S. This is a landmark post for me. It is my 200th post since I started with a post on the 35W Bridge Collapse on August 6, 2007. Check it out by clicking here:


http://iamnotdoneyet.blogspot.com/2007/08/when-bridges-fall.html

We All Need A Boost Up Now And Then

I have a challenge for you. Go ahead, try and go a week, three days or even a day without giving or getting a boost up! I am willing to bet you cannot do it. Why would you want to?


I spend a lot of time in front of this computer, reading, writing, calling, learning and listening to talk radio. The other day, I heard an ad for boostup.org. They were giving statistics from The Alliance for Excellent Education about young people dropping out of school. There is a map on the boostup website broken down by state. Fascinating information! I suggest you check out to see how your state is doing. Folks, as a nation, you probably already know, we are not doing very well with graduating our young people from high school.


They give you a list of facts about why students are dropping out. They tell you a few student stories. They tell you how you can take action to do your part by mentoring a single student to volunteering at a school to getting involved in a parent teacher group. And more ...


One suggestion they give which I really like is they suggest the schools bring in a guest speaker or performer! Well, sign me up! I have so many stories of the reactions, administrators, teachers and students have given me after a day in his or her school. I discuss many of them in my book, I Still Believe in Tomorrow. 


Often times, the reaction is something like, "Your program was much more than I expected." "You give me a new sense of hope." "This was much different than the last person we had." "This was the best program we've ever had." "I didn't want you to stop." 


Then, there are the emails I receive! You would not believe some of them. I receive notes from young people, and adults, who tell me things they have never told anyone! They trust me. They trust me because I speak the truth in my presentations. Do people trust you?


If you are an adult dealing with young people and want to help, give them a boost up however you can. If you are a young person, do the same with your peers.


As always, I look forward to your comments.


Later,


Mike

On The Road Again

I DID IT! I know I always try to post about once a week, but today is a Red Letter Day and I need to tell somebody! Please indulge me. I have never posted twice in the same day!

Today did not start out very well, but it ended with a BIG BANG! I drove my van for the first time in almost two years! It felt GREAT! We still have a few kinks to work out like getting a new remote control, and figuring out a way to get the key in and out of the ignition without dropping it; and if I do drop it, how will I retrieve it?

Let me tell you how my day started and went up to about 6:00 pm. First of all, my regular day attendant who has been driving me everywhere until her shift ends at 2:00 pm, called in at about 7:30 am with a bad back and could not hardly move! I hope she is okay because she has not answered repeated calls.

She was supposed to take me to acupuncture at 1:00 pm, and that never happened. The nurse who came to change my wound dressing came early and was gracious enough to help get me in my chair. Thank you, Susan!

I spent some time finishing my first post today on truth. I had started it last night and did not get it completed. I worked on it between a long, very productive meeting with my nurse from the new home health agency which started TODAY, and phone calls to and from her and her co-worker who were trying to line up a person to get me out of bed tomorrow and then off to Worthington on Wednesday. Wednesday night I will be the featured speaker at the Annual Awards Banquet and give out our annual scholarship from the Mike Patrick and Coach Milt Osterberg Memorial Scholarship. (By the way, you can learn more about it, and contribute a tax-deductible donation by clicking here. It is still not too late to get your name on the plaque.)

Then, Thursday I speak at a small conference for a senior group from the Worthington ISD 518 Community Education called Spring Fling. Remember, for most of the day, I did not have a driver to get me to these and two other events! My day was not looking good.

Tomorrow morning I have a 10:00 am wound clinic appointment, and no way to get there. Then, at 6:00 pm, my attendant showed up to help fix me dinner. I had been thinking about having Jay put my driver's seat in the passenger side for about an hour; so when he showed up, we decided to try it. After trying a few things and eliciting the help of one of the residents of the building, we got me locked in and ready to roll!

Jay and I took off for AutoZone to get some WD-40, and I was driving again. It felt GREAT! Have I said that yet?

The bottom line is Jay will ride with me to my clinic visit tomorrow. At 2;00 pm, I am meeting with a possible replacement for my regular attendant if she does not recover. I will make it to the 5:00 pm meeting for the planning of Jeff's Memorial and we will make my trip to Worthington!

All things considered, it was a GREAT day. I want to close with an old picture of me driving. Enjoy! Click on the image to enlarge it. This is one of the photos Mike Ross took of me that appear on my website: You can get to the Van Photos page by clicking here:

As always, I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

P.S. I know this is a long post, but it is 11:00 pm and I am still PUMPED!

Telling The Truth

We have all heard how important it is to tell the truth. There are many, many great quotes that remind us just how important it is to us. A friend sent me this quote I want to share:


Click on the image to make it larger:

I believe it is important to always tell the truth. Sometimes it may hurt you. Other times it may hurt the other person. A quick Google search for Truth quotes brought over two hundred twenty million sites, and many were lists of truth quotes.


As a child, we lived in eight small towns before I was fourteen. My father was always teaching in the same school building as I was, except in Edgerton, the building was across the street. I knew if I ever got in trouble, he would find out about it. 


I was in the fourth or fifth grade and in physical education class, my teacher, Mr. Carlstead wanted us to do a particular exercise and I knew it was wrong because that was not the way my dad had taught me to do it. So I called him on it. He got angry being called to task by a nine- or ten-year-old student, and let me have it!


Of course the news got to my dad and at supper that night (in small town America, the evening meal is supper) he asked me about the incident in school that day. I told him my side of the story and he could hardly get angry with me since I was telling the truth and doing what he had taught me. I would like to think that story is what Gandhi was talking about on many levels.


Truth won out again.


Do you have any truth or trust stories you would like to share? I look forward to reading them.


Later,


Mike

Jeff Farnam's Memorial Service

A date and time have been set for Jeff Farnam's Memorial Service. It is:

June 10th, 3:00 p.m. at the First Universalist Church

3400 Dupont Avenue South

Minneapolis, MN 

A catered celebration of Jeff's amazing life will follow at:

5:30 p.m. at the Minneapolis Photo Center

2400 North Second Street, Second Floor of the Northwind Lofts
Minneapolis, MN 55411

The Center is located four blocks north and two blocks east of West Broadway Avenue and Washington Avenue North, in the Hawthorne neighborhood, just north of the Minneapolis Warehouse District and on the western side of the Mississippi River from the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District. We have free parking available for our members and guests.

Kevin Kling will be the featured speaker and yours truly has been asked to be one of eight speakers who will give short, three to five minute speeches later in the ceremony.

This picture shows one of the patented set of front wheels Jeff had patented in the United States and Canada. Besides being an excellent photographer and pilot, he was also an inventor.

Check out these wheels. Click on the image to make it larger:

I look forward to seeing you at Jeff's Memorial Service.

As always, feel free to comment.

Later,

Mike

I Needed A Little Humor

I was going through my Inbox trying to cull it down from over five hundred emails to a more manageable number, when I came across this humorous video. I have seen it before, laughed at it then and after watching and laughing my way through it a few more times, decided to share it with you.

See what you think of this Ray Stevens' classic?

I try to follow his logic and he seems to have it correct. Do you have any problem with his logic?

This is the shortest post I have ever put up. I am practicing for my three hundred word eulogy of Jeff on June tenth. At least, I think that is the date. I cannot believe it, this whole post and I only wrote one hundred fifty-six words, and one video! Maybe I better work on making the next one a little longer.

I look for your comments.

Later,

Mike

Great Quote I Needed

If you are a regular follower of my blog, you know I wrote about losing a good friend to cancer. If you want to read it, go to my April first post, and read what I wrote about my friend, Jeff Farnam. We lost Jeff on the eleventh about 6:30 that evening when he had been moved to hospice, asked several of his friends to come to his room and had all the life support systems turned off.

It has been a week now and I have had a hard time dealing with the fact we will never again sit in Calhoun Square and watch the scenery! Sit in on one of his photo sessions and watch him work, or meet at Lucia's or the BLB and share a meal and stories.

His service dog, Reggie, has been adopted by a good friend of Jeff's, and will have a loving family with a Standard Poodle as a constant playmate.

I have been asked to be one of eight speakers to eulogize him at his service, which has not been set yet since they are having a hard time coordinating all the pieces Jeff wanted for his memorial. I will let you know when it finally happens in case anyone wants to attend.

Jeff was a micro-manager and is still controlling many things even though his remains are sitting in a safe place until the day comes he will be put in his crypt.

He told a good friend he wanted the speakers to say no more than three hundred words. Well, there is no way he can control me and the length of my eulogy from where he is now; but if you know me, you know I cannot say anything in three hundred words! I plan to read my post from the first, but I will say a few words before that too! I This post is already over three hundred words!

I was inspired to finally write this by going through some old email and culling the files to clean the folders up a bit when I stumbled upon the first part of this quote and it was not credited to the author. 

A quick Google search revealed the first sentence was only part of the quote. The second sentence was the rest of Joel Kogel's quote. I like it: 

The worst thing in your life may contain seeds of the best. When you see crisis as an opportunity, your life becomes not easier, but more satisfying. 

 Joel Kogel

I can certainly relate to this quote to my life, especially the first sentence.

I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

P.S. Four hundred fifty-seven words including this Post Script! What did I tell you? 

Happy Easter!

To all my Christian friends, I wish you a Happy Easter. It celebrates the day when Jesus was resurrected from his tomb and came back to life. Today, it has a special meaning to me since my friend, Jeff, whom I blogged about last week, is still with us and at the hospital. He has not moved to hospice and I am making plans to go to visit him again on Tuesday! It truly is a day to be thankful!

In that vein, and with tongue firmly planted in cheek, I want to share a very famous picture with you I am sure you have all seen before. In this Leonardo da Vinci painting of The Last Supper, I want to tell you what Jesus is saying.

Now, you need to know I do not have verification of the authenticity of this quote, but I found it on the Internet, and we all know, if it is on the Internet, it must be true, correct?

According to my source, Jesus is saying, Everyone who wants to be in the picture, come on this side of the table.

Click on the image to make it larger:

I know I called it a picture and it is really a painting, but cut me some slack, okay? After all, it is my blog! I know cameras were not invented until the nineteenth century and da Vinci painted this in the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century. He lived from 1452 to 1519, but I got carried away.

I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

I Could Not Say, "Good Bye."

Yesterday was an extremely difficult one for me! I went to see a longtime friend who is an old quad like me. I knew full well it may be the last time I got to see him as they were transferring him from the hospital to a hospice center sometime this week.

Jeff Farnam broke his neck in 1963 when he fell out of a cherry picker while trimming trees as a part-time, student worker at the age of fourteen. I met him in 1975 or '76 at a National Paraplegic Foundation meeting and have been friends ever since. He had an old Mamiya camera on a small tripod sitting on a lapboard taking pictures of people at the meeting.

That sparked my interest in photography. I learned much of what I know about taking pictures from Jeff. A few years later we both moved to Uptown and lived just a few blocks apart. For many years, we would meet at  Lucia's, The Uptown Bar or Bryant Lake Bowl for brunch on Saturday or Sunday. Once he retired from the City of Minneapolis, we would meet during the week, share a meal and watch the women. We ALWAYS watched the women!

We would run into each other on the sidewalk or in the lobby of Calhoun Square, sit next to each other, facing opposite directions, carry on a perfectly normal conversation, and not look at each other. You guessed it, we were watching the women.

Once he mastered photography, and he was very good! In fact, he took the studio shot I have on my homepage of my website and the profile of this blog. He moved on to remote-controlled airplanes. He belonged to a club out in the southern suburbs and flew his planes every chance he got. He has some big planes with wingspans of five to six feet! Several of them hang from the ceiling in his dining room, living room and office.

Then it was on to the real thing! Here is his plane he flew for several years:

Click on the image to make it larger:

He always wanted to get me up in it, but I had no desire to leave the ground in that thing! I went out there once and got up close to it, saw how small everything was, and politely declined!

Standing on Jeff's right is his other passion, his constant companion, Reggie. Reggie and he were inseparable. He got Reggie for socialization reasons. Yes, that means meeting women. If we would be sitting someplace and Reggie was in his working harness or vest, people were supposed to leave him alone.

However, if you were, female, young and attractive, you could pet him till your arm fell off! Jeff had his standards. I have always contended, Learn the rules, then break some of them. Jeff is a master at that.

We had often spoken about making a movie about the two of us and called it Grumpy Old Gimps. I guess that will not happen now. He and I share that same dark, acerbic sense of humor that has gotten us through these many decades of living with a spinal cord injury.

When it came time to leave, I could not, I would not say, Good Bye. I simply said, Later. Just like I end all my blog posts.

Jeff replied, See ya later.

As always, I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

ADA Is Still Fighting

Almost twenty-two years after the Americans With Disabilities Act was signed into law, we are still seeing its implementation is still fighting for full acceptance. A young friend from Virginia sent me this video and article to make pools accessible. It's an ongoing battle and probably always will be.

Check out this video and attached article from WAVY TV in Virginia Beach, Virginia:

New ADA rule for pools goes into effect: wavy.com

Click here to get to the link to read the article and view the video if it does not show up above:

I love the excuses of some of the hotel and resort representatives.

As always, I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

Basketball, Basketball, Basketball And A Little Humor

After four days of nonstop, bracket-busting excitement and mind-numbing plays, checking my standing in our annual tournament pool, I was checking my emails and saw this humorous video of Rich Little on The Late Show with David Letterman. If you are not at least forty, you many never have even heard of him, but trust me, he was one of the funniest impersonators of his time. 

His impersonations of Johnny Carson on Johnny Carson's own show, were legendary! Yes, for you younger viewers, The Tonight Show, had a host before Jay Leno!

Check out this clean, humorous routine by Rich Little:

If that does not make you laugh, I cannot imagine what would.

As always, I look forward to your comments. Now, I am going to watch the the Gophers in the NIT. I LOVE March Madness, even the NIT!

Later,

Mike

P.S. I am four points behind the leader in my NCAA Pool. How are you doing?

Education Is Changing

Once again 60 Minutes has introduced me to an incredible man who is making a huge difference in public education in America, and all over the world for that matter. With the help of teachers all over the world, thirty-five-year-old Sal Khan and the Khan Academy are teaching elementary students math.

This is just the beginning for this concept and it promises to be a major paradigm shift for the way schools go about teaching children in the future. Watch this segment and see what you think:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxJgPHM5NYI&list=FLsN32BtMd0IoByjJRNF12cw&index=2&feature=plcp

I am having trouble embedding the video, so just click on this URL and you can view the video.

I have watched it three times already, and find something new each time.There are a lot of things I would like to write about it, but I believe the video speaks for itself.

I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

It Just Keeps Coming

People often tell me I have no idea what kind of affect I, my accident, my speeches, my blog and now, my book have on people. Or, for that matter, who I have affected. I know it happens all the time because members of my audience tell me they are affected in so many ways. I get emails, letters, phone calls and I run into people when I am out in public and they tell me. Teachers tell me in emails after a visit how the students are still quoting me. Parents call me. I learn in many ways.

For instance, last night I spoke to a group of middle and high school students from several different schools at a Religion class at the Basilica of Saint Mary in Minneapolis. I also have one new Facebook friend already from my speech. Three things happened very unexpectedly and took me by surprise. When I finished laughing, I said each time, "Now, there's material for a blog post!"

Then this happened. I got a note from my very good friend, Joel Krekelberg's younger brother, Jon. Jon shared this ballad his eighth grade daughter, Maris, had written about me for a class after she read my book. May I add, she got an A for her effort!

It is already on my Facebook page and getting great comments!

Please read this: Click on the image to make it larger:

Feel free to comment. As always, I look forward to them.

Later,

Mike

P.S. You may also check out how my Facebook friends are reacting to it by going to my Facebook page at: www.facebook.com/mikepatrick1

Check Out This Letter

I know I do not usually post this close together, but I received this letter several days ago and asked Shane if he minded if I share it with you. The author, Shane Peters, and I were teammates, classmates and friends in high school. In fact, I borrowed his forearm pads to use the night of my accident. He said something like, "Sure, I won't be using them." Shane was a sophomore and as such, knew he probably would not get into the game.

I read it several times and decided to call him and thank him for this wonderful letter. The next night I looked up his phone number on the 'net and we talked for about an hour. It was great fun!

His letter touches on the book, his feelings, and most importantly, he tells me about the struggles his granddaughter was born with and is living with every day. That is what affects me the most. It always amazes me what people will tell me! He touches on it in the letter, but it happens to me every day when I speak.

Just the other day at Big Lake, after my assembly, a young student told me about how his father broke his neck riding a four-wheeler. He said he was not paralyzed, but it has affected his hands a bit and as a mechanic, it has proven to be a problem. That is just one story from Big Lake. There are more!

Anyway, back to Shane's letter. Please read it and feel free to comment.

Click on the image to make it larger:

One more thing: to order your copy of I Still Believe in Tomorrow, click here:

As always, I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

Check Out These Reviews

These three reviews are from Amazon's page from people who read I Still Believe in Tomorrow. Check them out:

I met Mike Patrick when we worked at the University of Minnesota in the late 70's. This book has been a long time in coming but is totally well worth waiting for. I have heard Mike speak many times so it was hard not to hear his voice in my head while I read it.

It is a spectacular book. Well written, well thought out and worth every minute I spent reading it.

I strongly urge anyone that has ever thought they were alone in the world trying to overcome a problem to read this amazing and inspiring book.

--

Thank you Michael Patrick for writing this book. It demonstrates the 'Courage to live the life you have even if it is not the life you expected.' I found it to have resources and references that are valuable. I completed the activity at the end of the book, and conversed with my spouse who had also completed the book and exercise. As a mental health professional I will share this resource. The story demonstrates acceptance and willingness to experience life.

--

I played football against Mike Patrick in the years before his injury. I remember the day of his injury, I was playing my first varsity game in a neighboring town at the same time. When news came out about his accident, it stunned everyone in Southern Minnesota. I have followed Mike Patrick in the newspaper articles that have been written about this amazing man. This book is a great read and an uplifting story about someone who has overcome his disability. After reading the book, I realized that Mike doesn't even feel he has a disability and has an amazing view on life. I have passed this book on to my children, everyone needs to read this book, it makes you look at life in a different way. We all need to be more positive in life and this man is proof.

--

They all gave me five star reviews! I thought they were pretty cool and wanted to share them. Like Sally Field said when she received an Oscar for her leading role in Norma Rae, They like me. They really like me!

I feel the same way. I have received many positive comments from people who have read I Still Believe in Tomorrow and they are giving me the same kind of positive feedback. I just received two positive emails today telling me how much they liked it.

I also received a hand-written letter a few days ago from a friend who said he read it from cover-to-cover without stopping. He said he has never done that before! My two favorite quotes from his letter are: I was just amazed at all the people you have touched in your lifetime. And, he ended his letter with: Mike, thanks for the book. I'm sure it will touch many lives like it has mine.

I was so pumped after reading it, I had to talk to him. So, I Googled him, found his name, called him and we talked for just short of an hour. That was fun!

I also received an email today from someone else telling me he bought it for himself, liked it so much, he bought it for his seven brothers and sisters! That was VERY COOL!

If you have read it, please leave your feelings in the Comment section at the end of this post. I look forward to reading them. If you have not read it yet, please do so. You can get it by clicking here. I hope you like it.

As always, I look forward to your comments too.

Later,

Mike

I AM BACK!

I finally ended my drought of speaking yesterday at six hundred thirty-four days! The last time I spoke was on July 19, 2010 for the Virginia Youth Leadership Forum in Richmond, Virginia. 

Yesterday, I was in Big Lake High School in Big Lake, Minnesota and did a one hundred minute assembly for about one thousand nine through twelfth grade students and staff. I was a bit concerned about my strength and stamina going in; but, as usual, I fed off their energy and received a standing ovation at the end of my speech. I felt GREAT!

Then, the teacher who arranged my visit, Jessica Miller, took me for a quick, nutritious school lunch and we hustled back to their auditorium for five small group programs for about one hundred students in each program. My day was done about 2:10 PM and I was riding high, full of adrenaline and their energy! My doubts about my ability to handle a full day had vanished. Have I mentioned yet, I felt GREAT? I could have gone a few more hours.

My attendant had to drive me up there because I have not been driving for about eighteen months now; but, otherwise, it was just like I had not skipped a beat.

Ms Miller got my name from the September 3, 2011 article in the Minneapolis StarTribune article you can read by clicking here.

As a result of that article, this full page story in the Worthington Daily Globe, Facebook and LinkedIn,  I have several more speaking engagements lined up. It feels good to be back in the saddle again!

As always, I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

Definition Of Disability

I was going through some comments on my Facebook Wall today and was introduced to the following video with a definition of disabled:



If your browser does not show the whole frame of the video, click here to see it.

Her first definition came from Webster's Thesaurus 1982. I have always tried to live despite my disability, rather than regards to it. I believe Aimee Mullins has that same attitude. There are so many comments I could make on this video, but I will refrain and let you tell me what you think.

I am happy to report Dictionary.com's version is better today. It just goes to show we are making some progress in the way society looks at people with disabilities.

My favorite quote of hers is, Our language affects our thinking. I believe those five small words speak volumes. My next favorite quote is, The human ability to adapt is our greatest asset.

Here is a comment from the hundreds of comments after the video. I particularly like the way the person emphasizes the word capabilities.

Thanks folks at TEDtalksDirector, & amp; of course a standing ovation to Ms Aimee. To hear her articulate her points is an inspiration in itself. She has a motivation beyond anything you read, in motivational books. I thought I had a tenacious disposition but Ms Aimee blows me away!
For all who believed in the human race — Ms Aimee is a fine example of the human spirit embracing adversities as an opportunities for us to learn ( "DANCE," she said — I love that verb!) about our own capabilities.

I look forward to your comments

Later,

Mike

Josh Blue Is Funny!

Doing research for this blog often takes me places I would never find otherwise. It also reminds me of people, places and things I may have lost or forgotten. That is the case with this post on Josh Blue. I had seen YouTube videos of bits and pieces of his stand-up routines, but never posted anything on him. Today, my inspiration did not come from any research I did; it just came from dumb luck. My attendant was watching Comedy Central and I was working on my computer doing a bit of marketing for my book.

I heard this voice come on the television who obviously had some cerebral palsy involvement. He was telling stories about his disability, and he was FUNNY! I went to his website and found some very funny self-deprecating material he uses in a way I often use in my presentations.

Check out this improvisational bit he pulled off at Mystic Lake Casino in 2008 with expert deftness:



You can see more Josh Blue videos, see if he will be in your area any time soon and even play a video game to help Josh get home on his website by clicking here.

I am a strong believer in being comfortable enough with ourselves we can smile at and about who we are. I would not have made it forty years without my sense of humor! How about you? Can you laugh at yourself?

As always, I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

Let's Do The Right Thing!

When I got hurt more than forty years ago, my family became my built-in group of caregivers. In fact, one of my second cousins offered to come and be my private duty nurse. She was a new grad and wanted to do her part to help us. I often wondered what it would have been like if we would have taken June up on her offer?


Who better than one's own family is there to take care of a loved one after a traumatic injury? My parents were my primary caregivers, but my siblings also helped in more ways than I can count. We started them young too. Witness my little brother, Chad helping to feed me some of his first birthday cake:


Click on the picture to enlarge it:

We put him to work early! Both of my parents became my primary caregivers and all my siblings became secondary caregivers. 

Now, the Obama administration has proposed new rules that would allow service members' families to do the same by taking leave from their jobs to do the same for their injured family members. 

I think it is a wonderful idea! You can learn more about the plan by clicking here to read this Associated Press article from today's USA TODAY. It is a good, quick read. According to the article, The proposal expands eligibility under the Family and Medical Leave Act, which allows employees to take unpaid leave for certain medical or family reasons.

I believe it makes sense to expand it to our military as well.

As always, I welcome your comments.

Later,

Mike

Is PayPal On Your List?

Prepare yourself for a little rant on dealing with Big Business and sending American jobs overseas! This is going to be a little longer than average post.

As you know, I just published my first ebook, I Still Believe in Tomorrow. Whenever you purchase a book, the payment goes to my publisher, eBookit.com which is located in Sudbury, Massachusetts.

They run everything through PayPal, which lists their offices in California. However, I just found out their Customer Service Center is in the Philippines. Let me tell you a little story about the quality of workers PayPal employs there.

When I found my publisher, I did not know just how I would get paid; and I did not know anything about PayPal. Go back to when the book went online on November 28, 2011. I received my first payment for those few days in November, only after I called the publisher and found out I had to contact PayPal and have them forward my check to my bank. I was under the mistaken assumption it would just automatically be deposited in my bank account. I know, I know, I know what they say about assuming. So, I called PayPal and they deposited my check in my account and told me they would do that every month from now on, on or about the fifteenth of every month.

December fifteenth came and went and sure enough, my deposit was made on the seventeenth. Now, December starts and sales start to add up. It was fun to watch! I remember thinking, come the middle of January, I will get a nice sum made to my bank account. It never happened! It was not deposited on the twentieth, the twenty-fifth and not today.

I called my publisher and he gave me the number to reach their customer service department. By the way, PayPal has no Customer Service number on their website, at least I could not find one.

I called the number and only spent a few minutes on hold to get a representative who told me they did not have the ability to forward my money to my bank! I found that amusing since I had been told the month before, "It was no problem."

After a rather lengthy discussion with the misinformed young woman, guess what I did next? If you guessed me saying rather forcefully, "Let me talk to your supervisor," you are correct! The supervisor was very helpful, and walked me through a fairly complex process to get my monthly Royalty check deposited into my Patrick Communications bank account.

Of course it will take two or three days for my bank to deposit my PayPal check. Evidently, they do not trust PayPal any more than I do! Unfortunately, I am stuck in a situation now dealing with another corporation who has taken at least some of their operations off shore. I hate that and I told both of them my feelings! And, if you are a long time reader of this blog, you know I do not use that word lightly! Just click on the word HATE in the labels list below and you can read my feelings on the word.

There, I feel better now.

Click on the cover image to make it larger:

If you have already purchased and read the book, how did you like it? If you liked it, did you forward my website on to your friends and encourage them to purchase a copy and forward it to their friends? If you did not like it, I would like to hear your comments too.

If you have not purchased it, there is no time like the present. You can order it by clicking here.

FYI: I have already booked a couple workshops from the book and the two newspapers stories written about me recently. Hopefully, it is starting to pick up speed! I need to get in front of an audience again soon! I need my fix!

 As always, I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

Real Or Fake

A friend sent me this several months ago and I think it is very impressive. After I did a little research on it and other similar sport tricks, it got me to wondering if it was real or fake. What do you think?

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=W8SK0rk5jdE&vq=medium

After the video, they show several other videos of tricks young guys do with baseballs and basketballs and in numerous places. It makes one wonder how many takes it took to get the shots they put on the videos. They reminded me of the McDonald's Larry Bird and Magic Johnson playing HORSE in a trick shot ad campaign from several years ago.

I question the validity of the attached baseball video because of some things that have happened to me in the last four months. I have been dealing with a wolf in sheep's clothing. I will go into more of that as it plays out. It makes it hard to trust people.

I guess since they are on the Internet, they must be true; because as everyone knows, if it is online, it has to be true!

Meanwhile, I look forward to your comments on the attached batting practice video.

Later,

Mike

For My Young Friends With Disabilities

I know many of my subscribers are young students with disabilities from either the Youth Leadership Forums I have done or high school students who have sent me emails after I visited their schools. This post is especially for you. For any of my adult subscribers who know a young person with a disability who is or will be soon attending college, please forward the attached article on to them.

First of all, this article was originally published in U.S. News & World Report in early December. I received it yesterday when a young Facebook friend posted it on my Wall. According to the article, there are about one point one million undergraduate students with physical disabilities in the country.

That may not be a large number of total college students, but each one of those students has their own story on what it took to get there, just like I did almost forty years ago. And guess what? Only five schools in the country offer enough services for a student with serious physical disabilities to live on campus. One of those is U.C. Berkeley! I lived on that campus in 1974 and 1975! Now, thirty-seven years later, only four more schools are offering that luxury. That is appalling!

To read the article, just click here.

I am anxious to hear what you think about it. Please feel free to comment.

Later,

Mike

Every Male Jogger Needs A Jog Strap

I have to close out the year with a very irreverent commercial a friend just sent me. See if you agree with my somewhat sick sense of humor:

I hope everyone has a Happy and safe New Year! Oh, and happy jogging!

I know 2012 will be better than 2011. I had two Red Letter Days yesterday and today; 2011 is ending on a high note for me! Also, the book is starting to sell and starting Tuesday, my marketing plan kicks into high gear!

I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

Any Pub Is Good Pub

Beth Rickers Namanny wrote an article about me today in the Worthington Daily Globe. She is a feature writer for the paper and the younger sister of one of my classmates, Marty Rickers.

Here is a photo they used in the article: You may enlarge it by clicking on the photo:

She did a nice job and like most journalists who misquote me, Beth did not. It is always refreshing to read an article and know people are reading my exact words and not something I supposedly said or wrote.

You may read the article by clicking here.

She writes about my new book, I Still Believe in Tomorrow, and my hope is it will help inform people of the book to help sell it. If you have not ordered your copy, or you wish to buy copies to give as gifts for the holidays, simply click here.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions about ordering the book.

As always, I look forward to your comments.

Again, Happy Holidays!

Later,

Mike

Deck The Halls!

I just received this video from a fellow University of Minnesota alumnus and thought you might enjoy it:



It seems the Holiday Spirit is alive and well at the University of Minnesota.

Go Gophers!

Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Joyous Kwanzaa and all the other holidays you may celebrate this season!

I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

P.S. Remember, I Still Believe in Tomorrow makes a great gift any time of the year. It is now available at my website at: www.patcom.com.

The Book Is Available NOW!

It happened a lot quicker than I thought! I Still Believe in Tomorrow is already online and available for purchace NOW!

Click here and you can be reading it in a matter of seconds. I just ordered the first copy and it looks wonderful! You can also click on the image of the book to make it larger.

It is available on my publisher's website. They will be putting it on Amazon, but that may take a couple days. If you plan on ordering it, please order it from my publisher because I get a greater percentage.

I am pumped! I now have my first whole book published! It is not a column in a monthly newspaper, or a chapter in a book, but I have a REAL book!

I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

My Book Status

Just a quick note to update you on the status of I Still Believe in Tomorrow. 

Here is the cover: I like it a lot!  I think the designer did a wonderful job! The color photo was shot by Tom Wallace and the black and white background was taken by Jim Brandenburg.

This is the note I received today from the publisher:

Hi Mike,
We have marked the proof as "approved by client" per your emails. The next step is conversion, then submission to retailers. That should happen the early part of this coming week — I would expect the book to be listed on Amazon before the end of the week.

So start looking for it on Amazon Thursday or Friday. Remember, books make great gifts, and for only $9.95, you cannot go wrong! Why, if you missed Black Friday, you can do all of your gift shopping on one site online! I am sure there is no limit on number of copies you can purchase.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

As always, feel free to comment.

Later,

Mike