People Always Amaze Me!

The last two days have been extraordinary in so many ways. I think they will be the basis for Volume II of my book I Still Believe in Tomorrow. This post will eventually be turned into a chapter. Let me give you a summary of yesterday but I really want to focus on this afternoon.

I had an acupuncture treatment at 1:45pm, arrived early with a backpack full of books. I started talking to the two women at the front desk who have to put up with my constant teasing. I asked Cindy to open my backpack and grab a book. Then, Mary wanted to see one. I told them to open the Acknowledgement page and read it. They recognized several names and we talked about them. I had them go to the passage on my acupuncturist, Bob Decker, and my experience with Eastern and Alternative Medicine.

Then, Bobbee came out and he wanted one. Bob came to get me for my treatment. He looked at the passages, and guess what? Yup, he wanted one! The manager was not there, but I am hoping she will sell them in the Institute's bookstore. I was going to give them the books to plant some seeds, but they all insisted on purchasing the books. After my treatment, I was a puddle again.

Off to Doogie's office to give him a book, because he wants to buy a large quantity to give to his patients. Before that, I showed it to his receptionists, Tammy and Kathy. They enjoyed the Acknowledgements and the passage when I called Doctor Jason Reed, "Doogie" in front of some mortified staff.

Next, it was off to the lab for a blood draw. Guess what? The lab tech bought one. By the time my day was done, I had sold seventeen books! I thought that was a good first day for selling by myself. Plus, who knows how many patients Doogie has?

That was yesterday. I have not even gotten to today! Like Mister Scrooge, I counted my mound of money and my attendant, Kelly, helped me fill out my Deposit Slip, and it was off to the bank to deposit my fortune. I asked my banker, Dave, if he would help sell the book by putting a copy on the teller's counter and offering it to customers. Well, he bought a book.

Now, I am off to Magers & Quinn Booksellers to talk to their Acquisitions person. Aaron was not in, but I started talking to Steve. He mentioned he graduated from Berkeley. You can imagine where that conversation went! Before I know it, he wants to know if I would do a reading at the store some evening!

Are you kidding me? Of course, I replied, "Let me think about it, and I will get back to you." I did not say that. I said, "Sure, that would be GREAT!" I left the store feeling pretty good.

I went a few feet, hit a bump in the sidewalk, and just like that, my chair died, nothing! I am stuck, I cannot move. I could recline, but that was it. I must have had that look on my face that said, "I need help!"

That was when Jill stopped and I asked her if she would help me. I had her check the cable to the joystick and it was plugged in. I asked her if she had a smartphone and she told me she had just bought one two weeks ago when she and her fiancee moved here from Boston. She found my wheelchair repair shop, we called the shop and Kris came out to fix my chair.

She stayed with me for over an hour, bought me a bottle of water, and left only when Kris showed up. We had a wonderful conversation, I made a new friend, and guess what? They each bought a book!

I could go on, but I think this is the longest I have ever posted! Thank you for reading to this point.

I will tell you more in Volume II.

I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

The Book is here! The Book is here!

Okay, I know I told you I would only post about once a week, but I am busting at the seams to share my good news. 

I received my first paperback copies of I Still Believe in Tomorrow today and they are ready to ship! If you want your own book you can hold in your hand, you can order it from all the major booksellers, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc., but please order them from me because I get a bigger royalty.

For example: I only get about $3.00 if you order from Amazon! Let's just say, I get a little more if you order from me. Eventually, I'm going to set-up a unique website for the book complete with a page for comments, it's own blog and the ability to pay with PayPal and credit cards. Until that happens, please send your checks to:

Patrick Communications, Inc.

619 Lafayette Road North, #304

St. Paul, MN 55130-4444

The price is $14.95 per book plus $5.00 for shipping for up to ten books. I'll give you a quote on shipping if you want more. I'll send your books once your check clears.

I'm going to be moving in mid-August, and my new address will be:

Patrick Communications, Inc.

10100 Lyndale Avenue South, #104

Bloomington, MN 55420

Please contact me with any questions and/or concerns. By all means, please share this post and help me spread the word! FYI: I quote several of you and your comments to my previous blog posts.

A very heartfelt thank you in advance to everyone who buys "I Still Believe in Tomorrow."

Remember, it makes a great gift!

Later,

Mike

Penn State Is Toast

Most of us have heard of the sex abuse scandal at Penn State and the coverup that took place by the coaches and administrators who knew about it and did nothing. If you have not heard of it, let me give you a brief summary. 

As far back as 1998, an assistant football coach was sexually abusing young boys when he was entrusted to take care of them while they attended a football camp on the Penn State campus. One of the other coaches walked in on him abusing a boy in the shower and went to tell the head coach without stopping the coach right there.

Supposedly, that was the first incident. There is a long and sordid story I will not go into, but suffice to say, there was an extended period of abuse that lasted for many years and was not reported to the police. 

Most reports on the networks and the Internet talk about the victims as being the Penn State students, the people in the community, the future Penn State football players, the athletes and fans. The broadcasters and writers talk and write about all the victims except the actual boys who were raped. They seem to be forgotten. I find it amazing!

Again, if you are not following the story, one of the sanctions is a sixty million dollar fine levied by the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association), the governing body of college athletics. That dollar amount equals the amount of money the football team brings to the University in one year!

The main outrage comes from the fact the one hundred twelve victories Penn State has won since 1998! That is what everyone in Collegeville is upset about. Unbelievable!

If you want to learn more about this story, just Google "Penn State sanctions" like I did. You can read and watch more videos to learn more than you probably want to know. The bottom line is: it is a sad chapter in American sports lore, and leaves an ugly mark for trusting adult coaches and mentors that it throws onto all the good men who parents used to trust.

I believe this story is far from over and Penn State deserves everything it gets!

As always, I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

I Like Simon's Attitude

I received my inspiration for this post from a young friend who has a disability. He wrote me a note and shared a story about twenty-year-old Simon Wakelin, of Rhydargaeau, a small village near Carmarthen, West Wales. I am sure you all know where that is located!

At age eight, he was diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a muscle-wasting disease that has forced him to use a wheelchair ever since. He loved driving the tractors at his grandpa's farm before his diagnosis and liked taking care of his family's lawn. With the help of a friend, he has designed a lawn mowing wheelchair and has become the youngest lawn mowing businessman in his village.

I love hearing and learning about people's life stories. I tell mine for a living and have people telling and writing me about themselves all the time. It is wonderful! Young Simon's is yet another such story. For a young man with such an extremely involved disability to take on a physically-challenging career and make it work, is extraordinary.

Here is a photo from the article:

Click on the image to make it larger:

You may read the entire article by clicking here.

My favorite quote of Simon's is: Having a disability does not have to stop you from doing the things you want to. I love that coming from such a young man! Now, that motivates me!

Read it and see what you think of this young entrepreneur the next time you go out to mow your lawn. There are also several dozen Comments you may enjoy.

I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike 

Summer Break

Much of the country is suffering through record-setting heat, we are getting flooding in places that rarely flood, other parts are literally burning to the ground! It is proving to be a very unique summer.

Many students are home from school for the summer, adults are working in unbearable conditions outside and those working indoors are frustrated because the power grid cannot handle all the air conditioning needs, so they have to work in hot environments.

Come with me, take a break and do a little lesson to take your mind off your summer woes for a few minutes. You students can put your computer game down briefly or stay out of the pool for a bit and exercise your brain.

I am a firm believer in lifelong learning and know once you learn something, you cannot unlearn it. Once you see the problem, you cannot look at it and not see it! It will never look the same again.

Studies show students take a good deal of what they learn in school and lose it over their summer break. Knowing that, my challenge to you is to read this exercise: take the rest of your summer break and learn at least one new thing each day. That is one of my goals. I want to learn at least one new thing each and every day. I talk about it my new ebook I Still Believe in Tomorrow.

I issue this challenge to my adult readers: study this exercise, see if you get it; then share it with your co-workers, spouses, roommates and/or children. Then, share it again with someone else.

Here is the problem:

Click on the image to make it larger:

Good luck! I have to admit, I did not get it.

As always, I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

The Star Spangled Banner

Today we celebrate our Nation's two hundred thirty-sixth Birthday! Happy Birthday, America! Or, is today really our birthday? In doing some research for this post I found some interesting information on our origin, the flag, the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the date John Adams wanted us to celebrate our anniversary (July second), the Band of Five and the reason for this post. The Smithsonian's website has a fascinating read to learn about our flag. You can read it by clicking here.

I find it interesting he was a slave owner and huge proponent of slavery. According to several historical sites, he spent his whole life fighting for the right to own slaves.

I do not know how hot and humid it is where you are, but we set a record of one hundred one degrees here in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. With stifling dew points, and hot temperatures, events have been canceled and/or scaled back.

Tonight, there will be fireworks displays all over the country and we will once again, come together as one nation, at least for one night. Personally, I cannot tolerate the high heat and dew point over sixty degrees, so I have just stayed in the air conditioning, watched a little television, did some research and plan to watch the Twins try to beat Justin Verlander and the Detroit Tigers tonight.

Which brings me to the point of this post. When Francis Scott Key watched the British bomb and burn the city of Washington on the night and early morning of September 13-14, 1814, he penned the poem's four stanzas. It was not until March 3, 1931 it became our national anthem by a congressional resolution and was signed by President Herbert Hoover.


Here is Key's poem he originally wrote on the back of a letter he had in his coat pocket:

O say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light,


What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming,


Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,


O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?

And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;

O say, does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave


O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?



On the shore, dimly seen thro’ the mist of the deep,


Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,


What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,


As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?

Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,


In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream
’

Tis the Star-Spangled Banner. Oh! Long may it wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!



And where is that band who so vauntingly swore


That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion


A home and a country should leave us no more?

Their blood has washed out their foul footstep’s pollution.

No refuge could save the hireling and slave

From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave,

And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph doth wave


O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand


Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation,


Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the Heav’n-rescued land


Praise the Pow’r that hath made and preserved us a nation!


Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,


And this be our motto—“In God is our trust.”


And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

As you know, it is the first stanza we all know as our National Anthem. My question to you is this: Did we pick the correct stanza to celebrate? What do you think?

I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

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