Well I guess like many other bloggers have done today, I should say farewell to 2009 with one final post for the year. I don’t really believe in New Years resolutions, so I am not going to promise to be a better blogger next year. I will try to be better, not only at blogging but at everything I do. That should be my goal everyday, to be better than I was yesterday. I just have a couple of quick things I wanted to share with you before I say good bye to this year.

I started this blog in January and like I have said many times I didn’t really know what would come of it. The fact that I am still writing on here after a year says a lot about how important this thing is to me. It is one of the few things I take seriously. I didn’t expect a lot of people to stumble onto this blog, but a lot of people did. I didn’t expect to get comments or emails from people, but I have. If one person had told me that they got something positive out of this blog in the last year it would all have been worth it to me. I have received notes from several people that said they were encouraged by what I had written and I can’t even put into words what that meant to me.

For the most part I try to keep my personal life just that. I have mentioned a couple of family members on here, but aside from that I try to make this as personal as I can without getting too personal, if that makes any sense. I do have to mention something that happened this year though that is a very personal thing. After going through a fairly long and drawn out, needlessly painful divorce a few years ago I took a break from women. I wasn’t looking for a women, and certainly wasn’t ready to jump into a relationship. That all changed this year when I met an incredibly amazing woman (in every possible way), and before I knew it I was in a new relationship. When it comes to women and relationships I think I have definitely covered the entire spectrum. I dated a girl one time that wanted to get married and have lots of children. We were not on the same page. People are funny sometimes, especially when dealing with things or people that are a little bit out of the ordinary. her and her mother were worried that if we had children that my kids would come out looking like me. So they did the rational thing, they didn’t come to me with their concerns, they went and talked to my mom about it. I didn’t hear about the conversation until later, but my mom had to explain to them that birth defects like mine were not necessarily hereditary. I have been from that extreme to dating someone that is completely accepting of me no matter what. The amazing woman I met this year never asked about my hands until I brought them up in conversation one day. The response I got was, she didn’t care about it because there was more to me than my physical differences. I mentioned before the difference in peoples acceptance levels and it still amazes me how people can view things so differently. I am very picky about the people I choose to have in my life, and I like it when people make my job easier. The reason the people that I have in my life are here now is because of that level of complete acceptance, and the ones that didn’t make it this far with me didn’t make for the same reason.

This has been a good year. I hope and pray that next year is even better. I hope the same for all of you. I know I have said it before, but thank you to those of you that continue to follow along and share part of my life. I hope you have a happy and safe New Years, and I will talk to you next year!

I think I have mentioned on here before that I am not a serious person. I can take things seriously when it is appropriate, but as a general rule I try to go through life being serious as little as possible. This carries over into my attire. I have never been one to have much fashion sense. I didn’t even know that blue and black don’t go together (at least that’s what they tell me) until a couple of years ago. I wear slacks or khakis and polo shirts for work ( I call that my monkey suit, which my brother thinks is hilarious), but when I am on my own time I am more of a t shirt and jeans kind of guy. Most of the t shirts I own have some sort of slogan or picture that is humorous is nature. I actually got to a point a while back where I had to cut myself off from buying t shirts because I was buying so many off of http://shirt.woot.com/I forgot which ones I had bought. I would get t shirts in the mail and couldn’t remember which one it should be until I opened it. I took a break and passed up a lot of funny t shirts, but a couple of weeks ago I checked to see what the shirt of the day was and I could not resist. I don’t necessarily think the shirt by itself is all that funny, but when you put it on a person missing fingers I think its becomes very funny. I haven’t had a chance to wear it much yet, but I am sure I will get some funny looks and probably some questions.

I wore it around Christmas and my family mostly agreed that The Nerd was most fitting for me, but I like to think The Rocker is more like it.

Did everyone have a good Christmas? I hope so! We actually got some snow this year on Christmas which was nice. I spent a lot of time over the weekend sitting in a tree in the woods. I enjoy my time out in the woods for several reasons. I truly love being outside and being a part of nature. Getting to see what goes on in nature when nothing knows you are there is always kind of neat. The other reason I love my time in the woods is it gives me time to clear my mind and get rid of all the worries and stress that comes with work. I spent a good amount of time thinking about this blog and some of the things I want to share with you guys (and girls).

I have so much that I want to share with you, and am really looking forward to the coming year. I can’t believe it has been almost a year since I started this blog. I have to tell you I wasn’t expecting much when I started this, and I have been pleasantly surprised. I know I have said it before, but I cant say thank you enough. There have been times over the last year that I have wondered why I was doing this. Those of you that have written me have answered that question for me and have definitely given me the motivation I needed to keep going. For that I thank you!

Wow, where has this week gone? I apologize for the lack of posts this week. Short work weeks are always fun, especially when they come at the end of the year. I have so much stuff I need to get done, but so little time. I have had to make myself notes this week, because I have thought about a half dozen things I should write about, but haven’t time to actually sit down and write about any of them. So in the spirit of randomness, here is the short list of things I have wanted to write about this week but haven’t gotten to. I will go into more detail on each of them at a later date.

I am still amazed at how people are so different when it comes to accepting other people. I have met people and know people currently that are on total opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to accepting people despite differences, physical or other wise. I will definitely be coming back to this topic.

I am on a mailing list for parents of children with hand differences. I mainly lurk about, and rarely offer anything. I have on occasion offered my experience on certain topics. This week there has been a lot of discussion on kids with hand differences learning to type. It is always interesting to me to see how other people with hand differences adapt to situations. Kids are very good at adapting to things, maybe more so than adults at times, and I really think it is interesting to see other people adapt to something that I have already figured out. 

I read in the news this week about Kim Peek passing away. He was the source of inspiration for the movie Rain Man.  I have been fascinated with him since the first time I saw him on TV, which was several years ago. This blog is mainly about physical differences, but the beautiful thing about us as humans, is there is so much more to us then just the physical. I can not really even grasp the concept of how a mind like Kim’s worked. The differences that we all have, whether it be a missing digit, or an extraordinary brain are what makes the world go round. I still stand by my theory that the world would extremely boring if we were all the same.

I will be back in the groove of writing as soon as all the Holidays are over with, I hope all of you have a very Merry Christmas. Be safe, if you are celebrating the Holidays with adult beverages get a designated driver. Take the time to tell the people in your life how much they mean to you. I will talk to yall after Christmas, if not before then.

Well so much for my scheduling post for the weekend idea. I guess it helps if you actually schedule them and hit the publish button. I guess I will save them for this week, or maybe for next weekend since I am sure I will not be on the computer much over the weekend.

We had one of our family Christmas gatherings over the weekend which is always fun. I got to spend a little time sitting in the woods which I always enjoy, but most of the weekend was spent running around trying to keep up with a bunch of energetic kids. It was cold outside but that didn’t stop one of them from wanting to play soccer outside. It’s always fun running around playing with the kids, but I know I will spend a couple of days in pain after a weekend like that. My prosthetic leg did not want to go on this morning, and has been pretty uncomfortable most of the day, but by tomorrow I should be back to normal (normal for me) so that’s not too bad. And it is always worth it just to be able to run around and play with them. A couple of days of pain is not a bad trade off for the happiness that it gives them.

I hope you read the article, or watched the video I posted yesterday about the kid being suspended from school for his “long” hair. I try not to get on my soap box too much, but this is one of those times that I just cant help it.

We had a discussion around Thanksgiving about rules. I told one of the kids that was at the house to do something and he said “why?”. My answer to that was “because I said so”. My mom was pretty quick to jump on my case and give me a hard time about it, because it was the first time I had been on the “adult” side of that exchange. I am sure I asked why a lot of times as a kid, and I know I heard “because I said so” more times than I can count. Like someone said in our Thanksgiving day discussion, the truth is sometimes in life you have to do things just because someone else said so. You may not always like it, or agree with it, but that’s how its goes sometimes. People that pay your salary aren’t always going to give you a reason when they tell you to do something, the bottom line is they pay you so you do it. The alternative is don’t do it, and get paid from someone else. That’s how the adult world works. I completely understand how that works. I understand that the school system “should be” preparing our children for the adult world that they will go on to live and work in and hopefully become productive members of. I understand that there are rules and the rules are there for a reason. I do have issues with the rules sometimes though, and this is one of them. One of the quotes from the school district in question was what really bothered me.

“students who dress and groom themselves neatly, and in an acceptable and appropriate manner, are more likely to become constructive members of the society in which we live.”

I think that statement is absolutely ridiculous.  I really doubt that the kid in question is distracting any of the other 4 year olds with his somewhat long hair. They are 4 year olds, I really think they have other things on their young minds than each others hair cuts. I understand when kids get older and start to do things just to buck the system, and I think there has to be a fine line between letting kids of any age express their individuality and letting them run wild and do whatever they want. I think the school system is doing a great job showing these kids that they don’t care about their individuality. I think they are doing a great job of telling these kids that they would rather them all be cookie cutter members of society than be individuals and express some originality. I think the statement that people that dress or groom themselves a certain way are more likely to become productive members of society is a big old load of bull butter!

I guess in all reality the school system really is just preparing these kids for the rules that they will face as an adult. I feel little Taylor’s pain, I haven’t always wanted to wear my hair the way other people want me to wear it. I personally think there is way more to people than the way they dress or wear their hair. There was time when I grew my hair out long and I had to deal with people not liking it. I never really saw that as my problem. No days I like to wear my hair short, but I still like to grow my goatee out at times. I have always loved my long goatee, but most peopleI know don’t really care for it. It doesn’t really matter to me, because I am not growing it out for anyone other than myself. When I look at someone that has long hair, facial or otherwise, I don’t automatically assume they must not be productive members of society. When that picture was taken I was working at a bank. Most of the people that worked at our bank were wound a little too tight and were more concerned with how people looked rather the person themselves. I adhered to the dress code, and I even thought my goatee was in compliance. The dress code only stated that facial hair must be neatly trimmed. I kept my goatee trimmed around the edges so it didnt look all wild and bushy, although I will admit it had its moments. I followed the dress code, I did not have any visible tattoos at the time, but I had that long goatee. I was at that job for 6 years. I was married, was buying a house, owned my car, paid all my bills, helped out other people in the community when I had a chance and not once did I end up in jail or rehab. By all accounts I was a productive member of society, but I still had people complain about my goatee. That never really made sense to me. Not once has my goatee ever reached out and slapped someone or caused anyone any physical harm. The only thing people could say about it was that they just did not like it. We had surveys every year I was there to see how we were doing our jobs. I always did fairly well on these surveys. I was always friendly and personable when I was working on someones computer and tried to be as professional as possible, but some people were still more concerned about the way I looked than the fact that I was able to do my job. These were people that relied on me doing my job so that they could do theirs and they were still more concerned with how I looked. I still to this day don’t understand that. If I take my car to a mechanic I could care less that he has grease on his clothes or long shaggy hair. What I care about is how good of a mechanic he is because I need my car fixed. I just think people are ridiculous sometimes when it comes to appearances.

I will say this, as many problems as I had at that job only once did my boss ask me to “trim” my goatee. I took a little off the length and he was happy with that. My problem is mainly with people looking at peoples outward appearances rather than whats on the inside.

I apologize if that sounded more like irritated rambling than rational complete thoughts. That tends to happen when I get up on my soap box. I get all worked up and my mind works faster than I can type.

So, my question to you is this. Why do we as a society put so much emphasis on peoples physical appearances? That is the question of the day. I would love to hear your thoughts on this subject.

Texas School Suspends Taylor Pugh for Long Hair – Sphere News.

 ”designed to attract attention to the individual or to disrupt the orderly conduct of the classroom or campus (are) not permitted,”

“students who dress and groom themselves neatly, and in an acceptable and appropriate manner, are more likely to become constructive members of the society in which we live.”

I can’t even express how ridiculous I think that last statement is. I will write about it a little more tomorrow, I am trying to get a couple of posts finished that I can schedule for the weekend since I have family Christmas plans this weekend. If you want to check out the rest of the story about young Taylor and his disorderly locks, just check out the link below.

Like I said before, I try to keep my sense of humor in check most of the time. There are times that I just can not pass up and I have to make a joke. I have a weird sense of humor to begin with, but I think its even worse when I am making jokes about my hands. I think its funny to make the obvious jokes sometimes, but I also really enjoy making subtle jokes and watching peoples reaction. I think its funny to throw something out there and just see if anyone catches it. I will give you an example of each.

The obvious jokes present themselves sometimes and I don’t really have to do anything. We were at an aquarium a couple of years ago, and one of the things they had was a tank with Stingrays. It was a shallow tank and at certain times they let you feed the Stingrays. There were a couple of us standing next to a family that was feeding the Stingrays. They had a container with fish in it and they were taking turns feeding. The gentleman that worked at the aquarium was instructing everyone that fed the Stingrays to place a piece of fish on their palm and hold the hand out flat and let the Stingray take the fish off the hand as they swam by. We are standing there watching the dad take his turn, and as he holds his hand out0 one of the bigger, more aggressive Stingrays comes by and tries to inhale his whole hand along with the fish. There was much splashing, and thrashing about by both dad and Stingray. His screaming definitely deterred any of the rest of the family from wanting to feed the Stingrays. There were a couple of us that were together, but I happen to be standing right next to them. The lady says they are done, and tries to hand me the remaining fish and asks if I would like to feed the rest of it. This was one of those times that I just could not resist. I just held up my hands and said, “lady, I will NEVER feed the Stingrays AGAIN!”. I was cracking up on the inside, but kept a straight face until the family was gone. Which did not take long.

Sometimes I like to take the subtle approach and see if anyone catches on. I think it’s funnier when people really can’t figure out if I am being serious or not. A while back I started a new job and was going through training. The job was tech support over the phone for DSL customers. In the training we had to do mock calls with other people in the training class. I did not know any of the people in this class prior to being there and had not really discussed my differences with any of them. There was 3 or 4 of us that were working together, and I was playing the part of the customer. The girl that was playing the part of the agent was asking me for all my information and then we got to the part where I had to describe what my problem was. I had to make up a problem, so when she asked me what the issue was I told her that I was unable to get to my favorite website. She said she would be glad to help me and then asked what my favorite website was. I told her it was a shark attack survivors support group and told her that I really needed to be able to get to the site. She said she would help me and we continued the call and we worked my issue and all was good. I watched the other people in my group when I told her what my favorite website was and none of them really caught what I was getting at. She was different though, I noticed that little wheel turning in her head as soon as I said it. I played it off like I was just making up a funny website, but the wheels were still turning. We went on with our mock calls, and after we were all done she asked me if that was what happened to my hands. She was so sincere and polite about it, so I didn’t mind the question. I laughed and told here that was not what happened to me. She was a quick one, because none of the other caught on at all.

It doesn’t take much to amuse me sometimes! :)

I have been entertaining the thought of doing some video blogs. I haven’t completely convinved myself that it’s a good idea, but I have been giving it some thought. I think it might be a nice way to kind of mix things up a little bit. I know when it comes to the blogs I follow, I like things that break up the monotony of just reading all the time. I also think it would be a good way to get on a more personal level with you guys. Just something I have been thinking about, we will see how that goes. I may try it and see how it goes. What do you think?

I can not say enough how much I appreciate all the feedback I have recieved from those of you that have been reading my blog. I know I have said thank you before, but I have to say thank you again to those of you that have taken time to write me or comment. If you have been reading but haven’t commented or sent me a message I would love to hear from you.

It is almost impossible for those of us who struggle to ride bikes competently with a full complement of functioning limbs to imagine the difficulties that must accompany riding a bike with a prosthetic limb.

However, PACE Rehabilitation, a private, UK based rehabilitation centre are helping make it an easier and more possible scenario.

Singletrack World » Leap Forward for Amputee Mountain Biking.

I am always amazed at how far technology has come in regards to prosthetics. I am rockin’ an old school leg and foot that is two pieces, the foot bolts directly to the leg with not a lot of flex other than what the actual foot provides. I need to take some pics of it so you guys can see what I am working with. I have to admit I am a little bit jealous when it comes to these fancy new legs they have now days. I have always been limited in that I don’t have enough clearance between the bottom of my stump and the ground when I am standing for any other type of leg/foot that what I have. It could always be worse though, so I am not complaining. What I have works pretty good I walk with pretty much no noticeable limp, I know people right now that don’t know I have a prosthetic, and I don’t think you could really ask for any more than that. I do think that some of the things are are able to do for people with above knee amputations is pretty amazing, and really look forward to seeing all kinds of new technological advances.