My ass no longer needs you. Neither does my double chin, or pretty much any other part of my chubby body. Why do you have to be so damn appealing and want me to eat you? We need to break up. I’m sorry it has to be this way, but we do. It isn’t forever, I hope, but maybe one day, when I am thinner, we can be friends again.

Love,
Dominick

As much as I wish dieting were as simple as sending a letter to the food you wish not to eat and telling it to avoid you, in reality, the food ain’t gonna listen. That is because food is an inanimate object that fatties like me love to stuff our faces with then make excuses for why our asses have swelled to massive proportions. Sure, I can make excuses about not being able to work out much due to my disability, but stuffing my face with chicken wings, French fries, and chips and dip isn’t helping me any.

That’s why I have made an active decision to change my life, my eating lifestyle, and hope I find a way to slim down. Being fat does not help a disabled man at all. Watching Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution and realizing the reality about the food we put in our bodies did help and Ash has started reading food labels like a hawk. I’ve been making little changes, one at a time, but now it is almost time to give up my last bad habit, chips and dip, and what has been a relatively smooth transition, has become hard and sad for me.

I have to tell you, my weakness is not junk food in the traditional sense. It is fried food. I also used to be a pop drinker. I love Coke and Mello Yello, especially. When I realized how much high fructose corn syrup was in pop, giving it up was my first step. I have been pop free since April. Ash has also been trying to eliminate all the high fructose corn syrup from our diet. That was hard with ketchup still in our cupboards. In this economy, it’s foolish to waste what you have, but once we finished that ketchup, we officially became a high fructose corn syrup free house (minus the pop others in the house drink, but I don’t), as of June. Food tastes so much better without all the additives and preservatives.

My favorite fried food is chicken wings. I tried to cut them out almost exclusively from my diet. Since April I have had wings only once or twice and I cut them out of my diet completely in June. French fries, another favorite food, have been gone since April and Chicken tenders I have had only twice since April, baked not fried. I have avoided cheese sticks (only once since April), egg rolls (none for a year), fried chicken (none since before April), etc. It’s actually been easier than I thought, though I do miss the convenience of these foods.

We’ve cut down on eating out. A once in a week or more experience has become once every two or three weeks. We also do not go to burger joints if we go out to eat. I’ve cut pizza out almost completely, indulging in it only 2-3 times since April and if we do go out I get a salad or ranchero soft chicken tacos at Taco Bell and I only eat two of them as opposed to my nachos supreme, Chalupa, taco meal I used to get.

Even with salads, I am trying to cut back. I try to go for the oil based dressings as opposed to the creamy ones. I try not to oversaturate my salads with junk like crutons and bacon bits. I try to fill it with more vegetables and cheese (I need calcium). So, little changes are happening. I drink a lot more water these days and I hope my body is pleased with all the progress I feel I am making.

BUT…now it is time to give up my one last vice. Chip Dip. I am clinging to the chip dip like a child does their security blanket. I am a dipper. Giving up all my favorite foods has meant I no longer dip that much. No chicken wings in ranch or bleu cheese. No French fries in ketchup, cheese or both (or gravy – yum). No tenders in BBQ, sweet and sour or honey mustard. I am no longer Dom the Dipper and I think that is okay. However, I am fighting urges to stuff my face with chips and dip, with cravings like nobody’s business. Every day I want dip and every day I have an internal battle to tell myself why I cannot have it. Usually, my logical mind loses the argument and I indulge.

My only hope is to convince Ash not to buy any more of my brand of dip when its gone. I have come so far. I guess not being able to weigh myself does not make it easier. I cannot see any progress I have made to know if all my efforts are working. I should mention I don’t over-indulge in the dip when I do eat it. Still, it is not good for my body, and I am trying to change my eating lifestyle. Hopefully, chip dip and I will break up soon. Until then, I can only struggle to give up my last food vice, every day it sits in my fridge.

Technorati Tags: Chip Dip, Potato Chip, Diet, Fried Food, Lifestyle Change, Eating, Lose Weight

Gay and lesbian soldiers are already serving in the U.S. armed forces. They are already bunking with, showering with and defending with heterosexual counterparts. They just cannot reveal who they are, who their partners are, and they have to go into a hectic, mind-wrenching profession keeping up the facade that they are heterosexual, too. It is draining enough to be in the military, especially those who are deployed, but to constantly be looking over your shoulder to make sure nobody finds out about you? It adds a level of pressure to a gay/lesbian soldier heterosexual soldiers won’t endure.

Sure, I’ve heard the arguments about bunking and showering with “gays”, which, by the way, is absolutely ridiculous. Just because a lesbian soldier likes women does not mean she is hot for ALL women. It does not mean she wants to have sex with ALL women. Many homosexuals serving in the military have partners back home, and they are often in monogamous relationships. Just like straight couples, this means the gay soldier loves their partner and wants to have sex with their partner. They aren’t looking for booty calls or quickies. Further, the military has so much going on. who has time to think about sex? Oh yeah, I imagine if I were out in the 100+ degrees sun, hot, sweaty, smelling of stench with weapons all around me and bombs blowing up all around me, the first thought on MY mind would be to get it on with others in my unit. Did you catch the sarcasm there?

I have a message to all those straight soldiers out there who think their gay/lesbian comrades want to jump their bones.

Guess what, cupcake. You are NOT the bees knees. Frankly, you are most likely unattractive to the homos in your unit because they ain’t feelin’ you that way. So, get over yourself. Worry about doing your job and not about whether other soldiers are looking at your butt. Most likely, they aren’t.

Ok, now that I have gotten that out of the way, I really have to ask: WHY DOES IT MATTER IF GAY SOLDIERS SERVE?

DADT needs to be repealed because soldiers can get fired if they are outed. Higher ranked officers cannot acknowledge their partners nor let them celebrate military achievements in public, the way spouses of heterosexual soldiers can (and are expected to do so).

It needs to be repealed because gay and lesbian soldiers have fought JUST AS HARD as their straight counterparts in equally as hard jobs. They have been found in every sector of the armed forces, at multiple levels and at numerous ranks with multiple job titles. The gay soldier IS THERE. They deserve the chance to be protected from being discharged. The military needs these soldiers NOW more than ever, while we are still at war and in need of more soldiers at home and abroad.

It needs to be repealed because gay and lesbian soldiers have died, are dying and WILL DIE for their country. Their partner is not informed initially of their passing and gets no say in medical or funeral arrangements. These soldiers deserve to die with the dignity afforded to all straight soldiers and their partners/spouses.

These soldiers have DIED protecting a nation that does not treat them equal. They fight to uphold a system of government that wants to deny their very existence. They serve a country that professes it is fighting for freedom, yet these soldiers have their freedoms denied. Still, they fight.

So, why not give them the chance to fight, serve, and protect with pride in themselves, their lives and their country? It is not going to harm the military, because gay soldiers are already there and already serving. They’ve just been forced to stifle the freedom they deserve of being who they truly are.

Technorati Tags: DADT, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, Homosexuality, Military, Gay, Serve, Protect, Repeal, Soldiers, Gay Soldiers

***Photo Copyright rharrison. Available under Creative Commons.

Ash shopped around for another school, both public and private, before deciding that homeschooling was the best option. A series of discriminatory instances at his public school (damaging incidents that no child should have to endure), led to his removal from public school. They were sending his work home for Ash to ‘make him do’ anyway, so why bother making him endure such a hate-filled, negative environment, when she was doing all the teaching?

The options for other schools were slim around here. With public school, he could face similar, negative environments (the school had a special ed trailer parked in the school lot for crap’s sake!). The private schools in the area wanted Ash to sign waivers allowing them to physically discipline CT in any way they saw fit. With a child who has mental health problems, and most educators unsure how to deal with these children, we saw daily beatings in his future. That does not help kids like CT. It just makes them mad and they act out worse than they do when they are misunderstood. Ash realized the travesty of such a situation and wisely declined enrolling him at one of these establishments.

So, back to my comment.

Here is what I said: “I homeschool my son to give him a better education.”

In his situation, the best education he can receive is at home. He does a lot more work, work that challenges him and work that does not assume he will never make something of himself. He’s reading classic literature, taking high school level courses, and taking part in college prep. He’s not spelling cat, because his teacher assumes he is a moron simply because he’s socially awkward. He is expected to perform on a level befitting his intelligence, and it may not always be easy to get him to do so, but when he does, knowing we didn’t give up on him is worth it.

Well, this simple little statement set off a hail storm. The teachers on my friends’ list and those related to teachers vehemently disagreed. There were cries of, “who said homeschool was better than public or private education in a school?” I guess I can understand that. If I’d have spent years in college to get a degree, I’d hate for others to assume it was worthless. I tried to explain I was not saying homeschool was better than public school. I was saying it was better for my son. While I believe homeschool has the potential to offer so much more than an in school education can, I also realize some parents SHOULD NOT homeschool. Some parents cannot homeschool. Their children need public school and in these instances, public school is the better option.

The discussion spiraled out to discuss how unsocialized homeschool kids are (proven to be not true except when kids are kept locked up/sheltered by parents). Some who were homeschooled themselves spoke out positively towards their experiences. Others took my stance, that it depended on the parents, children and the school environment in the area. I am just amazed at how polarizing a topic like homeschooling children can make people. It just adds to my belief that people find it hard to get along with those with whom they have differing opinions; a trend becoming more and more common with these new, later generations.

That brings me to the point of WHY I am writing this blog post. My little Facebook comment explosion made me reflect upon all of the problems with public education. I wasn’t hurt, but I was disappointed that some people felt Ash and I were making the wrong decision with home educating. It is our job as parents to determine what is best for our child and to be told that isn’t right is insulting. So, I began to think about all of the problems with educating in a classroom and this made me realize, our children aren’t safe anywhere.

This really has nothing to do with home education. I was just led down this path in a very twisted way by my comment on home education. This is about the safety of children and how that has changed since when I was a kid. At school, kids are not safe. It is less of a risk to imagine a child being kidnapped by a stranger or another, demented parent, at the school, especially since so many schools have police on campus, metal detectors, etc. The real concern is with those working at the school. Not all teachers, but some, and you never know which ones until it is too late, party with their students, have sex with their students, and do other crude and lascivious things with their students.

I was browsing the web recently and I saw a blog post (with pictures) of the Top 50 Most Infamous Female Teachers Involved in Sex Scandals. There are so many sex scandals in schools that they are able to make a Top 50 list. All of these teachers were semi-recent (90s and beyond). These were just the female teachers. There is no count out on the males, especially since male teachers who engage in such acts with their students get far less press than the females. We are shocked when a female teacher does such things, but apparently, it should be expected of the males. Why would I want to send my teenage son who has no ability to say no, even when he knows he should, into such an environment?

The sad truth is that our kids aren’t safe anywhere. They’ve been kidnapped and harmed from within their home. They’ve been snatched up on their way home from school or during recreational activities proceeding school. Playing in their yards with no parent watching every single second can mean a child could be snatched. Stores, restaurants, and other public places are just as vulnerable as neighborhood hangouts. So, where are our kids safe?

It is amazing the way my mind works. It is crazy that my brain got to this place and this question from where it started…on the benefits of homeschooling. That being said, it is a valid question. I would love to say kids are the safest at home with their parents. In most cases, they are. In some cases, it is the parent the child fears most, because they are the abusers. For those of us who aren’t abusing our kids, we cannot be with our children 24/7. We have to sleep. We cannot keep them locked up forever and not let them experience life. These things can happen in a split second, and they do happen.

So, where are our children safe? In this world…nowhere. We just have to hope that in the event something does happen, we did the best we could as parents to prepare them to fend for themselves.

Technorati Tags: homeschool, child safety, abuse, parenting, education, children, home education, thoughts, family, environment

The latest was some guy on Twitter running his mouth about Glenn Beck. Supposedly Beck compared the “Gay Agenda” to the “Muslim Agenda” with a primary goal of taking down Christianity. I know many a gay Christian. In fact, the majority of religious gays and trans folk I know are indeed Christians. So, why would they want to take down a group they belong to? It makes absolutely no sense to me.

Also, I don’t want to take down Christianity. I just don’t want Christian dogma shoved down my throat. I want to be able to practice the religion of my choice without fear of oppression or hatred. I have family and friends who are Christians who respect this and I love them dearly.

Since I have no idea what this agenda that I am supposed to have is, I thought I’d tell you about my day today. Perhaps if we put all our heads together we can figure out what my agenda is, against the world, since I am transgendered and therefore complete the T in GLBT.

So, without further ado, my family’s day:

Ash woke up at 9 AM. CT was up. She gave him his medicine (no not his gay agenda brainwashing meds – he has Aspergers, Bi Polar and ADHD). She made him breakfast, helped him pick out his clothes, and he got dressed. He also brushed his teeth and combed his hair.

I woke up around 11:30. Ash started CT’s Life Skills/Health Class. He did a selection of worksheets including:

Homework Worksheet: Study Guide B
Homework Worksheet: Word Bank
Homework Worksheet: Achieve Your Dreams
Reteach Worksheet: Life in Balance
Reteach Worksheet: Are You a Good Manager
Reteach Worksheet: Getting a Handle on Life
Activities Worksheet: Can Neat and Messy Get Along?
Activities Worksheet: How Stress Affects Relationships

He also did his Chapter Review (Vocab and Key Concepts) in his Glencoe Life Skills 2010 book. He has his Chapter test tomorrow and he’ll start the following chapter after his test.

While Ash was teaching, I was getting a copy of An Episode Under the Terror and The Executioner, both by De Balzac. Earlier this week, he read The Mysterious Mansion by De Balzac, in his Classic Horror Stories textbook from Glencoe. I read through both stories and made up an accompanying worksheet for An Episode Under the Terror. Once I was done with that. I got to work reviewing movies for my website LI Reviews.

We ate lunch after CT finished his first subject. I had egg salad on fresh rosemary bread, kalamata olives, and fresh salsa and chips. It was a GOOD meal. CT went into the living room to read a book, watch TV, and play with the dog. His choice of entertainment was his grandmother’s soap operas, unfortunately for him.

Ash did some leg massage and exercises on my legs and hip. Then she took a shower. After her shower she taught the Horror Classics Stories Class. CT was given a homework assignment relating to the original De Balzac story. It is a writing assignment due in a week. As they did schoolwork, I worked on our websites, resized pictures and the like.

Then I went on Facebook to check my farm and say hi to friends. After that, I headed over to Twitter for the Glenn Beck rant fest. The son is now tucked in bed. We ate dinner (andouille sausage, spinach and a salad), he took his bath, and he brushed his teeth. He took his night meds and it is slumber time for him. So, here I am writing this blog post.

Does it sound like I (and my family) have an agenda? No…we are just average joes living our lives…AS A FAMILY.

Tomorrow, we’ll do it all over again only this time it is Algebra and Life Skills.

So, that is the GLBT agenda.

IF there is any GLBT agenda or gay agenda, it’s simple to understand.

WE JUST WANT TO LIvE OUR LIVES KNOWING OUR CHILDREN AND PARTNERS ARE HAPPY, HEALTHY, AND PROTECTED.

So, Glenn Beck, put that in your pipe…and smoke it.

Technorati Tags: gay agenda, GLBT agenda, Glenn Beck, transgender, family, homeschool, Aspergers, live life, kids, family

I talk to many parents who have children with disabilities. They are on my Facebook and my Twitter. I hope that through me they realize that their children may have the potential for productive adult lives. As such, I often receive messages, good and bad, about groups, fan pages, and interesting individuals pertaining to the disability community. None have shocked me quite like a post on a mother’s Facebook wall about a group on FB called KEEP DOWN SYNDROME SUFFERERS OUT OF SOCIETY.

The title alone was appalling to me, but I figured it was just a group of ignorant kids fooling around on Facebook. Going to the group was even more insulting. The group description included tips on how those with Down Syndrome should either be locked away or murdered at birth. The group had many people joining to tell the founders and group supporters how sick they were (fruitless, I believe), but there were also many, disgusting posts. Some of them discussed hitting children with Down Syndrome in the face to try to get the “Retard Look” to go away. One was a picture of a mauled, aborted child, with the caption, “This should be all people with Down Syndrome.”

Upon further inspection, I was surprised to learn that not only were teenagers partaking in such vile behavior (parental supervision, anyone?), but 20 and 30-somethings were joining in the hullabaloo, too. Luckily, Facebook has an option that lets members of the site report groups that revolve around hate speech, or disparage a group or individual. Pictures, discussion posts, and wall posts can be reported, too. After making my rounds reporting the group and certain, offensive posts and pictures, I wrote this message on my FB profile:

Mind you, I had been thinking about writing a post like this for a while.

As you can see, I didn’t explain anything about the group or ask anyone else to report the group. I did go on Twitter and urge my friends there to report the group and some of them did. After a friend responded to my FB post, I explained why I was upset, as it pertains to disabilities. This was my reply:

Well, it has been something I’ve been thinking about saying on FB for a while. I think people with disabilities are often looked past, looked over, spoken over, deemed unfit, etc.

What those people doing this don’t realize is ALS could strike them tomorrow, MS could put them in a wheelchair, they could get in an accident at any time. Then, everyone will start doing what they did to others – ignore them, look past them, underestimate them, etc.

Honestly, the final breaking point for me was the creation of a group telling people on FB to exclude people with Down Syndrome from society. The group said to either lock them up or just kill ‘these morons’ at birth. This ignorance, that it even exists, is beyond disappointing. It’s disgusting. I’ve reported the group to FB, and so have many others. Let’s just hope FB doesn’t pull the free speech crap we often hear….

There is freedom of speech and their is hate speech. Hate speech should never be tolerated.

This turned my post about disabilities into a massive debate about free speech, and the right of the group to say what they want. My entire message of, “you reap what you sow,” and “treat others as you wish them to treat you,” was completely lost in this debate. For this blog post, that is neither here nor there. It’s merely something worth noting. What is important, is understanding why I feel there is a difference between Free Speech and Hate Speech.

Yourdictionary.com describes the legal definition of Hate Speech as:

Speech not protected by the First Amendment, because it is intended to foster hatred against individuals or groups based on race, religion, gender, sexual preference, place of national origin, or other improper classification.

Similarly, Dictionary.com defines Hate Speech as:

–noun
speech that attacks a person or group on the basis of race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.

In the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, we are guaranteed the right to Free Speech. We are also guaranteed access as Americans to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

With these definitions in mind, I feel that the aformentioned group was not created to exercise the right to free speech. If the legal definition of Hate Speech holds true, their speech is not protected by the Bill of Rights because it is not Free Speech. It is disparaging, degrading, and hateful to human beings who deserve the same rights guaranteed to them by the Constitution regardless of ability or lack thereof.

Additionally, their proposed solution for getting rid of the Down Syndrome population is to kill them all so they can no longer pass on their defective genes or go back to something outlawed against racial minorities nearly 60 years ago – separation, isolation, segregation. This goes against human beings’ with Down Syndrome’s right to Life, but also Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. There is no liberty locked away somewhere and there is no way to pursue any potential happiness these people could have if they were segregated from the mainstream population.

This goes back to the original point of my post. These hateful individuals who created this group can’t get Down Syndrome themselves, but they could have a child with it, one day. They could end up being disabled in some other way and see just how hurtful remarks can be when aimed at them. Karma is a bitch. We as humans often realize this too late in our lives.

In the end, the group was removed, though I don’t think I swayed any opinions in the debate. I leave you with these final thoughts I included on FB.

This is more than just mere ignorance. They are posting pictures of dead, mutilated babies and saying this should be all people with Downs. They are saying they’d like to physically attack (punch) people with Downs. They claim they wish to incite violence against a group of individuals with a specific disability and that goes beyond freedom of speech. You may not get it, but allowing such ignorance to congregate and spread on such a forum leads to misinformation and more ignorance….

People will disabilities are still treated like second class citizens. The disability community is, by far, the most discriminated against minority group. It’s also the biggest minority group and the only one any individual in the world can become a part of at any point in their life. The reason for this is because so many people take such a laissez faire attitude when it comes to defending the inalienable rights (to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness) of people with disabilities. The right to life…not death regardless of disability. So, it’s okay to say they want to take away someone’s human right because they deem the person inferior?

You pointed out the exact problem with why Hitler was not stopped early on. The U.S. had an attitude of, “Hey it isn’t us.” So, we chose to do nothing. We only ended up getting involved because of Pearl Harbor. We had to be personally attacked before we would stand up to Hitler, and even then, it wasn’t because we actually wanted to get involved and save the Jews.

It is the strength in numbers idea. If you have one or two people who feel a certain way about an idea, they usually keep their mouths shut. Once they grow, then the ideas spread and then it inevitably leads to actions. When Hitler was beginning, not everyone believed the Jews needed to be exterminated. As the Nazi party grew, it soon became better to be a part of the party than not, and adopt such heinous beliefs….

The idea is to try to stop the violence before it begins, to educate the public about these types of groups, and to inevitably protect the minority from the majority. If we tolerate such hate groups, allowing them to spout their rhetoric, in a public forum that allows people like me to COMPLAIN and REPORT them specifically for attacking a select group of individuals, then essentially we are ignoring a problem that could grow into something much bigger.

Facebook obviously feels that certain groups of people or specific individuals should NOT be attacked in any of their forums because they have a report button option specifically for this purpose whether their terms of service espouses such notions clearly or not. It’s one thing to say you hate someone or something. It is another to talk about how you punch children with Down’s Syndrome in their faces or how you want to kill them.

I didn’t ask you or anyone else to report this group. In fact, I didn’t even include a link to said group. I think my entire point in my original post was lost. The original message I was trying to get at was that any person in this world can become disabled tomorrow. So sticks and stones. If you treat people with disabilities like crap and then you become disabled yourself, don’t be surprised when you are treated like crap, too.

Essentially, the goal is to realize that people with disabilities are no different than any other human in the most essential of ways. It is foolish to overlook someone for a wheelchair or for having a low IQ. This person may possess gifts and talents you’d only know existed had you taken the time to give said person a chance. The sad truth is, most people don’t give those with disabilities chances and miss out on the greatness these people have to offer.

I was merely pointing out that this group possesses such attitudes that seek to limit those with a specific disability. This type of ignorance spreads and is part of why people with disabilities are still treated so poorly in mainstream society. I have been educating groups of people on disabilities and all that those of us with disabilities can accomplish despite the limitations society has tried to thrust upon us since I was ten years old. Perhaps I am a bit passionate in my quest to finding a sense of equality for those of us with disabilities, but you’d be hard pressed to find any advocate who is not passionate about such a cause they believe in.

I will continue to stand up for what I believe in, even if it isn’t considered the right way to do things or too emotive. I believe this group did attack a specific group. So, I took the action FB allowed me to take against said group, by reporting them.

I leave you all with this thought:

“First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out for me.”

Technorati Tags: Facebook, Hate Speech, Freedom of Speech, First Amedment, Bill of Rights, Facebook Group, Down Syndrome, Disability

In 2008, Charity Navigator reported him as making $402,732. That is up a few thousand dollars from the last time I reported on MDA (I believe he was making around $399K). Just to put that into perspective, that would buy at least 20 of the high tech kind of power wheelchairs I currently have. That would buy at least 400 pairs of AFOs/Leg Braces, or between 100 and 200 manual wheelchairs. Instead, it went into this greedy CEO’s pocket.

In 2009, Flint, Michigan was just one of the places that saw their MDA office close. It is not new that the economy in Mid-Michigan has been generally poor. However, records for patients are still sealed up in a Flint office. To get access to them, they must contact the Saginaw office, and arrange for the files to be accessed. I am just going to say my friend is having a LOT of trouble getting his files from this office. With nobody working in Flint, accessing these files is near impossible.

The office near and dear to my heart in Toledo, Ohio also shut down at the end of 2009. This is the MDA that diagnosed me in 1985. I was their poster child/goodwill ambassador before being the State of Ohio representative, back in the 90s. Northwest Ohio MDA was like my family. I had worked with the office staff on hundreds of fundraisers. I used to visit the office often in the summer. I saw some of them at camp and at clinic every year of my childhood.

It saddens me to think that people like Lori, who was more than a secretary for MDA, and who worked there since I was a child (I am 29, so you do the math), is now unemployed. In the meantime, the money that could play these dedicated, hard working employees is going to good ol’ Gerry and Jerry Lewis’ travel expenses.

To add insult to injury, MDA just sent out a letter (to me and those in Toledo – not sure if it was sent nationally), saying that they will no longer pay for durable medical equipment. That means no more help getting wheelchairs, braces, or other things we need for independence that insurance might not cover completely. It is a sad day in MDA history.

I am of the belief that it is only a matter of time before MDA camp gets sacked. They decided to cancel camp last year, and it seems as though it is considered an unnecessary expense. MDA seems to be going down the tubes, and though they claim to raise money to help those of us with one of the 40+ diseases covered under the “Muscular Dystrophy” umbrella, it seems they really are only helping themselves.

Technorati Tags: MDA, Muscular Dystrophy Association, spending, money, patients, durable medical equipment, CEO, Gerald Weinberg

After searching for a camera within my limited price range, I discovered a Sony camera I wanted. It was pretty good for it’s price range. It was a few years old, and it had potential. So, after receiving my loan money, I looked on Amazon for my camera. I ended up discovering a higher quality Sony camera for a lower price. It had been used only once or twice by a filmmaker who had upgraded to a much bigger, more expensive system, and it offered a bunch of bonuses for buying it Like New.

Here is the camera in question:

The person selling this camera, a Sony HVR-V1U 3-CMOS 1080i Professional HDV Camcorder, was offering it with a brand new, padded carrying case, a set of mini discs for recording and, all necessary cables including Firewire. It was an amazing deal for the same price I’d pay for the lesser camera (around $2500) and I would also get a carrying case worth at least $100. I just couldn’t beat this deal.

I had not received my money when I first found this on Amazon. I kept vigil over the camera. I was on winter break and I just knew someone else was going to snatch up this camera, but no one did. Finally, when I received my money, I put it in my mother-in-law’s bank. I first sent the money from the bank account to the Paypal. Paypal said it will take up to five business days. I ended up biting my fingernails the entire time.

On day four, the transfer is rejected. Because the name on Ash’s Paypal is the name of our business, Literary Illusions, the bank refuses to transfer money there. We try to get Paypal to change the name to Ashtyn’s on the incoming transfer name, but no dice. So, we are back to square one and the camera is miraculously still on Amazon.

Next, I tried to pay directly using the bank account information on Amazon. I put in the tracking and routing numbers and the transaction appears to be completed. Amazon’s email to me says the camera has been purchased, so I am elated, finally thinking that I am going to get my camera. Boy am I wrong! I had a few thousand dollars in the bank, but nobody seemed to want to take said money from me.

A few hours later, I received an email saying the transaction didn’t go through. Mom in law called her bank and they said Amazon’s bank account service partner never even put the transaction through to the bank (which is actually a credit union, but whatever). I called Amazon and they thought I might have mis-entered the information. I tried the purchase again and it went through again, but a few hours later, I was rejected again.

I contacted the seller, to tell him how badly I wanted this camera. He didn’t have any other way to accept a payment. Unfortunately I had to figure out how to get Amazon to work or I could choose to accept that I was never gonna have the camera I wanted. I called Amazon back. They gave me the number for their banking partner. They said my only other option was to buy Amazon gift cards.

I called the bank transfer company, but because I paid online and was not asked for a check number, I became trapped in an automated system loop. I tried to call three or four times and pressed different buttons to try to get to an operator, but no dice. By now, I was miserably upset. Like a good girlfriend, Ash took action. She had me call local stores to find Amazon gift cards.

The only problem was that they only sell them in $25, $50 and $100 increments. You can add all the cards up and buy as many as you need, so we decided this was the best option. In the meantime, the camera was back up for sale and it was now priced a few hundred dollars cheaper. I was down to the wire in buying it because the seller really wanted to sell it!

I called Rite Aid, VGs (Spartan/Food Town owned), Kroger, Target, you name it. The Rite Aid around the corner had some, but not enough. The VGs had some, but not enough. Another Rite Aid a town over had some, too. Did I mention it was snowing and the roads were slick? The mother in law drove to all three of them. I added up totals and between the three stores we would have enough. I called the stores and told them to put their cards to the side and to expect Ash.

I constantly called Ash, the stores, checked Amazon, called Ash again, added up card amounts as she bought them, etc. Finally, two hours later, due to bad roads, Ash returned with 52 Amazon gift cards, mostly $50 cards. We had to put all 52 cards into Amazon one by one. Some were stubborn and the numbers were hard to read. Finally, we had entered all the redeemable gift card numbers…and I purchased the camera.

Needless to say, it was an adventure. The camera is here and I can’t wait to use it. Now, let’s hope I don’t have to do this the next time I buy a camera!

Technorati Tags: Sony HVR-V1U, Camera, Video Camera, Professional, Amazon, gift card, pay, Paypal, Adventure, money, student loans

For starters, I wrote about starting at UM-Flint. I finished my first semester with a 3.7 GPA. The sad part about this is when tallying up the work in the class I received a B+ in, I would have/should have had an A. Due to some attendance snafus caused by Your Ride, the public transport service here, I had my grade dropped, so I lost out on the possibility of a 4.0. Though my GPA was good enough, I didn’t make the Dean’s List because I only took 11 credit hours and you have to have 12. This next semester I’m taking 12 and am determined to make the Dean’s List!

Ashtyn transferred in from APU to UM-Flint. She’ll be finishing up her degree in Psychology and Anthropology and then plans to get an additional Bachelor’s in Forensics. She won’t be able to get that degree at UM-Flint though. She transferred in with a 3.9 GPA. She will be taking most of her classes at UM-Flint online so she can help me during my classes, on campus. I’m really happy for her.

AND…speaking of Ashtyn we celebrated our 7th anniversary on November 27!! Robert turned 15 on November 5. He still looks about 10 though. Braxton, meanwhile is still 5, Kevin turned 40 on November 20th and I just turned 29 yesterday! All in all, the family is doing pretty okay!

Ashtyn, Jerry (a friend from UM-Flint) and I finished casting for our upcoming internet TV show, FACESPACE. It is going to be really funny. We will begin filming in late January/early February and I am very excited to be purchasing my first professional camera with leftover loan money from this semester. I know the money could be spent elsewhere, but this is a serious investment towards my lifelong career pursuits.

In other news, we are actively looking for a new house, still in the Flint, MI area. I still want to eventually live in Connecticut, near New York, but since Ash and I are both in school here for the next few years, it’ll be nice to find a more comfortable living location. We also hope to have a van this year. We’ve had a lot of setbacks trying to get a van, but hopefully this is our chance to finally have one!

My transition is finally starting to move in the right direction and I am EXTREMELY THRILLED about this. My name change is getting finalized. I will officially be Dominick very very soon! I also am getting set up with a therapist at UM Ann Arbor that takes my insurance! Traveling to Ann Arbor with no vehicle of my own is going to be a costly endeavor, but it is going to be well worth it as I get my letter of recommendation to finally start testosterone. This is over seven years in the coming. I am so giddy at the thought of finally being on T!

Anyhow, stay tuned for more postings. I’m planning to do more video blogs, just because I won’t have a lot of time to type up full length posts, but I do plan to make this site more active. It really is a beautiful site!

Technorati Tags: Dominick Evans, FACESPACE, video, blogging, UM-Flint, acting, theater, classes, grades

All of this fear and uncertainty and hope floods through me at the thought of a cure. What does this mean for those of us with SMA? What will a cure do for us? Will it reverse the muscle weakness? Will it make our muscles stronger? Does this mean some of us will walk? What will a cure do? That uncertainty is nearly as scary of the prospect of being promised a cure that never comes.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not a whiner. I don’t want to say I don’t care about being in a wheelchair, because if I had the choice of wheeling or walking, I’d choose walking. But…I have accepted my disability. I don’t believe in whining about the fact I cannot walk. What a waste of time. I have no complaints. I attempt to adapt and improvise to whatever is thrown at me.

The uncertainty is what I am the most worried about. Nobody can seem to tell me what a cure means. Does it mean I’ll be putting my life on hold to go through PT and strength training? Does it mean I can even recover any muscle strength? Some have told me I’m hopeless. At 28, I’ve had too many of the effects of SMA wear and tear on my body, and any cure is too late in the coming. Is it? Would I be better served if a cure had come a decade earlier?

I guess the scariest part is the what ifs. I’d love to see the youngest generations benefit from a cure. I’d also like to know if I should maintain hope, or if I should just give up and realize this is as good as it gets, and living an adapted life, though inconvenient, is the best way to live. Anyone have any ideas, of what a cure means for those of us with SMA? If you do, I’d love to know.

Technorati Tags: SMA, Spinal Muscular Atrophy, Cure, Cure SMA, Type III, uncertainty, Muscular Dystrophy

First, I was NEVER kicked out of college. I am far too civilized to do anything to warrant getting kicked out. Secondly, the implication I quit, holds the connotation I had a choice in the matter. Did I quit going to WSU? Technically, yes I did. Was I thrilled in this decision? Did I have a choice in the matter? Did I just kiss my degree goodbye with little thought to finishing? I would have to say that all of these were emphatically no.

I didn’t want to leave in my senior year, but things happen for a reason. I ended up falling out of my wheelchair for a reason. I ended up fracturing my tibia for a reason. I ended up experiencing frequent pain that eventually led to my being bed ridden on and off for several years. We are talking almost four of those of being COMPLETELY bed ridden. I was lucky enough to have a computer set up so I wasn’t completely alone in bed.

I also grew restless, and fought HARD to get out of bed. I now suffer through frequent pain while up, but I don’t care. I had to return to living, and I did just that by applying and getting accepted to the University of Michigan. I completed my FIRST week. I am no longer in bed and I WILL be finishing and getting my degree in Theatre: Performance. I will have a degree from a better, Big Ten school. That is why I believe everything happens for a reason.

I am NOT a quitter. Anyone who believes that is foolish. Anyone who attempts to speak of me or for me without knowing what is going on in my life is IGNORANT. I am proud of myself for getting through my first week of school. After all I’ve been through, it’s a huge achievement, but mostly, I’m just glad to be back.

Technorati Tags: School, University of Michigan, Dominick, Flint Campus, College, Quit, Back in School, U of M, Theatre Performance