The chair

Yes, I am in it here...see next pic...

Me in the chair

Don't ask mt why there is a Canadian flag...it's a long story. But there it is, moi and my ride...

Greyhound....

UNFRIKKIN'BELIEVEABLE!!!
The saga of the ages...OK, so here's the deal. Rob is over on the East coast, dropping off Mike (aka Unkle Mikey) Some friends want him to swing by (swing by means go to Joisey for a day or two, to do readings and such). SO>>>>since our van is kinda on it's last, we decided Rob should go there by bus, then come home from there, also by bus (we have a friend who will buy the van, he is a crack mechanic *not that he does crack, he doesn't* and could fix anything) SO>>> I look up schedules on the net, and go to buy him a ticket from Hagerstown Md to Easton, Pa (closest stop to where our friends are). I input my numbers and get an error code. Oops. So I call the number it told me to call. They have NO record of the purchase, no confirmation number, nuttin', nada, niente. While I am listening to their extremely obnoxious elevator muzak, I check my bank account and find...they took the $!! So, I tell the lady, and she directs me to another phone #. So, I call it. To make a LOOOONG story short (don't worry, it gets better) I finally get a refund for my $. Oh, BTW, they has also charged me an additional $18 because *my* name was on the card, not Rob's.
SO>>>Rob shows up at the bus station this morning, he is #6 on the list, ohboyohboy. So of course, he gets bumped!!!!! Only one person got on the bus, and she had the #7! She just muscled her way onto the bus and left. Meanwhile, a near riot breaks out at the bus station, people screaming, fighting, yelling...but not getting anywhere! They tell Rob he can take the next bus, which leaves at noonish. So he does. Gets to Baltimore. There, they take his ticket, and put him on the bus...to Washington DC!!!They tell him that they had overbooked that bus as well (apparently that had overbooked ALL the buses!) and the only way he stands a chance of getting on to a bus to Philly (to connect with the bus to Easton) is to go to DC and take the bus back to Baltimore to get the connection. Problem is, they took his ticket! SO>>>when he gets to DC, they tell him his ticket is "broken" and he has to buy another ticket!!! By this time he has been on the road for 10 hours, and sez thehellwithit, I'll drive! They, of course, won't change the destination of his ticket, and he is forced to buy another ticket so he can get back to where he started!!! While in DC, someone got so irate, they set the place on fire, police called, everyone "questioned" and searched!!! When he gets back to Baltimore, there apparently has been someone on one of the buses that was very ill (like TB kinda ill) the place is cordoned off, swat team, hazmat team...looks like a scene out of the Blues Brothers!!!
SO>>>he *finally gets back to Hagerstown, tired, hot, hungry...he'll take the van up tomorrow then head home, I guess we'll trade the van in when he gets here...he said he will NEVER get on another greyhound bus, he'd rather walk!!!
What I don't understand is...HOWTHEHELL are they still in business??????
And that, believe it or not, is the nutshell!!! There were a LOT of nuts inside!
Oh, and here's another nut for the shell...a cashew (guzhundheit)..his ticket was refundable, and when he asked about that, they told him that they were a franchise and didn't have to do a darn thing greyhound told them to do and they weren't going to give them anything, other then sell him another ticket! When he gets back and I have ticket numbers, I am going to make sure my voice is heard!!! This is an outrage, a total disgrace, they have NO RIGHT to treat people like that!

Well well well...

Life, as we know it, can resume, at least to some degree. I got my power chair today!!!WOOT It is big, and blue, and very, very quiet. I am getting slowly used to the tilt of the back (or non-tilt as it were). It has that new power chair smell. Rob is out of town (what?!? Again?!?) well, yes, again, Mike had to go home sometime. Now, the front porch is enclosed, with BIG windows, the kitchen is remodeled, and our lives will finally get back on track, both financially and just plain in general. He will stop up in Joisey tomorrow, then back down to Md. There he will sell the van and get a bus ticket home. Why? Well, what it would cost to keep the van would not be cost effective (it needs major work, tires, brakes, etc...) and seeing the cost of gas, cheaper to take the bus. And we still have the ford he can get back on the road when he gets back. I have some chicks (15 buff orphingtons and 15 guinea keets) coming on the 11th, need to get the farm going, crops planted, fields tilled, remodeling finished (almost there, finishing touches need to be applied). WOOHOO!! The social worker called today, they're going to build my ramp and do some work in the bathroom to make showering easier for me, and set up a plan where someone comes and takes me shopping from time to time. The van was hard enough for me to get into, the truck is neigh impossible, so someone with a car will help enormously!!! So life will improve vastly for me, I will be able to get out of the house more then 2-3x a year lol...So thereya go, all the news that's fit to print...Oh, and you can find me on myspace now. I didn't realize how many of my friends have pages there!
And what do y'all think of Barak? I think he would do well to run with Hillary as VP, but I doubt he will, banking on the same factors that were not progressive enough to have a female pres also not accepting a female VP...but that's just my opinion...he could do worse...