Sid vs Max

Thank you Adesta for posting this on your great blog if you are a Pittsburgh Penguins Hockey fan, please check her site out !

Almost 2010

It's hard to believe it's New Year's Eve 2009... And I have to say I thought things would be a little different in 2010. Where are the flying cars they promised us? And I definitely want my Rosie The Robot !

But if you think about it, so many things are just as they promised. Most of us carry around cell phones with more computing power than NASA had when they landed a man on the moon. Little handheld communication devices like in Star Trek.....

I'm writing my blog using my voice and my computer types........ my house is run by a computer, I speak to it and it reacts...

It's amazing the technology we do have and I cannot wait to see what happens in the next 20 years. I hope you and your families have a great New Year's Eve and a spectacular 2010 !

Safety vs. Personal Privacy

The failed attempt to blow up the airliner Christmas Day in Detroit has me asking this question .... How much personal privacy are you willing to give up to enhance your safety?

Northwest Airlines Bomb Photos - ABC News

First of all I realize we cannot be 100% safe ever. That being said, we need to realize we are at war. It seems to me the vast majority of Americans have forgotten that... Maybe I'm wrong.

Personal body scan technology exists and is much more thorough than a simple metal detector, why are we not using it? It's too intrusive, it violates my personal privacy etc. etc. etc. that's all crap....

The recent terrorist paid $3000 cash for a international flight and had no luggage ! I never claimed to be a rocket scientist but don't you believe this warranted some type of special attention?

We simply got lucky that the detonator failed. And after the attack where was our president? On vacation in Hawaii, playing golf and tennis..... did he return to the White House? No. How about the vice president, no he was in the Caribbean..... do you think the troops in Afghanistan and Iraq get to take Christmas vacation? I know my two nephew's don't....

How about this, Obama and Joe when one of you go on vacation, the other one stays in Washington. Just in case the nation needs something on the weekend. It may only be a matter of perception, but let's send a message we are all on the same team, making sacrifices... after all we are war.

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Weekend Sports

The University of Pittsburgh's football team managed a victory over North Carolina in the meineke car care bowl 19 to 17 on Saturday! It's the first 10 game winning season in 28 years, way to go Pitt !

This afternoon at 1 PM the Steelers take on the Baltimore Ravens here at home. If you have a PhD in mathematics you can calculate the odds of the Steelers going to the playoffs this year..... but one thing's for sure, if they lose to Baltimore today they are definitely out. At this point in the season I just want to beat Baltimore!

Tonight the Penguins play Toronto, Let's Go Pens!

After Christmas Sale

I found a real bargain on a Columbia monarch jacket at our local outlet. The original price was over $100 and I picked it up yesterday for $20 ! It's a really nice wool jacket with a hood, a real bargain for the price. Thanks Sally for the gift card!

What were some of your Christmas bargains or deals?

Under the Dome

On Christmas Eve I had Stephen Kings Under the Dome delivered to my Kindle 2 and have been reading it ever since.

I understand that not everyone sees the value in electronic books, but for me it's a very simple way to read. I no longer have to struggle to turn the pages or hold the book on my desktop. The Kindle 2 sits flat and will even read to me with a synthesized voice if my eyes get tired.... Not to mention its stores hundreds of books at my fingertips. I do not have to ask someone to retrieve a book from my bookshelf.

When I think of how many times I struggled to read textbooks while going for my masters... ugh. I wish I had this technology then. Sure there is software like Kurzweil 3000 that will read electronic text, but the Kindle is mainstream and works effortlessly. It's easy to purchase books (sometimes too easy), they are delivered in 60 seconds..... I can read them on my laptop or the Kindle, it makes my life so much easier.

Merry Christmas

I know, I am 24 hours early but I doubt that I will be blogging tomorrow.... So I wanted to wish everyone who stops by a very Merry Christmas!

I have already received some beautiful presents from friends and family, much better than I deserve.... Santa must not have been checking that list very closely this year.

Last night the Penguins sure received a gift from the Ottawa Senators, the Penguins won 8 to 2 ! Talk about recovering from a 4 nothing loss earlier in the week to NJ. The Penguins certainly proved they can put the puck behind the goalie.

Have a great holiday, enjoy it with the people you love.

Free Coffee

Dunkin Donuts is giving away free coffee if you fill out this form

Pennsylvania to Send Prisoners to Michigan, Virginia - WSJ.com

Pennsylvania to Send Prisoners to Michigan, Virginia - WSJ.com So we are paying $22,320 per inmate per year..... what do we spend to keep people out of prison? Just asking...anyone know?

Good Morning

Well it's Monday morning already, the weekend went by so quick. I basically hibernated all weekend because of the snowfall. We picked up about 5 inches of snow here, which is bad for my power wheelchair....

Saturday night was pretty good though, the Penguins won another shootout against the Buffalo Sabres. The Pens are virtually unbeaten when it comes to shootouts.... I could watch the Penguins play every day!

Did you see the Pittsburgh Steelers play this Sunday? They beat the Green Bay Packers here in Pittsburgh 37 to 36 in the final second of the game. I have to admit I did not think they could do it. Especially when Tomlin called for an onside kick when the Steelers had the lead with minutes left to go. The Steelers screwed up and Green Bay got the ball in scoring distance. Green Bay quickly put seven points on the board..... going up by 6.

With less than two minutes to go the Steelers were down and needed a touchdown. Something the offense was having trouble doing consistently. I was skeptical but Big Ben marched the team down the field to score the much-needed touchdown in literally the final second of the game.

Jeff Reed kicked the extra point with no time left to win the game! The Steelers have two games left, I do not see them getting into the playoffs.... but I would sure like to beat Baltimore next week.

Mike Tomlin and Iron City Parody -- "Steelers For Sale"

Wired on Coffee

It's been a long time since I have had any morning coffee. I stopped drinking it because it was causing me to get congested, making me cough and generally affecting my breathing for some reason.....

This morning I decided to have some coffee instead of lemon lift tea....... let me say, I am sufficiently wired ! Woo hoo, caffeine.... I'm talking fast, my voice recognition program is clipping along and I may be seeing colors brighter.

last night the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Philadelphia goons 3 to 2 in a shootout, on Philadelphia's home ice. Of all the teams in the NHL, I hate Philadelphia the most. Their players are goons and their fans are crude and unsportsmanlike.

Every game they chant "Crosby sucks" and their organist plays along. Well let me tell you Philadelphia....... Crosby does suck, the life out of your team! Ha ha ha

Thursday Thoughts

The Associated Press named Tiger Woods their Athlete of the Decade, could the timing be any worse? I think the last Mistress count was 12....

I'm looking forward to tonight's hockey game in Philadelphia. This week the Pittsburgh Penguins crushed Philadelphia 6 to 1 here at home, hopefully the Pens can do the same in Philadelphia tonight.

I still need to do some shopping for Christmas, a few last-minute gifts that I cannot buy online. Fortunately I can avoid the mall which is not very wheelchair friendly this time of year. Between the crowds and merchandising displays crowding the aisles, I can barely get through any store. It was worse when my service dog accompanied me... It's best to avoid the mall this time of year at all cost.

I belong to Netflix, and recently received the movie The Hangover. Everyone says it's very funny, and I plan on watching it sometime over the next few days. What are some of your favorite movies?

Thought-controlled wheelchair in Japan

Here is a great example of thinking outside the box to enable and empower individuals with disabilities. Having the right assistive technology can change the lives of many individuals.

Google's 'Nexus One' the New iPhone?

I'm really looking forward to the Google phone, it would be fantastic if it was available in January. What would even be better is.... if the phone can be operated not just by touch, but by using a stylus as well. So many of the smart phones today are only operated by using a finger. Individuals like myself with mobility impairments do not have finger movement. We require the use of a stylus, pencil or mouth stick.

Worse Than Cleveland

Last night the defending Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers managed to lose to the 1 and 11 Cleveland Browns, by a score of 13 to 6...

Ben Roethlisberger was sacked a total of eight times, they were unable to score a single touchdown, the defense gave up play after play.... in short, they stink. This moves the Steelers losing streak to the longest current in the NFL, at five games. Their record falls to six and seven and the playoffs are certainly lost. The new Pittsburgh Steelers Chant "Let's Go Pens" !

Information Junkie

In the past 10 years I have really turned into an information junkie. Between headline news and the Internet I'm up to date on a multitude of topics. Whatever happened to downtime, looking out the window and guessing the temperature.

Now I look left at my atomic clock, get the time to the second, inside and outside temperatures, day and date....

A lot of the information is good to have, breaking news or world events. But I'm already sick of the tabloid information like the Tiger Woods scandal, getting updates on which sponsor is the latest to cancel his contract (Pepsi).

When will people learn that athletes are not heroes.... He puts a little ball in a hole, there is a very bad joke in there but I'll leave it to your imagination.

The best benefit of all this information is, its dramatically improved my Jeopardy skills. I can remember playing in my 20s and was not nearly as successful.... I'd like to think I'm improving with age but that just may be wishful thinking on my part.

So Much for Unleashing Hell

If you are a Pittsburgher you know exactly what I'm talking about.... the coach of the Steelers Mike Tomlin promised us last week that he would not go quietly into the night and his team would unleash hell against the Raiders. Well we all know how that turned out and now we have Cleveland this Thursday night.

I know what you're all saying, it's Cleveland it's in the bag. Well friends,Last night my favorite team in all of sports the Pittsburgh Penguins lost to Carolina 3 to 2 after giving up three unanswered goals. This would not be so bad but Carolina had not won a single road game up until last night all year.

I don't know what these teams need to do differently. I'm sure they're eating their Breakfast City of Champions sold by Hines Ward and Max Talbot..... Getting to bed early and avoiding the temptations of the Southside.... Big Ben already has one lawsuit pending this year and Jeff Reed was already cited..... Repeat after me a parking lot is not a urinal.

I don't know what the SportsLine is Thursday night but you can bet I'm not taking Pittsburgh especially if they are giving up any points, we need all the points we can get these days.

I don't know, I just don't know

6 and 6, Mudville reacts

This weekend I could not buy a sports victory..... the Pitt Panthers were leading by 21 points on Saturday and ended up losing by one in the final minute of the Big East championship.

Saturday night the Penguins lost in overtime after tying the game in the final minutes.........

Sunday was the worst, the Steelers lost to the Raiders in the final minute, taking their record to six and six, losing four games in a row. Their playoff chances are almost nonexistent.

What has happened to the Steelers defense? They are unable to stop opponents in the fourth quarter, period. I have to face the fact that the Steelers are not a championship team this year. They have lost to some really inferior teams or at least that's what I thought of Cincinnati, Kansas City and the Raiders at the beginning of the season.

Giant Eagle Pharmacy

I was able to take advantage of the Giant Eagle free antibiotic prescription program this week, to receive my Cipro for a UTI. Their discount prescription program can be found at their website where they have many $4 and $10 prescription drugs.... I'm sure it saves a lot of people just like me.

Saturday Thoughts

First off, there are several games in Pittsburgh today and tomorrow, that will keep me glued to my television. The University of Pittsburgh plays Cincinnati for the Big East Championship at noon today. If Pitt wins they will get a BCS bowl game worth $17 million, if they lose they will go to a $1 million dollar lesser bowl.

Tonight the Pittsburgh Penguins play the Chicago Blackhawks at Mellon Arena at 7:30 PM. The Penguins have been on fire winning the last eight of 10 games....

Sunday the Steelers play the Raiders at 1 PM....... it looks like my weekend is pretty laid out watching sports.

If you have been playing Monopoly City Streets like me, it's about to come to an end. The makers of the online game announced it will end on December 9th... I'm not too happy about that.

Last night was the last episode of Mr. Monk, I will miss that show. He's one character on TV that I can identify with. My OCD is not nearly as bad as Mr. Monk but he does make me laugh.

CMH Recipient Told Not to Fly the American Flag

Col. Van T. Barfoot a Congressional Medal of Honor Winner and veteran of three wars was recently told not to fly the American flag on his property due to flagpole restrictions implemented through his homeowners association.

These people have obviously lost their minds. It is through the sacrifices this man made that we are able to enjoy all the freedoms we have in America. Now some homeowner association is telling him to take down the flagpole.... At 90 years old this man has earned the right to fly the American flag any damn way he sees fit.

Wheelie Catholic

Wheelie Catholic Today is International Day of Disability 2009. Please check out the outstanding post over at Wheelie Catholic's Blog, she says it much better than I ever could.

At the age of 31 I acquired my disability and like many individuals was pretty clueless when it came to disability issues.... Now that I'm part of this exclusive group I understand that disability affects all of us. If not you personally, a friend or relative or if you live long enough chances are it will affect you.

Attitudes towards disability and individuals with disabilities need to change. Access to technology, resources and barrier free environment's are a few of my pet peeves. Most of the time I am more disabled because of my environment or lack of resources than because of my spinal cord injury.....

Attitudes and perceptions need to be the first thing that change and that will happen through education of the general public. Have a great day and hopefully start thinking outside the box.

World Aids Day 2009

Today is World AIDS Day 2009 with a few exceptions. Uganda and Iran are more than likely not participating.... You see the official party line from the Iranian government is there are no AIDS cases in Iran. Uganda wants to sentence individuals with aids to life in prison or execution (that should make getting tested a real incentive)....

Aids is a disease that affects all populations. Get tested, and take the necessary lifestyle precautions....