Great Events In World History, page 1

To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln, today I am one score and ten years old.

Deja Vu All Over Again

Four years ago today, I broke my neck and ended up in the hospital for 3 months. Today I came home from the hospital after having surgery.

Coincidence?

No, not at all. In fact, considering the 1461 intervening days, the two things probably couldn't be more connected.

I'd like to have this not become a habit.

Been There, Done That

I'm heading back into University of Michigan Hospital tomorrow (Wednesday 1/16) for another surgery in an attempt to get the pressure sore I've been dealing with these last five months to heal properly. Those who've been following along are already aware that the procedure I'm undergoing tomorrow will be a repeat of the one I had back in October. Although highly less than ideal, as I was anticipating as recently as December that at this point in time the wound would be ready to be closed. Upon closer examination, my surgeon determined that the underlying bone might still contain some residual myelitis infection. Thus, he will be opening the sore back up and performing another bone biopsy. This procedure and the subsequent healing period will be a setback of at least another six weeks of convalescence. Thanks to everyone who has and continue to send words of encouragement.

On Assessing The Qualitative Characteristics of Grass: Discerning Hue Saturation Levels on Opposing Sides of A Dividing Plane; Vis-A-Vis Greeness

Recently, on a thrilling Friday night in an effort to avoid watching yet another episode of Scrubs, I ended up watching the ABC TV news magazine 20/20. This particular episode profiled the stories of three people dealing with unusual physical deformities: a college student born without legs, a black, television reporter, with a rare disease that is turning his skin white, and a young model born without a right ear. Each segment focused the various challenges and difficulties each person deals with on a daily basis in relation to their disability. For example, in the case of the TV reporter (surprisingly, an entertainment reporter for Fox 2 Detroit) he has the challenge of being a black man turning white, working in a visual media, while trying to come to grips with revealing his changing skin condition or to continue covering his face with concealing make up. I found the story of the guy born without legs to be the most interesting, both in terms of the challenges he continues to overcome and how his situation relates to my own.

Some observations:
In terms of maintaining positive body image, I'll take useless legs; but on the other hand, useless legs are dead weight. He makes a life without legs look easy, but he's lived with it his whole life. Fully functioning arms and hands are the key. I loved the picture of the dog staring at him as he went on his skateboard at the dog's eye level. The skateboard is sweet, but in  Montana in the dead of winter? Seems impractical. He must use his wheelchair way more often.

Click picture for video

A production note: 
Not to be a dick, but to the producers of 20/20, if you really want me to have some sympathy for the model having a prosthetic ear created so her portfolio can also contain shots of both the right and left side of her head, try running her segment before the one on the guy born without any friggin legs who travels the world by himself on a skateboard! Just a suggestion.

Kevin Connolly's website

Adventures in Oblivious Copy Editing

This is the front page of Wednesday's Ann Arbor News celebrating Michigan's victory over Florida in the Capital One Bowl, played New Year's Day in Orlando. Michigan's head coach, Lloyd Carr, had previously announced he would be retiring after coaching this one last game - a big deal in the land of Michigan football fandom.

I really hope that the person who wrote this headline is proud of their handiwork, because I am. It'd be a shame if this choice of words was completely unintentional. Yes, I will run with the innuendo:

So, it is great to be a Michigan Wolverine.

I was unaware the game was played in Thailand.

Best severance package ever.

Way better than a gold watch.

Maybe the Rose Bowl isn't that special after all.

There's a time and a place for everything...it's called college.

Carr was overhead asking, "Can I retire again?"

Always read the fine print of the Capital One credit card application.

Russell Crowe was unavailable for comment.

It's good to be the coach.