It's My Life

Well, not really, but you gotta admit, it caught your attention, right? SMILE! I did want to talk about time and toilets though. Don't ask, just read. No, this isn't going to be morbid or gross for anyone who just might happen to be a bit squeamish.

Let's start with time. Well, stop with time? Anyway, let's talk about time. I woke up this morning to light pouring through our cheap blinds. I felt a little bit like I was going to get a head ache, and checked to see what time it was. 1:05 AM? Um, I don't think so. Book Port, oh Book Port, where did you get to in the middle of the night. Oh, there it is in the middle of the bed. How did the unit and my pillow speaker get so far away from me, and how did I keep from strangling myself in the middle of the night with that extremely long cord? Anyway, the time. 7:39? Ouch! I've got a ride coming in less than an hour and a half, and my watch battery is apparently deader than dead. Hello Friday. Let's not mention the fact that Cally wasn't at my feet waiting for me to wake up. Some cat she is! Hmmm!!!!!

Okay, so I'm up. Jim's sleeping on his recliner. Either the cats and I pushed him out of bed again or he had another insomniac night and went out there to keep from waking me up. Either way, it's time to lay on the charm, really thick. So, mister darling handsome young man ... You get the picture. SMILE! I wanted to borrow his watch. It's big, it's bulky, but it's braille, and I have a problem with talking watches when it comes to wearing them. To me, they're just too weird. I like braille watches because they look more standard, and when I'm working with clients or in meetings, they're a lot quieter. Jim offered me his old watch, but the crystal is taped on, and I thought that would look really tacky. So, I got his watch. It's funny. He was looking at mine, and he said that he didn't know how anyone could read it because it's so small. His on the other hand, is so big that I have to look farther for the dots on the watch face. Size wise on my arm wasn't so bad. I have big hands and wrists, and most of the standard women's watch bands are two small for me anyway, so his band actually felt kind of good. Unfortunately, I have a problem sometimes with skin irritation from the back of the watches. This started to happen with his watch while I was out today. I was very happy when Jim got home this afternoon and handed me my watch, complete with new battery. It doesn't take much to make me happy some days. SMILE!

Now, for the topic you've all been waiting for ... .. .. toilets! Why am I writing about toilets where anyone and their brother can see it? For the simple fact that I was in a contemplative mood this afternoon after spending 5 hours with a client. I had some asthma issues while at her house, and needed my inhaler and a glass of water to settle things down. After finishing up with her for the day, my driver and I headed to Burger King for a very late lunch. I needed to use the bathroom before ordering, so my driver brought me to the door and I went in. The room was fairly small, and the first thing I noticed was that the so-called handicapped accessible stall door opened inward. Now, let's think about this here. You're in a wheelchair, and the door you're trying to get into can't be closed because your chair is in the way and you have absolutely no way to maneuver it out of the way to close the door, and the stall isn't big enough for you and your wheelchair anyway. Hello? What happened to privacy? so I shut the door, grateful that, at the moment, I have two working legs and feet. Then came the dreaded seat. Yes, I know they say that women shouldn't sit down in public restrooms because you never know what kind of disease you could get, but standing is just, it's just not normal! So I started to sit, and sit, and sit, and ... Finally I got the seat. This thing was really low! So again, you're a wheelchair user, you have a lot of leg problems. Maybe getting down isn't a problem, but how are you supposed to get up when the toilet comes up to your shins? Next we come to the bars. Oh wait, that would be the bar. There was a bar on only one side of the stall. Yes people, I'm going to pull myself up using one hand grip bar and the toilet paper dispenser ... Oops, there goes the dispenser. I guess I broke it. Was it really necessary anyway? Not only is the dispenser now on the floor, but said person, who really needs the support of two bars, has lost her balance and fallen on the floor because one of the needed supports is gone. Can we all say "law suit"? Then there's the issue of the sinks and paper towels. The single sink is situated at an angle directly in front of the door. Anyone who walks in would have to run directly into the person using the sink. The paper towel unit is placed up fairly high on the wall. I can reach it from a standing position, but anyone who is even shorter than me, *yes, people actually do come shorter than me), or people in wheelchairs would have no hope of reaching this dispenser. Just so you know, I myself didn't break the toilet paper dispenser off the wall, this was simply a hypothetical situation that could have happened.

So why did all this go through my mind while I was in there? I honestly don't have a clue, but I do tent to be critical of places that claim to be handicapped accessible. In my opinion, putting up a grab bar does not make you compliant with the ADA.

So, that's my bathroom rant. Now, aren't you all glad you decided to read my entry today? SMILE! There's not too much else going on right now. Since it's Friday night I'm kicking back, relaxing, and of course, writing this entry. I think I'm going to go and read a book though, and leave this computer thing alone for a while. So long everyone!