So, after two and a half years of redesign, they still can’t prevent pieces of foam from falling off the fuel tank and dinging the shuttle. This might be one of those engineering problems that simply doesn’t have a foolproof solution. The fact that we still blast people into space on top of a container full of millions of gallons of flammable fuel with some reasonable expectation of safety continues to blow my mind. If it was up to me, I’d ground the whole manned program and use those funds to research and build a reliable means of conveying people into space. We’ve proven we can put people in space; let’s focus on finding a better way to do it.
One of my friends who was at the party works as a psychic. I’m a skeptic, of course, but I was curious and asked her if she can see auras and such. She nodded and said that I had a good aura with shades of yellow and green. Apparently, this mean I’m a laid-back thinker. Or it could say something about my allegiance to the Packers. I cannot say.

Today, I attended a conference to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. John Hockenberry delivered the closing address and he made some interesting points. He implied that any hopes of advancing disability rights at the federal level, whether in Congress or the Supreme Court, are mostly dead for the moment. Instead, attitudes about disability and disability rights will be shaped at the local level. All of those kids coming home from Iraq with serious injuries will do more to shape their communities’ views on disability than any court decision. He makes a good point. Most people seem to understand, at least in the abstract, that racism in wrong. But when it comes to issues of inclusion and accessibility, people don’t quite “get it” unless they have some personal exposure to people with disabilities. In the context of civil rights, people with disabilities continue to be viewed as a group that must be “given” rights, rather than a group with inherent rights. People with disabilities still have to beg and plea for things that other people would deem mundane; the right to enter a restaurant, the right to live at home, the right to work. The federal legal and legislative structures don’t have much interest in recognizing these inherent rights, but I have hope that it will be the towns and cities in every region of the country that will step into the gap and join us on the path to a more just and equitable future for everyone.
Remind me to refer back to this blog entry if I ever need ideas for a campaign speech.

It certainly was a nice gesture for the city of Minneapolis to have a massive fireworks display in honor of my birthday. Er, wait, it was Aquatennial, wasn’t it? I guess I’ll just have to keep writing letters to Congress about making July 23rd a national holiday.
Some pictures from yesterday’s party:

My friends Adam (who wrote the article about me for Law & Politics), Libby (another Humphrey Fellow), and her husband Kevin.

My friend Jess, who made me a very cool mixtape, and her friend Janean.

I nearly singed my eyebrows here. That’s my sister, Crystal, holding the cake.

From the right, Carrie, Nicole, Linda, and Traci. Nicole and Linda are both good friends and people well-known in the local disability community. Carrie and Traci are their respective personal care attendants.
The party was successful enough that I think I might try to make this an annual event. I saw friends I hadn’t seen in forever and it was good to reconnect with them. And I managed not to get blindingly drunk, but only because my nurse stopped pouring. She said something about not embarrassing myself, but my memory is kinda fuzzy on the details.

Windows Vista? Is Microsoft trying to sell an operating system or a minivan? i suppose it’s catchier than Windows XP, but it still sounds rather bland. At least Apple uses cool-sounding animal names like Tiger and Panther for its OS. Couldn’t M$ come up with something similar. Like, I don’t know, Windows Platypus. Or Windows Emu. At least people would remember the brand.
I just returned from the store with copious amounts of alcohol for tomorrow’s party. Since Wisconsin blood still runs in my veins, I had to buy a case of Leinie’s. You know, I still have never gotten property drunk. Do you think I’d be a mean drunk or a friendly-bordering-on-inappropriate drunk?

James Doohan, who played Scotty on Star Trek, is dead. Let us bow our heads as we remember episode #22, in which Scotty saved the Enterprise from certain destruction by reversing the warp engines’ polarity through a clever diversion of power from the forward shield generator, all the while proclaiming “Captain, she canna take much more of this!” Or maybe it was episode #23. Godspeed, Mr. Doohan.
I have a feeling I bought way too much food for my party on Saturday. If you’re looking for a free meal on Saturday, feel free to drop by. You can e-mail me at mcsiegel19@gmail.com for directions and other details. Because if there’s lots of leftovers, I’m going to have to figure out a way to blend it all up so I can dump it down my g-tube. And that just sounds nasty.