I moved to Minneapolis 8 years ago from…wait for it…Green Bay, Wisconsin. I grew up in Green Bay and it’s a town that will always hold a special place in my heart. It’s a place where the mullet is still acceptable fashion and Color Me Badd is still played in the clubs. Of course, it’s also the home of the legendary Green Bay Packers. In Green Bay, football (the American kind) becomes the official religion of the town for four months of the year. On autumn Sundays, church attendance dramatically declines and the shopping malls are practically empty. The fire hydrants are painted green and gold, the official team colors. No, I’m not kidding. I can’t think of any other place in the United States that has its identity so intertwined with a sports team. It can be a bit much, to be honest. But I am a Packers fan and always will be. So on a whim, I called the Packers ticket office today and discovered that disability tickets are still available for several games. A road trip may be in my future.

In honor of my Australian readers, check out this on-line exhibit.
I wanted to comment briefly on the whole RIAA business. The strategy of suing one’s own customers seems dubious at best and it won’t do much to reverse the industry’s current economic woes. I can’t understand why RIAA doesn’t fully embrace the possibilities inherent in the Internet. I will gladly pay a small fee for a song if the quality can be guaranteed. For me, the MP3 format has changed the way I listen to music. No more asking someone else to dig through my collection and insert the disc. Now everything is just a click of the mouse away.
One of my fellow Minnesotans is harassing the Bush economic team. I love the job-hunting advice he gets from Secretary Snow: “Just wait.”
I’m debating whether to go to the Howard Dean Meetup next week.

I should have posted this earlier, but here is a blog written by a woman with multiple sclerosis. It’s really good, so check it out:
Broken Clay
I finished my latest short story. I hate it, but it feels good to finish it. I have a couple ideas for future stories, but I think I’ll focus on my book for the next couple weeks.
Following up on my link last week about the mind-controlled wheelchair, here’s a Wired article about brain-computer interfaces. If they can develop a way for me to play Doom III with just my brain, they can cut me open anytime. Imagine how much ass I could kick on-line by just thinking about it. Mwwaaa haaa haaa! This may sound weird, but this is actually an exciting time to be severely disabled. All of the pie-in-the-sky technologies like BCI are finally on the verge of becoming a reality.
I’ve decided that my next goal for this blog is to get it mentioned on Slashdot. Should we start an e-mailing campaign or should I just use my Jedi mind powers to persuade the editors I’m super-cool? Thoughts?

I’ve been busy getting things ready for my switch to having independent nurses. It hasn’t been easy. Most people in my position use a nursing agency to manage their staffing needs. I’ve been with a nursing agency of one type or another since I first was trached at age 13, some good and some bad. When I decided to go independent, I had to familiarize myself with a complex system of regulations, advertise and interview for additional nurses, show everyone how to submit the proper documentation to get provider numbers, orient new staff, draft a schedule, etc. I can’t imagine too many people choosing to go this route; it’s more complicated than it needs to be. But for my lifestyle, I think this will actually work pretty well for me. For the amount of advocacy I do for consumer control in my job, I should start practicing what I preach.
Democratic leaders are warning candidates not to seem “angry” or “far left.” When, oh when, will Democrats stop shrieking like schoolgirls when someone calls them liberal? For those of us who proudly proclaim our liberalism, it’s disheartening as hell. You don’t see conservatives running away from the “conservative” label. We let conservatives bait people with the “liberal” tag for too long. It’s time to take it back.

Was at Borders the other day and picked up Death in Holy Orders by PD James and Probability Moon by Nancy Kress. I have a problem when it comes to books. I walk into a bookstore and tell myself that I’ll just look around. That usually doesn’t work. It’s like a fetish, except you don’t have to take a shower afterwards. I’ve also been meaning to get over to Uncle Hugo’s again. Uncle Hugo’s is an independent bookstore in Minneapolis that specializes in fantasy and science fiction. They have an amazing collection and I want to get some stuff by Harlan Ellison that I can never find in the chain stores. The only problem is that Hugo’s has books scattered everywhere, including piles on the floor, which makes navigating the aisles in a wheelchair just a bit difficult.