I have seen many people parked in handicapped spots who don't have a right to be there. Sometimes I just let it slide because I see it so often; I figure its not worth getting angry over. But other times it irks me.
I stumbled across the website handicappedfraud.org which promotes strict crackdowns on handicapped parking violations and allows for reports of fraudulent abuse of handicapped parking spots.
To park or not to park, a thought which goes through people's minds when considering whether to park illegally in a handicapped spot, suaging their guilt by telling themselves they will only be a few minutes.
Fines for illegally parking in handicapped spots in the city of Calgary, Canada are going to be increased drastically from $150 to between $300 and $500, as a deterrent.
In Albany County, New York a crackdown was conducted this past weekend, with the event of Black Friday promising that shopping malls would be overcrowded. Due to the mayhem, people will do anything including park illegally in a handicapped spot to ensure they get the deals their looking for. Since 1994, this annual effort has resulted in $217,470 worth of fines.
I wanted to follow-up on a story that I referenced in a previous post about Ian Pearl, as belated as this may be. Ian, who has muscular dystrophy, was set to have his life sustaining coverage ended this Tuesday, December 1, 2009, if it weren't for those who rallied behind him to fight his insurance company, Guardian.
On October 14, The Washington Times broke the story about Guardian's plan to deny coverage to Pearl. In his defence, Ian posted a blog on the Huffington Post entitled "I Am Not a Dog" on October19. Three days later, Guardian issued a press release acknowledging that it would be a mistake to deny Pearl and others coverage. Ian's mother, Susan, wrote a letter to the editor of The Washington Times, thanking journalist William Ehart for writing the story about her son.
The national attention garnered by the article has led to the drafting of a bill by the New York State legislature which may become known as "Ian's Law." Such a law would ensure that members who have high insurance claims cannot be denied coverage.
A segway is a "self-balancing personal transportation device." Traditionally segways have two wheels, and are upright, but some come with four wheels which allows the person to sit instead of stand. The average segway weighs 120 pounds and runs costs anywhere from 5,000 to 7,000 dollars. Its top speed is 12.5 mph. The segway has made cameo appearances in pop culture, including use on MythBusters by Adam Savage. The segway also appeared in the movie Paul Blart: Mall Cop.
I would love to take a spin on a segway, just to try it out. The idea of it is very appealing, but not always practical. I like the idea of going down a sidewalk and not having to worry so much about tripping, but in crowded urban environments such as New York City, I imagine that the convenience of a segway would decrease dramatically. It would probably be easy to run over a few people in the street, on the way to work!
Still, I find myself wanting a segway. It would be nice to be able to tool around and not have to worry about the terrain of my environment or the condition of my joints. Call me lazy, but a segway would just be a different way of adapting to the challenges of my environment.
Daniel Corliss is indeed a remarkable person. In high school, he switched his mode of transportation from a walker to a wheel chair. However, after being hit by a car while in his wheel chair, he decided that he would walk again and began using his walker that he had not touched in 20 years. He is living his dream in pursuit of participating in the Little Rock marathon.
Shawn Murinko acknowledges that it is a balancing act to escape pity yet gain understanding from the outside world. Shawn followed his dream and has a law degree.
2:59 p.m. ~ A voice-over in J.D.'s voice expresses that it is best not to forget the kid inside of you and in the same closing scene, Dr. Kelso is seen driving out of the parking lot with the arms of the gorilla suit still on.
2:58 p.m. ~ J.D. lays some hard truth on his brother about how he's afraid to fail.
2:55 p.m. ~ Elliot is trying to mend the rift between J.D. and his brother but is not successful.
2:53 p.m. ~ Turk goes to the funeral of one of his patients that died on the operating table and forgets that patient's name in front of the widow, as a result he gets thrown out of the funeral.
2:50 p.m. ~ As punishment, Dan farts in the car with the windows locked and J.D. has to suffer the smell.
2:44 p.m. ~ Elliot is going out the lunch with J.D. and his brother to J.D.'s dismay. J.D. makes efforts to tell stories about how much a looser his brother is because he is embarrassed by him.
2:43 p.m. ~ J.D. and the janitor continue their daily feuds. The janitor is one of my favorite and more subtly humerous characters with more of the funniest single lines than most of the other characters.
2:41 p.m. ~ Its Halloween at the hospital and someone is walking around in a gorilla suit.
2:39 p.m. ~ "Stop your stupid laughing, it makes you look like a whore!" J.D. says to Elliot after imagining the sexual between his brother Dan and his on and off again girlfriend Elliot.
2:33 p.m. ~ J.D.'s older brother, Dan, shows up at the hospital to visit, gradually wreaking havoc on his life with his co-workers and friends.
2:31 p.m. ~ Turk and J.D. are shopping for a shower curtain, an employee at the store calls JD "Sir" which throws him into a crisis about his age.
2:30 p.m. ~ Now on to episode two, My Big Brother.
2:28 p.m. ~ The moral of this episode is accepting that people see you in less than a flattering light.
2:26 p.m. ~ Elliot embraces her new role as the hospital tramp, giving advice about sexual positions.
2:24 p.m. ~ Poor Ted gets in the way of Dr. Kelso's rage over Dr. Cox putting a patient in a clinical trial.
2:22 p.m. ~ Random nurse, Noel, asks Eliot where the G-Spot is because of her new reputation as a slut.
2:16 p.m. ~ J.D. messes up and causes a patient to lose his sense of smell.
2:15 p.m. ~ Ted the lawyer makes another timid attempt to give legal advice to Dr. Cox.
2:14 p.m. ~ J.D. feels left out of the boys club that is surgery.
2:12 p.m. ~ Word quickly gets around the hospital about her fling.
2:11 p.m. ~ Elliot has a one night stand with a new doctor, and asks him for exactly what she wants which is "Shirt on, lights off, no talking."
2:07 p.m. ~ Dream sequence one: J.D. meets a hot woman in a bar. Goes to kiss her, and a male opera singer pulls the wig off, revealing that she's a man singing "mistake."
2:03 p.m. ~ J.D. is wearing a new white Doctor's coat, and he feels spiffy! Elliot says "do me, do me, do me! In the middle of a bar.
2:00 p.m. ~ For the next hour, I will be live blogging two episodes of Scrubs entitled My New Coat and My Big Brother. Scrubs is a sitcom about a group of neurotic health professionals told mainly from the perspective Dr. John Dorian and his goofy daydreams.
I will be live blogging the sitcom Scrubs from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, on Saturday, November 21, 2009. Feel free to tune in to Comedy Central and comment as I post. It will be fun!
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