Wheelchair Saga Part 11

~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Hello, hello! How’s everyone doing this lovely Wednesday? Things here are usual. I was planning to toss up a picture of Mardi because she got groomed on Monday and the wheelchair guy came out today (Tuesday), so I didn’t expect to feel up to blogging, but I feel mostly okay and this post will be pretty short anyway. So, first you get cuteness! Then, an update on the Wheelchair Saga. You can parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 10.5 at their respective links.

Mardi says woof grrrrrr yip. You can translate that however you want. The other two are too skittish for grooming and we don’t want them snapping in a panic, so that’s why you don’t get to see them with little ghostie bowties. Plus, they run away when we try to get pictures. They’re around, though.

As for the wheelchair, Universal ordered new armrests like the ones on my current chair that don’t flip back and they have two posts that sit in receivers, so I feel more stable even though I know they aren’t (brains think weird thoughts). They’re what I was hoping for in the first place, but I guess John West can’t read since I specifically said “No flip up. As close to what I have as possible.” on the list I gave him when he came out to get the order ready. Dude can’t use a tape measure, so I don’t know why I expected him to be literate. And now, I’m just being a dick, so moving on!

Gustavo (the tech who knows the most about Quickies and lives in Florida) came out on the 20th and spent a few hours tweaking and adjusting things. Quickly found out that Sunrise (the makers of Quickie) didn’t include the receivers with the new armrests. So, he tried to adjust the current armrests to work for me. It’s so close, but the joystick mount keeps everything just out of my reach. The mount with the new armrests is supposed to do what I need, but we won’t know for sure until the receivers come in. The new armrests should also make mounting my headrest easier. There’s also a problem with the joystick that requires a new module so I can control everything the way I want. So, more parts to wait for. But Gustavo got the footrests back far enough I can use the ugly hangers. I got in the chair again. I still can’t drive it, but it was much better than last time. He even has a fix for the cushion problem which is great because I don’t think I can adapt to the seat that came with the chair. And that’s the update!

It’s been almost 3 months, so yeah.

I think Gustavo is hoping the parts come in before he goes back to Florida. We’ll see. But yeah, the update is basically that more waiting is in my future.

Bad Blogger

~ shawnaborman ~ 2 Comments

Hello, hello! How’s everyone doing this lovely Wednesday? I didn’t have anything to ramble or rant about. Well, nothing that I would do online anyway. So, luckily (for me, not for him), Dad had a blah day and we watched TV all day, thus giving me an excuse to avoid blogging. Hopefully, he’ll feel better tomorrow. It’s probably just his weekly reaction to Mounjaro (it helps control his blood sugar). The first two days after he takes it are rough. He’ll be talking to the doctor about other options because he won’t be able to afford it next year anyway! But hey, that random $90 the administration sent out really helped get those big bad insurance companies back in line, right? It’s really improving Medicare, right? Ugh. Anyway, here’s something pretty by Yuumei for stopping by! See you next week.

Random Updates (Including Wheelchair Saga Part 10.5)

~ shawnaborman ~ 5 Comments

Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this wonderful first Wednesday of October? Things here are about the same as always. I don’t have much to talk about. Everything is monotonous. I don’t have much in the way of options to do things until I can use the new chair. I can’t trust the one I’m using to keep a charge if we leave the house, plus it’s missing the headrest, so being in the van is weird and I feel super unstable and I don’t want to go anywhere without it. Yes, Dad can transfer it back to this chair, but I don’t need need it at home so I just keep waiting. Anyway. Life is boring. So, I thought I’d just list a few random updates and let you go back about your business.

1. Wheelchair Saga mini update: After some radio silence and a few Karen-ish emails insisting on an update, Mohamed has passed me onto someone named Arnav who is supposed to be the manager of the department. I got a little snippy because I also found out they already charged Medicare for the chair despite the fact that I can’t fecking use it yet. Arnav replied promptly to assure me that I can still refuse the chair if they can’t get it to work for me. But they’re getting different armrests and mounting gear for the joystick. Then, they’re going to make Gustavo (their most experienced tech) schlep all the way out here from Florida to work on the chair. He’s also supposed to “adjust the footrests” which means he’ll make the tiny adjustment possible with these footplates and it will do nothing, but at least he will be able to see if he can figure out different hangers or something that they can order. Anyway, who wants to start a betting pool? Will the new chair be useable by Thanksgiving? Christmas? My birthday? Will I just give up and refuse it and find a different chair that I’ll secretly loathe because it’s so slow? Who knows!

2. Writing: I missed a few days in September because Dad and I got our Covid and Flu vaccines. They always kick my immune system into overdrive for a day or two, so I feel like crap then need another day or two to recover from lack of sleep and general blahs. But otherwise, I’ve written every day since August 1st. I haven’t been going for a specific word count, but usually do between 150 to 250 a day. It’s not a lot, but it’s slowly adding up. I’m about 30 pages away from the midpoint of my book.

3. Reading: I’m barely on track with the review book for October. I like to be a little ahead by now, but I’m a few percent behind (yes, I track review books by percentage, like I need to read 5% five days a week aka 25% a week to finish in time to write the review of this one). And I’m even struggling with my “for fun” book right now.

4. Getting Universal to do their job, respiratory division: I recently got a new breathing therapy machine and it’s annoying. But there’s supposed to be an app I can put on my phone to make it less annoying. The problem is my machine doesn’t mention anything about the app. I contacted the manufacturer directly and they said I need a software upgrade. I told Ursula (a respiratory therapist at Universal who we love and who is absolutely the only reason I stay with this company) what was going on. She tried to get Universal to get the upgrade for about two weeks before she decided we needed to pull out the big guns (Dr. Lucifer’s (not her real name), my pulmonologist, office). Since then, I got instructions on how to set up the app, which still don’t work because my machine doesn’t mention the app at all. When I pointed that out to whoever emailed me, I didn’t hear back. So, I told Ursula because nobody keeps her in the loop. She pushed the people at Universal, and the next day I got another email saying they were working with a rep from the manufacturer on figuring out how to get the software upgrade for me. We’ll see how that goes.

I could keep rambling about stuff no one cares about, but it’s late. I think I’m just going to finish this up and watch tv or play games depending on what Dad’s doing. See you next week!

Thoughts on CHRISTMAS AT HONEYCOMBE BAY

~ shawnaborman ~ 2 Comments

Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this wonderful Wednesday? Medicaid is officially taken care for a year(ish) unless the administration keeps screwing with everything. Now, my main concern is the wheelchair (yeah, we’re still not done with that yet). Beyond that, I have a month or so where I don’t have to prove I’m cripple enough or poor enough to anyone. Huzzah! Don’t worry. A new round of that starts in November/December. Anyway… It’s the last Wednesday in September, so you know what that means. Book review time! This month, I ended up with a cozy Christmas romance. Christmas at Honeycombe Bay by Lilac Mills was released by Dell yesterday (the 29th). As usual, I must thank them and NetGalley for giving me access to an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Let’s do the thing.

Christmas at Honeycombe Bay follows Eloise and Bart. Eloise (60 and was recently let go from her lifetime job) wants nothing more than to escape all things Christmas, so she runs away to a seaside village that’s supposed to be dead in the winter. Bart (widowed and still wallowing in his loss) owns a B&B that he never really planned on opening again but does so just to prove he can run it alone with the bonus of having an excuse not to spend Christmas with his son’s family. Nobody in the B&B particularly wants to celebrate, but when a house fire a few doors down leaves a single mother and her young child homeless, what are they supposed to do? Bart and his guests decide to give the little boy and his mother the best Christmas they can, of course.

Plot: slow. This is obviously more character driven than plot driven. Yes, you get all the Hallmark romance plot points, but they take a backseat to the characters. Eloise is constantly ruminating on something. Bart is always fretting. And the biggest plot issue is that neither of them can openly communicate to save their lives. Based on the plot alone, the story is cute. It’s standard Christmas fare. There’s nothing special about it. That’s not to say it’s not good. It is. I found it to be very enjoyable. I’m just not going to add it to my list of books I want to re-read. It’s a one and done.

Characters: mixed bag. I didn’t like Eloise. She’s a whiny bitch and everything has to be her way. Her attitude is explained away as stemming from a tough childhood. She is 60. It’s time to acknowledge that other people have agency in their own lives. Also, nothing about her past is severe enough or explained well enough to warrant the hissy fit she throws when she discovers the town is trying something new this year. I also didn’t like Bart’s son. He’s the one who comes off as an uncaring gold-digger, so he has no room to accuse anyone else. And he doesn’t support his father at all even though the book tries to make it seem like he does. That being said, I loved Bart, Mitch, Sarah, and Toby. So, mostly good with a couple of meh characters.

Setting: LOVE! It’s a cozy English seaside village. What’s not to like? It’s a great book in terms of world building. I kind of wondered why it was so fleshed out until I saw a second book set in the same village is coming out next year. Different scenario and different people, but same setting. I don’t know if I’ll pick it up, but in case you were wondering, that’s why Honeycombe Bay is so vividly described.

Writing: not bad. Unobtrusive. I had to look up one or two things because it’s in England and I’m not. But that’s a me problem.

Ultimately, I liked Christmas at Honeycombe Bay for what it is. I’m not particularly interested in future books, but I’m not mad I read this one.

Overall, I gave it 4 out of 5 stars. A solid 3.5, anyway. If you enjoy binging Christmas romances (nothing spicy), you’ll probably like this one. If you’re looking for something special, keep looking.

Wheelchair Saga Part 10

~ shawnaborman ~ 1 Comment

Hello, hello! How’s everyone doing this wonderful Wednesday? Things here are usual. I called Medicaid again yesterday because I was still waiting. It seems like it worked, though. I haven’t received the official acceptance letter, but the renewal disappeared from my benefits page and both my end dates (I get Medicaid and a Medicare Savings Program from the state) have switched to a year from yesterday. That’s one less worry for now. Now, I just have to keep worrying about the wheelchair. Which is what this post is about! If you want to catch up on the Wheelchair Saga, here are the previous parts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. I’ll try to keep this latest installment short.

On Friday, September 18th, Universal sent Ricky (a different tech) out to work on the chair. He doesn’t know anything about Quickies either, but he’s a little more willing to experiment with things than Randy was. He spent like five hours here trying to get the joystick to mount directly to the armrest with what he had on hand. It didn’t work. No matter what he and Dad did. But he did want to see me in the chair, so I finally got to sit in it! I learned a lot. I think Ricky and Dad did too. Plus, Ricky got Gustavo (the most experienced tech they have who happens to be in Florida) on a video call. Gustavo mentioned maybe getting a Quickie rep out here who knows what they’re doing and what kinds of modifications are possible. Dad’s been saying they should do that all along, but honestly, Universal is the kind of company who will exhaust every one of their techs and the client before they’ll shell out money to bring in specialists. Even though it probably costs them more in the long run. It’s annoying.

Anyway! Here’s a revised list of things that need to be fixed/adjusted/tweaked before the chair will work for me.

1. Joystick issues. It needs to be mounted directly to the armrest instead of six inches away from it. The button still needs programmed. And I need to figure out the best mounting places for the two button boxes.

2. Footrests. Those hangers that I hate because they’re ugly? They also stick out way too far, so my toes barely reach the footplates. I need swing aways because I can’t straighten my legs to get my shoes on/off or my pants off, so we have to be able to flip the footrests back out of the way. Otherwise, I probably would have tried the behind the knee model that’s standard with this chair. But my feet also sit fairly wide apart, so don’t think that model would work for me anyway. I just need hangers that go straight down instead of jutting out. Tried my old ones on the new chair, but the part that goes into the mount is too small. Boo.

3. Armrests. They’re too high. That’s always been a problem with my Quickie chairs. Even when they’re at their lowest, we have to put a piece of wood under my seat to get me where my elbows can both rest comfortably. Hopefully these go lower (they’re completely different from my old chair, so maybe), but it’s not a problem that really worries me as much as the first two issues.

4. Headrest. It’s a matter of finding a new mount or clamp. The mount on my old chair is for a round pipe. The new chair is all boxy angles. Hopefully they can figure something out since it’s literally their job. But I also feel like it’s an issue Dad and a trip to the hardware store could solve if need be, as a long as everything else works out. So, I’m not losing sleep over this one. They don’t make side mounted headrests (I can’t be the only person who needs one, can I?), so it’s always an adventure rigging one up when switching chairs.

5. Thigh supports. Once everything above is taken care of and I can sit properly, we need to fit those to keep my fat ass from sliding around every time I hit a bump.

6. Ventilator. After we’re sure the chair will work for me, they need to move my vent over and hook it to the batteries of the chair.

7. EZ Lock. We need to figure out how to get a bracket for the new chair and install it so I can ride in the van. I don’t know if Universal can order the bracket or not. That’s usually done through the van modifications place and they charge ridiculous amounts to install one (they won’t just order it and give it to Dad for the cost of the part).

8. Seat cushion. My left leg went to sleep when I was in the chair, but I couldn’t sit normally, so it might turn out to be fine. We’ll have to see how I feel once I’m positioned properly. We may or may not need to get a Roho (my air cushion).

That’s all I can think of off the top of my head. It’s still a daunting list, but there are really only a couple major issues that need to be overcome. The rest is either stuff we deal with every single time I switch chairs or just things that need tweaks. It makes me feel a little better. This turned out to be rather long. Oops. My bad.

When Authors Don’t Know: A Rant

~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this lovely Wednesday? Things here are still a waiting game. I had to push a wheelchair meeting back from last week to this Friday (my fault, not theirs). I called Medicaid on the 11th and was told my review should’ve been done by August 28th, so she escalated it so someone should finish it soon. I guess I’ll have to call them every week until it gets done. Anyway, I don’t really have anything to ramble about today. But I promised an actual post, so I thought about it and I’m reading a new-to-me series that is both great so far and annoying as fuck. I guess I can rant about the annoying bit.

I started reading the Fourth Wing books by Rebecca Yarros. I made it through Fourth Wing and am about halfway through Iron Flame. I knew there was also Onyx Storm, but I didn’t realize there are at least two more books planned. I probably would’ve waited for them to come out before I started the series. But that’s beside the point. First, I should tell you what I like about it.

It’s a romantasy series and there’s sex on the page, so if you don’t like smut, it’s not for you. But I’m fine with it, so it’s not a problem for me. The premise is basically that the whole continent is at war, so there’s a war college where healers learn medicine, scribes learn to record events accurately, infantry learns to fight on the ground, and riders learn how not to get killed by their dragons. We’re focusing on the riders here. But what if those in charge are more busy hiding the truth than actually protecting their people??? Dun dun dun… Yeah, it’s not exactly original, but it’s fun so far.

I didn’t realize the main character was disabled when I bought the book, but I’m okay with that. Violet has an unnamed connective tissue disability, but given that the author has EDS, I’m guessing it’s something akin to that. There’s also a deaf character and some people know how to sign while others don’t. None of it is really a big deal. Sometimes, accommodations need to be made for Violet, but considering she bonded with the biggest badass dragon of her time, people just allow the accommodations to be made rather than facing the wrath of Tairn. Even when she’s in denial about needing different things, she eventually gives in and realizes it’s not cheating or whatever to do things that make her capable of doing what everyone else is already doing. It’s just part of life. So, I enjoy that aspect of the books.

But I did run into something that makes me irrationally angry. Bladed weapons are a huge part of the book. Most characters have at least one knife or sword or whatever. It’s so important that care and maintenance of the weapons is used as filler during dialogue sometimes. At one point it was mentioned that someone was sharpening their knife on a leather strap. But a strop doesn’t sharpen a blade, it hones it. Honing is realigning the cutting edge. Sharpening removes metal to create a new cutting edge basically. I’m no expert, but I do know the very basics and it makes me weirdly upset when I catch an author who hasn’t done a minimum effort of research. It makes me wonder what else is wrong with the book. Especially in fantasy and sci-fi, I count on the author to know what they’re talking about and when something simple crops up that’s wrong, it ruins their credibility. She got a little better in book two with honing vs. sharpening, but I feel like there’s still some confusion. Luckily, it’s not something that comes up often, so I try to ignore it when it happens, but it’s still eye-twitch inducing. And yes. I know it’s just a pet peeve. I’m being irrational. It’s just one of my things.

Anyway, I’m enjoying the series so far. The characters do seem to be much stupider in book two, so I’m not sure how I’ll feel by the end of it. We’ll see.

Wheelchair Saga Part 9

~ shawnaborman ~ 8 Comments

Hello, hello! How’s everyone doing this wonderful Wednesday? Welcome to September! Things here are still “hurry up and wait” all around (Medicaid, wheelchair, etc.). I wrote 15,365 words in August and I wrote at least a little every day. I plan to do it again this month with my only real goal being “write more than August.” Anyway, I don’t have much to ramble about, so here’s another update to the Wheelchair Saga. You can find parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 at their respective links. Here we go.

Background: Randy from Universal Med Supply brought the chair out on July 28th. Two parts were wrong. It should’ve taken a week tops to get the replacements, but for some reason it took them a month (no idea who dropped the ball on this). I spent a month having to pull teeth to get answers and timelines. I’m not a happy Cyn (for those who don’t get the reference, I’ve been known as CynicalCripple online since the Yahoo chat days and people still call me Cyn). Anyway…

On August 31st, Randy brought out the replacement parts. Problem? He never bothered to learn how to program the button I ordered. Second problem? He was running so late that Sunrise Medical’s IT department was already closed, so he was going to have to come back again to program it with help. Why not just reschedule when you realize you’re going to be that late? I mean… I could have been the bigger person and told him to just try again a different day because I knew that was going to happen, but I’m petty. They want to make him make a useless trip, that’s their problem. I’m not giving them an easy out after everything they’ve done. But I digress. He replaced the knee pads with the correct thigh pads. So, those problems are at least partially corrected. Also, Mohamed didn’t send the “try it just in case” armrest pads. Again. I figure those are never coming and Dad will have to come up with something if the current armrests are too narrow to support my left side and right elbow. Also, there’s a new problem!

No one (looking at John West here) bothered asking me about what kind of joystick mount I needed and I honestly never thought about it or mentioning it. I figured a standard mount that sits against the armrest would be, you know… standard. Oops. They sent a swing away mount. In theory, it’s great. In practice, it’s not particularly adjustable and it’s way too far from where my hand would sit. My current joystick has never been very comfortable for me in that respect, but the new one is impossible. So, now I have to wait for a new mount for that. No idea how long that’s going take. Ugh.

It’s not like walking onto a car lot and driving away with something. Don’t ever think being cripple is easy. It’s mostly just paperwork and waiting.

Thoughts on EXPERIMENTS IN OFFLINE DATING

~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this lovely Wednesday? Things here are all still in “wait” mode. Luckily, it’s the last Wednesday of the month, so you know what that means. Book review time! For August, I decided to go with a straight up romance. No fantasy. No magic. No monsters. Just two people falling in love. Which is weird for me, but once in a while weird things are interesting. Experiments in Offline Dating by Kat Mackenzie was released yesterday (August 25th) by Avon Books. As usual, I must thank them and NetGalley for access to an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Let’s do the thing!

Experiments in Offline Dating follows Maya, the cohost of a podcast where she goes on ridiculously bad dates (usually due to her own awkwardness) and tries to figure out how love works using the data she collects. She’s used everything from the apps to being set up on blind dates by random people. The fact that she’s 38 and has never been in love makes the spinster life seem inevitable. For the new season of the podcast, Maya decides to go offline and sign up for help from a real life Irish matchmaker. Can he help her find love? She doubts it, but at least she gets to explore Ireland between the absurd dates!

Plot and pacing: cute and off. The plot is cute. It’s your usual enemies-to-lovers fare. The matchmaker obviously has ulterior motives when he promises Maya a 3-week cross-country trip and immediately pawns her off on his grumpy son who she has already embarrassed herself with. It goes about how you’d expect. The only real problem with the plot is the banter. It enters bitchy territory a lot. It’s not cute or funny. It’s just rude as hell and I’m surprised no one gets punched in the face for the things they say. But that’s just me. The pacing, on the other hand, is not a me thing. It starts out super fast paced, then just kind of dies to a crawl about halfway through. There are two points around the 75% mark that are supposed to be pivotal scenes, but they both get glanced over. And the ending felt like cheating, but a lot of books pull that family emergency crap to avoid making the characters actually deal with things in a sane manner.

Characters: mostly good. I liked Maya and Tadhg a lot. I did want a little more background on Tadhg, but he fleshed out enough to be enjoyable. Simone could have used more page time. The only character I didn’t care for was Jackie. He’s supposed to be mischievous and adorable, but if you really think about what he does, he’s a manipulative dick. And dangerous. Luring people to a sea cave so they get trapped during high tide? That’s how people die. Giving out a woman’s phone number without permission? Ick at best. Setting the woman up with some “handsy” dude when you know she doesn’t like to be touched and doesn’t really know how to tell a dude to fucking stop if he wants to keep his fingers? Shame on you. But if you don’t think about it too much, Jackie’s okay too. And of course, Finn (the dog) is my favorite.

Writing: not bad. It makes for a smooth read despite the pacing issues. There was nothing bad about it. Nothing great either. It was unobtrusive, which I like. It didn’t get in the way of the story.

Ultimately, I enjoyed Experiments in Offline Dating for what it was, despite my complaints. It was basically Nobody Wants This (it’s a show on Netflix with a similar premise), but without the religious aspect. So, it’s cute and I’ll probably forget all about it by next week.

Overall, I gave it 4 out of 5 stars. Actually, 3.5. If you enjoy romances with enemies-to-lovers and partially sunshine/grumpy tropes, check it out.

Wheelchair Saga Part 8

~ shawnaborman ~ 9 Comments

Hello, hello! How’s everyone doing this lovely Wednesday? Nothing new here. Official status of basically everything in my life: still waiting. If you’re just tuning in to the Wheelchair Saga, you can find parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 at their respective links. This is going to be short.

Randy came out three weeks ago as of Tuesday around 3pm. The incorrect button was supposed to be shipped priority the day after he came out. It was shipped last week. I have had to be short in my emails to get updates. Yesterday, I asked for updates. The response was swift. Universal Med Supply has received the button and the new mounting hardware for the thigh pads, but there’s still no word on the thigh pads themselves. Mohamed called the wheelchair company and is waiting for them to get back to him about what’s going on with the pads. So, yeah. Still waiting.