Robert got his wheelchair the other day, finally. And man, is it nice. Sitting next to the Invacare 9000 rental (list price, $989), the Tilite XC (base price $3095) looks like a Lexus sitting next to an old Ford Maverick.

And it makes all the difference in the world in his outlook, and that is priceless! Already today, he’s ventured out to the grocery store with the care giver, and insisted on putting most of the groceries away himself.

The rental chair was a completely inappropriate chair for Robert. It is not a chair for a para, the footrests were huge, the chair was way too wide for him (I suspect it was a bariatric chair), and because our old apartment has fairly narow doorways, he was basically confined to the bedroom unless I wheeled him out (sans footrests).

Me and my toes and my cats and their tails better watch out!! Go, Robert!

I’m using Wuh-Wuh, an “improved” version of WordPress. It has the capability (as does Greymatter) to keep a post “at the top.” It’s called a “sticky” post in WordPress/Wuh-Wuh.

So. Please change your bookmarks if you would once more, please. Jump to the left, turn to the right. . . . You know the drill. The old jonielectric.com site is no more and I don’t plan to renew the domain (it expires on August 14). Jonimueller.com is simply going to house non-blog stuff. And one day I will stop fiddling with my site. (It’s called getting laid out in a coffin, uh-huh!)

http://www.joniverse.com

I need to go back through my posts and fix the links that point to jonielectric.com or jonimueller.com. So for now, you’ll probably encounter broken image links in old posts. (Did you really need to see another photo of my cats anyway?)

This blawger has quite a tale to tell about the various secretaries he’s had, both good and bad! The post is appropriately titled Staff Infection. My sides hurt.

I started to post a comment over at Houston Clear Thinkers, and it was so darn long-winded, I thought I better go back to my own web site and post it there! So here’s my reply to Tom’s musings about the increase in obesity in our society.

The refusal (or to be less harsh) the unwillingness to take responsibility for one’s one decisions and circumstances is pervasive in our society.

I am fat. I admit it. And it isn’t anyone else’s fault but mine. And although doctors may beg to differ (as unattractive as begging is), I feel healthy, get around just fine, am cute as a button, and don’t otherwise have any health problems. So until and unless the fat itself becomes a problem, I’m not worrying about it. On the other hand, I’m not sitting around chug-a-lugging milkshakes and eating hamburgers by the dozens. [But don't scroll down too far on my blog or you'll find the photos I took of the batch of artery-hardening chicken I fried just this time last week!]

One thing that has always bothered me about the various 12-step programs is that right off the bat, they start out by making you say that you are powerless. Well, no, you aren’t. No one is. Once you get over that stepping stone, ALL things are possible, no?

The number of people with bona fide eating disorders or metabolic problems is probably much smaller than reported. Everyone who is overweight would probably like to blame their condition on something other than their own bad habits. And face it, wouldn’t you rather eat a pint of Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Chocolate Fudge Sundae than a fat-free rice cake?

I also found the correlation between the anti-smoking campaign and the increase in obesity kind of funny. When I was much younger, I attempted to lose weight by smoking, as I’d heard that when you smoked, you didn’t feel like eating. Au contraire, mon frere! The minute I put a cigarette in my mouth and took that first drag, I found myself wanting to eat to get the taste of the vile thing out of my mouth. So much for that experiment!

It took me a long time to get where I am now, mentally. To decide that I like myself fine and dandy just the way I am. If someone else has a problem with me, my weight, my appearance, my attitude or anything else about me, it’s just that: their problem.

to another reiteration (reincarnation?) of my web log. As you may have surmised from reading some previous posts, I’ve been hell bent trying to bend WordPress and Wuh-Wuh to my will. Finally managed to get Wuh-Wuh up and running. Designed some new skins (16 of them to be exact!) and modified the WordPress template quite a bit as you can see. Of course, that wasn’t without its own set of problems, as I still design for the IE6 crowd. Forgot to check my site in Firefox. Yeep. It had fallen victim to a float clearing bug. But I managed to squash it out (I think).

You should probably change your links to:

http://www.joniverse.com

But don’t worry too much about it. I’ll be putting a permanent redirect over www.jonimueller.com/blog.

Tomorrow I want to talk a bit more about Wuh-Wuh and why I’ve been so taken by it. For now, I think I’ll turn in. Tomorrow is, after all, Monday. You know what Mondays are like!! Later, peeps!

I confess. I am. I am addicted. I cannot help myself, cannot stop.

Read more .. »

Robert and I went out to eat tonight to the Puerto Vallarta Mexican seafood restaurant. It was great. I had the shrimp mojo de ajo (garlic and butter sauce) over spaghetti. Robert had a big fajita plate. Our friend and Robert’s caregiver, Pete, had fried oysters. We had a great time. On the way out, this was parked at the curb getting ready to make a fast getaway. I begged the driver to let me have a snap, since I had my new Cybershot with me. What a great ride. And it was a perfect day to “go topless.” Those days are rare in Houston. Slightly warm, not humid, though. Not today anyway.

I was browsing this afternoon and stumbled upon this guy’s Gallery. He’s got an album entitled “Political Hoohah” — check it!

I’ve been laying low for a few days, recharging my batteries. Things are a bit slow at work, so that I finally got my desk drawers and workstation reorganized. I need to trot all my personal items back to the office — the ones I boxed up in glee when I thought I was going back to the float pool. They are sitting here in a banker’s box in the corner of the living room.

Robert and I ate like pigs tonight, twin Lu-Ann fried chicken platters, with identical sides of mac-n-cheese and corn. He’s watching wrestling on TV right now (ugh). I’m piddling around on the computer as usual. Cats aren’t very far away. Look for a new site launch in the next week or so, from a new web hosting client! {{claps hands together excitedly}}

There you have it. All the news that wouldn’t be news without the news.