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.