Weird

Since I've had my iBOT, I've had two able-
bodied people tell me that they want their
own iBOT.

WTH?

The first one was at a jr. high. A 7th or
8th grade girl said to her friends, "That's
so cool! I want one!" I didn't say anything
to her. What could I say? The person I was
with though said, "Get yourself paralyzed and
then maybe you can get one."

The second one was last night. I was at the
mall (even though I hate the mall) and I rode
in an elevator with a girl who must have been
in her early 20s. She asked me questions
about it while in the elevator and then when
we got out, she said, "I'm so jealous! I
really want one of those!" She wasn't joking.
My daughter and I just looked at each other,
completely dumbfounded. I'd give that girl
every cent I have if she would trade her
unparalyzed body for my iBOT.

Ugh. I must be going through
a stage of having no patience for AB idiot comments.
There sure have been a lot lately. "I'm jealous,
I want one!" "Now builders won't have to worry
about ramps and stuff". "The iBOT scares young
children." Pffft!

This may seem like an unimportant thing...

I was at my parent's house on Sunday. They live
in the country next to a large river. There is a
tree on their property that is frequently visited
by a couple of eagles. My parents have their telescope
fixed on that spot and I got to look through it.
Without the iBOT, I wouldn't have been high enough
to look through it.

I used a point and shoot camera and took these photos:


What are you looking at?



It's A Bird ... It's A Plane ... It's Superman!


Like I said in the title, it may seem like an unimportant
thing, but our world isn't built for short people. Those
of us who are short and not children who can be picked up
or not AB so that we can step onto a step stool, miss out
on a lot of things that most people don't even think about.
In my manual chair I can't look through the telescope, at
museums I don't have the same view as a standing person,
at scenic outlooks there is usually a railing directly
infront of my face, at the deli and salad bars I can't
see what is available, at counters I'm often not seen and
then when I talk to the person behind the counter I have
to strain to hear what they are saying and I have to yell
back to them, in a crowd I mostly only see lots of lots of
butts.... I could go on and on. My point is, the balance
function of the iBOT is so important. All those little
things add up to a lot. When I saw my parent's telescope,
my first thought was "Oh, that would be fun to look
through... I wish I could." And then I remembered I was
in my iBOT and I could look through it! : )

--Editted to add: the middle picture isn't showing up. I
don't have time to figure out the problem right now, but
I'll come back to it later.

"I mean they literally scare small chidlren"!

The following was posted tonight under an entry
that I posted back in January. I've copied and
pasted it here:

Hamish said...

I'd rather ride around in a Sherman tank than in one of those overpriced, over-engineered, impractical ibots. I mean they literally scare small children. To each their own though.
April 22, 2008 7:39 PM

Hamish, what do you mean they "literally scare small
children"? You obviously do not have an iBOT yourself,
and so I'm wondering what sort of experience you've
had with the iBOT and small children? Also, care to
elaborate on your comment about it being over-engineered?

I've had quite the opposite experience regarding children.
Small children, medium children, big children... they all
love the iBOT, especially boys. Just today I was at the
store and a boy who must have been only about 3 years old
looked at the iBOT when I was in balance and his face
lit up and his eyes got big and he smiled and asked me
about it. I answered his questions and then when I left
and went around the corner, I heard him with a very excited
tone in his voice say, "Mom, how does she do that?!!!"

I don't think I've ever seen fear in a child's face when
they see the bot. Okay, maybe that one time there was a
bit of fear in that child that I plowed down, but that little
brat totally had it coming. Kidding! Honestly, I've seen
lots of looks of curiousity and fascination, but never looks
of fear.

Birfday

Monday, April 21st is my birthday. Yep. Just
thought you'd like to know so that you can wish
me a happy birthday! nudge nudge wink wink :D

BigDog Robot

Watch the BigDog video. Very impressive.

click here

And the dumbest iBOT comment award goes to...

The check-out guy at the grocery store last night.

Our conversation went like this:

Him: Does that go up and down stairs?

Me: Yes it does!

Him: Yeah, I remember seeing it on a show. That's
really great for designers because now they won't
have to worry about wheelchair access... like making
sure they have ramps and stuff.