Curb video

The iBOT can go up and down curbs that are no higher
than 5 inches. Actually, it can handle higher ones,
but IT recommends no higher than 5 inches.

BTW, you can see my new tires in this video. Apparently
a lot of iBOT users complained about the tires wearing out
really fast. These new ones just became available. They
are supposed to last longer, which is good considering
some people were having to replace their tires every
couple months.

I don't really notice any difference in them regarding
performance. They're definitely thicker though.

I didn't attempt to put them on myself. I took them
to the local bike shop and had them do it. It took
the guy probably 45 minutes to take the old ones off
and put the new ones on.

I just can't get enough

beach time.

I've been asked what would be the very first thing
I would do if I were given the ability to walk. My
answer has always been that I would go for a walk on
the beach. Getting the iBOT and going for "walks" on
the beach is the most amazing thing.

(My apologies to my readers if you are getting tired of
me going on and on about the beach, but I can't help it!
It brings me so much happiness. Now if I could actually walk
barefoot and feel the sand on my feet, I'd probably fall over
dead.)

I haven't had the chance to go on the ocean beach yet
because our weekends have been full and the kid has
school during the week. I told my daughter that I
wanted to take her out of school for one day so that we
could go to the ocean. She says she doesn't want to
miss a day of school. What the?! I think I'm just
going to have to force her to play hookie!

She and I went to the river beach yesterday. BTW, the
ocean beach is an hour and half drive from our house
while the river beach is only a 5 minute drive.



This is downtown Portland.




You know, I should probably just get myself a house boat.

Er, wait a minute. I don't have 5 bazillion dollars.

The following photos are from this morning. The little
dog is Gus' friend Annie. This series of photos makes me
laugh.


La la la, I have a ball and I know you want it.


Bet you can't get it!


Yay, here he comes!


He'll never catch me!


Victory is mine once again!


Wanna do it again?


I could catch you if I wanted to. I just feel like rolling
in the sand.

Face on a Bug

While exploring today, G and I came across this bug.

How cool is that?! I've never seen a bug like this
before and I have no idea what kind of bug it is.

Anyone know?

iBOT and the sand

Just a little video from the beach last night...

So much fun on the beach

My daughter and I, along with our dogs, went down to
the river last night. We had so much fun. Without
the iBOT, this would have been impossible.

Check out how happy they all are:

Bottin' around the neighborhood

I spent most of today cruising around the neighborhood.
I went by the bike shop and they gave me the name and
number of a guy who can maybe do the mods I want done
to the Bot.

Found out that I probably won't tip over if I'm in Balance
Function and I have a flat. I was showing the Balance
Function to the mailman and he noticed that one of the
wheels was practically flat.

I had some trouble with a curb. I can't figure out what
went wrong, but it really bounced me around. Gave me a
big headache even.

Took a bunch of pictures while exploring. All of these
are from today. I dedicate them to the cute guys in
Pizzicato! Wanna teach me photoshop? ;D

Does the iBOT make my neighbor's homes accessible?

No. : ( At least not the majority of them. While the
sun peeked out from behind the clouds for a few minutes,
I went around my neighborhood a bit and this is what
I found:

I looked at 43 houses. With assistance I'd be able to get
into the majority of them. But I don't have an assistant
with me ever really. And it's not so simple that I can just
tell a person how to assist. The assistant needs to be
trained by a representative from IT.

22 of the homes I looked at had no railing at all.
To do the stair climbing on my own, there has to be
a railing.

13 of the homes did have a railing, but the railing
did not extend beyond the top step which is needed
for me to do stair climbing.

2 homes did have railings, and the railing did extend
beyond the top step, but the landings were too small.

There were only 6 houses that I would be able to
get into on my own. That is 6 more than I can get into
before I got my iBOT, but still, that's a pretty low
and disappointing number. Hopefully engineers are
working to make it so the iBOT user wouldn't need a
railing. The way it is now, it's absolutely necessary.
There's no getting around it. I'm sure someday someone
will come up with something genuis that does not require
a railing.

I have to admit that the stair climbing function on the
iBOT has turned out to be a bit of a disappointment.
However, the 4-Wheel Drive and the Balance Function have
exceeded my expectations!

Responses to my poll question

As of right now, there are 13 people who answered my poll
question regrading insurance companies paying for the iBOT
or not. 12 said yes, 1 said no. I'd love to hear from
the person who said no. You can leave an anonymous comment!

Yay, the sun just came out. Gotta go!

New poll question

There is a new poll question near the bottom of this page.
Check it out!

Name it

On the way to school this morning my daughter said, "I really think
you should name the iBOT. It's so special and it deserves a name."