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Week of May 17, 2009 - May 23, 2009

My 'Special' Friend. A tribute to the living.


His nickname is 'The Hook", and we met in our kayaks in an eddy of the Rio Grande, over 10 years ago.  I had been talking to him for about 10 minutes before I realized he was missing his left forearm and had been paddling his kayak using a prosthesis designed over 80 years ago, a medical invention that was mothered by necessity in the aftermath of WWI.  He'll happily tell you the story of how he lost his arm at age nine when he reached into an uncovered electrical transformer.  A playmate of his watched as he was blown out of his sneakers by 7200 volts of electricity, launching him 30 feet through the air.  The treating physicians hypothesized that the impact of landing on his chest most likely restarted his heart.  He has met and corresponded with many victims of electrical shock, but has yet to meet one who has survived one of that magnitude.  He was lucky.  His mom, a RN, rushed him to medical care, where he spent 6 days in a coma, and another week watching his forearm wither and die in the bed beside him prior to its' amputation.  He recounts how even at that young age, he felt like the gods had placed a task before him, and he thought, "Yeah!  I can do this!".   He grokked his handicap as his mantra and mission.  It was a defining moment, and in a sense provided him at least one raison d'ĂȘtre.  If you ask him, he will tell you he has two birthdays: on his first, he well and truly entered this world, and on his second he lost his left forearm and embarked on a new journey separate from the path he previously traveled.  His sense of humor would probably compel him to describe it as a journey he undertook single-handed. 


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miguelitoh2o

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  • Location Rocky Mountain states
  • Party WORLD
  • Politics No thanks, I've had enough.

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  • Favorite Blogs http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/ http://www.shavemyyeti.com/
  • Favorite Books Authors: Robertson Davies, Isaac Asimov, Bill Bryson, Margaret Atwood, Michael Connelly, Salmon Rushdie.
  • Favorite Quotes A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving. - Lao Tzu Every now and then when your life gets complicated and the weasels start closing in, the only cure is to load up on heinous chemicals and then drive like a bastard from Hollywood to Las Vegas ... with the music at top volume and at least a pint of ether. - Hunter S. Thompson To me, boxing is like a ballet, except there's no music, no choreography, and the dancers hit each other. - Jack Handey "If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough" - Mario Andretti 'Somebody at one of these places ... asked me: "What do you do? How do you write, create?" You don't, I told them. You don't try. That's very important: not to try, either for Cadillacs, creation or immortality. You wait, and if nothing happens, you wait some more. It's like a bug high on the wall. You wait for it to come to you. When it gets close enough you reach out, slap out and kill it. Or if you like its looks you make a pet out of it. - Charles Bukowski

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Since I was a kid, I've always favored dogs and more especially, underdogs. Career in the arts by way of biology/pharmaceuticals. Currently trying to make my way in the world by tying balloon animals, although the competition is fierce now that the official unemployment rate has topped 10%.

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