eJM
10-06-2006, 07:13 PM
I never knew you all existed (I mean this forum) until this morning. Happy to have found you.
A year and a half ago I had a heart attack and didn't know it. I was with a friend one day helping him load lumber in his truck and having some shortness of breath. Although I was not feeling particularly well that day, I didn't attribute it to anything unusual because, after all, I had been a smoker for 35 years. I quit several years earlier, but I knew my breathing was not like it should be. But this day was worse and after trying to convince me for weeks to go to a doctor to get a thorough checkup, he had his chance to take me to the Veterans Clinic right then. I didn't even have the energy to protest.
Turns out I have end stage COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease). I have 37% lung capacity and walk around with a oxygen tank strapped to my back. But at least I still walk around -- somewhat. When I go to the grocery store here in my little town, the store is small enough for me to walk it and lean on a shopping cart, especially if I don't have any other physically demanding plans. But a shopping trip to Reno, where the stores are 2 or 3 times the size of our largest store, and where, if you enjoy shopping like I do, there are at least a half dozen locations around town to stop at, there's no way I can do all that without assistance.
I hate those slow-poke electric shopping carts at stores that have all the good stuff on shelves way out of reach. Getting up and down to look at everything is breath-taking to say the least. And none of the good stores, like those at the malls or the hotrod and computer stores and not one single clothing store has an electric cart. But complaining about my shopping experiences I will leave for another topic. I wanted to talk about something I thought I wasn't going to be able to do, until I had a flash of what I thought was ingenuity.
Every year, the largest gathering of floor covering professionals in the world takes place in Las Vegas at the Sands Expo Center. Surfaces (http://www.surfaces.com/) draws tens of thousands (where have you heard that term before) of participants and visitors and I have enjoyed going there a number of times over the years. In fact, I have been going to flooring conventions since my first one at "Market" in San Fransisco over 30 years ago. But they are just too big for me now. I very rarely see anyone in a scooter of any sort, and never have seen a Segway at a convention.
I wrote to the only Segway dealer in Las Vegas and to Segway Marketing with the hopes that they would provide me with a loaner for a few days during Surfaces in exchange for an article focusing on use by the mobility challenged (and I've never written about that subject before) and the exposure it would get in the flooring industry as a means of transportation in and around the huge carpet mills and other manufacturing facilities.
The Las Vegas dealer sent me a price list. Segway waited 3 weeks to answer me, just to say, "sorry..." no. But all was not lost. I happened to get a call from a former customer who chatted me up one day. I mentioned the idea and the let-down. I told him I would prob'ly rent one anyway, but I was disappointed. He said he knew someone... "let me call you back in a few minutes." I thought it was just a polite brush-off and a way to end the call, so I exchanged good-byes.
He actually called me back just a few minutes later. Gave me a number and a name in Oakland and told me to call him. I did and the guy already knew what was what and asked if I could take the long way to Las Vegas, via Oakland to pick up a new Segway to borrow for the convention. I said it was in February and he said the latest models should be in then and it would be fine.
Man, am I excited. I have spent the last few hours reading about Segways and in the process, found you all here. I didn't realize there was already a large group of dedicated people with disabilities (pardon my terminology as I am new and still in denial to some extent) promoting the use of Segways. In fact, I hadn't realized how much the quality of my life could improve if I had one of these of my own.
So, the coming months will be highly charged for me as I get ready for a great adventure. I will be going to Surfaces, not only to continue my 35 year affair with an industry I love, but to help promote my latest venture and would-be legacy, a support site for flooring professionals and consumers alike, and to begin what I hope will be my renewed freedom to shop until I drop.
Thanks for being here.
Jim
A year and a half ago I had a heart attack and didn't know it. I was with a friend one day helping him load lumber in his truck and having some shortness of breath. Although I was not feeling particularly well that day, I didn't attribute it to anything unusual because, after all, I had been a smoker for 35 years. I quit several years earlier, but I knew my breathing was not like it should be. But this day was worse and after trying to convince me for weeks to go to a doctor to get a thorough checkup, he had his chance to take me to the Veterans Clinic right then. I didn't even have the energy to protest.
Turns out I have end stage COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease). I have 37% lung capacity and walk around with a oxygen tank strapped to my back. But at least I still walk around -- somewhat. When I go to the grocery store here in my little town, the store is small enough for me to walk it and lean on a shopping cart, especially if I don't have any other physically demanding plans. But a shopping trip to Reno, where the stores are 2 or 3 times the size of our largest store, and where, if you enjoy shopping like I do, there are at least a half dozen locations around town to stop at, there's no way I can do all that without assistance.
I hate those slow-poke electric shopping carts at stores that have all the good stuff on shelves way out of reach. Getting up and down to look at everything is breath-taking to say the least. And none of the good stores, like those at the malls or the hotrod and computer stores and not one single clothing store has an electric cart. But complaining about my shopping experiences I will leave for another topic. I wanted to talk about something I thought I wasn't going to be able to do, until I had a flash of what I thought was ingenuity.
Every year, the largest gathering of floor covering professionals in the world takes place in Las Vegas at the Sands Expo Center. Surfaces (http://www.surfaces.com/) draws tens of thousands (where have you heard that term before) of participants and visitors and I have enjoyed going there a number of times over the years. In fact, I have been going to flooring conventions since my first one at "Market" in San Fransisco over 30 years ago. But they are just too big for me now. I very rarely see anyone in a scooter of any sort, and never have seen a Segway at a convention.
I wrote to the only Segway dealer in Las Vegas and to Segway Marketing with the hopes that they would provide me with a loaner for a few days during Surfaces in exchange for an article focusing on use by the mobility challenged (and I've never written about that subject before) and the exposure it would get in the flooring industry as a means of transportation in and around the huge carpet mills and other manufacturing facilities.
The Las Vegas dealer sent me a price list. Segway waited 3 weeks to answer me, just to say, "sorry..." no. But all was not lost. I happened to get a call from a former customer who chatted me up one day. I mentioned the idea and the let-down. I told him I would prob'ly rent one anyway, but I was disappointed. He said he knew someone... "let me call you back in a few minutes." I thought it was just a polite brush-off and a way to end the call, so I exchanged good-byes.
He actually called me back just a few minutes later. Gave me a number and a name in Oakland and told me to call him. I did and the guy already knew what was what and asked if I could take the long way to Las Vegas, via Oakland to pick up a new Segway to borrow for the convention. I said it was in February and he said the latest models should be in then and it would be fine.
Man, am I excited. I have spent the last few hours reading about Segways and in the process, found you all here. I didn't realize there was already a large group of dedicated people with disabilities (pardon my terminology as I am new and still in denial to some extent) promoting the use of Segways. In fact, I hadn't realized how much the quality of my life could improve if I had one of these of my own.
So, the coming months will be highly charged for me as I get ready for a great adventure. I will be going to Surfaces, not only to continue my 35 year affair with an industry I love, but to help promote my latest venture and would-be legacy, a support site for flooring professionals and consumers alike, and to begin what I hope will be my renewed freedom to shop until I drop.
Thanks for being here.
Jim