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Talk about things that make a person want to scream!!!
I occasionally use my state's paratransit program to get home from work when Chris has to work late or otherwise can't be there to take me home. A few weeks ago I called to schedule a ride after not having used it in a couple of years, and discovered two things: 1) that my eligibility for the program had expired and I needed to renew it; and 2) that once I got my new account number I'd be able to use a completely automated telephone system to schedule my rides rather than talking to an agent.
Now, I know a lot of people can't stand these automated systems, but I love them, for several reasons. A lot of it comes from the fact that I hate talking to strangers on the phone... I always have. It's this social awkwardness that I cover well when I have to, i.e. all day long in my job, but I welcome every opportunity to take a break from trying to sound like a normal person, and just carry on my conversations with computers, with whom I get along much better. And specific to the RIde program, the thought of never having to deal with one of their agents again was especially appealing. These people, although it's their entire job, never sound like they are particularly thrilled to be talking to you. And not only are they short and unfriendly, they often mix up details or just completely fail to do their jobs correctly. Most commonly they reverse pickup and drop-off locations, and I am left waiting for the shuttle at work while they sit outside my condo and then report me to dispatch as a no-show. There was one time, I sat waiting at work over thirty minutes past my pickup time, and called the dispatch center only to find out the reservationist I spoke to just the day before never entered my trip into the system. So you can see why I was happy for the opportunity to enter my trip requests directly into their computer system myself, bypassing these incompetent morons.
Except it seems those incompetent morons must have been who designed the new automated phone system. I tried to use it for the first time today, and for the first time ever felt like one of those people who ends up ripping their hair out trying to get through one of these systems. First, it's voice activated, which is fine as long as the people recording the prompts realize that they eventually have to shut up to give the caller a chance to say a command. Interrupting it doesn't work; it inevitably fails to recognize what was said, then spends another five minutes explaining what the options are before taking a two second breath, during which the caller must try to quickly blurt out their command before it starts talking again. There is an option to switch to touch tone only mode, so I try that instead. But now my trip time (5:00pm on April 28) is invalid; it tells me I can only schedule up to 48 hours in advance... But wait - a minute ago when I was on the voice activated system it said it had to be at least 48 hours in advance, up to 14 days! At this point I hang up and call back, staying on the voice activated system. This time I manage to get through the date and time selection, which it accepts, and next it asks where I need to be picked up. "This can be home, or one of your five favorite locations." Since I have never used the automated system before, there are no favorite locations configured, and it gives no indication how to configure them. I try saying, "favorite locations". "I'm sorry, what was that? I need to know where you are being picked up. This can be home, or one of your five favorite locations. For home, say 'home'." Yeah, thanks, moron robot woman, what do I say for a favorite location... or to create one, for that matter? I try saying the address. Same response. Fine, I'm fed up... I say "agent" to be transferred to a live agent (something which it has assured me I can say at any time during the call). "Okay, please hold while I transfer you." The line goes silent for several seconds, and then I am transferred... back to the beginning of the automated menu.
Seriously, has anyone ever managed to successfully schedule a trip through this thing?!
The worst part is, I still never managed to schedule the trip! I called back, opted not to press 9 for the automated system and instead pressed 2 for the old live call center, and sat on hold longer than I ever had before they installed the automated option, before I finally had to give up and get back to work. So much for the new system reducing call load for the live operators, eh?
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![[photo of gloves]](http://www.confoozled.com/archives/assets/IMG_0049-thumb-200x150.jpg) Keeping toasty warm in my gloves and jammies. Lately when I spend time at my home computer, my hands have been getting cold and the back of my right hand even goes numb... a rather unpleasant sensation. It doesn't happen if I crank the heat up high enough, but then my computer overheats, especially if I'm playing The Sims 3. You can tell by how much louder the fans get.
So I think I've found a solution. I got some knit gloves nice and cheap at Target ($1.50 for two pair), and this weekend I sat down and laboriously cut the fingers off of one pair, and made myself some "typing gloves". They seem to be doing the trick! They do slow down my typing a bit and I took a big hit in the accuracy department as well, but most of the time on my home computer is spent playing games where I only have to hit a key here and there, so I don't think it will matter much. They work so well to keep my hands warm that I've even been wearing them around the house when I'm not at the computer. The hardest part is coaxing all of my twisty fingers into the right holes to put them on, but I am getting the hang of it.
Other things I learned in this process are that kitchen shears work much better than office scissors for cutting through gloves, and that the trick is to pull back on the scissors, rather than pushing them forward. Oh, and that the bottom of my new camera is not particularly flat, and it can lose its balance easily when I press the shutter button for a timer shot. 
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A couple of years ago I discovered what just might be the most useful "gimplement" (that's a tool, or implement, that makes life easier for gimpy people like me - otherwise known as a daily living aid) I have ever owned. It's actually a pair of tools: two different styles of Telestik portable reachers.
Standard reachers have always been useless to me, as they require the user to squeeze a trigger in order to grip an object, and hand strength is not something I was blessed with. Telestik reachers use alternate methods of grasping objects, and require very little hand strength. Between the two models, there are three different ways to grab onto an object. The MA4000 model features a powerful magnet capable of lifting metal objects up to one pound. It is also hook shaped, allowing one to snag objects which may not be attracted to the magnet. The other model, AD3000, has a strong, yet clean adhesive, also capable of lifting up to one pound. Despite its strength, the adhesive doesn't leave behind any sticky residue and won't tear paper. It can be easily cleaned with soap and water if it begins to lose its stickiness, and the adhesive discs can be replaced. It also has a cap to protect it when not in use. While this model does also have a small hook on the back, I find that most attempts to use it cause the cap to fall off.
I use my MA4000 every single day, for all sorts of things. If I need to pick up a stack of papers from the floor, I'll drop a metal clip, clip it on the pages with my feet and then snag it with the magnet. I can pick up a toilet paper roll from low storage spaces by wedging the hook inside. I even use it to tuck hair behind my ears and to pull my glasses off of my face.
I use the AD3000 less often than the magnetic model, but it is still handy for those times when I need to retrieve an object that is neither magnetic nor able to be caught by the hook on the MA4000. Among other things, I have used it to pick up a piece of paper that fell behind my desk, a TV remote dropped between the couches, and even to lower food packages from the kitchen cupboard.
One of the best things about both Telestik models is that they are telescopic, and collapse down to about seven inches long. This makes them extremely portable compared to those bulky squeeze trigger reachers, as they can easily fit into a purse or backpack to go everywhere with you.
I can no longer imagine life without my Telestik reachers. In fact, I'm going to add a second pair to my Christmas list, so that I can have a pair both at work and at home. (Even though they're super portable, digging around in my purse all the time gets to be a hassle, and often in the haste of leaving either location, something gets left behind.)
Disclosure: The links in this post are affiliate links, and I will be paid a commission for sales generated through them. The opinions, however, are 100% honest and mine alone.
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Shopping for clothes is usually an extremely frustrating experience for me. Differences in the shape of my body, and in my ability to get certain items on and off independently, mean that I have to be very particular about the styles I select. People think I'm being overly picky or stubborn, but it's really just that I know my body and I know what works and what doesn't, and it seems that as time goes on, the fashion world moves further and further away from the styles that work for me. I really wish they would stop that.
But sometimes, I manage to be in the right place at the right time, and have a really satisfying shopping excursion, just when I'm about to give up.
Since the weather has cooled off, I have been searching for some new winter pants to wear to work... well, and everywhere else. The several pairs of cotton jersey knit pants I have been wearing for the past few years have definitely seen better days. They've shrunk, thinned and faded from years of washing, and they have holes in them from puppy claws and teeth. So I've been looking for something similar, but it seems the style this year for elastic waist pants is an extra wide waistband, which is usually not stretchy enough for me to pull down, and a low-rise waist which pretty much makes thong underwear mandatory - and I'm sorry, but I don't do thongs. This is all I've been able to find.
Since I had to go to Target anyway the other night, I decided to look there for pants, even though I've never had much luck with clothes shopping there before (though I absolutely love the store for everything else). Well, this was one of those rare occasions, when I was in the right place at the right time.
Before I even got to the pants, I saw a dress I really liked, so stopped to look at it. It was a long halter dress, brown with purple and teal paisley. It had been marked down, and then marked down again, for a final price of six dollars and twenty-four cents! Yeah, that went in the cart. Then I noticed that they were having a clearance sale on summer items, so I started sifting through the racks. I wear a lot of plain, solid color tee shirts - by themselves in the spring and summer, and then under my sweaters and sweatshirts in the fall and winter. I found one of these, in navy blue, for less than two dollars, and a cute shirt with ruffled cap sleeves for seven and change. When I finally got to the pants, I was disappointed to find nothing but more of the same low rise, wide waist uselessness... until I spotted a display of Hanes mix and match sweats for $6.49 each. The pants had boot cut legs, so they didn't really look like sweatpants. They did have the wide waistband, but it was plenty high, so I decided to try them on anyway.
PERFECT! They fit like a dream, are super comfy, and the waistband is stretchy enough in spite of itself. Plus, being sweatpants, they're much warmer than the thinned-out pants I've been wearing. The only thing I was disappointed by was that they only had one black pair in my size. I grabbed a navy blue pair also, but would have gotten another pair or two in black if they'd had them. That's okay, though, because I'm sure I can find more online. Finally, my hunt for pants is over.
To recap, I got two pairs of pants, two shirts and a dress, all for less than $29. Thank you, universe, for giving me a break!
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"No fair, I wish I could work barefoot."
I hear this all the time from delivery people and other visitors who come in to the office. Since I use my feet to operate my computer mouse, pick things up off the floor, and for various other things when my hands aren't strong enough, I go barefoot most of the day. Now, I don't get all insulted when they say these things, and I rarely put on my snotty disability awareness educator hat and explain the reason for it, unless I'm in a bad mood. Usually I just smile and chuckle.
But seriously, people, don't be jealous of me. Sure, it's nice to be barefoot sometimes, and being forced to wear shoes all day long sucks. It does help me keep cool in the summer. But it's not always awesome. In the winter I freeze. I even went so far as to buy a pair of crazy thick and fuzzy slippers that I can slip into when I don't need my toes. My feet are constantly vulnerable to having things dropped on them, and to stepping on things like staples, thumbtacks, and tiny rocks brought in by other people's shoes. They are constantly filthy from walking around on dirty floors, and when my calluses crack or a blister opens up, that means I'm much more likely to get an infection. These are all risks I have to balance against the benefit of having an extra, sometimes more capable set of hands, and I do slip into those slippers, or in the summer, my sandals, if I'm going to walk in a particularly dangerous or dirty area. No, having to go barefoot because your feet are sometimes more useful than your hands, is nothing to be jealous of.
What would be better is if we all had the choice of whether to wear shoes or not.
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Over at the GimpGirl Community on LiveJournal, a member asked for opinions on all of the "politically correct" language being used to describe us - specifically, the trend of "person-first" language, in which we are to say "person with a disability" or "person who is blind (or deaf)" rather than "disabled person" or "blind (deaf) person", because putting the person before the disability is somehow less offensive to us "people with disabilities". She offered her own opinion:
"I personally don't like being told what I find offensive."
I love this line as it sums up exactly how I feel about all forms of PC language, usually designed by non-disabled people who think they know better than we do what our dainty little feelings can handle.
Obviously, being members of a group called GimpGirl, we all have a certain tolerance for the use of slang words by which some say we should be offended. To me, the words themselves matter much less than then intent behind them. We call ourselves GimpGirls, and I often refer to myself as a "crippled chick" (and so does Chris - my non-disabled boyfriend), but it's all in an affectionate teasing context. If someone were to use those words with hateful or malicious intent, then of course I would be offended, but no more so than if someone referred to me as a "person with a disability" with the same hatred.
I have no problem with people using this so-called person-first language if that's their preference, but I have zero tolerance for those people telling me how to describe myself. I'm not interested in changing the mechanics of the English language (nor removing perfectly useful words from the dictionary). In many languages, the noun does come before the adjective - but English is not one of them.
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![[photo of Jasper and Mackenzie]](http://www.confoozled.com/archives/assets/jasper-mackenzie-thumb-200x133.jpg) Jasper and Mackenzie practice standing on their hind legs. Chris found this for me this morning: There is a pair of nine-week-old Chihuahua puppies here in Rhode Island who were born without front legs. They were taken in by an organization called Just A Touch Rescue, and they are receiving physical therapy to teach them how to manage life on two legs. Dr. Guzinski, the veterinarian who is providing their medical care at a discount to the rescue organization, is Brooskey and Vixen's doctor too!
Jasper and Mackenzie have their own web site where you can read about the care they're getting, see more pictures (coming soon!), and also make donations to help pay for things like their spay and neuter surgeries, Mackenzie's hernia surgery, and special wheelchairs that will support their front ends while they push with their back legs. The Providence Journal web site also has a video about them which includes footage from a therapy session. (Video may require Internet Explorer - I couldn't get it to load in Firefox.)
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We all love to make fun of those silly TV commercials for the latest and greatest miracle product that is "not available in stores" and "available only through this exclusive TV offer". We laugh at them because the claims are often far too good to be true, and the product rarely lives up to the hype. For example, the ShamWow? Don't bother... trust me on that one. It's no more absorbent than any other towel, and it definitely does not suck the liquid up right before your eyes like they show in the commercial.
 But there is at least one product, though its commercial is still quite silly, that doesn't make any outrageous claims and does just what the ad says it does. We recently needed to add a second floor lamp to our home office, due to the dark green walls sucking all of the light out of the room. The problem was that I would not be able to use the twist switch on the lamp to turn it on, and there is no switch-controlled power outlet on that side of the room. I looked for remote controlled lamps, and the cheapest one I could find was $139! So instead, I bought an $8 lamp at Target, and a Handy Switch. All this product claims to do is turn on and off whatever is plugged into its receiver, and that's exactly what it does. The switch module snaps in and out of a mounting bracket which I mounted to the side of my printer stand with the included double-sided Scotch tape. And it does a fine job of turning the lamp on and off, just as if it were a hard-wired light switch. I actually find it to be better than the X10 devices I used to use for my lamps at our old apartment - it's a natural-feeling, easy-to-flip switch rather than the highly unresponsive rubber buttons on the X10 remotes, and the effect is almost instant, where the X10 modules always had a slight delay.
So, if you've seen the Handy Switch ads and thought it might be a useful product for you, disabled or not, but just weren't sure how well it worked, now you know at least one person who is happy with it! And if you do decide to order one for yourself based on my review, please do so via my affiliate link, so I can make a little extra money off your purchase!
(Disclosure: I am a Handy Switch affiliate, but I was not paid to write this review. I only get paid if you buy one! I guarantee my review is 100% honest and unbiased.)
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Gimpstorming. It's a process by which a gimpy person, like myself, tries to devise his or her own way to do something they couldn't previously do. I just invented the word last night. I like it, and at least one other person likes it, so it is hereby declared a real word. By the power vested in me by... me. So there.
Last night's gimpstorming session involved my new Bluetooth headset. I spent an hour trying everything I could think of to get that thing up to my ear, and at the right angle to get it to hook over my ear and stay there. I even risked painful hair pulling by attempting to use my adhesive TeleStik reacher to do the job; it didn't work, and don't worry - my hair is intact. I used to have a wired headset which I was able to put on without much trouble at all, but no matter what I tried, I just couldn't make it happen with the Bluetooth. So, while gimpstorming has given me a lot of positive results in the past, including the ability to get my glasses on and off, put on makeup, type with three fingers, etc., this gimpstorming session was a complete failure.
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Hey, City of Warwick, since you're so hard up for cash... instead of just reminding people that the law says you can fine them for not shoveling their sidewalks, how about you go out there and start issuing those fines? I'm just sayin'...
But before you do, you'd probably better take care of the sidewalks that are actually your responsibility, the ones lining public property, first.
We've had snow on the ground for a good couple of weeks at least - I've lost count really, all I know is every time I look outside I want to hang myself. But, I digress. In driving through the city, I see snow piled several feet deep on most of the sidewalks. The only sidewalks I have seen that are shoveled are those in front of a small number of businesses with responsible owners. A great majority of businesses and residents alike have not touched theirs, and those on public property are untouched as well. I thank my lucky stars that I don't have to get around this city via the sidewalks, and especially that I don't have to do so in a wheelchair. It makes me wonder what the people who are in that situation are doing right now.
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If Santa could bring me a new knee this Christmas, I wouldn't ask for anything else. My right knee decided two weeks ago, for no good reason, that it hates me. It literally came out of the blue. It was just fine, and then I got down from a bar stool in the same way that I always do, without putting any kind of undue strain on my knee, heard/felt a cracking not unlike a car on gravel, and it's been a mess ever since. These last two weeks of my life have revolved around ice packs, heat packs, knee braces and Aleve. With enough pampering, it will start to feel almost one hundred percent better... and then one slight twist the wrong way, and I'm back where I started. Now, all of my other body parts, including the other knee, are starting to get sore just from picking up all the slack. I don't want to be grumpy during all of our upcoming visits with friends and family for the holidays, but it's hard not to be when I'm in so much pain. It doesn't help that I can only take a half-dose per day of the aforementioned pain reliever, because any more than that will make my nose bleed. Unfortunately it's the only thing I've found to be at all effective for this kind of pain.
Okay, I'll stop whining now. You can go back to what you were doing.
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Congratulations to Barbara Baker, winner of the Gopher III pick up tool! Your prize will be mailed by the end of this week.
If you weren't our lucky winner but still want one of these babies, you can pick one up from SHOP.COM for just $14.99!
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Does no one want this Gopher III reacher? The giveaway ends at midnight tonight, and so far there's only one comment and I'm not even sure if that comment was intended as an official entry. If there are no other entries Randy is going to win by default, and if he didn't actually want it then I'm going to Freecycle it. But I'd much rather give it to one of my awesome blog readers, so come on! If you really have no use for it yourself, I'll bet you know someone who could use it. Why not send them over? You'll be helping them win something useful, showing them this cool blog you love to read  , and helping me get new subscribers!
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I recently had the opportunity to get ahold of a
Gopher III reach tool for fairly cheap, so I decided to try it out. Alas, as I had feared, I don't have enough squeeze strength in my hands to operate it. But my loss is your gain; I'm giving it away to a lucky confoozled.com reader!
This is going to be a much simpler giveaway than the last contest. All you have to do is subscribe to confoozled.com via e-mail, and then leave a comment here to let me know you want to be entered. Existing subscribers are eligible, too - just comment! Earn bonus entries by getting your friends to subscribe: send me an e-mail with the e-mail addresses of the friends you're referring, and I'll give you a bonus entry for each one of them that subscribes and remains subscribed until the end of the contest!
PLEASE NOTE: I will not contact your friends; that's your job! And I won't subscribe them myself. I only need their e-mail addresses so that I can verify who referred who. Your friends won't be spammed or signed up for anything against their will. I will deliberately "lose" their e-mail addresses as soon as the contest ends.
All subscriptions must be confirmed and remain active until the end of the contest.
By the way, here's the "official" description of the product you're entering to win:
Precise enough to squeeze a paper clip and strong enough to lift 5 pounds, the Gopher III will help you reach up high and down low. Bright LED headlight illuminates the tool's path so it's great for reaching objects in hard-to-see areas. Rubberized grip. Folds for compact storage. 33" long x 1" wide x 5" high.
Contest ends at 11:59pm EDT next Friday, October 3. The winner will be drawn and notified over the weekend and announced the following Monday (provided they have responded to claim their prize). Good luck!
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Check out this video of Kyle aka "0nehandedbandit" from AbleGamers playing Guitar Hero, on the hard difficulty level, with one hand (and one foot)...
He's using a foot pedal designed by Ben Heck to replace the strumming technique that is usually done with the second hand on the traditional guitar controller. I want one! Unfortunately Ben does not have anyone to manufacture his pedal in mass quantities and must build each one himself. Kyle had to wait a long time for his. Anyone out there want to help him start mass producing these things so I can get my hands on one?
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Poor Chris has had a rough couple of weeks. Two weekends ago he started having some really bad back pain. By Friday he hadn't had much relief so he decided to go see a chiropractor for the first time ever. They sent him for an x-ray before doing anything to him, and after reading the x-ray the chiropractor told him he had arthritis in his neck and degenerative disc disease at the L1 and L2 vertebrae - right at the base of his spine. He performed some adjustments and scheduled Chris to return Monday to discuss treatment options.
What we didn't find out until Monday, is that after Chris left on Friday the chiropractor started looking more closely at the x-ray, and something prompted him to count the vertebrae. And that's when he discovered the true reason for Chris' back problems. The discs in that lower lumbar region are thin not because of degenerative disc disease, but because they are compressed by an extra vertebra! He was actually born with one more vertebra than he is supposed to have. That's what most likely has led to the arthritis in his neck and any other back problems he has had over the years. The funny thing is that he also had one less wisdom tooth than he should have, and he says now he knows where it ended up!
(In one of our typical sarcastic banter sessions the other day, he tried to garner sympathy from me over the fact that he has arthritis. I answered, "Yeah, so? I've had it for years," to which he replied, "But I have a birth defect!" At this point all I could do was raise an eyebrow at him, hold up my gimpy arms, and exclaim, "Uh, hello?!")
So, now he will be seeing the chiropractor several times a week for the next few weeks, and then once a month going forward. He told me that this chiropractor he is seeing uses new techniques which are much less scary than the typical image one gets when they think of chiropractic adjustments. I have always stayed far away from chiropractors, because I know my skeletal system is not the same as that of most people, and if you bend me in ways my body does not want to be bent, I will break. But Chris says this chiropractor doesn't do any of that; he only uses a small device which sort of vibrates each vertebra back into place one at a time. He has a couple of after-work appointments next week for which I will probably go with him, and I'm actually thinking I might see how this guy feels about treating me as well.
As if all of that wasn't enough to deal with, on Tuesday he stepped in a hole in the front stairs outside of his workplace, fell and sprained his right ankle. 
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Remember how I mentioned that I'm always cold, but if I turn up the thermostat even one degree, I get hot? Not to mention how annoying it must be to others that I'm constantly changing the temperature on them. Well, I think I may have found the solution!
An airline pilot who noticed that his passengers were always struggling to stay warm under too-small airline blankets (which are also reused over and over again and filthy with germs) designed an ultra-portable blanket that is specially contoured to wrap around your whole body. It even has a pocket for your feet to keep them from poking out the bottom, and comes with a germ-free inflatable pillow. It's called the Cabin Cuddler.
I'd love to have two of these things, one for work and one for home. At work I'd keep it draped over my chair so I could just wrap it around myself when I get chilled. And at home, instead of having to have Chris cover me up when we're watching TV, and then having the dogs constantly pulling the blanket off as they walk over me, I could just keep a Cabin Cuddler laid out on my spot on the couch, and pull it around myself. The only thing I can't quite tell from the pictures is whether there are hand pockets, which I would need in order to pull the "wings" of the blanket around my upper body. But if not, I'm sure I could get my mother-in-law to sew some ribbon loops or something like that on there... something I could hook my fingers into.
Christmas shopping season is upon us (at least this is the time I start, but maybe I'm a freak), and if you know someone who travels a lot or just is always cold, this might be the perfect gift! (hint, hint)
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In followup to my "stirring of the poo" on Friday regarding the recent protests over use of the word "retarded", I wanted to comment on something that has been pointed out by Rob at Fighting Monsters with Rubber Swords. According to human rights organizations, more than 200,000 US school children were spanked or paddled in school in the past year. And a disproportionately high number of these kids were students with physical or mental disabilities.
Now I'm not here to talk about whether I believe in spanking. That's a very muddled issue on which I am not yet prepared to weigh in. But regardless of how you feel about spanking as a parent, no school official or anyone else besides that child's own parent should ever have the right to administer such a punishment. If you trust anyone outside of your family to be making decisions about when to spank, or even to deliver the beating, you're a poor excuse for a parent.
And the fact that schools are resorting to physical punishment with disabled students whose problem behaviors more than likely stem from frustration over things beyond their control, and difficulty expressing that frustration, is inexcusable. Yet what has so-called disability advocates up in arms? A word in a stupid movie. To quote Rob:
I don't know. To my thinking, those priorities seem sort of, well, you know. There's probably a word for it. I'm sure you can think of one.
Rob, I completely agree with you.
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I don't normally stir up controversy but on this I just have to speak up. Sparked by the use of a particular word in the movie Tropic Thunder, there has been a campaign making its way through the web to get people to pledge to "stop using the r-word".
In the words of my friend Connie (a blogger whom I love and respect but simply disagree with this time around), "The R word is degrading. It is not funny. It is demoralizing." The truth is, a word is nothing but a combination of letters. And combinations of letters simply do not have that kind of power unless you give it to them. So let's stop giving it to them.
I firmly believe that offense is almost always a matter of choice. We choose to be offended by something, usually because someone else told us to. Why do we let people tell us what to be offended by? I long ago made the decision not to allow others to dictate what offends me, and you're much more likely to earn my respect by doing the same. Start thinking for yourself, make your own choices of what to be offended by, and recognize that you and you alone are responsible for that choice. You cannot blame anyone else for your choice to be offended by words or anything else.
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For the last few weeks I've been dealing with this off-and-on stiff and painful neck. It started right about the time we went to see The Dark Knight, so at first I thought it was just from looking up at the big screen for so long. Then of course we had the Red Sox game, and then the Patriots game... more time spent in not-so-comfortable stadium seating. But for all the time I spent trying to rest my neck muscles, the pain just would not go away. I even wore a ThermaCare wrap on it for a whole day, and it did get better for a day or so, but then it got worse again. I just could not figure out what I was doing to aggravate it.
The other night I threw my Tempur-Pedic memory foam ergonomic contour pillow off the bed and instead slept on one of the cheap, cotton-filled pillows we put our decorative pillow shams on (actually, I think they were free with our mattress). When I woke up in the morning, sat up and rolled my head around to see how my neck felt, I heard angels sing! I promptly went out and bought myself a good ol' regular down alternative pillow at Bed, Bath & Beyond.
I don't know what changed or how long it's going to last. I've used contour pillows for years, because for a long time if I didn't use one I had this same kind of pain. There was one morning when the pain was so bad, I sat up in bed and immediately lost consciousness (fortunately I only fell back onto the bed, and came to a minute later cradled in Chris' arms). But apparently the positioning that type of pillow provides is no longer what I need. So if you're experiencing unexplained pain despite using all of the "right" furniture, equipment, and supports, you might actually need to downgrade. It just might be that what the experts say is best is not necessarily what your body needs.
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