Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Multi-tasking sighting

You know when you're riding along on your bike and wish there was something else you could be doing? How about getting some reading done? As I was arriving back at work after class, a bike rider got off her bike to get it up onto the curb. She had this contraption set up between the handlebars. 2 small straps attached the handlbars on one end with the other ends attached to binder clips. Clipped in those binder clips was an article/paper of some sort, with portions highlighted. Maybe they were directions on how to ride said bicylce (don't forget to brake when you want to stop or slow down) or directions to her next location, but my guess it was neither of those. Are we so busy that we can't just ride our bikes?

Tuesday, November 1, 2005

Quit your bitching

Waiting in the rain for a bus, a bike rider goes by. A couple poles strapped onto the back caught my eye. Looked similar to trekking poles. I then realized they were arm braces. A closer look and I notice the bicyclist has just 1 leg! One of those wow moments. Shouldn't be a big shock I guess. When working as a research study assistant a few years back, I helped out with a study taking a look at mobility in amputee patients. This person had 1 leg and 1 prosthetic leg. We had him hop up/down, then side/side on his real leg, and then on his prosthetic while recording measurements with special video equipment. Can you imagine hopping around on a prosthetic leg? I wouldn't have if I hadn't been there. Guess it's a reminder not to take things for granted and if you want to do something, just do it!

For Tina:
“We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily difference we can make, which, over time, adds up to big differences that we often cannot foresee.” --Marian Wright Edelman