-> Due to frugality, (Some would call me downright cheap. ;-) I would park a mile
-> away, and walk to and from work. As my infliction snuck up on me, I would start
-> to park closer and closer to the job, and either pay more and more for parking
-> or, sneak off after work, ignoring the little envelopes left for me to deposit
-> cash in their mail slot. As my work used to end later at night, they wouldn't
-> staff their cubicles to wait for me.

Long time motorcycle rider.
Did my own repairs and routine maintanance at very low cost plus
close to 50 M.P.G.
Still one of my last jobs I walked to sometimes as it was just 12
minutes away on foot.

-> On the job, I would often haul over seventy pounds up and down four stories
-> of business height floors, and on an active day, would put in a few miles while
-> on the job. Then I would come home and do some commando-gardening, often all
-> night until the sun came up, more often until I had to return to work the next
-> day. As I was suspecting that I was just slowing down with age I barely noticed
-> that I was starting to sleep 20-40 hours of a two day span while off work, and
-> the rest of the time, nothing, and I mean NOTHING was getting accomplished at
-> home.             

As a printer I would hoist 100 LBS of roll stock onto and off 4 times
every five and one-half minutes 11 hours a day 6 days a week for 5
years.

->  -> This sucks, to be sure! Being a bit of a geek, I was able to run this
->  -> mini-'puter in the bedroom, so I don't have to feel isolated, even
->  -> though I really am. 

Same here. 

-> As an aside, I get to learn all about this Linux

->  -> OS, but I have to exercise the memory, and note taking skills when
->  -> trying to remember the tidily bits.

->  WC> Try either Knoppix or "Point and Click Linux" with
CD available at
->  WC> Barnes and Noble bookstores.

-> THAT's where I saw your name before! I thought I recognized it, but I thought
-> you may have been on this echo years ago.

Yeah, I've been online and fido active since buying my first computer
in 1993, this after the motorcycle accident.

Riding 17 years without major incident I got clocked TWICE
in two years, once put me into Voc. Rehab. for computer programming
and one day returning home a 16 year old kid with a 2 week old drivers
license hit me a second time, that was the end of trying to return to
work.

->  WC> I'm running Knoppix downloaded and burned for me by Charles Angelich
->  WC> and that's a FREE download.

-> Ya... I bought a rag that included Mandrake 10.0c that I NEED to upgrade badly!
-> I was toying around with a few 1999 vintage distros until then, and Mandrake
-> was the only one that I could install to three smaller HDs, plus, it was one of
-> the few I could wrap my head around enough to play Solitaire on. 

Knoppix loads the full GUI right on a CD boot.
"knx-hdinstall" script from the command line puts it on the hard drive,
dead simple.

I've a single page of notes to setup a users account so you can be
secure from  a "root" attack online.

-> While I like to use X to open three terminals with man and info pages, et-al,
-> the console is usually used for sequential tasks like calling in for mail, and
-> OLMR. I don't at all want to 'replace' Windows. I used to have a shell account
-> when the I-net was becoming available to mortals, and I purchased an old Sys-V
-> box, which allowed me to toy around with the syntax of UNIX for a time. I'm all
-> in for learning how to bash this box around. 

-> My main problem now is, I have to use those 1999 HOWTOs, as this distro seemed
-> to only contain the German, and Spanish versions. The sysop here has been
-> teasing me with a few filebones pertaining to Linux, so some current docs
-> should be in the pipes any day now. (Where have we heard that line before?)

->  WC> As I've 256 Meg of RAM, 128 needed minimum for GUI, I can boot to CD
->  WC> and run it entirely in RAM with NO hard drive as I'm doing now
->  WC> or install it to a hard drive.
->  WC> Takes me aboput 6 minutes from powerup to online with everything
->  WC> configured.

-> Now, that would require you to burn your own bootable CD, with all the
-> configurations saved to it?

Don't need to. Defrag the hard drive and run Linux fdisk from the
coomand line apportinjging at least 4 Gig to Knoppix.
To save configs there's a option to save them to even a small Linux
partitio or do the complete install.

->  WC> Knoppix is quite simple to deal with allowing you
->  WC> to have a Windows like desktop, only better, up and running right away.

-> It IS a wonderful thing! 
->  WC> You need actual hardware modem, sound card, printer
->  WC> for them to be recognised.
->  WC> Software driven peripherals will not do.
->  WC> Generally speaking if you can use DOS with it Linux
->  WC> will do even better.

-> Last stock I took, I have one 'Win-modem' and one 'controller-less-modem' in
-> the farm. I'll likely stay on Windows for the controller-less modem, and to run
-> the commercial software I have amassed. The Win-modem is a piece of junk, and I
-> have no need for it at all. I imagine I could proxy out to another modem if the
-> need should arise.               

I've two Win-modems, no use for either.

-> Here, I run a Celeron 466 (SMOKIN'! |-) with an external modem. It's a so
-> called 'single board' PC, or some such, and possesses *no* expansion
slots. I      

I couldn't deal with no expansion slots.
Three here if you include the ISA network card, other two open PCI.

-> think I have just found a driver to wake up a parallel port ethernet NIC. I'll
-> have to plug it into the network to see if I can learn about the next dozen
-> files I'll have to edit to make it talk to the rest of the farm. /-: 

->  -> What I take from your situation, is that a spinal fusion would return
->  -> your life to near pre-accident condition. Sure we always run a risk on
->  -> a OR table, but I've heard of many who have fused spines, and are up
->  -> gardening, bicycling, or whatever!

->  WC> That's why I begged the surgeon, literally, to do it!!!
->  WC> I think he was afrqaid of spoiling his record with a fatality
->  WC> but I was quite up to it at the time.
->  WC> Today I wouldn't make it halfway through before I croaked.

-> That's a situation. Still, you *could* sequester yourself to build up your
-> pre-op strength.

->  -> Do you have a support system near you?

->  WC> I'm a loner, always have been.
->  WC> My criteria for friends is so high few qualify.
->  WC> My support syystem consists of this computer, the internet
->  WC> and my entirely docile and friendly Pit Bull.

-> Still, *if* you could allow someone to help you, you *could* sequester yourself
-> to build up your pre-op strength. 
->  -> writing campaigns, or media blitzes.

->  WC> Oh sure I _could_ get on an HMO but when one does that here ALL
->  WC> medical services are sharply reduced as regards existing conditions
->  WC> in favor of preventative medicine, checkups and the like.
->  WC> I'd be a loser on that so I run plain vanilla Medicare.
->  WC> I'd LOSE services.

-> Got ya... But on Medicare, that seems to be a dead end too. How about if you
-> could convince a tsunami to wash up to your front door, then you'd have all
-> _sorts_ of fund-raising events held for your relief. 0-8 

What kills me is the tens of millions spent on saving and returning to
the wild that wale kept in a Mexican aquarium.
I mean over 30 million to rehab a WHALE and here I lay useless?
When I first begged for the fusion I had lots of pain free days, now
none in years.

->  -> Me, I'm most likely stuck with my
->  -> condition for the rest of my life, but I plan on living it regardless
->  -> how crapy it is.

->  WC> Same here and it's pretty damn bad.

-> Well, I guess we have resolute stubbornness in common. 

->  WC> Mind you I'm no wimp either.

-> Make that; belligerent, resolute stubbornness.

->  WC> Broke an ankle once and never went to a doctor.

-> When I couldn't ignore my situation any longer, was when I broke my foot. I'm
-> pretty sure a couple of bones were fractured, and a toe or two were popin' like
-> firecrackers. I too never went to the doctor about that one, but I did start to
-> pay more attention to how little attention I was able to devote to preventing
-> my own demise. I was thinking just a few hours ago about how many digits I
-> almost cut off, or had stupidly stabbed myself accidentally. 

->  WC> It wasn't setting quite right but fortunately
->  WC> I was pushing my luck walking at 10 days  and broke it AGAIN
->  WC> with it setting correctly that time.

-> 'Round here, a comfortable but supportive pair of c'boy boots solve a multitude
-> of ailments. [-;

->  WC> That second break hurt quite a bit I can tell you
->  WC> but all is well now.

-> Guess it just didn't want to heal the wrong way. 

Guess I did a really stupid heavy lift of something up the back stairs,
heard and felt it snap the thrid step from the top of the stairs.   
It was either fall back down the stairs onto concrete or get to the
landing with the load walking on the broken ankle.
Before it was all over the ankle swelled up twice size and turned pretty
black, fortunately circulation returned just in time.

->  ->  WC> The ONLY spinal exercise I do is attempt to strengthen muscles
->  ->  WC> supporting the back to slightly compensate for the
lack of spinal
->  ->  WC> discs. When I go grocery shopping I do them in a really hot bath
->  ->  WC> to buy me the time required to get through that.

->  WC> The heat seems to elasticise my spine and allow it to expand just a bit
->  WC> with the exercise.
->  WC> I'm 2 1/2 inches shorter than I was pre-injury.

-> My next to last physio session was in a heated pool. Sure was nice to stand
-> tall, and not put weight on my back. The buggers were working me so hard though
-> that I started to see hallucinations again. I suppose I should have told the
-> girl to slow down, but again, my work ethic was pushing myself to that point
-> too.                                              

Took me 12 years to lose most of my work ethic.
Just household chores are a pain now and done in small
portions instead of the clean everything attacks I used to do.

->  -> One thing I always do, is use a cart whether I'm loading up, or just
->  ->  getting a few items.  Something tells me a walker is going to be in
->  ->  my near future.

->  WC> Same here, heck I snag a cart at the furthest most
->  WC> part of the grocery store's parking lot to walk
->  WC> it in to lean on.

-> What? No handicapped parking in your area? 

No way I could drive safely anymore, can't depress a power
assisted brake pedal sufficiently in the seated position
nor with the muscle spasms in my back drive a motorcycle.
I take the bus.

-> I'll never forget hovering in a lot,
-> waiting for space to avail itself, and the chubby chick that ran out of her car
-> who scavenged the spot. Guess she didn't see my handicapped tag, or she was
-> late for her exercise class. What are you gonna do?

Cuss.

->  WC> We're both a mess :-(

-> How nice of you to remind me.  

Now you know we're both reminded first thing in the morning every day.
At least you can still drive.
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