The F-5 Power Chair

About two months ago I went to a power chair eval to start the process in getting a new power chair for me. The coolest things about the F-5 power chair is that it can stand up and lay back so I can rest my back and I can sit in it and raise myself eye level to other people standing. The guy who was giving my parents information about the chair said that it could tip over if I drive on an angled surface while it's in standing mode.  I think that I am going to have a little trouble driving it because it is front wheel drive. Although,  I was driving it pretty well inside the building.  Another thing that is really cool is that I will be able to be a little more independent and not have to rely on someone to help me get in the stander, I can just stand whenever I want all day. One of the problems about getting that chair is that it wouldn't fit in my mom's car,  we would have to buy a van and my mom absolutely dislikes the look of a vans.  It also weighs 450 pounds, 100 pounds heavier than the chair I'm in now! I really hope that I don't run over a foot when I have it,  that would hurt! 

P. S. This is the first blog I did on my new surface using the eye gazing!  It took me just a hour and a half to write this blog with my eyes instead of my knuckles! This is definitely a lot faster than the usual 4 hrs.

I'm moving to Colorado!

Seven months ago my dad got a call out of the blue for a job opportunity in Colorado. The name of the company is called Tall Grass. Tall Grass is another energy company but it is a smaller compared to Kinder Morgan. My parents went up there for the job interview while Caleryn and I were taken care of by Nanna and Papa.  When they came back my dad said that he thought he did good. He had quite a few interviews in Lakewood, Co. Then they flew to Kansas so he could interview with all the C's (CIO, CEO, CFO). It took a while for them to decide whether my dad got the job or not and of course he did. The position he'll be in is going to be a senior vice president of I.T. I think my dad is really happy that he got the job and looks forward to the position. Later on my mom and dad went up there again to look for apartments. They did find a new apartment which is a five minute walk or 2 minute drive from his new job! My dad was definitely excited that he could get back almost 3 hours daily of his life so that he can spend more time with the family. Another cool thing about the apartment is that we will be directly above a workout area, and there is a pool outside that is always heated up and elevators and indoor parking! My dad said that the bathroom where we will be living in is a lot bigger than any of the bathrooms in our house, except for mom's and dad's bathroom. We have a lot more room in our house but the bathrooms are small and doors hard to get through. Unfortunately, I haven't seen the apartment yet but when I do, I am going to judge the bathrooms and the walkways to make sure my fat chair fits through. For some reason I have always liked looking at bathrooms, even when I was just a kid. The first problem about Colorado is that there are not as many places to eat at, and we all know we love to eat out! The second problem is that I'm in the middle of confirmation. My mom is going to stay here with Caleryn and me for about two months while my dad goes to Colorado to get started. We are going to leave on my birthday March 23rd. My dad said that there are some really neat places we can stop at for little field trips during the trip. He also mentioned that there is a power soccer team in Colorado that has 8 players, but they all have plastic guards and I don't really think it's too organized yet. So we may not be doing scrimmages for a while, until most of them have metal guards because I don't want to be into a game and accidentally ram my strike force chair into some other player, that would be very bad. Maybe sometime into the future if the team is advanced enough, my dad could schedule an event so that we can faceoff against the Fireballs. That would be so cool! One reason why I don't mind moving to Colorado is the elevation is a mile higher than Texas and not as humid. My point is that hopefully I won't have as much congestion and maybe l can start talking without having to clear my throat first! That would be a miracle! When my mom told my pmr management doctor that I am moving to Colorado, she was sad but then she told us Colorado has better health care and that my pump might have to be adjusted lower for the higher elevation. My dad said that there are much more camps. The only camp in Texas that I will still go to is Camp Blessings because every time l leave there l tend to pray more and don't have as many negative thoughts. All and all I think that I'm going to be very happy and it will be a nice change and adventure for my family!

Here are some pictures of the landscape during my parents trip to Colorado. 

Christmas, 2016

This year for Christmas I didn't really want anything but when my family went to Nanna and Papa's house l was surprised that I got some gifts. The present l opened on Christmas Eve is a virtual reality goggles. My dad of course had to try it before I did and that annoyed me; I swear my dad sometimes acts like a kid! When he finally put it on my head, it was pretty cool! In fact, I watched a video through it, my right arm sort of flinched a little bit. However, when I took it off l felt kind of dizzy. The next day I woke up about nine o'clock and then we all devoured my Papa's gourmet breakfast pancakes, eggs, and bacon. After everybody was done eating, Caleryn and I started unwrapping the rest of the presents. The first present l opened was close but my dad kept on saying that l wouldn't be disappointed. The next present was a thousand piece puzzle of the world and all of the different country flags. Later on, mom, Nanna and I started to put it together. The thing that was hard about it is the box didn't come with a bigger image of the puzzle. All we got done during the time I was there is just the boarder. Aunt Carol gave both Caleryn and me twenty dollars. The funny thing is that Caleryn kept on stealing my money and would put it in her purse! Sometimes she can be a little thief. My best gift l got was a surface with an tobii eyegazing device. The cool thing about having a surface now is that l can play the rest of our clan members: Skorch, Captain SOB, Snottrod and Beverly so that we can have clan wars more often rather than once a week. Another thing is that I could start blogging on it too but my dad hasn't set that up yet. I haven't tried the eyegazing part yet but of course my dad has though. This whole Christmas has been great. I didn't get a lot of presents but there were more expensive gifts though. 

Donating my stuff

Last Monday night there was an event in our church, where my confirmation class and another class had to donate some of our clothes, jackets, games, accessories that we don't use anymore to a foster home for abused foster kids (teens). My mom cleaned out my closet and gathered a whole trash bag of my old clothes. My dad went through my video games and we filled a whole box of all my old games, playstation 3 and other gaming stuff. When my dad and I got there, he thought he had to carry both the box and the trash bag but he attached it to my chair so that I could carry it in. When we got in there, both classes started separating all the clothes into piles of boys and girls. I couldn't really separate clothes so I wrote a note of encouragement to one of the teens to send with the donations. Some of the teens in my class and Mike (one of the teacher's) said it was really cool that I donated the playstation and all the games. They thought it was very generous, which made me feel good. All and all after I donated, I felt really blessed how much I have and that I could do a little to help someone else who is having a hard time.

The Metal and Muscle Tournament 2016

This year another team called Arizona came to play against the Fireballs, Infernos and the San Antonio Straps. Arizona was awesome! They even beat San Antonio with ease. Which was the first game in the tournament. The next game was the Fireballs verses the Infernos. My team (the Infernos) beat the Fireballs but I didn't score a goal. Then my team played against Arizona Heat Elite and they destroyed us! We didn't get a single goal! The coach of their team said that the reason they got so good is because they played harder teams than they were. Which it totally made sense to me. After that we had a good two hour break until the next game. My dad gave me a beef jerky to hold me over till dinner time. The next game l played was San Antonio. My team lost but I was the only Houston player to score on San Antonio! Which is pretty cool! We lost because we were tired of playing. The next day the San Antonio team forfeited because one of their registered team members couldn't play and they had to use a sub (which was registered). My team played against Arizona again to see which team would be the champion. But like the first time, my team got dominated! I was still happy we at least scored one goal. It was like David vs. Goliah!

Here is a message from our team Manager...Diane Murrell

I am so impressed with our two teams, you fought long and hard and well against tremendous odds on both Saturday and Sunday. I saw growth in each person's character, your attitude, your persistence and your refusal to give in - such mental toughness. I saw growth in your team work and love how you stuck together both on and off the court. I see a strong sense of unity in two solid teams. You fought some USPSA giants in this tournament Arizona Heat Elite and you made every coach and parent proud to say we belong to the Fireballs and the Inferno. The score was lower than this time last year against STRAPs, you scored a goal against Arizona, (who I think were second in one fo the biggest conference cups). You played without a key player (Allie you were missed), you played despite the distraction of always needing to charge your chair. You got up early, you got yourselves here in the rain on time, and you showed up on court and learned what a conference team looks like by playing against one of the very best in the US. And that's our goal to become a conference team. Let's look forward to the new year, we have learned so much this weekend and are excited to roll out new ideas to help us all move forward and be a better me, a better you and a better us, 2017. Congratulations on a well fought weekend.  See y'all at the Christmas party next week and our time to celebrate Coach Lauren and Jonathan.

I'm swimming without floaties

Just recently l started swimming with my physical therapist Alan, to practice walking in the water with flat feet (without hopping) and to work on my swimming. A little while after practicing different therapy ideas, Alan bought a mask for me to try out and it was awesome. It is kinda like a snorkel but its just one piece that goes around the whole head! I can easily breathe under the surface of the water without worrying about swallowing water! But, I still have to hold my breath and work on my breathing when I go under. I eventually got so used to it that Alan was convinced l could swim without the floaty that goes around my back, which l was okay with swimming without because I think that floaty really made me a little too buoyant. Now don't worry l still wore both of my arm floaties. Later on l was confident that I could swim with no floaties at all and still be buoyant enough to stay afloat, which l was! And even if I would've sank, which I usually do, I would be okay because I was wearing the mask and Alan was right next to me. I was a little scared when I attempted it but now I think that I was pretty safe all along. I've gotten so much better calming my breathing down and now I can swim without all the floaties too. I have a video on the blog you'll have to watch as well.

Power Soccer Tournament

We are having our annual power soccer tournament at Metal and Muscle this weekend at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston. This year is going to be really cool because we will be playing a new team from Arizona along with the San Antonio Straps team. It will be fun to be able to play a new team, although we've heard they are really good! Also, this will be the first time that my dad will be coaching this event along with Coach Lauren and Coach Gabriel. It's going to be a really long weekend!