Darcy Pohland, quadriplegic TV news reporter, will be missed

She was a street reporter working in the harsh Minnesota elements for years, and never let that fact that couldn’t walk stop her from getting the big story. She was also my friend.
 
 

Read more about this amazing woman
 
 

 

Drinking martinis with Ms. Wheelchair America

 

The importance of friends who understand, and why free booze never hurts.
 

 

Don’t miss wheelchair curling at the Vancouver Paralympics

After debuting in Torino, wheelchair curling has seen a surge in popularity, and is only slightly different than the original sport. Read my thoughts on this fabulous sport here.
 

And does anyone know if powerchairs allowed on the ice? I think I might be good at this sport! I’m from Minnesota and I’m over half Swedish, I should just be good naturally, right? ;)
- Tiff

 

Jake Sully wheelchair action figure gets razzed

Hey Mattel, your Jake Sully wheelchair action figure can stand, has shabby seams, and looks nothing like Sam Worthington. Is this the best you can do?
If this was an action figure of me I’d be pissed. Good thing Jake Sully is a fictional character, and has no access to lawyers.

- Tiff

Minnesota paraplegic falls out of wheelchair, freezes to death

Well, this is about the most depressing news story I’ve read in a long while. We’ve lost another paraplegic to falling + cold weather, people. This is not good.

RIP Michael Lee Johnson

- Tiff

PS. I did not know him personally. He lived in the country.

Not dead yet, and still receiving gifts

Having Pneumonia for 10 days this month was by far the scariest health thing I’ve experienced since breaking my neck in 1993. Thanks to massive antibiotics and figuring out how to cough using my knee, I beat it. So check this, upon coming home here’s an awesome Bowie stencil I received as a Welcome Home gift:

I’ve always loved this older photograph of the legendary Mr. Bowie.

February lessons: 1) I CAN beat Pnemonia as a C6 quad despite the odds being against me. 2) Homemade gifts are awesome.

Don’t ever think life with a spinal cord injury gets dull. It never does. And never forget how good it feels to breathe.

- Tiff

Paraplegic “climbs” mountain, but is climb the right word?

If someone in a wheelchair gets pulled up a mountain, yet does do some of the work on their own using whatever arm strength they have, can you really say they “climbed” a mountain? 

“Sympathy for Delicious” stars actual paraplegic, Mark Ruffalo directs

This movie follows a jaded DJ paraplegic who mysteriously wakes up with the gift to heal others, but discovers he still can’t heal himself. “Sympathy for Delicious” also stars Orlando Bloom and Juliette Lewis, and was written by Christopher Thornton, the film’s star.
 
 It has a cool back story too. Thornton and Ruffalo are old acting school buddies from before Thornton’s injury (a rock climbing accident) in 1992. This script was a longtime coming too (an  idea Thornton had while wheeling to the liquor store).

The completed film is premiering at Sundance this week. If anyone out there has seen it yet, let us know what you thought (good or bad). Does it deserve to be picked up?

You can read more of my thoughts on the movie here.

It’s the last season of Lost, and Sawyer’s jumping off a cliff?

I’ll admit I fell in love with Lost late in the game. Thanks to every episode available on ABC.com (and because the show is really that addictive), I watched all four seasons last winter before the start of Season 5 (wheelchair-users need something to do here in Minnesota when the snow flies). And now, it’s crazy, but it’s in my Top 3 shows, (1) Six Feet Under, (2) Battlestar Galactica, and (3) Lost, with Lost knocking Sex & The City out of the Top 3.  

In honor of the last season of the show premiering next Tuesday (which is depressing as Hell btw, and I hope the the ending come May isn’t more Opium-induced visions from J.J. Abrams), here is the brand new smoking hot Davidoff Cool Water commercial starring the official heatthrob of Lost (NOT Jack) - Mr. “Sexy Pants” Josh Holloway.

I’m a Sawyer girl. What can I say.

Solar wheelchair works, but can you overlook the “roof?”

Would anyone actually use a wheelchair with a crazy roof, just to go green?
Not me! I understand why he had to do it, but did you have to make the roof THAT big? More ranting…