TexasDebs

Junior’s Wheel Chair

I’d like you all to meet my friend, Mr. Junior Quinn.

Mr. Quinn is 53 years old and he has worked as an independent contractor selling the Houston Chronicle to passing motorists for the past 17 years, and he really needs a new chair.

I first met Junior a couple of years ago at his usual work-post at Dairy Ashford and Memorial. I had noticed that he was always there every single workday, M-F, 7am- 7pm, rain or shine, hot or cold -and that he never missed work. When I stopped to buy a Chronicle from him, I asked him if he worked for commission. He explained to me that they have to buy their own newspapers to sell, and that they often lose money, so I decided to start getting my Chronicles from him. I could see how hard he was working, and I just wanted to give my business to him.

I got to chatting with him one hot summer day during the heat wave when I stopped by to check on him and bring him some cold water, and just see how he was holding up. (It was 100 degrees & 100% humidity, & high noon!) He said, “Oh I don’t mind the heat, it’s the cold I don’t like!” Hehe. There’s a Texan for ya!

I have a great deal of respect for Mr. Quinn. He is a reliable, hard-working contributor to society. He inspires me because he focuses on what he can do, not on what he can’t. When I see him working so hard every day, I see a guy who views his challenges as merely minor setbacks or slight inconveniences rather than as disabilities.

Junior was born with Muscular Sclerosis and Polio and now has limited mobility, so he relies on his chair to get around. He was able to walk until 1994. He told me a story of how his cousin Norma would come over and help him into his arm and leg braces so he could exercise, but when she wasn’t around, the nursing home would just leave him in the bed all day and his muscles got weak.

Now his chair is his source of independence and freedom, but it is in bad shape. He really needs a new one, but he doesn’t have that kind of money. They’re very expensive.

Quinn lost his good chair in an accident on the job at the Chronicle not too long ago. A car hit him and badly injured him, and damaged the chair so much so that it needed replacing. Unfortunately, the chair they’ve replaced it with doesn’t even compare to the one he had before. It doesn’t meet the needs of such an active person with a full-time outdoor job, not to mention the fact that he takes the bus to and from work every day and the sidewalks are bad- There isn’t even a sidewalk ramp to his post.

I just hope and pray that someone out there can help Junior get the chair he so desperately needs so that he can keep his independence, and be safe on the job. That chair he has right now loses power and has left him stranded. And you can’t push those electric chairs either! I worry he’ll try to make it up the curb and lose power and turn it over into the intersection, or that he’ll be stuck sitting all alone in a dark parking lot all night one night, or even worse break down in the middle of the busy street.

Junior works a full-time job outdoors in busy traffic and in all kinds of weather. Doesn’t he deserve a top of the line chair? Is there somebody out there who can help? Please?

Houston is the only city I've ever driven in where one minute you can be traveling at a normal speed on the freeway, and then the next brake lights you see could bring you to a screeching halt. I used to tell my husband about it whenever we encountered traffic on the parkway in Jersey (which was usually pretty predictable where to slow down).

Well, he learned the hard way when driving along 610 in 5:00 traffic the other day when an SUV pulled out in front of him and STOPPED. He wrecked my car and I was pretty upset, but I understand how it could happen and I forgive him. I'm just glad he and no one else was hurt. (Nina Nissan will be okey, too!)

It reminded me of my Driver's Ed teacher and my Mom, who both have a good rule of thumb that has always stuck in my mind:

When you're traveling in busy stop-and-go traffic, always make sure that you can see the bottom of the tires of the car ahead of you touching the road.

Of course that's way too close to follow when traffic is moving, but when you're just crawling along, it reminds you to stay off their bumper.

YIKES! 21 Flat Tires and Counting!

Fry Road and I-10, but I didn't catch whether it was on the East-bound or the West-bound side. Don Armstrong and the SkyFox crew reported from the air around 7 this morning that there must have been a box of nails or something there near the exit ramp.

Thanks for the heads-up! Flat tires are costly, annoying, and sometimes DANGEROUS!

YOU GUYS GOT A NEW CHOPPER?!

I am so stoked for you, FOX26! CONGRATULATIONS!

This was extremely necessary, I'm sure. The old models have been in so many accidents lately. Just yesterday an HPD chopper took a hard landing. The pilot was okey, but I'm sure he was shook up.

By the way, you guys have done an EXTRAORDINARY job up there this morning. I always love waking up before daylight on a clear morning so I can see those "beauty-shots" from SkyFoxShooter (Mike) and Captain Matt, and everything I've seen this morning has been absolutely BREATHTAKING. Koudos, Mike and Matt! (and AudioJeff!) I especially loved the shot of the chopper herself, which Jose Grinan was kind enough to inform us is Fox's new "Bell407".

Don Armstrong must be having a blast up there! What a fun job that must be. I'm so jealous. Can I come for a ride? PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE?!!!! Please? Please? Please? Please? (It's my birthday in November!!!!) Come on, please????

I'm checkin out the Bell 407 now at this website. Hey Fox26, will you paint the bottom so I can see it's you when you fly over my head?

School Bus Accident Briar Forest Near Kirkwood

I just passed the scene, paramedics and police were there.

Can Fox26 get us some details? Is everyone okey?

My thoughts and prayers are there.

Thanks, Fox26.

WIPERS ON/LIGHTS ON

I lived in New Jersey for about 8 years and I used to see those signs everywhere when I was driving. I remember thinking to myself...."Well, Duh!" I always turn mine on when visibility is difficult because I want to be seen.Your headlights aren't just for you to be able to see, they're also for others to be able to see you.  
I guess because in New Jersey there are so many drivers from other states passing through they have to remind us that it's state law . (You can drive through a lot of states on Jersey highways [Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware, Maryland, D.C., Virginia, etc.] in just a few short hours.) But it's not a state law here, and I guess that's why so many people don't put their lights on when the visibility is reduced from the rain. I noticed that today when I was driving on a crowded freeway during lunch hour traffic in the pouring down rain. As I was changing lanes several times I noticed that the car in the next lane didn't have their lights on. It was difficult to see whether a car was coming because of the foggy windows and the way the rain was hitting them, and also the spray that was coming up from the road.
Maybe drivers are afraid they'll leave them on and kill their battery or something? Do you put yours on? Or do you leave them off until dark? Just curious.
 

Should I even try to leave right now? I dropped my husband here at Gulfgate (Parkplace and Gulf Freeway) and it came down fast and hard, it 's pretty flooded. Right now the time is 12:15. I live at I-10 and Dairy Ashford. Should I try to drive? Should I wait for the floodwater to go down a little more? How do I find the safest way home? There are many routes for me to take home, but I don't know how to find out which way is not flooded.

HELP ME PLEASE, TRAFFICDIVA!

This morning:
I was driving my husband to the bus-stop and UH-OH!....he missed it! His office is pretty far from where we live, especially in traffic, and I haven't been feeling well so there's no way I could fight the traffic animals for 90 minutes! So, I thought maybe we could catch up to the bus along Memorial (we've done it before!) and MAN!....the bus is nowhere to be seen. Hmmmm....okay, so let's see if we can beat it to the NW Transit center....So we get onto I-10 and YIKES! It's UGLY! BOTH WAYS! I thought.... 'I am NOT driving home in THAT!' So we pull into the Metro Transit Center and see the 131 is there. Whew! Thank God! I'm flagging the driver down, my husband is chasing after the bus, he gets on, and WHEW! Husband!-On!-Bus!-Breathe! Ahhhh. I can breathe again, and my husband can sit down and enjoy the nice, quiet, air-conditioned Metro bus ride without having to fight the nasty traffic....AW MAAAAN! Now I have to get back into that chaotic pit of insanity! 'Oh God! How to avoid this nightmare?!'

I'll tell you what He said: Post Oak to Memorial Drive! It was smooth sailing all the way home. There was not much traffic at 9:30, only a little bit of construction but nothing too disastrous, and the lovely view of big, pretty houses and trees calmed my nerves and eased my tension. It may have taken a little longer, I'm not sure, but if so it was worth it. I don't even notice the time passing, I just put on K.S.B.J. and listened to the peaceful music and next thing I knew I was pulling into my driveway! I got home safely, on-time, and stress-free!

I highly recommend the "scenic route" for good mental health. Have a nice day!

Ruben Dominguez looked pretty comfortable up in SkyFox this week! I haven't seen any reports from the chopper this morning yet, though. I was gonna say maybe Ruben flew away, haha!, but then I saw him reporting from the studio.

There were no thunderstorms in Mike Iscovitz's forecast this morning, so I didn't think she'd be grounded. I guess she's getting a tune-up? Nothing to report? The guys have the day off?

(I love to see live shots of Houston from the chopper, so I notice when there aren't any!)

By the way, I really miss Mary!

I have been driving my husband to and from work every day for the past two weeks (more driving than I'd prefer to do every day, to say the least) and we've been trying to figure out the best route to take from west Houston to Gulfgate. We decided I-10 to 45.  I hadn't been on I-10 for a while lately because it had been such a disaster. It seems to be much better now except for one thing: It's really, really hard to see which way the lanes are flowing because there's no painted lines. They've got the "Bot's Dots" down, but they are hard to see in the daytime (they should reflect at night) and some of the old ones haven't even been removed from the prior lane-flow path direction, which makes it even MORE confusing. Also, there are black painted lines down (I guess covering the previous lane-flow lines) and they are the most prominent, which leads the eye to follow the wrong path. It's dangerous and down-right scary! Anybody else out there having the same trouble?
 

My friend Alan is sweet. He always speaks from the heart.
A while ago, he sent a text message to me, which I have not been able to bring myself to delete. It said simply: "Stay sweet." Coincidentally, as I was receiving that text, I was having bad day- stuck in traffic after a toiling day of running late, waiting in lines, expecting a parcel that never came, getting some bad news.... -one of those type of days. As I sat in gridlock traffic in the steaming heat, I could hear someone screaming profanities at the top of their voice-
That someone was me! I was losing my cool, raising my blood pressure, stressing myself out.... then I get this message out of the clear blue sky: "Stay sweet.".  Made me think....I can consciously make that choice, to 'stay sweet', or I can choose to be miserable and grouchy. Right then I just started laughing at myself and how ridiculous I sounded.

Brings to mind an episode of the Simpsons I saw recently (Simon Cowell made a guest voice appearance)  Lisa had run away from home. She set up camp at the museum of natural science, and made her bed atop of a giant tongue which was part of a demonstration of the human digestive system. There was a sign on one side indicating 'sweet', and a sign on the other side indicating 'bitter'. At first Lisa made her bed on the bitter side, and she sounded kind of like me on that day- grouchy, grumpy, mean, bitter!
Then she noticed the signs and picked up and moved her bedding to the side that said 'sweet', and her whole attitude changed to sweet.

In the future if I catch myself sounding ugly or cynical, I'll pick up from the bitter side, and move to the sweet side!

STAY SWEET!