For those of you who need to know, I was paralyzed in an accident during spinal surgery in 1963, when I was twenty and a junior in college. Although my hands and arms were paralyzed, I recovered well from that, and came out walking. I resumed my studies and went on to graduate school. The world, however, remains a place where physical disability is a handicap. When I left industry, I found that I couldn't return. When I couldn't get tenure as a college professor, I was sidelined in routine administrative work. My research wasn't taken seriously, but now some areas of it, like cloning and artificial intelligence, have become hot topics.

          My injured spinal cord keeps losing neurons as I age. I had to stop walking in 1992. In 1995, I lost my abdominal muscles. Losing abdominal stability affects my torso, and eating, driving, and writing. I now write only with my computers.

          So, I am shifting gears. Once I have attained a reasonable sustaining retirement income, I will enter a new career. It will involve writing, volunteering, and may involve computers, but I'm not sure exactly what form it will take. More on this later.

          On September 4, 1998, I drove home a 1998 Ford Windstar GL minivan that I bought in Phoenix in October, 1997. The floor was lowered 10 inches, removable front seats were added, and a kneeling system with an automatic folding ramp was added at Vantage Mobility in Phoenix. It was shipped here in January. Mobility Plus   added an EZ Lock wheelchair securement system, a left hand digital electronic gas-brake unit, a right hand zero-pressure digital electronic steering unit, a console for all controls, and a head button for essential over-the-road controls. It was complicated and tricky to drive, but I was free to go where I pleased again after three years of riding the always late or too early Metrolift system.

          The 1998 Windstar served me 96,000 miles and helped transport the President of Houston ADAPT, a disabled advocate organization. After he died from pneumonia, I gave the van to the Houston Center for Independent Living. The administrative assistant, a women in a push wheelchair, bought it and drive with hand controls.

          Just before Thanksgiving, 2006, I brought home my 2006 Freestar from Mobility Plus.  It has the same driving controls as the Windstar and operates some functions by voice rather than head button. 

          I've embarked on a new career. Taking an idea I held for over twenty years from my research into the future of technology and intelligence, I wrote a novel. The idea is called the Kaleidoscope Effect. I posted the chapters as I wrote and rewrote them, warts and all.

          The Kaleidoscope Effect was a finalist in the Bookbooters 2000-2001 eBook of the Year Awards. I then revamped Hanging by a Thread, and wrote the epic "mirror" to Kaleidoscope called Alone?. My next project was War's End, my take on ending  terrorism and war. I'm now working on a sequel, American Mole, giving the domestic perspective in three parts. American Mole: the Vespers was completed in March, 2008, with more to come. You the reader, are invited to participate by emailing me your comments, corrections, and suggestions as I post chapters. I'm especially interested in getting the facts straight. If I'm wrong, write me and I'll correct the problem. Happy reading ....