How can I be so busy?
It is amazing how busy you can still be when you really can't physically do all that much. Between trying to make it to classes on Tues and Thurs, keep up with my school work, and putting together random posters that have been assigned to me, I stay pretty busy. I had a meeting with my research advisor, the director of the CEBC and another graduate student that is going to be working on my project for the CEBC with me. (The CEBC is part of KU and they happen to be the ones that are paying me this semester). We got to talking about the direction that my project is going to go, and it was decided that I needed to put together a poster over the things discussed in the meeting to present in St. Louis on Oct. 1. So for th remainder of this week I have been gathering all of the needed data and putting together the poster. I submitted the draft of it to my research advisor today, so I will have to wait and see what kind of response I get from him.
I have developed a new found respect for people that who are in whhel chairs for their entire life. It is not until you have to rely on one of those things for transportation that you realize how oblivios the rest of us are to the setups of the buildings and things around us. Most of the "handicap accessible" buildings may be legally accessible, but in reality, they aren't. How many people have ever tried to get a wheel chair over one of the 1" or larger seams in the concrete sidewalk. You know the ones where the tree root has pushed up a part of the sidewalk and when you walk over it if you weren't paying attention you would hook your toe on it? Those things are almost unsurmountable obstacles in a chair. Also the thresholds to buildings... Some of them are huge and are very hard to get a chair over. Anyway, enough ranting about that. You will have to read the post that I am planning on putting up about the best way to get from Sunnyside Ave. (the road that goes below the chemistry building) up to Jayhawl Blvd. If I can still find the insert from the KU disability map I will scan it and post it so everyone can see how ridiculous it is. We all know there are a tremendous number of stairs to go up if you want to go from say Malott to Strong Hall by way of walking either close to or through Wescoe. Try to think of a way to do it in a chair. That is a challenge for you. (Sorry for the building references for those of you who are not familiar with the KU campus.)
So that has been most of my week. Classes and putting together a poster. I am hoping since I have gotten most of the school reponsibilities out of the way, I can update the site and put a few more entries into my blog. Speaking of updating the site... I should probably get started on that now.