Everyone knows Murphy’s Law, which states that in a given situation, anything that can happen will happen. But with my laundry list of medical mysteries and complications over the last decade, it’s been the long-running joke among my family and friends that Old Man Murphy should retire his namesake and hand it over to me. Today was a fine example of…
Author: Kenny Salvini
A quadriplegic since 2004 after a snow skiing accident left me paralyzed from the neck down, I have spent the majority of the last decade searching for a sense of purpose. In the summer of 2005, my blog, titled "Typical Guy, Atypical Situation", was featured on the MSN homepage and became somewhat of a viral hit, which led to a few small collaborations with Microsoft. After taking a five-year sabbatical from the website in 2007, life's trajectory seems to be leading me back in that general direction as I look to create opportunities for people in situations similar to mine to share their stories. My hope is to build a community where a group of people in seemingly dire circumstances are able to pool their collective experience, strength and hope in order to successfully achieve an enhanced, more accessible life.
Road Warrior
Just a quick public service announcement for anyone on the road between Seattle and Southern California over the next couple weeks – beware of a silver Honda Odyssey ramp van (a.k.a. The Silver Bullet a.k.a. The Short Bus) with the above license plates being driven as if it were recently stolen. Yep. It’s that time…
In Sickness and in Health
I knew today was coming. I’d probably looked at it on the calendar a half a dozen times, but somehow in the overall randomness of the day, I let it slip. My third wedding anniversary. It really is hard to wrap my head around the fact that, in November, Kristen will have been gone for three…
The Recovery Waltz
One-two-three, one-two-three, one-two-three. Back in college, they held an “Introduction to Ballroom Dancing” class in one of the gyms adjacent to the sports medicine room for varsity athletes – not that the CWU wrestling team actually spent much time in that area. No, the redheaded stepchildren of the athletic department rarely mingled with the revenue-generating…
Away from the Sun Again
I should be in Maryland right now. Maybe Ohio, or at least Illinois – somewhere on the road to Washington DC for a Roll on Capitol Hill that starts on Monday. I’d take anywhere but where I am now. There is an old adage that says that life is what happens when you’re busy making…
If You Build It, They WILL Come.
You always hear it said that a picture is worth 1000 words. Click over to the Here and Now Project blog to find out why this picture from the first official Meet Up is worth 1000 YEARS!!
The Memory Remains
A spinal cord injury is an interesting beast to wrangle with, both physically and psychologically. It differs from other causes of paralysis like MS, ALS or Parkinson’s in the sense that it’s not a progressive degeneration of your physical abilities where you are constantly adjusting to the increasing loss of independence. It’s abrupt. There’s a…
Just How I Roll
I woke up At 6 AM on Sunday morning, groggily cursing daylight saving time for having robbed me of an hour’s sleep – as if I was innocently staying up till 1 AM the night before and it had snuck up on me. Like a ninja. But as my two caregivers – one disturbingly chipper…
Processing…
Late Sunday night I went to post a short recap of my trip up to the mountain, complete with a little snippet of video as a teaser of more to come, but ran into technical issues after uploading the clip. The file said 100% complete, but when I clicked on the link, I just got…
Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride
What are the words you live by? The Romans had carpe diem. Gandhi advised to “Live as if you were to die tomorrow.” All the Twitter tweeners have #YOLO, which I personally loathe, but to each their own. I’ve always gravitated towards the words of the doctor of gonzo journalism himself, Hunter S Thompson, who…
Kenny Salvini 