If you are here, you want to know a little about me. I was the first child of a young woman and a much older man. My Father wanted a son to carry on his work as foreman of a construction crew, as his father had done for him. I was about 1 year old in 1935 when a Doctor determined that I had Cerebral Palsy. He told my parents that I would probably never get out of bed. My Parents had two more children, and they were both girls. My Father never forgave me for "cheating" him. I did get out of bed and my mother and an aunt provided care and attention for my early years. When I was about 7 years old I could take 4 or 5 steps at a time without falling down. I had learned enough to skip the first grade. The State provided a home tutor for grades 2 and 3. By the fourth grade I could walk with someone holding on to one of my arms so I could keep my balance. For grades 4 through 8 the State provided a taxicab to and from school twice a day. The State, feeling that I had enough education, would not help me with High School. My mother took me to and from High School twice a day for four years. By that time I could walk a couple of blocks at a time by myself without any help. Also, I could dress myself if I had enough time and if the buttons were big enough. I earned several academic awards in High School, including Honorable Mention in the Westinghouse Science Talent Search. (I was in the top 300 Science Students in the United States in the Graduating Class of 1952). I also earned a Math Scholarship to Knox College. No one thought that I could go to College, but my Mother wanted me to have the chance. My parents put up the additional money, and drove me to the Campus. They assured me that if I had to come home, all I had to do was call. They would be right down to pick me up. The first day I had so many problems that I knew I couldn't make it. However, I thought I could wait at least another hour. By evening I decided that I would wait until morning. I didn't want them to have to drive all that way at night. In the morning I decided I could wait until noon to call them. Noon stretched on into evening and I waited another night. I kept putting it off for two years. At one time I even had torn cartilage in both shoulders and a herniated disk in my spine. I just didn't want to give up. By that time my Father had a heart attack and had to retire, so there was no more money. I still didn't give up. By that time I knew nothing could stop me. I transferred to the U. of I., and got money from the state to pay for the next two years. I studied Engineering and in 1956 I left the U. of I., three Drafting Courses short of a degree. I had passed the earlier Drafting Courses by "Proficiency Exams" that emphasized Content over Manual Skill. The Deans saw that I might go all the way. So they refused to let me take the Exams for the last three courses. They claimed they could not grant a degree to someone who could not do the work. (If only Computers had come twenty years earlier, one Software Program could have eliminated those courses.) I spent most of the next five years around Louisville KY. I lived in an old car that I bought for $15. (It had a bad transmission.) I worked as night watchman in a Produce Stand for 25 cents an hour. In those five years I saved enough money to pay my own way back into School. I wanted to detail some of that part of my life. However, my attorney tells me that the Statute of Limitations begins when a crime is discovered, not when it is committed. I don't want to print anything that might get me in trouble. However, I can tell you that 25 cents an hour is an insult. And I don't easily accept insults. Also I carried a snub-nosed 38 revolver under my shirt every night. I never shot anyone, but I did have to pull it out several times. One time I was bagging apples for a Police Officer who was a regular customer. He asked me if that was a 45 on my belt. I told him, "No, it's a 38." He said, "Oh," took a bite of apple, and walked back to his car. At least four people died in that area in robberies of less than $5. I survived even though I fit the Profile of "most likely victim." I am a Gimp but nobody can look me in the eye and think that I will go down easy. In 1962 I went back to School at Valparaiso Technical Institute. I finished their five semester program in two semesters and got a BSEE Degree in 1963. I was also valedictorian of the class. With the help of some friends I got a good job as Research Consultant at Universal Recording Corporation. That job got my first United States Patent. I also earned enough money to return to the University of Illinois Graduate School in January 1965. In September 1966 I got an MSEE Degree with academic honors from the same University that could not give me an undergraduate degree 10 years earlier.
This is me in my Lab at the U. of I. in 1966
Thanks to several Professors from the University of Illinois, I became a Research Engineer at Hazeltine Research, Inc. in Chicago. I stayed there until they effectively went out of business after losing a 35 million dollar lawsuit in 1974. During that time I became a Registered Professional Engineer and earned two more United States Patents. I also went to School at night. I earned a Professional Engineer Degree from Midwest College of Engineering in Lombard IL and an MBA Degree from Loyola University of Chicago. After the demise of Hazeltine Research Inc., I retained a part time Consulting Contract with Hazeltine Corporation of New York. I have done a few small Consulting jobs since 1977. I also went to the University of Illinois in Chicago with the intention of getting a Doctor's Degree. I finished the course work and passed their Qualifying Exam. Then I ran out of steam before I could finish the Dissertation. By 1993 or 1994 I could no longer walk to and from the bus stop or climb the steps to get on the bus. In April of 1995 I left Chicago for good and bought a small house in Streator, IL. The house was originally two apartments, with a garage in the back. My Brother- in-law put a ramp on the back porch and a door between the apartments, so I have the whole house. My office has windows on the North, East, and South sides. From my Computer keyboard I can watch both the Real World and the Internet World.
This is the front of my home
This is the back of my home
By 1996 I had to use a wheelchair for anything more than 20 to 30 feet. In 1997 I had to install a block and tackle to get between the wheelchair and the bed. By the beginning of 1999 my right leg would no longer support my weight at all. I can stand on my left leg if I lock my knee. In 1999 I bought a used Electric Wheelchair so I can still get around. I get to about half of the Rummage Sales in town. I also get to most of the stores, the Bank, and the Post Office. I even have a local reputation of sorts. I am "The Crazy Old Man with the Aussie Hat and the Electric Wheelchair that Drives Down the Middle of the Street." (If there aren't any potholes, I do stay on my side of the Road.)
This is me roaming the streets in 1999
This is me again.
And again.
I like the rear view best.
If I want to change my image, I just change my hat.
Me, in 2002.
Click above for details on my wheelchair trailer.
Education is much more than the courses taught at universities. I have read at least part of every book I could get my hands on. These include "The Prince" (Machiavelli), The Dale Carnegie Series, books on Investing and Real Estate, and others. Not all learning comes from books. At one School, I became friends with a former US Marine. He had taught "Special Forces" how to kill silently with weapons of opportunity. He taught me what he knew and I taught him Algebra and Geometry. For example, I can kill a person with a small book in two blows. The first blow breaks the bridge of the nose and positions the fragment for the second blow. The final stroke is an up-sweeping blow to the bottom of the nose. This drives the sharp fragment into the front part of the brain. If you have a stick, never swing it like a club. Instead, play stick-ball. Use an axial thrust to either the eyeballs or the testicles. What if the person is a woman? Don't be wasteful. Use a submission hold and negotiate an exchange of assets. Another lesson came from a story told by one of my professors. In the early days they used to run entire assembly lines from one large electric motor and a series of belts. He got an emergency call one morning that a motor would not start. The whole assembly line was idle. He immediately saw that the problem was a loss of Residual Magnetism in the armature. He picked up a big hammer and hit the end of the shaft. The motor started right up. His bill was $100.00. The owner protested that it was too high. He took it back and gave him a replacement bill. It was $1.00 for hitting the shaft, and $99.00 for knowing how to hit the shaft. We do not get paid for what we do. We get paid for knowing how to do it. I also took the Dale Carnegie course in public speaking. It was a step in the right direction, but it did not go far enough. Then I took two seminars in Neuro Linguistic Programming. If Macheavelli were still alive, he would take those seminars. They take up where his skill ended. In my Engineering work in the late 60's I learned a lot of "insider information." One piece was a study on which five sections of the country were likely to experience the most growth in the 70's and 80's. With this information and other data, I made several trips to Duluth, Minnesota, and to Hot Springs, Arkansas. I would fly in and go to a Motel on Friday evening and contact two or three Real Estate Agents. On Saturday, they would show me what they had available. On Sunday, I would either submit an offer or return to Chicago and wait for another weekend. After I got my first couple of pieces in Minnesota, it was easy. I just read the Wall Street Journal every Friday looking for "loss leaders" from that Agency. If I saw anything I liked, I would call him and buy it on the phone, using my equity as down payment. In a couple of months I would put it back on the market with the same agency at a higher price. He got the leads generated by the ad and two commissions. I made the monthly payments on what I bought with the payments on what I sold. It was a true "Win - Win" situation as long as I was careful. I had only one loss in Minnesota. It was Lake Superior waterfront property with taxes that were too high to wait for someone to develop the adjacent property. I took my loss as soon as I saw that it would be a longer term investment. I made many mistakes in Arkansas. I bought into the Cooper Communities Development, and it was a case of the big fish eating the smaller fish, me. I did keep about a dozen lots that were not in the Cooper Communities. My final result in that state is nowhere near as bad as it could have been. In 1973 I began a lifetime partnership with a woman who could walk beside me, not 10 steps behind me. She had not yet achieved her full potential. In 26 years she has more than justified my faith in her. She was a divorcee with three adopted children. They had no problem accepting me. The adoptive father did not want them any more. It is a full family with everything I wanted in one package. By working together we make a team that simply can not be beaten.
This is my Woman since 1973
This woman wanted to get her Doctors Degree. However, she could not take time off from her full time job, or neglect her family. She started a weekend program at a School near San Francisco about 1980. At the time, she was working as Chief Nurse in a Veterans Administration Hospital about 50 miles east of San Francisco. Her mother watched the children while she worked. Somehow, she found some time to spend with each of the children every day. Then the Veterans Administration transferred her to a Hospital in Spokane, Washington. I assumed that the move would end her dream of earning a Doctors Degree. I was wrong. Twice a month she flew to San Francisco Friday evening. She attended classes on Saturday and Sunday. Before dawn on Monday, she flew back to Spokane to get to her job at the regular time. After almost a year of this schedule, she earned her Degree. She and I are so much alike on the inside that we must be Soul Mates. We work well together because we can think along the same lines. There was one time when she was buying a home after one of her transfers. She needed $5000. more than we both had. She had planned to get a cash advance on a credit card. The bank said if she had to borrow the down payment, they could not give her a First Mortgage. She called me on Friday afternoon. I had her tell them that I was returning $5000. that I owed her. I grabbed my credit card and headed for the bus stop. After I got on the bus, the driver told me that he would pass the bank at 3:10 pm. The bank closed at 3 pm. A normal person would have gone home. However, I know that luck is simply keeping the maximum options in a world full of random events. The bus was about 6 minutes early and the bank guard was about 5 minutes late in locking the door. He knew me and saw me coming, so he held the door for me. I had no problem getting the money. I used a bank envelope and a special delivery stamp that I always carried in my wallet. As I left the bank, a mail carrier was just picking up the mail from the box on the corner. If any of these events had not happened, I would have boarded another bus and gone on to the Loop. The banks there stay open until 5 pm. Also, she returned the money, with interest, in less than six months. After 1977 my taxable income was very small while her income was still growing rapidly. We took full advantage of this disparity. Most years we transferred $10000 in tax free real estate equity from my name to hers. This was how I got rid of real estate that was not making a profit. She held it for the minimum time required to declare a tax loss. When she sold this property at a loss, the IRS gave her a tax refund that effectively cut our real estate losses. In years that we did not take losses, I transferred more profitable real estate into joint tenancy to avoid final probate. Like everyone else, I have had a few accidents. When I broke two ribs on the same side, the spasms impeded the healing process. I needed something to relax the trunk muscles without adversly effecting the limbs or the mind. I went to a doctor and asked for a prescription for "parafon forte." The doctor had to look it up in the PDR. My ribs healed in about a month. However, I was completely run down. I had to go to her place for a couple of weeks of good food and R&R to get well. Around 1960 I consulted several of the top specialists in Cerebral Palsy. I wanted the most reliable information I could get in planning the rest of my life. The most optimistic projection was that, if I took very good care of myself, I might live up to the age of 50. I chose to live what life I had to the fullest extent possible. I am now 65. If I had taken care of my body as they had suggested, I probably would have died at 50, from boredom. At 32, I found myself making a good living doing interesting work. I was in great physical condition, for a Gimp, and I had no dependents. My Last Will could have been, "Being of sound mind, I spent it all." I could go anywhere and do anything. The word fear was not in my vocabulary. In 1967 I tried to float down the Mississippi River in a Wet Suit and an Automobile inner tube. After 36 hours and only 25 miles, I had to give up with dehydration and sunburn on my face. I still had almost two weeks of vacation time. I bought a 14 foot aluminum boat with a 6 HP outboard motor. I had a tractor Umbrella mounted on the back and put 2 six foot boards on the front seats for my air mattress. I went on down the Mississippi and saw the heartland of America in all its natural beauty. At the mouth of the Rock River, I portaged around the dam and went up the Rock. That is where I learned what a Shear Pin is and how the Rock River got its name. Every time I broke a Shear Pin, I had to get out of the boat to fix it. I tied the tools to my wrist, put the inner tube around my chest, and rolled out of the boat. I kept a tether line between the inner tube and the boat. The job took about 15 minutes, and another 10 minutes for me to wiggle my body back into the boat. There was a time, after 10 to 12 days, when I hit the same rock twice. I decided that was enough. I had arranged before I left to have friends in Chicago pick me up where ever I might be. I called the local police for a ride into town to call my friends. They picked me up within 6 hours. The police searched my boat for Drugs and Alcohol but all they found was a Crazy Gimp.
This is me when I got back to Chicago in 1967
The following year I bought a 17 foot Day Cruiser. I took it the entire length of the Illinois River. I circled the buoy that marks the junction of the Illinois and the Mississippi River, and returned to Chicago. Was it uneventful and Dull? No Way! One day I saw two barges passing in the main channel. The water around them seemed perfectly calm. I opened my throttle all the way to pass them. I had not realized that the individual wakes had been canceling. By this time they had synchronized. A series of four foot waves hit the side of my boat. I rolled sideways till my canvas top dipped into the water and I took on water from the bottom side. Everything, including the battery and the gas tank, moved around like dice in a cup, and the motor died. It took me about an hour to put the boat back in running condition.
This is me when I got back to Chicago in 1968
I devoted the next two years to the Colorado River. I went through the Grand Canyon on a Rubber Raft, twice. The first time, I did everything the guide told me. I watched everything, asked questions, and took many notes. The next year I went with a different company. When the raft docked at Lee's Ferry, I was the first one to board. I took a front seat, and kept it for the entire trip. I even had a nylon rope that was the correct length to make a hand grip on the left outrigger. I spent most of the trip riding the front of that outrigger like a wild horse. I came into the main part of the boat for two or three of the roughest rapids. The guide let me do what I wanted, because there was no way he could stop me. After we left the dock, there was no way he could get rid of me. If he had given me a really hard time, I had a notarized waiver of liability from my attorney. I did not have to use it, but I always try to cover all possible problems. That is a beautiful trip, but I did not see much of it on the second trip. I concentrated on conquering the Canyon. On one of the trips, I saw a very rare sight. A flash flood in the desert created a three stage waterfall behind our campsite in a normally dry stream bed. There were two basins in the face of the waterfall. Each basin had to fill up before the next stage of the waterfall could begin. When the third stage formed, the water ran right past our campsite. It was very impressive. On the second trip, I arrived two days early and took a scenic boat tour of Lake Mead. On the same boat, there was a surveyor who had worked on picking the original site. He pointed out an alternate site that they had investigated. I told him that they could not build a dam there. There was a fault line visible in the cliff side of the lake. He said they had found that when they took core drillings of the site. It was not visible until after the lake had formed. He also said that I was the first person to point that out to him. I guess everyone else was to polite. Those of us with Spastic Cerebral Palsy share one unusual physical characteristic. In any body of water, we sink like a rock. This has two basic causes. Our high metabolic rate insures that we will have a minimum of body fat. Did you ever see a fat Spastic CP? Also, the constant muscle tension, specially in the trunk, increases the Specific Gravity of our body. Therefore, any recreational activity involving water has an extra element of risk, and excitement, that others don't understand. However, I did many other things during those years. I spent most of one day on a beach in Rio de Janeiro "studying" the local female population. The next day I drank my total lifetime consumption of alcohol. I was at the top of Sugarloaf Mountain. It was a hot day and I was getting dehydrated. The local Concession Stand did not sell any non-alcoholic beverages. I bought one bottle of beer with two glasses, and shared it with the Local Tour Guide. Once in Buenos Aires, the officials would not let me off the plane with the other passengers. They said that my Visa was not correct. I had entered my occupation as Engineer. He said that he knew I could not run a train. I was actually speechless for several seconds. It took over an hour of third party negotiations to get me into the country. I had to change my occupation to Businessman. I was mad as Hell. I finally realized they had no conception at all of my world. Later, when I left my Hotel to do some shopping, a man followed me. He did not get closer than 50 feet. I doubt that he knew I had spotted him. If you can't spot a tail in Chicago, your dead. When I returned to the Hotel more than an hour later, he was still behind me. I reported it to the Hotel Authorities. They thought I was mistaken until I pointed out that he was still behind me, just outside the Hotel. They promised to check him out but I never heard any more. He might even have worked for hotel security. Several days later, on a refueling stop in Chile, they wouldn't let any Americans off the plane. Back in those days everyone wanted our dollars but they did not want us. In Lima, Peru, the guide took everyone else to tour Machhu Picchu. He asked me to stay in the Hotel. After they left, I found a taxi driver who spoke good English. I gave him a five dollar bill and the left halves of two twenty dollar bills. He drove me to the Indian Market, and agreed to wait for me for one hour. If I did not come back, he was to forget he had ever seen me. If I did come back, I would give him the other halves and he would take me back to the Hotel. The Indian Market was like Chicago's old Maxwell Street with a touch of Jungle and a dash of Casa Blanca. Most of the merchandise was expensive imported junk. However, there was also some local, one-of-a-kind, items that you could never find anywhere else. I came out in 59 minutes with a mixed bag of souvenirs. The taxi driver hugged me and said something about "Crazy American." He was happier to see me than the money I gave him. Considering the exchange rate of that time, it was about a week's wages. During my active career, I attended an average of four seminars per year. My employer paid for about 75% of them. The personally sponsored seminars continued for at least ten years after 1974. One of these seminars was "Devices and Systems for the Disabled." It was held April 29 - 30, 1975, in Philadelphia, Penn. At that seminar I presented a device and an associated paper, "Let Your Fingers Do the Talking." This device would let a deaf person with the ability to speak, carry on two-way conversations with anyone who had a Touch Tone Phone. Only the deaf person would need one of these devices. This would break the social barrier that isolates the deaf community. The cost of such a device would be less than $75. People with financial problems could get these devices through organization that help the deaf. After the presentation, I got more questions about me than about my device. My final statement to them is a one sentence summary of my Professional Philosophy. "I am an Engineer who happens to have Cerebral Palsy, not a person with Cerebral Palsy who happens to be an Engineer." I served two years on the Grant Review Committee of the National Science Foundation. I discovered there are people who make a very good living proposing impossible projects. They just collect the grant money and write a report of their failure. I doubt that they even waste the time doing the research. It is just an exercise in paperwork. During my tenure I shot down at least twenty proposals that they would have funded without my input. It is not that I oppose good research. These guys were promising results like by-passing broken Spinal Cords with Computer Chips. It may happen someday, but not in the 1970s. My job was to know the State-of-the-Art and I was good at my job. I have also done volunteer work for the Foundation for Science and the Handicapped and for the AAAS. Both Organizations have created better conditions for Scientists and Engineers who happen to have handicaps. Let me wrap this article up with a couple of incidents in Chicago that represent much of my interaction with Society. When Union Station was still a major transportation hub for the midwest, I often passed through the Main Lobby. One day I spotted a Little Old Lady with a shopping bag full of pamphlets, bearing down on me. I tried to outrun her, but she caught me. She was out of breath and shaking a pamphlet in my face. She said, "Mister, Mister, Would you like to be Reborn again?" My reply was, "Good Heavens, No, Lady. Look what happened last time. Do you think I want to go through all that again?" She gasped, stuttered, "Oh, Oh, My God." and ran away like Satan was chasing her. Another time I was waiting for a number 74 bus at the corner of Fullerton Ave. and Halsted St. A guy with several bunches of flowers came up to me and asked, "Do you believe in Jesus?" "No." "Do you believe in God?" "No." "Do you believe in Love?" "No." "Maybe that's why you are all f---ed up." "Oh? I don't happen to be the one standing on the corner with a bunch of flowers begging for money." He wanted to kill me, but my bus came and I just left him there. I also never give anything to beggars who come door-to-door with a sad story. I can't believe that they tried as hard as they could to make a better life. They probably make more money than I do and pay no taxes. I still wouldn't trade places with them for anything in the world. I have several physical problems, but I have a very strong self image and a lot of self respect.