I'm working on an article about the ITF Wheelchair Tennis Tour, good articles require lots of research and this is no exception. The spreadsheet is 5 columns wide with every detail about the 180+ events on the tour. Their organizers, locations, prize money...... everything

V.R. keeps asking me for more and more about my business plan, and I'll keep giving and giving all they want until I get my rig. I am also anticipating getting my new powerchair, a Quickie 646 SE, it's a great chair 8 and a 1/2 mph chair that will definitely carry all my gear for a long time. It's not this beast but I'll have one in a year, count on it.

Thirdly I'm getting my merchant account BEFORE I"m getting my equipment from V.R. They have a huge list of what they want me to buy, and I'm doing it, memberships in professional organizations and all sorts of other things.

As I wrote in the right sidebar there is so much going on behind the scenes but I still say middle of the summer and things will be fully operation
al.

Keep coming Back

Well I have what I hope is my last appt. with my V.R. Counsellors tomorrow. They have asked me to put together a schedule of events for a year so that's what I have been doing for the past few days. I am also trying to get a new Quickie 646 powerchair. Rollingpix is almost fully operational. We are still getting tons of hits and new content is coming quickly. Stay tuned

I got my cooling vest from the distributor and used it on Monday for a few hours outside in the insanely hot Florida sun and it WORKED! It really did exactly what it was supposed to. I soaked the vest in regular tap water for 20 secs and put it on, then I put my t-shirt on over it. If you use ice water the vest stays cooler longer, I didn't do that, but I definitely will next time, also... The manufacturer says the vest doesn't perform as well in high humidity but I had no such problems in 80% + humidity, and the comprehensive technology review I did earlier is here, and it's definitely worth peeking at.

I thought the vest was going to soak my shirt but the water stayed inside the vest, exactly where it's supposed to, keeping me cool for almost 4 hours, I had requested a distribution contract with the manufacturer and I sat on it for awhile until I could field test it. Now that I have done just that one test combined with their information on it, I feel perfectly happy representing their product here in Florida.

I got a line on them from the distributor, basically making me their distributor here. I will buy the vests in bulk and I can offer some discount, if your interested shoot me an email.

I'm really sorry about not posting much lately There is a great reason though. I haven't been updating daily or even.....sometimes weekly anything really really news worthy is because I have been working with the State of Florida's Vocational Rehabilitation division building and implenting a real business plan, a Executive Summary, Market Analysis, Profit and Loss sheets. The whole kit and caboodle.

Obviously this complete process is in Rollingpix's best interest as a business, it just takes alot of work, and typing, combining and collating way too many different doc.s, spreadsheets and I only type with my right pinkie, one character at a time. In addition to all that are the almost weekly meetings at V.R. and all the in-other between work that occupies most of my workday, the rest is email's, net researching for business related info......... etc.

This part of any solo business owner/operator takes an awful lot of my personal time, but this post hopefully explains my slacking a little with the website , as I said in the sidebar big things are coming. Until then I won't be posting regularly.

I have posted about all kinds of cool chairs here on Rollinpix, and I have found another great one with the ever present, almost obligatory Youtube video to show you just how wicked this rig is. The chair itself uses a combination of mountain bike parts, knobbie tires with optional snow chains and a shiftable gear change system with ratchet levers that are removable when the goings not so difficult. One of the Rengades coolest accessories are ski's that can be used instead of front casters

I'm reposting a top five off road wheelchair review from pushingthelimits.com

Orlando Regional Medical Center at 1414 Kuhl Avenue • Orlando, Florida is doing an amazing evaluation of a Novel Interface for Individuals with Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury Using an Assistive Robotic Manipulator (MANUS) for Improved Independent Function

They are currently seeking candidates for a clinical trial evaluation of exploring the utility of a robotic arm for improved independent function in traumatically injured spinal cord patients. The study is evaluating a variety of interfaces for a robotic arm system and how they impact a spinal cord injured person’s ability to perform tasks, and the perceived effort associated with those tasks.

The Candidates that we are seeking fit the following profile:

> Available and willing to participate in therapy, nursing, and physician evaluations to evaluate candidacy for the program
>Physician referred
> Traumatically Spinal Cord Injured
> 21 or older
> C-3 to C-6 level of impairment
> Active individuals able to participate in study
> Greater than 90 days post injury
> Cognitively able to perform tasks
> Able to attend training as needed, 2 days a week, 4 weeks for 8 total sessions, plus evaluation and discharge evaluations with the therapist, nurse and physician
>Free use of upper extremities, i.e. functional ROM adequate enough to use the Assistive Robotic Manipulator (Manus)
> Free of communicable diseases>\
> Adequate vision (with or without corrective lenses)
> Can use the chosen upper extremity in a sustained fashion for the duration of each “treatment session”
> Must have communication skills adequate enough to provide the needed feedback.
>Sitting tolerance duration for the purposes of this project, typically 45 minute to 1 hour training sessions plus transportation time.

If you are interested in learning more about this study, please contact our program coordinator, Rod Olson at Rod.Olson@orhs.org or 407-841-8911.

Quite a long while back I posted on the military grade juggernaut that is the Tank Chair. Well now it has a newer, sportier, MUCH faster masterpiece from the folks that made the original monster. If Tank Chair is a beast, this new chair, appropriately called "The Speedster" is the Vector of wheelchairs. It even looks fast, and it's built from one solid piece of Aluminum , sitting on 21 inch Michelin's and custom billet wheels I know it has to be a blast to drive.

Just like it's sibling it's powered by four ultima 12v batteries and the specs on the chair are just unbelievable.

One-Piece Aluminum Chassis
Michelin 190-90R21 Tires
21" Colorado Custom Billet Wheels - Chrome
Billet Hub adapters
Fox 3-way Adjustable Shocks
4 - Optima Deep Cycle 12v Batteries
Battery access sliding tray
Motor Specs
24V
1hp Continuous
127RPM
Variable Speed
18:1 Gear Ratio
Weight ??
34" Wide x 38" Long

I'm still working with the State of Florida's Department of Vocational Rehabilitation on the preparation and execution of my business plan. I haven't been posting at all lately, it's lame on my part and I'm sorry. I got my business and merchant accounts done, the paperwork that government org's want from you is endless. Next appt. is July 14th so I'll get things right here.

I do have some things to post in sports news:
>An expedition to Mount Everest base camp... 17,700 feet, in their chairs.

>In Canada - four guys age 43 to 65 are handcycling 87 days from B.C. to Newfoundland - 10,000 km's across the country to raise funds for stem cell research. Video. Better yet... DONATE