NEVER park in a disabled bay in Brazil! Crowd cheer as inconsiderate driver returns to find his entire car has been covered with a blue badge symbol

... made of sticky notes. No apparent actual damage was done to the car, but the "stickering" obviously irritated the bejezus out of the returning driver who parked it there... no damage done, unlike the act of a healthy person's parking his or her car in a handicapped zone, which has actual consequences for the next unfortunate disabled driver who finds the space blocked (illegally, in most areas).

Maybe stickering could become a regular practice! Worldwide!

Hey people, we cripples need those spaces. Depending on our disabilities, we may not be able to park two blocks away and walk or wheel to our destination: the usurpation of a close parking space may compel us to abandon our errand altogether. (Yes, I've had to do that: every cripple has, most of us more than once.)

I can see a healthy driver's wanting a close parking space, but dammit, for us cripples, when you block our spaces, it's not a matter of mere inconvenience. The most ordinary of acts, the simplest of tasks is hard enough for us without your making it harder for no good reason. And don't give me that "I'll only be a minute" bullshit...

• I received a dumbphone I ordered through Amazon, a used Samsung Propel functionally identical to the one I was using until four buttons quit on it about a week ago. I'd have considered a smartphone, but peripheral neuropathy renders all those finger gestures for scrolling, paging and zooming very nearly impossible for me. Friend Catherine, by accident or by design, gave me an Amazon gift certificate of just about the amount I paid for the "historical instrument" from one of Amazon's many affiliate cell phone vendors. Then, because I hadn't recently backed up the old phone's memory to the SIM card and because that old phone's buttons weren't working, I had the privilege of staying up most of the night entering my personal contact list into the new one. It surely seems as if I end up doing that a lot...
  

• At the crack of dawn, I picked up a few groceries for Stella, who can drive OK now but still has to get around on a rolling walker. When I got home and was easing a few inches at a time into my parking space, my foot slipped off the brake, jammed itself between brake and accelerator and rammed my car into the closed garage door, crunching it pretty thoroughly. That not being enough of Dog's little joke for the day, I found I was unable to remove my foot from where it was wedged between the pedals, sending the engine racing like crazy. I reached for the shift to put it in neutral. The cranky old transmission promptly reversed my action, putting itself right back into drive, ramming the garage door again at full power. I suppose I should have reached for the ignition key, but the whole thing took under 3 seconds, and my brain doesn't work at its best at 6:30AM... Now I have a crunched garage door (for which I will owe the landlord) and a thoroughly battered and scraped left front fender (which may be something I can live with; I haven't tried it yet).
  

• Once I stopped shaking and determined that I personally was not injured at all (not even a scratch or a bruise), the rest of the birthday was pleasant enough. Stella and I went to Star Pizza, my usual choice for a birthday meal. Then we went to one of the Half Price Books™ stores which Stella was able to navigate even on her walker. I came home with two used CDs (yes, I still keep most of my music on those damned old things) and an assortment of fiction already found, bought and wrapped by the ever‑amazing Stella (every one was perfectly suited to my taste). At night I entered the aforementioned contact list. Somehow I felt really old...
  

• One last detail, a perfect ending to an imperfect day: I received word from SSA that an award has been decided upon and I should receive notification by snail mail very soon. Whew!
  

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus called Democrats "classless" for using the Ted Kennedy tribute video to attack Mitt Romney:

Classless Dems use tribute video of deceased Ted Kennedy to attack Mitt Romney.

— Reince Priebus (@Reince) September 4, 2012