Author: ceddammit

I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease (PD) in January of 2015, at the age of 42. Five years later, the progression of PD forced me into an early retirement. It was almost another two years before I finally made this blog happen.

Kentucky 2026 Trip Report (Day 0)

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Over the course of the last month and a half, I have on three seperate occasions accidentally thwacked my right elbow on a door frame or door. This first two times, it hurt for a few minutes then it was OK. This last time has been a different story. I now experience a flare-up of pain in that elbow whenever I try to lift anything with that arm. This is especially ungood when you realize my right arm is my “good arm”. The left arm is already weak.

So, as I was packing for my drive to Kentucky, I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to lift my own luggage. Ultimately, I ended up loading the luggage into the space between the front and back seats of my minivan, rather than in the pit behind the back row as planned. This was probably a good call. I probably could’ve gotten everything into the pit OK, but I doubt I could have lifted the big bag back out. In fact, when I got to my hotel room, I absolutely could not lift that bag onto the bed. So, for now it sits on the floor between the beds. Open…so I have to squat to get things out of it. But I need to be doing more squats, so perhaps it all works out for the better.

What a Cedric Believes (volume 1)

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Y’ever think back to your childhood and realize your understanding of some things was completely wrong? Me, too. Here are a few of the things I believed when I was a little ‘dric.

Hecklers

Thanks to The Muppet Show, I thought that a heckler was an old man who had a permanent balcony seat at a theater. More specifically, I thought hecklers were employees of the theater, and it was their job to make fun of the performers.

Electricity

I once believed that electricity had ingredients. I remember playing around my neighborhood, pretending to operate a power plant. I would scrounge around for whatever I could gather (usually just gravel and sticks) and throw it all into an imaginary machine. This machine would then grind up everything I had gathered, and I would stir it all together. Somehow, electricity was born out of this.

Mugging

Growing up in a small Nebraska city, I remember always hearing about people getting mugged in the big cities, especially New York. To me, this seemed like an oddly specific crime. Why? Because for some reason, I thought mugging someone meant that you physically pick someone up and throw them over your head. I wanna say Hong Kong Phooey had something to do with this misconception.

2026 Travels

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I am often asked how I choose which state to visit next. Until recently, there has been no simple answer to this question.

But now, I can say, “I don’t! I let a spreadsheet tell me where to go!”

Y’see, I have built a spreadsheet that pulls (not literally) from other spreadsheets I had previously built, developing a point-based system to determine which states to prioritize. Geeky, no?

The initial output from this new spreadsheet gives the highest ranking to Kentucky, New Jersey, and West Virginia. I can’t say I anticipated any of those! But the spreadsheet has spoken! Here, then, is my highly tentative list of trips for 2026:

April: Kentucky

June: West Virginia

August: Annual Colorado Trip (hoping to reach ghost town of Alta this time)

October: New Jersey

I may combine Kentucky and West Virginia into a single road trip, since they’re right next to each other, and not terribly far from home. Also, I have very ambitious ideas for this year’s Colorado trip. I may and/or may not be able to make those happen.

Up ENDing Parkinsons

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The number of exercise programs / options targeting Parkinson’s continues to grow. Recently, “Up ENDing Parkinsons” made its Charlotte debut. This is rock climbing for people with Parkinson’s Disease (PD). You read that right! Well, I assume you read it right. I really have no way of actually knowing what you thought you read.

But, yes! Rock climbing for Parkies! This seemed like the perfect fit for me. I spent a lot of time during my twenties and very late teen years wandering northern Colorado, looking for rock formations to scale. So, about three months ago, I decided to try Up ENDing Parkinson’s.

Charlotte is not exactly known for cliffs, so this is actually an indoor, human-made climbing wall. Several such walls, even. And this is REAL climbing. With ropes and harnesses. I never bothered with such equipment when scrambling up remote rock formations in my foolhardy days of yore. On some of the climbing ‘routes’ they connect your rope to a machine that prevents you from plummeting if/when you lose your grip. On the rest, they connect your rope to a human “belayer” who stays on the ground while you climb. I imagine that if you fall, the belayer would be catapulted into the ceiling, though I haven’t seen that happen (yet).

I was amazed at my lack of energy and my overall weakness. However, I was assured by several people that it’s normal for folks to feel that way in the first session, and that most folks get past that quite quickly. I went back a week later, but actually felt weaker during that second session. I had planned to go again the following week, but decided I needed to use that time to finish plotting my Maryland trip. Then I was in Maryland for about two weeks ago. Then I started having, ummm, issues with the Vyalev pump. I’ll address that in my next post. For now, I continue to believe in Up ENDing Parkinsons, and intend to go back soon.

Predictions for 2026

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Gaze deeply into my shiny bald head. You will see into tomorrow. Or you can simply read my predictions below.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints will formally rename the Book of Mormon to “The Newer Testament.”

The United States government will finally admit that North Dakota doesn’t actually exist.

Sheep will continue going to Heaven; goats will still be condemned to Hell.

Gravity will stop working. President Trump will claim responsibility, calling gravity “the worst idea anyone ever had.” Descendants of Sir Isaac Newton will vehemently disagree.