STUMP SOCK REVOLUTION Sidney "Amptivist" Muniz

[00:00:00] Now on the app to 11 podcast, Sidney Muniz. Today, our special guest turned a personal family challenge into a groundbreaking business that's making waves in the AMPD community. Sidney is the visionary co-founder of AMPD SOCK Prince. After his mother lost her leg below the knee, due to diabetes complications,

[00:00:21] Sidney realized that there was a gap in the market for fun, expressive and affordable AMPD SOCKs. Driven by his mother's unwavering positivity and strength, Sidney set out on a mission to create a product that not only serves as a practical purpose but also a bliffs and empowers AMPDs.

[00:00:40] Sidney's artistic background including hand-painted murals and children's books plays a crucial role in the vibrant and storytelling nature of these SOCKs. It is our pleasure to welcome Mr. Sidney Muniz. Sidney, welcome to the podcast. How are you today?

[00:01:07] I'm doing well, Rick. How are you doing? Well, it's been a minute since I've seen you, sir.

[00:01:12] I saw you at the convention last summer. How about it? That was so nice. It was so nice to see you and you have been on my short list of guests that I want to get on the show today because I see you as very relevant in our space.

[00:01:29] You are not an amputee, but you are the son of an amputee. Going back to your story specifically, I've been certainly amongst many others in all the different community groups on social media,

[00:01:51] sort of with my finger on the pulse of what's going on in our community and looking for support and guidance and, you know, little doses of inspiration and hope.

[00:02:05] And when I started my amputee journey about six, six and a half years ago, you were one of those people that just seemed to always be popping up in my feed.

[00:02:17] And I know that I had mentioned to you when I saw you at the convention that you had provided what I felt many times was much needed inspiration, not only because of the product that you produce and, you know, bring to our amputee community.

[00:02:42] But also just the kindness and thoughtfulness that you bring to our space. So thank you for that, you know, very much so. And I think where I want to start with you today is circling back to your mom and her going through an amputation.

[00:03:05] And I think from what I read, she is a diabetic correct. Yes correct. Yeah and I'm assuming that her amputation was the result of complication from diabetes. Yes, sir. And how did that come about for her? How did the amputation come about?

[00:03:30] Because I know diabetes presents complications and sometimes, you know, an amputation can literally be something as simple as, oh, she had a blister on her foot.

[00:03:42] Okay. Sometimes it can be more complex issues like chronic diseases like charcoal, you know, there's, there's lots of different things that can tend to bring on a condition for diabetics that will escalate or complicate due to diabetes.

[00:04:05] And most people don't realize that at times, yes, it can be a complication based on poor control of diabetes.

[00:04:16] But for the record, I have met just as many amputees that are diabetics that were well controlled and they still experienced some form of amputation, whether they lost a partial foot or an entire leg.

[00:04:32] So, you know, my question is more the curiosity of what was her journey like? You know, what happened? Well, she, believe um, she had vastly disease. She has some vastly stuff going on.

[00:04:48] But they believe that that was kind of somewhat on the control to, you know, from the best that I know. But what ended up happening is it, it turned out that the diabetes, she'll always say that a diet wasn't great.

[00:05:03] And being Spanish, we tend to eat a lot of white rice and things like that. She knew it. That comes from her. She didn't feel like she did enough on her end. So, it didn't help the vastly disease with the diabetes.

[00:05:17] And then eventually, what ended up happening is, um, I think she kind of scratched her foot. Well, I told with something in the bottom of the pool and it just kept going and it just got worse and worse and worse.

[00:05:31] And when they went, they thought to look her foot started to turn colors. They realized that she started to have blocked arteries. She had clots. And it opened one that worked for a few little while. That closed. Then they opened another one.

[00:05:49] Two, the one or two main ones. That worked for a while. Then that closed. Then I think they walked to the third one and at that point there, there's so small, there's actually pretty dangerous. But the doctor just did it want to do an imputation. She sees,

[00:06:05] you know, my mom and her things are laying. And he's like, um, we're going to try one more time. That worked for just a few days. Then at that point, he noticed something and he says,

[00:06:16] I think you're starting to get gangrene. And he goes, if we don't do something now, and he goes in your bloodstream, you probably not could survive. And he had to go to hospital that day.

[00:06:30] And at that point, she had come to terms with it. And they, they right late below the knee, December 2020. Yeah. And you sort of being on the sidelines of that, let's say, as a son,

[00:06:48] what was that experience like for you? I mean, what emotional set did you go through watching your mom in that situation? Well, that's difficult. I think, for anybody, right? You love your mother, you're father,

[00:07:03] you're brother, you're six, the one who really is to see them going to that. And I went, I started to come down. I used to live in Florida with her, then I went to New York.

[00:07:12] But I started to come down very often and I started for the coloring and the pain that she was in. She was a, she just, she just stuck crying out in nowhere. So even though through all that,

[00:07:27] right, I mean, like you said, I am, I am the outside of it. See my mom just cry randomly. And she's a pretty happy, go lucky person. I knew it was bad. But I'll tell you what,

[00:07:41] my, we are faith and my mom is so strong. I think that's why I get a lot of what I get from. She and then my sister's also. She's so strong that when that moment came,

[00:07:54] she was really ready and she's like, let's do it. Let's get this done. I can't do the pain. I'm going to get through this at that point for all of us. I mean, my goodness,

[00:08:08] after the amputation, yeah, that's what started me with the socks, you know, the side note. I was speaking with the right after the amputation and she's like, I'm alive. I'm going to see

[00:08:19] my grandkids. I'm going to get my prosthetic and I'm going to work. So for us, it's difficult as it was. She's so strong and so determined that we were all pretty positive about it as her

[00:08:31] support network. We just were right there with our mom, myself from my two sisters and the family. And that's usually the first thing I will ask anyone who is preparing for an amputation. So if it's a

[00:08:44] plan procedure, I do engage and talk to many people in that position. Because of course, when you're, let's call it prepping for the loss of a limb, you want to know what to expect.

[00:09:02] And you and I both being part of social media and, you know, scrolling through the, the many feeds that were a part of, we see that question come up, right? Someone says, hey, I'm getting ready for my surgery. What should I expect or, you know, my doctor's recommending

[00:09:21] an amputation, what's on the horizon for me? So when someone does, you know, ask me that question, it's hard. It's really hard to prepare them for what's coming. And the first thing I always ask,

[00:09:39] which sort of gets me in the right kind of headspace to know what I can say or not say, is what is your support system like that's usually my first question. Who do you have

[00:09:53] waiting for you on the other side of this? When you come out of surgery, who's going to be there? When you go home, who's going to be there? Have you spoken to anyone in the practitioner's

[00:10:06] space? Have you done any research on prosthetics? Have you done anything to sort of at least start formulating a plan? Because some of that foundational support that you're talking about, and you've seen it in real time, it's so incredibly important to be able to press into lean on

[00:10:30] your family, especially a mother who, you know, has kids that are concerned and love them and want to see them thrive. Which I think makes your story so so unique and beautiful at the same

[00:10:44] time is your creative person, your artistic, you've done all kinds of things in that creative space and your mother becomes an amputee, and suddenly all of those skills, all of that skill set that creative monster that you're always feeding, right? It becomes it becomes something

[00:11:12] that you can in solidarity, you can say, hey, I want to be part of this community in my way. This is what I can do. These are the things that I have, these are my tools that I can bring to

[00:11:29] this space. So when was it that you know we all in anyone who's ever been in business for any reason? We all have that kind of like light bulb moment, right? That little light bulb goes off

[00:11:42] above our head. When was that for you? That was right after the accitation. I had come down a week or two prior two and then they called, say, mom's going in. I came down just right after. As soon

[00:11:56] as they said, I could come in, I think she was home in just a few days. I went straight to the house and was right after her amputation. She and I were speaking we were in the living room and

[00:12:07] she's that spirit. She's like, hi, son. I'm alive, I made it. I don't have pain and she wiggle because hello to Stomp. She wiggle hello to Stompy and she's just like, you know,

[00:12:20] can we see my grandkids? I'm going to do this. I'm going to see, I'm going to get my first prosthetic. I mean that's where you get, I get a little bit of my excitement from this kind of like hurt. So I'm

[00:12:30] looking at her. He is his life full moment. I'm looking at her and I'm saying to myself, because I know my mother's positive. But I'm like, wow, she's stronger than even I thought. And I'm looking

[00:12:44] at the bandage, the A-spanage, and we have, you know, like used to be. And it's to me, I registered this gosh that is so dull and depressing that does not reflect the person. I heard that is

[00:12:58] clear as clear. So I, that was my life full moment and as the creative guy, I told myself, as soon as I go home, I need to find something. Whether it's a floral design, whether it's a

[00:13:12] script or something. And I couldn't find it. And I don't know if you want to keep going in that direction and how it can go. Oh yeah, please do. But so I couldn't find it. And I searched and I did

[00:13:26] research and I did research and I found this one and that one and they were $40 and they were boring. And I said, I'm going to figure this out. So I won't go through all the technical stuff

[00:13:37] that I had to deal with the research. I'll just go as far as this. I knew I was going to do this. One way or another, I said, I'm going to figure this out. So I studied and looked at what was

[00:13:48] the plug. Like I'm learning, right? What does somebody put on there? What do they need? What is it feel like? What's the material? I had to know all that and I did all that research and three

[00:14:00] plight for me. That's the technical part. Sing to be the good space. Wasn't too long, wasn't too cold. So I spoke to a bunch of companies. I tried to get it done and negotiated hard because with that being said,

[00:14:16] I said, I'm going to provide it for her and I'm going to get this out. It's everybody else. But I also wanted to do it where people could afford it because I looked at somebody's socks

[00:14:26] that were $40 and I'm like, that is depressing. And so I work hard, negotiate it hard. And now we're going to go and screw me. Now we're going to go into our third year of doing this.

[00:14:37] And we're selling all over the world. I mean, I still have a regular job. So even though I post all these pictures, I can't stop my regular job yet because there's not a lot of money in

[00:14:47] file there. You know? So I'm still working on it. But for me, that was the aha moment. And I did it at first for my mom. But immediately, I looked at the numbers and I was blown away

[00:15:00] at the numbers out there and for all the various reasons. And I really said, I have to do something. So I've always been honest with social media. Yeah. No, it's it's it's it's really an incredible

[00:15:14] story that your idea to bring this very, very sort of comforting because those, you know, amputee socks to most people. Let's say to someone that is non-amputee or doesn't know someone who's an amputee would say, well, what? What's the big deal about a sock? And it's like,

[00:15:39] no, it's it's a big deal. And having something that can either uplift your spirits, having something that is funny. Let's say you're you're a quirky or sarcastic person because we all love to hear an amputee joke every once in a while. All of those things, whatever your

[00:16:04] personality is, uh, Sydney's, you know, creating these beautiful socks that people can personalize. I mean the thing that I, I found really awesome was, you know, going on your website and seeing not only are there stock designs, but you even have the ability to customize. And to

[00:16:27] me, that's, you know, because I'm a creative guy too. So for me, it's well, wait a minute. This is, this is really cool. Like I can actually come up with something and put graphics down, you know,

[00:16:41] whatever it is and bam, there it is. I've got my own personalized, one of a kind, you know, you know, limb sock that is definitely something for conversation and it makes me feel a little more

[00:17:00] accepting of my situation. And it's, you know, it's, it's something that so many amputees struggle with because you're right. We get out of surgery, we're wrapped up in a bandage. It's almost this perpetual state of healing. We're thinking, okay, well, now I'm just this

[00:17:22] sort of broken bandaged up kind of person and to have something like that where you can, you know, don a personal stumps sock that is, you know, giving some message that pushes back

[00:17:39] against, hey, I'm not well. It can really lift your spirits, you know? And so basically what you're saying is you found that and I understand when you say three ply because I'm an amputee,

[00:17:56] you know, you found that three ply was a good sort of like a good sweet spot as far as people that were either going to wear it, just all on its own or if it was something that they

[00:18:11] needed as additional volume if they were in a socket or something like that. Absolutely and you know, the part of the customizing immediately I knew that was something

[00:18:25] I needed to do and and I wanted to make sure that no one had a pay extra for that. Like I said, I'm a regular guy. I'm not wealthy. I those are my paychecks that pay for all this and I'm okay.

[00:18:37] I do it because this is my call and I know it is and so I want you to be able to personalize it, whether it's your goldfish or whether it's whatever your logo, your favorite team, your military

[00:18:49] ranking and not pay actual less for that. I worked really, really hard for that and I want to share two stories with you because kind of going back to what you said about making someone

[00:19:02] feel special or this is the new part of me. I think you use a part of me or something like that maybe a broken part and that's the way to embrace it. I have lots of stories but I'm

[00:19:14] really keeping them to two. There was a woman at call me one time, I give myself on to everyone and people say you're crazy, maybe I am but I get way more sincere people than the

[00:19:25] not sincere people and I'll deal with that that's fine. So I had a woman call me one time and she was sitting there and what can you do something for me? I won't give her name and as it's sure

[00:19:34] she goes um for us ladies sometimes I don't feel too sexy for my husband and she goes can you make something that makes a feel sexy? Can you make them like, like a fish net stocking

[00:19:50] so I can dress it up dude. I mean I'm in a emotional guy, I'm an artist, I can't open him since and I just hit me like oh, I made it immediately for her. Another one, another, this was a woman

[00:20:07] who called me she said Sydney I have to tell you something my father's been in every tier I think nine years she said and during any family gathering anything he comes out in his wheelchair

[00:20:19] and he always has a blanket he will not show his leg, his stomp he will not show that to anyone well I bought one of those socks thank you for helping me design that I can't recall what I

[00:20:31] designed from a drawing a blanket and she goes I couldn't believe it this side of the we had a family occasion and my father came out in the wheelchair no blanket to show people his new sock.

[00:20:45] Yep that's why I do what I do Rick. Yeah that's the stuff right there. Yeah no those are those are two really really extraordinary stories and I think that you know for yourself that's like full

[00:20:58] circle moment of okay there's there's a reason there's a really really important reason why I bring this to the community and so often someone will say to me you know it's it's the personalization right

[00:21:15] it's it's being able to make it your own and to own it in that way right because for so long even when you consider prosthetics there was this major stigma you know amongst MPT's let's say even

[00:21:32] is I don't know even as soon as you know 20 years ago where even showing a prosthesis was almost considered taboo and that's very much changed people see MPTs as warriors they see it

[00:21:51] as a sign of strength they see it is something that you have lived through something that's very difficult and you're still here and being able to don a personalized sock and that's a great story

[00:22:05] you've got someone that you know pretty much never showed the residual limb and because of something that you created they suddenly were proud to say this is part of me and I feel comfortable with

[00:22:24] it and that's just I mean that's what it's all about and I always I'm always fascinated with people like yourself because everyone adds their own little you know ingredient to this mix of positivity

[00:22:41] you know whether I'm you know trying to get a story out there you know into our community space where I meet someone like yourself that's offering you know a product that can lift people up

[00:22:55] you know talking to different advocates people that do charity work I mean you name it it's just it's all this big melting pot of hey we've got a really neat community and I'm very

[00:23:12] much proud to be part of it and I would imagine at this point your mom is pretty proud of you correct? yeah she she's like son you know it's kind of me because you know them I have a lot of

[00:23:30] cardio and I'm so excited by this that I'm just looking straight ahead and she she can't believe it I mean we we're providing this stuff like I said not there yet I keep my regular job but

[00:23:45] it's all over we I just sold send some to Poland this week wow I send something Italy last week it's kind of cool in that sense where I'm able to share it is called that way I don't even know how to send something I didn't happen

[00:24:03] I don't even know how to send something Italy well you know I I've invested all across the board whatever I can do I just do but I wish I didn't have to make any I wish you didn't exist yeah I wouldn't

[00:24:19] I wish you didn't exist and I see the numbers are getting worse and I'm like wow yeah it is a it's a reality it's a natural evil it's something that we do see numbers climbing the amount of amputations and people like yourself keep the community moving forward

[00:24:42] and keep us in a positive space so I I think that's very very important the thing I wanted to ask you about too you know given that you are active on social media you know very often I feel like there is little spaces in those communities where

[00:25:08] people tend to get stuck right and we see people that are struggling maybe they don't see positive content as necessarily valuable I mean you're you're from what I can tell you're a very positive person

[00:25:32] and you tend to sort of put out that vibration right that hey it's another day let's get the party started let's get going let's do our thing and how do you sort of manage when you see some of the negativity that you and I experience online?

[00:25:55] Well I'm very careful with that some of the negative stuff that I see that I can't relate to I don't really get involved you know just like the positivity right I'll tell somebody look

[00:26:08] up and smile I'll tell somebody make a difference today if we wait for someone else it'll probably never happen hold the door compliments somebody by cover coffee I will never post look up and smile when someone is just shit how much fan from paying to having

[00:26:25] I would be out of order I stay away from that's not my place but I do deal with the people that have told me you're not an MPT you don't know what I'm going to I've never pretended to

[00:26:38] I don't insinuate I just can do what I can do I can only celebrate somebody who said I just walked 50 feet today after being in my wheelchair for three weeks I can comment and celebrate that so I just kind of do one of these numbers but the negative

[00:26:56] stuff I don't get too much involved and if they want to come out to me and they have I just say I'm only trying to do my part and one thing I've always done since they want

[00:27:05] on social media is any group that I've been involved in I always contacted the admin I says I am not an MPT it is my mom can she join can I join in this song and in addition

[00:27:19] to that I have east socks and my allowed to share them I don't want anyone thinking I'm trying to take advantage of anything because that is not right come from that's how I handle all that

[00:27:31] no that's that's very very adult of you and I appreciate that and I appreciate you making that very clear because you're setting a great example very often I see some of the

[00:27:46] the bickering that goes online and I think man life is hard enough you know why why are we trying why is one person trying to say they got worse than another person I mean everyone's struggle is real

[00:28:01] everyone's pain is real I don't care if you're below the knee I don't care if you're above the knee I mean no matter what the limb difference is we are all in this together and we should all try to

[00:28:16] draw energy and positivity from each other and I think that that's really something that you are very much a flag holder of and I appreciate that how's your mom doing these days she's doing good we almost lost her doing Christmas really

[00:28:40] yeah she had um just some stuff just wasn't feeling good Dr. Diabetes checking us some stuff and then and I mean she's doing better now but yeah she she technically died

[00:29:00] for nine minutes wow and they brought her back with no damage she's not as fast as she used to be but she walks um she's had a rough few years but even though she's not as fast as she was it's

[00:29:18] far stinking she's still there she's not out of it yeah she's still positive in the midst of all this she still gives me a hard time when I don't visit enough

[00:29:30] I know what you mean no my my mom had a fall recently and you know incredibly active woman very you know very mobile let's say and it's been kind of extraordinary watching her struggle

[00:29:51] with her recovery and you know you always hear that that those theories about when someone who's elderly falls usually the recovery is long and then then you hear these scary things like

[00:30:09] and sometimes they don't come back from it like it's that one fall just sends them into you know a tailspin and then it becomes a whole bunch of other stuff so I know what you mean when

[00:30:22] your sort of sitting back on okay well all right we're just kind of working through this we're going to take it a day at a time and you know she she came back from the hospital

[00:30:35] and they gave her they gave her one of those one of those walkers that has the little you know plastic wheels on it and and I I mean as an amputee of course I'm I'm very pro assistive device

[00:30:52] so I said mom I said that's that's not going to work like this this thing you're trying to get around with you know there's no turn radius like it's it's not good for you you're going

[00:31:06] to end up falling with this walker it's too rigid so you know I of course you know what is everyone do get on Amazon and I ordered her you know the top of the line you know walker

[00:31:23] and she you know she reached out to me and she's like oh this is so much better and now I can get around and I don't I'm not worried that I'm going to fall and and sometimes it's those little things

[00:31:36] that make such a huge difference right and we got to we got to make sure that we call our parents and uh checking on them make sure everything is well right or then we're going to pay we're going

[00:31:50] to pay the price otherwise I was on your website the other day now you're doing are you doing T-shirts as well yeah you know um yes I'm doing T-shirts people have asked I started doing

[00:32:05] it was never my intention I was just going to stick to the socks yeah but yeah people like man I want to T-shirts and match my sock I'm like okay that's awesome good that's doing yeah

[00:32:17] that's fantastic now as far as all of your printing operations like you're you're getting in the raw material the you know the socks themselves how how it is all of that go to press per say

[00:32:34] like what what's your process what's the technical side you know of amputee socks.com like like explain that to the listeners well did it all just kind of figured it out and just kind

[00:32:50] of went for it but it's all done in house it's all done here in the USA and just just printed here just the way we can get. Yeah so probably so that's the next time yeah yeah and what's

[00:33:02] the what's the current lead time right now when when someone places an order how long is usually take to ship we've got really fast at that um two days oh wow that's you based yeah for the most part

[00:33:20] two days we've got a really good system and do you still have a partner am I correct on that no my business partner well my expert is finding it done I do it on myself oh wow okay

[00:33:37] you know can I tell you how I how I was able to stock this if I mean yeah absolutely I have a regular job I'm a professional artist but but I moved around a lot and you can't be

[00:33:49] an artist anywhere I started this whole business in the back of a truck driving a big rate working 70 hours a week so at the end of my 13 hour day I hop on my laptop and I'd spend two

[00:34:05] hours talking to people on social media doing designs doing designs doing designs and sending it off to the shop now it's got a point where I left that I don't have to be overnight any more because

[00:34:18] I was OTR and now I'm home every day so now because I'm home I'm able to help and get this done it that's why we can get it done in two days now shipping so I'm getting close to the close to the making this my

[00:34:30] full-time gig uh and ultimately you know that I will love for it I will love for this to go so big in a good in a healthy way that big because I want people to lose anything I'm just saying

[00:34:44] I want to provide it to who's out there and send it out and eventually I want to employ people that have lost on them yeah I want them to work because I hear these stories of people don't

[00:34:58] have jobs and if I can employ them I want to employ them that's my ultimate dream you're so right people end up homebound and then they do yeah they say okay how you know aside from filing for disability

[00:35:15] how am I going to remain productive and live a productive life and I mean what a fantastic you know what a fantastic endeavor to not only create a business based on your family members

[00:35:32] loss of a limb but then to eventually scale to a point where you can start hiring people with limb to create these products and get them out to people and create that positive space within our

[00:35:51] community I think it's fantastic you know and you know I don't I don't see enough of it I mean obviously there's you know every once in a while I'll I'll see you know like a like a funny

[00:36:06] sort of a meme like funny ampiti t-shirt somewhere like to Etsy or something but for the most part I really don't see like a dedicated space for something like this and that's why I think it's so

[00:36:21] important to get that information out there so that people know where to go when they're trying to let's say shop quote unquote like all things ampiti right yeah if you want to personalize if you want to

[00:36:35] get some socks get some t-shirts you know do that whole bit this is where you go and you're you're you're equipped and you can fast track and get those orders out fast and make all that happen for people

[00:36:50] now are you still in Florida or are you said you're in New York now? No no now I'm in Florida okay my mom lives in Florida so I'm here in not in our home they Florida which is the east coat

[00:37:03] okay yeah I know where that is I I actually grew up on the west on the golf so I used to live there yeah used to use to summer there my parents had a place in Captiva

[00:37:22] and we were you know probably there at least twice a year when when I was a kid you know which is a beautiful I mean Florida is beautiful in general but that's kind of like a big part you know

[00:37:36] of my childhood and you know what I went through kind of growing up in the sun so you were actually a truck driver correct yes because I was an artist my whole life in escort got it nice business

[00:37:54] I sold it and then I went to a couple different states and you can't be an artist every state so eventually I couldn't stop the art business and somebody introduced this to me because

[00:38:04] I know nothing about the industry I didn't have an uncle in it so anyway I took it because I wasn't going to come back to New York you know and yeah I just got off the road

[00:38:16] of the 7.5 years OTR which basically means I was only home for two days a week which meant I was on the road sleeping in the truck 238 days out of the year for the last 7.5 years Wow I've always wondered what that's like because obviously we've all passed

[00:38:39] and oasis or a truck stop and we see you know we see that that line up of of semi's you know and they're all just sitting there and you know there's guys in there you know getting

[00:38:53] the rest before they can get back on the road I mean what what is that lifestyle like because I don't know I don't really know a lot of people that have gone down. Okay I'll give you the fun part of

[00:39:05] it for me the creative guys that I've been all over the United States so from a visual perspective dynamite sun sets to Colorado all over dynamite right yeah but I give you the reality of it

[00:39:18] it's a very lonely profession yeah could you out there a lot by yourself you're sleeping in a truck you're sleeping at truck stops you try to go to the nice ones because some of them are pretty

[00:39:32] dingy you're taking showers at truck stops so you go to the nice ones could you know they sanitary they they try to do a good job I would never recommend the trucking industry to anyone

[00:39:48] especially if you want to have a life and you want to have a relationship I just dealt with it for some personal reasons after I got into it you know had a family stuff happened so I kind of

[00:40:01] stuck in it for a little bit so just answer your question it's it's now I just did what I had to do because I had to but that is ended it's so lonely profession really yes I could see that

[00:40:20] could be out there Thanksgiving could be out there east the talking to guys you don't even know trust me after you started conversation with some of them you wish you didn't they're crazy

[00:40:30] some of these people you go oh my god this guy's been on the road too long he's seen so I'm crazy yeah I was like buddy I have to go to sleep now I'm gonna say six o'clock me even

[00:40:41] I want to go back to something that you mentioned before you were talking about some some unique designs that you were you were asked to to create can you rattle off a few that were just

[00:40:57] like extraordinarily bizarre or different or like wow I can't believe I'm printing this right now yeah one lady sent me I can't remember the name it was a beaded dragon I think a lot of

[00:41:13] beaded dragon she had all these poses that put the beaded dragon here and there make sure the coloring was like that that was pretty well like pretty one of beaded dragon no problem yeah I won't go into details but a guy sent me some pretty wanty pictures

[00:41:34] love to have this as a gag gift I was waiting for this oh no told him nope not doing it I will not print we will not print pornography and stuff we will not print violence we will not do

[00:41:48] any of those things that is a no-go for us wow I don't care if you give me $1,000 of business he could give it to somebody else it's not being done by us yeah I figured somebody at some point

[00:42:02] was gonna send you something that you had to say nah we're not gonna do that all right yeah exactly I'm like dude what did you send me this is the love of my life I don't that's great good for you

[00:42:17] but I'm not no I'm not getting involved in that no my uh uh yeah some some some kind of law enforcement shows up at your door oh why are you printing these things

[00:42:30] yeah the guy sent it to me I have no idea wow that's excellent that's good stuff no I I had an uncle that worked do you remember when they're used to be those little photo huts

[00:42:49] when you go to like that little building to drop off your your your role of film and I don't know you come back a week later and pick up your pictures well I had an uncle that worked at one of those places

[00:43:06] and uh he had a I'm not kidding you like like a moving box full of photos that um people you know that he made two copies of one for the cut one for the customer and then one for this massive collection of just

[00:43:29] inappropriate pictures and you know he was you know the typical like creepy uncle you know hey I want to show you something what is this you know bizarre I would say is the best way

[00:43:48] he's no longer with us so um you know I can I can speak about these things now so give out the website just so we know exactly how it's spelled

[00:44:00] well it's amputee sock prints dot com amputee sock s o c k prints p r i n t s yeah just like a stop amputee sock prints dot com got it I want to make sure that that is

[00:44:17] out there correctly I um want to encourage everyone to check out Sydney's website did you recently did you start an amputee group yourself right a community group yeah I started it um a while ago because I I kind of felt like some things were missing in somebody

[00:44:37] I wasn't really good but I wanted the more personal touch yeah with like the admins were really yep not just open something ain't never hear from them yeah so yeah I started one in

[00:44:48] we have 2400 people on it and it's just wonderful they p m me all the time that's awesome yeah and that's on Facebook correct that's on Facebook yeah and what's the group called

[00:45:02] well yes interesting we have the one is called amputee group okay and right after we did that Facebook doesn't stop other people from calling it the same name so there's another amputee group

[00:45:14] we just have the one that has a sunset yellow to orange but like five or six silhouettes that's how you know it's odd because there's there's another one now yep I didn't know you could do

[00:45:25] that but guess you can yeah no I was I was just gonna encourage everyone to connect with you through social media you are definitely creating positive waves in the community everything that you've done up to this point is so appreciated please check out Sydney's website

[00:45:44] please look him up online he is definitely an advocate amongst amputees I want to thank you for coming today and taking the time I know you're busy and I know we you know we've spent a little

[00:45:58] time trying to connect but here you are I can't wait to get this episode out and people learn a little bit more about you who you are what you come from because I really feel like these backstories

[00:46:11] you know are super important for people to understand what that post came from they see an amputee post or a sock print post and they say well okay that's kind of cool but now we can learn

[00:46:25] a little bit more about Sydney and really engage his platform and some of the positive things that he's doing so my friend I hope to see you again soon thanks again for coming yep my name is Rick

[00:46:40] Bonkowski this is the amputee of 2011 podcast I want to wish everyone health and happiness