Living and laughing with a disability - cerebral palsy; ordinary life, extraordinary circumstances.

Monday, September 29, 2008

This story is burning the blogwaves

I may as well pass it along. Note the nice response from the company.

California Tortilla Cashier Screams At Disabled Customer Who Accidentally Spilled Tray

New law in Cambodia

New law aims to wipe out disability discrimination


"We are urging the government to accept this bill that will defend the rights of handicapped people," said Ith Sam Heang.
"We believe that handicapped people should be recognised socially, publicly and by the global community."


Kudos!

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Meeting with Dr. Cooke

Jodie and I were interviewed by Dr. Christina Cooke yesterday.

We spent a delightful hour and a half sharing with her our experiences as disabled individuals with the medical profession.  Dr. Cooke is working on a book on that topic.

Dr. Cooke was having technical trouble with her laptop computer.  She had to go back to her office.  Her guide dog wanted to leave the building rather than go back to her office.   It was funny, the dog was ready to go home!

I realized after talking with her about the birth of our son, and all the uncertainty and preparation before his birth, and all the adaptation we made when he was a infant and through his early years -- I realized that Jodie and I have a book in us that needs to get out.

Where  do I start?  How do I begin to organize my thoughts?

Wordpress changed her life

A nice video of how WordPress changed Glenda Watson Hyatt's life.

I might need to migrate over to WordPress one of these days.  I have been spoiled by the ease of use of Google Blogger and Google's other toys (Google Sites, calendar...), but their eye toward accessibility seems short sighted.

Glendy's Do It Myself blog is a must read for me.   She is a true pro!

Friday, September 26, 2008

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Ironies...

I am a fan of Terrible Palsy.  A mom from Down Under dealing with disability from a mom's perspective.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Fostering Connections to Success

This may be  a bit dry for some...but welcome to my world!

Federal funding for kids in foster care, aka Title IV-E funding, my day  job is determining which kids we (the State of Oregon) can collect those funds for to reimburse the state for the cost of care.


The passage of The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act calls for delinking the eligibility from the old afdc program.

I have the numbers memorized...a family of 2 $499...a family of 3 $616...a family of 4 $795.  A big part of my job is figuring out how much money the family from which a child was removed earned during the month the child was removed.

We are still using 1996 AFDC needs standards!  Totally arcane!

Maybe, with this provision going away....my job will go away?  

I wouldn't be that lucky!


Monday, September 22, 2008

Bye bye CD's...

Hello slotMusic...albums on flash memory cards?

Popping flash memory cards in and out?  How do you not lose them?  Definitely not Troyproof!

I know the music industry is desparate for a buck, but this is not going to work.

I will stick with my zune pass.



Sunday, September 21, 2008

Disabled woman reaching out to disabled Iraqis

A very nice story about a Portland woman reaching out to disabled Iraqis.

Kudos to open hears and minds at Mercy Corps.

Hank and Merritt Paulson

Interesting piece on the architect of the great bailout.

His son owns our local Portland Beavers and Timbers.

700 Billion bailout...trying to understand

I have been trying to get my mind wrapped around this $700 billion bailout.

How does this compare to the cost of the Iraq war?  I found this up to the second war cost counter. I found this piece:



Where is th money coming from?  Faith!:



Here's a good perspective:



Thursday, September 18, 2008

Those in need...

A visual of those in need due to the aftermath of Hurricane Ike.

Where would we be without the American Red Cross?

Pray and give...as you are willing and able.

A weekly landing spot

For those of you who are of the persuasion to pray, here is a good weekly landing spot:

presidentialprayerteam.org

Yes, it can lean right...I lean right, and left, and all over.

I don't always agree with slants of views on this site. I am very much for tolerance, I also believe that Jesus' concern for the poor was multidimensional - poor of money, poor of spirit, poor of hope.

Right or left or "I dunno", praying for what is going on in out country and our world is an important duty we have.

The Presidential Prayer Team newsletter hits my email inbox every Thursday morning. I urge you to check it out.

And pray with your heart, mind and spirit...not necessarily theirs.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Watching the nest egg...

We have a small amount of money go into a fund each month...mutual fund.

With all these financaial behemaths crashing, I decided to Google ours.

AXA...a French company....they owned .05% of Lehman Brothers.

They seem like one of the stronger companies for now, but I put our equity accounts in a Google finance portfolio and I can see that we lost $180 today.

E's college fund...you know...there's always community college....

Keep playing baseball!

I love my Zune

My best friend at work is my Zune.  I have a monthly pass and can download and listen to most anything  I cant.

Country, rock, contemporary christian....Willie, Rush, Toby Mac.

Now, there is new software.  The addition of "channels" I can subscribe to...playlists that change by the day.  Also, wireless internet connection...pretty cool.

I can't get the channels to appear on my Zune.

The computer gods hate me!

Monday, September 15, 2008

The candidates an disablity

A great commentary - lip service vs. action?

Disability News | PatriciaEBauer.com » News Archive » Guest commentary: Disability community should beware of Palin

When a young governor line-item vetoes six appropriations for community disability services or for accessibility modifications to public accommodations, that governor gives us reason to be skeptical about promises and prospective performance. When the appropriations totaled $749,000 in a state that has a huge budget surplus, and when the governor apparently knew at the time that her nephew has autism, that governor gives us special reason to doubt her commitment to people with special needs.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Aunt Sandi...R.I.P.

Aunt Jan sent me email Friday to let me know that Aunt Sandi had passed away the day before.

Both aunts are sisters of my bio dad. It wasn't until I was in high school that I met my bio dad. When I went down to San Jose to meet the rest of the family, I was amazed how fast I felt bonded to them.

My Aunt Sandi. A sensitive, caring person. A complicated worrier like me.

I was sad to read she had passed. I feel bad that it has been eight years since I have seen her. I always felt close to her when I had opportunity to visit her.

Strangely, I feel closer to her right now.

I love you, Aunt Sandi.

Peace.


Saturday, September 13, 2008

Coffee can lid

I have gotten use to te foil lids on the coffee cans.  They are much easier to open, even if not totally Troyproof.  Folgers had it first, then MJB picked up the foild lid trend.

Why did the MJB can I opened this morning have a old tin lid?  I had to plug in the can opener.  I have been Googling to see if they scrapped the foil lids and why.  No luck.

Or, could it be a very old can of coffee?

Friday, September 12, 2008

Ike is on its way...

I don't recall hearing warnings of "certain death" before.

Prayers for the Galveston and Houston areas.


Makes me cry

Makes me cry Jack.

Time makes us forget, but some never will.


We know what Palin looks like...but what does she say?

The Sarah Palin look is all the rage.  But what does she have to say?

I don't know what "Bush doctrine" is.  Can we fault her for not knowing?

Palin's worst moment came when Gibson asked if she agreed with the "Bush Doctrine." She clearly didn't know what the doctrine was, and after he let her blah,blah blah some platitudes, he told her and the audience what the Bush doctrine was (essentially American has the right to pre-emptive strikes against another country if it feels threatened).

A real professor probably would have failed her right there.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Must see - Palin



Compliments of JibJab...

Okay...

I uninstalled spinspotter in my Firefox 3 browser and now my Google spreadsheet comes up. I also changed themes, so I am not 100% sure what fixed it.

Lesson learned is to keep all 3 browsers working (IE7, Firefox 3, and Google Chrome) working so that when one stops working, I will have another to use to Google for a fix.

Anyone know why Firefox takes so long to come up?

Computer gods are funning with me!

Last night I wanted to get my Internet Explorer to work. With "Beta 8" I kept getting the dreaded yellow strip on top, demanding that I manage my add-ons. I would click on that, but would not have a clue as to that to do. My igoogle page would not come up. I went to "Remove programs" and I deleted IE Beta 8. I rebooted my computer. I was going to reinstall IE7, but I decided to click on the Explorer icon to see what would happen. IE7 came up...and it works! Troyproof...I was so relieved!

I was using the Firefox 3 browser this morning. Now, I cannot get a google spreadsheet that I access everyday to come up. It opens in Explorer and Google Chrome, but not Firefox 3. It previously worked in Firefox 3. I was not even able to blog! The cursor will not appear in my Blogger window and I can't type anything!

I wonder if it's that new Spinspotter add-on?

Ugh!!


Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Chrome and Flashe Player

I can't get Adobe's Flash Player to work on the Google Chrome browser.

I tried this help:


I can't successfully rename the "xpi" file to "zip".

Any tips?

 

Monday, September 08, 2008

Hey "Wild Thing"!

Eighteen years ago we packed the place.

Happy Anniversary Woman!  I love you! 



Fall Ball

E has been invited to play Fall Ball, a short fall baseball season.  No practices, except game  day. Doubleheadeers one day a week, which is really nice.

E is almost 13, playing on a team of 13 and 14 year olds.  Yesterday they were playing teams that had kids up to 16!

Comming off a season with a team that had some kids who didn't really want to play serious ball, this fall ball team E is on is a stark difference!  Kids who know baseball and who have power.  The coaches like E.  He played catcher for most of the first game.   He hits, but not quite the power of the older kids.  He needs more speed.

I know E will get there.  The coaches are giving lots of good tips.  It's hard going from being from being star pitcher to a student who sits on the bench some of the time.

Playing on the varsity diamond at almost 13...pretty impressive!

Hang in there E!






Sunday, September 07, 2008

Learning....not losing...


College football Saturday.  I love watching the Oregon teams.  I prefer the Oregon State Beavers, since I am an alumn.

I root for both teams...except when they play each other.  E calls me a "traitor" when I root for the U of O ducks.  Yesterday was different.  A buddy from school invited him to the Duck's game...and even supplied him with a yellow and green Duck's shirt.  I don't like those colors!

The Beaver's were spanked by Joe Paternos  Nitany  Lions at Beaver Stadium in PA.  44-14

On the other hand, the Ducks spanked Utah State.   66-24.

I liked that when they showed OSU coach Riley o the field, he looked like he was grinning.  Playing against a legend, JoePa, this was a learning experience for the team, not a loss.

The next time E calls me a  traitor, I have ammo!



 

Saturday, September 06, 2008

Paralympic Sport TV

The Paralympics begin their 12 day run.

Can't see them on TV here in the States, but they ar online at Paralympic Sport TV.


Per TVGuide.com:

You better get over that Olympic fatigue quickly. The Paralympic Games begin in less than two weeks and NBC's Universal Sports platform will have plenty of coverage. Live events and tape-delayed highlights from Beijing will stream atUniversalSports.com during the Sept. 6-17 event. Then, beginning Wednesday, Oct. 8, the Universal Sports digital cable channel will have three hours of daily coverage for at least seven days. Finally, on Saturday, Oct. 18, NBC will have a recap show. 



I wonder why such a long delay?



Friday, September 05, 2008

A ride of a lifetime...

...for Bella the cat.

A 75 mile ride on a spare tire, under the truck.

Palin Effect

This presidential election is about personality, not issues, as reported in the Washington Post.

Rick Davis, campaign manager for John McCain's presidential bid, insisted that the presidential race will be decided more over personalities than issues during an interview with Post editors this morning.

"This election is not about issues," said Davis. "This election is about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates."

McCain chose Palin to overcome the magic of the Obama effect.  Little vetting - McCain did not care.  He desperately wanted to capture Obama like magic.  Palin, unlike McCain, is easy on the eyes and ears. Hillary prepared us for women candidates with complications in there lives.  We are use to Republicans pointing out these complications.  It does not sound right coming from the Dems.

Time Magazine has a piece on Obama's Palin strategy. Teflon vs. Teflon...forget about the issues!



Thursday, September 04, 2008

New study of Cerebral Palsy

Researchers in Australia are studying 10,000 people to learn possible genetic links to cerebral palsy.

"Obstetric care and caesarean deliveries have increased six-fold over the last 50 years, but the incidence of cerebral palsy cases has remained the same. Most of the cases are associated with problems during pregnancy and possible genetic susceptibility. Currently there is no cure or way to prevent cerebral palsy," he says.

Disabled in the workplace - China

Interesting article prior to the start of the Paralympics in China:






Broadening definition of Disability

Is this for real?

"The courts are defining it expansively to cover people who are uncomfortable pursuing romance or find it difficult to have sex.  And Congress is moving to expand the law to cover even more conditions."


Prayer for Aunt Sandi

I have not quit figured out what the readership of this blog is.  I have not posted a prayer request here before, but if you are of the persuasion to pray, my bio Dad's sister, my Aunt Sandi, really needs it.

As written by my sweet cousin Rena:

My aunt (Sandi) is in Good Samaritan Hospital - Intensive Care
Unit (ICU).  We are not sure if she is going to pull through.   She went
in to the hospital last Wednesday 8/27/08.  Her heart rate was at 210
beats/minute.  She was experiencing what is called a "Thyroid Storm".
The medical team had managed to decrease her heart rate with medication
and the family thought she was out of danger and went home for the night.
Apparently a nurse at some point during the night for some unknown
reason removed my aunt's heart monitor.  At some point a nurse entered
Sandi's room to find that she was not breathing & her heart had stopped
beating.  As I understand the doctors/nurses do not know how long she was
in this condition.  The medical staff worked for quite some time (I
believe about 30 to 60 minutes) to resuscitate her.  Long enough that
they called my cousin's & told them that their mother had flat lined.
When my cousin's arrived at the hospital the doctors/nurses were still
working on resuscitation.  During the time of Sandi being "flat lined"
her organs began to shut down.  A week later she is clinging to life in
ICU in a medically induced coma.  The doctors are still trying to get her
organs (lungs, liver & kidneys) to function.  She now has pneumonia & one
of her lungs has collapsed several times.  At this point she would not be
alive if it were not for machines.  Her kidneys are now barely starting
to function after several dialysis treatments.  Her liver is functioning
at a low level and I belive her lungs are functioning at about 10%.  The
doctors are not sure if she will pull through and if she does pull
through if there will be brain, liver, kidney or lung damage.

Could you please add my Aunt Sandi to your prayer list?  This is my
prayer for her & for the family.  I pray for the complete, speedy &
miraculous healing of Sandi Dionne.  I pray for all of her organs
including her brain, lungs, liver & kidneys to make a complete and speedy
recovery & function fully at 100%.  I pray for a holistic healing of
Sandi Dionne mentally, physically & Spiritually and for God's Will to be
done. I also pray for our entire family that we have the strength &
endurance to walk through this journey keeping Spirit close at heart.
And pray also for Spiritual, emotional & physical healing for our entire
family & each family relationship within our family.  May we all walk
through this journey with love & acceptance in our hearts for one another
and for wherever this journey leads us.  Thank you God for all of your
unconditional love for each & every one of us every step of the way.  God
Bless. And So It Is. Amen.

Thank you & Bless you.
Rena



Thank you.

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

IE 8...Beta

I just downloaded Internet Explorer 8, beta.

It's not working for me.  I can't get my igoogle page to come up.

I have the pesky yellow bar on top that says:

"Internet Explorer is currently running with add-ons disabled.  Click here to manage, disable, or remove your add-ons."

I click on the bar, and I don't have a clue what to do after that!

The yellow bar does not go away.  My igoogle page still will not come up.

I am liking the new Google Chrome browser...
 

Trig has Down Syndrome

Word's do matter:


We are in such a hurry to categorize everything, judge it, and go on.

Calling Trig a "Down's Syndrome child" is lazy, and it strips him of personhood.

Not to be petty...it is not the words that matter, but the intent of the words.  An 80 year old who calls me "crippled" probably is not trying to be mean.

We who know better...people first, and what challenges they face come after.

Baseball for disabled kids

Cool story:


When Jodie and I attended Holladay Center, a school for the disabled in Portland, we played baseball.  It was in the gym.  Plastic bats, balls rolled to us.  We each played in a way adapted to us.  
No winners...no losers...just kids having fun!

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Predictions market

Will Sarah Palin withdraw from the Republican ticket?  The predictions market doubt it.  An explanation in the Houghington Post.

A fine lady, an American family, I cast no stones.

I am just surprised of how accepting the GOP is to the issues that seem to continue to come to light from the Palin family.  

I have a really tough time believing that the GOP would be so accepting if Sarah were a Democrat.

Google Chrome

I downloaded Google Chrome.  I like its speed, and the tabs on top of the address window.  I also like the conveience of being able to type a website address or search term in the same window.   I like the tabed browsing, and you can move a tab by clicking and dragging it.

So far all the news video that I have tried from various news sites have worked without having to mess with any settings.  Supposedly one downed tab will not crash the other tabs.

I don't like that the f11 key does not hid all the toolbars like it does in Firefox, though the tabs an the browser window does not take up a lot of screen space.

It was nice to be able to transfer all my Firefox settings over to Chrome. 

Wikipedia has a good article on Google Chrome.




Target lawsuit settled

A lawsuit against Target stores was settled. Six million dollars.

It had to do with their website and how accessible it is to the blind.

As a web designer hobbyist, it causes me to pause. The main point is that when you put a picture on the internet, you need to include a description of that picture. Also, they need to make their website more accessible for people who use only the keyboard and not the mouse.

I use Joomla to create websites. These sites are easy to make accessible. Lately, I have been migrating over to Google Sites -- easy to use, very Troyproof --but with little provision for accessibility. Disappointing...

Chrome

Google is launching a new browser today. It is called Google Chrome.

The download is not available just yet. There is a comic book explaining it.

I don't care for Internet Explorer. I like Firefox, but lately I have had to fiddle with settings to get various video formats to play.

I love Google!

Waiting....impatiently....

Monday, September 01, 2008

One last fling

We have been on vacation the past two weeks. We went up to Seattle for a couple days and down to the fair. Other than that, we have been around home.

For Jodie, vacation was not going to be complete without a trip to the casino. My attitude was why don't we just send them a check...why do we have to go there? I like the slots...too much. When I win, I keep playing and playing.

I thought about waiting until our anniversary next week and taking a vacation day to go, but neither of us think we will be able to take time off soon. So I relented. We took the two hour drive to Spirit Mountain.

Jodie and I take our scooters and out small bundle of twenties and we scoot from slot machine to slot machine in hopes of hitting our jackpot.

I was playing it cool. I kept cashing out and taking the tickets to different machines. I heard Jodie shouting to me. She came over and showed me her winning jackpot of $120+. Way cool!

Just a little bit later, I had a winning spin where I was asked to open clam shells on the touch screen. After touching about six or seven of them, my winnings were tallied. Over $130! I cashed out and took the ticket over to Jodie.

We went home about $100 richer.

We stopped at Applebee's on the way home for dinner.

A nice end of vacation fling and pre anniversary celebration.

To the State Fair

A couple days ago we went to the Oregon State Fair.

E liked the rides - bumper cars, tilta whirl (3 times), and the scrambler (twice). E also likes the game booths -- even though the chances to win seem to go down every year.

We all enjoy the vendor booths. Waterless cookware. Easy chairs that vibrate. Carved wood models. Leather goods (E bought a new wallet). Screen doors that disappear. This year there seemed to be a lot of hot tub dealers.

I like seeing all the animals. We scootered through all the barns. This is the only time of the year that I really see the rural Oregon way of life -- not just the cows and horses, the pigs and the goats (some as small as dogs), but also the farm kids and moms and dads, doing the work to keeps their stock up at the fair and realizing the hard work they do to contribute to our food supply.

I enjoyed a sausage on a stick, E went for a sub sandwich and Jodie had Thai noodles. I thought about the chocolate covered cheesecake on a stick.

The sights and people watching are the best parts of the fair. Moms and dads, kids in tow. Teens racing around, babies in strollers, and tired young kids not sure what to make of all this.

For us, family time is what the fair is all about.