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A great deal of
intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep. -Saul Bellow- Monday, May 1, 2000
Tuesday May 2, 2000 …
Went to get mirror on the truck fixed, it has a broken bracket, unfortunately,
it’s plastic and can’t be repaired, $125.00 plus labor for a new one...I’ll get
it later, Jeff’s wedding is taking a toll on the ole checking account, Picture
day for Autumn, I couldn’t get her dress on her, she was too squirmy… I sent it
along with her to school, I hope they can put it on her… I
moved the Motor Monster, Wednesday May 3, 2000 …Animal
Control came by today, we have three dogs named (By the kids) Spot, Cocoa, and Blackie. The Animal Control lady, a Hispanic woman named Jacobi… cool. Any way
she wants about $238.00 for them to be licensed… the last time they came to the
door Christy answered, we had 5 dogs then, the lady said some outrageous amount
and Christy said “I’m not paying that, take the dogs” and shut the door. The A.C. Officer knocked on the door and said “We don’t want to take your dogs
lady” She said well I’m not paying $whatever…” he ended up charging us $22 a
head… she paid them… it was funny at the time… Thursday May 4, 2000 On May 4, 1970, Ohio National Guardsmen opened fire on anti-war protesters at Kent State University, killing four students and wounding nine others. …
Christy got her hair done in the morning and when she got home I took Autumn to
Bakersfield to VIPO (Valley Institute of Prosthetics and Orthotics (sp)). We
were 5 minutes early for a 1400 appointment, we waited in the waiting room till
1435 then they put us in a treatment (casting) room for another 20 minutes.
Autumn doesn’t take to confinement very well, I was playing with her, chasing
her down the hall, she was laughing and screaming and having a good old time.
People would poke their heads around corners and out of doors, see her, smile,
and generally let us play. Which was pretty nice of them considering the fact I
would have chewed the head off anyone who complained… 55 minutes with a squirmy
5 year old is a long time…The doc came in looked at her feet and legs and got
on the phone and ordered the materials he would need in a tone of voice that,
were I on the other end of the phone, would have caused me to tell him to get
his own damn supplies. He said he wanted a knife not the saw, there was a knife
not 2 feet from his elbow, 2 inch sleeves, two rolls of plaster 3 inches wide
and two rolls 4 inches wide. That stuff was about 4 feet to his right on a
shelf… then he left. 10 minutes later a (Very heavy, 400 pounds at least) young
man came in, filled a bucket with water, picked up the rolls of plaster and
sleeves, two sections of tubing, the knife and a cast splitter and put it on a
black rubber topped stool near the table where Autumn was sitting. He pulled
out a sheet of butchers paper and put it on the floor under Autumn and left,
this guy never strayed more than four feet from where the Dr. was standing when
he made the call. 15 minutes later the Dr. came back and made her casts and
took them off. Autumn never moved, she seemed disinterested in the whole
business, she fiddled with her Lala Teletubbie and ignored him completely. All
told we were there an hour and 55 minutes for the whatever the hell he calls
himself to do less than 30 minutes work. He will charge Kaiser about $1,100.00
and the people who make the braces will charge about $1,300.00… and people
wonder why health care is so expensive… I am sure that this gentleman is a
highly accomplished professional and that he is a master at making artificial
limbs and such but damn, he could sure use a personality. It’s
a 2 hour drive to Bakersfield, and Autumn was a trooper till we got to
Tehachapi, I stopped and bought her some French fries and a bottle of water…
she ate he fries and sipped the water and went to sleep… Friday May 5, 2000
…
Autumn and I made it to Therapy West at 09:58, her make up appointment with
Beth was for 10:00 today. We drove back to Lancaster and I dropped her off at
school. When I pulled up I saw Jan, and she came running over to help me get
Autumn out of the car, she grabbed Autumn and the walker and the shoes and the
knapsack and trotted back to the playground like some sort of Sherpa, with my
arm in a sling, that would have taken me two trips and a lot of wincing. Jan is very young
and seems to be very attached to Autumn… well no “seems to” about it she is
attached to Autumn… I can hear it in her voice when she talks to her. Jan is
Autumn’s “aide” Her teacher is Miss Lea (pronounced Leah). She is pretty
special too but she has 6 other kids as (I can’t think of a word here…
Exceptional, demanding, needy, adorable, ah well… you get my drift) Ms Lea is
amazing too but she has to spread her self between all the kids and direct the
other aides too… I think that to Autumn, Ms Lea is like a second Mom, she’s In
Charge… and Jan is her “Bud”. When
I put Autumn’s shoes on her they didn’t fit, hike she has grown a full size in
a month… so I went out and bought her another pair and took them back to Jan…
then I went home, via Don Cuco’s. When
we have the IEP for Autumn on the 11th, Autumn will have a lot of
people on her team, Ms Lea, her speech teacher… Kim, a letter from Beth, the
lawyer from Public Council, Leslie will be there, and Dave Parsons who runs the
Special Ed. Program at the school. Rachel Burton fro the Regional Center. Saturday May 6, 2000…Back
down to Therapy West for another make-up day, I took Christian with me… he was
OK, he entertained Autumn and that’s good because I was in a hurry. Befor we
left I had decided to get Autumn and Lumpy a breakfast at McD’s and pulled into
line, two cars followed me in… I looked at the clock on the dashboard and it
was 10:27, I had to be at Therapy west at 1130 I had been delayed getting away
from the house and not realized how late it was… there were 6 cars ahead of me,
and it was shift from breakfast to lunch drill at McD’s… it was 1042 when we
hit the freeway, I arrived at Therapy West at exactly 11:30. When I got there
the parking lot gate was shut and the front door was locked, I was starting to
get pissed and banged on the door. Beth came trotting down the hall and opened
the door… what a relief… Autumn did well until I showed up to take her home,
then she was a little cantankerous. Poor Beth had no sooner finished telling me
what an angel she had been when Autumn slugged her on top of the head. She
didn’t want to go home, she wanted to play with Christian. I
took Mike over to his friends house, He was going to go see “Gladiator” as soon
as I got home he called and said that he was going to spend the night and go
see the movie tomorrow… I got scammed again… Sunday May 7, 2000
 I have been anticipating listening to the Prairie Home Companion for a week, ever since I heard that Linda Ronstadt was going to be the guest. I tuned it in and it was Pledge Week… damn… Listening to the show through the inane babbling of the KUSC pledge drive is intellectual torture, switching from Garrison Keillor to the arrogant elitist babbling of pretentious pinheads telling me I am a parasitic thief for not pledging them $300.00., “We’ll send you back to PHC as soon as we make $3000.00…” Gimme a break… If I thought giving them $3000 would allow me to listen to the show without being inflicted with their insulting innuendos I would consider it. How do those people stay sane… maybe they don’t… the show would be pretty good I think, if the radio station allowed it to have some continuity… I turned it off after about a half hour I will listen to it again next week on the Net… They post the previous week’s show on their website. I heard Linda R. but there was virtually no repartee, it was disappointing, I found out later that she had been confronted befor the show by a jerk that had just gotten out of jail for stalking her, he was captured bnad he was armed, I guess that would inhibit any ones perkiness… I think Linda Ronstadt has the most beautiful voice of anyone this side of heaven… well, another day beckons, time to do bed and rest up for another fun-packed day…
Let this be an example for the
acquisition of all knowledge, virtue, and riches.
By the fall of drops of water, by
degrees, a pot is filled. –The Hitopadesa– Monday, May 8 2000… So today sucked… any day you get a ticket is ruined, so is tomorrow probably… I was taking Autumn to Therapy and cruising down the OHV lane about 72mph I had just been passed by a guy in a black Toyota (Passing is illegal in that lane) I shrugged that off and kept on zipping along, The car in front of the Toyota, a maroon Buick, crossed over the double double yellow line and passed a little old man in a white mini van doing about 62 and then so did the black Toyota… I was coming up on the minivan pretty quick and looked back and I looked ahead for police, there wasn’t a car within a quarter mile, I made my move and the kiddie cop lit me up within 2 minutes… I was toast. Damn… In the way down and back I counted 16 people who did exactly the same thing I did… they managed to do it unscathed though. The
people of the world having once been deceived, suspect deceit in truth itself. Tuesday May 9, 2000
… I thought that I would
have the whole day to get caught up with E-Mail and just relax… got back home a
little later than usual because I had to take Mokie in to get her picture
taken, the batch we paid for only had the class picture… I got her to school
and went home, Christian called and asked me to bring his science project at 9:30, I got Autumn bathed and dressed and
on the bus. Meadowlark School called an said Mokie was coughing (Asthma) so I
took her some Albuterol I got home and John called about a PC problem… He calls
about PC trouble after he has tried everything he can think of and is so mad
he’s sputtering… we fixed the problems and talked for a while. Christy got home
and it was time to pick up the kids, then Calie and Cindy had dance class and
Christy took some of the kids to Albertsons and now it’s bed time… damn. Except
for the call from John it was another busily unproductive day… Seems like the
more I plan the more the world conspires to intervene. How far
you go in life depends on your being tender with the young , compassionate with
the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong.
Because someday in life you will have been all of these. -George Washington
Carver (1864?-1943) "I get to go to lots of overseas places, like Canada." n
Britney
Spears Wednesday May 10, 2000 … Time for a rant: I have been trying
for years to convince people to quit thinking of it as E-Mail… It’s MAIL damn it… I sit down and type a LETTER and some people
treat it as though it’s some sort of frivolous irrelevance; (Quote from my
brother in law) “Oh, I look at my e-mail every other Saturday if I can find the
time.” sounds like I am ripping my brother-in-law but it’s really just a problem with
my expectations… For some regressive reason I
can’t fathom, it is more responsible and acceptable to folks for me to: 1.
get out a piece of
paper 2.
scribble a few
paragraphs of embarrassingly misspelled words in hieroglyphs only a Doctor’s
secretary could read, 3.
get an envelope, 4.
address it, 5.
put a 33 cent stamp
on it, 6.
get in the car and 7.
drive to the post
office, 8.
slip it into the mail
slot, 9.
wait three days for
the recipient to receive it, 10. another day to them
to write a letter (more like a month) and three more days to get the reply, somehow that’s more satisfying
and personal…? Mystifying… I know that 95 percent of the E-Mail you get
is jokes and SPAM, and people scream and rant about it, but it’s the same way
with Snail Mail. Snail Mail is worse actually, because bills come that way too,
people are so inured to it they just don’t notice. I can understand my 83 year old uncle saying it’s
not worth his energy to spend even one minute trying to learn how to send
E-mail but a person with a working computer, an Internet connection who is too
<Whatever> to look at their mail once a day and respond to a personal
letter (even if it’s only: Hi Thanks (Or, Go to hell) <Whoever>) is beyond me… They also say; “Well, nobody ever writes to
me so what’s the point.” It’s a hard lesson, but you have to send mail before
you receive any… Well, that’s off my chest… wish I had been more articulate… Christy and I took the MotorMonster down to the kids at Affordable Tire to get the Right Rear Outside tire replaced… It had seen too much sun and rotted, I replaced a gasket on the carburetor and we headed home… the water temp gauge went past the red on the trip up the hill 2.5 miles… seems like a thermostat gone bad… I hope… We
are psyching ourselves up for Autumns IEP tomorrow, we downloaded tons of stuff
off the net, the Federal and State Education Departments have a whole bunch of
neat stuff on children’s rights, especially disabled children like Autie… we
are loaded for bear, I just hope we can keep this amicable and not have to
resort to using it… If you are out to describe the
truth, leave elegance to the tailor. –Albert Einstein (1879-1955) Thursday May 11, 2000 … Autumn’s IEP went very well… Christy and I are very pleased by the level of cooperation we are receiving from Yucca School where she is now and Meadowlark School where she will be going…everyone was really trying to look to Autumn’s well-being… it really was a gratifying meeting. She will have an aide but the aide will be there to assist the teacher with Autumn and help to facilitate teaching the rest of the kids… Autumn can’t be allowed to hold up/back the rest of the class so the aide will supplement the teacher. and provide all the special the resources she will need to get through the day. We anticipate obstacles as her education progresses and are even somewhat prepared to confront the possibility that she may not be able to handle being mainstreamed, I am convinced that she needs to be given the opportunity to make it in an environment like other kids her age… Went
to the ROF, it was a good get together for the most part: I got in late and am
very tired… Everyone hears what you say. Friends listen to what you say. Best friends listen to what you don't say. Tim McGraw Friday May 12,
2000 …
Christy and I went to Lancaster we had to go to CCS to fill out some paperwork
and try to get Autumn some more services. She has Physical Therapy but she
needs Occupational Therapy. We take her to Culver City twice a week for PT and
were hoping that we could get the OT done there simultaneously but I suspect
that CCS won’t let us do that… It’s expensive to outsource and that’s what we
are getting for PT. You can learn many things from children... like how much patience
you have. Saturday May 13, 2000
 I got a joke from a fella
(that doesn’t need to be repeated here)…the punch line was about Pokémon and he
felt the need to explain what Pokémon were. He said “for those of you who don't have kids that is the latest doll
craze”… From a guy with 7 kids... and for no particular reason beyond the fact
I had a few spare minutes, I felt a compulsion to amplify slightly his
description of Pokémon as being the “latest doll craze”... there are Pokémon
dolls and action figures but there is also a television show, a feature length
movie, Pokémon Cards and a very clever marketing scheme. When I first saw them
I thought the cards were like the baseball cards of my youth but they aren't,
each card is a component of a very sophisticated game that, to the best of my
knowledge, only someone 13 year old or younger can understand. In 56 years I have seen a few fads and if it is a fad it has lasted longer than most...I hope it is a fad… it is, with the possible exception of the internet…the biggest money and time waster I have ever seen Every beetle is a gazelle in the eyes of its mother. Moorish Proverb Sunday May 14, 2000 …Mothers
Day… The kids got to present their presents and they were all adorable, Calie
has a hard time with this sort to thing. I think that she tries so hard to be
the best and that she has a hard time tolerating the other kids getting any
kind of recognition. She tries but some sort of primal self-preservation instinct
takes over… and she just can’t help herself. She picked at the pictures on
Mikes present trying to scratch them, she made fun of Mokie’s spelling, tried
to give Cindy’s present to Christy herself, made silly noises when Autumn’s
gift was presented…. It just a security reflex I think. The trouble with having
so many kids with such diverse problems is that she perceives the competition
for our attention, affection and time more intensely than the others. We
are on our way to Riverside today to celebrate Mothers Day with her Mom and
Karen, I think Pat and Mike will be there too… I
need to get over there to load some stuff on Wayne’s PC… The
visit went well, Christy got an Ice-cream cake from Karen… we got in late though and I’m tired… Fill the seats
of justice with good men, not so absolute in goodness as to forget what human
frailty is. -Thomas Noon Talfourd (1795-1854) Monday, May 15 2000Christy
had a Podiatry appointment this morning, I tagged along to watch Autumn
and to see if I could find out from the podiatrist whether or not she would be
able to operate on my toenail on the 17th… It’s a good thing I did
too. I told her the Nurse Practitioner had told me it needed to be removed… she
said sure, but only if they had scheduled a 1 hour appointment… She said well,
lets take a look at it, she said, this needs to be taken care of.now. We
checked my appointment and it was only a half hour appointment, she asked the
nurse, “has my 10:00 shown up?” Nurse said “No”, The Podiatrist said “Then lets
do it now”… I immediately broke into a sweat but the process was painless
except for the burning of the first Lydocane (sp) shot … It
is now 12 hours later and my foot hurts a little… on a scale of one to ten, ten
being five minutes before she cut off half my toenail… the pain is about a one…
I am amazed and extremely grateful. I may still have to go in and have the
whole thing removed but for now it is very nice it be able to not feel my big
toe… I
have been trying to find out what is happening in Arizona with the Mayoral
election… The internet is letting me down…I can find nada!… Scottsdale is a
strange town… the people living there are very… Republican… by that I mean they
seem to be very tuned in to their individual rights, I have been reading
editorials in the Arizona Republic and they seem to be a pretty hard nosed
bunch… for instance they are very much for their right to own guns and on the
same page very much for their right to control whether or not you and I own
guns. They want the right to develop their own property, but they want to be
very sure that the everybody elses property stays pristine. I know better than
to judge a community by what is in the Editorial Section of the local paper,
for the most part people who submit articles to the paper are self-serving
opinionated pinheads. Looking at our
paper here in Acton you’d think we were all regressionist bigots. There
are no Scottsdale newspapers on the net and only one Phoenix paper.
Every now and then go away, have a little
relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be
surer. Go some distance away because
then the work appears smaller and more of it can be taken in at a glance and a
lack of harmony and proportion is more readily seen. Leonardo Da Vinci
Tuesday May 16, 2000 …
I feel the need to do some clarification here about what Christy and I are
doing and why we are doing it. I shouldn’t say we because I can’t speak for
Christy… I
have never met a man who was able to tell me “I went up to my wife and said I
think it would be a great idea if we went out and became Foster Parents,
because then we could adopt a half dozen kids” Not one…Including me… these kids
are here because Christy wanted them, they are adopted because WE love them.
The only recourse for kids in Foster care is adoption or they go back into (or
stay in) the system. If Christy had continued working, and we had never gotten
involved in Foster Care it would be another world for me, perhaps I could do a
lot of things I can’t do now, perhaps not… for one thing, she would have been
at work on June 3rd, 1994 and wouldn’t have been here to dial 911
when I had my heart attack. Now,
there are times when I see people my age going on trips and buying new cars and
on and on, that I get envious because I have put myself in a position where
that sort of thing is not fiscally feasible.
I don’t know that I would be doing anything more interesting than
plunked down here in front of the PC, but it’s possible I suppose that it’s
possible I would be out gallivanting on my motorcycle, or climbing mountains or
volunteering at an archeological dig in Northern Montana… but probably not… it
would be nice to have the options that others my age have but I am banking on a
different sort of reward… not sure what it will be. A kid with a college
degree, a trophy, a first job, a conversation with Autumn… something. Rest
assured that I am going to do what ever the hell I want to do someday, for now
I will do what I have to do I
took Mike out to buy some clothes for the wedding, I got him some Dockers and a
nice rayon Hawaiian like shirt. I have to wear a damn sport-coat and tie but
I’ll survive. Mike will wear this outfit, usually we have to fight him to get
him to wear nice clothes, he likes to dress like the other kids, baggy pants
with the crotch two inches above his knees, boxer shorts, baggy shirt, floppy
shoes, bored expression… he’ll be 13 in November… It is a chore getting him to
look civilized now… it isn’t going to get any easier. The fear of capitalism has compelled socialism to widen freedom, and the fear of socialism has compelled capitalism to increase equality. Ariel Durant Wednesday May 17, 2000 …We
went shopping for some wedding presents. Seems like they need just about
everything so it’s hard to go wrong… I wish we could do more for them but we
have been sorta financially whipsawed lately. I
am starting to get a little concerned about inflation I am on a pretty loose
budget at the moment but if gas prices and all the other prices start to rise things
could get a little tight… When I retired I had to make an educated guess as to
how much money I would need on a monthly basis until I turn 59 ½, which will be
roughly December 23, 2002. I intentionally cut it close by figuring on a 3%
annual increase, If worse comes to worse I can go out and get one of those jobs
that are going begging… I sure hope I don’t have to, I have grown accustomed to
this chaos and I am not as compliant an employee as I used to be. Christy
took Calie out to get a dress then she came back and picked up Cindy to do the
same… if you take them together then Calie picks out a dress and Cindy wants
one just like it… plus, they fight…Christy bought Cindy a “real bra” today…
Cindy is so proud… I
washed and waxed the truck, not an insignificant feat with one arm out of
commission; I get to see the bone doctor tomorrow. I hope it’s going to be OK,
I haven’t followed instructions to the letter but I have been pretty good, I
only hurt it a little when I tripped last week… The man who thinks he can do without the world is indeed mistaken; but the man who thinks the world cannot
do without him is mistaken even worse. -Francois, duc de La Rochefoucauld Thursday May 18, 2000 … A
bad (read busy) day Autumn
to Therapy Christy
to AVC to receive an award from Mike Antonavitch Autumn
to School Pick
up kids at School (minimum Day) Christy
returns to watch kids Go
to Dr. Hendricks to have shoulder evaluated, It’s fine… he says Packed
some clothes for the wedding It
is back to school night, unfortunately Autumn and Monica were both scheduled
for back to school night at the same time 15 miles apart, We left early and
went to Autumns school in Palmdale first, we said Hi to Ms Lea and Ms Jan,
picked up Autumn’s packet of pictures and other accomplishments and sped off
for Meadowlark here in Acton, Christy and I looked like the “walking wounded” Pack
some more clothes we are almost ready but tomorrow will be chaos anyway I heard Ted Turner is
going to release an exercise video titled "Jane Fonda didn't
workout." (Gary Hallock) Friday May 19,
2000 …
At noon I drive to Devereux to get "B" and then doubled back to meet Christy
and the kids. Actually the first people we met was Robert and Stephanie
wandering around in the parking lot. Karen and Blaine, Pat and Mike, Grandma and Grandpa should arrive between 1900 and 2000… Going to be a long night… Grandpa stayed home because he hurt his back cleaning out the refrigerator. Christy got three rooms, so we doled out the kids… sorta, Karen and Blaine took the girls in their room and we had the boys, Autumn stayed with us and Calie came in later and slept on the floor with Autumn… Robert and Stephanie stayed in Grandma’s room. Debbie (The Bride) and her family were in the room across from us. After the rehearsal Gene Hostetler (The grooms dad) took everyone to El Torito, they had a pretty good party, we kept Keagan so Debbie and Jeff could relax. Keagan is a precocious little fella. He is pretty cute and seems to be pretty well tuned in to what he wants… but… he’s 3 ½ … “Sometimes I don’t think we’re having as much fun as Angelica says
we are” “Rug Rats cartoon” Saturday May 20, 2000 …The
wedding was fairly well attended and went off without a hitch as near as I
could tell… Jeff was nervous, Debbie was beautiful, Keagan was adorable, I have
driven 350 miles today and wrangled kids for all but 2 of 32 hours, I can
barely think, let alone type… I am going to bed. …. Rob
and Stephanie decided not to stay at the hotel and are in the MotorMonster for
the night.
 Sunday May 21, 2000 …Rob and Stephanie went to Universal Studios with a friend of theirs named Michael Jackson … no not that one… and his family. The boys and I got out the weed whackers and tried hard to make the Fire Department happy, my arm wasn’t up to the task yet and the boys tired quickly…we barely made a dent in the weeds. Christy cooked a lasagna, one of the best I have had… Rob and Stephanie got back about 2100 and we talked for a while… they were not impressed by Universal Studios… it is a rip-off to adults but kids seem to get a kick out of it. I went about 22 years ago, Christy and I took Rob, Jeff and Russell, they had a ball, Rob doesn’t even remember going, he was about eight…
Monday, May 22, 2000…
Took the kids to school, met Christy and Autumn at CCS for an OT Evaluation, 2
hours of testing and by golly, she qualifies… Duh. Christy
took off to get her foot put into a cast. Her foot needs to be immobilized to
heal from the damage the years have inflicted on it. She has something called Achillitus. Very painful she has been limping so long he other foot is damaged
with stress fissures… we look like walking wounded, me in my telltale blue shoe
and her in a cast. When
the Evaluation was over I took Autumn to McDonalds then drove down to Therapy
west, we got there a little early and walked around Save-On Drugs to kill some
time, I bought her some candy and a plastic flute. Some time during the session
she dropped it and it’s lost… someone picked it up and put it in a toy-box .
there are about one hundred toy-boxes there… Autumn
was a little cranky, I think we overtaxed her a bit today, she went to bed
early.. We
watched “The Bone Collector” on Direct-TV tonight… pretty gruesome but a good
flick, it was like “Murders in the Rue Morgue” the ending of the movie kind of
reminded me of the cartoon of a stork swallowing a frog, the frogs head is
already in the storks beak but the frog has it’s hands around the storks throat
and the caption is “Never give up”… "At this
moment, you are the only man in the Army who knows what he is doing" Gents Lavatory Aldershot Barracks UK Tuesday May 23, 2000 …
Mike told me that some lady called the school and said she found a piece of
paper with his name on it in her living room… I said, “What did you do
yesterday?” He said he went to Austins house and they went swimming, “So how
did the paper get in this ladies house?” and the conversation degenerated from
there. Unfortunately, Mike has created a credibility gap over the years, he is
generally a truthful boy but he has lied convincingly on several occasions so I
called the school to get to the bottom of the situation and they were unable to
shed any light on the situation… I shall allow no man to belittle my soul by making me hate him. --Booker
T.Washington -- (1856-1915) Wednesday May 24, 2000 …Christy
and I took Christian to Kathleen, the Kaiser therapist. Christian was in good
form, he was really being “oppositional” (quoting Katheleen). She thinks he may
be a budding Bipolar something or other… It was a relief to finally have an
outsider see him in action… I
saw Mrs. Wegman and asked her about the “paper in the living room” situation
from yesterday, she laughed and said that some little girl at Meadowlark School
had found the paper and took it home, when the mom found it she called Acton
School and told them that she had found the paper with Mikes name on it and it
looked important… tempest in a teapot… I regret not trusting him, but he hasn’t
earned a lot of trust yet… maybe we both learned something. Appeal, v.t. In law, to put the dice into the box for another throw.
-AmbroseBierce The Devil's Dictionary (1906) Thursday May 25, 2000 …
Went to Physical Therapy at Kaiser… There is a sign out front that says “If you
are more 10 minutes late you may be rescheduled, If you miss your appointment
and fail to inform us, we will assume you are discontinuing treatment and
release all further appointments.” It would have pissed me off anyway but since
it was 10:42 when I read it and my appointment was for 1030 I wondered what
recourse I had… Perhaps I could go shopping and comeback at noon and she could see me during her lunch hour…
I hate the arbitrary bureaucratic mind. That sign implies to me that they have
completely missed the point, the reason they are there is to help their
patients, not the other way around. If I am late, and the therapist is busy
with another patient, send my butt home, don’t scotch tape a Xeroxed sign to
the wall and threaten me… it’s insulting. Christy
took Autumn to Therapy, she hit some bad traffic and was a few minutes late,
and the parking lot was full. Friday May 26,
2000 …
Today I went to see Ken Huan, he works in the cardiology department at Kaiser,
I went there expecting to be in a class with a bunch of other old fat guys but
it was just me and him, I am “At Risk” in two areas, I have a family history of
heart attack and stroke on both sides of the family, on my dad’s side I have
two uncles and a grandfather, and on moms side I have both of her parents and
mom herself, the other factor is high cholesterol and high triglicerides. My
cholesterol is under control, under 200, but triglicerides are high… too much
fat in my blood. Well, I was finished with Ken about 0945 and went home to pick
up Autumn, Autumn
and I had to go to Bakersfield (112 miles) to get her new braces fitted. I had
pretty much the same experience, I waited thirty-five minutes past my 1300
appointment and the fitting that was supposed to take “….about ten minutes.”
took an hour and fifteen minutes, part of the fitting entailed having Autie
walking around for “twenty minutes” (took 40 for the Dr. to come back) in her
new braces to see if they were too snug, we got out about 1500. This time we
got Cascade Braces. Cascade is from Washington state and I have been assured by
Beth that they are the best you can get. The run about $1800.00, sometimes I
love Kaiser Permanente to pieces. It’s a tedious process to get them made and
if they aren’t perfect they can do a lot of damage, so I guess they are worth
it. It
was a long drive up and a long drive back, we stopped for a late lunch and did
some shopping and banking on the way back, Autumn is fun to travel with, she is
most always happy and if she gets cranky it’s usually a prelude to a long nap…
I don’t think I have ever cared so much about anyone in my life, she is the joy
of my life. Saturday May 27, 2000 …We
all went to Riverside because I had to update Wayne’s PC, he had called
E-Machine tech support and they told him to do some pretty outrageous stuff to
correct a minor inconvenience, I thought all he really needed to do was reload
windows. Well reloading windows fixed the problem but it mucked up the registry
so bad he lost most of the programs he and I had installed, they were still on
the PC but they couldn’t be located but the OS… bummer. After we were all done
it worked better than it ever did which is gratifying… Sunday May 28, 2000 …Raining at Indy, chewed up the day… I guess I’m pretty shallow about all the politics and intrigue revolving around IROC, CART, NASCAR and whatever and all the heart wrenching passion behind a bunch of millionaire playboy car owners and drivers pouting about not getting their way… sorry… but I like Indy… two and a half mile track, lots of passing, I really like Indy I have been watching it since I was a kid… well I was wrong...they finally ran the race… pretty boring… lots of tactics with
rev-limited engines, mostly it was a parade at 216 mph. Today is Allowance and chore money day, I got their money and took a trip to Wal-Mart with Cindy, Mike, Calie and Autumn, Calie had 3 weeks worth in her pocket, $45.00, and lost it… I was more upset than she was… she had it in her pocket and it just disappeared… it actually made me sick to my stomach. Poor kid, well she made someone happy and learned a lesson, I think they all did. I wish I hadn’t given it to her… 
Kids
at Ventura Beach
Monday, Memorial Day May 29 2000…I
replaced the thermostat in the Motorhome and then I took it down to fill it
with gas… $100.00 for 63 gallons Ouch…(Kinda strange because I was told it had
a 60 gallon tank… bet it’s 80. The damn thing over heated again on the way back
up the dirt road… The gauge was banging around, pegging hot then cold then it
stayed hot… I think the gauge is defective… Tuesday May 30, 2000 …
Went to T& J to see if they can work on the MotorMonster… they said
tomorrow. It was a long day, I spent most of the night posting my webpage… Wednesday May 31, 2000 …I
took the MotorMonster in to T& J, it took Tom about 3 minutes to find the
wire to the sensor flapping in the breeze and reconnect it… I felt like an
idiot, well, when it comes to rolling stock I guess I am about as ignorant as
anyone can get. So, he fixed the air-conditioned, and lubed the chassis. I like
dealing with them because they do good work and they treat me fair, I just wish
I knew more about cars… Oh well, one sign of intelligence is to be aware of
your ignorance, so you can get help when you need it… 
Autumn playing “Hide” |
