I LOVE MARU THE CAT.
I wish Alice were nearly as cute as this cat. Unfortunately, she always has her bishface on.
4.25.2009
4.15.2009
Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it
I almost punched a security guard at the Connecticut Valley Historical museum today. I held it in, which is good, because he was probably an ex cop.
One of my coworkers left Benjamin Ricci's Crimes Against Humanity at work, and I borrowed it because I had Jury Duty today (again) and he's off until Friday. The book is about the class action suit that ultimately closed the Belchertown State School. I worked with three of the named plaintiffs in the case. He talked about the expose series written in the Springfield Union about the horrible treatment being given to the school's residents. Like beatings and rapes and humiliation and isolation. Deplorable sanitary conditions and an indifferent administration. It was called "The Tragedy of Belchertown."
The book had the wrong dates listed for the article's print dates, as did Wikipedia. So I asked the woman at the library's reference desk about looking it up and she sent me to the museum where they have clippings files for a lot of the news in the area. I paid $7 to get into the museum.
I was kind of greeted by an older gentleman sitting in a folding chair against the back wall of the building. He was talking to an older woman who had her back to the door. I asked where to find the museum (there are few records collections in this one building) and he directed me to sign in.
"What are you looking for?"
"Some articles about the State School."
"Oh, are you a student?"
"No. I was reading a book and they were mentioned...and I work for the state and both of my parents worked there..."
"I heard they're turning it into a spa or something."
"Yeah, they ran out of money or something."
"You know what they should do with it?" At this point I was prepared for some sort currently socially sound or environmentally friendly idea. Recreation parks. A golf course. Something of that sort. "They should open it back up."
The woman sitting across from him piped up with a story of a homeless man she sees in the winter who just sits there with no winter coat and they go back and forth about how it would be better for everyone, us and them, if they reopened those buildings. "I bet your parents would be for it."
This is the part where I almost lost it. "Actually, I'm pretty sure a lot of the old state school workers think community homes are a good thing. And the buildings have been stripped down by looters that they wouldn't be able to refurbish them."
"Well they should knock them down and put up a new hospital."
Of course they should. Because it worked so well in the past.
One of my coworkers left Benjamin Ricci's Crimes Against Humanity at work, and I borrowed it because I had Jury Duty today (again) and he's off until Friday. The book is about the class action suit that ultimately closed the Belchertown State School. I worked with three of the named plaintiffs in the case. He talked about the expose series written in the Springfield Union about the horrible treatment being given to the school's residents. Like beatings and rapes and humiliation and isolation. Deplorable sanitary conditions and an indifferent administration. It was called "The Tragedy of Belchertown."
The book had the wrong dates listed for the article's print dates, as did Wikipedia. So I asked the woman at the library's reference desk about looking it up and she sent me to the museum where they have clippings files for a lot of the news in the area. I paid $7 to get into the museum.
I was kind of greeted by an older gentleman sitting in a folding chair against the back wall of the building. He was talking to an older woman who had her back to the door. I asked where to find the museum (there are few records collections in this one building) and he directed me to sign in.
"What are you looking for?"
"Some articles about the State School."
"Oh, are you a student?"
"No. I was reading a book and they were mentioned...and I work for the state and both of my parents worked there..."
"I heard they're turning it into a spa or something."
"Yeah, they ran out of money or something."
"You know what they should do with it?" At this point I was prepared for some sort currently socially sound or environmentally friendly idea. Recreation parks. A golf course. Something of that sort. "They should open it back up."
The woman sitting across from him piped up with a story of a homeless man she sees in the winter who just sits there with no winter coat and they go back and forth about how it would be better for everyone, us and them, if they reopened those buildings. "I bet your parents would be for it."
This is the part where I almost lost it. "Actually, I'm pretty sure a lot of the old state school workers think community homes are a good thing. And the buildings have been stripped down by looters that they wouldn't be able to refurbish them."
"Well they should knock them down and put up a new hospital."
Of course they should. Because it worked so well in the past.
4.13.2009
What I remember v. what people think
this is the copy with the picture: "'Hallelujah' Lyrics, Belchertown State School
Kailey Peacey, Brian Snyder and I drove to the State School today that used to house the mentally handicapped. Story goes this is the worse state school in the country. It was abandoned in the 70's when it was found the patients were mistreated and often just left to die off by the nurses and staff."
The picture is amazing, but lets be for real: There is a lack of fact checking that irks the editor in me. There's a whole Wiki for the love of Pete.
Kailey Peacey, Brian Snyder and I drove to the State School today that used to house the mentally handicapped. Story goes this is the worse state school in the country. It was abandoned in the 70's when it was found the patients were mistreated and often just left to die off by the nurses and staff."
The picture is amazing, but lets be for real: There is a lack of fact checking that irks the editor in me. There's a whole Wiki for the love of Pete.
4.12.2009
The blind leading the fashion stupid.
I've been watching American Idol this season. One of my coworkers is really into it and there is no runway as of yet, so I need some reality competition to get into that doesn't involve "alliances." One of the contestants was (he was voted off this week) legally blind. If I remember correctly, he retains a small percentage of his peripheral vision. He's a really good singer and a phenomenal piano player, but his talent isn't what made him stand out to me.
It was the interaction he had with all the Idol Heads. Like Paula crying while she called him an inspiration for "being himself (blind)." Every week. Aside from the disability ass kissing, I kind of felt a perverse pleasure at watching what the producers were going to require him to do next. One week, when he was in the bottom three, Seacrest dragged across the stage, just to drag him back to the couch with his next sentence. The final group performance involved multiple stair ascents and descents. There were quite a few quick camera changes where he staring at the wrong camera.
I guess what I really am upset by is the fact that no one told FOX, Idol, or Seacreast anything about the ettiquette of being a sighted guide. Scott was literally dragged from one point to another by Seacrest. By the upper arm. Every week. For over a month.
Moving on. Am I the only person a little irked by the Sash and the Circle scarf and the multitude of other overpriced items being sold by American Apparel that could easily be called "One seam Accessory A" and "A ribbon does the same thing." Seriously. Both have multiple ways to wear them. And at $16 and $30-$40 for a $5 peice of fabric, it seems like paying for the lable is taking a new gouging stance.
Ugh.
It was the interaction he had with all the Idol Heads. Like Paula crying while she called him an inspiration for "being himself (blind)." Every week. Aside from the disability ass kissing, I kind of felt a perverse pleasure at watching what the producers were going to require him to do next. One week, when he was in the bottom three, Seacrest dragged across the stage, just to drag him back to the couch with his next sentence. The final group performance involved multiple stair ascents and descents. There were quite a few quick camera changes where he staring at the wrong camera.
I guess what I really am upset by is the fact that no one told FOX, Idol, or Seacreast anything about the ettiquette of being a sighted guide. Scott was literally dragged from one point to another by Seacrest. By the upper arm. Every week. For over a month.
Moving on. Am I the only person a little irked by the Sash and the Circle scarf and the multitude of other overpriced items being sold by American Apparel that could easily be called "One seam Accessory A" and "A ribbon does the same thing." Seriously. Both have multiple ways to wear them. And at $16 and $30-$40 for a $5 peice of fabric, it seems like paying for the lable is taking a new gouging stance.
Ugh.
2.13.2009
worded
I was an english major. Possibly the worst english major in the world as devoting YEARS of my young adult life to classic literature just never made sense. But my goal in life was to be a fact checker for Dennis Publications.
I married a vocabulary snob. I had to explain to my husband over lunch last week that feckless is not in the vernacular of his average peer. His argument was that they should have learned it by watching movies. I wanted to know what movies. His answer: British.
I work in a field where the combination of jargon, acronyms, and pejoratives could make your head explode. Do you know what a PCP is? Drug...? Doctor...? WRONG. It's Person Centered Planning. It is not uncommon to hear a house full of AARP eligible men referred to as boys. Watch how fast someone can lodge their foot in their throat by calling something retarded in front of the developmentally disabled. There seem to be two movements regarding words in the DMR. One is overly stuffy. These are not clients, consumers, boys, they are Indiviuals. The Individuals do not have tantrums, they exhibit socially inappropriate behaviors.
The other way is a more casual approach, towards which I lean. Replace Individuals with folks. I'm more likely to tell someone they are acting ridiculous than socially inappropriate. And I work with the guys and ladies.
I am a blog reader. Because you can't swing a cat without hitting a blog reader. I read Jezebel like it's the only internet on the tubes. And this came through today. So the initial problem was that Laura, of PR Season 3 fame, called her nannies "girls" in an interview. And maybe this makes me a bad feminist, or maybe just a product of my environment, but I didn't blink at it. It didn't even send a flare off in my brain that there was a problem. Or even that anyone would be offended by it.
Is it really that big a deal, or do people just need to lighten up?
I married a vocabulary snob. I had to explain to my husband over lunch last week that feckless is not in the vernacular of his average peer. His argument was that they should have learned it by watching movies. I wanted to know what movies. His answer: British.
I work in a field where the combination of jargon, acronyms, and pejoratives could make your head explode. Do you know what a PCP is? Drug...? Doctor...? WRONG. It's Person Centered Planning. It is not uncommon to hear a house full of AARP eligible men referred to as boys. Watch how fast someone can lodge their foot in their throat by calling something retarded in front of the developmentally disabled. There seem to be two movements regarding words in the DMR. One is overly stuffy. These are not clients, consumers, boys, they are Indiviuals. The Individuals do not have tantrums, they exhibit socially inappropriate behaviors.
The other way is a more casual approach, towards which I lean. Replace Individuals with folks. I'm more likely to tell someone they are acting ridiculous than socially inappropriate. And I work with the guys and ladies.
I am a blog reader. Because you can't swing a cat without hitting a blog reader. I read Jezebel like it's the only internet on the tubes. And this came through today. So the initial problem was that Laura, of PR Season 3 fame, called her nannies "girls" in an interview. And maybe this makes me a bad feminist, or maybe just a product of my environment, but I didn't blink at it. It didn't even send a flare off in my brain that there was a problem. Or even that anyone would be offended by it.
Is it really that big a deal, or do people just need to lighten up?
2.05.2009
I'd have flipped the second I had to say, "The engines are on fire."
I laughed really hard when air traffic was like, "We have runway one at teeterboro." And he was like, "We can't do that. We'll be in the Hudson." His completely flat affect struck me funny because I would have been screaming and convincing people to remove their seats for flotation devices.
This is in fact what he said....
I would have had a heart attack. "If you look out of the leftside of the plane, you will see a marvelous view of New York City. YOU MAY ALSO NOTICE(?!?!?!?) that the port engine is on fire."
1.27.2009
Two great videos.
I ran into these via reddit and think they are great. Top is the M/F version. Bottom is the M/M version.
1.13.2009
With the clarity and straighforwardness of a small child.
The winter holidays are gone. But there were a few highlights:
Basler xmas... Everyone was curious about married life. I told them it was pretty much the same. My aunt's dog humped a number of small children. There was A LOT delicious food. Stewart WiiFit the crap out of my cousins, because he cannot make himself lose. There was some sort of yankee swap related drinking game, but I don't participate in the swaps, so I didn't do that either. Ben cried this year, because he did not realize a Best Buy gift card in basically interchangeable with a Toys "R" Us gift card in as far as buying video games.
Awkward high: When my grandfather asked to see the Christmas in heaven ornaments my aunt had gotten to commemorate my grandmother's death. They did not get along.
Favorite moment: Sitting with my grampa looking at his pocket scrapbook of things he's made this year out of industrial scraps. I definitely get my craftyperson tendencies from that side of the family. Also the trash picking tendencies.
Funniest moment: My sister, Caitlin, Sticking my uncle Chris with a jewelry box at the end of the swap because she wanted a toothbrush. And because of the two toothbrush holder, Chris was less likely to break her wrists.
We spent xmas eve at my cousin's house with her family. Thses family gatherings are the craziest because of the kids. Ella, Brooke and Colin are the cutest kids evar. Best moment was Colin (age 4) stomping around the house in a frilly witch costume air punching and chanting, "Get out of my way, get out of my way!"
The day was uneventful, as was New Years. And now life gets on.
Most notably, I was transfered from the house in Amherst to Southampton. The difference is astounding. I went from working in a house with heavy behavioral intervention nonsense and low care requirements to a house with pretty much no behavior element and total care.
And to my own shock, I prefer it. I liked my old boss and (most of) the old staff. I definitely clicked with some of the guys more than others. But I love my new situation. It's great, the entire staff, the house climate--It's all great so far.
Basler xmas... Everyone was curious about married life. I told them it was pretty much the same. My aunt's dog humped a number of small children. There was A LOT delicious food. Stewart WiiFit the crap out of my cousins, because he cannot make himself lose. There was some sort of yankee swap related drinking game, but I don't participate in the swaps, so I didn't do that either. Ben cried this year, because he did not realize a Best Buy gift card in basically interchangeable with a Toys "R" Us gift card in as far as buying video games.
Awkward high: When my grandfather asked to see the Christmas in heaven ornaments my aunt had gotten to commemorate my grandmother's death. They did not get along.
Favorite moment: Sitting with my grampa looking at his pocket scrapbook of things he's made this year out of industrial scraps. I definitely get my craftyperson tendencies from that side of the family. Also the trash picking tendencies.
Funniest moment: My sister, Caitlin, Sticking my uncle Chris with a jewelry box at the end of the swap because she wanted a toothbrush. And because of the two toothbrush holder, Chris was less likely to break her wrists.
We spent xmas eve at my cousin's house with her family. Thses family gatherings are the craziest because of the kids. Ella, Brooke and Colin are the cutest kids evar. Best moment was Colin (age 4) stomping around the house in a frilly witch costume air punching and chanting, "Get out of my way, get out of my way!"
The day was uneventful, as was New Years. And now life gets on.
Most notably, I was transfered from the house in Amherst to Southampton. The difference is astounding. I went from working in a house with heavy behavioral intervention nonsense and low care requirements to a house with pretty much no behavior element and total care.
And to my own shock, I prefer it. I liked my old boss and (most of) the old staff. I definitely clicked with some of the guys more than others. But I love my new situation. It's great, the entire staff, the house climate--It's all great so far.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)