Tikkabik

So today we celebrate the end of summer or the growing season, according to the ancient Celts -- a time when the living and dead intermingled. Big thing with the druids -- guess today's the day I'll play as my Night Elf druid character in World of Warcraft.

Emmeline came home from Sunday School yesterday telling me that according to her teachers, the "original" holiday was All Saint's Day. Boy, did I set her straight in a hurry. Didn't really get into the whole Roman interregnum, but at least she knows now that this holiday long predates Christianity.

We did end up getting the decorating done, over the weekend. Most of the indoors stuff went up on Saturday, while it was pissing down rain (and later, snow!!!), then I finished the outdoor stuff yesterday. Feeling slightly more festive now.

I've got a big beef stew cooking in the slow cooker -- it's got a bottle of guinness in there too. And I'm warming a mulled cider on the stove on low just now. Flavors enhanced with a quartered orange, a tea ball filled with cloves and allspice, brown sugar and a couple of sticks of cinnamon. Couldn't find any ginger at the grocery store this morning, alas.

In a little while I'll get to carving the pumpkins. Inspiration hasn't struck yet.

Posted by flargh at 12:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Over the weekend I watched an interesting report on the Davidson Institute, founded by Bob and Jan Davidson (who made their mark with educational software). The goal of the Institute is to provide profoundly intelligent young people with the resources they need to succeed.

One of the parents interviewed for this news story made the point that her local school district just didn't have the resources to help her son (a 13 year old who's now already completed two years of college).

"I felt that the public school did all they could for us. I felt that they weren't particularly knowledgeable about how to deal with a child like Jacob," Alicja says.

And Jacob Komar isn't alone. Jan and Bob Davidson believe there are many more kids like him and that in this age of "No Child Left Behind," with all its focus on basic skills, they're the ones getting left behind.

Guess what? Young geniuses aren't the only ones getting left behind. So are gifted kids. So are kids like mine, who are doubly cursed -- they're gifted and they're learning disabled. So are "ordinary" kids. So are kids who are below the curve.

In short, the whole system sucks, from top to bottom.

The point the Davidsons make is that as important is that "no child be left behind," as it were, you should let the kids who can exceed expectations do exactly that.

"If you can soar, let 'em soar," he says. "We do it with basketball. Why can't we do it in academics?"

Amen.

Posted by flargh at 12:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Snow? In October?

What the fuck. Someone ought to lose their job for this.

Posted by flargh at 09:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Halloween is usually this family's biggest holiday, and always has been -- our wedding anniversary is tomorrow, and Bonnie and I picked that date deliberately to be close to Halloween.

We decorate the house -- often quite elaborately -- and really get into the spirit of it. In years past we've used a digital projector on the wall of the living room to show Halloween movies when trick or treaters come to the door and usually set up a nice display in the shrubs outside the house to welcome trick or treaters.

This year has been an abject disappointment by any measure -- we just haven't gotten our acts together.

I blame our lack of focus on dealing with Robert's recent behavior at school and everything that's come out of it. Going to court, having to go back in November, talking to legal and social resources, and so on. It's been exhausting. And it's taken every spare ounce of our time.

When Bonnie and I have gone out to take care of holiday-related stuff, like picking up accessories for the kids' costumes or candy, we've both been angry and resentful about it, as if it's yet another imposition on our already stretched and strained time rather than something that's really fun to do. And that has, in turn, made me even more bitter and angry -- that instead of enjoy this time of year, we've been suffering through it.

I'm sorry, the last thing I want to do is turn this blog into another angsty adolescent monologue about how much my life sucks. There are already enough LiveJournals out there written by 14 year olds to last multiple lifetimes.

All told, 2005 has officially sucked. My annus horribilis, to borrow a phrase from the Queen. At this rate, I'm really looking forward to it being over.

Posted by flargh at 10:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Bonnie has been looking for Silly Putty when we've been out in stores. James mentioned that he's played with it in the past and she's made it a mission to get some.

Finally, she found some today. What's more, it's special Silly Putty that changes color depending on the temperature.

"I don't like it," James concluded after a couple of minutes of playing with it, the sound of pained disappointment hanging in his voice.

"Why not?" I asked.

"It's not silly," he said.

Posted by flargh at 04:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I saw a TV ad for a local classic rock radio station tonight, and they advertised U2.

U2 is classic rock?

God, I'm getting old.

Posted by flargh at 09:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

No resolution in court today -- it seems like the Clerk Magistrate wanted to mull over his options with a rep from the Juvenile Diversion Program, whatever-the-hell that is, and the Mashpee P.D., which filed the complaint.

One of two things is going to happen -- either Robert will be enrolled in the Juvenile Diversion Program, or he'll be arraigned. If he's arraigned, which hasn't happened yet, we'll definitely need a lawyer.

All this is making me resentful. It's a waste of my time, and it's a waste of the court's time, when we could be trying to get Robert effective treatment and an educational environment that actually works for him.

Posted by flargh at 04:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So with parents whose obsessions and interests run the gamut from Japanese animation to computer and video games, it's little surprise that our brood is showing strong geek traits themselves.

Even my five year old James, who's unquestionably the most normalized of all of us, with good social skills and athletic tendencies none of the rest of us have, has fallen victim to this.

Today I walked him to the school bus and I noticed he had a stack of paper squares with figures drawn on them -- some quite elaborate in their illustration.

"What's that in your hand, James?" I asked.

"My card game," he said.

"Your what?"

"My CARD GAME," he said, a little less patiently. Robert turned him on to card games a while back -- Yu-Gi-Oh, for example, and Pokemon.

"A card game you made yourself?" I asked.

"Yeah," he told me. "It's about robot dragons."

Posted by flargh at 10:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

There's more insanity in the pricing of milk than there was in the price of gas in the post-Katrina days.

When I go to the grocery store, a gallon of the store-branded 1 percent milk typically costs $3.49 or $3.59 unless there's a sale on, and then usually it's only $.10 or $.20 cents off. Milk is almost always more expensive at the grocery store than it is elsewhere -- it's just that it's convenient to buy it when you're shopping for everything else, so many consumers pay for that convenience.

Next door at the CVS pharmacy the exact same gallon of milk -- a name-brand, but, as it turns out, poured from the exact same location as where the grocery store gets its milk -- is almost always $3.09.

At the Mobil gas station/convenience store up the street from the grocery store, that same name-brand gallon of milk costs $4.49. Meanwhile, if I travel a couple of miles south to a Sunoco station located on the same road, I pay $2.39.

Yeah, I'm familiar with the concept of a loss leader, but that's a big, big delta.

Posted by flargh at 10:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For the first time in a while we gave the kids access to their own computer -- had to take the mouse away to keep them from playing with it when they weren't supposed to.

Emmeline decided to log on to the Neopets Web site, only to find that she couldn't remember her user ID or password. She came sobbing to her mother.

"It keeps telling me I'm an invalid user," she said between tears.

Not "invalid" pronounced as an adjective, mind you. "Invalid" pronounced like the noun form, as "one who is disabled."

A good laugh was had by all.

Posted by flargh at 12:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

today. His first time on skates, with his grandmother and brother and sister. He had a great time and did very well.

"So now that you've tried skating, what do you think you'd like better -- figure skating or hockey?"

"Figure skating," said James without hesitation.

"Why?" asked I.

"Because in hockey they bonk into you, and I don't want people to bonk into me. And in figure skating you get to make figure 8s and stuff and that's much more fun," he said.

Oh well. Leave it to me to end up with Brian Boitano instead of Bobby Orr.

Posted by flargh at 06:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A week of rain and temps in the 50's has one benefit, at least -- I've broken out the slow cooker again, which has had an extended hibernation during the summer months.

I guess there was really no need to put it away for the summer -- I could have, if I'd been willing, tried my hand at some ethnic slow-cooked recipes that work well with hot weather. But I just wasn't. It was easier to grill or prepare other quicker fixes during that time.

So we're getting back into the swing of things today with a pot roast -- that most traditional of Yankee fare. I'm cutting corners today, using one of those instant slow cooker meal prep things you can buy in the grocery store. Got it on sale, and scored a decent deal on a roast. The effect isn't the same -- rehydrated vegetables and potato slices instead of the "real" deal -- but it's an easy meal to make that everyone seems to enjoy.

Only problem with the slow cooking is that the smell of whatever you're cooking seems to permeate every corner of the house within a couple of hours, and today is no exception. Last year when I first started using the slow cooker which we received as an anniversary gift (it's coming up at the end of the month), I wanted to gnaw my own arm off from the hunger.

Posted by flargh at 10:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"Meatnormous."

As in "Meatnormous Omelet Sandwich" at Burger King.

No, I haven't had one yet. I just want to buy the person a beer who thought up the word "meatnormous."

Posted by flargh at 09:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The latest one that makes me want to throw something at the TV is Applebee's latest, pimping its new Italian specialties.

The ad uses a variation on "Mambo Italiano," which started life as a grotesque parody song to begin with, with lyrics like "Try an enchilada with da fish a bacala." Rosemary Clooney and Dean Martin popularized the song; I've heard that Clooney hated it. Doesn't surprise me. I hate the song too.

Then the brilliant ad makers at Applebee's got their paws on it and twisted it even further, so the singer is trilling about their lame new food.

Ugh.

Posted by flargh at 10:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So the weather forecasters are predicting five straight days of rain. And while it's perfectly suited to my mood, I really, really, have been enjoying the indian summer-y weather we've been having for the past few days (temp in the 70s and sunny, at least in the afternoon).

Posted by flargh at 09:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

With Dan's help I upgraded Tikkabik to Movable Type 3.2 yesterday, and the difference is huge. No more trackback spams, hooray! The interface behind the scenes has been updated and has new functionality, too.

A plug-in called StyleCatcher makes it a lead pipe cinch to change stylesheets without having to manually copy and paste code into the templates. Hence, the new look and feel.

Posted by flargh at 11:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

It's the end of an era.

I finally applied for a duplicate title with the Registry of Motor Vehicles for our Frickin' Van -- the '89 Aerostar that, towards the end of its useful life with us, seemed to develop a new problem every few weeks.

The Frickin' Van hasn't been used since January, 2004 -- it's sat in a spot in the driveway, mouldering away.

At first, I had every intention of resurrecting it and using it as as second vehicle. But the expense and time involved in fixing everything that was wrong with it overwhelmed me, especially in the face of other, more pressing concerns and financial limitations.

So we've made do with one vehicle -- our beloved conversion van -- and haven't worried about it otherwise.

When I first bought the Aerostar, the title arrived in the mail a couple of weeks after I registered it. I made the mistake of leaving it on the kitchen table, and Emmeline, only about five at the time, took it upon herself to fill every square inch of white space on the title with pictures of kitties and flowers and anything else she could get to fit.

Needless to say, such a title wouldn't have passed muster with whoever was going to get the van from us. So a duplicate title needed to be applied for. I've been procrastinating very effectively since then in getting that done, but on the last day of September, I found myself at the Registry, renewing the registration on the other, working van.

Now I'm just waiting for the new title to show up. When it does, I'll find a non-profit that accepts car donations, which I've done with the last couple of cars I've driven into the ground. There are a lot of them -- they usually scrap the cars for parts, and use the money for their services. Plus the previous owner (me) gets a tidy little tax write-off.

Easier and less of a hassle than trying to find someone to sell it to for parts, or paying someone to haul it to a wrecking yard.

Posted by flargh at 08:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today we received "notice to subject" paperwork from the local Juvenile Court, to answer complaints that Robert has committed assault and battery and disturbing a lawful assembly. All this, for kicking his teacher.

Our court date is October 20th.

And yes, we've found a lawyer who might represent us. We're hoping to meet with him next week to see if he's the right match.

I don't defend his actions, but I find this reaction to his behavior completely out of proportion to the offense. He's a ten year old boy, for god's sake. And I saw the teacher a week after the incident -- she was walking just fine, without a limp.

Posted by flargh at 03:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Stretched out


Originally uploaded by flargh.

Posted by flargh at 03:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Behold, I bring you the ultimate snack cake.

Part of Entenmann's new "Enten-minis" line, the Caramel and Creme Square is basically what happens when a Caramello bar and a Twinkie interbreed.

It's a square of golden cake topped with a crater of marshmallow creme. Inside the crater is a dollop of caramel. The whole thing is then entombed in chocolate.

If it only had bacon on it, it would be perfect.

Posted by flargh at 08:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Stumbling Storm-Aid Effort Put Tons of Ice on Trips to Nowhere

91,000 tons of ice was ordered by FEMA for hurricane victims. Most of it never got to them, because either most of it wasn't needed or there wasn't the infrastructure in place to handle it. Even worse, most of the hauling was done by private contractors, who FEMA has paid more than $100 million.

Posted by flargh at 10:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

In previous entries I've described my son's condition - ADHD with Oppositional Defiant Disorder, or ODD. He's a good kid, but get him backed into a corner or ask him to do something he doesn't want to, and he can be really difficult to deal with.

A week ago last Thursday his teacher found out just how hard he can be to deal with: After what seemed like a minor altercation involving where his bookbag was placed, he kicked her, then stomped on her foot. It was enough to land him a five day suspension.

Yesterday we went in for what was ostensibly his "re-entry meeting." We had requested months ago that an Individual Education Plan (IEP) evaluation be done for him as well, so they told us they were piggybacking the two meetings.

Ultimately, there was no re-entry meeting, because it was decided in the course of the IEP meeting that Robert and the school aren't a good match. They want him outplaced, preferably to one of two schools in commuting range that specialize in children with behavioral problems. They say they haven't the resources, the expertise or the therapeutic environment someone like him needs.

On one hand, I'm delighted with the prospect of getting him the hell out of there, because our local school administration has done nothing but drop the ball since we had them evaluate him at three years old, because we felt he had issues that deserved special attention. They've disagreed every time we've brought it to their attention, including a request for an IEP we made three years ago. It apparently took him to assault their staff before they took it seriously enough to come to some sort of cogent plan of action.

On the other hand, I can't help but feel like the school's letting him down, and letting us down, for the same reasons.

What's more, I don't trust them. Part of it is just an inbred distrust of authority that I've had since I was a kid (I come by it honestly enough, and what the hell -- maybe it's a long family history of ODD). Part of it is the knowledge that this school system has let special needs kids down before -- enough so that they've been taken to court and lost.

So suffice to say, Bonnie and I are reviewing all of our options at this point and calling on every available resource to help us.

This comes only a couple of months after we finally stabilized Robert's younger sister on medications to help her manage her bipolar disorder, so we're still in crisis management mode. Some things, unfortunately, never change.

Posted by flargh at 01:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)