As the World Tilts...
Jan. 14th, 2005 11:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mrdreamjeansSome days the world seems to tilt more than others. Today is one of those days, weeks in fact. I didn’t leave my house at all until about 8pm when I drove to my brother’s home to pick up my dad. Dad and Jeff were driving to West Texas for the weekend when Jeff received a phone call from his wife. Lisa and the twins Ryan and Brennan were headed to Katy, had just passed through Sealy and were hit by a deer. That’s right the deer ran them over, rather than the opposite.
An Axis deer (not common to our area of Southeast Texas) was killed instantly when it jumped onto the hood of their vehicle, causing major damage to one of Jeff’s Toyota SUVs. I can just hear the disbelief in Jeff’s voice when he was told what happened; his oldest son Buddy’s Jeep was totaled by a deer less than four months ago. Jeff and Dad who were having a burger in Weimar, Texas turned around and canceled their plans. Family first.
I suggested to Jeff that maybe both deer were suicidal vengeance seekers ... kamikaze strikers for all of the deer he and his family have killed during their annual hunts. He had the good grace to chuckle. Joking aside, I was just happy that Lisa and the twins weren’t injured in the accident. It could have happened to me last night, as Mom and I nearly hit a bobcat on a back road returning from Bryan/College Station. You’ve got to watch out for critters in these here parts:) And yes, it was definitely a bobcat.
My sister called this afternoon and she had just returned from doing battle. She’s fighting the state bureaucracy that has arbitrarily reassigned my profoundly autistic nephew’s status from a Level 9 to a Level 6. Ross has been a Level 9 (one-on-one, 24-hour care) since the age of eleven. The psychologist who made the determination/change has never met Ross or visited his Group Home, nor has he reviewed Ross’ case history. Other administrators in the Oversight Department of the state agency governing people like Ross, have lost Ross’ 2004 documentation and are trying to cover that up.
In the meeting today, Colleen caught them in lies every step of the way...it’s called the “I’m covering my ass, I don’t know what I’m doing” approach to a job for which they have no talent or expertise, just degrees. Not a single one of the people in the meeting, including the psychologist, has ever worked in direct care. The people is this agency are incredibly incompetent even by Texas’ low standards and performance expectations.
I feel for my sister. She’s a fierce advocate for Ross and has been his entire life. In the coming week, Colleen needs to locate a suitable attorney, organize media attention and get our Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison involved. Contrary to President Bush’s failed program/slogan which he introduced in Texas, the reality is that the philosophy is better named, “leave every child behind in the name of unnecessary tax cuts”! Hmmm....Perhaps, we can get a certain African-American conservative talk radio host to speak about the reality of our side of the story if we pay him enough!! We’ll just use tax payer money. Grrr...
The sliver of a moon must be having the same affect as a full moon for my friends and family this month. Major events and oddities abound. I called Casey and Annie and they are recovering from the flu. My niece has had a severe flu which kept her bed for a week with a high fever. Tim had his blowout with his sister and has been vigorously working to find new housing. (He did find out good news today. Target is keeping him on.) David and Stan are respectively recovering from side affects from a high blood pressure medication and a sinus infection. To my surprise, I found out about this by catching them via cell... in Hilo, Hawaii. (That should help the recovery:) Of course, we’ve had a tough week here because of my uncle’s funeral and I’ve also gotten involved in helping my parents find affordable Medicare B Supplemental insurance. Premiums are about to jump again.
I think I’ll do the adult thing this weekend in dealing with all of the weirdness around.... bury my head and pretend all is copacetic. Instead of worrying, I’m going to watch figure skating and the national dog show. I’ll immerse myself in the world of lutzes and flutzes, baubles and beads, preening and prancing pooches:) I’m going to take solace in remembering that two months from today, I’m going to be hitting San Francisco. The world will be tilting on its axis then, but it will be because MrDreamJeans has come to town. HA!
An Axis deer (not common to our area of Southeast Texas) was killed instantly when it jumped onto the hood of their vehicle, causing major damage to one of Jeff’s Toyota SUVs. I can just hear the disbelief in Jeff’s voice when he was told what happened; his oldest son Buddy’s Jeep was totaled by a deer less than four months ago. Jeff and Dad who were having a burger in Weimar, Texas turned around and canceled their plans. Family first.
I suggested to Jeff that maybe both deer were suicidal vengeance seekers ... kamikaze strikers for all of the deer he and his family have killed during their annual hunts. He had the good grace to chuckle. Joking aside, I was just happy that Lisa and the twins weren’t injured in the accident. It could have happened to me last night, as Mom and I nearly hit a bobcat on a back road returning from Bryan/College Station. You’ve got to watch out for critters in these here parts:) And yes, it was definitely a bobcat.
My sister called this afternoon and she had just returned from doing battle. She’s fighting the state bureaucracy that has arbitrarily reassigned my profoundly autistic nephew’s status from a Level 9 to a Level 6. Ross has been a Level 9 (one-on-one, 24-hour care) since the age of eleven. The psychologist who made the determination/change has never met Ross or visited his Group Home, nor has he reviewed Ross’ case history. Other administrators in the Oversight Department of the state agency governing people like Ross, have lost Ross’ 2004 documentation and are trying to cover that up.
In the meeting today, Colleen caught them in lies every step of the way...it’s called the “I’m covering my ass, I don’t know what I’m doing” approach to a job for which they have no talent or expertise, just degrees. Not a single one of the people in the meeting, including the psychologist, has ever worked in direct care. The people is this agency are incredibly incompetent even by Texas’ low standards and performance expectations.
I feel for my sister. She’s a fierce advocate for Ross and has been his entire life. In the coming week, Colleen needs to locate a suitable attorney, organize media attention and get our Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison involved. Contrary to President Bush’s failed program/slogan which he introduced in Texas, the reality is that the philosophy is better named, “leave every child behind in the name of unnecessary tax cuts”! Hmmm....Perhaps, we can get a certain African-American conservative talk radio host to speak about the reality of our side of the story if we pay him enough!! We’ll just use tax payer money. Grrr...
The sliver of a moon must be having the same affect as a full moon for my friends and family this month. Major events and oddities abound. I called Casey and Annie and they are recovering from the flu. My niece has had a severe flu which kept her bed for a week with a high fever. Tim had his blowout with his sister and has been vigorously working to find new housing. (He did find out good news today. Target is keeping him on.) David and Stan are respectively recovering from side affects from a high blood pressure medication and a sinus infection. To my surprise, I found out about this by catching them via cell... in Hilo, Hawaii. (That should help the recovery:) Of course, we’ve had a tough week here because of my uncle’s funeral and I’ve also gotten involved in helping my parents find affordable Medicare B Supplemental insurance. Premiums are about to jump again.
I think I’ll do the adult thing this weekend in dealing with all of the weirdness around.... bury my head and pretend all is copacetic. Instead of worrying, I’m going to watch figure skating and the national dog show. I’ll immerse myself in the world of lutzes and flutzes, baubles and beads, preening and prancing pooches:) I’m going to take solace in remembering that two months from today, I’m going to be hitting San Francisco. The world will be tilting on its axis then, but it will be because MrDreamJeans has come to town. HA!
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