short notes:
will brady's ruminations
will brady's ruminations
2006-01-14
diary entry
0200 hours. It's raining.
It was an odd day at work: researching policies that other facilities have [if at all] governing consensual sex between residents; listening to someone who'd assaulted people ask to be let go because it was "...all a simple misunderstanding"; commisserating with the woman upset about staff making fun of her ethnic origins (yet still too intimidated but it to identify the taunters); plus making feeble attempts at entering data into the computer that shows I actually meet with people.... and I still wasn't able to leave work until late.
The last part of the work day was the best part; spending time with a patient whom I consider not just a peer, but a colleague in the long-standing effort to get people working with "mental patients" to see the "patients" as human beings, first, then finding out their concerns.
I spent my Friday night, as usual, taking Bill's grocery shopping. Three stores. The PriceRite, a downscale Sam's Club style operation; You bring your own shopping bags, rummage through the aisles for buys on everything from produce to canned goods and cleaning supplies. Then to the pricier Stop & Shop, where boneless chicken breast on sale still cost twice as much [1.89/lb vs 3.99/lb] as those in PriceRite's regular cost. One of the things I especially like are the Polish and Hispanic Aisles at PriceRite. Can't wait to see how these two food cultures will hybridize in the future [Red cabbage and Chorizo sausage? Pickled beets and dirty rice?]. After all that shopping, it was back to Bill's place.
Once the groceries were put up, we watched a movie. This week it was that pirate flick with Johnny Depp, something we'd seen before but it's still entertaining. Depp plays the endearing bad guy, hangs out with evil ghouls but has a heart of gold himself. You know, that strange permutation of fantasy that modern people have about heartless mauraders.
Bruce and I were supposed to go to New Hampshire tomorrow to move furniture but that's been cancelled, which is fine since I have no interest in strapping mattresses atop a Ford Explorer and driving 300 miles in rain, sleet and snow with 40 mile per hours gusts alongside for the adventure. Just imagine this picture on the right with sleet, snow and gusty weather. Fun, huh?
Saturday morning, it was a trip to the gym, with a side drop off to get the black truck serviced. In the evening, I'm off to a surprise gathering for one of the town's elder statesmen who is "retiring" from serving on town committees.
It was an odd day at work: researching policies that other facilities have [if at all] governing consensual sex between residents; listening to someone who'd assaulted people ask to be let go because it was "...all a simple misunderstanding"; commisserating with the woman upset about staff making fun of her ethnic origins (yet still too intimidated but it to identify the taunters); plus making feeble attempts at entering data into the computer that shows I actually meet with people.... and I still wasn't able to leave work until late.The last part of the work day was the best part; spending time with a patient whom I consider not just a peer, but a colleague in the long-standing effort to get people working with "mental patients" to see the "patients" as human beings, first, then finding out their concerns.
I spent my Friday night, as usual, taking Bill's grocery shopping. Three stores. The PriceRite, a downscale Sam's Club style operation; You bring your own shopping bags, rummage through the aisles for buys on everything from produce to canned goods and cleaning supplies. Then to the pricier Stop & Shop, where boneless chicken breast on sale still cost twice as much [1.89/lb vs 3.99/lb] as those in PriceRite's regular cost. One of the things I especially like are the Polish and Hispanic Aisles at PriceRite. Can't wait to see how these two food cultures will hybridize in the future [Red cabbage and Chorizo sausage? Pickled beets and dirty rice?]. After all that shopping, it was back to Bill's place. Once the groceries were put up, we watched a movie. This week it was that pirate flick with Johnny Depp, something we'd seen before but it's still entertaining. Depp plays the endearing bad guy, hangs out with evil ghouls but has a heart of gold himself. You know, that strange permutation of fantasy that modern people have about heartless mauraders. Bruce and I were supposed to go to New Hampshire tomorrow to move furniture but that's been cancelled, which is fine since I have no interest in strapping mattresses atop a Ford Explorer and driving 300 miles in rain, sleet and snow with 40 mile per hours gusts alongside for the adventure. Just imagine this picture on the right with sleet, snow and gusty weather. Fun, huh?Saturday morning, it was a trip to the gym, with a side drop off to get the black truck serviced. In the evening, I'm off to a surprise gathering for one of the town's elder statesmen who is "retiring" from serving on town committees.
PIX CREDITS: 1- PriceRite 2- Depp Disney Studios; 3- Mattresses moved from Strange Dangers | CUISINES: Polish, Puerto Rican |
¶ 14:57 0 comments
2006-01-13
2006-01-09
patients' rights
A little something to show folks what I do at work. The hospital's Patient Rights Handbook has finally been published in the latest edition and put into PDF files. The flyer picture here tells about what can be found in the book.
click on the image to see the entire flyer
I have to provide the disclaimer that my site is not an official site for either the State of Connecticut, nor the CT Department of Mental Health, nor the facility known as CVH [no, they don't have an external website]. Any errors or omissions are the author's ...blah blah blah...
But I did write the handbook, and it is puiblic information. Since I believe in making public information public I've uploaded the entire document, as a series of pdf files, onto my site. I'll be working on making it accessible to my readers over the next couple of days.
And now, back to work that's right in front of me. ¶ 09:38 0 comments
I have to provide the disclaimer that my site is not an official site for either the State of Connecticut, nor the CT Department of Mental Health, nor the facility known as CVH [no, they don't have an external website]. Any errors or omissions are the author's ...blah blah blah...
But I did write the handbook, and it is puiblic information. Since I believe in making public information public I've uploaded the entire document, as a series of pdf files, onto my site. I'll be working on making it accessible to my readers over the next couple of days.
And now, back to work that's right in front of me. ¶ 09:38 0 comments
surveillance
A list of who you call from your cell phone number is for sale. This almost makes BushCo's illegal wiretapping exercise seem beside the point. He could have just bought the information he sought.
Then again, it would have been with our tax dollars, and we all know what a fiscal conservative GWB has proven to be.
A list of who you call from your cell phone number is for sale. This almost makes BushCo's illegal wiretapping exercise seem beside the point. He could have just bought the information he sought.Then again, it would have been with our tax dollars, and we all know what a fiscal conservative GWB has proven to be.
THANKS TO: Pam Spaulding |
¶ 08:47 3 comments
sleaze factor
Poor Tom Delay. His belief that his buddies from BushCo would stand by him must have come from sniffing too much of those Bug Spray fumes while he was an exterminator.
¶ 08:41 0 comments
corporate woes
You have to feel sorry for poor beleagured Wal-Mart. Seems that somebody, somehow, [inadvertently, we are told] set up a search on their website's products list that links Planet of The Apes with a film biography of Martin Luther King. Given the company's lengthy and extensive history of support for social justice issues, I have to believe them. Wouldn't you?
Or maybe the off-shore programmers who Wal-Mart has outsourced its software work to thought it would be a chance to catch the corporate giant unawares. That seems morelikely to me.
According to Wal-Mart's PR flacks this little computer programming glitch has been changed now. ¶ 08:12 1 comments
Or maybe the off-shore programmers who Wal-Mart has outsourced its software work to thought it would be a chance to catch the corporate giant unawares. That seems morelikely to me.
According to Wal-Mart's PR flacks this little computer programming glitch has been changed now. ¶ 08:12 1 comments
transportation
Elvis Presley wanted a bicycle for his 11th birthday. It woudl have cost $55 and his mother said they couldn't afford it. She persuaded him to get a guitar for his birthday gift, available at the more reasonable cost [but still pricy for that day and age] of $7.75. Yesterday was his birthday.
These days, we certainly need someone to revolutionize ways of getting around, much as Elvis revolutionized the world with that guitar. Cycle Santa Monica most likely couldn't agree more and has started a new blog on bicycling.
I recall my first bicycle, given by my father to my sister. my brother and I as a shared Christmas gift. It was a Schwinn; then widely perceived by kids as the Caddilac of bicycles.
Once I got some mastery of the thing, I went off on my day to ride it and git side swiped by a car entering an expressway ramp. My dad was pissed, to say the least. So we didn't have the bike for long, but at least I'd learned how to use it.
Years later, when I lived in Lake Placid, NY, I would cycle cross town to do my laundry, a duffle bag filled with dirty clothes straddling my back. For those who don't know it, Lake Placid is a mountainous town and this kind of exercise kept me in really good shape. [Good enough, I later learned, for some guy to remember seeing me and just waiting for the chance to meet me. It was his fantasy that if I could do that, I was a good catch as a date. We ended up living together for a couple of years so I suspect he thought I was that good catch.]
But I digress.
Certainly, as we come into the dawning days of Peak Oil, finding sensible alternatives to gas guzzliing road hogs will be crucial. Bicycing, is one of those options for folks living in cities but not realistic for others living out in the sticks.
I'm hoping that Cycle Santa Monica will help provide a place for all of us to deliberate seriously on our transportation options for the future. ¶ 01:58 0 comments
Elvis Presley wanted a bicycle for his 11th birthday. It woudl have cost $55 and his mother said they couldn't afford it. She persuaded him to get a guitar for his birthday gift, available at the more reasonable cost [but still pricy for that day and age] of $7.75. Yesterday was his birthday. These days, we certainly need someone to revolutionize ways of getting around, much as Elvis revolutionized the world with that guitar. Cycle Santa Monica most likely couldn't agree more and has started a new blog on bicycling.
I recall my first bicycle, given by my father to my sister. my brother and I as a shared Christmas gift. It was a Schwinn; then widely perceived by kids as the Caddilac of bicycles.
Once I got some mastery of the thing, I went off on my day to ride it and git side swiped by a car entering an expressway ramp. My dad was pissed, to say the least. So we didn't have the bike for long, but at least I'd learned how to use it.
Years later, when I lived in Lake Placid, NY, I would cycle cross town to do my laundry, a duffle bag filled with dirty clothes straddling my back. For those who don't know it, Lake Placid is a mountainous town and this kind of exercise kept me in really good shape. [Good enough, I later learned, for some guy to remember seeing me and just waiting for the chance to meet me. It was his fantasy that if I could do that, I was a good catch as a date. We ended up living together for a couple of years so I suspect he thought I was that good catch.]
But I digress.
Certainly, as we come into the dawning days of Peak Oil, finding sensible alternatives to gas guzzliing road hogs will be crucial. Bicycing, is one of those options for folks living in cities but not realistic for others living out in the sticks.
I'm hoping that Cycle Santa Monica will help provide a place for all of us to deliberate seriously on our transportation options for the future. ¶ 01:58 0 comments
2006-01-08
environment updates
• Antarctica: 
B-15 continues to calve. NASA keeps with the story as does Antarctic Meteorological Research Center. For my money, the latter site is more infornative, which make's sense; they are right there, so to speak.
• Larry Barr's Energy Self-Sufficiency Newsletter has published for January with articles on . Sorry I missed making note of this for December, but you can also access that issue at Rebel Wolf's site.
• Thomas J. Elpel's Hollowtop Outdoor Primitive School starts with the premise that "...if people are going to care about the natural world, then they have to know about it. To know about nature they have to get involved. The greatest advocates for fish habitat are fishermen. The biggest advocates for wildlife are hunters. The principle advocates for wilderness are those who use it. The best advocates for wild rivers are those who get out and paddle them." I quite agree. Hollowtop helps prepare those who don't yet know how to traverse the wilderness.
• Jeremy's Traditional Archery provides info on yet another skill essential for successfully navigating the wilds. He's a very capable knife maker as well. ¶ 08:29 0 comments
B-15 continues to calve. NASA keeps with the story as does Antarctic Meteorological Research Center. For my money, the latter site is more infornative, which make's sense; they are right there, so to speak.• Larry Barr's Energy Self-Sufficiency Newsletter has published for January with articles on . Sorry I missed making note of this for December, but you can also access that issue at Rebel Wolf's site.
• Thomas J. Elpel's Hollowtop Outdoor Primitive School starts with the premise that "...if people are going to care about the natural world, then they have to know about it. To know about nature they have to get involved. The greatest advocates for fish habitat are fishermen. The biggest advocates for wildlife are hunters. The principle advocates for wilderness are those who use it. The best advocates for wild rivers are those who get out and paddle them." I quite agree. Hollowtop helps prepare those who don't yet know how to traverse the wilderness.
• Jeremy's Traditional Archery provides info on yet another skill essential for successfully navigating the wilds. He's a very capable knife maker as well. ¶ 08:29 0 comments
enigma
what is it?
LEAVE YOUR THOUGHTS IN COMMENTS | NOTE TO HEIDI: You can't guess since I already told you what it is |
¶ 02:15 1 comments
sleaze factor
One more hypocrite preacher is out of a job. Seems that Anti-gay pastor Lonnie Latham has stepped down as minister of his church, following his arrest for "pastoring to police"... er, offering up a blow job to a cop in a notorious pick-up area in Oklahoma City.
Reverend Doctor Latham was, until recently pastor at the South Tulsa Baptist Church. Church elders issued a statement indicating they "...are deeply saddened..." about Dr. Latham's recent predicament.
At first, Latham said: "I was set up. I was in the area pastoring to police." Well, he may have been on his knees in a prayerful position.
His actions leading up to his arrest, apparently, is nothing new. According to the famously conservative weblog Free Republic
Personally, I have no objections as to how a person spends their free time, but it helps if one be honest and consistent about it. Obviously, Dr. Lahtam wasn't and so he has outed himself. All I want to know is: what on Earth could he possibly have been thinking? As Jimmy Swaggert once said, weeping "Forgive me Jeezus! I have sinned!
Im more ways than one, Mr. Latham. More ways than one.
Reverend Doctor Latham was, until recently pastor at the South Tulsa Baptist Church. Church elders issued a statement indicating they "...are deeply saddened..." about Dr. Latham's recent predicament.
At first, Latham said: "I was set up. I was in the area pastoring to police." Well, he may have been on his knees in a prayerful position.
His actions leading up to his arrest, apparently, is nothing new. According to the famously conservative weblog Free Republic
"Apparently Latham has a history of "pastoring" in the area of the Habanna Inn, the "Southwest's largest gay resort". Public records show that on December 2, 1998, at about 11:30pm, Latham was issued a traffic ticket for "failure to stop for a stop sign" at NW 39th and Frankford. This intersection is only blocks from where Latham was arrested and serves as rear access (no pun intended) to the Habanna Inn."The folks at Jesus General have staunchly defended Dr. Latham and rebuked the Baptist Church for abandoning him in his hour of need.
Personally, I have no objections as to how a person spends their free time, but it helps if one be honest and consistent about it. Obviously, Dr. Lahtam wasn't and so he has outed himself. All I want to know is: what on Earth could he possibly have been thinking? As Jimmy Swaggert once said, weeping "Forgive me Jeezus! I have sinned!
Im more ways than one, Mr. Latham. More ways than one.
THANKS TO: Pam's House Blend for spreading the truth |
¶ 01:23 2 comments
body electric
Mind you, the food was very good [even though they were out of the Prime Rib advertised special] from the crab cake appetizer, the seared scallop entree, to the coffee and creme brulee. I'll have to go back and take photos of those things too.
I was cautioned that by posting these pictures that some folks out there might think I'm some sort of fetishist. Well, there may be some truth to that, though these particular images wouldn't make the nature of my own preoccupations any clearer. But that's a whole 'nother story and one that I'm certainly not going to share on my family-style blog.
Okay. This is not a food review.
I imagine starting the evening with white chocolate martinis didn't help.
While at dinner tonight at a perfectly respectable eatery [cloth napkins, competent waitstaff, plates of food with sauces artfully drizzled], we talk of civil unions, Brokeback Mountain, the shoddy practices at Middlesex Salvation Army, stories about how Steve Tyler watches women buy expensive shoes, getting kicked out of a Billy Idol concert at Foxwoods and preparing for a photo shoot with Anthrax. But it's the attire that gets the notice. A large crucifix and thigh-high boots hand painted by Francesco Clemente. I imagine starting the evening with white chocolate martinis didn't help.
I was cautioned that by posting these pictures that some folks out there might think I'm some sort of fetishist. Well, there may be some truth to that, though these particular images wouldn't make the nature of my own preoccupations any clearer. But that's a whole 'nother story and one that I'm certainly not going to share on my family-style blog.
THANKS TO: Barbara, Heidi and Anne for a wonderful evening at The Tavern in the Inn at Middletown |
¶ 00:29 0 comments
