Here's a recent article about self-driving cars. I'll admit up front that I didn't read the entire article, but I read enough of it to know that it didn't answer my questions. What I want to know is, why are we developing these things in the first place? Where is the demand for a self-driving car coming from?
I hate other drivers as much as the next person - probably more. But I'm not sure that being on the road with other cars - cars that have nobody driving them - is some kind of an improvement.
I can't help thinking that this entire thing is a part of the self-check-out cash register mentality. It's one more way to eliminate the low-wage human factor. Is Uber or Lyft behind this? Maybe we're trying to reduce the cost of shipping by eliminating the cost of truck drivers.
There are few thoughts that are less disturbing to me than imagining the day when I'm driving down the highway with an eighteen wheeler riding my butt - and when I look in the rear view mirror, I see that there's nobody behind the wheel.
Tuesday, July 31, 2018
Monday, July 30, 2018
A Short Video
The people next door to where I work have a new puppy. I haven't seen this puppy yet, I've only heard it. It sounds EXACTLY like the dog in this video.
My reaction (so far only mentally), is also EXACTLY the same as in this video.
My reaction (so far only mentally), is also EXACTLY the same as in this video.
Saturday, July 28, 2018
Today's Maybe Not So Brief Comment
Another day, another mailing from SSI.
Like on the previous report, some of this doesn't make any sense - at least not to an uninformed mind, such as mine. But at least, maybe to keep things interesting, maybe to see if I'm paying attention, this particular mailing is wrong, both in some of the same ways, but also in some different was, as well.
For example, under the heading where the report says "Student," it says "No" (see previous post - if you have nothing better to do with your life). On this latest mailing, it doesn't ask if Sam's a student, it just says, "Doesn't regularly attend classes." That latter statement is definitely true but it's not the same thing as not being a student.
Sam's still covered by school support and services, which to me (foolishly) would mean that he's still a student (technically). Through these services, the school has been helping him to transition to a job (thus making the "Doesn't regularly attend classes" statement, true).
In the end this may (or may not) be a minor quibble. Most of this particular mailing has to do with financial stuff (most of which also doesn't make any sense).
Since I'm still waiting for a call back on the previous report, I don't want to muddy the waters and try calling with questions on this latest and greatest. We'll save this one for another day.
Like on the previous report, some of this doesn't make any sense - at least not to an uninformed mind, such as mine. But at least, maybe to keep things interesting, maybe to see if I'm paying attention, this particular mailing is wrong, both in some of the same ways, but also in some different was, as well.
For example, under the heading where the report says "Student," it says "No" (see previous post - if you have nothing better to do with your life). On this latest mailing, it doesn't ask if Sam's a student, it just says, "Doesn't regularly attend classes." That latter statement is definitely true but it's not the same thing as not being a student.
Sam's still covered by school support and services, which to me (foolishly) would mean that he's still a student (technically). Through these services, the school has been helping him to transition to a job (thus making the "Doesn't regularly attend classes" statement, true).
In the end this may (or may not) be a minor quibble. Most of this particular mailing has to do with financial stuff (most of which also doesn't make any sense).
Since I'm still waiting for a call back on the previous report, I don't want to muddy the waters and try calling with questions on this latest and greatest. We'll save this one for another day.
Monday, July 23, 2018
The Aftermath
So... the dreaded SSI meeting has come and gone - for now. How did it go? Who knows. I can say, with some amount of accuracy, that at least I lived through it.
I got to the building about a half an hour before it opened, which put me about twentieth in the line of people waiting for the place to open. Once the doors were open, the obviously well trained security guards kept us in a fairly organized line, allowing us to individually go into the main waiting area. Once inside, we would go up to the kiosk, enter in our information and then take out a ticket with a number on it. From there, it was time to take a seat... and wait.
One by one, numbers were called. Some of these numbers belonged to people that were there before me, some of them belonged to people that came in after me. As I sat there waiting, l began to notice that all of the numbers they were calling either started with the letter “A”, or they had no letter at all. My number started with the letter “D”. Why was this? What did it mean? Did it mean, “DIre”? Did it mean, “Drop his claim”? Did it mean, “Don’t let him leave without him being arrested”? I had plenty of time to stew on it, but I never figured it out.
Eventually (very eventually), they didn’t even call my number. Instead, they called out for “Samuel”. Since no one else got up, I figured this must be me (or rather, Sam). But fortunately, Sam wasn’t with me.
In the weeks leading up to this meeting, I made a phone call to the caseworker, or rather, the caseworker’s voicemail, saying that I had questions about the upcoming meeting. After four weeks went by, leaving five messages - all unreturned, I called the general number to see if I could talk with an actual Human Being. The Human Being that I managed to talk to, told me that Sam didn’t need to come with me. This was a relief. Sam would have been fine coming along, at least to start off with, but eventually, between the waiting and the crowd and the noise and the crowd - it would have gotten to him (as it was getting to me).
So, thanks to H.B. for getting Sam off the hook. But the thing is, H.B. had also told me that I didn’t need to bring along any additional information - which I thankfully ignored. Instead, I lugged my overstuffed binder of “current” information along with me to the meeting.
This came in handy because when it was my time in the "hot seat". Mr. SSI asked me questions about medical history and dates and, most of all, asked me for copies of Sam's pay stubs.
I won’t get into all of the particulars of this meeting, but there are two things to mention.
First, Mr. SSI told me that, even though Sam is still classified as a student, I should be reporting his income. This, I delicately pointed out, completely contradicted everything that many other people had already told me,and not just normal people, I'm talking SSI people - including his previous case worker. But Mr. SSI insisted it was true and I, sensing the possibility of an arrest warrant in my future, didn’t want to push my luck.
The thing about Sam’s income is, as meager as it is, it doesn’t count against his benefits - as long as he’s a student. Mr. SSI agrees that this is indeed the case, but for some reason, he says it still needs to be reported.
Ok, whatever. No big deal. Just one more thing to keep on top of.
The other thing is, at the end of this meeting, Mr. SSI printed out a ten page report for my review and records. Most of the things in this report are pretty mundane (No, Sam doesn’t have any felonies) but one thing that caught my eye was a comment at the bottom of the first page. It read, “His disability began on December 28, 2016”. I pointed out that Sam’s disability has essentially been there since birth.
But before I could get all the words out, Mr. SSI immediately shot back with, “We don’t make that determination in this office.” (Picture this being said as if it was all one word.)
Still sensing no immediate arrest warrant (though the possibility now seemed more plausible), I decided not to pursue the subject. I decided that instead, I would review the rest of the report at home.
So, I thanked Mr. SSI for his time and I left, taking my report and my overstuffed binder with me, leaving behind the sweat-soaked chair.
At home, I read through the rest of the report. Other than some threatening language about perjury, most of it seemed pretty straight forward. But I did come up with what might be a couple of issues. First, under "household expenses," most of the values they’re carrying are lower than our actual amounts. I’m not sure how big a deal this is.
But a bigger deal might be that under Sam’s name, where it says “Blind or Disabled”, it says “Yes” (correct), and under “Married”, it says “No” (also correct), but under “Student” it says “No” (NOT correct).
I can’t help but think this is going to play into the aforementioned income reporting issue.
It shouldn’t be a problem, though. The next morning, I called the office and left a voicemail for Mr. SSI. I’m expecting a call back any minute now.
I got to the building about a half an hour before it opened, which put me about twentieth in the line of people waiting for the place to open. Once the doors were open, the obviously well trained security guards kept us in a fairly organized line, allowing us to individually go into the main waiting area. Once inside, we would go up to the kiosk, enter in our information and then take out a ticket with a number on it. From there, it was time to take a seat... and wait.
One by one, numbers were called. Some of these numbers belonged to people that were there before me, some of them belonged to people that came in after me. As I sat there waiting, l began to notice that all of the numbers they were calling either started with the letter “A”, or they had no letter at all. My number started with the letter “D”. Why was this? What did it mean? Did it mean, “DIre”? Did it mean, “Drop his claim”? Did it mean, “Don’t let him leave without him being arrested”? I had plenty of time to stew on it, but I never figured it out.
Eventually (very eventually), they didn’t even call my number. Instead, they called out for “Samuel”. Since no one else got up, I figured this must be me (or rather, Sam). But fortunately, Sam wasn’t with me.
In the weeks leading up to this meeting, I made a phone call to the caseworker, or rather, the caseworker’s voicemail, saying that I had questions about the upcoming meeting. After four weeks went by, leaving five messages - all unreturned, I called the general number to see if I could talk with an actual Human Being. The Human Being that I managed to talk to, told me that Sam didn’t need to come with me. This was a relief. Sam would have been fine coming along, at least to start off with, but eventually, between the waiting and the crowd and the noise and the crowd - it would have gotten to him (as it was getting to me).
So, thanks to H.B. for getting Sam off the hook. But the thing is, H.B. had also told me that I didn’t need to bring along any additional information - which I thankfully ignored. Instead, I lugged my overstuffed binder of “current” information along with me to the meeting.
This came in handy because when it was my time in the "hot seat". Mr. SSI asked me questions about medical history and dates and, most of all, asked me for copies of Sam's pay stubs.
I won’t get into all of the particulars of this meeting, but there are two things to mention.
First, Mr. SSI told me that, even though Sam is still classified as a student, I should be reporting his income. This, I delicately pointed out, completely contradicted everything that many other people had already told me,and not just normal people, I'm talking SSI people - including his previous case worker. But Mr. SSI insisted it was true and I, sensing the possibility of an arrest warrant in my future, didn’t want to push my luck.
The thing about Sam’s income is, as meager as it is, it doesn’t count against his benefits - as long as he’s a student. Mr. SSI agrees that this is indeed the case, but for some reason, he says it still needs to be reported.
Ok, whatever. No big deal. Just one more thing to keep on top of.
The other thing is, at the end of this meeting, Mr. SSI printed out a ten page report for my review and records. Most of the things in this report are pretty mundane (No, Sam doesn’t have any felonies) but one thing that caught my eye was a comment at the bottom of the first page. It read, “His disability began on December 28, 2016”. I pointed out that Sam’s disability has essentially been there since birth.
But before I could get all the words out, Mr. SSI immediately shot back with, “We don’t make that determination in this office.” (Picture this being said as if it was all one word.)
Still sensing no immediate arrest warrant (though the possibility now seemed more plausible), I decided not to pursue the subject. I decided that instead, I would review the rest of the report at home.
So, I thanked Mr. SSI for his time and I left, taking my report and my overstuffed binder with me, leaving behind the sweat-soaked chair.
At home, I read through the rest of the report. Other than some threatening language about perjury, most of it seemed pretty straight forward. But I did come up with what might be a couple of issues. First, under "household expenses," most of the values they’re carrying are lower than our actual amounts. I’m not sure how big a deal this is.
But a bigger deal might be that under Sam’s name, where it says “Blind or Disabled”, it says “Yes” (correct), and under “Married”, it says “No” (also correct), but under “Student” it says “No” (NOT correct).
I can’t help but think this is going to play into the aforementioned income reporting issue.
It shouldn’t be a problem, though. The next morning, I called the office and left a voicemail for Mr. SSI. I’m expecting a call back any minute now.
Wednesday, July 18, 2018
Today's Distraction
Thursday, July 12, 2018
Friday Night Fireworks
I almost forgot to post these exciting photographs from this year’s annual fireworks display. These photos are probably the next best thing to actually being there.
Sure, you’ll be missing out on the too-close crowds and the person smoking away somewhere behind my left shoulder while Sam coughs away at my right shoulder - not to mention the occasional smell of hard liquor wafting over from the random passerby. But other than that, all of the excitement is right here (below, that is)!
I learned two things as a result of this year's event. First, I learned that my pictures come out just as bad without a tripod as they do when I use a tripod. This is good news! Now, I no longer have to worry about leaving my tripod at home.
The other thing I learned is that after the fireworks are over, there are no shortcuts to driving home.
I live less than a mile away from the fireworks display - yet we still drive there every year. Getting there is typically a three minute drive. Getting home takes about fifteen minutes (with me complaining for about another thirty minutes afterwards).
But not this year! This year, I decided to get creative. I had the brilliant idea that instead of fighting all of the traffic and heading home by driving in our usual direction, this time we would drive home in the opposite direction.
This plan was so simple and obvious, it's a wonder I never thought of it before. In my genius-like mind, we would be looping around the lemming-like crowds, watching as they sat there going nowhere, stuck in their one way, bumper to bumper traffic. How had I not thought of his before? The only remaining question was, would we laugh at them and wave as we flew by on our way to freedom? (Answer: Yes.)
Unfortunately, my ingenious plan was almost immediately thwarted by a couple of strategically placed detours - detours which brought me right back to the exact epicenter of the fireworks show - thus putting me at the very end of a very, very long line of traffic.
I learned two things as a result of this year's event. First, I learned that my pictures come out just as bad without a tripod as they do when I use a tripod. This is good news! Now, I no longer have to worry about leaving my tripod at home.
The other thing I learned is that after the fireworks are over, there are no shortcuts to driving home.
I live less than a mile away from the fireworks display - yet we still drive there every year. Getting there is typically a three minute drive. Getting home takes about fifteen minutes (with me complaining for about another thirty minutes afterwards).
But not this year! This year, I decided to get creative. I had the brilliant idea that instead of fighting all of the traffic and heading home by driving in our usual direction, this time we would drive home in the opposite direction.
This plan was so simple and obvious, it's a wonder I never thought of it before. In my genius-like mind, we would be looping around the lemming-like crowds, watching as they sat there going nowhere, stuck in their one way, bumper to bumper traffic. How had I not thought of his before? The only remaining question was, would we laugh at them and wave as we flew by on our way to freedom? (Answer: Yes.)
Unfortunately, my ingenious plan was almost immediately thwarted by a couple of strategically placed detours - detours which brought me right back to the exact epicenter of the fireworks show - thus putting me at the very end of a very, very long line of traffic.
So much for creative thinking.
Anyway, here are the promised exciting photos...
You're welcome.
Tuesday, July 10, 2018
Preoccupied
A week ago last Thursday, I received a letter from SSI, informing me that I need to report to their office for a meeting on the nineteenth of this month. According to the letter, “We need information from you to make sure you are still eligible.” According to the letter, the window for this meeting is somewhere between nine o’clock in the morning and three o’clock in the afternoon. Even my cable guy narrows it down better than this.
Which brings me to the second question. Sam was found to be eligible for SSI four months ago. In the last four months, do they think that Sam has become less autistic? Do they that think all of his challenges have gone away? What has changed to make them think that Sam may no longer be eligible? (I guess that’s really three questions.)
And finally, if they need any additional information, is there some way we can narrow this down? I have three large binders, along with multiple folders and envelopes - each of them filled with information relating to Sam. I don’t think it’s practical, let alone useful, for me to bring all of it to the meeting. And even if I did, something tells me that I would have everything I need - except what they’re asking for.
The letter also gives me a name and a number to call if I have any questions. I have questions - and so far, I’ve called twice, left messages, and haven't received any call back. I'll keep trying.
My first question is, is Sam supposed to come along with me? This letter is very specifically addressed to me. Unlike all of the previous correspondence from SSI, there is no mention of Sam’s name anywhere on this letter. And unlike some of the past correspondence, Sam hasn't received his own copy of this letter. All of this is especially weird because, technically, they should be making sure that Sam is still eligible, not me.
My first question is, is Sam supposed to come along with me? This letter is very specifically addressed to me. Unlike all of the previous correspondence from SSI, there is no mention of Sam’s name anywhere on this letter. And unlike some of the past correspondence, Sam hasn't received his own copy of this letter. All of this is especially weird because, technically, they should be making sure that Sam is still eligible, not me.
Which brings me to the second question. Sam was found to be eligible for SSI four months ago. In the last four months, do they think that Sam has become less autistic? Do they that think all of his challenges have gone away? What has changed to make them think that Sam may no longer be eligible? (I guess that’s really three questions.)
And finally, if they need any additional information, is there some way we can narrow this down? I have three large binders, along with multiple folders and envelopes - each of them filled with information relating to Sam. I don’t think it’s practical, let alone useful, for me to bring all of it to the meeting. And even if I did, something tells me that I would have everything I need - except what they’re asking for.
I haven’t been under the illusion that things were completely smooth sailing, SSI-wise. It seems that every couple of weeks I receive something in the mail that makes more waves. But even without all of that, there are still so many areas that are completely vague to me, that I live in near constant fear that I am somehow screwing things up - all to Sam’s detriment.
This letter feeds directly into these fears.
Up until now, I was hoping, foolishly, that somewhere, at some point, calmer seas lay ahead.
Tuesday, July 3, 2018
A Visit to the Swimming Area
With the heat wave stretching on, Helaina, Rachael, Sam and I made a quick visit to the local swimming area after dinner last night - for the first time in years.
Helaina and Rachael went swimming, but Sam doesn't swim and I prefer not to. Instead, Sam and I walked along the banks and the edge of the river, pretending we weren't as hot as we were.
Sam had thought ahead and brought his metal detector with him - and he managed to find just under three dollars worth of change - while I managed to lose about the same.
And while we didn't stay very long, it was long enough for Helaina and Rachael to have cooled off - for at least as long as it took us to walk back to the car. And for a little while, Sam was distracted from the heat - and made a little money, besides.
All in all, not too bad for a quick visit...
All in all, not too bad for a quick visit...
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