It occurred to me the other night that I don't think I've ever posted a Tom Petty video. Let me correct that right now.
And if you don't like Tom Petty, well, I don't know why we're even talking to each other.
Friday, January 25, 2019
Tuesday, January 22, 2019
Wrapping Up and Starting Again
Sam gets some job support services from an agency that's located about forty-five minutes away from where we live. How we got connected with these folks is a long story, but the relevant part, for now, is that these services through this branch of this agency has been provided through Sam's school. The reason this is relevant right now is that in about a month and a half, Sam turns twenty-two. And the day before Sam turns twenty-two, all school services stop.
With this in mind (as it has been for close to nineteen years now), meetings are now back on the agenda (as if they've ever stopped).
Last Friday, we had a meeting with the local branch of this particular service agency. The forty-five minute away branch doesn't normally come to this area, but they have been for reasons involving the school. But when the school's involvement stops, so does theirs.
So we met last Friday in what we hope will be a hand off of services from the forty-five minute away branch - to the local branch. That's the hope.
The meeting went well enough but the other piece of this is getting the details worked out - or at least underway - with another, last IEP meeting. Currently, this final meeting is scheduled for early February. This meeting should include all of the regular players, including the school, folks from this support agency (both branches, near and far) and, critically, DDS.
DDS, it is my understanding, takes over the role of the school in providing these types of services for someone like Sam, after someone like Sam turns twenty-two. What is also my understanding is that what DDS is able to provide is likely to be on a more (financially) limited basis. Anyway, DDS basically becomes the contractor who subcontracts services out to, in this case, hopefully, this local branch of the service agency we just met with.
What this will look like and how this will work, I'm not really sure.
I'll be lucky if I come away with a better understanding of all of this after Sam's final IEP meeting which, as I mentioned, is in early February.
But another part of this is SSI (naturally). Last I talked to SSI, about a month ago, I happened to mention that in a couple of months, Sam would no longer be a student. The helpful SSI person told me to be sure to call them when this happens because it triggers various things - one of which is something called a "Technical Redetermination". A Technical Redetermination is, I guess, a reevaluation of Sam's case.
All of this matters because much of what Sam receives for assistance from other agencies is based on his SSI status. If you're a long time reader (and you're probably not) you might recall that dealing with SSI was never for financial reasons. It was always about getting support services for Sam.
Anyway, if this SSI status changes, it likely affects everything else. If at all and how profoundly, only time will tell.
P.S. This, by the way, is what I mean by "gears".
With this in mind (as it has been for close to nineteen years now), meetings are now back on the agenda (as if they've ever stopped).
Last Friday, we had a meeting with the local branch of this particular service agency. The forty-five minute away branch doesn't normally come to this area, but they have been for reasons involving the school. But when the school's involvement stops, so does theirs.
So we met last Friday in what we hope will be a hand off of services from the forty-five minute away branch - to the local branch. That's the hope.
The meeting went well enough but the other piece of this is getting the details worked out - or at least underway - with another, last IEP meeting. Currently, this final meeting is scheduled for early February. This meeting should include all of the regular players, including the school, folks from this support agency (both branches, near and far) and, critically, DDS.
DDS, it is my understanding, takes over the role of the school in providing these types of services for someone like Sam, after someone like Sam turns twenty-two. What is also my understanding is that what DDS is able to provide is likely to be on a more (financially) limited basis. Anyway, DDS basically becomes the contractor who subcontracts services out to, in this case, hopefully, this local branch of the service agency we just met with.
What this will look like and how this will work, I'm not really sure.
I'll be lucky if I come away with a better understanding of all of this after Sam's final IEP meeting which, as I mentioned, is in early February.
But another part of this is SSI (naturally). Last I talked to SSI, about a month ago, I happened to mention that in a couple of months, Sam would no longer be a student. The helpful SSI person told me to be sure to call them when this happens because it triggers various things - one of which is something called a "Technical Redetermination". A Technical Redetermination is, I guess, a reevaluation of Sam's case.
All of this matters because much of what Sam receives for assistance from other agencies is based on his SSI status. If you're a long time reader (and you're probably not) you might recall that dealing with SSI was never for financial reasons. It was always about getting support services for Sam.
Anyway, if this SSI status changes, it likely affects everything else. If at all and how profoundly, only time will tell.
P.S. This, by the way, is what I mean by "gears".
Saturday, January 19, 2019
Imperfect Analogies
Several months back, I came to the conclusion that much of what I deal with, when it comes to Sam, are like gears. It took me a while to realize this and as it is, I’m not sure it’s a completely accurate analogy. In fact, I’m pretty sure it’s not - but it was like a revelation and it feels closer to the reality of things than how I looked at it in the past.
Back when I was dealing with only the school and the IEP - and trying to line up services, it felt a lot like I was shoveling coal into one of those old steam locomotives. Where we were heading wasn’t always clear. But we were moving forward, so the goal became, keep shoveling the coal into the engine - keep it moving, keep it going forward - and we’ll figure out the destination once we get closer.
At some point, it began to feel a little less like keeping a locomotive running and more like I was one of those guys on some old variety show who would come out and spin three or four plates on top of what looked like three or four pool cues.
Keep the plates spinning, that's the goal - the IEP plate, the DDS plate and especially, the SSI plate. Just keep them spinning. Otherwise, they'll fall. One’s slowing down? Get over to it and get it going faster so it doesn’t drop. Another is slowing down? Get over to that one … and on and on and on.
I have "Sam" binder that I keep the important Sam information in. And several months ago, as I was filing some forms into it, I had a realization.
This binder is divided into sections. It has a section for school related paperwork, including Sam’s IEPs, it has another section for the DDS, a section for the MRC, a section for each of the two direct support agencies which currently support Sam’s employment and independence efforts, a section for the most important parts of Sam’s medical information, a section for some legal stuff, such as his Health Care Proxy and the Power of Attorney - and the largest section of all, SSI (which will soon have to be displaced into its own binder).
Also in this binder is more incidental information - things like business cards, a rough medical timeline (to the best of my recollection) which includes multiple physician’s names, their contact information and the approximate relevant years they treated Sam. There’s paperwork for the ADA bus application and paperwork for one or two other support agencies (neither of which I deal with as frequently as the other two). There’s paperwork from and for workshops and seminars that I’ve either attended or that I plan to attend.
All of the information is filed as neatly as I can manage, between dividers and in separate sleeves within this binder. But the reality is, while much of this information stands alone (like those spinning plates), that's only part of it. It's also about how entwined all this is.
I think this is less like spinning plates and more like dealing with gears - finding them, getting them in the right place and maintaining them. If one spinning plate stops spinning, then one plate falls. But when one gear fails or is missing, everything will stop.
In the end, none of this matters at all, of course. It is what it is - no matter what label you put to it. It's just that it's become more and more clear to me how reliant all of these seemingly disparate pieces are on each other.
Back when I was dealing with only the school and the IEP - and trying to line up services, it felt a lot like I was shoveling coal into one of those old steam locomotives. Where we were heading wasn’t always clear. But we were moving forward, so the goal became, keep shoveling the coal into the engine - keep it moving, keep it going forward - and we’ll figure out the destination once we get closer.
At some point, it began to feel a little less like keeping a locomotive running and more like I was one of those guys on some old variety show who would come out and spin three or four plates on top of what looked like three or four pool cues.
Keep the plates spinning, that's the goal - the IEP plate, the DDS plate and especially, the SSI plate. Just keep them spinning. Otherwise, they'll fall. One’s slowing down? Get over to it and get it going faster so it doesn’t drop. Another is slowing down? Get over to that one … and on and on and on.
I have "Sam" binder that I keep the important Sam information in. And several months ago, as I was filing some forms into it, I had a realization.
This binder is divided into sections. It has a section for school related paperwork, including Sam’s IEPs, it has another section for the DDS, a section for the MRC, a section for each of the two direct support agencies which currently support Sam’s employment and independence efforts, a section for the most important parts of Sam’s medical information, a section for some legal stuff, such as his Health Care Proxy and the Power of Attorney - and the largest section of all, SSI (which will soon have to be displaced into its own binder).
Also in this binder is more incidental information - things like business cards, a rough medical timeline (to the best of my recollection) which includes multiple physician’s names, their contact information and the approximate relevant years they treated Sam. There’s paperwork for the ADA bus application and paperwork for one or two other support agencies (neither of which I deal with as frequently as the other two). There’s paperwork from and for workshops and seminars that I’ve either attended or that I plan to attend.
All of the information is filed as neatly as I can manage, between dividers and in separate sleeves within this binder. But the reality is, while much of this information stands alone (like those spinning plates), that's only part of it. It's also about how entwined all this is.
I think this is less like spinning plates and more like dealing with gears - finding them, getting them in the right place and maintaining them. If one spinning plate stops spinning, then one plate falls. But when one gear fails or is missing, everything will stop.
In the end, none of this matters at all, of course. It is what it is - no matter what label you put to it. It's just that it's become more and more clear to me how reliant all of these seemingly disparate pieces are on each other.
Sunday, January 13, 2019
Wednesday, January 9, 2019
Out with the Old
 |
| R.I.P. |
So, I made a call to the Local Repair Guy, who came over and fixed what turned out to be a broken wire behind the oven wall. No big deal. But while he was there, he asked me how old the oven was and I told him that it came with the house - and I’ve been living in this house for about thirty years.
He made some comment about how I was lucky to find a new heating element for an oven that old - and how, if something like the controller ever went, I would be screwed.
Flash forward to the other day when I decided to use the oven.
I had a bunch of boxes of Chex cereal left over from when I made party mix for Thanksgiving. For some unknown reason, rather than follow my traditional routine - which is to leave the remaining boxes of cereal out on the porch for so long that I can’t tell whether they’re any good anymore or not - and then leaving them on the porch for even longer until I stumble across them and find them either spilled and/or crushed and therefore beyond useless - before finally throwing them all away, I decided I would use them up and make even more party mix - and then figure out what to do with it all afterwards.
I got as far as dragging out all of the cereal boxes I could find, figuring out how much it would make and started dividing up all of the spices. Then I put the butter into the pan and preheated the oven. And then - nothing. The oven wasn’t going on.
It was another call into the Local Repair Guy, who promptly came over and, fifty dollars later, confirmed that his previous prediction was indeed correct. I was screwed. It was now time, unfortunately, for a new oven.
As noted in at least one of my previous posts, my oven is tiny - and it’s a built-in wall oven. Do they even make these anymore? Can I get one that will fit into the same opening? Only the professionals at the local appliance store could answer technical questions such as these.
Well, according to said professionals, it turns out they still make tiny ovens - but they’re a special order. The only thing is that because they're special order, they take several weeks to get. Oh, and the other thing is that they’re a lot more expensive than a regular size wall oven. Apparently, less costs more.
But will it fit into the existing opening? According to the appliance professions, the answer is a resounding, “maybe”.
As for the installation, the appliance store doesn't do installation, but they recommended someone to me who does. I then called and semi-talked to the recommended installer - over a very bad phone connection. Near as I could tell, he'll install it but I have to call him again, if and when the oven ever shows up.
So now I'm in a holding pattern - waiting for my special order oven to show up and hope that I can get in touch with, and hopefully understand, the installer - at least enough to get him to show up at a time I'll be home - and then hope that the oven it will fit into the old space - and then hope that the new oven works (this last point is somewhat critical).
As bad as this is, I keep telling myself that it could have been much worse. At least the oven held out through both Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners - as well as through making Christmas cookies on Christmas eve. And unlike most times when I’m telling myself something, I think this time, I might actually be right.
Friday, January 4, 2019
Tonight's Music Video
I was going to post this video close to Christmas - but I forgot.
Then I thought, maybe I should wait and post it closer to next Christmas - but I'm pretty sure I would forget by then, too.
So, I'm going to post it now.
You can watch it and pretend it's two weeks ago, or you can wait and watch it fifty weeks from now. Or, I suppose, you could not watch it at all.
Your choice.
Then I thought, maybe I should wait and post it closer to next Christmas - but I'm pretty sure I would forget by then, too.
So, I'm going to post it now.
You can watch it and pretend it's two weeks ago, or you can wait and watch it fifty weeks from now. Or, I suppose, you could not watch it at all.
Your choice.
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