it’s crazy to see all your crap on a craigslist ad that you did not post.

Date: 2009-06-24, 9:05PM PDT

Peaceful duplex unit available July 10.
Unit includes generous living room area with wood burning fireplace, eat-in kitchen with fridge/gas stove, and a large walk-in utility closet . Hardwood floors in bedroom and living room, terra cotta tile in kitchen and ceramic tile in bathroom. Bathroom has tub/shower.
Great backyard for relaxing and bbq-ing. Enclosed garage for 1 car + some storage.
Located in safe residential neighborhood close to downtown, UC Campus and BART.
You pay utilities; garbage collection is covered in rent.

*** Note: Unit will be repainted to Swiss Coffee (white) prior to move-in. ***

1 well-trained, quiet, smallish dog will be considered for an extra $50 per month.

Open house scheduled for Sat & Sun, June 27-28, 2-4 p.m. each day. Please reply for exact address.

California at Allston (google map) (yahoo map)

• dogs are OK - wooof
• it’s NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

PostingID: 1238508547

penny does not have cancer.  just lipomas.  she will live forever.  FOREVER.

i love my lumpy dog.

Remember when I had stuff to say?  Yeah, that was interesting.

i love sue a bunch.

i helped luis paint a restaurant. partly because he’s my friend and i’m happy to help, partly because i owe him a million favors, and mostly because i want to be able to sit in the restaurant and point out the door and piece of wall that i painted.

it’s all about me. almost always.

i have had the unfortunate experience of meeting a woman who provides services to special needs children without the proper qualifications. this woman has attempted, in more than one meeting, to discredit me. she says ridiculous things to make herself sound well versed in ABA; things that sound good to parents but raise flags to those of us who actually are well versed in ABA. things like (cristal, get ready): “reports from school suggest the student’s behavior is reinforced with punishment..” and, after seeing my functional assessment cover sheet, “you use a standardized form for FA’s? Brian Iwata is rolling over.” i wanted to say (but didn’t because the tape recorder is on and i’m trying to remain as professional as possible), “do you think Brian Iwata is dead? or that he wouldn’t like a school district to use a standardized form?” i think he’d be pleased. the last iwata talk i attended, he described software that his students use on laptops, and he passed out sample data sheets they use… you want the assessment procedure to be structured and as similar as possible across kids. or so brian and i thought. at one point i lost my temper when discussing the case with julia and i pounded the table and yelled, “i wish we could run her out of town with torches and pitchforks.”
anyway, my boss asked me to be ready to “respond” to her report at the next meeting for this child. so i read the report and found way too many things to point out (her FA concludes that the function of the child’s inappropriate behavior is to control and manipulate others. she offered no proposed replacement behavior to teach him; i can’t wait to ask her, “how would you like him to control and manipulate others?”)
so, in preparation for this meeting, i decided to have a get together of people in the field to hear their thoughts on the report, point out foibles i missed, and help me prioritize which ones i need to hit on given it’s only a 2 hour meeting. we ate pancakes and drank sparkling cider and went through the report line by line with highlighters and red pens. we spent hours, alternately raging and consoling. and now i have pages of bullets to go through and condense further before the meeting.
it’s a shame that i have to go to this confrontational level to explain the district’s position to the parents. the family is seeking $36K as reimbursement for her services. the whole point of this meeting is to back up our answer (”no”) with data that indicate she discredits herself and we will never do business with such a shoddy provider.
especially when we have anne on the case.

i pretended to cook.

and brodie helped

until we made her ride the dog.

heather re-graphed all the bogus data to show how this lady’s intervention changed nothing.

i can’t wait to share our findings. we’re saving the world, one child at a time.

so i found a bunch of journal entries that i had to write in english class in 1998.  on the day we were instructed to write about someone we find physically attractive, i wrote a page and a half about eddie vedder.  on the day we were instructed to discuss the greatest problem facing the u.s., i wrote the following:

“arrogance.  thank you.”

i love visiting my parents because i love my parents, not because i love the south.  driving from GA to NC we passed at least 4 god billboards.  if he’s so great and we’re all so convinced (and we are, judging by the stickers on the cars), why does he need to advertise so much?  mixed in with the “let’s meet at my place before the game” nonesense, there are also several billboards advertising adult stores and strip clubs.  a few years ago i would’ve found this juxtaposition hilarious.  now it’s just depressing.  there are also all the christian bookstores and churches with their helpful marquees out front.  i haven’t seen a temple or mosque.  i have seen very few people who are not caucasian. 

my father teaches at a high school in the affluent part of the county.  he has more than one story about children being beaten.  for example, one kid who was punched in the face during class was threatened by his father, “you let him hit you?  you’re supposed to defend yourself!  you’re getting the belt when we get home!”  this conversation happened in the school office and staff did not even flinch.  that’s just the way you discipline kids here.  no one finds it alarming.

it’s all very different from the place i currently call home.  and not in any subtle way.

exceed 20 mph on motorcycle = anne is a human sail