I took Sarahlynn out to see Lewis Black for Valentine's Day. Maybe not your typical romantic evening, but it certainly fits our personalities. We even went out for quick, inexpensive texmex (at Chevy's) for our romantic dinner before hand. I'm happy to say that the evening was a smashing success. Lewis Black was absolutely hillarious. I definitely recommend seeing his show at every available chance.
We were supposed to see Lewis Black last year about this time, too. But, unfortunately, other events in our life got in the way.
Sunday, February 13, 2005
Friday, February 11, 2005
First Steps (a reprise)
The English major in our family is much more effective and expressive in her writing than the engineer. So, I'll take this opportunity to make a cheap post and just link to her great posts about our fun at the state capitol.
Ellie the Lobbyist
First Steps and Abortion
Ellie the Lobbyist
First Steps and Abortion
Thursday, February 03, 2005
Missouri First Steps
I'm proad to say that our daughter, Ellie, is currently a beneficiary of the generosity of all Missourians. Ellie has Down Syndrome. The Missouri First Steps program provides her, and thousands of other Missouri children between birth and age 3, with various forms of physical, occupational, development, and speech therapy. First Steps provides these services free of charge to the families of children whose delays range from trisomy 21 to deafness to more mild developmental delays. Since Ellie was about 4 months old, she's been a participant in the First Steps program. She, her mother, and I have all benefited more than we can probably imagine from the therapists who have worked with us to help keep her development close to inline with typical children.
The new Missouri governor, Matt Blunt, has proposed eliminating the program from the 2006-2007 budget. Some rationalization we've heard is that the program duplicates efforts already in place like Parents as Teachers. We participate in both programs with Ellie. Take some time to read the description of these two programs and it becomes patently obvious that the Parents as Teachers program, despite being a wonderful resource for many parents of typically developing children, is not suited to manage and provide the services that are provided by First Steps.
Of course the state has a budget shortfall, just like most states do right now. So, let's consider the alternatives from a financial standpoint.
One alternative is to foist the burden for care off on Medicaid/Medicaid. Providing services for under-privileged families with special-needs children this way not only places an unfair burden on already strained programs; but it also leaves families like mine out on a limb. With the assistance of the program, we're well-off enough that Sarahlynn can stay home with Ellie and work with her developmentally on a daily basis, both with therapists and on her own. Without the program, our personal expenses on therapy would easily rival or surpass our mortgage payment each month. Sarahlynn would be back at work full time to pay for therapists. Then Ellie would have to be in preschool full time. And she would recieve as much attention from her mother and I. Certainly not ideal.
But our financial situation isn't necessarily your concern. We're lucky enough to be able to afford only having one of us work fulltime; and we would be able to find a way for Ellie to receive the assistance she needs even if First Steps were eliminated... albeit to the detrement of both her development and our involvement in her learning.
Suppose you're more concerned about your own fiscal matters, and how state expenses affect your tax burden. The vision of the First Steps program is that the early the intervention, the better. Not so very long ago, children born with trisomy 21 were likely to end up in a state instituation as adults. Helping children with developmental delays before they enter the public school system makes them much more able to integrate with normal classrooms, decreases their need for special attention, and dramatically decreases the likelihood that they'll need (or need as much) public assitance as adults. So, the state pays for 3 years of therapy up front for young children; or the state pays for 20 years of institutionalization or assistance for adults in 15 years. I wonder what the true cost-benefit analysis would show.
If you happen to live in Missouri and are interested in helping Matt Blunt understand the impacts of a decision like eliminating Missouri First Steps, please consider taking a moment to fill out this petition, or send him or your legislator a letter. If you know anyone in the administration or general assembly personally, we'd appreciate it if you contacted them personally and let them know what an important program First Steps is.
P.O. Box 809-A
Jefferson City MO 65102
Telephone: (573) 751-3222
Email: mogov@mail.state.mo.us
http://www.moga.state.mo.us/
The new Missouri governor, Matt Blunt, has proposed eliminating the program from the 2006-2007 budget. Some rationalization we've heard is that the program duplicates efforts already in place like Parents as Teachers. We participate in both programs with Ellie. Take some time to read the description of these two programs and it becomes patently obvious that the Parents as Teachers program, despite being a wonderful resource for many parents of typically developing children, is not suited to manage and provide the services that are provided by First Steps.
Of course the state has a budget shortfall, just like most states do right now. So, let's consider the alternatives from a financial standpoint.
One alternative is to foist the burden for care off on Medicaid/Medicaid. Providing services for under-privileged families with special-needs children this way not only places an unfair burden on already strained programs; but it also leaves families like mine out on a limb. With the assistance of the program, we're well-off enough that Sarahlynn can stay home with Ellie and work with her developmentally on a daily basis, both with therapists and on her own. Without the program, our personal expenses on therapy would easily rival or surpass our mortgage payment each month. Sarahlynn would be back at work full time to pay for therapists. Then Ellie would have to be in preschool full time. And she would recieve as much attention from her mother and I. Certainly not ideal.
But our financial situation isn't necessarily your concern. We're lucky enough to be able to afford only having one of us work fulltime; and we would be able to find a way for Ellie to receive the assistance she needs even if First Steps were eliminated... albeit to the detrement of both her development and our involvement in her learning.
Suppose you're more concerned about your own fiscal matters, and how state expenses affect your tax burden. The vision of the First Steps program is that the early the intervention, the better. Not so very long ago, children born with trisomy 21 were likely to end up in a state instituation as adults. Helping children with developmental delays before they enter the public school system makes them much more able to integrate with normal classrooms, decreases their need for special attention, and dramatically decreases the likelihood that they'll need (or need as much) public assitance as adults. So, the state pays for 3 years of therapy up front for young children; or the state pays for 20 years of institutionalization or assistance for adults in 15 years. I wonder what the true cost-benefit analysis would show.
If you happen to live in Missouri and are interested in helping Matt Blunt understand the impacts of a decision like eliminating Missouri First Steps, please consider taking a moment to fill out this petition, or send him or your legislator a letter. If you know anyone in the administration or general assembly personally, we'd appreciate it if you contacted them personally and let them know what an important program First Steps is.
P.O. Box 809-A
Jefferson City MO 65102
Telephone: (573) 751-3222
Email: mogov@mail.state.mo.us
http://www.moga.state.mo.us/
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
The Success of "if you say it enough, it must be true"
According to this article on Slashdot talks about just how saddly wrong high school students are about what freedom means.
The rhetoric goes on and on about how important freedom is, that we're standing up for freedom loving people everyone, that you're either for freedom or you're with the terrorists...
But really, if 50% of high school age students don't understand what freedoms something as fundamental as the FIRST Amendment ensures, then what hope do we have for GW understanding the Fifth and Sixth Amendments or the "well regulated" part of the Second Amendment.
Ugh.
The rhetoric goes on and on about how important freedom is, that we're standing up for freedom loving people everyone, that you're either for freedom or you're with the terrorists...
But really, if 50% of high school age students don't understand what freedoms something as fundamental as the FIRST Amendment ensures, then what hope do we have for GW understanding the Fifth and Sixth Amendments or the "well regulated" part of the Second Amendment.
Ugh.
Monday, January 31, 2005
TiVo might just survive
TiVo's been under attack by lots of cable providers that want to provide their own branded PVR systems. TiVo's been slow to release new features over the past couple years... very frustrating for us TiVo lovers.
Well, now TiVo has released an SDK for developers and is holding a coding challenge.
Yeah TiVo... what to code?...
Well, now TiVo has released an SDK for developers and is holding a coding challenge.
Yeah TiVo... what to code?...
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
Liberal Arts & Engineering
As my profile will tell you, I'm a geek of all trades. More importantly, I'm an engineer by training. I've got degrees in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. Now, my wife, on the other hand has her degree in English. So, in college to impress her (and try to find ways of competing on level ground during arguments with her, which has failed) I took 4 English classes during my Junior and Senior years:
Sounds ridiculous, perhaps. But what I was able to show through the paper was that (a) by definition a liberal arts education is intended to broaden one's perspective on the world and our place within it, and that (b) the analytical methods that are critical to understanding the themes in computer science are fundamentally new and not being taught in any other curriculum that is already part of most liberal arts programs. I won't bore you with the details, but the professor was duly impressed with the argument I put forth, convincing her that, indeed, the analytical skills taught by computer science are not typically available elsewhere, and yet do provide insight into questions that are posed by a liberal arts eduction.
So, watch what you say about your friendly neighborhood geek. Despite the sterotypes you might hold, true geeks are deeper than you think.
- Shakespeare - actually because I love it, not her
- Romantic Literature - not Harlequin, the other romantic
- Argumentation - trying and failing to win against her
- Fiction Writing - just for fun
Sounds ridiculous, perhaps. But what I was able to show through the paper was that (a) by definition a liberal arts education is intended to broaden one's perspective on the world and our place within it, and that (b) the analytical methods that are critical to understanding the themes in computer science are fundamentally new and not being taught in any other curriculum that is already part of most liberal arts programs. I won't bore you with the details, but the professor was duly impressed with the argument I put forth, convincing her that, indeed, the analytical skills taught by computer science are not typically available elsewhere, and yet do provide insight into questions that are posed by a liberal arts eduction.
So, watch what you say about your friendly neighborhood geek. Despite the sterotypes you might hold, true geeks are deeper than you think.
Second Day Alone
By the way, Ellie did great being left at preschool again today. I sat and played with her for a few minutes. Said "bye bye, Ellie." And all I got was a wave, a smile, and "buh bye."
We made up for any missed screaming later in the day when Ellie went to the ENT (ear, nose, and throat; not fictional ancient forest creature -- that would have been more pleasant). Ellie's got very small ear cannals. So, every time we visit the ENT, we have to pin her down to the examining table so the doctor can remove the wax with a mini crochet hook and look in her ear with the micro-otoscope. She's big enough now that she HATES it and screams and cries. Tough to say, though, if it's harder on her having it done or on mom and dad helping hold her down.
We made up for any missed screaming later in the day when Ellie went to the ENT (ear, nose, and throat; not fictional ancient forest creature -- that would have been more pleasant). Ellie's got very small ear cannals. So, every time we visit the ENT, we have to pin her down to the examining table so the doctor can remove the wax with a mini crochet hook and look in her ear with the micro-otoscope. She's big enough now that she HATES it and screams and cries. Tough to say, though, if it's harder on her having it done or on mom and dad helping hold her down.
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