January 2009 Blog Posts (7)

(I am submitting an entry from another blog I maintain dedicated to my daughter who has autism...planetmelissa.blogspot.com)



A Friend for Melissa



It is not entirely true that Melissa is perfectly happy all alone, although it does seem that way, the way she hides out in her room most of the time. Even at Christmas time she waited until the general chaos had subsided and opened her presents solitarily. I have wished for her to make… Continue

Some of you know that I leave for Tbilisi, Georgia, this Friday, Jan. 16. I'll be back the evening of Feb. 14. I've got a 4-week consulting gig with an EU tax reform project.



I dread the travel. This will be my quickest trip ever, just 21 hours, 22 hours home. It has ranged up to 32+. With my big butt in an economy-class seat that long it is almost enough to make me stay home. I say almost because I would likely have made the trip on my own dime sometime this year to visit friends… Continue

I ate lunch with my co-workers at a quaint little place the other day. "The Black Rabbit" is tucked away between a coffee shop and a ladies beauty supply store, near a bustling Market of Choice, but when you step into the cafe' you are suddenly in Paris. The decor is sleek and art deco. The tables are cozy and the menu is out of the ordinary. I smiled as I tried to imagine how to pronounce the French names of the salads, sandwiches and soups. I smiled even more when my eye fell on the appetizer… Continue

Edythe and I began a writing class, something I have never done before, last night at the downtown Eugene LCC campus. The instructor is Linda Clare and she has a LOT to say about writing. It promises to be a very good class.



One of the things she talked about is our writing environment, about how much it helps if you can dedicate even a small space to your writing and eliminate as many distractions as you can. One of our assignments is to create or improve our writing space. I write… Continue

I faced my abuser in court on Monday. Six months have passed since I was there last, obtaining a restraining order against him and his relentless assaults against me and my children. Included in the restraining order were provisions for him to see the children, weekly, under supervision. Abuser declined to participate in any visits to children until quite recently, when he began the required

individual counseling and support group participation required by the restraining order. Although… Continue

I am reading a fascinating book (thank you Marc) called "the mother tongue, english and how it got that way" by Bill Bryson. How he manages to make this rather dry topic enthralling, amusing, and even suspenseful I don't quite know, but I have had a hard time putting it down.

I just finished the segment which chronicles the staggering project undertaken by the dutiful bank clerk, James Augustus Henry Murray, namely, the Oxford English Dictionary. He began editing this… Continue

My thoughts today are swirling around with the oddities of the six-year old mind. My little boy, James, often opens up fascinating topics with the query "What Happens If..."

For instance, in line at the car wash... "What Happens If I go through the car wash without the car?" Or how about this one... "What Happens If you try to live at Fred Meyer's?"

"What Happens if I fall in the toilet? Will my brain get sucked out my bottom?" (Obviously he has not heard the Mister Rogers song, "You… Continue