Big Announcement

Alright folks... apparently it's time to confess my activities for these past 3 or so months. First, I'll apologize... I originally gave you the wrong date for my last training...

BUT, before I make the announcement, let me tell you about my Labor Day weekend.

Nah... just kidding... I'll make that a separate post.

For the past X number of weeks/months, Traci and I have been part of a secret government program. I'd tell you more about it, but you know the old saying... "I'd tell ya, but then..."

Believe that one? Me neither.

Try this one...

For the past X number of weeks/months, Traci and I have been undergoing training to become Foster Parents.

Believe that one? Well, it's true.

For sometime now, Traci and I have been involved in working with a child, whom we shall call KB. KB is a very nice kid, who unfortunately wound up in the system at a very young age. I can't and won't go into specifics about why, but I'm sure it's not hard for you to figure it out.

KB has been bounced around within the system from one end of the state to the other, and as far north as south. Through her job, Traci became involved with KB. It wasn't that long after her involvement started that "our" involvement started.

To date, our involvement with KB is what is known as "Respite Care". KB lives at an independent living house, managed by York County's Children and Youth Services. We started by taking KB out for day trips to different places and getting to know him, and more importantly, allowing KB to get to know us.

During this whole process, I've had first hand knowledge of exactly how messed up, and nonsensical the whole child welfare system is -- trust me, it's messed up. I understand that some of the laws/rules are written because they have to account for the idiots out there (we'll get to this), but come on...

During our initial day trips that we would do -- for example, the Inner Harbor in Baltimore, MD (across a state line) -- we weren't allowed to take him back to our house. We hadn't been approved for home visits. Across state lines to whatever we want, check... our house... nope. Fine. We got approved for home visits -- relatively painless process, except for the complete and entire scrubbing/cleaning of the house Traci made me do... I'm telling you, the house was almost as clean as an operating room for this home visit inspection.

Since then, we have graduated to weekend visits... Meaning we pick him up at the start of the weekend, and drop him off sometime Sunday night. During these weekends, we do things with him (ie. take him places) most of the time, but there have been some weekends where we just hang around.

Oh, I forgot to mention, KB is a teenager. KB now has a girlfriend -- it's kinda our fault. KB is very artistically inclined, he wants to attend art school of some type upon graduation -- this is a very good thing. So, during this past summer, we encouraged KB to volunteer with the local arts foundation. It was a great thing for both parties. KB volunteered for so many things, they researched whether they could treat him and pay him as an employee... alas, there are rules...

At any rate, KB meet D... We meet D. We like D, it's just now we have two teenagers at our house that we need to supervise... ah, to be young again. Now, I'm on the other side of the fence -- the parental side of the fence. It's honestly not bad. I've taken the open-communication approach with KB on everything. We sit down and discuss the ground rules, and I encourage him to ask questions and/or air his views. So far it's worked great. We've had ZERO problems with KB.

So you may ask, if you've been doing what you've been doing for so long, why are you know going through foster parent training classes? It's the system's fault. Currently KB is supervision of government agency A, but soon, he'll be under the care of government agency B. Agency B has different rules and regulations that we must meet, in order to continue our involvement with KB. To satisfy all involved, it's just easier to become foster parent certified.

Fine, I agreed to go through this process. And it was painful. I cannot believe the amount and depth of some people's stupidity. Obviously, this training program focuses part of the training on the rules that foster parents MUST abide by. Surprise, there are certain things that you have to do... no exceptions... you know, pretty much the normal governmental bureaucracy. During some of the training, the people giving the training will say "Here are the rules you must follow for this aspect of the program/child's life/etc."

OK. I've agreed to do this, so I must also agree to the rules. Rules like "If you have weapons in your home, you must keep them in a locked cabinet with no glass surfaces, and must also install trigger locks on them." We don't have guns, so this isn't a big deal. BUT, I live in York County, where the redneck-population is fairly high. Redneck's don't like to take down their interior decorations (guns/knives/swords/weapons that I couldn't even imagine hanging on your walls), let alone locking them away with a trigger lock to boot. 20~25 minutes of discussion later, we still have grumbling about this rules.

Here's an idea... becoming a foster parent is purely voluntary (for the most part -- if you are taking in a relative's child (even your grandchildren), you MUST become foster parent certified). If taking down the Browning .50 caliber aircraft machine gun is really that offensive to you, don't... just leave. It's OK for you to quit the training. OR, if that bush knife with a 4' razor-sharp blade on it, MUST remain above the sofa in the living room, walk out... I'm not sure many people would be that upset with your decision.

And believe it or not, there are people who do foster care for the not just for the money, but that's at least a consideration... I'm not going to get into this, but suffice to say that I've done the math... I don't want to sound elitist, but the money I'm entitled to for having a child in my home, isn't going to any money in my pocket.

Last question, are Traci and I going to become full-time foster parents for KB? Answer is no, I would prefer to only have to deal with one teenager on a permanent basis -- and if you think that living with my brother isn't like living with a teenager, I'd be more than happy to have him come stay with you for any period of time you think you can deal with.

Kidding aside, Traci and I discussed this in depth... in the end (for a lot of reasons very beneficial for KB), the current situation is much better for him. That being said, there is a very small chance that sometime in the future, you may see a post stating that KB is now living with us, but that's a very SMALL chance.

As for other potential foster children. No. This was pretty much a one shot deal. Think what you will, and I'm a fairly laid-back kinda guy with most things... But, believe me when I say, "This was a one shot deal".

It's a New Year -- 2008

Alright, I realize I haven't blogged recently, and I have SO much to blog about.

I will try to catch everyone up, but in the meantime...

I have a MAJOR, LIFE-CHANGING event for my wife and I, that I will announce on January 14th.

Can't reveal it right now, but trust me, it's BIG (at least as far as I am concerned).

Stay Tuned!

Joy in Mudville

Last evening the wife and I took her sister to her annual birthday Baltimore Oriole baseball game. While the wife and I are not baseball fans by any stretch of imagination, Erin most definitely is, and since birthdays are about the people who have them, we saddle up in the family truckster every year, and head out to a game.

We have our traditions. Every year, we each get a barbeque platter from Boog Powell's barbeque stand (I have no idea what kind of first baseman the man was, but he sure makes some good barbeque), drinks, and head to our seats -- pretzels, and other snacks come later.

Typically, Ernest Lawrence Thayer gets it right with respect to the outcome of the game for a true Orioles fan; but last night this was not the case. The Orioles went up against the best team in baseball (numbers don't lie), and won 11-5.

Most impressively there was a guy named Scott Moore. According to the announcers and the JumboTron, Mr. Moore was 0-8 batting while with the Birds this year. Last night -- Grand Slam in the 3rd; not a bad 9th at bat.

Take Me Out to the Ball Park

This past weekend, I visited our local minor league baseball team with the wife, her sister, and the father-in-law. The tickets were compliments of Comcast, and I must say they were very nice seats. 8 rows back, just to the right of the section directly behind home plate -- close enough to hear the ball hit the catcher's mitt. Thanks Comcast!

While it was clear that this was a minor league and not a MLB game, there were some pretty impressive plays by a couple of the home team's players; namely 2 or 3 one-handed plays by 2nd baseman (he'd run down a in-field ground, one-hand it, and throw it over to first to get the out), and the center fielder ran a couple of fly balls down in the outfield.

All-in-all, it was a pretty enjoyable outing, and York even won. So that got me to thinking... I wonder how good a team we are? It's our Inaugural Year, and it sometimes takes a little while for an expansion team to gel. So I went to the website, and was surprised to see that York was leading it's 4 team division with a record of 15-7 at the time. Wow! Pretty impressive.

Then I got to thinking... They've only played 22 games?!? It's the beginning of August, and I thought they had been playing a while already. Looking at the schedule, they played 24 games in the month of May alone, and only won 10 -- meaning they lost 14. I was confused. So I emailed the GM, seeking clarification.

Dear Matt,

I attended my first game last eveing, and was impressed with the entire experience; congrats!

However, when doing a little research about how well the team is doing, I got a little confused.

According to your website, and that of the Atlantic League itself, the Revolution's record is 15 Wins and 7 Loses.

Looking at the schedule and results for just the month of May, however, I notice there were 24 games played and that the revolution won only 10 of them.

How does jive with the standings? Are they 15-7 with respect to series'... meaning they've won 15 out of 22 series they've had against other teams?

I'm just a little confused.

Thanks!

This was the reply:

Let me have the media department follow up with you on this. It makes no sense to me as well.

I'll keep you posted -- I'm sure everyone is sitting, waiting with bated breath -- as to the answer. However, I'm a little disappointed that the General Manager is as confused as I am. He's been "following" the team for months now. He didn't notice that:

1) Either the stats on the websites are incorrect.

or -- and I'm guessing this is the correct version, since York lost their last series, and now have a record of 15-8

2) The Atlantic League measures Wins and Losses in a format other than just the straight number of games a team has won and lost.

Technical Challenged Family

OK, so let me explain why I refer to the wife's family as America's Most Technically Challenged family, and remember, it's my job to solve any tech related problem for them, usually via the phone.

So, couple of weeks ago, they upgrade their cable service to get cable modem, and upgraded cable TV line-up. They used to just get the really basic cable package -- cable plugs into back of TV, and you get 50 channels... now they have a package that requires a settop converter box.

Before, the only device they had to turn on/off was the TV; now they have a settop box as well. Not really a problem, since the cable company gave them a universal remote with each settop that can be programmed to control the TV as well. The day of the installation, I was down there to get things working for them, and programmed the remotes for their TVs and demonstrated how to use the remote.

"Just press the red "All-On" button, and it will turn everything on. Press it again, and it will turn everything off. The volume controls the TV volume, and the channel buttons control the settop channels."

Everything has worked smoothly, until a couple of days ago, but knowing they were coming up for the 4th of July, they just waited until they were here to ask me about their latest problem.

"Richhh..." -- seems like mom drags my name out a little when she's about to ask me about a problem.

"Richhh, the cable has been great, and we love it. Except, now the problem is that we accidentally turned the TV off manually, and now we can't watch TV. When we press the "All-On" button, the TV turns on, but the light on the little box goes off. When we press it again, the TV turns off, but the light on the little box comes on. We haven't been able to watch TV for a couple days now."

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah."

Can anybody think of the solution?

Turns out that the wife's sister did. She figured out to turn the TV on or off (not sure which) manually, and it has been working for a couple of days now... Mom just wasn't aware of it.

Oh, and just to give you some background on Mom and Dad... Mom used to work for the NSA and Dad was an engineer for a defense contractor. I would tell you what either of them did, but both had classified jobs. Dad's last project before he retired was related to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter

Sister Update

Sister came up over the weekend to visit with me and my brother for our B-Days... we are only 8 days apart. Mine was over this past weekend, and his is this coming weekend.

While visiting, she made the announcement that her and Shannon are now engaged. He proposed to her on the beach down in Myrtle Beach, SC. Evening... candles... down on one knee...

"Laura, will you marry me?"

Her response (no kidding), was "Well, let's talk about this..."

OK... Not the answer I would have expected from Traci when I proposed, but after a couple of days of talking, she accepted.

I wish them the best of luck. I may or may not have said it before, but I like Shannon for Laura. He and I don't have a lot of similar interests, but so far all of my experiences with Shannon have been good ones.

In addition, there is a very good chance that she will be accepting a job in South Carolina (Myrtle Beach area) and moving there in the next few weeks. Nothing guaranteed, but a very good chance.

Regardless, she and Shannon are purchasing a 5 acre parcel of land in South Carolina, in preparation of one day living down there.

P.S. for those wondering what Shannon looks like, he does look a little like Hulk Hogan... not a twin, but somewhat similar in appearance.

Brother Update

My brother is now living with us. I'll give updates on this as things progress, but so far... acceptable... as acceptable as having your adult brother living in your house as is possible.

So far he is doing his absolute best to stay out of our hair.

Brother's Visit

Last Thursday, my brother came up for a visit/dinner/other things...

At any rate, at some point during dinner, the conversation some how turned to "stupid groups of people." He informed me that there is a group of people who believe that the Earth is flat. Today... Right Now... There are people out there who believe the Earth is flat!!!

So, half believing him, I google it... and sure enough...

Wikipedia Entry
Interview with Charles K Johnson - leader of Flat Earthers. He died in 2001.
Official WebSite

If you are a FEer (I assume FE stands for Flat Earth, but who knows... remember these people think the Earth is flat, so FE might stand for anything), please contact me... I really need to understand how this is possible.

The next day, while talking to a friend, I discover another group of people who believe the Earth is hollow. Apparently, the lost tribes of Israel, after having escaped the Assyrians, migrated to the inner Earth. These tribes are highly advanced and peaceful.

The HEers (Hollow Earthers) are launching an expedition to the North Pole in 2008 to find the hole at the North Pole. I can either try to remember to give an update here, or you can follow the adventure yourself by tracking it on their website:

OurHollowEarth.com

Other topics of dinner conversation:

- David Gilmour v. Roger Waters... which side do you fall on? The wife is clearly in Gilmour's camp, as she refers to Waters as a Opportunistic Backstabber. I, however, am a realist, and fall in the Waters' camp. I like Pink Floyd's music better with him.

- Greatest Bands ever. My brother contends that Nirvana is among the top 5 bands, and that there is some countdown show on MTV that agrees with him... Not that I like all of these bands, but off the top of my head, I can think of: The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Metallica, Aerosmith, Pink Floyd, Led Zepplin, The Grateful Dead... Nirvana... Nope!

- Greatest Philosopher -- Socrates v. Plato. My vote would be for Aristotle (even named my snake for him), but given the choice between only these two... Socrates. I mean, he was the first... the mentor to Plato, and indirectly Aristotle. Plus, without him, we wouldn't have the Socratic Method. And after all, isn't the cornerstone of Western Philosophy and Culture based upon the Socratic Method? (once you google Socratic Method, you'll get this...)

- Friedrich Nietzsche - Talk about a pessimist. Being that Nietzsche is an atheist and holds similar views as my brother on other subjects, the wife gave my brother one of Nietzsche's books to familiarize himself with.

-XBox Elite... so what? Nothing big here, as far as I'm concerned.