Year: 2007

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Knoxville Asperger Support Group / KAEC

Meeting Announcement

The upcoming meeting dates for the Knoxville Asperger Support Group are:

  • Novemeber 19, 2007
  • December 17, 2007

The support group has a Yahoo Group which can be found on http://groups.yahoo.com/ by searching for Knoxville_Aspie_Support. It meets the third Monday of every month unless there is a conflict or holiday at the West Branch of the Knoxville Public Library (map) at 100 Golfclub Rd from 6pm to 7:30pm.

The Knoxville Asperger Support Group is a no charge, open discussion on the subject of Asperger Syndrome. Typically attendees are caregivers of children teens, and adults although folks with Asperger’s often attend to provide input, ask questions, or seek out others with Asperger’s. All are welcome!

Potential Special Topic

Dr. Dan Murphy of the School Board has proposed turning KAEC into a middle school to serve the Sequoyah Hills areas. He is making the rounds to several PTOs (will be at Rocky Hill Elementary on Dec 10 at 6:30pm) to garnish support for his proposal. When asked directly as to what would become of the KAEC students, Dr. Murphy gave an ambiguous answer. In my mind that means they either have no plan or will bus the children to Karns. As a parent of a child with Asperger’s, you stand a chance that your child will spend some time at KAEC. This is a topic that needs to be discussed immediately.

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I’ll fight for you

I’ll go to the mat for you but your story better be straight! I tell the truth and I will passionately stand behind that truth. If I fight for you and the truth becomes tainted, or the facts you gave me turn out to be not so factual, we both end up looking bad. Worse. The next person I try to help will be hampered by the doubt created from your inaccurate facts. My integrity is my most valuable asset.

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Poor people cannot spend money smarter

Update Oct 29, 2008: The Federal poverty levels have been increased slightly.

Narration: [audio:http://realityme.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/poorpeoplecannotspendmoneysmarter.mp3]

Last night I found myself staring at the pain medicine shelf in two stores. I wasn’t happy with the prices at CVS and I needed some food items so I switched to Food $*itty. With a 7 person household, I often shop bulk but the food companies play tricks and sometimes the larger container costs more than buying two smaller containers so I tend to scrutinize prices.

20 Tylenol PM geltabs cost $3.99 on sale from the normal $4.99 price. 40 Tylenol PM geltabs cost $7.49. Food City didn’t sell larger quantities than that but CVS has 150 geltabs somewhere around $15. With this product, it makes sense to buy bulk.

If you live a penny wise lifestyle, the choice is easy; buy the largest container with the greatest savings. Not only will be it longer before you have to replenish (and that time going to the store is time you could be spending making money) but you will have saved money! To get the equivalent 40 geltabs in the smaller container means spending $7.98 (49 cents more) which is a 6.5% difference. That’s more money than you can earn at your bank!

Why don’t the poor buy the larger container? Simple! Because they are limited by their resources (or lack of resources). If you are trying to stretch a dollar to the next payday, you aren’t going to spend "more" for the larger container when that extra $3.50 is going to buy the bag of frozen fish sticks which feeds the family until that next payday.

I want to see poverty abolished. That does not mean everyone lives in mansions. Poverty is not having money to pay for electricity, food, shelter, clothing, etc. A person living in a mansion can find themselves in poverty although one could argue that they could sell their worldly goods to escape the poverty prison. I feel our society is designed to keep the poor down (amz). If the utility company (power, cable, phone..they all do it) cuts you off, they typically charge you the past due balance, plus a late fee, plus a reconnection fee, plus the following months anticipated bill. What about interest? If a family couldn’t afford to pay the portion of the past due to keep the utility, how are they supposed to pay the full past due, plus a future bill, plus a service fee?! They do it by failing to pay someone else who then punishes them the same way with fees, interest, penalties, connection fees, and deposits. So, why don’t they just spend smarter and stay out of this situation? Because the situation does not give them the economic power to spend smart to avoid the situation. Poverty is a classic Catch-22 (amz).


[Source]

What’s that you ask, Yossarian? Oh, I bought the smaller $3.99 bottle of 20 pills. All of Food $*itty’s larger bottles had a warning that they were not intended for households with small children.

See also: A taste of poverty

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A Powerful Desire to Post

Blogging is addictive. It feels good to let my thoughts flow through the keyboard to the web. I think some people find it shocking that so many people willingly give up their "privacy" but that is a lack of understanding or rather a different paradigm of privacy. Despite the candor with which I seem to spill every moment of my life, the truth of the matter is the readers of Reality Me see but a glimpse, a keyhole peek, into the complex adventure of my family. I often wish I could spill more. Sometimes I am amazed at the luck, the good fortune that befalls us to let us carry on the way we live our lives. We walk a tightrope and I know one day we will slip but I think we will recover. The details of our high wire act I cannot share at this time. It just wouldn’t be appropriate. I know you shouldn’t air your dirty laundry but you do welcome your neighbors into your house even if the kitchen sink is a mess. Come into my house, sit in my parlor, and hear my tales. And eventually, perhaps I’ll tell the whole convoluted story.

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And today started off so well…Now I’m seeing stars

I have been working a project that no person in their right mind would have accepted, particularly at the pittance of the budget alloted. It is a train wreck but today, after several hours of feeling like I was trying to fill the ocean with sand from the beach, I felt the train was back on the track! The client is in a timezone 7 hours ahead of me so I have to work furiously to have this done for their opening business day. Then I had a meeting to help the boy scouts plan for a high adventure trip next summer. During the meeting, at 4:30pm on a Sunday, I get a message that another parent has called my wife to consult on the 3-D solar system project that he knows all parents have probably been working so furiously on for the whole weekend (or longer). Solar system project?! To be built to scale! And with excellent report attached.

So, a pot of coffee brews as I tear the house up looking for objects that are to scale (a trip to AC Moore for Styrofoam would have been nice!) and watch the business day in my client’s timezone come ever so much nearer. Let’s go upstairs and figure out just what the world revolves around.

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Engineer Roads for Speed Control

Knoxville is pondering the use of automated speed cameras to ticket people who violate the speed limits. I am opposed. I am a treat the problem, not the symptom type of guy. My quality assurance training taught me that if you automate a flawed process, you simply perform that flawed process with greater efficiency.

Florida came up with a solution. I read about it a couple of years ago. (unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find the reference) An architect and civil engineer reduced speed by eliminating traffic controls, removing signs, putting people and trees closer to the road, and narrowing the roads. widening the double yellow narrows the roadThey engineered speed control! It worked. Would you like to try it? Knoxville is engineering roads for speed right now! The roads that connect Kingston Pike to Sutherland passing by West High School are changing to reduce speed. If you turn from Kingston Pike to Forest Glen Dr you will undoubtedly notice that the double yellow widens briefly, the road has some lines painted across it, and some ruts have been carved into the road to audibly warn you to slowdown. These are fairly intangible but work! You cannot help but slow down.

What happens when people get used to the lines and drive fast anyway? Firstly, the faster you drive over the ruts, the more horrid the noise which sounds like you are destroying your tires. Secondly, in addition to the psychological narrowing, the roads are being physically narrowed at the midpoint. With the addition of this median, cars will slow down. Maybe they’ll add a tree! (doubt it)

Why not engineer the roads and use speed cameras? Speed cameras treat the symptom. The symptom is that people are speeding. Physical narrowing of Tobler LnThe problem is that people feel like they are making good time and packing more into their lives by speeding. The truth of the matter is that if you are speeding in a town or city, you may be shaving a minute or two off your commute but due to traffic patterns, and the placement and timing of lights and other traffic controls, your commute does NOT change that dramatically as compared to simply driving the speed limit.

Won’t cameras teach people to slow down? No, cameras work after the fact, catch the wrong people, and cannot identify the driver. They also cannot judge the situation. Safe driving sometimes includes speeding up. Often we try to avoid an accident by slamming on the brakes. It feels natural. Sometimes accidents can be avoided by speeding up and I shouldn’t have to speed a day of my life in court plus fees explaining that to repeal a ticket from a robot. Since speed cameras have their effect after the incident, they in no way prevent tragedy! The camera that send a ticket to a speeding high schooler for speeding from West High to Kingston Pike does not save the life of the child who runs out into the road to get his lost ball. The re-engineered roads, which treat the problem and force the new high school driver to slow his vehicle, give that driver the opportunity to stop in time to save the life of the child running into the road to get his lost ball.

Update: Groovy!