Sunday, March 16, 2014

St. Patrick's Day - things to remember

"Skibbereen" - Sinead O'Connor
"Skibbereen" - Irish Brigade
Driven out by the Great Hunger.

"The Foggy Dew"
Song about the the 1916 Easter Rising

"Going Home At Last" - Irish Brigade
"Pardon me for smiling as you're waving me goodbye" - Northern Ireland: Iraq and Afghanistan too!

"Joe McDonnell"
The Long Kesh hunger strike

"Come Out You Black and Tans" - Celtic Football Club
References to Charles Stewart Parnell, Iraqi struggle for independence against the  British 1920-1921, Zulu war in 1879 - worth looking up.

Famine to Freedom
The Irish flight from the Great Hunger




Wednesday, March 12, 2014

An eventful month

It became clear last month that I have a prostate cancer.  This has not been verified by biopsy, because I didn't like the cost benefit analysis.  But the PSA had gone up to 10.9, and the free PSA was only about 10%.  The crab is nibbling.

I had started modified citrus pectin, frankincense, and an enzyme supplement called Wobenzym N in December, along with turmeric and black pepper.  6 weeks later the PSA was down from 10.9 to 9.4.  I agree with the doctor that that is rather impressive.  So the crab will not be clipping me right away, seemngly.

Also, CA Technologies laid me off last week, along with a good number of others in our group.  I had gotten quite sick of it, and had spoken to the Lord about getting me out of there in the best way.  A week later, they sent me on my way, and this way I get a year severance pay.

So I will need to get started getting paid more often on the special ed advocacy work.  I did fight a 5-day hearing in Redlands last month over Independent Educational Evaluations.  Closing arguments are due 10 AM March 24th, so I won't be doing too much else for a bit.  But I am working a bit with a couple of lawyer friends on a case in Fresno, which is fun, and we'll learn something. 

It's an interesting case in the district court, which the Fresno Unified School District filed against her about a year ago now.  Meanwhile, the mom, abandoned by two lawyers, won a due process case against the district last month, all by herself except for a little help from a friend on the closing argument.  The Administrative Law Judge really kicked Fresno Unified and their snotty lawyer in the soft parts, and they had it coming.  And then the Fresno Bee followed up an editorial about the district's conduct.  Their attorney was unavailable to comment, for some reason.  Justice occasionally happens.