Ayn's Multiple World

Hunny Bunny ... come home now

Good afternoon! It’s late in the day as I’m starting this post. It’s about 2:45 pm. I’ve spent most of the entire day over at MarineParents.com thinking through things and reading/writing posts. It’s really, really slow over there. The posts I wrote earlier this morning were still up as the last messages of those posts.

Sheesh … surely one or two persons would drive past!

There were a lot of thoughts put into the day. I also wrote to five injured service men and two families who had lost sons. My heart goes out to the whole lot of them. I’m pretty sure they’d half to lock me up if I were to lose Rich or one of the boys. I’d be so over the top – They’d need a ladder to get me off the ceiling.

Ok, shhh, shhh. We don’t have to go there, or at least stay there. It’s going to be ok, isn’t it?

So, that’s what kind of a day it’s been. I talked to Rich last night – not too late. He called to say that he had 3 more hour to be fishing. At this time, I would think he has 7-9 more hours of driving before he returns, so I’m figuring he must be up to about Minneapolis. That’s MY thoughts! I can hardly wait til I see him. He promises to wake me up when he gets in. I told him he’d be too tired for my backrubs, but he’s pretty sure he could feel them in his sleep. What?! Huh?!

You’re going to want me to rub you to sleep? That sure doesn’t seem like a quick easy way to be sexed! HMPF!

I know, I know … give the poor guy a break. HMPF! Give the poor WOMAN a break!

OK. Ok … shhhh, let’s not have mutiny with so few hours to go. So, what else could we be thinking about. AHHH, you know I’d go there … let’s have a look at yesterday. Hmm?

Let’s see got off pretty normal – was at work on time. I had a great talking session with the group up front, and I got a few satisfaction surveys done for the sister. Eh, it was easy. OHHHH Yeah, now it’s coming back to me … I’m supposed to be working on work that I brought home. HMMM??? Oh … yeah. I forgot.

Yah, likely story … It’s true! I did forget. I never even seen that bag that somebody parked 1 ½ feet from my feet. Well, maybe, but I got you to think of it now. *Glum* I know, I know. We are going to need something to keep us busy as we wait out the night anyway. Could be worse? Could be cleaning?!

A yah, could do that.

*Silly grin* GOT YOU! Hehehe

Ok, let’s track the day though first, k? Ook. No problem.

Well, as we were saying the time during the first hour of the day with clients went well. We had people in from both groups and we left it to be kinda open. We challenged them in conversation to be stretching their minds. I think I’d go as far to claim the time as an ad-hoc Thinking Group. They were going to miss out on the one that couldn’t be done during their vacation today. As they are talking they are doing small copy jobs or are looking at magazines and such. To get a good idea of the room … it’s about as big as well a pretty good sized room. Maybe about 16 x 40 foot long. It’s called the workshop and sweeps across the whole front of the building … well on one side … the other side is the chapel, which is plenty big enough for about a loose group of 60. PLUS the Priest!

There are double sets of very tall butcher block tables in the workshop and every set of tables has about 8 chairs around it. They are tall swivel stools with backs. There are about 5 sets of these double tables. I’ve gotten the whole center in there before when they were cleaning up the multi-purpose room. So it can seat about 40 people. There are some other things in the room … a staff desk, some low group of shelves for storage and about 3-4 large shelves for materials and supplies. The room has two bathrooms, a drinking faucet, some product scales, a couple of sealers (plastic bag sealers), a couple of bulletin boards, a chalk board, a door to the first aid room, two fire extinguishers, annnnd oh … a couple of dollies to move the product that usually lines the long 40 foot wall. The walls have a lot of pictures and designs that the clients make … this week someone drew a human being with all the gizzards. Hmm, that was interesting.

God Bless Sr. Florine!

The reason I am watching the group in the morning is because Sr. Florine goes to Mass with Sr. Theresa at 8 am. Eh, it being the nature of a Catholic establishment … things like that are just as they have to be. Wouldn’t want Godless nuns!

Hehehe we teased poor Sr. Florine … she was saying some stuff that made me do a couple of invisible diary entries. AHA! Sr.’s sometimes fib! Or, AHA! Sister’s are deceiving! We just laugh and laugh … It’s so fun being around sisters – well some of them. This one we got now – with Sr. Florine … is just a gem! She’s not too tall, and is on the big side like us, but she wobbles a bit more according to Sr. Theresa. She seems in very good spirit to be with us, and she’s glad to be out of St. Mary’s where they appear to have been rough with her.

I keep going back to the no-sex theory … they are then just likely to be more uptight!

Hehehe I’ll have to tell that to Sr. Florine and see how that flies! I’m really pretty sure she wouldn’t mention to my nun-boss. Oh Lordy, my goose would be fried!
Sr. Florine is incredibly easy to get along with, plus she’s on the smarter side –
well as far as having a BA or Masters maybe. Plus, she’s done this sort of thing before. She had been working at the other place as a housemother to about 32 girls. I think this meant she had overall responsibility over 4 non-religious women who were watching groups of 8. I’ve seen the living situation of these apartments, and they are kind of interesting yet very simple. There’s a kitchen with an open dining room living room, plus a bathroom, and then on either side of that are two – two-people bedrooms. I think it be tough to live there all the time, but hey … could be worse. I think they have 4-5 of these 32 people pods. I remember having talked with this sister before and I seem to remember she had some trouble with one of the girls before, but that seems long forgotten.

I don’t think many pull the wool over her eyes, but one or two of our clients – maybe three are giving her a pretty good run for their money. I felt really bad for her. At the end of the day as we were watching over her take care of the bookkeeping, she said, well at least I don’t have so and so. And, I said, HUH!??

You do have her. And, she said NOOOO I saw it on the chart. So I asked to see the chart – and she was right the girl was with the other group that’s just sitting in with sister’s group, but that was an old schedule. The girl had caused so much problem in the other group, she had got sent backwards to sisters. Oh man … I was so sorry to tell her that. I think she’d better take that directly to God. OH LORD PLEASE HELP! This particular client is very bossy and authoritative. She doesn’t like change and this week with a new sister there was plenty of change. PLUS Sister Theresa hasn’t officially announced that Brandi wasn’t coming back – to the clients. So, they are under the impression that Sister Florine is just temporary and they’ll be saved by the other…. HA! Good one.

Sue will be out for another week and then the two ladies will most likely run to two programs together, until Sue gets her caught up with scheduling. I think the Sister is smart enough so I could teach her most everything she needs to know before the other gets back, but Sue’s had the group for about 4-5 years and really knows their ins and outs. I’ve been there 9 years, but know group stuff in general. I teach them, but then every DSP – or now trainer as they are going to be called figures out their own speed of program. We just give them the outline and the resources. It’s up to them to make the most of it.

Holly is griping too. She says well you’ve gotten Sister all week, and now it’s my turn. Yeah right Holly. I’ll give you one day – AND after I’ve checked out her work. Otherwise she’s back with me. Holly didn’t have a stellar week this week.

Felt bad about that, but she’s just so immature. It drives me buggy! After she made that last whine, I told her that I was going to pull Sr.’s other arm and we could tug-a-war with her. Sr. just laughed. Eh, so I let her go.

We finally got Sr. coming in at the right time after lunch. After 3 days of being late, she says you mean the staff doesn’t have a full hour lunch!?? NOOOO, Sr. just a half. So, the next day she came in on time. I was glad to see her. After you get there the last thing you want to do is someone else’s job. I’m just there to teach, it’s sister that has to learn the ropes. I think we got the majority of goals done for the week, and I’m thinking that’s pretty good, because we had twice the group and we were missing one day, plus she was brand new to goals.

She did real well with them. I was very pleased with her work. She’s learning also how to pick up antennae ears so that she can be doing something and hear a bit of what’s going on in the background. This week one of the clients stole a picture that Sr. Theresa had given of him. The girlfriend of one of the pictured people – the one giving Sr. such a hard time got involved, and then the whole room was involved with this drama, before we realized it had gotten out of hand. YEEKS! So, I used it as a lesson when I did staff training. We were going over Behaviors and thinking through antecedents, the behaviors, and the consequences.

I was pretty happy as the staff training turned out. Sr. Theresa is going to make herself a regular fixture in the meetings. It’s pretty hard though for her to “sit-out” and just listen. But, she let me run the show. We talked about a few new perspectives, and then we let one trainer at a time bring in their worst examples.

I thought I did that pretty well had answers or at least the proper questions to ask them so they could think it out, but then we have the one staff who was a partner to the one that left, that is still having problems being a group member. She wants to claim most of the time for her own by not believing and adding to her story to gain attention. Especially noticeable because the boss is there. She wants to make HER situation seem impossible. She says, but the girl laughs ALL the time! And, we said she laughs in your room, but she doesn’t laugh like that when I have had the group or when she’s with all the others in Thinking Group. So it might be something that you just don’t have in hand yet. I said it less threatening that that, but it was pretty much a point of contention. Then she said well how would you do it.

So, we laid out some very basic simple steps. For example, if you have a particular problem, it’s best to identify it with the group, and then give it some priority.

If you just gloss over it and keep going – you never resolve the problem. And, you give it some upfront time which is heavy at first in the short-run, but will prove less time later on. I said it would be a good idea to match identifying this problem with a signal to the room, so people could identify the problem with a arm movement without going through everything all over again. I told her her particular room was having boundary issues. People were hanging all over each other and the group was allowed to tease one another. She says well I stop it, but I say it continues to be a problem day to day so it hasn’t been stopped. People have to hear straight up what’s going on and they have to internalize a replacement behavior that you or you and the group want. So if yelling is a problem, you choose the target behavior to be light voices.

I think this woman tends to be overwhelmed with the group and the group knows it.

She is very project orientated, which may be one of her goals – and the center’s goals, but you cannot substitute it for the client’s needs. We talked about behaviors and how most often they are looking for attention, or they are trying to avoid something. When you put it in that perspective, you can go back to the antecedent and say what is it they really want. If they want the teacher’s attention or the peer’s attention then that can be gain in positive productive manners – they don’t have to act out. And, another is that they seem to want more control, so you have to balance giving them more control, by giving them more responsibility, which you are going to have to reach them by trial and error. If you try to dominate them, they will rebel – it’s just a matter of time, and for this instructor the time is now. Just like she wants the bosses attention she wants the group’s attention, but the group is saying they want HER attention. She’s pretty one-sided in that degree.

I could go in and show her, but she’d have to promise not to have a heart-attack.

Last time I was in there, she then asked for comment, and when I gave it to her, she claimed that she had heart palpitations when she went home and had to call her doctor for heart medicine. Well, obviously, I’m not too crazy about getting over involved with her. You’d have to be fruity! She’s like a chicken little screaming the sky is falling in. Hmm, if I could do a class – then maybe I could use that … be a good idea … give us something to title that kind of behavior that wouldn’t be overly threatening.

See this is where I get myself in trouble. They seem to want everything sugar-coated and they want the things that are going wrong to be complimented. They want to be told they are doing a good job even when they aren’t. I was always straight forward with the boys. If they did something good I would tell them and when they did some less I would tell them that too. And, they we’d sometimes argue it out, but if you can’t beat my logic, don’t argue. Sr. seemed to think I did pretty good afterward, or at least stated as she was going back into the office that it had at least been a lively group. She had entered the meeting a few moments late and sat down saying I hope that we are going to play a game, because everyone is too tired to think. I was like ok, we could have some fun, but pretty much I figure that it is their responsibility to come in eager to learn. I don’t plan on entertaining ANYone, though I do hope to keep their attention.

So anyway that was my 1 o’clock slot and it lasted an hour. The next part was working again with the Sister Florine. And, that was relaxing. Oh and before the noon meeting for goals I had some time so I got out the 16 letters going out to the parents requesting stuff for their files, and then after that I finally finished that nasty report. The one I handed it was two tiny to read, but the secretary was going to reformat it using ¼ more paper. So, I felt pretty good about that. Rosa will be doing the formatting of the project – adding the pictures and fancy stuff.

I just write the content. SOOO, beside most likely editing her work – I’m done with it! WOOHOOO!!!

Hmm, I’m talking to Comcast now … we’re checking our Internet speed we’d just gotten something through the mail talking about really high speed Internet access … but I think there is a “PLUS” service that will get even higher speed, so I want that checked out. Hmm just found out my speed is 6m … I wonder what the hell that means. I KNOW there are bigger numbers! And, you know I’m going to want better!

He’s rather slow. I’m wondering if he isn’t working with more than one customer at a time. His name is Chris.26904. Oh wait here comes something. I’m asking him to define himself. He said that if I wanted to add speed it would be $10 a month, he said I would go up to 8 m, so I asked him if it would be significant. He said yes, so I asked him for an example showing the difference in service. He’s not terribly wordy. When someone says “Is it significant” they are probably looking for more than a yes/no answer. What’s 25% worth? I know $10, but what actually changes?

Damm I got an idiot. He said the difference is the speed I will have when upgrading. I KNEW THAT. But, how will it show itself. I wanted to know which part is faster. Like will the screens change faster … he said yes. DUH! So he said do you want me to make the switch. This was after I said color it in a bit for me. So then I said, fine, fine … just do it. He has the same genius as a rock! And, he’d only be a gray rock. All it seems he has to do is flip a switch and take in my extra $10 a month.

I figured I better ask another question. Am I getting then the best service I can get … or is there another kid in town? He’s still putzing with the change. If he’d be any better a salesman we’d be up to the rock ages. He leaves little to be desired. AHA! Now I find there is a 16 mg speed which is the best … that’s double what he’s offered at first. So we asked how much money. Let’s see if it sinks our boat. He’s saying an additional $27, but we don’t know if that doesn’t mean $37.

He says that I would be at $96.93. Now I want to know if I would then be a performance plus customer like the ad had stated there were. God knows I’ve put my life into the computer. Sure as hell want fast!

He says now I would still be a high speed internet. AHA! Sounds like there is something better! So we asked about that … Shoot man SELL ME! Hmm, he says I’ve that would be the fastest service I could get in the area. So we asked him to name the other service so I could recognize it if it bit me. Ok, this guy is a real idiot. We told him to just do it. So then after a few minutes he comes back and says its done. I asked if there was anything else to do or will it just be faster and I’ll note the difference in my billing.

Now we’re waiting again. He’s so slow. He says it’s automatic … so … OH my gosh … I had typed here I’m done with him. And that had appeared in my other screen as I had hit enter. I don’t know what the poor kid must think. BUT, I AM DONE WITH HIM … very frustrating. Let me check it out.



Hmm, this is interesting … I was just over at V’s place checking out Ann on Speed. I think he caused a blip in the radar. I’m not sure if my thoughts are coherent, but I appreciated V giving me something to think over. Let’s see if we can get you up past just once a month posting. What do ya think? How are you doing?

Ok, V … Uncle.

Hmm, it’s by now 5 pm. Only 5-7 more hours to go. AND THEN we’re into HUNNYBUNNY SPACE!!!

I’m going to make it! I just know I am!

Hmm, maybe I’ll need a pit stop first. BRB.

Ok, ok … that’s done … maybe we’ll wait a little longer before we take our evening medicine … it’s going to make us tired. Oh yeah btw we talked to Joe for a few moments. He just said that he was tired from being in a parade today – he would have been doing things with his Karate school. If Joe were more coordinated we would have loved to go watch him. But, he didn’t have that in mind.

As to Maury – we’re not sure where he is … think our last thought here was we couldn’t afford to take him our even if his time wasn’t a problem. He fills his schedule regularly.

On Thom’s behalf, he is going to be out in the field for 2-3 more hours. He’s shooting using a M249 SAW. Apparently, that’s a light machine gun that costs about $4100, weighs about 15-16 pounds – 7 more with a 200-round box magazine. It’s about 41 inches, hand-held, and shoots from 750-1000 rounds a minute. Ok, this is going to be handy sometime … I think I’m getting closer to mush-minded. I still haven’t figured out what killing is about. I don’t want to inflect negatively on Thom, because I’m so proud of him. But, this part where he’s killing. I just can’t quite grasp. I’m guessing that you could kill someone with just 1-2 rounds … but, 1000?

Are we going to be taking out charging elephants? That’s a lot of fire power. The reference I read says usually there’s about 3 per squad. I think a squad is like 21 troops.

Ok, you know we were going to show you. Hold on…



We dared to question with the Marine group today the aspect of killing. I don’t know if the moderators changed what we had to say or if there was any response to it. I think that a lot of parents are like us in some kind of denial that what our kids are being taught is to be killers. Shouldn’t that bother us? I think I’m on target here actually. I can say it, kinda see it, but can’t grasp it. I’ve been reading and looking of pictures of men who have died recently. There are too many …

Maybe I’ll go read a while. It makes me feel like I’m fighting back. Knowledge is supposed to give power.

posted by Ann Marie @ 7/04/2008 06:04:00 PM Comments: 0