Well a little while back she decided that it was time to tighten up a bit so along with her regular exercise she was going to go on the Jenny Craig diet for a few months.  She goes in, fills out all the forms truthfully and when she hands in her paperwork they say they that because she has type one diabetes that she will not be accepted into the program.  Never mind the fact that my wife is in PERFECT health, has always kept her A1C levels under control etc.  No way.  Not even with her doctors approval, not even if she signs a waver. . . nothing.

So she demands to speak with someone higher up.  Ha!  Well that has been a joke.  No one calls her back at all the phone numbers she tried and I could see that she was getting VERY upset so I decided to jump in.  I managed to get someone at their main office and she said she would personally get to the bottom of the issue.  Her name was Sheril Waterman.  (Thank you Sheril)  And true to her word she went to the higher ups and found the answer.  Apparently back in 2007 they made a blanket ruling within their company that without exception they would refuse service to anyone who is type one diabetic.

Well I’m sorry to say but that is just stupid.  Its discriminatory, its insulting and ignorant.  I can understand refusing service to someone with food allergies.  Maybe refusing service to people on certain types of medication that may cause a reaction to supplements taken in the program.   But to refuse to serve someone due to a birth defect that is perfectly controllable with medication and monitoring glucose levels!?!  Moronic.

Well my wife is obviously very insulted by this.   She is now on the lookout for a way to right this wrong.  I wish her luck and will support her in this in any way I can.

So now from 7 to 10 (CS5) I’m finding a lot of things that were changed that. . . I don’t really understand why.  The whole interface feels a LOT busier than it ever did.  There are all these little gripping dot areas and icons for sub-menus that transform the elegant interface into whats starting to look like the cockpit of a jumbo jet.

I instantly noticed a major speed increase which is VERY welcome.  Scrubbing, scaling, previewing etc.  Its using the same hack/trick that Gridiron’s Nucleo used which feels a little bit like a cop out but there is no arguing that it works.

Having to upgrade all my plugins to the 64bit versions was a real pain in the butt and quite costly.  Most plugin providers took the opportunity to make a paid upgrade to support 64bit.  The welcome trend breaker was Neat Video.   Their noise reducing plugin just provided a 64bit update without any need to fork over more money.

My AE7 projects appear to be importing without any dramas.  On complex scenes the interface is locking up a lot more than in a way thats very different.  It may be the way Windows 7 works but it is very jarring to have the whole screen turn light grey instead of just have an hour glass spinning.  I’ll get used to it but. . . it FEELS like its going to crash instead of feeling like its working hard at something and you can’t touch anything on the interface quiet yet.

I haven’t tried any of the new features yet.  I don’t do a lot of motion graphics so I doubt I’ll do much exploring.  Overall I’m very pleased that I’m finally able to utilize all the ram in my system, that it is finally multi-threaded (sort of) and that there are no major hangups other than the interface getting very cluttered. . .

So the basic idea is that a lot of what we are taught and read about is wrong with regards to correcting children’s behavior.  The more traditional approach is to ignore the bad and reward the good. . . and provide clear consequence and rules to your child’s choices and actions.  And as she pointed out. . . these methods don’t really work on kids that have had a history of trauma in their lives.  Why?  Because kids who have had a lost of stress and trauma in their past have very low buffers for stress increases.  What seems like a simple privilege removal for us pushes them right over the edge kicking them into their “Fight or Flight” response which causes all rational thought to go right out the window.   For those kids you need to approach correcting their behavior in a very different way.

Its more about listening to what it is they are needing in their words and actions.  Getting right to the core of their concern/stress/frustration, give it acknowledgement, take ownership of it if possible and then open your hearts up to them.  Let them know how much they mean to you and how important they are etc.

SO!  I tried it today on one of the hellions in my Sunday school class.  The class was unusually full and this little one had their friend with them and they were both feeding off each other and being very disruptive.  So I took this little person out of class like I have done before with another kid a few weeks back and decided to talk about what it is that was causing them to be disruptive etc.  Didn’t work.  ”Your a poopie head HA HAHAHAH”  Wow.  Tried to tell the little one how important they were and that I understood. . . nope.  So then I got more drastic.  I held the little bugger’s hand and we went outside and started walking around the church.

Thats when it got crazy.  This little kid started to wig out!  Kicking me, biting me,  punching me etc.  I just held on and talked in a calm voice about how nice it is to go on walks. . . how nice it is to go to church and learn about Jesus and how much he loves us. . . I just ignored the freaking out, held onto the child’s hand and just gently walked around the church.  About 3/4 of the way around the second lap things finally started to calm down and then the kid started talking back to me.  I got to know about activities the child liked to do, who the child’s friends were at school etc.  So then FINALLY we were able to talk about the cause of their behavior.  Church is long, sometimes it is boring, sometimes there are too many kids in the class and that makes things frustrating etc.  I told the kid I TOTALLY understood and that it used to be very rough for me too and that I was sooooo sorry they were having a hard time and that I’d try and make it easier for them.  So then we were ready to go back in and join the rest of the kids.

Well what do you know. . . we sat down and the little runt leaned up against me as we sat down and we were good buds.  We did all the hand actions to the songs together. . . we calmly talked about what was going on very reverently etc.  The little kid’s friend was looking over at us the whole time in wonderment.  And nothing this friend could do would break my hold on MY new friend.  This little kid was mine now.  

So no punishments, no consequences, no “rules” enforced or anything like that.  Just lots of attention, acknowledgement, empathy and love and the bad behavior just melts away.  I was very proud of myself.  

So now I think I want to read these books that  Heather Forbs has written.  She has a website that has a lot more information and where you can buy the books and other training material.

If anyone is struggling with a child of any age that seems to break all the rules and advice you are given by others, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend looking into the methods taught by Heather Forbs in her books and training.

I think my fondest memory will be the day I noticed that he was actually LOOKING at me.  It was an amazing switch.  From blank “general direction” stares to actual “seeing” me.  His little eyes would dart around my face taking it all in. . . and then look at my hair and back to my eyes and then my nose and lips etc.  Was an amazing experience to see that little leap in development.

Towards the very end he started to do some baby talk which was super fun.  To carry on conversations with baby ramblings is a blast.  

While he was VERY hard to look after. . . I wouldn’t give up the experience for the world.  Jen and I are both beat.  I don’t know how single parents do it. . . with us tag teaming every other night we were both dead on our feet most of the time.  I now have a much greater appreciation for the hardship that mothers go through in caring for little infants.

Before we took him back to his mother we made a nice little video introducing ourselves to the little guy and telling him a little bit about his stay with us.  Hopefully he will be able to watch it when he is a bit older.  Isabelle cried a little bit but Jen and I have been around the block a few times with this sort of thing so we were able hold it together.  The hand off went smoothly and whats great is that we are friendly enough with the little bugger’s birth mother that I think we will be able to monitor his development through  Facebook which is awesome.

So!  NEXT!?!   Can’t believe I said that but. . . it sure would be nice to have another chance at getting another baby to call our own.

I can now say that we are very experienced at looking after little babies so if anyone is hoping to find a loving home for their beautiful little baby. . . slide us up there on the top of that list please.  

So here is my to-do list this week.  Might as well just tell the world so I can be held accountable for when/if I don’t get it done.  

1. Find a solution that will allow me to texture a character that is moving through a maya point cache but still have dynamics on the fur.  (May have to include Fori’s help).  - update.  Not possible. . . going to need to use BVH and re-skin.  
2. Get a refund for the HUD wordpress theme.
3. Find a solution for a more dynamic portal page for SetupTab to help promote products better and draw more interest to the site.  (Articles, Interviews, Reviews etc.)
4. Further test fastMDD.
5. Begin creating promotional material for fastMDD (may be a video tutorial?)
6. Clean up my mess of an office.
7. Get MAG and another Mac Mini up for sale on ebay.
8. Help Fori find solutions for the mac port.  In particular a mac “theme” so that he doesn’t have to pass the window calls to OS X and find out how to get key bindings to work with .Xmodmap.
9. Sleep.

K. . .  If I can get some/all of that done I’ll be happy.

<putting work hat on>

To quote one of my favorite movies. . . “If everybody is special, nobody is.”

While some parts of this book were interesting and entertaining, the majority of it was layered with so much complex magic, history, unexplainable and illogical ramblings of prior wars and motivations of races and organizations. I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone. There are just so many other great stories in this genera that are better.

It was a whole different story with Wizard of Oz.  Isabelle was entranced by it!  Almost the whole time as I read she would just stare at my lips.  When I would ask her questions about it afterward reading a few chapters at a time she knew all about what was happening when, where and why.  Which is pretty amazing because the story isn’t exactly simple.  The movie doesn’t even begin to cover all of the crazy characters and adventures they go on through the book.  The land of the beasts. . . the hammer head people with no arms. . . the Queen of the Mice. . . the Giant beasts that would try and attack them. . . very very different but also quite exciting.  Isabelle would get scared, excited, laugh etc.  Her enjoyment of the story made it a lot easier for me to continue reading and attempt to see this world through her eyes.

What did I think of the book?  Well it was interesting.  There wasn’t exactly much depth to it and it did shock me how graphic it was at times.  40 wolves get their heads chopped off. . . Giant spiders that would eat the other beasts that had to get it’s head knocked off by the Cowardly Lion etc.   Lots of heads getting chopped off now that I think of it.  I wouldn’t have ever read it without having Isabelle around.  I know that sounds obvious but its also the truth.

So if you have a little 4 year old that doesn’t like to listen to long stories. . . you might want to give this one a try.  I just downloaded the sequel to my nook and will see if she likes this one.  I don’t think it has Dorothy in it. . .

Anyway the last book I just finished reading is called “a fortunate life” by A. B. Facey .

The whole story is about Albert Facey’s life.  From his first memories to old age.  And through his memories we get a glimpse of an amazing time in early Australian history.  The story of his life is nothing short of amazing.  His hardships and trials as a little child growing up in the harsh Western Australian settlement periods that take up the first third of the book were quite moving.  The things that little kid went through!  There was no time for school.  No time for friends or play.  It was work work work and if you were lucky you’d get a treat at Christmas.

The stories varied from being literally whipped for hiding alcohol, to running through the bush away from a cruel family with nothing but home made rag shoes on his feet.  What amazed me was how my physical work was expected of him at such a young age.  Milking cows, tending sheep, pigs, firewood etc. etc.  The amount of hard labor you had to do just to survive!

Then later as he grows up he tells of his different jobs he had over the years but more importantly he paints a very clear vivid picture of what life was like.  From going on large cattle drives to building a home from scratch on a property with just a few nails and corrugated Iron.  He has an amazing memory for the people that he knew.  Through his words in just a few short paragraphs you instantly feel like you KNOW that person.  ”He liked to skite a bit”.  Yup. . . I know people like that.  ”Mean drunk.”  Yup. . .

From there he takes us through is time in Turkey during World War 1, his many different jobs after the war, his marriage, family etc.

I think what makes this book so awesome to me is his attitude towards life.  He doesn’t ever appear to get down.  Even though he went through such horrible things in his life, he never seems to have dwelt on it.  ”Thats how it was in those days.”

A lot of my relatives in Australia have vivid memories of earlier times.  My own mother grew up on a farm way out in the bush and my Uncle lived out west for a long time.  One time my wife and I went for a long drive when we were in Australia and found one old town that my Mum lived in for a while.  We found the old house she lived in.  Then the old school.  Whats amazing is that its ALL still there.  Not much has changed.  Then we found a little community town history building and after a little looking around I found a class photo of my Mum when she was just a little kid.  Barefoot.  Home made clothes etc.

Australian’s history doesn’t go back very far.  Its a very new country that was forged just a few generations back and so a lot of that pioneer feeling is still left in the way people are.  Its a very awesome feeling that this book perfectly captures.

It also very clearly displays one of the really crappy things about Australians.  How much they love Alcohol.  At an early age Albert promised his Grandmother that he would never touch a drop of  ”Intoxicating drink” and was true to his word till the day he died.  He was the exception.  He tells of people blowing months of pay in week long drinking binges.  Brawls that would break out between families who had drunk too much.  Large numbers of livestock being lost due to the farmers being to inebriated to even stand up.  Australians love to drink and it is NOT something they should be proud of.  I understand the social pressures but its just something that I wish wasn’t “normal”.

The book isn’t exactly “well written”.  The style is very simple and he tends to dwell on the mundane details from time to time.  Numbers of supplies needed for this and that. . . best times for planting that vs. this.  But it does kind of show you a window into what was at the top of their minds back then.

I loved reading this book.  I would recommend it to anyone who has an interest in what early life was like in Australia.  It is inspiring, entertaining, romantic. . . a really really good book.

Whats good?  The screen is very nice.  No strain on the eyes at all.  I found myself blasting through pages and pages of text without needing to rest my eyes at all.  The text is crisp and clean and seems to be the perfect size/font/contrast.  I also love the book store built in.  I was able to find dozens of books that I think I might like.  The ability to download a sample and read reviews about the book before you buy it. . . all from the comfort of your own couch is awesome.  I can see myself spending a LOT of time with this thing.

Whats not so good?  The touch screen navigation seems very squirmy.  It takes a beat to recognize that you are trying to swipe and then you have to be very careful to swipe firmly but not drift too far up or you will accidentally hit the little “n” and re-set yourself back to the menu’s home.  Typing is also painful.  Just to set up my wifi took several attempts.  Searches in the store are also quite frustrating.  You press, it takes a beat for the touchpad to recognize your press and THEN it takes forever for the screen to reflect your change.  I started to get the hang of it after a while but it really made me appreciate the benefits of a physical keyboard.

I was also surprised that there were books I wanted to read missing from the store.  Fablehaven?  Nope.   How to Train Your Dragon (book).  Nope.  A Fortunate Life by Albert Facey. . . No Love.  Those are books I’ll just have to read the old fashioned way.  I still haven’t figured out how to get the LDS scriptures on there either.  I found PDF versions but the nook didn’t seem to like them.  I’ll need to hunt down a more compatible version.  Couldn’t find any of my teaching manuals in a format it could read either.  Bit of a surprise there.

So my verdict?  It is a one trick pony.  It’s screen is so nice for reading but there aren’t really any extra perks that go along with it.  No web browsing, no RSS feeds, no games etc.  I know I will personally spend a lot of time with it because I like to read and I was able to find so many books in the store that I know I will enjoy but its not like. . . a Tivo or Playstation or other type of device that is a “platform” that can do a whole bunch of different things.  The nook’s whole job is to allow you to buy and read books.  Thats it.

I like it.