Please read some of the articles from the WSJ editorialists in my new widget. I especially love James Taranto in "Best of the Web" (near the bottom).
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Changing the way I keep track of my mileage. I want to just keep riding and see how far I can ride on this bike until it wears out. I really enjoy riding and learning about the places I visit.
Rode 20 miles to Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park (total of 1,253 miles from home). Beautiful, but knowing me this descriptive paragraph will tell you something about what sights I would visit should I decide to stay long:
"Known as Niagara of the North, Kakabeka Falls plunges 40 metres over sheer cliffs and some of the oldest fossils in the world. Get a bird's-eye view from jutting platforms and trails along the gorge."
I shall not be getting a bird's eye view of anything, let alone the Niagara Falls of the North.
According to Wikipedia, "The name "Kakabeka" comes from the Ojibwe word gakaabikaa 'waterfall over a cliff'". We all know that the Ojibwe were not so stupid as to think that there were any other kind of waterfall than the kind that falls over a cliff. So they wouldn't name waterfalls that, right? I mean that's like us naming something "the mountain that pokes up from the ground". Doesn't narrow it down too much and makes you sound stupid.
My guess is that some teenaged warrior-wannabe got caught near the falls and the Ojibwe word means "the place where Beka pooped and got caught". Think about it.
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Mack Talley died Friday night, January 22, 2010. He was around 80 years old and had had a stroke about a year ago, and a heart attack sometime in the near past. The thing I remember most about him was his strong testimony of Jesus Christ. Every fast and testimony meeting he would get up and bear his testimony of Christ and the restored gospel. He was not ashamed of anything good. His hearing took a dive after his stroke and sometimes he could not quite make out what was being taught in classes, so his comments were not always on the mark, although they were profound anyway, and you had best pay attention. We always had respect for him and let him have his say. I knew that when he did NOT comment in class, it was because he had turned his hearing aid down. I'm going to get one of those, a fake one, so I can turn it down and make people think I can't hear, rather than I just want to be left alone for a while.
Mack's grandmother was the first person baptized into the church in the Morristown area. So Mack is a third generation Latter Day Saint, Terrina is a fourth, and Chandler is a fifth. Real pioneers in the gospel here. We will miss you, Mack. Until we meet again.
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Bear with me on this next part. Please.
I'm not gonna name names but a person I know said that her almost 5 year old son was quasi-diagnosed as having Asperger's Syndrome, which is a form of autism having some of the following characteristics: lack of demonstrated empathy, impairment in social interaction, stereotyped and restricted patterns of behavior, activities and interests, no clinically significant delay in cognitive development or general delay in language. In other words, the person may not feel sorry for others, has impaired ability to interact with others, has repetitive behavior and interests, and is smart and speaks just fine. Also, impairment of prosody (the rhythm, stress, and intonation of speech), one sided verbosity, and physical clumsiness are common.
Ok. Got it? The quasi-diagnosis came from the boy's Primary choruster. Her mother is a specialist in some area and suggested, based on the choruster's observation, that this may be the diagnosis. The grounds? When the choruster told the children (children!!!) to "put on your listening ears" this boy looked away.
He's five. He's intelligent, sometimes mischevious, not very talkative, granted, except when he wants to be and then he can be quite talkative. His imagination is profound and quite detailed. (Ever read "Calvin and Hobbes"? Calvin MUST have Asperger's!!!) When the "well meaning" (I'm not in agreement with this as I think she is a busy body with little else to do and has Obama Syndrome where the person doesn't realize that other people may just be sick and tire of hearing you talk) choruster gave this mom the "diagnosis" from her mother which she got via long distance call about a a child who turned away when she told him to listen, the mom then went home and asked her son, why he turned away. "Because after she said it so many times, I got tired of hearing it and just turned away." You rock, little dude.
MY diagnosis? The Primary choruster is boring. B-O-R-I-N-G. Little kids turn away when you bore them. Teenagers will actually tell you that you are boring. They are not autistic. They are bored. You suck as a teacher. Or choruster. Deal with it.
I told a medical professional friend of mine (nameless) about this and hit a raw nerve with him. I don't think he will mind me quoting him here, since he's my friend, and I owe him some abuse, and I think he is smart:
"I deal with moronic school teachers every week. Parents bring their kids in because some teacher doesn't think they are cookie cutter normal. Pisses me off. I'd been seeing the kid for over a year, I have test results, exam results, and appraised their Denver Milestone Development category. The teachers even diagnose them with lice, conjunctivitis, infections which turn out to be dandruff or allergies. Even after I give parent a note that little Johnnie is NOT contagious I get calls that the teacher still wouldn't let them back in class because she thinks differently and wants me to call her to discuss it. That's when I go ballistic and call the Principal and chew their butt for a while and ask what medical school his teacher went to. That I was going to report her to State Board of Education for abusing the allocation of health care resources, if he doesn't take care of this problem. They usually fold. That takes care of that teacher but then another teacher weed sprouts up. Just to many of them. Can you see you touched a tender subject?"
Bottom line: the symptoms of Asperger's describe me on my worst days. So perhaps I have it. Gosh, perhaps we all have what I like to call "Periodic Intermittent Symptomatic Stress Effectivity Disorder of Frenetic Fixation" (PISSED OFF).
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I feel a LOT better.
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