"Onl|ne Ph4rm4cy", "\/icoddin, CodI1ne,V1aagrra,Xanaa,", "No perscription required"
How do I feel about these Pushers coming into my home daily trying to pedal there drugs, well to be honest it makes me SICK! Let's face the facts they are NOT here to save me money, it is an entirely selfish venture exactly the same as a dealer from the street.
Now the most intolerable thing about this is not that they will sell prescription meds without a prescription (although this in itself is completely illegal), it is that they are preying on people at some of their most vulnerable times! They perpetuate addiction, the same as any street pusher would, and they make it so easy with "Next day shipping worldwide" or "Buy in bulk and save" and most heinously "No prescription required". These are not advertising strategies focussed toward the legitimate user of prescription meds, they are tactics designed to intice the illicit user (and a cheap way for actual street pushers to restock designer drugs). The easier it is for an addict to obtain their drugs , the more difficult it will be for them to break the habit.
Are we coming to a place where most of society is going to be "whacked out" on drugs because they "can't handle life? And what does that in itself say about society's parenting skills?
I don't put all the blame on the illegal practices of these online pharmacies. Another simple fact is that we all have the freedom to choose to take drugs or not, and as long as there is a market for them to exploit, they will. However these companies are so brazen that they publically advertise how they are breaking the law yet there is nothing being done about it! But what I see as the worst offense is that they are coming into our homes uninvited, and we have no available means to stop them! With a street pusher we would calls the police, but who do we call to stop "Cyber" pushers? The only resource that I see we have is to address them as spammers and report them that way. ( A good site for this is SPAMCOP). As long as we all actually do this, we might eventually get them out of our inboxes.
Bob
Friday, April 15, 2005
Monday, April 11, 2005
Religion VS Christianity
I caught an article on the news last night about how this older "religious" couple didn't see a problem condoning gay marriages, and this caused me to ponder what religion they believed in. Let's call a duck a duck here, not all religions are Christianity, and even different denominations do not believe the same thing. HOWEVER, to tell me you are a Christian and do not see anything wrong with gay marriage tells me that you either don't read the Bible, or you really don't have a clue what you really believe in.
Let's take the United denomination for an example, here is a group of people that are supposed to be dedicated to teaching the uncompromised word of God, and then they ordain homosexual ministers? Even worse yet they elect a homosexual bishop! Have they been reading the same Bible I do, because mine says that homosexuality is immoral and wrong according to God. Now I must be quick to point out at this point that I do NOT harbor ill will to gay PEOPLE, it is the ACT of homosexuality I have a problem with. On the same note it is not nature that makes you gay, it is upbringing (or nurture).
I guess my point here is that there is no middle ground on this issue as a Christian. Homosexuality is unequivocally wrong, and if you believe otherwise you are NOT a true Christian. You may be a person of faith, but like I said religion is NOT Christianity! So who do you really believe in?
Remember that this is my opinion, and I'm not out to convict or condemn anyone (and I'll point out here that God tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves). I'm only pointing out the truth as I see it in the Bible.
I quote:
"Why can't they get the picture, why don't they understand? We're not dealing with the planet of apes, we're talking about the modern man... Here's your sign!"
Bill Engvall
Let's take the United denomination for an example, here is a group of people that are supposed to be dedicated to teaching the uncompromised word of God, and then they ordain homosexual ministers? Even worse yet they elect a homosexual bishop! Have they been reading the same Bible I do, because mine says that homosexuality is immoral and wrong according to God. Now I must be quick to point out at this point that I do NOT harbor ill will to gay PEOPLE, it is the ACT of homosexuality I have a problem with. On the same note it is not nature that makes you gay, it is upbringing (or nurture).
I guess my point here is that there is no middle ground on this issue as a Christian. Homosexuality is unequivocally wrong, and if you believe otherwise you are NOT a true Christian. You may be a person of faith, but like I said religion is NOT Christianity! So who do you really believe in?
Remember that this is my opinion, and I'm not out to convict or condemn anyone (and I'll point out here that God tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves). I'm only pointing out the truth as I see it in the Bible.
I quote:
"Why can't they get the picture, why don't they understand? We're not dealing with the planet of apes, we're talking about the modern man... Here's your sign!"
Bill Engvall
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
Murder is not a crime.
At least not according to the law of man, that's what the courts in Florida (Judge Greer in particular) are telling us. What makes walking up to a mentally retarded person and shooting them any different from pulling the feeding tube from Terri's body, not a whole heck of a lot! Is this what we've condemned society to become? We have become so selfish that we can't be bothered with taking care of the infirm, it gets in the way of what WE want! How convenient for us all, no more of those nasty disabled people to bother us! Yes I have a disability, not nearly as severe as Terri's but are we next on the hit list? It would be FAR more convenient for my family if I wasn't around at times, and I'm sure most caregivers and families could say the same thing about the ones they care for. And after that who's head would be on the chopping block, homeless people? Drug addicts? Alcoholics? Smokers? Maybe people that lie to us? Where do we eventually draw the line? Let's face it morality doesn't take a break just to make things easier for us!
Now forgive my rant, I just feel very passionately that we have allowed governmental bodies to rule so much of our life that we can no longer do without their so called "guidance". Remember these people lie to use to get into office (just so you know campaign promises are not legally binding, so once they are in they don't have to follow through with them), break their promises once they get in, and then we let them rule our Countries! I know the US has a system in place to "impeach" a president for misconduct, and I think we need to institute a system like this for all government positions thereby making them accountable to their employers' (THE CITIZENS) for their actions while in office or else they are OUT OF THERE (and in case of the current ADSCAM fiasco, Out of office and into a jail cell)! I'm not saying it would be a perfect system, but we could be assured that we would hear the truth from then on! These are the people that make the laws, spend our tax dollars, and represent our Country in other Nations, shouldn't our politicians make DANG sure that they are above reproach? Infidelity and corruption in Government is INTOLERABLE, and we need to let them know it is NO LONGER ACCEPTABLE!
God help us all, because the way things are run here on earth we sure need the help!
Now forgive my rant, I just feel very passionately that we have allowed governmental bodies to rule so much of our life that we can no longer do without their so called "guidance". Remember these people lie to use to get into office (just so you know campaign promises are not legally binding, so once they are in they don't have to follow through with them), break their promises once they get in, and then we let them rule our Countries! I know the US has a system in place to "impeach" a president for misconduct, and I think we need to institute a system like this for all government positions thereby making them accountable to their employers' (THE CITIZENS) for their actions while in office or else they are OUT OF THERE (and in case of the current ADSCAM fiasco, Out of office and into a jail cell)! I'm not saying it would be a perfect system, but we could be assured that we would hear the truth from then on! These are the people that make the laws, spend our tax dollars, and represent our Country in other Nations, shouldn't our politicians make DANG sure that they are above reproach? Infidelity and corruption in Government is INTOLERABLE, and we need to let them know it is NO LONGER ACCEPTABLE!
God help us all, because the way things are run here on earth we sure need the help!
Thursday, February 17, 2005
One of those days
Sometimes pain is good, it reminds you that you're alive. Then there are time times when pain makes you wish you were dead, for chronic pain sufferers those are tough days. Things go wrong and you feel like you're not only fighting things in the world around you, but you also have this battle with something you have no control over within yourself. I know most people don't have a clue as to what I deal with, and knowing this makes it a little easier to forgive people's attitudes.... To a point! It's hard not to want to pack it in, give up, just walk away from everything on "Those Days", and even staying sane take an incredible effort. Sometime you need to walk away and leave things for a bit, and then there are also times to give these people a kick in the rear. Distinguishing between these becomes even more difficult when what you're dealing with invokes enormous amounts of anger and frustration in the first place. This is the type of day I'm having today, I don't know whether I'm coming or going.
Friday, January 14, 2005
Assesments, meetings and PROGRESS.
Yesterday I met with the Career counsellor and my Vocational Rehab councellor, and there were some good things that came from it. First was the acceptance of assistive equipment recommended by the Neil Squire foundation, so I have a fair bit of "shopping" to do. Thank goodness the Assistive specialist at Neil Squire is able to help me contact the appropriate suppliers, and therby set up shipping and billing. The Lady I'm dealing with through them has been a God send, supportive, uplifting and encouraging. But then I have to say that recently I have been thoroughly blessed with some very helpful professionals, and they are willing to do what it takes to make this process a possibility!
We also came to the conclusion that college prep courses would be a good idea as well, after all it's been a long time since I've had to attend school! Even after attending SIAST (career college) to take my meat cutting certificate, It didn't include papers and essays like my upcoming endevour. So this should be starting in February, I only hope I will have learned about and set up all the equipment by then!
I finally come to Today, where we received a call from an organization called "Independant Living". This group has yet more assistive products to help with the more mundane day to day living, such as shower support bars and electric adjustable beds (Gee who would have imagined that might help? I only bought one 2 and a half years ago....). There are other things that they'll be recommending like an electric recliner, and single handle hot/cold taps. Things that we would have eventually done, but it all cost so much and we're on a fixed income. I can't even remember everything we've done or bought on our own to help make life a little easier, but after seven years of fighting with them for even basic coverage we are finally getting some help and understanding.
Now for the future, we have one more assessment to come. This one is specifically to evaluate the level of personal care I need, that has to do with how much (and what type of) regular life items are required to be done for me. Simple things like cutting my own meat, washing my hair in the shower, clipping my toenails or fingernails. These are things that a normal person wouldn't even think about, yet they cause me excruciating pain were I to attempt them myself. So it has been very enlightening to have all these assessments done, I'm just amazed (and appalled) that none of this was even considered sooner by WCB. There are a lot of problems at WCB that need to be addressed and most of it has to do with treatment of injured workers, but that's a WHOLE different post. (Maybe one that will come sooner rather than later, keep an eye out for it!).
We also came to the conclusion that college prep courses would be a good idea as well, after all it's been a long time since I've had to attend school! Even after attending SIAST (career college) to take my meat cutting certificate, It didn't include papers and essays like my upcoming endevour. So this should be starting in February, I only hope I will have learned about and set up all the equipment by then!
I finally come to Today, where we received a call from an organization called "Independant Living". This group has yet more assistive products to help with the more mundane day to day living, such as shower support bars and electric adjustable beds (Gee who would have imagined that might help? I only bought one 2 and a half years ago....). There are other things that they'll be recommending like an electric recliner, and single handle hot/cold taps. Things that we would have eventually done, but it all cost so much and we're on a fixed income. I can't even remember everything we've done or bought on our own to help make life a little easier, but after seven years of fighting with them for even basic coverage we are finally getting some help and understanding.
Now for the future, we have one more assessment to come. This one is specifically to evaluate the level of personal care I need, that has to do with how much (and what type of) regular life items are required to be done for me. Simple things like cutting my own meat, washing my hair in the shower, clipping my toenails or fingernails. These are things that a normal person wouldn't even think about, yet they cause me excruciating pain were I to attempt them myself. So it has been very enlightening to have all these assessments done, I'm just amazed (and appalled) that none of this was even considered sooner by WCB. There are a lot of problems at WCB that need to be addressed and most of it has to do with treatment of injured workers, but that's a WHOLE different post. (Maybe one that will come sooner rather than later, keep an eye out for it!).
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Patience is a virtue.
11 days into the new year, and as much as I would like to get moving on things I still have to wait on others. I understand that I have nothing else pressing to work on like they do, so I find no fault with the people doing the things that need to be done no metter how long they take. The problem is in myself, being so anxious to start moving and feeling productive again that it feels like it's taking forever to come together. After 7 years of dealing with loss, trying to cope with pain, dealing with medications and their side effects and ultimately the wiening off of them, and then trying to figure out how to handle life with this pain and no medication, I need to feel useful again.
I meet again with the Rehab CSR from WCB on the 13th, for what I'm not sure (The career counsellor and CSR set up the meeting) but I will be able to give her the quotes I have for the things I'll need and the report from Neil Squire. We'll see what happens at this meeting, and I'll post an update then.
I meet again with the Rehab CSR from WCB on the 13th, for what I'm not sure (The career counsellor and CSR set up the meeting) but I will be able to give her the quotes I have for the things I'll need and the report from Neil Squire. We'll see what happens at this meeting, and I'll post an update then.
Wednesday, December 15, 2004
Assistive Technologies are incredible!
I had an assessment today (more like a meeting but she did assess my needs, so I'll keep it as assessment) with an assistive technology specialist, and I was amazed at the items they have out there to help disabled individuals! I have adapted most things I already have to accomodate my needs, but today I found products specifically designed to make life easier. For example I found out that there are mice available that would keep my wrist in a natural position allowing more time that I could use it. Then of course there is a mouse that you don't even have to touch, it's called "Tracker" and works by watching the movement of a reflective disc on a headset or front frame of your glasses. I was blown away! I also found that they have a portable adjustable arm rest, it attatches to tables and/or chairs for proper support!
This was all preformed by an employee of the Neil Squire Foundation (their website can be found in my previous post), which I set up but Worker's Comp approved and will now pay for the necessary equipment. I have to admit that seeing some of these things like the armrest made me a little emotional, you see I've been trying to adapt everyday items to fit my needs but it never seems to work as well as planned or hoped for. So when she was showing me things that I knew would help me deal with my condition better, I have to say I got a little damp in the eyes. It hasn't been very often in the past 7 years that I've had any kind of real from Worker's Comp, and it's a little overwhelming at times.
Now I have to wait for a report from the specialist, and then I will submit to Comp the quotes I got for some of the equipment and software that is readily available to me. Then it's a matter of getting everything, setting up my workstation and I'm ready to go. Meanwhile I still need to work on getting my transcript, as well as getting ready to apply for University. There is still some work to be done in the area of school, but it's amazing how God is really in control.
This was all preformed by an employee of the Neil Squire Foundation (their website can be found in my previous post), which I set up but Worker's Comp approved and will now pay for the necessary equipment. I have to admit that seeing some of these things like the armrest made me a little emotional, you see I've been trying to adapt everyday items to fit my needs but it never seems to work as well as planned or hoped for. So when she was showing me things that I knew would help me deal with my condition better, I have to say I got a little damp in the eyes. It hasn't been very often in the past 7 years that I've had any kind of real from Worker's Comp, and it's a little overwhelming at times.
Now I have to wait for a report from the specialist, and then I will submit to Comp the quotes I got for some of the equipment and software that is readily available to me. Then it's a matter of getting everything, setting up my workstation and I'm ready to go. Meanwhile I still need to work on getting my transcript, as well as getting ready to apply for University. There is still some work to be done in the area of school, but it's amazing how God is really in control.
Monday, December 13, 2004
Heading toward the mark.
After meeting with the disability office at the UofR, I was given the name of a foundation specifically set up to assist disabled individuals with proper equipment to return to as normal a life as possible. For me this means ergonomic specialty equipment to accommodate keeping my pain down, thereby making it feasible and possible for me to return to school and work towards employment. The name of the organization is The Neil Squire Foundation, their website is Neil Squire Foundation. The foundation called me back today regarding their ergonomic specialist coming out and assessing my needs for this upcoming endeavor, I'm looking forward to this as it is a chance to learn what's available out there to assist me.
Last week I also met with the career counselor I've been working with, and she helped with the decision about what I should take. She did this by telling me that some of the things I want to do are only available with certain credentials. We also came up with a plan that would let us start anytime now, which involved taking a disability management course and transferring those credits into a B.A. in psychology. The major two factors that delay the start date are, first I need to have all the equipment in place and ready to go by the time I submit the application and secondly I need to get my transcripts for the application. I see the former being the largest challenge at present, mostly because I don't know what's available out there to help.... YET... However that is being taken care of very smoothly on both ends, that of the assessor and of the insurer! (As much as I dislike shopping for the most part, I have to get quotes for a lot of the equipment myself *ugh*)
That pretty much covers what's going on for now, assessment, shopping, getting transcripts and then submitting the application. I have no idea if it's going to get interesting yet or keep running this smoothly, but I'm trusting God to keep things smoo-ooth! *Grin*
Last week I also met with the career counselor I've been working with, and she helped with the decision about what I should take. She did this by telling me that some of the things I want to do are only available with certain credentials. We also came up with a plan that would let us start anytime now, which involved taking a disability management course and transferring those credits into a B.A. in psychology. The major two factors that delay the start date are, first I need to have all the equipment in place and ready to go by the time I submit the application and secondly I need to get my transcripts for the application. I see the former being the largest challenge at present, mostly because I don't know what's available out there to help.... YET... However that is being taken care of very smoothly on both ends, that of the assessor and of the insurer! (As much as I dislike shopping for the most part, I have to get quotes for a lot of the equipment myself *ugh*)
That pretty much covers what's going on for now, assessment, shopping, getting transcripts and then submitting the application. I have no idea if it's going to get interesting yet or keep running this smoothly, but I'm trusting God to keep things smoo-ooth! *Grin*
Wednesday, December 01, 2004
December 1st - Career Options.
I met with my Vocational Rehab CSR from WCB yesterday, and once again it was an enlightening and productive meeting. This lady is incredibly supportive and helpful, it's like the complete opposite of what I had to deal with at the beginning of this ordeal and I thank God for it! She is letting me put together my own program specifically designed to assist injured workers! I see this being a combination of things like Disability Management, Occupational Health and some Rehabilitation Services. I do want to be careful not to duplicate materials from the individual programs, and at the same time I want to be thorough and complete for the best opportunities for employment.
I was very surprised at one point, when she said that she would not be opposed to my taking a BA in Psychology. A BACHELOR'S IN PSYCHOLOGY!!!! This is 3-4 years of full time studies, and she is well aware that I may be only be able to work at it a MAXIMUM of part time! The most exciting part about all this is the limitless opportunities that are being presented. I do understand that some of the things in a Psych degree would be unnecessary to do the particular job that I'm working towards, but there are other avenues I can explore that may reduce the "fluff"(as my Voc CSR called it, and she should know as she has a Psych degree) information.
So I'll be meeting with the Career counselor again next week, as we had a mix up in this weeks meeting when I missed a message to reschedule. The meeting yesterday was actually meant to be with the Voc CSR and the Career counselor, but it was most likely Divine intervention as we got to discuss much more than just career objectives. And the extras we discussed were very important, they involved things like personal care as well as what they cover for medical equipment (some of which we've bought ourselves because they were needed, but didn't claim for them).
Needless to say these are very exciting times in my life. I'm really enjoying it even through the added pain levels, which is very cool! I would really love to help injured and disabled people like myself and that looks to be the way things will work out. It's just a matter of collecting appropriate information from employers on employment requirements, then finding the right courses and creating a program to encompass it all. There is still a fair bit of work to do, but it's getting closer every day!!
I was very surprised at one point, when she said that she would not be opposed to my taking a BA in Psychology. A BACHELOR'S IN PSYCHOLOGY!!!! This is 3-4 years of full time studies, and she is well aware that I may be only be able to work at it a MAXIMUM of part time! The most exciting part about all this is the limitless opportunities that are being presented. I do understand that some of the things in a Psych degree would be unnecessary to do the particular job that I'm working towards, but there are other avenues I can explore that may reduce the "fluff"(as my Voc CSR called it, and she should know as she has a Psych degree) information.
So I'll be meeting with the Career counselor again next week, as we had a mix up in this weeks meeting when I missed a message to reschedule. The meeting yesterday was actually meant to be with the Voc CSR and the Career counselor, but it was most likely Divine intervention as we got to discuss much more than just career objectives. And the extras we discussed were very important, they involved things like personal care as well as what they cover for medical equipment (some of which we've bought ourselves because they were needed, but didn't claim for them).
Needless to say these are very exciting times in my life. I'm really enjoying it even through the added pain levels, which is very cool! I would really love to help injured and disabled people like myself and that looks to be the way things will work out. It's just a matter of collecting appropriate information from employers on employment requirements, then finding the right courses and creating a program to encompass it all. There is still a fair bit of work to do, but it's getting closer every day!!
Monday, November 22, 2004
Not an easy task.
It's been about a month now since I did the testing with the career counsellor, and in 2 weeks I meet with her and my Vocational CSR from Comp (Worker's Compensation Board) to evaluate where we are at. However things have not gone as smoothly as they might have hoped, and I just hope that the Voc. CSR understands that this isn't as cut and dried as a normal case. With all the restrictions I have, finding an appropriate course to fit the strict criteria from my assessment team is tough going! I have an idea of the areas I'd like to move into, it's just hard finding suitable educational options. But even though there have been disappointments (wanting to do a certain course and then finding it unavailable to me), the level of it and stress has been minimal. I thank God for the way this has all been working out because I'm usually FAR more high strung concerning things like this, but that's not the case this time! So I'll update further on this subject when I know more.
But stay tuned for more "Stupid Politician Tricks", a week doesn't seem to go by without them doing something ridiculous!
But stay tuned for more "Stupid Politician Tricks", a week doesn't seem to go by without them doing something ridiculous!
Monday, November 01, 2004
Test results
I went today to find out the results of the CTBS tests, and the combination of it with the Myers -Briggs Type indicator and Strong Interest inventory. And to be completely honest some of the results really surprised me, and then gave clarification to my personality.
The Myers-Briggs really nailed down my personality (which at first I doubted it would do), and the career counsellor helped explain how to use these traits to choose a profession to compliment and capitalize on my strengths.
The Myers-Briggs type indicator showed me to be an ENTJ (which is an acronym for: Extroverted, iNtuitive, Thinking, Judging) personality. A short explaination of ENTJ is: "The Executive" externally focused, rational and logical, natural born leaders, quick and decisive judgements, easily take charge, dislikes seeing mistakes repeated and having no patience with inefficiency. This is of course far from complete, but I was surprised at how I saw myself in the descriptions. For more about ENTJ you can see ENTJ personality , which goes into much (MUCH) more detail, and even includes relationships, strengths, weaknesses as friends, lovers and parents.
The combination report (Strong Interest Inventory and "MBTI" or Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) gave some suggestions for employments that were based those and Holland's RIASEC theory of careers. Holland's theory classifies 6 occupation themes, R-Realistic, I-Investigative, A-Artistic, S-Social, E-Enterprising and C-Conventional. These traits are placed the points of a hexagonal pattern, and the closer the two traits are along the lines of the hexagon, are our stronger traits which will help us locate a more satisfying career. We have the all the traits from around the hexagon, it's how they work together that is hard to describe here. There is obviously far more to this as well, and it's how I understood things from speaking with the career counsellor. My occupational suggestions went like this:
Occupational Therapist, Dentist (this one really surprised me), Photographer, College Professor, Engineer, Biologist, Psychologist, Audiologist, Chiropractor, Flight Attendant, Housekeeping and Maintenance Supervisor, Military Enlisted personnel, Nursing Home Administrator, Paralegal, Reporter, Science Teacher and finally Sociologist. However my choice of career possibilities is not limited to just this list, but it gives me an idea of possibilities to look into further.
And lastly came the CTBS (Canadian Test of Basic Skills), this is the same test you probably took throughout high school. However something I never realized was that it is far more complex in it's depth than we imagine. It bases your Grade level on the percent correct, and goes on past simply grade 12. I completely expected to need upgrading in certain areas (I don't care for math, and my Capitalization and Punctuation leave a bit to be desired and I thought I totally messed up with Sources of information!), however the tests threw me for a loop! Out of the total 6 tests, my average grade level is grade 15 and 6 months. THAT INCLUDED MATH AND WRITTEN! (Am I shocked and amazed, yes! but it was a nice boost to my moral!) A breakdown of grade levels went like this:
Vocabulary, grade 18 and 5 months
Reading and Comprehension, grade 14 and 6 months
Written Language, grade 14 and 9 months
Sources of Information, grade 15 and 8 months
Quantive Thinking (Math), grade 14 and 4 months
Science, grade 16 and 2 months
And what all this means is that I could walk into a college level course TODAY without any type of upgrading! I was very pleased with the results, especially since I was sick as a dog when I took the tests.
Now comes the decision, what do I think I'll be able to do long term, and remembering to factor in all the intricacies of my disability. It's exciting (and scary at the same time) to go through this procedure, but it's worth it to take the time and do it right.
And as I go along I gather support from the people, today I got another vote for the "Vote Bob" campaign from my career counsellor! *grin*
The Myers-Briggs really nailed down my personality (which at first I doubted it would do), and the career counsellor helped explain how to use these traits to choose a profession to compliment and capitalize on my strengths.
The Myers-Briggs type indicator showed me to be an ENTJ (which is an acronym for: Extroverted, iNtuitive, Thinking, Judging) personality. A short explaination of ENTJ is: "The Executive" externally focused, rational and logical, natural born leaders, quick and decisive judgements, easily take charge, dislikes seeing mistakes repeated and having no patience with inefficiency. This is of course far from complete, but I was surprised at how I saw myself in the descriptions. For more about ENTJ you can see ENTJ personality , which goes into much (MUCH) more detail, and even includes relationships, strengths, weaknesses as friends, lovers and parents.
The combination report (Strong Interest Inventory and "MBTI" or Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) gave some suggestions for employments that were based those and Holland's RIASEC theory of careers. Holland's theory classifies 6 occupation themes, R-Realistic, I-Investigative, A-Artistic, S-Social, E-Enterprising and C-Conventional. These traits are placed the points of a hexagonal pattern, and the closer the two traits are along the lines of the hexagon, are our stronger traits which will help us locate a more satisfying career. We have the all the traits from around the hexagon, it's how they work together that is hard to describe here. There is obviously far more to this as well, and it's how I understood things from speaking with the career counsellor. My occupational suggestions went like this:
Occupational Therapist, Dentist (this one really surprised me), Photographer, College Professor, Engineer, Biologist, Psychologist, Audiologist, Chiropractor, Flight Attendant, Housekeeping and Maintenance Supervisor, Military Enlisted personnel, Nursing Home Administrator, Paralegal, Reporter, Science Teacher and finally Sociologist. However my choice of career possibilities is not limited to just this list, but it gives me an idea of possibilities to look into further.
And lastly came the CTBS (Canadian Test of Basic Skills), this is the same test you probably took throughout high school. However something I never realized was that it is far more complex in it's depth than we imagine. It bases your Grade level on the percent correct, and goes on past simply grade 12. I completely expected to need upgrading in certain areas (I don't care for math, and my Capitalization and Punctuation leave a bit to be desired and I thought I totally messed up with Sources of information!), however the tests threw me for a loop! Out of the total 6 tests, my average grade level is grade 15 and 6 months. THAT INCLUDED MATH AND WRITTEN! (Am I shocked and amazed, yes! but it was a nice boost to my moral!) A breakdown of grade levels went like this:
Vocabulary, grade 18 and 5 months
Reading and Comprehension, grade 14 and 6 months
Written Language, grade 14 and 9 months
Sources of Information, grade 15 and 8 months
Quantive Thinking (Math), grade 14 and 4 months
Science, grade 16 and 2 months
And what all this means is that I could walk into a college level course TODAY without any type of upgrading! I was very pleased with the results, especially since I was sick as a dog when I took the tests.
Now comes the decision, what do I think I'll be able to do long term, and remembering to factor in all the intricacies of my disability. It's exciting (and scary at the same time) to go through this procedure, but it's worth it to take the time and do it right.
And as I go along I gather support from the people, today I got another vote for the "Vote Bob" campaign from my career counsellor! *grin*
Saturday, October 30, 2004
Relating to others
A lot of Christians today have become accustomed to using certain language and phrasing specific to regular church attenders, and we call this Christian-ese. As I'm watching football on TV (Go Riders!!), I caught the announcers using football specific terms, something I never really paid attention to before as it made sense to me. Then I thought to myself "Would that make any sense to my wife Dee?". As I watched and thought more about it, I realized a parallel between Christian-ese and football jargon. Both of these modified languages use terms that would confuse someone not familiar to them, and that makes it difficult to relate to anyone outside that group.
If we want to get Jesus' message out to everyone, we have to be able to relate to them. I'm not talking about using them same words (cursing etc..), or by spending time with them putting yourself in a position to sin. I am saying is don't talk in church code (Christian-ese), it just tends to make people tune you out and I don't think that's what God would want. Also simply understand that we are all susceptible to sin, so don't be as willing to judge as we usually are. (And whether you think you do or not, understand that you do, that we all do.)
If we want to get Jesus' message out to everyone, we have to be able to relate to them. I'm not talking about using them same words (cursing etc..), or by spending time with them putting yourself in a position to sin. I am saying is don't talk in church code (Christian-ese), it just tends to make people tune you out and I don't think that's what God would want. Also simply understand that we are all susceptible to sin, so don't be as willing to judge as we usually are. (And whether you think you do or not, understand that you do, that we all do.)
The need for the return of manners
Holding the door for a stranger, please and thank you, even these small courtesies have lost a place in modern society. Are we too civilized to show respect to those whom we are destined to share time on earth with? Our efforts to be tolerant of everything makes us complacent to the moral decline of our societal etiquette.
It appals me when I see today's children interacting with others, the complete lack of respect for their elders is disgusting and they way they treat their peers is horrifying. Between our quest to be open minded and trying to obtain the "American Dream" lifestyle, society has stopped "raising" their children. We've left that to schools, daycares, babysitters, television and last but far from least their friends.
I'm not saying we need to pull the chair out for a lady (at least not every time, but wouldn't it be nice to make that person feel special?), however teaching our children that it is unacceptable to be rude or disobedient should be of utmost importance to us all. It's a simple thing that we think we're all doing, but we're not seeing the results in real life, are we? We get out of our kids what we put into them, and when we started taking God out look what happened.
I got all this as I watched a Saturday afternoon movie "Kate and Leopold", it made me think of how much we've changed since the foundation of Canada and the fact that a lot of it wasn't for the better. "We have every comfort and convenience, but no time for integrity" Leopold said, and doesn't that sum up the way of the world. It's up to all of us to change it!
It appals me when I see today's children interacting with others, the complete lack of respect for their elders is disgusting and they way they treat their peers is horrifying. Between our quest to be open minded and trying to obtain the "American Dream" lifestyle, society has stopped "raising" their children. We've left that to schools, daycares, babysitters, television and last but far from least their friends.
I'm not saying we need to pull the chair out for a lady (at least not every time, but wouldn't it be nice to make that person feel special?), however teaching our children that it is unacceptable to be rude or disobedient should be of utmost importance to us all. It's a simple thing that we think we're all doing, but we're not seeing the results in real life, are we? We get out of our kids what we put into them, and when we started taking God out look what happened.
I got all this as I watched a Saturday afternoon movie "Kate and Leopold", it made me think of how much we've changed since the foundation of Canada and the fact that a lot of it wasn't for the better. "We have every comfort and convenience, but no time for integrity" Leopold said, and doesn't that sum up the way of the world. It's up to all of us to change it!
Thursday, October 28, 2004
How annoying
I know that the internet is still confusing and new for a lot (most) of people, but instead of learning more about it they jump in with both feet after the absolute minimum of knowledge. I'm not saying that people with less experience should not use things like e-mail, I AM saying that if you're going to use it take the initiative to learn more about it!
Let's take forwards for example:
When you forward anything by just blindly following the instructions that come in the e-mail, you are putting your address and the all recipients adresses out there for hundreds, thousands etc.. of others to see OR USE as they wish. So let's protect each other online, LEARN as much as you can and ALWAYS BLIND CARBON COPY if you feel you must forward something!
Let's take forwards for example:
When you forward anything by just blindly following the instructions that come in the e-mail, you are putting your address and the all recipients adresses out there for hundreds, thousands etc.. of others to see OR USE as they wish. So let's protect each other online, LEARN as much as you can and ALWAYS BLIND CARBON COPY if you feel you must forward something!
Monday, October 18, 2004
A simple truth
As I sat here getting more and more angry at the copious amounts of pain I'm in, I was raging at God that I wanted my life back...... My mind finally went quite and I heard the simple truth, "It's not your life".
If you not a Christian and you're reading this it might not make any sense, even as a Christian it may be confusing. Christ gave us a mission when He came, to let people know about Him and His gift of salvation. When Jesus died so that I can have eternal life, He paid for my life. God gave His Son to the world, and Christ willingly died for every person on earth. Jesus not only died for us, His gift gave us the promise of heaven if we simply accept it. How selfish am I to think that what I want is more important than what God's wants, and when you know that ALL God wants for you is the best of EVERYTHING, it borders ridiculous!!!
There is way more to this subject than what I posted, and I hope you'll look into it whether you believe it or not.
If you not a Christian and you're reading this it might not make any sense, even as a Christian it may be confusing. Christ gave us a mission when He came, to let people know about Him and His gift of salvation. When Jesus died so that I can have eternal life, He paid for my life. God gave His Son to the world, and Christ willingly died for every person on earth. Jesus not only died for us, His gift gave us the promise of heaven if we simply accept it. How selfish am I to think that what I want is more important than what God's wants, and when you know that ALL God wants for you is the best of EVERYTHING, it borders ridiculous!!!
There is way more to this subject than what I posted, and I hope you'll look into it whether you believe it or not.
Sunday, October 17, 2004
Last 2 weeks
This whole thing actually starts July 12th, 2004. That's the date of the assessment that started a rollercoaster of pain. This assessment was three days of incredible pain as they pushed, pulled and prodded my arm trying to assess my functional limitations. It took 2 months for me to get used to the new pain levels, and no they never decreased to where they were prior, I have had to adapt myself to these new levels. I then went to a second assessment on August 5 with an Orthopedic surgeon. This assessment I must say was a FAR more humane than what I was put through in July, and I use the word humane because what they put me through would be considered cruel and inhumane if it were done to an animal.
Anyways on to the title subject. The last 2 weeks I have been going to InTouch Career College, these test are a personal interest inventory, personality type and to find my high school levels (to see if I need upgrading to take anything more post secondary, dependent of course on what field I choose ie: math upgrading for computer programming). It sometimes even surprises me how physically draining it is to go out and do even simple things, and that's due to the varying pain level. And that is still a major concern where retraining comes into play, are the going to flexible enough to accommodate my varying pain and level of ability? But we'll leave that in God's hands, after all His plans always work out.
It is very interesting to have this opportunity to find out where my interests and personality would be best suited in the workplace, it's something that not a lot of people get the chance to do but I believe we'd have a lot more satisfied workers if this were more available to the average person. We'll be able to go through the results either later this coming week or early the next. Either way I'm really grateful for the break now, because I kind of feel like I'm coming apart at the edges (because of continuous elevation in pain through recent testing). I'll post more once we go through the results!
Anyways on to the title subject. The last 2 weeks I have been going to InTouch Career College, these test are a personal interest inventory, personality type and to find my high school levels (to see if I need upgrading to take anything more post secondary, dependent of course on what field I choose ie: math upgrading for computer programming). It sometimes even surprises me how physically draining it is to go out and do even simple things, and that's due to the varying pain level. And that is still a major concern where retraining comes into play, are the going to flexible enough to accommodate my varying pain and level of ability? But we'll leave that in God's hands, after all His plans always work out.
It is very interesting to have this opportunity to find out where my interests and personality would be best suited in the workplace, it's something that not a lot of people get the chance to do but I believe we'd have a lot more satisfied workers if this were more available to the average person. We'll be able to go through the results either later this coming week or early the next. Either way I'm really grateful for the break now, because I kind of feel like I'm coming apart at the edges (because of continuous elevation in pain through recent testing). I'll post more once we go through the results!
Winter came in like a lion.
It started to sleet last night as we came home from friends, and then this morning I found out how bad it was on the way to church.... the roads are NASTY!!!! Now, I don't have a problem driving in winter, because I actually use my signal lights, shoulder check and pay attention to the road conditions. This is NOT however the case with the majority of drivers out there! I am appalled at the number of drivers that consider a signal light "OPTIONAL"! Last I heard it was still a ticketable offence to not use indicators, I guess if this were enforced more strictly it would be less of a problem. But then the police and RCMP would be considered hypocrites if they were to ticket the public for the same offences they commit. I know I drive better with one arm than most people do with two, and that fact in itself frustrates me about other drivers' laziness. And then there's the subject of driving while using a CELL PHONE... I have to words for these hazardous drivers... "HANDS FREE"!!!!!!!!!!! How hard is it to use an earphone??? I go back to the lack of using common sense and laziness being the main problems here too. There is a whole new level of danger when you factor in how poorly some people drive and add on the distraction of trying to talk on the phone.... It's bad enough trying to figure out what the person in front of you is going to do on dry pavement, now we're dealing with sleet, snow and ice on top of it! Now add all these problems together, multiply by the number of drivers that do these idiotic things and it's one heck of a mess out there!!!
Just because this makes me angry doesn't mean I had an accident, you'll find if you continue reading my posts that I am an advocate of common sense and the lack of it's use is a sore point with me. God didn't put a brain in your head to hold your ears apart, it actually has another use called THINKING!
Just because this makes me angry doesn't mean I had an accident, you'll find if you continue reading my posts that I am an advocate of common sense and the lack of it's use is a sore point with me. God didn't put a brain in your head to hold your ears apart, it actually has another use called THINKING!
Friday, October 15, 2004
Welcome!
I wish I would have had the opportunity to start a blog several years ago, when I was first injured and needed an outlet to express myself. See I'm terrible at Journaling or keeping a diary, so a lot of what I went through is lost in the mists of time and medications. What I have written from what I remember is on a page that I will link, it's a combination of writings from my wife and I on some of the going ons of my disability and dealings with those involved.
I'll ask for one indulgence if I may, with the fact of having only one arm to work with I ask that you forgive the spelling mistakes that are bound to pop up (I tend to forget to use spellchecks).
I'll ask for one indulgence if I may, with the fact of having only one arm to work with I ask that you forgive the spelling mistakes that are bound to pop up (I tend to forget to use spellchecks).
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