Random Thinking

The people who stayed in our room before us apparently had a good time. Michel had been using the night table to store her medicines and when she pulled open the drawer she found something that she hadn’t noticed before. It was an empty condom wrapper. Michel was quite disgusted at the idea that the man who tossed it in the drawer had been handling his… well, you know. Michel decided to bring the wrapper to the manager of the hotel. She told me that he was all smiles and “how is your stay?” until she showed him what she found. Then his eyes opened wide and his jaw dropped. He apologized and assured Michel that he would discuss it with the housekeeping staff.

So far the best part of the conference has been meeting everyone. We got Beth off to the Brothers & Sisters conference but it wasn’t easy. We were a bit late and the group had moved to a different hotel. So we walked the couple of blocks to that hotel and we were sent to the third floor (strangely, this hotel had no second floor) but that turned out to be the younger kids. They got us to the right place finally and so Michel and I headed back to the Seaport World Trade Center where the conference was being held. But we found it almost impossible to figure out where to go. Fortunately there were a lot of volunteers and they steered us in the right direction.

Which leads me to describe what an awful location this is for a conference. There are three levels: Plaza, Mezzanine, and Harbor. Registration is on the Mezzanine level but there is no way to get from the Mezzanine level where the registration is to the Mezzanine level where the sessions are without taking an elevator (and there is only one) back to the Plaza level, walking about 50 yards to another building and then taking an elevator (the only one) down to the Mezzanine level. The lack of elevators is a problem because a lot of people have their children in strollers and these elevators are small so you can barely squeeze two strollers in an elevator. When a session ends there is a big race to the elevators so you can get to the correct floor for your next session. Mikey and I tried to go to one session but it was so crowded (not even standing room) that we left but it took us 20 minutes to get the elevator back up to the Plaza level. And to make it even more fun, the elevator doesn’t have “Plaza”, “Mezzanine”, and “Harbor” but “1″, “2″, and “3″ so people are always going to the wrong floor.

Mikey and I ended up back at the hotel and Michel went to a session on reading. But don’t think we aren’t having fun. We have seen lots of our DownSyn friends and we are hoping to see more.

And now for the funny story for the day. Michel, Mikey and I were in the exhibit hall. It was very crowded and Mikey started having burnout so I took him to the front where we waited for Michel. That’s when Bethany, Stephanie, McKenna, and Shylo came in and stopped to talk to us. Mikey was less than happy to see everyone so they had to stay out of range (I had Mikey in his push chair as its the only way to keep him from running off). Then Renee walked in and everything changed. He grabbed her and tried to get her to sit on his lap! He didn’t want to let her go. It was hysterical. I think the other ladies may have been offended but Mikey’s a man who knows what he likes!

So far Mikey has been an angel. We expected lots of meltdowns because of the strange environment and new people but he has been great. I think he likes seeing all the girls with Down syndrome. Every time he spots one he tries to get her to sit next him. He has definitely been a flirt so far at this conference. Michel keeps insisting that he isn’t our son and that someone replaced Mikey with this well-behaved twin.

Tomorrow is the day we are off to Boston for the 36th annual NDSC convention. We are going to be meeting a lot of people from our site so that should be fun. Beth will be attending the Siblings Workshop so we won’t see her much on Saturday or Sunday. The only thing I worry about is Mikey handling the crowd and noise. We will bring his portable DVD player but if there is a problem I can take him to the pool or back to the room. The conference isn’t actually at the hotel where we will be staying but it is nearby. We have a suite so the room should be very nice and big enough for Mikey to expend some of that energy of his.

I might not have access to the internet on Friday so this week’s song is coming out early.

Three Days Grace is a Canadian band based in Toronto. Their music is described as post-grunge. The group released their first album in 2003 and have had singles at #1 and #2 on Billboard’s Modern Rock charts. Adam Gontier is the lead singer and guitarist and writes most of the music.

Animal I Have Become was written by Gontier while he was in rehab for an addiction to OxyContin. Gontier has stated that he had become abusive and angry and had no idea who he was anymore.

Animal I Have Become

I can’t escape this hell
So many times I’ve tried
But I’m still caged inside
Somebody get me through this nightmare
I can’t control myself

So what if you can see the darkest side of me?
No one will ever change this animal I have become
Help me believe it’s not the real me
Somebody help me tame this animal
(This animal, this animal)

I can’t escape myself
(I can’t escape myself)
So many times I’ve lied
(So many times I’ve lied)
But there’s still rage inside
Somebody get me through this nightmare
I can’t control myself

So what if you can see the darkest side of me?
No one will ever change this animal I have become
Help me believe it’s not the real me
Somebody help me tame this animal I have become
Help me believe it’s not the real me
Somebody help me tame this animal

Somebody help me through this nightmare
I can’t control myself
Somebody wake me from this nightmare
I can’t escape this hell

(This animal, this animal, this animal, this animal, this animal, this animal, this animal)

So what if you can see the darkest side of me?
No one will ever change this animal I have become
Help me believe it’s not the real me
Somebody help me tame this animal I have become
Help me believe it’s not the real me
Somebody help me tame this animal
(This animal I have become)

Written by Adam Gontier

The video features Gontier walking through various places while seeing his reflection as a hideous monster.

No, not us! The picture of Michel and me is purely for entertainment value.

I just saw a commercial on VH-1 for The Who in concert. Ignoring the fact that half the group is dead. And ignoring the fact that The Who’s best music is 35 years old. But don’t you think there is something a bit odd about a 64 year old man singing Teenage Wasteland?

I am sure at one time or another you have wondered how to keep someone from seeing you. “How can I make myself invisible,” you might have thought. I’ll bet this idea never occurred to you because it never occurred to me.

A couple telephoned police in the middle of the night after finding a naked man in their basement covered head to toe in barbecue sauce. “He told the officers that it was urban camouflage,” said the homeowner.

It didn’t work on the couple that found him so what exactly was he hiding from?

He told officers he covered himself in barbecue sauce because he wanted to hide from the government.

That is important because “THE MAN” wants to keep you down. But, I don’t think I’ll try this trick. The article provided no explanation as to why the man took off his clothes, covered himself in barbecue sauce, and then broke into this couple’s basement. But he could have a cool alias – The BBQ Bandit!

hattip: Debra over at the The DEBlog

For a few months we have had a woman on our down sydrome forum who has been discussing her newborn child. The baby was born premature with all sorts of issues and we were recenetly told that she had cancer. Several members of our forum doubted her story… some from the beginning and others with the recent turn of medical events. So some of our members started investigating and they found that she was a fraud… that she didn’t have a sick child with Down syndrome and probably didn’t have a child at all. She had been stealing pictures from other people’s sites and passing them off as her own. The scariest part was that she had photo-shopped one picture to whiten the baby’s skin to make her look recently deceased.

Trollbusters describes this type of person as:

The Shock and Scam Troll can be one of the worst trolls because they do not troll boards to distrupt and destroy, but to gain friendships, gifts and money. They usually make this a side business.

This is a very sick, deceiving and hurtful type of troll. They will search the web looking for pictures of mothers and children and save them. They will join several message boards under different names using the different pictures of the mothers and children and pretend to be that mother with those children. They will be very sweet and friendly and gain the trust of other board members.

After they have gained that trust, they will usually come up with a sad story to gain sympathy and support. They will usually end up receiving money from their online friends to help with a very sad and hard situation.

This is not the first person on the site who has lied to us but this is the first person that we know of who has so blatantly and for so long lied about everything. Fortunately, we have some very experienced members who were suspicious and were willing to do the work to discover the truth. Thanks Adrienne, Amy, and Michelle.

Michelle Obama recently said, “For the first time in my adult lifetime I am really proud of my country.” I think she was overstating her actual feelings but in many ways the US has not been a nation to be proud of, at least in my lifetime. We are supposed to be the preservers of freedom and justice and yet that has not been the role we have been filling.

I grew up with us fighting in Vietnam to prevent a small nation from overthrowing their colonial oppressors and achieving independence. Why? First because we wanted the French to join NATO and we thought helping the French reestablish their colonies would make them be our friend. After the French army was defeated, we fought because we didn’t like that the North Vietnamese were friendly to the Soviet Union. Our war led to the death of millions of civilians as we fought with the Ben Tre logic of “it became necessary to destroy the town to save it.”

I watched riots throughout the country as African-Americans had to fight to get the most basic civil rights. I watched a president break the law to win an election and then when his hatchetmen were caught breaking into the Watergate Hotel, he broke the law further by trying to cover it up. And the end result was a pardon for the man who deserved jail more than anyone else.

Our CIA criminally overthrew legitimate governments because they weren’t to our liking, leading to the deaths of thousands of innocent people (see Chile, 1970). The CIA experimented with mind control drugs on unsuspecting citizens. Our Public Health Service left black men with syphilis untreated to see what would happen to them. We supported terrorists in Angola (I attended protests against this when I was in high school), El Salvador, Nicarauga, and Afghanistan.

And the last 8 years have truly been years of shame as we started a war against Iraq, killing hundreds of thousands of civilians and displacing millions from their homes to get their supply of oil. How many bombs purchased with your tax dollars have ripped apart children? Look at the picture above. That girl, Kim Phuc – today a Canadian citizen – was napalmed in a US coordinated attack during the Vietnam War because protecting innocent civilians was less important than killing a few of the enemy. Is that the America that we are celebrating today? The America that dropped a bomb on a restaraunt in Baghdad killing women and children because there was a rumor that Sadaam was eating there?

For the last 8 years the country has been run by spreading fear and hatred of anyone who is not one of us. Power through xenophobia has been the rule of the land. Torture is no longer an immoral act worthy of war crimes trials. Now it is American policy. Even during World War II, when the fate of the nation was much more in question, torture was never an approved policy of the US government.

In November we have an opportunity to kick out the people who have been running this government as if they own it rather than being entrusted with it. We have an opportunity to reject what this country has become and restore it to the beacon of liberty that it should be. What does America mean to you? Has this administration made this country more like the “shining city upon a hill whose beacon light guides freedom-loving people everywhere?”

I can’t believe it is Friday already. I have been very busy and have much to blog about but we will start with the Friday song. Enjoy.

Straylight Run is an indie band from Baldwin, Long Island, not far from where I live. John Nolan, the founder of the group was a member of Taking Back Sunday. When John and Shaun Cooper left the group they were joined by John’s sister, Michelle, and formed Straylight Run. The group takes its name from a section in William Gibson’s book Neuromancer. To date, the group has not had much commercial success.

This song deals with the idea that our actions really do have consequences and that we are in control of our lives… that we should worry about doing what we believe is right and not do things to please a group. The song is from their debut album.

Existentialism on Prom Night
When the sun came up,
We were sleeping in.
Sunk inside our blankets,
Sprawled across the bed.
And we… were dreaming.

There are moments when,
When I know it ends.
The world revolves around us,
And we’re keeping it,
Keep it all going,
This delicate balance,
Vulnerable, all knowing.

Sing like you think no one’s listening,
You would kill for this,
Just a little bit, just a little bit,
You would kill for this.

Sing like you think no ones listening,
You would kill for this,
Just a little bit, just a little bit,
You would, you would…

Sing me something soft,
Sad and delicate.
Or loud and out of key,
Sing me anything.

We’re glad for what we’ve got,
Done with what we’ve lost.
Our whole lives laid out,
Right in front of us.

Sing like you think no one’s listening,
You would kill for this,
Just a little bit, just a little bit,
You would
Sing like you think no one’s listening,
You would kill for this,
Just a little bit, just a little bit,
You would, you would

Sing me something soft,
Sad and delicate.
Or loud and out of key,
Sing me anything…

Written by John Nolan

In the video, the four people walking into the subway car at the beginning are the members of Straylight Run.