New 4×10 schedule, and the baby

I’ve recently gotten approval at my job to work four ten-hour days rather than five eight-hour days. This allows me to visit Alex once on the weekend, and another time mid-week. It’s really nice to not have to feel like I need to get a minimum of 2-3 hours in any visit or else “waste” a week. It’s also nice not to have to feel like missing a visit is the end of the world. If we get sick or something, we can still see Alex once during the week rather than having a two-week span with him wondering where his family is. Continue reading “New 4×10 schedule, and the baby”

Over 50,000 signatures!

The petition for legalizing marijuana has over 50,000 signatures. When you consider that a user is risking a lot just to sign (telling the government they support the most taboo of drugs, and leaving behind a digital trail), I’d say it’s pretty impressive. When you consider that the next-highest petition is just over 30,000, it looks even better.

Even so, it’s somewhat depressing that only 50,000 people have gone and signed a petition that polls suggest 35-45% of Americans support. 50,000 people signed, out of over 100 million adults who favor marijuana law reform. Continue reading “Over 50,000 signatures!”

No videos, but a decent visit

We saw Alex this weekend for over three hours, and it was a pretty good visit overall. He had quite a few moments of rage, but none that lasted longer than a few minutes, and none that got as intense as the episodes he had before the group homes. It was nothing in comparison to two weeks ago, but that was, as I mentioned before, an incredible and very unique occurrence.

Sadly, we got no videos this time, because things were a bit too hectic. At the time, videos seemed like a big tradeoff – spend time with him or get videos of him. Unfortunately, when he’s a little bit volatile, we will always opt to just be with him instead of trying to break out the camera, catch a minute of happy, put it down when he gets made, try to grab it for another few minutes of happy, etc. Oh, well.

September updates – some amazing visits

I was hoping to make a real effort to get updates with video, but I’m finding this is a lot more pain than I expected. The amount of video we have is enormous just from the past month, so I’ve had to just throw together a quick “best of” video. But first, some general updates. Continue reading “September updates – some amazing visits”

Excellent PBS video about cannabis

http://watch.montanapbs.org/video/1825223761

This is probably old news to many people, but it’s a very well-produced (and fairly bias-free) documentary about the amazing benefits of cannabis. The facts you can find here are astounding when you consider what we’re being told by our government. The stories, research, and information here is absolutely amazing. Share with skeptics, it could just change some minds.

Alex’s sibbing is still a major problem

It’s been about a year and a half since we made the decision to have Alex placed outside the home, and still he has these horrible periods of sibbing (to “sib” means to engage in self-injurious behaviors).

We took some video during a recent home visit (about a week ago) demonstrating just how much rage and anxiety Alex still has. He appears to be “stuck” in a behavior of hitting his chin into his shoulder, and even his bath time doesn’t fully calm him down. Continue reading “Alex’s sibbing is still a major problem”