Monday, April 27, 2009

..And Magic!


..And Magic!, originally uploaded by freeloosedirt.

Made me laugh

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Murder in the City

from "Burn The Bowery" music blog:

After five independent albums released through Ramseur Records, and a steady building wave of success, North Carolina's The Avett Brothers are ready for their major label debut. The band enlisted the help of the legandary producer Rick Rubin for their new disc, titled I and Love and You, which hits stores on Aug. 11. Recorded in Malibu, CA. and their home base of Asheville, North Carolina the band are said to have expanded their already genre defying sound, with the title track being reminiscent of Wilco.
The band has also just announced three months worth of new tour dates, which will take them into mid summer.

Something to crow about


Something to crow about, originally uploaded by freeloosedirt.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Record Store Day 2009 Photos

Record Store Day 2009

The rest of the set here

I let my red onion sit too long

Friday, April 17, 2009

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Tea Party Protesters: You're doing it wrong

Monday, April 13, 2009

Parts of the cactus garden in my front yard


Stone, originally uploaded by freeloosedirt.

Yucca Flowers



Succulent Flowers

Another stone

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Happy Easter

Dr. June's sermon today was about the hope of the resurrection, as opposed to the violence of the crucifixion. She encouraged us to keep an Easter egg around all year (not an actual hard boiled egg, clearly) and celebrate that symbolism every day rather than only on Easter. "Don't put all your eggs in one Easter basket."

Her references to the Christianity of Constantine vs the Christianity of Jesus are making me want to read big, thick, obscure texts about theology and history.

Saturday Afternoon Nap


Saturday Afternoon Nap, originally uploaded by freeloosedirt.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Calexico

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Let sleeping dogs lie on the couch

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Article from the Ventura County Star on the state's budget cuts affects on the agency where I work

http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2009/apr/01/nxxfccaseloads01/

Developmentally disabled face longer waits, less service

By Kathleen Wilson
Wednesday, April 1, 2009



Thousands of developmentally disabled people are facing delays and lower levels of supervision in the wake of a decision to allow rising caseloads for workers coordinating their care, officials said.

As part of the budget deal reached in February, legislators and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger lifted the requirement that case managers could average no more than 66 clients.

The maximum of 84 was lifted as well. There is now no limit for almost half the cases in Ventura County and likely tens of thousands of others served through the state’s network of 21 regional centers.

Since Feb. 1, the average ratio has crept to 70, and officials predict it could rise to more than 90 people if funding conditions don’t improve.

The ceiling is scheduled to lapse June 30, 2010, but social work director Frank Bush fears the caseloads will only grow with the numbers of disabled clients rising by 4 percent annually and hiring stalled.

“I’m not optimistic,” he said.

The decision affects more than 2,400 Ventura County adults and children diagnosed with mental retardation, autism, cerebral palsy and epilepsy.

The workers known as service coordinators help them get speech therapy, housing benefits, instruction in daily living skills from cooking to financial management, and other support to live as independently as possible.

State says limits were optional

“The impact is going to be huge,” said Omar Noorzad, executive director of the Tri-Counties Regional Center, a nonprofit agency that connects disabled children and adults with state-paid services.

“With caseload ratios continuing to creep up, service coordinators are not going to be able to meet the needs of the people we serve at the same level.”

State officials said they gave Tri-Counties and other regional centers the option to set aside the limits as long as health and safety were not affected. That was done to give them the flexibility to manage a 3 percent cut in their operating funds, said Dorsey Griffith, spokeswoman for the state Department of Developmental Services.

Noorzad acknowledged that’s true but said managers of regional centers had no choice but to lift the ratios.

“If we didn’t do this, we couldn’t make ends meet,” he said. “Even though the Legislature is saying yes, it’s optional, in fact it’s not.”

Bush, chief social worker for Tri-Counties, said the agency is trying to ensure basic health and safety, but that injuries and financial abuse of clients could rise with lower levels of supervision.

Possibly manageable in short term

For now, he said, clients are seeing the effect in delays and fewer face-to-face meetings where case managers can advocate for their needs.

Others, though, say the caseload increases may be manageable in the short term. Much of the effect depends on who’s managing the care, said Laura Valdez, the mother of three children with disabilities.

Back in the mid-90s, case managers for her children had more than 100 clients, she said.

“In some cases there was no difference if they had 50 kids or 100 kids,” said the Camarillo resident. “There are some that are really on the ball and do a fabulous job, but others have difficulty juggling.”

Lisa Fox, a case manager at Tri-Counties, said delays rose dramatically during those years.

“They changed standards for how often we had to see families,” said Fox, who spoke as a member of the Service Employees International Union. “For many years, we didn’t have to see them except once every three years. People didn’t realize they still had an active case at the regional center. They would tell their teacher or doctor they weren’t eligible for services anymore and wouldn’t contact us when they had a need for other services.”

The change exempts children from infants through age 3, individuals who have moved out of the state institutions known as developmental centers, and those covered by a federal funding program aimed at helping people with higher levels of disability.

Rates paid to group homes cut

Those who remain live in the community, often with their families, in group homes or in their own apartments with assistance.

Brian Homa, 41, of Port Hueneme counts on case manager Dan Van Keuren to help him navigate through life.

“If I have a problem, I call him up,” Homa said.

The developmentally disabled man was working at an Arc day program in Ventura late last week when Van Keuren stopped by to help him fill out a crucial government document. Homa has to submit the document every year so he can requalify for his Social Security disability check of $830 a month, virtually his entire income.

The master’s-level social worker also helped him get his low-rent apartment, allowing him to move out of an Oxnard group home. Homa hopes the man he calls Dan can help him with his dreams, too.

“I’d like to get a job in the community doing landscaping,” he said. “I want to get a Ford Ranger truck.”

Van Keuren is a veteran case manager who has worked in the field for more than 30 years. His caseload has risen from 66 to 73 since the ratio was lifted.

All his clients are adults from age 18 into their 70s.

They range significantly in their need for support, from those receiving 20 hours of care monthly to medically fragile people who need around-the-clock care.

Van Keuren said the increasing caseload makes his job more difficult, but he’s more concerned about the 3 percent cuts to the rates paid to group homes and other care providers, and the prospect of an additional 7 percent in the next fiscal year.

“We would then begin to have our provider network dismantled itself,” he said.

Workers’ duties are varied

Under state law, coordinators work with clients and their families to identify what clients need, find ways to accomplish it and monitor their progress.

They help parents do a huge job, said Camarillo resident Jeanine Kloeris, whose 16-year-old son, Brandon McCullen, has autism.

She spoke with the boy’s service coordinator every other week when he became violent and aggressive in his early teens, Kloeris said.

He is now doing well, but it still “takes a village,” she said. “I don’t think any one person could handle a child like this without these supports,” she said.

Sha Azedi, who oversees the case managers in Tri-Counties’ Oxnard office, said his staff’s workload has increased by 50 percent. There’s also a limit to clients’ patience, he said.

“Clients understand the situation is bad, and the economy is bad, but still they want their calls returned,” he said. “There hasn’t been a dramatic shift in what parents used to ask us and what they are asking now.”
E.W. Scripps Co.