Pinch an inch...

        As I begin my latest rant, I promise not to be one of those misty eyed "why me, I just wanna thin" blog posts.



The reason being, I am at fault and to blame for my current weight. Not Dave Thomas not Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben, most certainly not those malasadas from the Feast. I alone chose to friend them to "break bread" with them. In this day of Facebook. It's only fitting they consider themselves unfriended.

240 pounds... That is what I weigh!.. I'm posting it for all to see.. What the hell you see most of it when you see me anyways. It is not my heaviest weight which I hold that number in my head as my mantra to never again approach. This week We began the biggest change. and I hope to keep the ball rolling with the school year approaching next week.



Sept 2, 2012: I will revisit this post. I will weigh within 200 to 210lbs!  I will be actively exercising everyday.. I will post before and after pictures then.. Failure is not an option!

Thirty Three...

My goodness! The sound of that number is both frightening and charming at the same time. I'm gonna be 33! In just two days from this post. I was thinking yesterday if I could ever write a letter to my 17 year old self who was fresh off graduation and ready to take on the world, what would I tell him?

• College party is not time well spent
• Stay away from Dining Commons! No seriously Run away!
• Credit cards don't pay themselves! 
• Marrying your HS sweetheart is not a guaranteed thing

Ah the list could go on for pages.
I think the one thing I wish I could throttle my old self and say what the hell are you doing to yourself is my weight. Before college I never struggled with weight. I was a consistent 189 pounds mostly due to wrestling. The aforementioned Dining Commons with its food reminiscence of an all you can eat buffet at KFC did away with this. I'm working hard at trying to get at least to the 200 mark. Not just for my looks so Diana could be proud"er" but because I want to be around another 66 years! when my son is 67 and I can make him take me to bingo!

In the great blue room

4:06am that's what time I woke up, the downside to being 2600 miles west and a 3 hour time zone difference, but you know what? Wouldn't trade for anything. It's 5:23am and I'm standing outside at sunrise in shorts and a tank, barefoot! In a short time the hustle and bustle will begin. At the moment its just me my Droid, a cup of folgers (prefer New England Coffee Roasters meh) and the soon to grace my day sunrise. Why did we leave here? Why did we uproot and move? Because we had to to survive financially.Someday opportunity will present itself when God decides its time. We're listening intently. My friends I  don't want you to misunderstand. When your in the right environment, your soul is happy. I love Mass, I am a New Englander by birth but my soul has been found in the desert. In a few short moments another one of God's glorious sunrise will cast its warm rays... and I will have my eyes will open wide taking it all in. A new day will begin for each of us. Mine will be a little "warmer" and brighter.

At long last: A home of our own

After searching months for a place to call home we have finally completed the quest.. We're about to move into a two bedroom in Fairhaven. Many of you know know its the quiet little town that I was raised in.

I promise this will be updated with photos as right now its just an empty shell of an apartment.

The apartment itself is a little dated (1960's) but considering what we saw in comparasion it may as well have been built yesterday! The city of New Bedford as much as I love, has far too many apartments in dire need of repairs. The one's we liked had lead paint. the ones we hated, looked like meth labs. Those saddened me because there is such potential throughout the city.

Our little place is in a multiunit building just about 60 feet away from the firestation. Brand new stove and fridge and decent air conditioner awaits us. small parcel of grass for our boy to frolic and close close to shopping.

Eh this is gonna be good ! :)

Joey

Apocalypse

Earthquakes, tsunamis, terrorism, governments turning on the people (I MEAN YOU WISCONSIN), pestilence, global warming and on and on...

How is a Parent supposed to raise their child in a positive manner when the thoughts of all these hangs on your head? My brother along time ago before he had a child of his own.. had a conversation with me in the manner that follows:

Joey: so Jimmy you gonna have kids some day?

Jimmy: what? and bring kids into the fucked up world? Why should they have to suffer?

Joey: meh...

For the longest time I agreed with him. Then on June 20th 2009 that train of thought on the rail of pessimism crashed.

“And he who gives a child a treat Makes joy-bells ring in Heaven's street, And he who gives a child a home Builds palaces in Kingdom come, And she who gives a baby birth Brings Saviour Christ again to Earth.” John Masefield

Bring a precious child onto earth.. Isn't about adding one more human.. It's about adding a new POSSIBILITY.. This child may find a cure for cancer. This child may become a leader, an artist perhaps. but we don't really know our place on earth until the time comes. It's just the way it is and should be!

But don't worry too much. It just add wrinkles to our already flawed selves.

I know we're gonna do everything to give Hayden a chance to make the world a better place..

God would want it this way..



Amen....

I still thank the big man upstairs everyday for this beautiful little man! and the gorgeous woman who helped!!

The Interview

The day has arrived. After a month of correspondence I am going in today to establish what may be the first step of my teaching career. I applied for a grant a month ago that will allow me to complete my requirements in less then 4 years free!!!!!

The snag.. I'm officially a vendor of the city and not a defacto employee of the school. However I have stated many times over that I am doing the exact same job as a paraprofessional as they call it but without the benefits or union membership that normally is entailed. Believe me this is not by choice!

So with my big boy pants I will do my best to impress.. to practice I'm gonna answer some standard questions below..

1) what is your greatest strength:
   Patience, is my greatest strength. From my years of working with all different people of different abilities both young and old I've learned we proceed at our own pace. That all things happen over time and usually most successfully when prodded along in a positive manner.
2) Your greatest weakness:
  This is a skill I'm working hard on, Organization which to me includes time management will sometimes get the best of me. Not to say I misplace things but rather I would have a pile of papers on the desk that may detract me from teaching because I'm looking for a particular paper. In my work as a paraprofessional I've attempted to circumvent this problem using an organizer.
3) How do you handle classroom discipline?:
  This is always a hot topic. I have worked for years with students with emotional and behavioural issues I find words "lease restrictive technique" often rings true in my head. If a student constantly speaks out (of turn or without asking) I would bring myself to them and acknowledge that they have something to say but remind them the appropriate way to have thier view heard (i.e raise hands). If a more serious offense occurs such as pushing or cheating I would ask to speak privately with the student. I address the student age appropriate if they are say middle school I would address them as young adults. If they are in elementry I would remind myself to try to get to their eye level. I beleive that communiciation is more effective when you connect this way. Good communication with students leads to more effective and thus lesser need for disciplinarly actions.
4) What color is your parachute?:
  What the Hell? what kind of new age dumb-ass prove-nothing question is that?




and its Blue!


have a good one,
Joey

The $20 Breakfast Burrito

Rib-eye Steak, sweet potato casserole and shrimp

Last night I was the luckiest guy in the South Coast... Diana decided to treat me to an early anniversary/Valentine dinner at none other then Ruth Chris steakhouse in downtown Providence.. For those of you who have not had the pleasure. This is the epitome of steaks and fine dining.


 (scroll down after cleaning up the drool)




We had a wonderful tlme just enjoying it all.
The food delicious, the companionship perfect! The take home bag a mystery
What would you do with half of the most delicious ribeye steak you have ever eaten?  I made a breakfast burrito to rival all breakfast burritos!

All the ingredients to a $20 dollar breakfast burrito

Viola!

Blogger for Android

I'm kinda Stoked... Android getting some official Blogger love.. hopefully I ll be able to post more often since I hardly ever use the computer any more.. unfortunately spelling will suffer at times...

J

The Next Stage in the Evolution of Joseph

     This is likely to be filed in the RANT bin, that of course is entirely optional.

Like the stages of evolution of modern man (i.e Neanderthal, Cromagnon etc) I too have stages. This is how I've come to define myself somewhat.


Infancy: I pooped in diapers. Need I explain more?
Childhood: I struggled for a sense of Identity. Deaf culture was nonexistent and a foreign concept.
Adolescent: Struggles continued, bad hair in most school photos and Girls become new found foreign concept.
Young Adult/College: Identity found, however various tools of college involving funnels and kegs come into play literally pissing away any value.
Adult hood: Yearning for meaningful existence begins, reproduction (having a son!) accelerates said desire.

I am now 32 years old have found my calling, If only I listened to you Miss Brown!
I'm heading back to school to pursue my bachelors and eventually my masters in Education.

I'll be one of the growing trend of 30 somethings heading back to the classroom. Kids and all hopefully leaving the funnels and kegs behind..


Wish me luck!

Joey

Saint Anthony

My mom today, upon seeing me looking for something frantically asks me what's wrong.. "I can't seem to find a dvd I borrowed from through library". So she says to me, repeat this three times "saint Anthony I ask for your help in finding the baby Einstein dvd". Knowing my mom she would not let me walk away without having complied with her "suggested course of action" so I did so.. about fifteen mins later I found through dvd as Hayden apparently stashed it in a rubbermaid tote. When I was about to leave for errands, I couldn't find my wallet. So I thought to try again... what was through line? "Hey Tony where's my wallet"! Sure enough in yesterdays pants.....

Oh geez

I was once that young? This was taken my senior year and its hard to believe where we all are now..

First Android post

Well, just an update. I've downloaded a new app from the Android market called Blogaway, hopefully this will allow me to create good postings that my readers are accustomed too.

Update:

In regards to popular opinion, my blog is not dead! it's hibernating!

Where art thou?

For my Readers,

My apologies, This month and next are and will be extremely busy times. Due to my lay off and eventual realization that Arizona job market does not exist any longer. We're moving to Massachusetts where I was born and raise. So with this I'm sure you can understand things are hectic.

I promise I will have lots to blog about when I return...



PS Diana got a smoking hot haircut !

Enjoy the weekend:
Joey

If Your Gonna Be Unprofessional, At Least Do It Right!

     I normally don't do venting on my blog unless something really yanks my chain. Especially when it come back to haunt me. However in this case I figure I can rant in a way that the party remains unnamed.

     3 months ago I applied for a job at A social service agency in New England. This agency I've had known for a while through various people and were voted one of the top in the state to work for. So I applied through their website. It was "cold" application meaning just like handing your application to a manager at McDonald's maybe they'll look at it and maybe they won't. Maybe they'll have a position open for you maybe they won't .These cold applications are my least favorites. As a Job Coach for two years I know there is perhaps a 30% chance they'll call you back unless you really have a stellar resume that fits their needs.
     Boy, was I excited when within two days they contacted me to set up an interview. We exchange a few email and seemed like they had two positions open, Either one I'm well qualified for.  I was gonna be in town for the week so it worked out perfect. Having their own agency sign language interpreter! BONUS! So we set up for Tuesday morning. A week before the scheduled date the HR rep who I'll name Becky e-mails me to say, "our interpreter would not be available so I will contact our community interpreters and try to schedule again. I informed her I was available any time that week. She said she would let me know that night. A day goes by and no response. So Thursday comes and I email her asking her to forgo the interpreters and try just meeting one on one since I'm proficient in lipreading. No response.
     A week passes. I email her again to tell her I was still interested and that perhaps we could do a phone interview. No response.

Today! I received an email from Becky 2 whole months later..  I'm sorry for the delay our needs had changed at the time we were emailing and we currently have nothing available.

I kind of wished they had not responded. That they did not want me at all, I would not be sitting here typing this, instead spending my time doing something meaningful such as finishing my taxes.

If this "Becky" should read this, please use it as a learning tool!

Now, Readers. how would you handle a situation like this.
A) let it be,
B) contact the supervisor and log a complaint
C) write back and thank her for responding however withdraw your application.

Enjoy,

Joey

DEAF GAMERS WANTED:

 So after many Google searches. I've only come across  deafgamers.com. this is a cool little site which sadly seems to only focus on the the subject of captioning and subtitling in games. A novel approach. How about expanding as a place for gamers to hook up and join clans and such?

I beginning to become addict to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Especially the multiplayer part. I was a huge fan of Doom and Quake online multiplayers first person shooters in the past so naturally I assimilated.  Now I'm looking for Deaf and Hearing people to join me on Playstation 3.. If your rockin it! bring your "A" Game, watch out for the headshot though!


Get your Portable ID!

Music in the heart of the matter.

This is a response to Drew who posted a video on his site "In My Lingo:" that I wanted to share with you all.



Let me first begin by defining Music n. an art of sound in time that expresses ideas and emotions in significant forms through the elements of rhythm, melody, harmony,and color.

While the definition itself is vague according to www.dictionary.com, I want to take into point the final two descriptions. "harmony and color" Music can be found many more forms then just sound. 

In my opinion if a Deaf person enjoys music he will pursue to listen to it, Turning up the volume, putting their leg or other body party closer to the speaker (this changes the acoustic sound into physical sound). some deaf people perceive music through the visual sound. When I saw your video *WHICH I LOVE!!! Thanks for sharing!!* I did not have my hearing-aids in. I simply watched the beautiful playing of the violin and I could feel the music within. My best friend Shannon, who is profoundly Deaf, is a bassist in a heavy metal band. Much like our antagonist violinist he faced early struggles and setbacks having to prove himself to his band mates.

I want to show you another video. i play this video often to myself for relaxation. Try "listening" to it with the sound off (if you do normally use the sound)



Now ask yourself what did you feel, could you sense the music was in flow with her movements?

Enjoy,

Joey

Trench Warfare

I have to say that lately I've been seeing a disturbing trend effecting our Deaf community. It's probably not all that new however it's taken on a new life due to the popularity of Vlogs. I'm gonna express what I feel is just my opinion as I refuse to take sides on because I feel it's a cultural equivalent of Deaf on Deaf violence.

With the onset of HR 3101 bill being pushed to pass, the formation of Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology (COAT) and the National Association for the Deaf's (NAD) strive to reach new and youthful audiences. it has created a type of warfare much like gangs. Everyone wants a piece of the streets.Everyone wants to be the next leader in a movement they compare the the Gallaudet University "Deaf President Now" movement.

Enough already people! We have a chance in front of us to catch up where we're 10 years behind! How many people still have TTY/TTD ? I'm guessing maybe 5 of my readers still actively use it (according to Deafread I get about 100+ per post). How many of you surf Youtube? I bet nearly ALL OF YOU used it from one point or another. Thankfully Google is working on technology to eventually caption all Youtube videos. Now that's a national recognized brand. Your local news station has 100's of video's posted on-line at any given moment. With all certainty not one of them is captioned!

Why am I ranting? Well a certain Vlogger DeafASLVlogs whom's page I frequent just egged herself. Literally to make a point towards NAD including the words "I am a person with a disability"  She made some good points and even had me thinking, This was until Jeff Rosen from SNAP!VRS who serves as general council and is deeply regarded in the Deaf community got into a bit of a flaming war on her website over he comments towards NAD.

Stop the train! let me off!
Here we are, two important people who are making an impact in our community wasting their time fighting over the words of NAD which yes clearly could have chosen better lingo to use. Meanwhile we're struggling to get Republicans in favor of HR 3101. We all need to make a concious effort to put down our cultural guns and get this bill passed. If we don't we're gonna continue to be set back 10 years.

Taxi!

Joey

Its friday!

Whooo! It's Friday!  

Gonna celebrate the lovely Francesca's birthday tonight at Kabuki. A guy's gotta get his iron, vitamins and mercury in the form of sushi. Maybe even a Sake Bomber or two.
for the weekend, I thought I'd share with you guys an awesome video a friend had posted on Facebook for the the movie "See What I'm Saying" written and directed by Hilari Scarl. The video is written for the film by the rock band Powder..
    




Enjoy!

Joey