Month: August 2010

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Weekend in the Mountains

Just what the doctor ordered. I feel as if the entire summer has begun to come crashing down on me because it really was a whirlwind. Wedding, deciding whether or not to move to CO, honeymoon, Aaron moving, then finally me leaving my job and packing/moving. All that has put me on a very emotional roller coaster. I hope from here on, we can only focus on getting settled for the most part.

We have some very generous friends here who let us stay at their cabin for the weekend in Fairplay. For South Park Fans: “The Town of Fairplay, Colorado, is the basis for the Town of South Park, Colorado, in the television series South Park.”

Oddly, Aaron has been adjusting to the mountains a whole lot better than I have and I’m the Green Mountain lady?!  I don’t dare drive up or down those windy steep hills with all these cars in front or behind me. Those who know us well know it’s supposed to be the other way around. 😉 Anyway, the views of the mountains were just breathtaking for me. I couldn’t stop snapping away with the camera because I was frustrated the camera wasn’t capturing what my two eyes were seeing. Pictures don’t do justice, you have to set foot out here to see for yourself.

Summary of our weekend: hot tubbing, cool enough evenings to start a fire in the fireplace, spending the days in Breckenridge, spent Sunday morning hiking some of Mt. Quandary which we’ll go back to attempt hiking to the top when we’re in tip top shape. We had some really good pizza for lunch on Saturday and had treated ourselves to a glass of beer after our hike on Sunday. I surprisingly liked the wheat ale that I had.

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Hope this week is a good one for all of you!
XO,
Mrs. Rose

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Leaving the Windy City and entering the Mile High City

For the non-facebookers, here are some blackberry photos I snapped of our trip from the Midwest to the West.

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Getting squared… and the global pattern this year

The last two hours consisted of me squaring away a multitude of boxes and bins in the office/guest bedroom. For some reason my brain just shifted into 6th gear and I went special forces on that room. Low key, in and out, without disturbance of the peace.

The truth is I’m a heavy foot. MB waves frantically to indicate the impact of my effect, which I could compare to the mass pounding of the AT-AT walkers utilized by the Empire. Tonight I dared not disturb the deep sleep that my wife remained in.

Now it’s the bewitching hour and I dare not find myself in a position to reveal secrets that dare destroy my livelihood. But I will reveal something that has been churning in my head this summer.

I have heard reports that this has been an atypical summer, but so has Chicago. Essentially there has been a massive body of humid air over the United States over much of the summer, with extreme weather events prevalent in the Midwest. Now I spy a hurricane spinning in the Atlantic with a path that passes Bermuda to the east. I wonder if it has enough strength to reach the United Kingdom and harass the British.

NWS Report: 11:00 PM AST Mon Aug 23
Location: 15.6°N 43.2°W
Max sustained: 85 mph
Moving: WNW at 20 mph
Min pressure: 982 mb

Here’s a quick view of the paths of all significant tropical events in the Atlantic as seen via Google Earth. Danielle’s forecasted path is a little similar to Colin’s so no harm to the Eastern seaboard.

August 24, 2010

What I’m concerned about is later in the month when the pressure systems shift into fall patterns. What correlations are there between Pakistan’s flooding and this summer’s tropical system patterns? Will we have a big one raze a random coastal region and leave us with another natural disaster on our hands?

I dare not make any conclusions for I don’t have all the data nor the analysis necessary to form valid conclusions. Yet I’m a teacher so I have no time for the scientific method nor the computer-hours necessary to perform an in-depth analysis of Earth’s global weather patterns.

My question for you is whether you consider the conclusion of an increase in the overall global temperature of the Earth to be valid?

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Deaf Cued Language Transliterators

Last night Emily was over babysitting the Tucker kids while their parents followed their weekly routine of getting away. As the kids were getting ready for bed, the youngest pulled out a book, “In the Night’s Kitchen” which was interesting to say the least, involving what extremists might consider to be child pornography, but rather was just a literal visual interpretation of the text.

That being sad I volunteered to transliterate while Emily read the book. Gosh. I suck at it and it’s not so much the understanding of auditory and visual signals, but the addition of cueing it myself. Now I have to give all transliterators and interpreters props for the job they do in providing such services. However I have the urge to take on transliterator training which in turn would force me to go into more auditory training to process sound better, plus the process of applying for a new implant… The two of us deaf people wanting new implants at the same time. Intriguing. Anyways the reality is that I can see the possibility of d/hh cuers who have strong auditory skills (along with lipreading skills) training to transliterate for other cuers. Why not? There’s deaf sign language interpreters.

Fergedda bouda all dat noize. What noise? All that static buzzing and droning and clicking and squealing and vibrating and gyrating and everybody’s all freaking. Yep it’s true. We can hear that stuff too. And feel it. Whatever.

So what’s the story with cued language transliteration? First check out Hilary’s article on transliteration (Spring 2010 issue). Then just google it. I don’t have the time to inform y’all on what’s happening with cued language transliteration. I’m keeping myself busy with school as a teacher of the deaf and hard of hearing. It’s different once you step into the role and realize the monstrous responsibilities we are given with the idea that those children’s futures are in our hands. My god. Insane.

But don’t fret, we do have hope. I can quote many different stories, but the message is clear. There are deaf cuers among us who are now stepping into leadership roles within the cueing community. Thanks to a great weekend facilitated by Amy R, Hilary, and myself those cuers are now on the way to setting examples for everyone else.

A week from tomorrow I finally initiate the next chapter of my life with my wife as we make our move westward into our new place in Denver. Then can I finally say that I’m settled. Now back into my cave.