Under Mirkwood

At the passage of the Elves:

It is Spring, moonless night in the Wood.
Hush! Hear the starsong echo on owl wing.
Hear it in lightdark glen, in pearlmother'd stream,
Hear it in sharpfoot doe passage and cobweb dust.
Look in vain for Starsong's lost children,
Star eyed, star old, less than shadows.

By jeff marr, inspired by the work of Dylan Thomas

Greetings From The Marrs!

Here's a little update on the family:
 

The year sped by, but we were able to be all together much more than we thought possible. The family all came to San Jose for Axel’s blessing in February, for Tracy’s pacemaker replacement in May, for the family reunion in July, and for Christmas (below).

Tracy and Jeff traveled (separately) to Spokane to visit Dallin, Alicia, and Everett, and to New York to visit Shannon, Jeff, and Axel.

Brennen has been doing well. He has home nursing for 16 hours a day, which has improved his health and allowed Jeff and Tracy to travel one at a time. Brennen continues to review films; see his reviews on the tastywaffle channel on youtube. He loves being an Uncle and looks forward to teaching the 7 year old class at Church this year.

Shannon loves being a stay-at-home mom. Her husband Jeff is a storyboard artist for Blue Sky. Look for his name (Jeff Call) in the credits for Rio 2 when it comes out in 2014. It was wonderful to see Axel’s name as one of the production babies in the credits for Epic. Axel loves to play “catch” and is active, active, active.

Dallin started grad school at Eastern Washington University in the School Psychologist program. He is also the TA for freshman psych and loves to teach the class on Fridays. Since much of the extended Marr family is in Spokane, Alicia is being exposed to that unique “Marr Experience”. Everett examines everything to figure out how it works, and likes to try to use a screwdriver. Jeff is hopeful of a future engineer.

Aerin turned 13 and is in 8^th grade. She continues to play the clarinet in the band, and is starting to learn the flute. She also got a ukulele for Christmas. She’s into post-punk music, anime, and manga. She delights in reminding Tracy and Jeff how soon she will be wearing makeup and driving.

Here’s Jeff and Tracy shamelessly doting on their grandsons:

Happy New Year From The Whole Family!

No Pressure

My first two grandchildren are due in December. My son Dallin's Wife Alicia and my daughter Shannon are both expecting boys. I am excited, both to be a grandpa and for my kids.

Since my kids are smarter than me, I expect them to do a better job as parents. No pressure. However, since I didn't make a total mess of it, here are a few core principles I think worked well:

1. It begins with Mom and Dad. Have strong communication, cooperation, and consistency between you two.
2. It begins with Mom and Dad. Model how to constructively handle conflict, or they won't know how to "fight fair".
3. It begins with Mom and Dad. Each of you should play, read, work, and do the routines with your children. Sometimes together. Sometimes separately.
4. It begins with Mom and Dad. Be united in faith and practice.

 Like I said: No pressure.

Kindle Fire Review

"My" Fire arrived on Thursday (like when my kids bought "me" a Wii). It's been a hot commodity around the house for the last four days. Here's my early impressions:

• As an e-reader:
• It's the size of a trade paperback and as heavy as a hardbound book (needs two hands or one hand and a prop)
• The screen is very clear and lighted (good for reading at night)
• The screen is large enough to hold a decent amount of text. Definitely better than trying to read on a phone-sized device
• As a web device (It has a web browser - Silk)
• Not as fast as on a laptop, but usually OK for Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Email, Hulu, Crunchyroll, Netflix, etc.
• I hope Amazon can make web browsing on the Fire faster, though
• The screen is a little small for non-mobile web pages (many web sites detect you are on a mobile device and optimize the web page). The non-mobile web pages work, but they may be really small, and you will need to zoom in
• As a music and movie player
• Amazon supplies 5GB free, in the Cloud, to store your media, knowing that most of us need more than that (cynical me)
• There's only room on the device itself for a few hundred songs (with no expansion capability), so this is definitely meant to be a Cloud device
• It's a very nice size for one or two people to watch a movie or show. You can both read the subtitles without getting too chummy (unless you want to)
• It has built-in speakers and a headphone jack
• As a "casual" game device
• It plays "phone" games (like Angry Birds) - great screen size for that
• Crosswords, Sudoku,  and Solitaire all look good on it
• It's a "charge once a day" device for moderate use (4 to 6 hours a day)
• The wireless is generally very good
• My only complaint is that the Fire is finicky when the wireless signal strength is low. In low-signal situations where my laptop stays connected, the Fire will drop and reconnect sometimes
• It would be awesome to be able to use it as a video phone (just the right screen), but no webcam or microphone. I knew that before I bought it, but ...

Overall: I am very happy with it. I give it a B+.

Income Inequality

Mostly I micro-blog now (Facebook, Google+, and Twitter), but sometimes I need to write something a bit longer.

Lately, income inequality has been a Big Deal, being one of the (many) drivers behind the Occupy movement. It's amazingly polarizing and politicized, and the debate is extremely lacking in relevant information.

The data is conclusive that not only has the gap between rich and poor been widening in the US (let's call that income inequality), but the poor and much of the middle class are less well off (let's call that income erosion). Given the lack of useful information in the news, I did a little digging.

First, here is the big picture:

• Income inequality and erosion began to grow in the US starting in the 1970s and has steadily increased
• The growth in income inequality and erosion has been independent of cyclic upturns and downturns in the economy
• The growth in income inequality and erosion has been independent of which party is in power
• The growth in income erosion extends through much of the middle class (to the 77th percentile of income), though it hits the poor the hardest (In 2003, the 77th percentile household income was around $83,000 a year)
• The upper 23rd income percentile is made up mostly of highly skilled white-collar workers
• The growth in income inequality and erosion is an international phenomenon, impacting 17 of 21 OECD nations, including the US, UK, and Japan.

Some obvious conclusions can be drawn:

• No one political party or administration can be responsible for a 40 year trend
• This isn't a single nation issue, so things like changes to US tax laws likely aren't a major factor
• The unemployment rate has little or nothing to do with the trend
• This isn't just about the 1%

Most of the current rhetoric, however, ignores the big picture.

The why is less sure. The commonly cited factors are:

• Globalization:
• Off-shoring of blue-collar jobs (not just from the US, but from developed countries in general)
• Replacing lost blue-collar jobs with lower paying service sector jobs
• Rising Barriers To Economic Mobility:
• The level of education and training needed to be a "highly skilled" worker is increasing
• Education is getting more expensive

Since globalization isn't likely to go away, it comes down to education, education, education. 

Next time: Why we shouldn't focus our educational system on just producing high test scores. Duh.

The Routine: Mornings

Here's the morning routine to get Brennen up:

[Normally starts at 9am Mon - Sat and at 7:45am on Sunday]
Turn off night ventilator
Remove mask, and face and ear bandages
Remove blankets, pillows, etc.
Clean face and hands
2 Gas-X tablets
Drink of water
Toileting in bed if needed(urinal)
Physical therapy (legs, hips, hands, arms, shoulders)
External Cath.
Pants
Side stretches and wash back
Attach body brace
Use Hoyer lift to put in wheelchair
While in lift, unplug charger(s), plug in day vent battery to ventilator and turn on day ventilator
Adjust brace and seating
Put shirt on
Bandage toes, insert toe spacers, and put on compression socks
Put on AFOs and shoes
Breakfast
Morning meds
Toileting (Use Guldman lift in bathroom)
Put back in wheelchair
Attach leg bag to external cath. (change leg bag every 1st and 15th of the month)
Pull up pants (2 person job - if only one person available do this step on the bed)
Adjust feet in AFOs and tighten velcro straps on shoes
Adjust body brace, seat position, and ventilator sip tube
Nasal Rinse/Nasal Spray
Brush teeth
Wash face
Wet and comb hair (if no shower the night before, use No-Rinse shampoo)
Final seating and vent sip tube adjustments
Attach wheelchair tray
[Morning routine takes 2 hours]

Next will be the adjustments to routines when there are respiratory issues.

The Routine

One thing I have to do for a nurse to come in and help take care of Brennen is document the routine. Here's the evening routine:

[Starts around 8:30pm]
Snack (200-500 calories if possible for weight maintenance)
Medicines
Brush Teeth
Remove body brace (clean brace with rubbing alcohol)
Resporatory Treatments: Vest and Nebulizer
Remove foot splints, support socks, and compression bandages
Undressing/Toileting
Shower
Back in chair
Nasal Rinse
Nasal Spray
Put in bed
Dress for bed
Physical Therapy
Bandage face (prep for nasal mask)
Put on Nasal mask/chin strap
Position for sleep (1 pillow, 1 blanket, 1 rolled up towel for legs, one pillow under back, cervical pillow under head
Turn on night ventilator and adjust to stop leaks
Adjust ceiling fan and blankets for comfort
Lights out!
[Between 10:30 and 11:00]

Next time: the morning routine.