Well, after researching over 40 schools that are ATRA listed and NCTRC compliant and NPRA certified. The list is whittled down to 2 candidates.
- Chico, CA extension of U of CA.
- Cheney, WA for Eastern Wasthinton Univ.

EWU is a B.A. in Rec Therapy program and certified by ATRA, NPRA, and NCTRC.
Chico is a B.S> with the same, plus some more compliance.

Chico will give some credit for my AS in CS.
EWU will not since there's is Arts not Science based.

Chico is a large, expensive school, with a typicall classical style of program.
Cheney's is a much more hands on, real-world, esperiential, small school and program, low cost of living and tuition.
There's much more chance or work in the are though than Spokane,but I think I can get by on tech and teaching work in Spokane area until I'm done with the transition,then move whereever.

So, unless something comes up changing things, it looks like I need to get rolling on moving to Cheney/Spokane, WA. (read more...)       

I'll have to get some prereqs done.
So I plan to sign up for and start taking courses ASAP. that may not be feasible until Winter quarter, since I'm too tight on the Fall quarter signup by September 1st and I have too much to finish clieaning up shutdown and moving of MaladNet and sites.
But I'll start the registstation process in August in preparation for Winter admission.
I'll have to get my transcipts, etc.
And figure out what prereq courses I'll require.
Get what ever grants I can qualify for.
Then find some work up there and apply for jobs.
Get as cheap an apartment or boarding room as possible (1-2 bedroom apt is only $300/mo!).
Move up there for a few months to get some work and find somewhere to move the family to before school starts.
Then move the family up.
Start school.
Do prereqs for about 1 year or so,then start on the Bachelors in Arts in Therapeutic Recreation which would take two years if I'm doing 16 credit hours per quarter (3 quarters, no summer term) for a 96 credits degree.
Meanwhile I have to get at least 1 year internship and another year of entry level/aide work.
Then go for the NCTRC certificaion.
Then (finally) I can go serious job hunting (preferably Oregon and CA) for a permanent RT position. According to the Dir of RT at EWU there isn't much work in WA for RT, especially tight in Spokane.
So, by 2007 the transition should be completed.
We may get a home finally up there since nice ones are only 140k. Since we'll be there long enough to build some equity potentiallly.
I'll try to get tech or teaching work while schooling, to survive.
I'd do more credit hours if I could, but that isn't possible with work at the same time.
So, that's the game plan.
Go to AZ until the August 22nd.
August 23rd, start enrollment qualifying.
Finish MaladNet.
Finish closing out and moving out of  the office by August 31st.
September Gypsy trip to be sure one of the other schools in the running (ewu/bellingham, chico/ca) might not be preferable.
Once the gypsy trip is complete, then commit to the correct school/town/move/work plan.
Try to have an apartment/boarding and a job by October.
Start school Thursday January 1st.

Non-resident tuition=11.5k/yr
Resident tuition=3.5k/yr
Room and Board (single student) typical 5.5k/yr.
There's summmer terms for regular courses just not RT.

Well, EWU seems to have a program more in line with what I want from TR and teaching.
So now I'm going through the admissions/application process.
I hope to start there January 2004.
I plan to move myself to the Spokane/Cheney area by October (I'll be visting up there for a few days on the "gypsy trip").
Then plan to move the family up around November after I've developed an understanding of the dynamics of the various neighborhoods and the best place for the family.
I am also going to see if there are any teaching jobs open, such as in IT or IT Security that might help towards reducing tuition and such too.
Meanwhile I'm supposed to get 1500 hours of either volunteer or paid work in leisure/recreation, so I'll be applying wherever there's an opening to start racking up those hours as much as possible before school and then not as many hours, during school......

I have to get the 1500 hours BEFORE I can even begin the 16 week internship requirements.
I have to get the 16 weeks internship BEFORE I even start the NCTRC certification which will require additional 480 hours of internship as well.
I will probably have 2 years of "generals" (ugh) and 2 years on the bachelors, though I'm trying to get them to give me as much  credit for my AS in CS as possible and minimize the generals requirements. (fingers crossed).

Saturday I finally decided to tackle the huge mess under our deck that's been accumulating from all the construction refuse. So William gave me a hand loading up the Bronco and trailer will full loads. Then we drove up to the dump about 10 miles north of here, or I should more accurately say, "Refuse Transfer Station". We unloaded, and when I finished I noticed my back was hurting a little. On the drive home it became noticeably worse, and by the time we arrived at home, I could barely get out of the Black Beast. By that evening I was in agony and ....

Karina finally decided, against my feeble protests not to bother him on a weekend, to call Sam, our Neuromuscular therapist who has helped so much in the past year. He arranged to see me at 8:30 am Sunday.
I took a bunch of L-Tryptophan (usual 2,000 mg), and 800 more mg of Ibuprofen, and since I was exhausted, managed to fall asleep around midnight despite my back continuing to spasm. by 4:00 am I couldn't even pretend to sleep anymore it hurt so much. It had started out as just my lower back, but those muscles kept pulling on neighboring muscles, and eventually the whole lower half of my back from my shoulder blades down was in rebellion. We didn't have any heat pads or ice packs, so I tried boiling myself in the tub for an hour, which gave a teeny tiny bit of relief, but not much. Finally my being so large in such a small (average)tub started to make thigns hurt more than help. So I hopped out, and went and laid on the floor in the living room just as the sky was lightening the horizon around 5:30ish am.
I lay there writhing and moaning, counting the seconds until 8:30 when I hoped Sam would be my savior from this pain, but not looking forward to the drive down.
Hour by hour, the pain actually seemed to get worse, and trying 5 alieve didn't even phase it. I waddled to the Crown Victoria, and with excruciating agony (it would have been easier in the Black Beast), squeezed myself into there, I was sweating in the cool morning from the pain and exertion by now.
Each bump of th road triggere another bout of spasms. Finally, made it to Sam's office, and realized it was Spokane's Bloomsday. The roads were shutdown, and right by his office was a band getting ready, and there were going to be thousands of spectators. I was in so much pain by now, and so fatigued, that Karina and Sam had to help carry me into the building, not easy considering I'm around 6'8" and 275 lbs. Finally he laid me on the table, trying different tricks and angles, and the spasming subsided a little bit, but he still couldn't do any "releasing" of the tight muscles by the end of the hour I wasn't any better. So, Karina had been trying to talk me into going to the hospital in the first place, but I had hoped to avoid that, alas, once again, she was right ((( grrr, don't you just HATE when your spouse is right? :P ))).
I couldn't help but laugh as Karina and Sam carried me on their shoulders to the car as we watched thousands of joggers run by in the opposite direction, from the irony of the contrast in mobility.
So we headed to Holy Family Hospital, and couldn't take a direct route because of the race (Bloomsday), well, wouldn't you know it, she picked a road that was being TOTALLY torn up for repaving. We would have had a smoother ride offroading! The boys were with us in the car, and very worried, and I wish I could have been stronger willed to keep my cries of anguish to myself, but alas they escaped all to frequently. Well at this point, I just had to laugh, since obviously Murphy's Law was in full effect with this road and all. Oh, and we had Karina's brother visiting later that evening, and I was supposed to help get the house cleaned and vacuumed, etc. As well as on Tuesday I have a client coming into town for sign off on a project I've been working on for the last several months, and here I wasall but an invalid. of course. Thank you Murphy! So I just started cracking up and laughing as the road became worse and worse, with each stabbing pain, I laughed between gritted teeth. This actually helped to alleviate some of the kids' fear, and was contagious, so they started giggling and laughing too.
Finally we made it to the hospital where after a few hours, they gave me a combination of Demoral and something else, which helped the pain go away as long as I didnt' move (at least I could breath now without triggering spasms).In addition to the Demorol they gave me additional prescriptions for Tylonel 3 with Codeine, a strong muscle relaxant, and of course continuing the 800mg of Ibuprofen. All of which seem to only make a slight dent inthe pain, but have me stoned out enough to at least not "mind" the pain as much. ;-)
Anyhoo, it's now Tuesday, and I asked the client to give me one more day to be in less pain to be a little more coherent before presenting their product, and luckily she agreed.
Meanwhile I'm trying to get a neighborhood kid to mow the hideous lawn, but the reseeding and weeding is going to have to wait a while, and there's still at least 2 more loads to haul to the dump before under the deck is cleared out enough to park the trailer.
Wife just now told me she has a doctor's appointment for me at 3:45 pm.
Yipee Skippee.
Until next time.
Same Bat Channel, Same Bat place.
-Hawke

Tyler Byers was a great guest, and we had a great time doing the show. He had lots of great information and interesting stories related to the growth and challenges of his life.
If you missed the live broadcast, you can download the archived version from www.thesyntheticzenshow.com
.
Just click the Downloads link on the left, and then click the "Archived Shows" link.

Unfortunately, it was my first interview, and I did a terrible job on my end from a technical perspective. The microphone volume varied wildly, sometimes too soft other times too loud, but you can hear over 95% of what Tyler had to say. I'm very sorry I did such a poor job with that, and other terrible broadcasting no-no's such as too many aaaahhhs, and ummms, etc. Hopefully with practice I'll get better at that aspect of broadcasting, I usually do fine with my solo shows, this was a new aspect I've not yet developed. But don't let that disuade you from catching the show, Tyler was great!

Monday I had kungfu. Finished learning Shaolin Form 1.
Wednesday I had PT.
Work on Bronco and fixed the timing and hesitation issues. Still need to do some fine tuning on the floats and such.
Thursday morning I hiked some miles (I need to go back with a vehicle to figure out how many miles) with a 35 pound pack. I will be working towards carrying at least a 75-100 pound pack eventually. I hope to work up to being able to hike Mount Hood in two years, so I'll be upping the weight and distance over time. This was the first step.
Thursday night, played Basketball for 1.5 hours, twisted left ankle slightly, and bruised right knee slightly and wsa dog tired. ;-)
Friday I had PT for 1.5 hours (wanted to do 2 hours, but just couldn't make it, the hypoglycemia kicked in, carried over from Thursday's previous exhaustion without enough recovery time), but if walk time, warm up time, and cool down exercises and walk back time are included, was almost 3 hours.
Phew! I'm tired, and sore, and will be working on a client's DB project most of this weekend while recuperating from all this exhaustion. All of this was around a VERY busy schedule of doctor's appointments, school, family, etc.
Also read from Tuesday to Thursday, "The Four Agreements".
Currently reading O.E. Simon's "Total Self-Defense". Trying to wade through his "ranting" style to glean the useful tidbits scattered through the book rather haphazardly.
I have a broadcast tomorrow night (Saturday night, 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm Pacific time).
Well, I"m bit, so keeping this one short, less bloviation, and more pithiness. ;-)

Well, it turns out my knee injury at basketball last Thursday was not my Right IT band as initially thought.

Dave with Whitworth Physical Therapy took a closer look today, since it was being so slow to heal. I had been icing it on and off each day, and cancelled Kungfu because it still hurt. I've been wearing my knee brace each day part of the day too.
He's diagnosed it as the right lateral collateral ligament ( I love the illiterative quality of that combination of words). He says it's a 2nd degree injury (3rd degree apparently the worst = surgery). He said it will be a minimum of 6-8 weeks before I could try basket ball again, but he'd
recommend against it at all. Kungfu I can do as long as I don't do any wide stances or pivot on the right leg.
:-( :-(

This bums me out. Seems like a 'whack a mole', I get one problem tackled and a new one pops up somewhere else. :-( :-(

I'll have to wear the knee brace for a while and continue icing each day as I've been doing since Friday. Argh.

I had a good session at PT today though, showed significant progress in each of the areas. We avoided the exercises that would aggravate the right knee.

Meanwhile, Happy Turkey Days tomorrow to everyone!
Cheers,
-Hawke

There's so much I want to find time to write about and post here, as well as scores of photos of the family.
But I just can't seem to find the time.
Tomorrow I'm heading as one of the classes to the "Ropes Course" at Camp Mead as part of the "Leaderhip in Recreation" class requirements.
Ciao for now!

I'm currently deeply immersed in school.
I have two classes in a compressed quarter.
The classes are:

Abnormal Psychology

American Sign Language (I)

These are full 9 week (quarter) clases compressed into a very intensive 4 weeks!
The quarter ends just days before MerpCon II begins.
So I'll be scrambling until the first week of August.
Then the kids and I are going to go camping & fishing crazy for about 6 weeks.
At some point I intend to ride my motorcycle to the Oregon and Washington coast lines as well.
I will be checking with the helpful folks at Adventure Rider Forums Website for the best route to take. I am member #3 on that site (out of many).
I'm hoping next year to try to ride up to Alaska along the coast, if I can get my passport straightened out.
I just finished putting a demonstration DVD together for Kungfu For Life

Anyhow, it's beena while since I posted, and the above reasons explain why I've not had time, though much is going on.
I just took a brief break from reading Sigmund Freud's works, now back to the grindstone. Cheers!

My mother survived thank goodness.
She came out of the induced coma and is making a remarkable recovery considering how severe the incident was.

I will still be pretty much incognito for another week or so, while coordinating with her brother and helping her and her husband out during this time.

I will be sporadically checking email though.

Only 7 days after it happened she was eating solid foods, and they began helping her get up and walk.
She's now walking down the hall and back.
There are as expected some memory and other cognitive issues. Many of which are normal under the circumstances and will possibly clear up over time. Some others we will have to wait and see.

I have arranged a special interview for this upcoming show with Tyler Byers.
This inspiring young man has just finished his degree in Engineering/Mathematics, works for IBM as a software developer/tester, has just accepted a job with the US Government, has set (and continues to hold) records in various land races, started skiiing at 4 years old, playing basketball at 8, and racing at 9. Been in the Bloosmday races every year for the past 15 years, qualified in the 2003 World championships, and was in the prelims for the 2004 Athens, Greece, Para-Olympics.
And oh yeah, he did all of this with a disability that has had him in a wheelchair since he was born.
This fellow is an inspiration to everyone, whether struggling to overcome the challenges presented by a disability, or anyone struggling through the challenges of life. Don't miss this interview with Tyler Byers.
Wednesday 4 am - 6 am UTC (Tuesday 9 pm to 11 pm Pacific).
Questions will be taken via IM and chat. Live cam will be streaming via Jmeeting at www.jmeeting.com in the NEKKIDRADIO room.
See you there!
-Dr Z & The Synthetic Zen Show
www.thesyntheticzenshow.com

One of the classes for my Recreational Therapy degree I'm taking is "Art in Recreation". Basically crafts. Fun class. First assignment (in time for Easter), was to take a 12 egg carton, and convert it into something creative and still hold 12 objects/eggs. So I made it into a ski lift!


Next we had to create plaster face masks. I'm posting the pics of others so that I can email those folks that asked for this pics, the link to download.
Here's my face covered in plaster, I decided to be different and do it with my mouth open, others did with eyes open, or cast their hands, etc.:

And here's the end result:


Here's pics of some of the others in the class and what they did:
We're then supposed to decorate/paint our egg cartons and masks. My decoration of my ski lift was pitiful. And I'm still working on my mask. I'll post those when ready. Cheers!

I've had a number of conversations and emails with several people about the merits and risks of L-Tryptophan.
Personally, I've found it to miraculous in handling my sleeping issues, bi-polar, and other struggles.
I really wish I had been introduced to it 17 years ago, instead of (insert list of 20+ different medications including by not limited to lithium, tegratol, prosac, wellbutrin, geodon, neurontin, and so many others) it would have saved a lot of complications and frustrations over the years.
I've basically just copied and pasted what I wrote to others, or some sent to me, so the information will be in the format of a conversation. I decided to post this because of a recent conversation with someone interested in nutrition and health, and also who is frustrated with the FDA and Pharmaceutical companies.

Click the "Read more" link to read all that I have posted.
Update (July 2006). I've added notes as an overall update, but here's a reply from someone who followed up on the reply in the Read More section of this article and how much it helped out (I've edited names out for their privacy): From C____: "I received this message from my sister-in-law, A____, a few days ago. I told her what Hawke told me about Tryptophan. She talked to her doctors about it and they had no idea where to get it in prescription form. They said they hadn't heard of it in prescriptions. So she found it in a nutrition store. She's been taking it for several months and apparently it has changed her life. Please forward my, and her, thanks to Hawke for telling me about tryptophan. " From A___ : "I wanted to Thank You so much for suggesting Tryptophan! It has helped me to be consistent in my business & have a better outlook on life!!!!! I feel like I owe my new life to you!!! I am finishing my first car & DIQ is not far behind!! I see a better future in so many ways so Thank You for helping me take my life back!! It has been huge!"

"
I can talk to you to give you a lot of personal information and experiences with it (L-tryptophan).
I did a lot of research before taking it, concerned about possible side-effects, but after doing the research it seemed the risks were about next to nill (which is other than the press, FDA, and Pharmaceutical companies would want you to believe).
But you should understand that IF those risks are legitimate they are severe. For my part however, it has been so helpful, it has been worth it. I have been on many, many medications over the years, and none have
worked as well as L-Tryptophan has for me. (update as of July 2006, still working wonderfully. Started taking in January 2005).

Here's three useful links giving varying perspectives on the pros and cons of taking large doses of L-Tryptophan:

The government's stance:
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/ds-tryp1.html

A perspective still accusing of government actions but not as detailed and virulent as the third link:
http://www.ceri.com/trypto.htm

Below, the conspiracy theory perspective, I do not necessarily go along with this approach. Reality is probably somewhere between the extremes. I came across many other articles, and hope to post those in future articles, maybe around August 2006 I'll more time to perform a more comprehensive research project).
The "conspiracy theory" perspective:
http://www.seedsofdeception.com/Public/L-tryptophan/index.cfm

Through other sources, before using L-Trypto, I found out pretty much everything this article covers. Additionally, the article doesn't mention that the Japanese company responsible for genetically modifying the bacteria
to increase output, had in prior years actually "BLOWN UP" (sabotaged) one of their major labs in order to hide the evidence when inspectors were coming for some other
products they had created that were under investigation. I wish I could find where I had bookmarked that interesting article. Maybe when I have some time I'll look that up again and post it as well. This company had a years long reputation of dangerous products.
Also the articles don't mention, how the pharmaceutical companies that had lobbied to have L-Trypto taken off the market for the year prior to the EMS outbreak
(and the week it was taken off the market, Prosac and other SSRI, as well as other types of "competitive" drugs came onto the market publicly), then in 1994 one of these companies filed a PATENT using a modified version of L-Trypto (Danger Will Robinson! Danger!) they call LTP-5, to TREAT the EMS. Though many seem to feel LTP-5 is fine, and I've not seen too much bad about it, once again, I'm nervous about the modifications being "short cuts" for a natural process. Where L-Tryptophan lets the body decide whether to convert it to serotonin or a b vitamin, LTP-5 goes straight to the serotonin conversion step supposedly. Again, I haven't researched that yet, so my information could be mistaken at this point.
The sum of all this issue is that the dealings of the pharmaceutical companies and FDA has been blatantly crooked.
L-tryptophan works great for me, too bad so many others aren't getting to benefit because of the dirty pool being played. :(:(
I've been using it since January 2005.
I've fluctuated the dose between 500mg to 2000 mg, usually keeping it around 1,000 mg to 1,500 mg.
Update: Apparently now the access to L-Tryptophan has been lightened up somewhat since the FDA's 2001 status update, but it is still restricted state by state with different regulations. Apparently Washington state, where I'm now residing, has one of the more restrictive rules, supposedly because it was one of the "harder hit" states from the "bad batch" in '89. I have to get a prescription to get it, and it is only available at a local compounding pharmacy (I've been going to The Medicine Shoppe myself). And it costs about $60.00/30-45 day supply. :-(
Below is an article someone else sent recently, related to what I covered above, and then some...
I don't totally go along with all that is said, but it's more information to help others make their own decisions.

This article's main purpose is about GM/GE (Genetically Modified / Genetically Engineered) foods and focuses on a conspiracy theory approach to the FDA and the Pharmaceutical companies.

"Institute for Responsible Technology
Spilling the Beans, August 2005

----------------------------------------------------------------------
---

In my book, Seeds of Deception, I bring out new information about the
genetically engineered food supplement L-tryptophan, which was
responsible for a deadly epidemic in the United States in the 1980s.
Much of the research for the chapter came from the work of
investigator William Crist. The book cited Crist's report, which was
expected to have been posted on a website well in advance of my book's
publication. Unfortunately, Crist was unable to update his report at
that time. It is now available at http://www.seedsofdeception.com/Public/L-tryptophan/index.cfm
and provides important new evidence, including
ways in which the U.S. government apparently hid information in order
to protect the biotech industry.

A Deadly Epidemic and the Attempt to Hide its Link to Genetic
Engineering

By Jeffrey M. Smith
Author of the international bestseller Seeds of Deception

In October, 1989, 44-year old Kathy Lorio arrived in the medical
office of Dr. Phil Hertzman in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Lorio, who had
been healthy and active, was suddenly struck with severe pain and a
host of debilitating symptoms. Blood tests revealed that her
eosinophil count had skyrocketed. The normal concentration of this
white blood cell is about 10 per CC. Allergies or asthma can make it
rise to 500. Lorio's was over 10,000.

In a coincidence that was destined to save lives, Hertzman referred
her to Santa Fe rheumatologist James Mayer, who happened to have
recently seen another patient, Bonnie Bishop, with similar symptoms.
Bishop was in severe pain, her arms and legs were filled with fluid,
she had trouble breathing, and her muscles were so weak she couldn't
even sit up. "She slumped like a rag doll."[1] And her eosinophil
count was extremely high.

Patient histories revealed that both Bishop and Lorio were taking the
food supplement L-tryptophan. Although it was the only supplement
common to both patients, the doctors were hesitant to blame L-
tryptophan for the disease. It is an essential amino acid, naturally
found in turkey and milk, and in supplement form had been consumed
safely for years as a treatment for stress, insomnia and depression.

Hertzman checked the literature on eosinophils. One author's name
kept coming up?Dr. Gerald Gleich of the Mayo Clinic. Hertzman gave him
a call. Gleich told him that two cases weren't enough to draw a
conclusion about L-tryptophan. Better wait. They didn't wait long.
That same day a third case, also linked to L-tryptophan, was reported
in New Mexico. Gleich called the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in
Atlanta and told them about the cluster of patients in New Mexico and
the possible link to L-tryptophan.

Within two weeks, three other patients checked into the Mayo Clinic
with serious symptoms?one needed a respirator to breathe. All had
taken L-tryptophan and they were from different parts of the country.
Gleich called the CDC again. He told them it's not limited to New
Mexico?it's out and it's deadly. An L-tryptophan alert went nationwide.


Articles began circulating about the mysterious disease. The
Albuquerque Journal ran a series about it that eventually won the
Pulitzer Prize. The New York Times covered it. As more articles
appeared, the phone calls started coming in?first dozens, then
hundreds, then thousands: individuals with incurable symptoms, doctors
with incurable patients, and stories of horrific symptoms. Some had
coughs, rashes, physical weakness, pneumonia, breathing difficulties,
hardening of the skin, mouth ulcers, nausea, shortness of breath,
muscle spasms, visual problems, hair loss, difficulty with
concentration or memory, and paralysis. Not everyone had all the
symptoms, but everyone seemed to be in pain?greater pain than doctors
had seen before. The disease was named eosinophilia myalgia syndrome,
or EMS?eosinophilia because of the high cell count, myalgia because of
the muscle pain. In all, about 5,000 - 10,000 people got sick; some
are permanently disabled. About 100 people died.

Disease Traced to Genetic Modification

The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reported on
July 11, 1990 that people only got EMS from pills made by Showa Denko,
one of the six manufacturers whose L-tryptophan was imported into the
U.S. from Japan. Showa Denko's pills had several unique contaminants
that were likely to be responsible for the epidemic. Moreover, the
manufacturer was genetically engineering bacteria to produce the L-
tryptophan more economically. Genes had been inserted into bacteria's
DNA in order to produce high concentrations of several enzymes used in
its production.

Epidemiologist Michael Osterholm, who helped track the source of the
epidemic, said in a Newsday article on August 14, "This obviously
leads to that whole debate about genetic engineering." Two weeks
later, FDA spokesperson Sam Page was quoted in Science magazine
"blasting" Osterholm for raising the issue of genetic engineering,
"especially given the impact on the industry."[2]

Diverting Blame

There are numerous ways in which genetically engineered bacteria
might lead to unpredicted contaminants. For example:

The process of inserting genes can create significant changes in the
expression of natural genes throughout the DNA, causing changes in
proteins (including enzymes) and their interactions.

Genetic engineering can cause mutations and deletions in the DNA,
altering its natural functioning and changing what is produced.

The bacteria were engineered to produce ingredients in larger
concentrations than were normally part of the process to create L-
tryptophan. These higher concentrations might interact in
unpredictable ways to create new compounds.

The L-tryptophan is toxic to the bacteria that create it. As a means
of self-preservation, the bacteria might have modified the L-
tryptophan, itself, or its environment.

The press reported that Showa Denko had introduced a GM strain of
bacteria at Christmas time in 1988. Soon after, they also reduced the
amount of carbon in the filter of the manufacturing process from 20
kilos to 10. This change in the filter was just what the young and
vulnerable biotech industry needed to protect its reputation. The
alternative story diverted the blame away from genetic engineering.
This explanation circulated around the world. "The change in the
filter was responsible for the epidemic." Or more simply put, "It was
bad manufacturing?not genetic engineering."

In 1996, writer William Crist began what would become an eight-year
investigation into the cause of the EMS epidemic. He contacted the
FDA's biotechnology coordinator, James Maryanski, who told him "We can
not rule [genetic engineering] out. . . . However, we are aware of
close to two dozen cases of L-tryptophan-linked EMS that occurred
before Showa Denko began using their engineered strain. So, there
would have to be a cause other than just the mere engineering of the
strains. Now, I can't say that definitively because we don't have a
lot of information on these earlier cases." Maryanski asserted that
"either L-tryptophan itself, or L-tryptophan in combination with
something that was the result of the purification process, was
probably the more likely cause."[3]

Crist decided to track down the EMS cases that Maryanski
described?those caused by L-tryptophan produced before the genetically
altered bacterium was introduced in December 1988. He quickly
discovered CDC studies that identified about 100 pre-epidemic cases,
not two dozen. And since reported cases of EMS were far less than
actual cases, the true number, using the CDC's estimated ratio for
unreported incidents, was in the hundreds?all apparently from
individuals who had ingested Showa Denko's pills manufactured before
December 1988. This fact clearly dismantled the change-in-the-filter
theory as the cause of the disease. But it didn't explain how the
contaminants got into Showa Denko's L-tryptophan.

Crist spoke with several attorneys who represented EMS victims. They
had gathered significant evidence for their lawsuits, which were
eventually settled with Showa Denko for about $2 billion. In one
company memo obtained by an attorney, Crist discovered a significant
fact. The bacterium introduced in December 1988 was called Strain 5.
The preceding three strains, introduced starting on October 22, 1984,
were all genetically modified. This was a revelation. It countered the
FDA's argument that illnesses "that occurred before Showa Denko began
using their engineered strain" meant that "there would have to be a
cause other than [genetic engineering]." But they were all engineered!

As he looked at the memo, Crist wondered why the FDA didn't know
about the earlier GM strains. They had access to a lot more
information he did. Then his eyes rose to the top of the document to
see a fax imprint: "FDA September 17, 1990." It had been faxed by the
FDA! They knew back in 1990 that the earlier strains were modified,
but in 1996, the FDA's biotech coordinator James Maryanski was still
claiming ignorance.

An even greater omission occurred when Douglas Archer, deputy
director of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition,
testified before Congress in July 1991 about the epidemic. Not only
did he not discuss the earlier bacterial strains, he never even
mentioned genetic engineering. Instead, he blamed the disease on "the
dangers inherent in the various health fraud schemes that are being
perpetrated upon segments of the American public." The FDA used this
logic to take all L-tryptophan, GM or not, off the market.

According to a 2000 article in the Rutgers Law Journal, "Political
pressures have played a role in the FDA's decision to ban L-tryptophan
as well as its desire to increase its regulatory power over dietary
supplements."[4] In its FDA Dietary Supplement Task Force report on
June 15, 1993, it states, "The Task Force considered various issues in
its deliberations, including ... what steps are necessary to ensure
that the existence of dietary supplements on the market does not act
as a disincentive to drug development." According the Rutgersarticle,
"This is a particularly disturbing issue," as it shows that developing
FDA guidelines "has far more to do with eliminating competition in the
pharmaceutical industry than preserving the public health." In the
case of L-tryptophan, the FDA simultaneously protected prescription
drugs for stress, insomnia and depression, as well as the entire
biotech industry. In retrospect, when FDA's Sam Page told Science that
it was better not to discuss genetic engineering, "especially given
the impact on the industry," it turns out he was describing the
motivation and strategy that would guide the agency for years.

Sobering Lessons Unheeded

Many studies have verified that the process of genetic engineering
can produce unpredicted toxins or allergens. Nevertheless, the FDA
does not require any additional safety testing for GM products,
whether they are food crops or supplements. Thus, if that same deadly
L-tryptophan were first introduced today, it would get on the market.

The EMS epidemic took years to identify and was almost missed. The
only reason it was discovered was because the disease had three
concurrent characteristics: it was rare, acute, and came on quickly.
What would happen if all three characteristics had not been in place?
What if it took 20 years for onset or only impacted the next
generation? What if it produced only mild symptoms like frequent
colds? What if it created serious diseases that were common, like
cancer, heart-disease, obesity or diabetes? The epidemic might remain
undiscovered for decades.

What then of the thousands of products currently being fed to US
citizens that contain ingredients from genetic modification? Might
they be creating problems that don't have all three characteristics?
Are they contributing to the doubling of food-related illnesses in the
United States between 1994 and 2001, corresponding to the time when
many of these products were introduced? We don't know, because no one
is looking. And even if we were, derivatives from the four major GM
crops, soy, corn, cottonseed, and canola, are found in the majority of
processed foods. Unlike L-tryptophan, if common food ingredients were
creating health problems, identifying the source might be impossible.

In spite of these facts, and ignoring the thousands of victims of GM
L-tryptophan, U.S. regulators continue to make the baseless statement
that "millions of people have been eating genetically engineered
products for years and no one has gotten hurt."

Dissatisfied with the way that the FDA is protecting their health,
more and more people have chosen to protect themselves by avoiding GM
foods altogether. Here too, the FDA stands in the way. More than 90
percent of Americans want GM foods labeled. Most industrialized
nations require labeling. But the FDA has an official mandate to
promote biotechnology. They know that more than half of those surveyed
say they would avoid GM foods if they were labeled. To protect
industry profits, the FDA ignores the desires of nine out of ten
Americans.

There is no indication that another EMS epidemic will emerge from
another GM food or supplement. But with obesity, diabetes, migraines,
allergies, and many other ailments skyrocketing in the U.S., there is
no guarantee that another GM-related epidemic is not already upon us.

To learn more about the potential dangers of GM foods, to find out
how to shop GM-free, and to read the excellent report by William
Crist, visit www.seedsofdeception.com/Public/L-tryptophan/index.cfm..


----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------

Spilling the Beans is a monthly column available at
www.responsibletechnology.org. Publishers and webmasters may offer
this article or monthly series to your readers at no charge, by
emailing column@responsibletechnology.org. Individuals may read the
column each month by subscribing to a free newsletter at
www.responsibletechnology.org.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------

References

[1]Barbara Deane, "Anatomy of an Epidemic," Reader's Digest, April
1991
[2]P. Raphals, "Does medical mystery threaten biotech?" Science, vol.
249, no. 619, 1990
[3] William E. Crist, The Toxic L-Tryptophan Epidemic, see
www.seedsofdeception.com/Public/L-tryptophan/index.cfm.
[4]Joshua H. Beisler, L-tryptophan Section from "Dietary Supplements
and Their Discontents: FDA Regulation and the Dietary Supplement
Health and Education Act of 1994, Rutgers Law Journal, Winter 2000,
See www.seedsofdeception.com/utility/showArticle/?objectID=263.



Copyright 2005 by Jeffrey M. Smith. Permission is granted to
reproduce this in whole or in part.
"

I am modfying my career path to have a saftely net from IT.
I am developing a background in Recreational Therapy.
I hope to focus on age groups from 9 to 17 years old. And hope to have strong training in working with children with learning and behaivoral disorders such as ADD, ADHD, etc.
I will draw upon my years of experience in:
Guitar/music
Photography
Computers/Technology
Outdoors (hiking, fishing, climbing, etc.)
Teaching
Automotive
RPGing
Acting

All these skills I've developed over the years can tie in nicely with many different programs.
First I need to find the best schools/training programs.
I'm trying to create a national TOP 20 list.
Next I need to find some intern work as soon as possible at entry level.
I need o find a location that has:
A> One of the top 20 training programs
B> Has plenty of work available
C> Has a climate, culture, schools, housing, and life style conducive to healthy living for the family

Ouch, federal limits are being imposed restricing the amount of compensation for therapy related services!

Rec Therapy ATRA compliant School listings:

Arizona has 1 in Tempe UofA
No distance learning.
BS only.


California has 7
No distance learning.
Bacheclors and Masters in Science or Art both available.
several in Bay Area
1 in Sacreamento
Several in Southern CA, San Diega, Santa Clara areas.



Idaho has 1 (Moscow, ID) no distance learning, Bachelors only.
85 miles from spokane, wa.
300 miles from Boise, id

N.Carolina has 10.
No distance learning.
AS, BS/BA, MS/MA/MSRA
New York has Some distance learning courses available.
BS/BA, MS/MA/MSE, PhD

Oregon has NONE.

Utah has 2 (BYU and UofU)
No distance learning.
Offer BS/BA, MS, PhD, EdD
Provo and SLC only.

AS only offerd in Kansas, Maine, and New York

Only distance learning programs in:
Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, New York, Missippi, and Washington.


Other  (non-ATRA) Rec Therapy colleges:
1 listed in Oregon Eugene, OR, UofOR
8 listed in California.
2 listed in Washington


JObs:
Asst Director Rec Therapy
Chapel Hill, NC require BS & 6 yrs experience = 32k
ATRA listing

It appears the top 3 states offering the most Rec Therapy programs are:
California
New York
North Carolina

Currently one site lists 338 internship positions open.
2 in Idaho, Boise and Nampa
Mostly Wilderness based.
Boise is summer only.
Nampa is year round 15 week units.

Utah currentlylists  11:
wide variety.

oregon lists 3:
1 is girl scouts (women only)
1 is kids 0-18 in Portland
1 is portland parks and recreation

California lists 11

Arizona lists 1 in Phoenix at a Veterans facility.

North Carolina lists 6:
All over the state, wide range.

Therapeutic recreation website (same as above for intern listings) lists:
AZ=0
CA=1
ID=0
NC=0
OR=0
UT=0

hotjobs.com
Recreation therapy=15 total national
AZ=0
CA=5
ID=1 (up to 65k plus 10k signon courdealene)
NC=6
OR=0
UT=0

monster.com
recreation therapy=29
recreational therapist=39

Well my mother is finally back in her home city.
She is not yet in her home, as she goes through rehabilitation to help you recover the most completely, but things looking promising for her, especially considering what happened and what she's been through.

An old friend/coworker recently emailed me asking how things were with the family and myself. I replied with an exceptionally long email, and decided I should post excerpts here, for others who might have the same questions... Click the READ MORE link for the rest of the details...

Regarding Halloween this year:
Last year only about a dozen or so
kids came to the door, and my wife had bought a LOT of candy. So this year, I
just bought one large bag from Costco. Well. we actually ran out after about
the 30th or 40th visitor!
In just the past year, a lot of new families have moved into the area, so
that's probably why the significant change. This is/was an older
neighborhood, about 40 years old, and most of the people were in their
70's/80s. So they've been moving out to retirement communities and selling
their house on this very hot market, and families like ours have been moving
in. So we hit it at a great time of transition for what is normally a very
non-changing, nice families, neighborhood. ;-);-)

Kids are doing great. William (9, be 10 in December), is in his second year of Kungfu, is in chess club, has become fanatical about role playing gaming (non-computer) since I introduced all three kids to it recently, and
I'm trying to keep him from going overboard on that. ;-);-)
He's now using email between family members, and loves playing multi-player game classics such as Warcraft 2 and Diablo. All three kids are totally addicted to Neverwinter Nights. William read The Hobbit last year in 2nd
grade. He's now started the Lord of the Rings. He was dressed up as Harry Potter for Halloween today.

I'm going to post Halloween pics shortly today on
my site.

He prefers to be sedentary, so I kind of have to push him to do physical stuff, but he's really good about doing Kungfu every day. He's a bit of a pessimist, and that may be a bit my fault, but we're working
on it. ;-);-)

He's struggling with OCD and anxiety issues, but doing ok in school. We're working with counselors to help him with that. I've been teaching them meditation and breathing techniques, and those are slowly sinking in.
He is most content "playing in his imagination" in his head, reading, playing video games and watching tv, and role playing gaming (paper and dice).

Brennan (7) is being active as always, despite his asthma. We tried him in
Kungfu this summer, but he kept goofing off, so we pulled him (much against
his wishes) until he's a little more mature to behave. ;-);-) He's been close to
whooping my tail in Warcraft, and is acing Neverwinter Nights.
He's good at being active, and helping around the house, riding his bike,
inline skating, scooter, running (despite asthma), and more. He's struggling
with controlling his temper, which has had him in trouble sometimes, but he's
making progress. He's a huge optimist, very positive, and loves people. He
loves role playing gaming and games, and a little tv, but he's most happy
being active, playing with others, going outdoors, mountain biking, and most
of all doing stuff with daddy. (as they all love). ;-);-) Brennan is a real
"doer" who expresses his emotions of the moment very strongly. He love
cuddling the most.

Drake (5) is the youngest, probably the toughest (out of necessity), and will
probably be the largest of the three (burly and tall). He is a real
"watcher", and shy with people at first, but very outgoing once he gets to
know them. He's actually doing very well with WC2 and NWN. He also loves
paper and dice RPGing, He does a GREAT orc voice, I should record it, it's a
hoot from a 5 year old. He also has a bit of a "Dark side". Long before he
played video games or role playing, he always wanted to play "the bad guy",
while his brothers were the good guys. I'm not sure how much of that was just
the other two putting him there, but he fully embraces it now, though I try
to dissuade him. ...
He enjoys rough housing with his brothers and others (they all love that of
course). Loves hid and seek and tag. Likes to watch tv waaaaaaay too much.
Enjoys moderate hikes and some bike riding, though not as much as Brennan,
much more than William does.
He's doing well in private school in Kindergarten, he'll be joining his
brothers at Evergreen next year. Evergreen is one of the "best" public schools in the Mead district, and the Mead district is the one of the "best" districts in the Spokane area (we kept our house selection to try to make sure they ended up in that school).
The private schools here aren't quite what I thought they should be from a private school
from them, as well as the expense, and Evergreen is an exceptional school, though I generally don't
like public schools.

Karina is going to school now taking her generals. She is thinking of becoming
a nurse possibly. But it's early yet since she just started this Fall
quarter, taking a course in precollege map to work up to her requisites. She
is very excited today because she had the best grade on the midterm test
today. And the teacher pointed it out and praised her and all, I think she
said she had a 96% on the test.
Woohoo! You go girl! ;-P

She's doing the "craft fair" thing on the weekends, She registered booths at
the three largest fairs in the area. Her website is www.karina.org, the
undeveloped catalog is dev.karina.org
I'm trying to take pics of all her stuff, especially her great angels, before
it's all sold off. She says this is the last year she's going to do this.
We'll see... ;-P
She has been taking Kungfu on and off the past year as well. And she just
started going back to the gym this week. Her weight is still not good (380
lbs). But her health is better than 2 years ago, even though she skips Kungfu
and working out for weeks or months at a time. She can kick quite high with
good balance, and woe betide anyone who tries to mug her without a
weapon. ;-P
She's been reading fanatically the new Robert Jordan (11th) book, and the
Harry Potter book she recently finished, after re-reading all the books
leading up to both.
She's made lots of friends here, and is active with them frequently.

I'm acting as "Mr Mom" now. I control the finances, groceries/shopping, and do
most of the cooking. We are eating much healthier now, but eating well too (I cook a lot
of gourmet and other recipes). I'm enjoying this (quasi-retired) still busy,
but less insanely intense life style. Though it's still overwhelming with school on top of everything else.
I've posted some of what I've been
cooking on the website.
I love it here in Spokane. Though my heart is always with Northern California,
I'd say this is the closest "2nd" I've been to in the USA (about 25+ states
I've been in for any brief or prolonged periods). The economy is much more affordable than
CA, the city is large enough to have all the necessities, but not TOO large. It has an excellent education and medical infrastructure (multiple major hospitals and suppoorting structure, two community colleges, several other colleges, and universities).

We feel like we almost live in the woods (which is a good thing from my view), even
though we're only 3 minutes from the malls and such, and everything is within
15-30 minutes. Surrounded by trees and life. Since most of the trees are
evergreens, it stays green year round, rather than the brown "ugliness" of
winter in other places. There is a "winter" of actual snow and ice, but very
moderate compared to Utah, Idaho, Nevada. Very temperate summer (actually
cooler than the Bay Area many times by a few degrees). Over 100+ lakes within
100 miles in any direction. Awesome outdoors life here.
Reasonable "cultural culture" here. Though certainly room for improvement there.
I'm hopefully getting my Internet radio show approved on a community FM radio
station here in the next few weeks. I've donated streaming for their signal
as well. Check them out here:
www.kyrs.org
You'll see the streaming link leads to one of my servers.
I don't agree with much of their politics, but I agree TOTALLY with their
approach to free speech, civil liberties, etc.

I have started being trained by the Kungfu studio to become an instructor in
their style. I'll be starting with the kids in a few months, and adults after
a year or so.
Physical therapy is going well. I "graduated" from the first level, and am now
at the 2nd tier, which is more a "Sport training" level.
I'm VERY sore from the first Friday session, but no injuries, and I did handle Kungfu yesterday just fine. No injuries, just soreness, is a VERY good thing, and a welcome change to the pattern of pain and injuries of the past years.

There's a third more
intense program from PT for "professional sports level". I don't know that I'll go to that third level or not.

My goal is to be at Kungfu a
minimum of 3 days a week for 2-3 hours per day. Eventually maybe 4-5 days per
week.

Also a therapist who used to teach Karate, says, when I'm ready he'll hook me up with teaching the
children in the Children's Asthma center of Sacred Heart hospital as
well, which he apparently did years ago.

School is chugging along. I've never liked academia, and have always struggled
in school, except for my computer science degree. But I'm trying to make the
best of it.
I'm full time this quarter taking:
Overview of Therapeutic Recreation
Intercultural Communications
Medical Terminology

I've been chiseling away at my required 1500 hours of volunteer/work related
work for the prerequisite before I can start the 16 weeks internship as part
of the degree requirements.
I'm majoring as a Recreational Therapist, and minoring in Music for music
therapy.
I've been learning the African Djembe drum, in addition to continuing with the
Native American wood flute, guitar, bass, harmonica. I've been taking on and
off voice lessons to try to get better with vocals too.

I LOVE my online broadcasts, but due to a busy schedule I just cut it back
from 3x / week to 1x / week, in the hopes that I'll be doing the Radio
broadcasts with KYRS 1x /week as well.
My site for all this is:
www.thesyntheticzenshow.com
or
www.synthzen.com

My show time is now:
Sundays 4 am to 6 am UTC/GMT (that's 10 pm to Midnight Saturdays for Pacific
time).
I've been working on my two Broncos. One is lifted 6", with 32" tires. It's an
awesome off road beast, but a POS other than that. That's the black one. :-p:-p
The red one is "a more civilized" Bronco. It's a great family mobile, that I
can take them most anywhere, and it's in great shape, though it's needs a
little work.
It's going to cost me about $200.00 to replace the melted/burned parts on the
motorcycle. :-):-)
Luckily my Zaurus wasn't in the bag, as it usually is, else that would have
been a $930.00 handheld lost. But I did lose all three of my Kungfu uniforms,
and my primary eyeglasses, as well as my whole quarter's work so far and
their sylabi (?). But, could have been a LOT worse. I'll post the full
version of my stupidity in that event at some point as an update to that same
article already on line.
I've been working on the house, the landscape.
I'm still working on a (way overdue) database project for a client, for extra money for my "useful gadgets" such as the Zaurus.

I'm Game Mastering a role playing gaming group twice per month (http://eagroup.merp.com) based in J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth.

So, that's probably WAAAAAy more information than you wanted. And if you
actually managed to read through it all, you should get a reward for
patience. :-P :-P

But, that gives an overview of the highlights of current events for our clan.
Cheers!