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.

I was just informed today that EWU will NOT give me ANY credit for my AS in CS from CCi because although CCI is nationally acreddited, it is not on the same accreditation as EWU Northwest Colleges and Schools. So they are using my horrendous SLCC grades from back in 88-91. I had a pitiful  0.74 gpa from there, because of a lot of issues just being able to show up for classes back then, whereas CCI is 4.0.
<br />
AND now they say I have to do ALL generals from scratch (*assuming I'm admitted at all)
<br />
AND they want a copy of my GED
<br />
AND a letter from me trying to convince them why they should accept me in the face of such horrible grades,
<br />
BEFORE they will decide in 6-8 weeks from receiving the GED
<br />
IF they will admit me anyway!
<br />
Argh!
<br />
I hate paper pushers. I just want to get to work learning and changing careers, helping people,  not play these ridiculous jumping through hoops like a good doggy with no brain moronic games!  So I called.....

So, I called SLCC for my GED, and the department that handles that
<br />
CAN'T accept any payment by phone or online
<br />
ONLY when they receive a check by mail
<br />
WILL they then send the GED scores to the desired address
<br />
WHEN they get around to it after receiving the check and letter from me.
<br />
I started this whole damn process in June 2003, and I may not be able to make the January quarter since registration deadline is in December and with EWU's 6-8 weeks delay for admission AFTER they get the GED, I may not make the deadline. Double argh.
<br />
Well, hell with it. we're moving out of Malad one way or another.
<br />
Spokane seems a nice enough place, and certainly oodles better than Malad.
<br />
So, regardless of whether I get admitted to EWU, or I end up having to go to the Spokane Falls Community College for 1-2 years before being admitted, we're bloody well moving in November if we can get a house arranged by then.
<br />
Meanwhile trip to AZ with Brennan was a hit.
<br />
Many little mini adventures with the "Boo". He discovered the new denizen of the pooll, a desert toad that was trapped there after the monsoons ended. He visisted us in the pool and Brennan had great funning swimming after it and naming it "Floaty the Toady". :-)
<br />
Also funny age jokes with "Grandpa" Fred and Grand Ma Ma.
<br />
Fred was teasing Brennan, and somewhoe the conversation came up that Fred doesn't tease Brennan as much as his "young grandpa" (referring to my father-in-law kent who is only about 1 year younger at most than Fred).
<br />
Fred asked what Brennan thought was old.
<br />
"100 years". replied Brennan.
<br />
We, Mom, Fred, Myself, chuckled.
<br />
"So how old is Grandpa?" referring to Kent, Fred asked.
<br />
"60 years old" Brennan replied, not too far off.
<br />
"So how old am I?" asked Fred.
<br />
'"100 years old" Brennan grinned, Fred guffawed, and we all laughed, since that fit the Boo's definition of old.
<br />
"So how old is Grandmama?" Fred asked.
<br />
"5 years old" he giggled.
<br />
We laughed.
<br />
"So how old is your Aunt Kit?" Fred asked
<br />
"1 years old" Fred laughed heavily.
<br />
"So how old is your dad?" Fred asked.
<br />
"1,000 years old" Brennan laughed out now in full blown carried away swing.
<br />
After that he startted to get really carried away, but it was really funny during the first part.
<br />
Well, more later.
<br />
It's 1 am, and I keep staying up till 4 am, and getting up at 9-10 am.
<br />
No real excuse for it, not like I have a regular job, just lots of little thnings stressing me out, and seeming to never end:
<br />
Alpentech shopping cart still has credit card autho problem.
<br />
Veridex site needs much more work.
<br />
I need to write all those docs and plans for the Veridex rollout and my position description as founding partner and  CTO.
<br />
Axxess.net multiitude of issues since their tech guy is in over his head unforrtunatelyk, nice guy, but doesn't seem to be on top of the ISP side of their business. I hope I can help them get on track.
<br />
Have to find a Director of Operations for Veridex by the end of the year.
<br />
Still have to finish packing up and mocing out the office for downtown Malad HQ by the end of September.
<br />
Need to strip down the "geekmobile" and see if the red truck's shell will fit it.
<br />
Get the red truck sold.
<br />
Get back up to Spokane and sell the motorcycle  and find a house for the family.
<br />
Find a replacement therapist for hughes, up in Spokane.
<br />
Get a R.T. resume together as well as complete the "lifetime" resume to use for hopefully getting "Real world work experience" credits from EWU program (iof admitted) of up to 45 credits for my work history, especially in IT.
<br />
Pack up the house.
<br />
Oh, had a pleasant surprise from Jud calling and touching base after nearly six months, good to hear from her, and hope things keep improving on her end. Of couse usual contention triggered, but so be it.
<br />
Just a little to do. ;)
<br />
Well, now it's 1:!5, gotta go.
<br />

Just in case you're at all curious about my background in IT (Information Technology).
<br>
 I decided to post this article, as a quasi-resume.
<br>

<br>
My actual IT resumes (a bit out of date) are here:
<br>
<a href="http://www.hawkes-haven.com/resume/HawkesResume.htm">Hawkes Resume in HTML format</a>
<br>
I can be contacted at hawke[at}hawkes-haven.com
<br>
Click the [read more] link for details...

I first started working with computers in 1981 when I was 11 years old on a TI (Texas instruments) 99/4a with a whopping 16KB of ram, and borrowing a friends tape cassette drive for storage media.
<br>
I started with BASIC and wrote simple programs for accounting and inventory, and also a "Tolkish Dictionary" meant to be a comprehensive dictionary/glossary on all of J.R.R. Tolkien's words and characters that were unique to his writings, and various "Zork" like (didn't exist yet then) if/then text based RPGs (role playing games).
<br>
I managed to get from A to G of the Tolkish Dictionary quite complete, with a smattering throughout the rest of the alphabet, and as a searchable index, before I maxed out the cassette drive capacity.
<br>
I originally went into computers because I wanted to create computer animation, so I did a lot of music and animation too (very limited in those days).
<br>
In 1984 I gained an IBM PCjr and upgraded it to a whopping ;0) 640KB and it had TWO 5.25" floppy drives and 16 colors, and more!
<br>
I learned DOS, and more BASIC, and PACAL on this ssytem and started doing little accounting and inventory and POS work for family friends who had parents or others, that needed inexpensive computer programming work,as well as lots of fun and games and graphics and music on this platform.
<br>
Then it was stolen when our house was robbed some time later.
<Br>
I was resigned to borrowing friends or schol computers over the years such as the Commodore 64, TRS-80, IBM XT and AT, etc.
<br>
Then I discovered the Amiga 1000 and thought that was incredible, but wasn't able to get it at the time.
<br>
I then kind of faded away from computers and focused more on automotive for a few years, though computers will still prevelant in much that I did.
<br>
Eventually I ended up with an Amiga 2000. Still have it, still occasionally use it. i've upgraded it to currently 68030 33mhz, 8 MB ram plus 1MB fat agnus, scsi and IDe hd's, HD fd plus 2 DD FD, genlock, midi, sound capture, and more.
<br>
Learned C and AREXX on it.
<br>
I was working as a photographyer and automotive technician during these years around 91-96 but kept doing various computer work for friends, family, and employers too, and my specialty in automotive was computers and electrical systems.
<br>
Eventually, with getting married and our first son on the way, I decided to get seriously focused on IT again around 1996. Setup my first home network, first with Arcnet, then later Ethernet. I'd been doing some networking support at some places i worked previously too for Netware and 3com and WFWG (Windows For Work Groups) environments.
<br>
Decided I needed the "piece of paper" of a degree and picked up my AS in CS from CCI with 4.0 GPA in '98, while picking up full time employment as a PC and network technician at a retail store called PC Easy. I acquired other jobs over the years and worked up quickly in position, skill, responsbility, and income.
<br>
I worked up quickly, and in a few years, exceeded my goal considerably of a 120k/yr income (Achieved 150+k) and becoming CTO, and moved from UTah back to my home state of California, and landed in Silicon Valley / Bay Area.
<br>
I loved it in Silicon Valley! I finally related to folks instead of always having to drag people along who seemed to be at least 2 years behind in tech.
<br>
I was CTO of an online digital publishing company called MightWords, a spin off from Fatbrain, which later became a subsidiary of , and eventually obsorbed by,  Barnes and Noble.
The .Com bubble burst. And we were struggling, but still had a lot of money, low "burn rate " (hate that phrase) and were good to go for yeasr to come and with potentical profits/ break even on operating costs only months away.
<br>
Then 9-11 happened (which is also my birthday [sigh, surely not wise for concern oc identity theft to have all this information with dates, hopefully that never catches up with me), and well, various people on the Board kind of cracked. and all of a sudden i had to lay everyone in IT off, sell everything, and shutdown by the end of the year. I left at the end of January 2002. :-(
<br>
Luckily, since there was still plenty of money, everyone had fairly ok termination pay.
<br>
As an executive I received a considerable sum and I used much of that money to start my own business ventures in computer training, virtual office services and VPns, information security consulting, wireless ISP services, and much more.
<br>
Some things were more successful than others.
<br>
But it was too hard on the family.
<br>
Since deciding to go into IT full bore in 1996, I have worked a minimum average work week of 90 hours per week, with many over 120 hours per week, and usually once or twice a year "having" to work 3 to 3.5 weeks straight through with NO sleep, and only running home for showers and changing. And only one year did I take a vacation (for a week).
<br>
This eventually took a toll on my physical and mental health, and my family (most important).
<br>
So I have decided, due to the nature of IT's demands, and my obssessiveness in not stopping until everything is done, that I need to pull out of IT full time for everyone's sake. Though all my clients and those I've done work for protest this strongly stating they don't know how to get a replacement for me. Which is nice for stroking my ego, and makes it that much harder to quit what has become such a bad addiction for me.
<br>
I made this decision around July/August of 2003.
<br>
This has turned out to be amazingly difficult to follow through on, since it it now obvious I have become an "Information Junkie".
<br>
I ended up starting on board as a founding partner and CTO for Veridex integrity index and started to come onboard as a partner and CTO for Axxess.net an ISP providing wireless, dsl, and dial-up services.
<br>
I have extremely strong background in so many areas, that I have trouble getting just my IT resume down to only 10 pages. I have worked heavily with Windoze, LInux, *BSD, Solaris, Netware, and many other operating systems, many server and application products, networking, security, ecommerce, Internet, and more.
<br>
I don't think much of many ceritications, though the Sun Java and SANS security certifications seem to be more meaningful than most, but so many employers want that "piece of paper". When I hired and interviewed, I cared about what someone KNEW and DID, much more than any degrees or certs. I encouraged constant education adn training and budgeted heavily for it, for the good of the company as was proven time and time again, but certs in general are just a MINIMUM rating.
<br> having said that, I have the following certifications:
<ul>
<li>SANS GIAC GCIH security certification through the programs sponsored by the NSA and FBI.</li>
<li>MCP+Internet</li>
<li>MCSE</li>
<li>CNA</li>
<li> SCSA - (Sun Certified Systems Administrator) I passed the first of the two Solaris Admin tests, but since deciding to change careers haven't bothered taking the second $150 test though I've administratoed Solaris for many years since version 2.5.1.</li>
<li>ASE (Automotive Service Excellence) triple certified in Automotive Computer Systems, Automotive Electrical Systems, and Engine Performance and Analysis and Emissions.
</li>
</ul>
I have advanced training and hands on experience covering a wide range of market verticals and technologies.
<br>
I tried to mellow out and only work 40-60 hours per week in IT, but I fell right back into my old habits of being the "superman" and saving the day for so many folks, and taking on my responsibility, thus working through the nights with little or no sleep, to keep amazing everyone with such great results.
<br>
So I, with great difficulty, have bowed out from these other companies and job offers popping up all over,  before their dependency on me became too great.
<br>
So, now IT has to be relegated to a hobby status once again.
<br>
I have decided to change careers radically into RT, Recreational Therapy, or Therapeutic Recreation depending on who you're speaking with at the time.
<br>
This has a much more balanced lifestyle (thought significantly less pay).
<br>
I'm a big OSS (Open Source Software) advocate, have successfully moved 100% away from any MS products or any products requiring MS dependencies. I am boycotting all RIAA/MPAA member companies, and protesting the DMCA and attempts at Super DMCA, abuses and all those who support it, as well as the abuse of the Patriot act. I have always been a security "nut" but what is currently under way is nothgin but fear mongering to grow a facist regime, and it's very sd to see our country being so quickly destroyed, and the lawyers at the front of it's destruction.
<Br>
I still host some ecommerce websites for some clients I have had for years, to cover my expenses for my hobby sites and such. And I doubt I'll ever get completely away from IT with over 20 years of background in it now. But it is no longer my means of income support and focus.
I'm heading back to school to work towards a master.
<br>
Right now I'm in Idaho, about to move to Washington. But that's all a nother story. ;-)

Well, we took another load to the "Transfer station", Spokane equivalent to "The dump".
Karina and Brennan did most of the work. TIt was our goal to try to do this witout my back going out. William helped some, but had to be pushed a lot. The previous load was about 500+ pounds.
This trip was over 1,100 pounds. And Karina was kicking tail! You go GIRL! ;-)

I kind of have so much going on over the macro scale, that the day to day micro scale gets totally buried sometimes. I posted earlier more of a macro overview, now, I'll get down to what's more immediately going on for me, for those who've been asking (mostly via email).
Click the READ MORE link for all the details...

School, working towards BA in TR / RT (Therapeutic Recreation / Recreational Therapist), with a minor in music for MT (Music Therapy).
Current classes:

• Medical Terminology


• Overview of Therapeutic Recreation


• Intercultural Communications

Tech work. Though I've effectively retired, from the computer industry, I'm still doing a little here and there, since it's hard to let go of something I've been doing since 1981, all at once. I've a number of small projects going on, some larger than others, to "feed my habit".

• Infoco Database and Respondent Tracking System overhaul (waaaaay behind schedule :-( )


• Pilates Rehab website and online catalog


• Kungfu for life website


• Alpentech website & e-commerce


• Color Signs & Graphics website & online catalog


• Streaming, and possibly soon email and/or website hosting for KYRS LP FM, Thin Air Radio

That's work for others (some pay, some trade).
I've other sites of a more hobby orientation that take a little time from time to time (including this one):

• thesyntheticzenshow.com


• www.merp.com


• eagroup.merp.com


• merpcon.merp.com


• www.suitegm.com


• www.hawkestudios.com waaaay out of date


• www.hawkenterprising.com


• www.dev2devportal.com

House care. Owning a house, and trying to do as much of the work myself, definitely adds up.
Here's current work underway or immediately pending urgently for me on the house:

• William's bedroom shelves


• William's dressers


• Brennan's desk


• Many light bulbs of various kinds overdue, some hard to find


• Downstairs back door


• Chainsaw and chop (a LOT of) wood for winter
• 
  
• Clean out the fireplaces and stove in preparation for winter


• fixing the bathroom shower area, tiles, leaks, holes, shower head, grout


• My space (basement sound/music/dark/gaming/meditation room) and shelves


• Insulate roof better


• in attic tv antenna and coaxial cables


• the list goes on, and I'm sure I'm forgetting some, but I think those are the most pressing currently

Vehicular pressing issues:

Red Bronco:

• Adjust timing, and carburetor (idle air fuel, float levels, accelerator pump, idles, etc.)


• Driver side inside door handle


• Oil change


• Rear axle pinion seal and axle seals replaced ASAP!


• Bleed and adjust brakes


• Valve cover gaskets replace


• Sand and spray paint hood for winter protection from rusting

Crown Victoria:

• Oil change


• Pull driver side seat and interior, weld in new metal into floorboard


• fix/trim tendrils of drooping ceiling in rear interior


• Get studded snow tires installed on rear tires


• Pop out dent in passenger side rear quarter panel, and sand/spray to winterize/protect from rusting over winter


• Replace malfunctioning driver side power seat switch


• get filthy interior detailed

Black Bronco:

• Before snow becomes an issue, pull transmission and transfer case


• replace transmission and flywheel


• repair/replace transfer case chain assembly


• Bleed & adjust brakes


• change oil

Motorcycle (will probably have to postpone much of it until spring :-( ):

• change oil


• Remove, purchase new, and replace right rear melted turn signal


• Remove, purchase new, and replace, rear mud flap upper and lower assembly


• clean, lube, adjust chain (overdue)


• Scrape/remove (somehow) burned/melted materials still on exhaust pipe


• paint repair


• Weld/repair mounting brackets for tail bag and saddle bags


• Mount tail bag and saddle bags

Daily/weekly "busy-ness" (besides already listed):

Health:

• Physical therapy 2x/week


• Kungfu 1x/week


• Nutritionist/chiropractor 1-2x/month


• Cedar Bridge, 3x/week

Finances

Groceries/shopping

Breakfast and dinner meals for family

general "errands" for household

house cleaning

yard care

managing kids

"quality time" with kids (best part of the day!)

So, as is constantly covered in TR class, what am I using/doing to "cope" with this huge overload throughout the week?
Well, most of my hobbies have unfortunately have to sit by the wayside, because there just isn't enough time anymore unfortunately (such as reading for enjoyment, photography and darkroom, outdoors activities (hiking, camping, fishing, boating, rock climbing, etc), mountain biking, skateboarding, traveling, motorcycling beyond errands, etc.). But I've managed to cling on by the tips of my fingernails, to the tiniest fraction of a few occasional tasks that help to keep the sanity somewhat tolerable. ;-)

Music. I still usually play myself to sleep, about 15-30 minutes of guitar and/or native american wood flute, each night. I'm still doing broadcasts for NR (NEKKID Radio www.nekkidradio.com), but only once per week now instead of 2-3 times per week. Saturdays 8 pm to 10 pm PDT (that's Sunday's 4 am to 6 am UTC/GMT).
I'm to get a once a week show on Thin Air Radio soon (KYRS www.kyrs.org) as well.
When I can, I still playing/practicing the following instruments:

• Guitar (Fender 12 string (steel acoustic), Yamaha classical (nylon acoustic), Ovation (steel acoustic electric), Fender Stratocaster 6 string (steel electric), and others).


• Bass (Samick steel fretted 4 string electric)


• African Djembe Drum (wish I could get my full basic drum set back from Rob some day, but can't get a hold of him since he move to Australia. He said he'd put them in storage in Vegas. Ah well. :-( )


• Harmonica


• Native American Wood Flute


• Keyboard


• Computer-based music composition


• vocals (my feeble but determined attempts thereof)

You can download/listen to my own music (several CDs worth), or catch my online shows at the website for Dr Z & The Synthetic Zen Show - www.thesyntheticzenshow.com .

Role playing gaming.
Luckily, after a several years long hiatus (because of being a workaholic and having a career that I felt I had to be working 90-120 hours per week on AVERAGE), I've managed to pick up role playing about once or twice a month now. I was hoping to be weekly, but that just hasn't been possible. But some is better than none in this case. ;-)
I GM two groups. One is with my sons, and possibly soon, some of their friends, that's right now just 3 players, but will likely become around 4-5 soon. The other group is a range of (so far only males) people from about 21 to the 40's. Right now, I've 4 reliable players, a 5th we'll see about reliability, and 2 possible players joining.
Both groups are playing in the same campaign: Middle-earth using Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 d20, modified to fit Middle-earth better (by me), with a system adaptation I call Eä d20. I have a website setup for this, including forums and mailing lists, at: http://eagroup.merp.com.
Some related projects I need to finish include:

• Numenor Convention Adventure Module: Escape from Numenor


• Numenor map colorization


• Numenor Campaign: The Realm, People, & Land


• Numenor module: Under the Shadow


• Numenor module: The Days of Glory


• Eä d20: Tome of Races & Cultures


• Eä d20: Magic in Middle-earth


• Eä d20: Deities & Demigods (Ainur, Valar, Maiar)


• Eä RPG System: Core Rules


• Eä RPG System: Magic in Middle-earth


• MerpCon DVD collection


• MerpCon Video, with Guest Speaker Chris Seeman


• Send Black & White & Color Numenor Maps to MerpCon participants that qualified

I pretty much don't watch TV or movies anymore (once in a VERY great while, I'll plop down exhausted in front of the brainsucking tube, maybe 1-2 time per month lately).

I usually manage to get around 4-6 hours of sleep, but some nights, unfortunately I do not. The goal is to get a full 7-8 every night, but it just doesn't seem possible yet.

I hope I can find a way to manage my time better, and get more balance in my life, but so far, that ability seems to have eluded me. :-(
This is still a far better balanced lifestyle when when I worked full time (pretty much every waking moment), in the technology industry. So, since it's progressed this far, I hope over continuing time to keep the progression in the correct direction for a better quality of life.
We'll see.....

There was a time in my life, when I decided I wanted to work in the medical industry.

I took on several part time jobs at once, trying to figure out which branch of that industry would

be the best fit. I was simultaneously working five part times jobs, one as a Habilitation Therapist

for Hillcrest Care Center, another as an Emergency Room Prep Tech (just an over-glorified

orderly) at Saint Mark's Hospital, a third as a salesman for a nutritional supplement program

called “Bodywise”, and a fourth as a Nurse's Aide for Doxie Hatch Long Term Care Center. I

was also involved with some theatrical acting at the time in an outdoor production of “Robin

Hood” as Robin Hood himself, but that is not relevant to this topic, nor was my time as a

nutritional supplement salesman.

I was living in Salt Lake City, Utah, and the time period covered the latter half of 1990

well into 1991.

Click the "Read More" link for the rest of this article.

Out of all these medically related jobs, I enjoyed the Habilitation Therapist work at

Hillcrest Care Center the most. My job was to help awaken, and guide through preparing for the

day, various moderately functioning mentally handicapped individuals. These were all adults

ranging in age from 18 to 50 years old. Some were struggling with issues all their life, and some

were there as the result of brain damage from injury, who up to that point had been perfectly

“normal” individuals, when their lives suddenly, drastically, and irrevocably changed forever.

The tasks I performed included making certain they awoke and rose from bed on time, that they

brushed their teeth, dressed appropriately for their day's upcoming activities, and then handing
Robinson 2

them off to the occupational therapists. It was a rewarding and enjoyable job. Though it took

time,a nd could be frustrating due to relapses in what they learned and forgot, they were for the

most part happy to have someone work with them who cared, and listened, and taught, many of

them would experience each day almost as though it was their first day, since their memory of

previous days were all but gone.

The only reason I quit, was due to transportation and seasonal issues. I started working

for them in the late summer. At the time, my driver's license was still suspended, and would be

for a total of 6 years, which is another story as to why. This meant that I had to either ride my

bike or the bus each morning. The employer made it clear that timeliness and stability was most

critical for these individuals, and I had to be there before 6:00 am sharp each morning. The buses

in my area didn't begin running until later in the day, so I rode my bicycle a few miles to work

each day from about 4500 South to 8800 south. I would work from 6:00 am until 9:00 am each

day.

Then in late October, the freezing weather began, and one morning while riding my white

twelve speed Fuji Esprit street bike to work I hit a patch of black ice, fell, and tore my leg open.

My bike was badly damaged as well. I hobbled the rest of the way to work, arriving late, and

bloody. The manager was very upset with me, explaining that showing up bloody and disheveled

could greatly upset some of the patients. I unfortunately couldn't work another means of

transportation out, so I had to sadly quit shortly after that incident. However, the experience of

working there, has tied into my new future career as a recreational therapist planning to work

with children and juveniles who struggle with learning, emotional, and other disabilities, so the

experience was worthwhile.

Meanwhile, I worked afternoons and evenings part time at Saint Mark's Hospital as an

Robinson 3

Emergency Room Prep Tech. Basically my job was to help keep things clean, organized,

stocked, and help the nurses and staff when they needed an extra hand. Whether it was helping

bring in a badly injured patient, helping with some preparation and cleaning before heading in

for a procedure, or just taking out the bio-hazardous waste to the appropriate disposal area, I had

my work cut out for me.

Meanwhile, the hospital paid for my training towards becoming an Emergency Medical

Technician, however, I was responsible for paying for the final testing myself. As the months

progressed, and I took the courses, I spoke with the Nurses and EMT's between chaos, and I

realized I didn't want to go down that route. Too many of those that had been in it for more than

three to five years were already “burn outs”. They had to shutdown their emotions to get through

extremely long and stressful work days, as they witnessed so many people in pain. Many went

into it as I did, wanting to help people, others went into it “just for the money”.

One incident in particular made it clear I didn't want to continue down the path as either

an EMT or an Emergency Room worker.

It was a late Saturday night in the Fall, I think around September. A patient was brought

in by ambulance who had been on a motorcycle on the freeway, when he lost control of his bike

and fell. He was conscious and screaming in pain. He had not been wearing a helmet and only

been wearing shorts, a tank top, and sandals, most of which were torn to ragged and now bloody

shreds. The skin of his body was more than sixty percent covered in “road rash”, with particles

of dirt and gravel embedded all over. I had to help with trying to hold him down and while they

tried to clean him up enough as the Operating Room was prepared. He was incredibly lucky to be

alive, but he had internal hemorraging, many broken bones, dislocated joints, and a whole slew

of other injuries, and it was very possible he wouldn't survive the night .

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I was calm throughout, and was told afterwards by my shift boss that I performed very well, but I

found I had to try to shut down my feelings to get through it so as not to become useless in the

empathy for his pain.

Fortunately he survived, though apparently he had permanent brain damage that would

affect both movement and cognitive abilities for the rest of his life.

I realized I didn't want to lose the very thing that drove me to seek the work, my human

compassion, and I feared that the work would drive it out of me by necessity, numbing me to the

individual's needing care. So I ended up leaving eventually, though on good terms.

Meanwhile I worked “on call” shifts, mostly graveyards, at Doxie Hatch Care Center.

They paid for me to become a Certified Nursing Assistant, and began also paying for my training

towards becoming a Nurse.

I would attend training programs during the day, and then work any shifts that needed to

be covered because someone else had called in sick for that shift.

Doxie Hatch was a long term medical care facility. With patients ranging from severely

incapacitated stroke victims, to terminal AIDS patients, to completely paralyzed individuals and

long term coma and life support only patients. Many were senior citizens who had injuries or

illness too severe for the regular nursing homes to take care of them. All that were conscious

were lonely and bored, some were there for many years. Many were sent to die there.

My job consisted mostly of checking off paperwork as I did rounds, changing bedding,

bed pans, dressings, clothing, bathing, and feeding those that needed assistance but weren't on

feeder tubes, changing urine and feces bags, the usual “glory work” for CNA's. Since it was a

fairly low key, and only moderately busy job, I was able, as was my original hope and intention,

to spend time just speaking with, and listening to, the various people and their stories. They were

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more than happy to do so. The job wasn't in itself much fun and paid poorly in the short term, but

at least initially, the rewards in the human interaction, and feeling like I was helping in some

small way to better their life, was worth it. Especially since friends and family almost never

visited these poor forgotten souls, it meant a lot to them to have some real human interaction.

Then one night I was called in for a late shift, and during this time, and several other

shifts, I noticed a number of patients left in restraints all night long. I asked the Nurses on duty

why they were in restraints, one of the patients in restraints was a kindly old woman I'd spoken

with many times and couldn't understand her being restrained. I was told to stick to my job and

not worry about it. I'd been told during training that restraints were only used for patients that

were an immediate physical threat either to themselves or others, and with the exception of an

“active” coma victim who would yell and lash out though he was otherwise completely

unresponsive to outward stimuli, most who were in restraints were mostly inactive or sedated.

Some had been left in their own fecal material because they couldn't get out of the restraints to

use the restroom, though they were normally otherwise mobile. I had to clean up a number of

these poor people.

I started asking questions on other shifts, and spoke eventually with the head of the

department about what I was seeing. She took great interest in this, and asked me to log the times

and which individuals I observed in restraints.

After several weeks of this, I turned in my log. Shortly thereafter, five nurses were fired.

Apparently they would put some patients in restraints as “punishment” for not complying with

their orders. These nurses had already had a number of citations against them, and my logs were

just the final “nails in the coffin” for their termination.

Unfortunately, once it was found out what my part was, my job became quite miserable

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thereafter. I was only getting graveyard shifts on the second floor which was nicknamed the

“Death Floor”, because it was were the most severely terminal patients were kept, and most

would die during the late night or wee hours of the morning. The nurses on duty would give me

the worst of the clean up jobs after patients would die, including the AIDS victims, which

required significant “suiting up”, which I did religiously, though some of the older nurses would

only wear gloves. And everyone treated me very poorly ever since the incident with the firing.

Eventually, after many weeks of this, and my speaking to the head nurse and getting

nowhere, I gave in and quit.

I am now working towards becoming a Recreational Therapist and Music Therapist. My

goal is to try to help others develop healthy coping skills and live as productive, rewarding, and

balanced a life as possible through the balance of work, play, exercise, music, relaxation, and

over all life balance.

My experiences all those years ago, have greatly shaped my attitudes towards those

suffering, dealing with disabilities, as well as the individuals and business entities that are

supposed to be caring for them. There are many good people in the field, but not enough of

them, so unfortunately, those who are already suffering, sometimes have a worse time of it

because of uncaring, even mean, individuals out there.

I hope that as I develop in the industry I can in some small, but growing way, help to

reduce the incidents of such abuse and neglect, and help bring hope, purpose, and fun back into

the loves of those who are struggling.

Here's some pics of my (messy) office. You'll see I'm running at the moment on six screen simultaneously, but 3 of those screens are on KVM (Keyboard Video Monitor) switches which hook up to 4 more computers per monitor. You're seeing the gradual progression of a "reforming" information junkie. I used to have over 30 systems running in my home. I'm down now to 13 in my office. 2 at the colo (plus mirrors in a few countries) And I've given 4 to my wife and kids. So total, I'm down to 17 computers in the house. So, it's slow progress, but I'm getting there. Maybe some day, I can handle only having (GASP!) half a dozen computers or so.... But then again...... :-P



Computers on desk:


Computers on Rack (in house, not at colo):

My mother had a heart related incident Friday, and her heart was not beating for around 8-10 minutes.

My step-father and an employee at the hotel they were at, administered cpr / mouth-to-mouth, while they waited for the paramedics.
The medics arrived around 8-10 minutes after she collapsed out of the blue while getting ready for the evening.

She fell and struck her heard on the edge of the tub, but the doctors do not believe that caused anything serious.

However, her brain was deprived of oxygen for 8-10 minutes.

Click the READ MORE link for the rest of this article...

The medics had to "shock" (defibrilate) my mother 4 times to get her heart started again.

Later at the hospital her brain and heart were swelling severely, so they put her in a "cold" blanket, and induced a coma to allow her brain to heal.

They then waited for the 72 hours for the swelling in her brain to peak.

When I arrived Sunday with my uncle, her vitals were shaky, though somewhat more stable than the day before where it had been very touch and go.

According to my step-father, and the doctors following up, everyone did "Everything right", from the cpr, to the medics, to the hospital. So her prospects are promising.

Sunday she had the following average vitals:
Heart Rate (pulse): 140-150 bpm
Blood pressure varied wildly
Respiration varied from 9 to 15
She was running a slight fever
Blood sugar was very high (over 200's on Saturday, but coming down over time), was around 150-190 Sunday.
She was on mostly complete life support (respirator, etc.). She had briefly opened her eyes occasionally, and followed the doctor entering, but other than that she as unresponsive.

She was writhing when they lowered her coma inducing meds, highly agitated, so they increased the dosage to decrease her discomfort and agitation.

Monday she was doing MUCH better.
He vitals were more stable.
Her heart rate was more around 110-120+.
blood pressure still varying a little depending on how sedated she was.
She was still running a slight fever.
She opened her eyes in response to the doctor telling her to, but that was about the limit of her responsiveness.

Tuesday morning though, things took a turn the better.
She awoke around 10:30 am. Initially just my step-father was there. He was absolutely elated to see her finally awake and responsive.
She was able to follow the directives of the doctor, when told to lift her leg or arm, she complied.

She also responded to questions with a head nod or shake for affirmative/negative.
She's unable to speak because of the tubes for her breathing.

My uncle and I had just finished a late brunch, when my step-father called me to inform me of her awakening.
We quickly hurried across town to see her.
She was still awake, but starting to fade because they had increased again her medications to help with her discomfort and get he back to a more restful state.
But she was awake enough to look at each of us in turn, alternating smiles and tears.
We all teared up in joy, relief, and sympathy to the discomfort she is still in, but grateful to see her so aware. We held her hands, and she squeezed back with her right hand slightly. (Her left hand was covered with a splinting holding various tubes/wires into her wrists.
She looked at us in turn as we spoke encouraging words and open displays of affection.
She was starting to get groggy though, so after too short a time, we urged her to relax and get some sleep (the best medicine).
Her vitals were a strong and solid:
Pulse: 80s-90s.
Respiration: 14
Blood pressure: 120ish/80ish.
Oxygen: 98%

She was still running a very slight fever.
Later in the day the physical therapists began working with her to work her joints in her knees and elbows, etc.

We came by again in the evening, but they had fully sedated her.
But she was doing very well.
Her fever had finally broken.
Her blood sugar was down a better 140-150 range.
Her pulse was steady around 79.
Her blood pressure at 110/70.
Her respiration around 12.

She looked far less distressed and comfortable. The crease between her brows from the discomfort of all the tubes, was gone.
When I saw her last she was resting on her side in apparent comfort and peace.

The doctor has given the recommendation on the morrow to test her without the respirator assistance and see how she does breathing completley on her own. She's been on assist mode (rather than command/control mode) all day, which is also a good sign.

We don't know yet what kind, if any, neurological damage there might be.
There's almost guaranteed to be at least some temporary short term memory loss.
The top of her brain would have been most affected the longest by oxygen/blood depravation, so this could also mean an unknown impact (again, if any) on speech, memory, and/or personality. It may be that only subtle issues will become apparent, and over time with rehabilitation could possibly recover significantly if not quite completely.

The other concern is her enlarged heart. They will try to treat that with medications, and then over time see if it gets back down to a healthier size, but there is no immediate threat from that.

They are then going to have to take a lot of tests to see if they can figure out what happened with her.

When they checked her blood and such after the attack, there were not any strong indicators (markers) usually found indicative of heart damage from a typical heart attack.

So, the summary so far is:
She is stable.
She is recovering so far better than average.
So far prognosis/outlook is looking very promising.
She's aware and responsive, and comprehending.
She won't be able to speak probably for a few more days.
They will be trying to take her off the breathing machine tomorrow.
The worst of the danger period is over. Now the analysis and recovery/rehabilitation period begins.

I will post regularly as I find out more daily, even several times a day for those family who can not be here.

My cell phone has to be turned off while in the hospital, but I will get online in the computer room regularly so email, instant messaging, and this website are the best means of up to date information.

All that information is on the left hand column of my website www.hawkes-haven.com.

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 been trying to take the kids to the "great outdoors" as much as possible this year.
Most of the summer they were "tied up" with this or that (summer camps, summer schools, etc.).
In the past 3 weeks (between visting my mother in the hospital), I managed to take them on two outings so far.
In both I have felt to be rather a bumbling idiot trying to fumble my way through, trying to give the kids "great experiences" and those precious "bonding moments" between father and son(s).
This has been with very mixed results.
Overall I'd say the key factors are achieved, but with great awkwardness on my part...

The irony is I used to go outdoors on my own all the time, solo survivalism all times of the year, in intense deserts in the Summer, to frigid winters in the High Uintahs, etc. No one usually would go with me, I was on my own to figure things out, and at least I survived, and most of the time had a great time in the peace and tranquility of nature untouched by man.
I stopped having most of my outdoors experiences with my dad after the divorce when I was about 7 years old.
I still had occasional visits with him until I was 12 or so, but most of those visits were tied up with intensive martial arts training he had arranged for me.
So unfortunately, though I had some vague memories and primitive skills (of about 7 year old level) with fishing and the like, I didn't really get the "training" I should have had to round it out.
And it's really showing now, much to my frustration.
Also, to quote the beginning of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings "The World is Changing....".
Things just aren't the same as when I was a kid, or not how I remember it.
It used to be so much easier to just pull down a dirt road, find a lake you liked, and make camp on the shore.
Well, here in Eastern Washington, people and companies have bought up all the roads, lakes, and lands. It's totally a different environment.
I'm not THAT old. I'm only talking about as recent as the 80's and even very early 90's when I used to do that all the time.
Even as a teenager on my own, I had no trouble just taking off in Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado and just camping just about anywhere I damn well pleased, with a camp fire, etc. I would usually not see a soul, and enjoy it very much, thank you.
Now there's people everywhere, everything is covered with fences and signs stating "No tresspassing"!
And so far I have not found that there is a single spot anywhere to freely camp, everything is reserved or pay for only facilities for camping. Argh!
Either by private companies, or local, state, or federal government agencies.
I guess Alaska and the Antarctic are all that's left on this planet (and maybe the depths of the ocean)?
So here's how things unfolded...

Several weeks back between visits to my mother in the hospital, I came back for a few days to catch up on bills and obligations at home. I had promised a couple of straight weeks with the kids before the issues with my mother suddenly occurred, so I tried to keep at least part of my word and squeeze in what I could.
I grabbed my Washington State gazetteer, and began searching for lakes with fishing not too far north of Spokane, but enough so that they appeared to be dirt roads, or better yet jeep/4x4 trails. I've held onto the Bronco specifically for this purpose.
I found what looked on the map to be a great area around Horseshoe Lake. There were also several smaller lakes around it such as Blue lake, Lost lake, and others. according to the map Horseshoe had several 4x4 trails, one dirt road, and then the other lakes had some dirt or 4x4 roads access as well.
I decided I'd take the scenic route and come in from the north east, rather than the more direct south west route.
BIG MISTAKE!
The roads were still there, but they had recently been bought up, and now have gates with combination locks on them. The surrounding neighbors had signs saying "No, we do NOT have the combinations, so do NOT ask!". The jeep trails I followed either peterred out or also ended in "No Trespassing - Logging/Mining" or gates/fences as well. The boys had fun off-roading though, so they didn't really feel it was a loss at all.
So after hours of trying different roads, some on the map, some not, we gave up and went back down south and in from the west.
There we found more dead end roads, but one main dirt road led to a narrow boat launch on horseshoe lake, with fences on either side all private property for summer cabins.
So it turned out you could only make use of 99.9% of Horseshoe lake if you had a boat, everything had been bought up for access to be impossible even on foot!
I also couldn't find ANY campgrounds during all our travels. It was getting late, so I told the boys we needed to find somewhere to camp, then we'd come back and fish from the boat launch (no dock) the following morning.
So I drove (back) to Eloika Lake (where I had come in from the North East), since it indicated there was (paid) camping there. The last place was bought (for a ridiculous $26 bucks just for a piece of dirt) just before I walked in. The owner there said there wasn't any free camping anywhere that he knew of. He said everything in the past 3-5 years of North Eastern Washington had been bought up. He suggested seeing if Pend Oreille park was open.
I went down there, and found it was open still. It was now 8:30 pm, the park gates locked up according to the ranger at 9:00 pm. I spoke with the "ranger" who was obviously intoxicated on some substance, as well he seemed very sad and lonely. Desperate for conversation.
He stated that the park used to be very busy years ago, but that it had been mostly partiers and trouble makers who had trashed the place. He'd cleared them out and kept the place nice, but in the past 2-3 years the place just died. He attributed much of that to high gasoline prices, as well as all the land in the area having been bought up so that only expensive paid recreation was available anymore, and very little free recreation was left. This meant that only the more affluent were really coming to these more remote areas any more, and if they liked the areas, they just bought up the land, rather than camp at a "lowly" campground.
So, we were the ONLY campers in the entire 400 (?) acres.
The place was well taken care off, had bathrooms with hot water and even showers!
He even allowed us to have a mellow camp fire, which was the main part of camping the boys wanted.
We stayed up unti