PLANET3RRY

I got a head’s up from one of my commenters about Autism and The Flying Pig…

Super Aweome Runner Alex Bain’s Mom brought this to my attention today in the comment section of my post for Back In The Saddle:

Speaking of the Flying Pig…… and Autism Awareness…. Have you read <a HREF=”http://asansouthwestohio.blogspot.com/2009/04/opposing-alarmist-rhetoric.html” rel=”nofollow”>THIS</A>?

THIS refers to an article, HERE (which was posted TODAY!) and the Flying Pig Marathon.

And some advocacy worked,

Update: In response to our concerns, the Cincinnati Marathon has edited its front page so that its link to the event’s website does not contain the cancer/AIDS analogy or any other language reposted from the event’s website.

[editorial note: As a runner, I am would think that it should read the "Flying Pig" Marathon! However, It should read Cincinnati Marathon, Inc. Because technically, the nonprofit organization that runs it is in fact, Incorporated. This is only a misnomer]

And the problem, as I see it, is that making an analogy to cancer, AIDS, Scurvy or any other disease is not the problem. We use comparisons ALL the time so that you can relate things to other people so they can understand. The problem comes in that using a disease to equate the number of reported cases of Autism has increased, is usually automatically associated with and branded to Autism. So, people would therefore equate Autism et al to a disease.

Using the Almighty Google and the Ever-knowing Wikipedia, there were some definitions where you could argue that certain characteristics of Autism might fall under disease… perhaps if the brain was behaving abnormally. Then you have to think “what is normal?” Just looking at all the cultures on the planet Earth, there is no normal. You have to say acceptable to most… and self imposed rules and morals. Then it gets difficult.

• You are not going to get Autism by standing too close to me.
• My Wife is not going to get Autism from having unprotected adult relations with me (just more kids, but we fixed that)
• Eating my brain, while a little disgusting is not going to help you on a pirate ship.

Universally, we agree on the length of a meter or a mile, or something that we can measure with some accuracy, and that measurement can be reproduced. But why does the price of Gold change each day. It’s still just the good ole Au atomic number 79. We can all agree that it’ll boil at 5173?°F

But we (as in The Royal “We’) can’t agree on Those Things Autismic. We can’t even agree on what causes it. Is it Mercury? Maybe. Is it Genetics? Maybe. Is it Space Aliens? Maybe.

So can Autism be cured? Go talk to God… He’ll have the answer. Tell him I said “Hi.” You can also ask Him about when that crazy little thing called LIFE actually occurs too…

Could this increase of the cases of Autism In-A-Wave-Of-New-Incidents-Very-Similar-But-Not-The-Same-As-An-Epidemic could be that there is greater “AWARENESS” of it? If we KNOW what some of the signs and can bring this to the attention of our medical professionals, then they report to the governing agencies and then the reports come out that [INSERT NAME HERE] has increased by [INSERT FAVORABLE STATISTIC HERE] that it something of [WORD REFERRING TO A GREAT PROPORTION HERE]!
But as there are people out there saying things about Autism, and then there are other people out there saying “NO NO You’re WRONG!” I’ll take the side of the Optimist and say… “For what it’s worth, it’s advertising. And as long as one side is as LOUD as the other, that will cause doubt in some people. Hopefully people will educate themselves to make their own decision (if they even do that these days)”

Okay,enough of that, here’s an Asperger’s Syndrome Joke for you?

Q: What will an Asperger do if they ask a rhetorical question?

A: Answer it.

[Thank YOU, THANK YOU, I'll be on the internet forever, remember to tip your waitress when you leave]

It’s WORLD Autism Day! It’s when the people on this globe bring awareness to Autism and the Autism Spectrum Disorders (huh, kinda sounds like a great name for a band…) But it’s only one day for some people. Just Like World Aids Day is just one day, for some. For me and my family, World Autism Day is EVERYDAY. It is our world.

Thankfully, my social and communication deficiencies from my Asperger’s Syndrome have made me (as a fellow Aspergian John Robison quoted) “Pleasantly Eccentric”. But that’s not the case for some. Some, are a little more in need. Need of therapy, need of companionship, need of understanding, need of being heard, need of advocacy. So today is a day to stop and as I have named my personal Soap Box Campaign… let’s just make it for the ENTIRE YEAR! “FOCUS ON KNOWLEDGE”

Growing up, it was all about learning. And not just what you learned in school. Schoolhouse Rocky (a Saturday Morning cartoon for Gen Xers) tagline was ‘Knowledge is Power’ or the cartoon of GI JOE “Knowing is Half the Battle”. Unfortunately Autistics can’t always SEE the big picture and know that there is another half. So this year, it’s going to be FOCUS ON KNOWLEDGE and I hope to have things that Neurotypical (NT) Person can learn about Autism and so things that Autistics can learn about NTs.

One of the things that I passionate and dedicated to do is bring the world of athletics to Autistics. It’s not that all of them are going to be great at athletics or physical activity, but they should be exposed to them. It’s a healthy lifestyle that EVERYONE should engage. That’s why I created ASD Athletes!And My Lovely and Talented Wife is passionate about Autism Advocacy as well! However, there is no way that My Lovely and Talented Wife and I can do this alone… we need your help. We need it physically (by volunteering at our events), we need it oratatively (spead the cause by Word-Of-Mouth), we need it spiritually (pray for our success) and we need it financially (because that’s the world we live in).

And since this is my blog about running… and since I am on the Spectrum (Asperger’s Syndrome) myself… I am compelled to merge the two for a Running Themed Donation Campaign. Here’s the deal, go over to the ASD Athletes’ website and click on the Chip-IN Thermometer on the right hand side (opposite side of where you Pass the Dutchie).

Be an ASD Athletes Half-Marathoner by donating $13.10

Be an ASD Athletes Marathoner by donating $26.20

Be an ASD Ultra Marathon by donating something more than $26.20

Or

Be an ASD Athletes Plantinum Donor (since that one well known race is trademarked) by donating $140.60

Caution: Donating to a worthy cause may cause an experience of exuberance and a feeling of generosity and/or kindness. Should you experience any of these, please volunteer in your community. Like a smile, generosity can spread like wildfire (donors and recipients beware!) and even indirect contact can cause it spread. Large donations or repeat giving can instill a culture causing Random Acts of Kindness or even cultivation of Values.

And if you don’t get to Donate on World Autism Day, it’s okay… I will FORGIVE you! Promise!

I am in some sort of weird Sickness Black Hole. If it’s not one person it’s another. The Elder is having an unexpected 2 week spring break because earlier this week, he went to the doctor and was given a Certificate of Authenticity for flu-like symptoms. Of course, this is after last week’s Sinus and Ear Infection party inside my head. And now it seems that My Lovely and Talented Wife, has temporarily changed her pseudonym here on Planet3rry.com to My Lovely and Talented but Sick Wife. It seems that all the appointments that we had today have been changed for different types of appointments. Oi! When it rains, it flus.

So with sickness and the influx of more work for me at my 40hr Job, it seems that I have had less time to blog and more time to fall behind on reading blogs and such. In fact, without going back and reading my posts, I am not sure WHAT I have talked about. And since none of you go back and reread posts… neither will I. So let me Brain Dump, if you will, some of the things that I have been thinking about or that have been going on.

Running:

After the shock of having to perform 45 minutes better at the Knoxville Marathon, I came to my senses. Where as I was going to try to run 12 miles, because I was panicking that I didn’t have all the long runs run in, I came to my senses. I decided that it would be foolish of me to ONLY have long runs in for the week. What training program mandates that… only the crappy ones. There’s the problem of not having a coach help tell you what you should do, because they are objective. Part of that is a side-effect of the Aspergian mind, where focus is on one thing (not enough long runs) rather than “The Big Picture” (overall training program).

So, putting on a neurotypical hat (at least temporarily) and taking myself personally out of the scenario, I thought… given the situation, what would I tell someone else? What have I told the people that I have coached? How would I advise them?

My conclusion was that it would not be prudent to have another long run, after the long run this past weekend. No matter how fast. It would be better overall to have a Tempo Run, especially since this upcoming weekend is a crucial 18-20miler long run. So, my decision was to have a Tempo Run of 6.6 miles (3 loops at Lakeshore Greenway). Then I had a better idea and I felt smrt. I thought, “Why not run Cherokee Boulevard? It’s full of hills, which I need, I can run it tempo and it’s part of the marathon course. Brilliant!”

So, that’s what I did… I ran Tempo at Cherokee Boulevard, which the “Out” course I ran was miles 4-6.2 of the Knoxville Marathon course. So, despite the fact that I had run this section before many times, it was good practice”. I took the “Back” part of the course into 1/2 mile (~800m) intervals until the very end. At that point I was pretty tired and so I switched to 1/4 mile (~400m) intervals, but I pushed myself to complete the distance.

-:::::INSERT CRAZY MYSTERY VIRUS:::::-

Thankfully, I don’t have anything that has been going around… but, Wednesday we had an unexpected visit to the Doctor’s office for My Lovely and Talented Wife. Tuesday, she wasn’t getting any better and it was time to raise our hands and retreat to the hands of the professionals. So Wednesday, I had a nice day off from work because of it, but the work just kind of shifted around because I was busy the entire day. See, we had TWO appointments that day, already scheduled, so there was changing of schedules and all that fun stuff. In fact, I tag teamed with My Lovely and Talented Wife and went to the dentist on Thursday, instead of May 4th, my originally scheduled time.

And now… we are on The Mend. THANK GOODNESS! But, thanks to some weather pattern, we went from mids 70s to mid 60s to 40s on Thursday, so that probably just means that the cycle is going to repeat. Oh, Mannnnnnnnnnnnnnn.

Crucial 18-20 miler this coming up weekend. I am going to try to map out most of it on the marathon course itself. It won’t be in order, but I do want to try to get some practice on the course and try to remember 2006, when (at that time) Knoxville was the hardest marathon course I had run. Now, it’s definitely the Harpeth Hills Flying Monkey Marathon as the most challenging course that I have run… it has character and class… well, maybe not so much on class, but it definitely has character!

Things have been a little frantic in the P3 Universe this week both at work and at home. I did have a good run on Tuesday that is worthy of a blog post of it’s own (i.e. you run faster when you think vagabonds are after you). ASD Athletes has sprouted wings and is getting ready to take off (more on that later, and you can check the website as well www.asdathletes.org).

They are forecasting some crazy weather this weekend end… 50F and Rain today (friday), 40F and Rain tomorrow (Saturday) and then Snow on Saturday night… so when is a good time for me to get my 16 miles in? I have NO idea. At least not one that isn’t cold and/or wet.

When Spectrum eyes are engaging
Sure it’s like laser beams.
In the lilt of Superman’s Gaze,
You can feel the angels sing. When Spectrum hearts are happy,
All the world seems bright and gay.
And when Spectrum eyes are engaging,
Sure, they steal your heart away.

There’s a tear in your eye,
and I’m wondering why,
For it never seems to be there at all.
With such power in your smile,
sure a mermaid you’d beguile,
So there’s never a teardrop should fall.
When your sweet lilting laughter’s like some fairy song,
And your eyes twinkle bright as can be,
You should laugh all the while and all other times smile,
And now smile a smile for me.

Chorus:
When Spectrum eyes are smiling Sure it’s like a morning spring.
In the lilt of Spectrum laughter,
You can hear the angels sing.
When Spectrum hearts are happy,
All the world seems bright and gay.
And when Spectrum eyes are engaging,
Sure, they steal your heart away.

**********************

Lyrics by Terry

Based on “When Irish Eyes are Smiling” Lyrics by Chauncey Olcott and George Graff, Jr.

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I have missed my morning meds two days in a row and this morning was EXTREMELY tired, but apart from that I realized that I have been falling into the Autistic patented “avoiding eye contact” pattern which I noticed this morning talking with one of my coworkers. At least she knows that I have Aspergers and understands that if I only look in her direction less than 505 of the time, it’s not that I am not engaged in the conversation… it’s just that’s, well, that’s what autistics do.

Things would be A LOT easier if my computer would work as fast I did. Hey, no back talk!

So on my (long) list today was to find out if I was chosen as a Pacer for the (Covenant Health) Knoxville Marathon. I haven’t done that much training to date, enough to manage through 10 miles or without much work. If I was going to be a pacer, I would be using Knoxville as a training run. If I wasn’t a pacer, I needed to Volunteer for a Race Day duty (heehee) such as Course Monitor or Course Monitor and I would even settle for a Course Monitor spot.

I sent in my application and waited until January 15th, the date which the pacers would be announced. I couldn’t find any information about it either on the KTC website nor the Marathon Website. I figured that I must not have been needed, as I didn’t get any notice in my email box regardless that it was posted elsewhere.

Today, I went to go email the coordinator and find out for sure. I needed closure… sniff. But I have an email that says “Thank You for Registering for the 2009 Knoxville Marathon”, so perhaps I am on the team. I don’t know… I have an email out. Will Keep you posted.

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Speaking of Running… I haven’t done a whole lot of it this year so far. But when I was in Arizona, I did noodle out my 2009 Schedule from January to Decemeber with the races that I would like to do. There are some others that I would like to do, but other engagements get in the way of them. There might even be some impromptu races that I might do as well, when the chance arises.

I do plan on having Guess My Time, Win Crap contests for these races. I do know that (if I a chosen) for the pacing team, that there will be a variant of the normal rules and it’ll be a straight Yea or Nea if I made within some confidence interval, the pace time. Also, the Flying Monkey marathon will be a Run Under The Bib contest, which I will attempt to run less than 4hr 38 min which is a reference to my lifetime bib # at FMM of 438. I do not (at this time) plan on running Rutledge, TN the week before. Once a Maniac, you don’t have to qualify for membership. Although…. they do this “Star” level thing and so I want to earn MORE stars… but that is for another year (maybe).

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Some unexpected turn of events happened for ASD Athletes, my non-profit organization to raise money for those athletes on the Autism Spectrum participate in athletics. But the mom of one of The Elder’s past schoolmates was talking with someone that puts on a fundraiser. The mom was going to piggyback The Elder’s Friend’s Birthday Party with the fundraiser (smart) and had mentioned ASD Athletes as a potential charity to support since the fundraiser is on march 28 and World Autism Day is April 1st.

Well, in the interview, the Fundraiser person mention that she was thinking of ASDa as a charity to donate money to and the media put that in the newspaper! I’ll have the article soon, but it’s like DAMN! We are getting this Party Started QUICKLY RIGHT?! So, I got some work to get done. I still have some paperwork to get ASDa to 501(c)(3) status. Is there anyone who wants to pad their resume with some “pro bono” experience with a non-profit organization. I am thinking about my Board of Directors and organzation structure and i think that I might want to have some “at large” peeps in there.

**************

Our 2008 Christmas Card is slowly working toward a 2009 President’s Day card. We haven’t forgotten about it… it bugs me everyday….

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Pictures are STILL on Stella. I KNOW! I should be taken back and shot with a Canon 5D or something like that… seriously… if it was in my college days, I might have even done some modeling for the art department… (wink wink nudge nudge). Of course, at that time of my life a model of me would have been “Bird-chest with Mullet”

Now that it’s twilight of January, that whole… Picture A Day. 365 Pictures from Terry CRAP is not going to happen. I thought about making a calendar of the pictures and post that as in “This was january… in PICTURES!” or something like that.

But the reason why THAT isn’t taking place is because 1) My Computer at work is slow and only a USB 1.1 which means slow transfer times for pictures (or anything else) and i am finishing up compiling the Family’s Computer Files. What once was on about 50 CDs is now on one computer and files are being archived and saved to USB drives for prosperity. This was started last year and of course, is on the USB 1.1 speed. So, it has taken a LOT longer. Plus, I have to take the files that I have done here at work and combine them with the ones at home… still a headache, but should go faster.

Then, earlier this month, I was in the process of getting ready to move all of my mp3 files to a USB drive to take home when I realized (actually, it was more that I remembered) that my MP3 files are in many organizational formats (locations of songs, etc) and so that was UNACCEPTABLE and so, I have been taking my music collection and have been sorting the songs with the approriate artist, in the appropriate Album Folder format and the proper File Name format. THEN I need to Mass Change the MP3 tags on all of them (thankfully, there are open source programs to do the bulk of this FOR me). I had to practice restraint on myself to ONLY classify files for a certain period of time, then move onto something else. I have been working, so far 16 hours on this… STANDARD FORMAT people… standard format!

And what makes it worse, is that has to look up information… Wikipedia is my friend… so that I know where songs go and if I have to know the order of some albums because of the way they were ripped from CD, the file names are vague to the actual title of the song… or the Track number. But on these sites, there is information about the band… Historical tidbits that are delicacies for my brain… sort of like Bon-Bons for my neurons and so I get absorbed on the sites reading about artist that once were… but I must practice… restraint. Somehow. And not read… much.

So right now I am up to “U” which means that I have 163 Folders left to do… some of which will need no work, some of which will need some and then some that will need overhauling. I expect to begin Tagging tomorrow sometime.

So that has been some of the things that have been going on and some of the reasons why I haven’t been blogging as much as I wanted to… stupid standard formatting.

I get a nice 9 break from work but I will be travel to Phoenix AZ for MK Leadership with My Lovely and Talented Wife. So, we have given our Resourseful and Reliable Au Pair (although she’s not technically an au pair anymore… will have to think of a new name) the weekend off. I had expected to be able to get in a long run on Saturday Morning… forget that it was around 10F outside, I need to get on the ball with the Marathon training if I am going to be a Pacer (still no official word).

Saturday morning I figured out (i.e. was told) that she had the day off… and that for the immediate term, I had to go make breakfast. My Lovely and Talented Wife requested Peanut Butter Chip Pancakes… so off to make the Pancakes. I was a little bummed about not being able to get my run in, but it was my fault for not creating a schedule and seeing how it would match up with everyone else’s.

At some point during the day, I thought to myself… HEY, I could run home from the birthday party this afternoon. BRILLIANT! “Hey Honey, Can I run home after the party?”

“Sure…”

*fist pump* “Sweet”

The party was one The Elder’s friends from his “School when I was 4″. This was a classroom of other Asperger and PDD children who had qualified for services from Knox County. It was a Godsend! But, this year, the kids in that class when seperate ways. The Birthday Boy and The Elder are in the same school, but are in different circulums. The Birthday Party was a homecoming of sorts… all but one kid was there…

Birthday parties with kids on the Autism Spectrum are the best… you never know what you are going to get and what you have is going to change in 5 minutes. This makes taking pictures LOADS of fun. I have a ton of pictures to download from Stella and upload. It’s just working in the time to get that done… I still have to pack and stuff.

And so I ran home from the birthday party… I still have to map out the distance, but it was a decent run, despite been cold. Although 32F was MUCH warmer than what it was that morning… so I am not complain. Oh, did I mention that The Birthday Boy’s Dad can run a 2:28 marathon?

I originally learned about Alex from his mom, Jypsy (commenting name) when she emailed me about how my (previous) comment forms were crap and very frustrating! And yes, they were crappity-crap and thus, I found the CForms II which is like a breathe of fresh air, plus I can do wicked-wild things with them and make them super-cool.

okay, this is about Alex, not forms. Alex is a runner and a very fast runner. His first marathon 3:29:29! Yeah, I know! And he’s very passionate about running. In 2006, He raised $6000 for a charitable cause! Although I would have difficultly keeping up with a 3:30 pace there is some else that Alex and I have in common besides running and charitable causes. We are both on the Spectrum.

Read about Alex “Runman” Bain at his website at RUNMAN

Be sure to read the December 17th Post that has Alex featured in The Guardian newspaper.

Today is the beginning of the Knox County School’s Fall Break and other daycares, preschools, etc that aren’t associated with the County also follow the County’s School Schedule. So, there was a slight confusion this morning we Our Reliable and Resourceful Au Pair asked me, “Does The Younger have school (his Mother’s Day Out at a local Church) today?” It was clear (on the calendar and well announced to the kids) that there was no school for The Elder’s Kindergarten, but there wasn’t any indication (other than knowing that everything follows the school calendar) that others would share the same fall break.

Au Pair: Does The Younger have school today?

The Elder: (Very Eagerly and loudly) OOH OOH, I know Daddy! I Know the answer!

I bend down to his level and ask, “What is it?”

The Elder: (Matter of factly and softly) No.

It was very funny to see him so animated and excited to share the information and then he proceed to “robot mode” to tell it to me. Not, “No! And we are going to play all day” or “No! The Younger doesn’t have school, just like me.” Just, “No.”

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So that got me thinking about routines and schedules and changes. As everyone who has been in an U.S. school system knows, there are TONS of breaks and days off that are built into the school calendar, but the never seem like enough.

Seeing that ALL kids need structure, they need routine. It is so much easier to parent when there is routine, because everyone knows what to expect. Kids, like to know where the boundaries are, so they know what their limits are and they know when they are testing them (because THEY know!). And it’s much easier to parent when there is a routine established. OKay, so I established that routine is a good thing.

So what do Aspergians Kids do when there is a break in routine? They panic a little more, they worry a little more and it might be a trigger of some other (probably unwanted) behavior later on that is unrelated to what is actually happening at the time.

It’s not that Aspergian Kids are that much different when it comes to a break in routine. They do like to try new things or experience new places (sometimes) but they would prefer to be in their routine with their special interest. The AS kid is more like a big ship… they just needs more time to change course.

So, this past week The Elder had a substitute teacher last week prior to this week’s Fall Break. So that may have helped with breaking the whole “going to school everyday” routine since his “school” was already in a state of flux. We found it hilarious the comments that the Substitute left on his daily evaluation sheet… “needs to listen on first command” (in big red ink)

and we are like “Helllllllloooooo, do you know he is autistic? Have you read his IEP and he suppose to learn that by the end of the year?” It’s not a crack on the Sub, since they don’t know that he isn’t NT, but it’s just funny (now) to understand how The Elder’s mind works (and his motive for his actions) in relation to his peers.

I have started a new charity, it’s called Autistic Spectrum Disorder Athletes or ASDathletes for short. For a number of years I have wanted to start my own charity/foundation but wasn’t sure what the charity would be about or who it would help.

With the changes over the past year in my household, things just fell into place and PRESTO! ASDathletes was created. Right now, ASDathletes is not a not-for-profit chartable (YET), but I will be getting the paperwork in place to make it a 501(c)(3) organization, this will mean if you decide to donate to ASDathletes, you receive tax deduction benefits, I’ll make an announcement when that happens.

I am very excited about this, but also very scared.

The “working” mission statement is to help those under the umbrella of autism enjoy athletics.

Lets face it, Autism can be pretty expensive: Occupational Therapy, Speech Therapy, Special Diets, etc. Participating in sports is often overlooked or not even considered because of the cost associated with sports. Soccer was an important part of my life and I see now the therapeutic benefits of playing soccer both social and physical. So I have created this charity to help support those who want to participate in sports and help mediate the cost. Who knows, maybe one day, I’ll be sponsoring an Autistic Olympian. It sure would be nice to have a business trip to London in 2012!!!

The website for the charity is www.asdathletes.org