damn the muse

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I'll be brief.

I'm playing with code. It's fascinating and terrifying. I often wonder why I didn't take the time to learn some of this stuff sooner.

Oh, it was called law school. Yeah, such a downer. Till tomorrow then.

Dear client,

Where art thou? That EAD you were so anxiously pineing for finely fell into my lap two weeks late and three days after you lost your job. Now we're ringing you up. Ring, ring, ring. Is that the latest cumbia playing as your ringtone? The United States government has finally allowed you to work again. I want to tell you the great news, but I can't find you, can't get in touch with you. Please come by when you get the chance.

Yours truly,
Accredited Rep Extraordinaire

I actually get up every morning at 5:30 to start getting ready for work, so it's perfect for me these days to catch the first match of the day. Of course I'm stunned, stunned I tell you to see that another match ended in a tie. A tie! Poor Italy. Now it really has to win a match. Actually, now that I think about it, this was a good result for the Italians.

Though I have to say compared to four years ago, the refereeing at these matches has been superb. No team has won or scored a goal because a referee screwed up a call. At least not yet. The minute it starts, there will be much yelling on this blog.

Now I'm off to a conference. Go Portugal! And I still hate Brazil. But I'm not a fan of North Korea either, so I may go for them just to see Kaka cry.

I've never been much of a physical activist. I won't be the first or the second person in line to voice my displeasure at some senate meeting because of some injustice. Nor will you see me marching in every red, white, and green parade screaming for equality. At least not in San Antonio. Not anymore. However, I find that writing can be as progressive as the spoken word. It isn't because I feel I need to hide behind letters and numbers and code, or conceal some failing at eloquence. I actually get really lazy when I think about having to write a memo or some formal letter.

No, writing has always been about ideas, and getting them out there. Sharing with the world a mind that isn't stupid just because it's locked inside a body society deems imperfect. I may not be a published author, but I'm a blogger, and I've been doing this kind of schtick for over ten years. And now that I'm back, I'm thinking of doing something about it.

The Americans with Disabiilities Act turns 20 on July 26th. Starting in July I will report on anything and everything pertaining to the act. There will be something every day for the month of July. And I do take requests.

So it's 7 am, and I've finished my coffee, and I'm getting ready to go to work. Mexico plays today in the first match of the World Cup, and I will be at work. I suppose I should see this as some kind of milestone. Four years ago I was able to see every match, experience every slide, foul, and goal because I had no job and was probably torturing myself with that evil exam. Now I'm working, and I'm kind of sad I can't watch the match!

But I love my job!

Viva Mexico. Beat South Africa today, muchachos.

I've been messing around with Wordpress themes for the last hour. I am amazed at peoples' creativity, and I can't believe how I've allowed myself to slack in this department. What can I say, real life took over?

And because I have to be cool, I refuse to install a theme and just let it be. I need to look at it, see how the css was applied, and then create my own. I'm just that stubborn. I'll never finish!

Woe unto me.

Redstone Science Fiction is hosting a contest. It wants stories that "portray disability as a simple fact, not as something to be overcome or something to explain why a character is evil." Science fiction portrays the disabled as evil?

What does a world, or space station, or whatever look like when it has been designed to be accessible to everyone and how would people live together there?

Methinks the story would be dull. How would people live there? What kind of question is that? We have elevators now and people don't freak out about them. Even lazy people use them! Unless of course you're a business that's not up to code. Is a business evil? Hmm, I see a story brewing in my little head.

Via i09

Starz has been busy these days. It's been ramping up its original programming slate to compete with HBO and Showtime, and so far, the shows are on par with what's expected from most cable channels. I'm not a fan of Party Down but the critics love it. Spartacus, however, needs to start up soon. For all its excess, the acting and story really came together in the end. And really, can you expect as much from Sam Raimi? Now Starz is developing Camelot, a show based on the Arthurian legend, allegedly to compete with HBO's forthcoming Game of Thrones. They've hired well known actors, and hell, it's King Arthur! Except I've been a fan of the "Song of Ice and Fire" series for years, so I'll be watching HBO. Plus, Thrones has cast Sean Bean and Peter Dinklage. That's enough for me. Though you do have to give Starz some credit.

Torchwood is coming to Starz. Even better? It sounds like it will be a continuation of "Children of Earth" versus a remake that was proposed to FOX. So, an unedited, international show by Russell Davies will be on a US cable channel sometime next year. I can't wait.

An old Hindu woman sat across from me on the plane home to my parents. We were about to depart, and everytime I turned to look at her, it seemed like she was about to cry. She wiped her eyes, and her companion told the woman sitting next to her that she was visiting her daughter in El Paso, but that she was scared of flying. And sure enough when the flight attendants announced that they we were ready to depart, she started to tremble. The woman just took this little old woman in her arms and held her as our flight took off, while her companion, who I can only assume was her son, looked on and spoke to her, sometimes consoled her.

Plane rides always tend to be an adventure. I never know who will sit next to me, how many times people will bump into my shoulder, or whether that bag might actually fall on my head this time (hasn't happened yet). Yet strangers from different areas and backgrounds can sit together and have the most incredible conversations, or they can ignore each other for that two hour flight.

I filed my first motion with the court today. It was painless. And I had a nice conversation afterwards with one of the court interpreters who told me he was from Mexico City. Odd thing was that during our entire conversation not once did either of us slip into Spanish, but once I left and he started chatting with a group nearby, I could hear them going back and forth in Spanish. I wonder if we were just being polite with each other, or if he assumed like I do sometimes with other people that I just didn't speak the language? Next time I see him I'm going to have to say hola.

Finding a job in this economy is practically impossible, but for some people, the opportunity doesn't even exist because of perceived misconceptions.

Several months ago, a $4 million national disability awareness campaign hit the airwaves with high hopes for increasing employment among people with disabilities.

Their purpose was to create a series of ads meant to show that hiring people with disabilities could be an asset rather than a detriment. So far their efforts are paying off, and the ads are hysterical.

The source.

Someone called 'fake' asked a very important question on Metafilter. He wanted help and information because his friends from Russia were about to walk into a situation he wasn't comfortable with:

The program promised a job offer in advance, but didn't deliver. They said they would send one via email, but failed there, too.

Her contact in the USA barely speaks English, doesn't answer her calls but does answer mine. He has asked her and her friend to meet in NYC tonight around midnight, with promises of hostess work in a lounge. Yes, I know how horrific that sounds- that's why I am working all possible angles here.

All the answering meta peeps pooled their resources and may have averted a potential trafficking situation. What some of these people did was dangerous and courageous. Of course we'll never know if these women were in any danger to begin with, but what the internet can do in these types of scenarios is amazing.

via The 19th Floor.

I haven't written in this thing for months. For one I've been busy. I realize it's not much of an excuse. I keep repeating to myself that work stays at work, and while I'm at home the hobbies must take over, which for the most part has turned out splendidly. Of course the easiest hobby to manage has been my love affair with television, but now that network tv has more of an interest in lukewarm storytelling I find myself watching less of it than usual. Then I look at Newsvine, which has been run amok with trolls and this blog that is just screaming for a new layout, and well hibernation just seems so much more interesting. That is until I start thinking about work again.

Moveabletype has become convoluted. There's just no way I could take my blog's current configuration and succesfully upgrade it into a different layout. So I'll be shifting everything over to Wordpress in the next few days. In the meantime, I think I'll try to get back in the swing of things.

I missed this.

I sat through my first video hearing for immigration court. Have a client detained in detention facility and the hearings are still live but on tv. The screens are even wide enough to show the detainee, the Trial Attorney and counsel, and even the judge. It was a three-way extravaganza that could have easily accommodated a fourth had we needed to outsource an interpreter since the court's was temporarily missing. He strolled in half an hour later, and it was business as usual. The judge asked his questions through the screen.

Immigration court is just fascinating. Fascinating...

test

edit: permissions will be the death of me! Thank goodness I own this domain. Error logs have saved the day!

Second edit: permissions and php on this server hate each other damn it!!

It's a yearly thing I suppose, but I'm sitting here trying to ignore the sinus infection that's attempting to develop, tinkering away at all my sites. MT hasn't behaved in months, and I know I need to upgrade. I logged into blackglass, and I started checking the stats. My domain still gets some pretty decent traffic for being somewhat inactive. And yes, shame on me for not doing much with it this last year, but I have plans. Working in the real world just put them on hold for a while.

Back to the stats- looking at the referers was like glancing at an internet graveyard. There were two dead links, but 4 links lead to blog entries written by a dear friend dating back to 2002! I haven't heard from him in years. It was almost heartbreaking. He's still so popular, that I can only hope he's still writing.

I hope you're well, where ever you are, Machine.

Glee recently aired an episode called "Wheels." The episode focused on one of the supporting characters who happens to be a paraplegic, though in real life the actor is not. He can walk. Of course, many in the disability community are upset and disappointed that a real disabled actor wasn't cast in this role, and they saw this episode as more of an insult.

So, who cares? I don't. I found the episode to be very sweet, and I enjoyed the fact that tv shows are no longer shying away from characters with disabilities.

A year ago, two years ago, longer than that, when you'd see a character with a disability on the screen, it was mostly meant to tug at your emotions. Bring out the kleenex because here's the pity party. Mary is in a wheelchair, she can't do shit. Really. This cop will save the day. And everything is perfect again. On tv.

On Private Practice the disabled doctor, Fife, is a jerk. I totally hate and love him. I want him to hook up with Naomi, and I want the writers to go there. I like that he's not treated differently. He's a freaking doctor! And he's disabled in real life.

And then there's Glee. I remember high school, and inaccessible areas, and having to miss out on certain things. I thought, if people could just understand what it was like to be me, then maybe kids would be nicer. Glee isn't out to preach, nor is it perfect. But if it makes even just one person think, then I'm not going to criticize it for having an abled actor in a role that might have gone to a disabled actor. I won't when it's bringing us to the forefront.

This will show up on RSS, and I'm sure someone will freak. Oh my god, she's alive.

Have been. For a while. Newsvine has been taking up my time. I write there sometimes, and then sometimes I just link to stuff.

I've been debating about using this blog to talk about the issues that come up at work. No, not about work, but the law. Yes, yours truely has found herself some legal work, though for the time being I do mostly translation stuff. I think it might help though if I started writing down some of the interesting immigration principals I run across when I'm sent to do research for a client.

Nope. No confidentially breaking here.

It's all just thoughts though.

TOUCHDOWN!!!!!!!