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Where am I?... Is that BBQ?

January 27th 2012 06:32

I was driving on Oregon’s Highway 26 en route to the Timberline Lodge (the famous lodge used as the exterior of the Overlook Hotel in the movie The Shining). I passed a huge red building bellowing smoke with a sign for BBQ.

Could great BBQ be possible in the middle of nowhere? Yep.

It was the Skyway Bar and Grill! This is a BBQ restaurant located in town called Zigzag, Oregon. According to the website, the Skyway Bar and Grill is “a roadhouse-style place featuring Chef Hornor's classic American barbeque with an Oregon spin.”

The curiosity was too much so I stopped off to see if this place could hold its own with some of Portland’s best BBQ like Clay’s Smokehouse Grill and Podnahs Pit.

I ordered the BBQ Sampler Plate, which included brisket, pulled pork, pork ribs, coleslaw and baked beans for $15. I also ordered the mac and cheese. Check out the menu below.

The BBQ was delicious! It was so tender and flavorful. The meat without the sauce was mouthwatering on all three kinds of meat! Skyway carries several bbq sauces and I suggest you try a few of them to decide what you would like. I settled for plain ol’ bbq and was a bit disappointed. The meat was so good without the sauce, I was still happy.

The sides were mixed. The coleshaw was tart the tartest I ever tasted. I like it as a good combination with the meat. The bake beans were heavy on the tomato not bad but not what I prefer. The mac and cheese was a creamy mac with toasted breadcrumbs on top. It was creamy but not necessarily cheesy. The mac and cheese was good especially if you prefer creamy.

Skyway is not just a BBQ place it is a music haven with a variety of guest and open mic events too.

If you are driving on the 26 on your way up to Mt. Hood, Ski Bowl or Timberline Lodge take a minute to taste a BBQ treat at the big red building on the left. It’s worth a stop.

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Hear About The New Aged Kindergarten?

December 2nd 2011 05:06

Remember your early school experiences in kindergarten? Those days were filled with learning how to use scissors, sharing and sitting on the carpet while you admired your new teacher. The old kindergarten is a distant memory compared to changes in early education today.

The standards and content for kindergarten are more rigorous and students cannot successfully perform in today’s typical kindergarten classroom without knowledge in language and content (colors, body parts, counting, etc.) ability in motor skills, self-care and social skills.

The state of Florida’s Board of Education increased state funded preschool programs because of the overwhelming number of students who were not prepared for kindergarten.

According to the Orlando Sentinel, pre-K providers in Florida are being scrutinized by the state on how they prepare students for school. Florida has developed a tool to review pre-K programs. Those programs that fail are deemed “low performing”. The Florida Department of Education is projecting 39% of pre-K programs will earn “low performing” marks in the up coming year.

The state of California has taken a different approach toward early classroom success. Recently, a law called the Kindergarten Readiness Act passed. This law will move the birthday cutoff date for new kindergartners from December to September.

This new kind of class is called Transitional Kindergarten. Educational theorists think that Transitional Kindergarten, will better prepare children to be successful.

The law also requires school districts to offer a new grade level for young children who have fall birthdays and have typically been too young to start kindergarten.

According to Mercury News.com “children with birthdays between Sept. 2 and Dec. 2 — those who would have been eligible for kindergarten under the old system — will be guaranteed a slot once the program is fully implemented in 2014.” Students will have an opportunity to attend school for two years to prepare for 1st grade.

Kindergarten changed and a variety of programs are available to help prepare your child to be successful. Check your state Department of Education website for changes in policy and programs of support.

First published on on Technorati as New Aged Kindergarten.

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How Much Will You Pay for Beauty?

November 24th 2011 21:59

How much does beauty cost? According to Beauty at Any Cost: The Consequence of Beauty Obsession on Woman & Girls written in 2008, a total of 7 billion dollars is spent annually on cosmetic products. The informational paper by the YWCA went on to state in 2007, Cosmetic surgery and non-surgical procedures performed in the United States cost a whopping 11.7 million dollars, which is a 500% increase in the last ten years.

These staggering numbers explain why some criminals are capitalizing on the demand for cosmetic services in this ever-rising market. “The Butcher of South Beach”, Reinaldo Silvestre, posed as a general surgeon performing a number of breast augmentations operations in Miami, Florida in the 1990’s. Silvestre a fugitive criminal was featured on America’s Most Wanted in November of 2004. In March of 2006, Silvestre was convicted of aggravated battery and practicing medicine without a license. He was sentenced to 45 years behind bars for the disfigurement he caused.

Recently, CBS News reported a transgendered woman in Miami was arrested for impersonating a doctor and performing a dangerous cosmetic procedure on a woman.

The transgendered perpetrator, O’Neal Ron Morris age 30 allegedly posed as a doctor and injected cement, mineral oil and flat-tire sealant into the buttocks of a woman to enhance her figure! Morris injected the deadly solution into the victim on several occasions. The unnamed victim experienced extreme pain, sickness and sores. The fake doctor encouraged the victim to continue the treatments.

When the pain became too much the victim went to the hospital but was too embarrassed to disclose the reason why she was in so much pain. The victim’s mother helped support her daughter in disclosing the crime to health officials, which lead to the arrest.

The victim is currently recovering. Part of that recovery is a very painful lesson in how to acquire adequate medical care. Doctor’s licensure can be researched and validated by checking with the board that certificated the physician. If the board is not affiliated with American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS), the American Board of Physician Specialties (ABPS) or the American Osteopathic Association(AOA), additional research is necessary.

How much does beauty cost? The price could be your life if you are not careful.

Article first published as How Much Does Beauty Cost? on Technorati.

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Great Deal On A Hotel Room?! Maybe Not

November 22nd 2011 06:21

Want a great deal on a hotel room? Who doesn’t? Buyers beware because a great deal could have a not so great catch. Websites compete to get your business on the cheapest price for airline tickets, rental cars and hotel rooms. Priceline, Hotel.com, Orbtiz and Travelocity are some of the popular sites to get more bang for your buck.

Here’s the catch, when you book a great room on one of these cost saving sites, you are bidding for the best price. Hotels have become savvy on how they are able to pass on the savings. A hotel will give you the best price and then reserve the lease desirable room.

For example, The Comfort Inn and Suites in Canal Park in Duluth Minnesota booked a lake view room at a reduced rate over the Labor Day Weekend. What a deal! Not really because the lake view room was a smaller room than the typical room because it was handicap accessible. These handicap rooms are usually located at the end of the hallways. The rooms have features that could include: a sit down shower instead of a tub, lower counters, less furniture, an elevated toilet seat, less counter space, or lower towel bars.

The American with Disabilities Act of 1990, prohibits discrimination based on disabilities. The law mandates that individuals with disabilities have the right to services, facilities or accommodations. Each hotel must have these rooms available for people with disabilities. Apparently, there is not a lot of demand for these rooms. To maximize profits hotels are booking these rooms as the best available rate. If you end up with one of these rooms chances are slim that the hotel will modify your reservation on a busy weekend.

Buyers beware. State your preferences upfront when booking and grabbing your great deal. If you book through a popular web site contact the hotel directly to reiterate your choices.

There is nothing wrong with a good deal when it’s what you really want.

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Who Moved the Cheese?

November 18th 2011 02:40

Want your money? It is best to keep a watchful eye on it in your bank. In the state of California banks have a policy that you may not know about that will allow your money to be given to the state.

California has an Unclaimed Property Law, California Code- Title 10. This law mandates businesses, associations, insurance companies and financial institutions to report yearly accounts with inactivity to the state controller’s office. The owners of the accounts are legally supposed to be contact before the money goes to the state.

The California State Controller’s website states that, “The Unclaimed Property Law was enacted to prevent holders of Unclaimed Property from using your money and taking it into their business income.”

Ehow.com reports, “as of 2010, the state holds unclaimed property of more than $5.7 billion owned by about 11.6 million people and organizations.”

This law applies to: contents of safe deposit boxes; stocks, mutual funds and dividends; cashier’s checks and money orders not cashed; certificates of deposits; estates; mature and ended insurance policies; royalty payments; and trust funds and escrows.

Do you have some money you forgot about? Check your accounts. Inactivity is described by one bank as no money withdrawn or deposited in a period of two years. Even if your account as the sufficient funds without activity the state can still hold onto your cash.

Check the California Controller website or the site in your state and you may find your lost cash.
http://scoweb.sco.ca.gov/UCP/
National Unclaimed Property Database

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Is My Kid Learning!? What is RTI?!

November 1st 2011 06:16

A new catch phrase in education today is RTI , which stands for Response to Intervention. RTI is part of the 2004 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Response to Intervention is supposed to help students who struggle with learning at the same rate and pace as his or her peers. Students who fall behind are indentified and given proper instruction through the RTI process. RTI defines problems by using data. The problems can be addressed in the school setting by a creation of interventions tied to the students’ needs. If a student does not make adequate progress over a period of time then the student is referred to special education.

Test scores, class participation, records and routine progress monitoring are used to identify a student in need. If the student is moderate to high risk, he or she is given specialized intervention or more support that is suppose to help the student make the appropriate gains. Constant assessments are to be given on a regular basis to address the student’s deficits and help modify the curriculum to meet the student’s educational necessities.

This plan is a great plan!! Is it the answer to the problems in education? No. The people who coined RTI had a great idea in theory. If all teachers could be trained to look for nuances in learning, use assessments to drive instruction and know how to motivate and support struggling learners, RTI would not be needed. Just because the plan for RTI exist it does not mean it will work in a struggling school or with all struggling students.

Struggling schools are struggling for a reason. The dynamics and climate is one that overlooks student needs. The needs and educational holes are so great that only the high priority problems get met and the lower needs are shelved. That’s how students that need a little support go unnoticed. It’s a snowball effect and attention should be given to it.

Parents, forget the long teacher conference meetings about nothing. Ask to see the data that proves your child is progressing. Ask to see the portfolio of work that shows a progression. Ask developmental questions as well as concrete questions of your child’s teacher. If you are not satisfied move your child to a better school. Time is too short to have precious years wasted.

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Join the Educational Revolution

September 15th 2011 04:38

I consider myself an Education Reformer. Through the years I have tried to reform education from the inside out. It has not worked. What makes me so smart, nothing really? I think every teacher wants to assist students with learning to the best of their ability. At least that is my deepest desire, to assist kids that struggled to overcome their challenges. Which in turn, produces more well-rounded, self-sufficient, educated people as citizens for our county. Does this seem far-fetched?

This is my general premise as per my paper, The Multi-Sensory Classroom (Aug. 2004):
“Each child develops sensory/motor preskills at a very young age (e.g., auditory processing, fine and gross motor skills, visual perception, reflexes, tactile processing, sensory modulation). These bottom levels of sensory/motor development are often taken for granted because they are basic and develop automatically in the typically developing child. When we teach a student at school, the child uses these sensory/motor preskills as a foundation for learning. Children in whom these preskills have not fully developed find learning difficult if not impossible; they become our struggling or special-needs children. Without the appropriate developmental foundation, they cannot build the abstract thinking skills we try to teach them in school. “
Therefore, students may struggle in an educational setting and it may not be obviously apparent why the struggle exists.

So here’s my beef. Many students receive the necessary tools to overcome struggles in public education by the support of parents, teachers and interventions. There are a great number of students who do not receive additional support for whatever reason. This fact needs to change very rapidly.

Case in point, let’s examines the test scores for the high school exit exam for California. According to the California Department of Education website’s data for July of 2008, 13, 237 students took the Math portion of the California Exit Exam and 13, 373 students took the English portion of the exam. 29% of the students passed the Math and 30% passed the English portions of the test for the state. That means that 9,423 students failed the Math and 9,420 failed the English! Holy Smoke!

Oregon state's 2011-2012 high school students will be the first to take the high school exit exam. With a 36% dropout rate, opponents of the exit exam argued students would not recieve dipolmas.

I cannot be the only one screaming in the wildness. Where are you? Please don’t give me the spill about more qualified teachers and incentives. In March 10, 2010 New York Times, Week in Review section on page 5 there is an advertisement from the President of America Federation of Teachers. The name of the article which is really an advertisement is called, “What Matters Most: Words into Action”. In the ad-like article the president, Randi Weingarten explains this problem in education, “ For too long and too often, teacher evaluation –in both design and implementation – has failed to achieve what must be our goal: continuously improving and informing teaching so as to better education all students”. She goes on to give an example from Colorado of the school board and teacher union working together. Then at the end she says that school board members, teachers, union leaders all feel the same way, they want what’s best for the kids. I felt the article was about working relationships in these difficult financial times. Maybe that needs to be the focus for the advertisement that educational higher ups and teacher unions do not need to eat each other alive so they can eventually help kids. Although our students are failing right now and I don’t want any kid to miss several years of learning because people who make a lot of money can’t get along. We are talking about kid’s futures here. Give me a break!

I’m tired of the Infomercial Education. The kind that keeps promising that magic ellixir yet, the product is just so-so. The real conversation needs to be around the individual differences of students or their learning styles and needs. Administrators, school boards, teachers and all school staff members need to be trained in how to recognize a struggling student’s needs: emotionally, developmentally and physically. They also need to know how to build or recognize curriculum for these needs and drive the curriculum based on assessment data, not a hunch or a feeling. I’m not saying that public education can fix it all and is a one-stop shop. But let’s be honest students come to school with all of these issues and as a whole we cannot ignore the numbers. Our students in this state are not making the cut. Our interventions are not making the cut. Identifying student’s needs are not based on each student’s individual differences or assessments yet blanket interventions are thrown on major problems.
So, we need an Educational Revolution…stay tuned how to join the fight.

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Lick Your Lips- Clay's BBQ

July 27th 2011 06:16

Food Alert!!! Clay’s Smokehouse Grill is located in Southeast Portland. It is truly something to shout about! Every meat Clay’s serves is smoked right there on the premises using a hickory and mesquite blend. For smoking seafood Clay’s uses an alder wood.

My local Portland foodie took me to this place and I was not disappointed. Clay’s delivered on all barrels!

The menu carried a variety of options. This rib place even has vegetarian options. Check it out for yourself at:
Clay's Smokehouse Website

I ordered the Rib Platter, a mess of ribs with home fries with garlic sauce and slaw! This place is not skimpy they serve big portions. Clay's delivered the ribs were nice size, meaty and melts in your mouth with every bite.

The pulled pork sandwich is very popular item on their menu along with the other smoked meats.

Chef Michael Slyman who received his formal culinary skills in South Carolina owns Clay’s Smokehouse. According to the restaurant history Michael learned his barbecuing skills in his uncle’s rib house in Oklahoma.

This place is definitely worth a try. It’s open Wed-Sun. When in Portland give this place a spin and come with an empty stomach!

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Hugh? What Did You Say-Audiory Processing Disorder

June 8th 2011 05:33

Every child is a learner. Sometimes this may be a difficult point to communicate to the educator who is struggling with your child. Many children experience individual challenges in the classroom setting, and their teachers have the ability to either open doorways or block the path of learning. Parents can assist their children by becoming knowledgeable of their children’s learning profiles and individual differences.

The first thing you need to understand is that every person has his or her own style of learning. A parent would benefit from learning his or her child’s individual nuances and characteristics. This information is vital to the educational success of a child.

When my daughter Susan was in the 1st grade, the teacher thought she had difficulty following directions in the classroom. The teacher asked for a conference and suggested referring my daughter to special education. As an experienced special educator, I did not agree that my child needed the referral.

The teacher changed her mind when the state testing results returned. Susan had ranked in the 95th percentile for the state in each academic area. The teacher was very proud and did not bring up special education again.

Later, I discovered that Susan did have auditory processing challenges. She experienced mild trouble recognizing and interpreting sounds.

Sometimes Susan lost auditory information and needed to ask clarifying questions. I observed this at home when I gave Susan verbal directions like putting on her socks. Often, she would do something unrelated to my directions. She may bring me a box, for example. At first, I thought she was not focused or paying attention. In actuality, Susan simply did not hear the information correctly.

This information about Susan’s challenge allows me to support her learning style. I became an advocate for her needs in the educational setting by informing teachers of her auditory differences. Susan sat in the front of the class, compared lecture notes, read lips and asked clarifying questions when needed. As Susan became older, I taught her to take care of herself in the classroom by asking for what she needed to better access the lessons.

In the classroom, a teacher might describe your child as distracted or a daydreamer, off-task, not participating or not making good use of his or her class time.

Check the links below if you suspect your child may struggle with auditory processing. Remember you are the voice for your child and one or two educational supports can make all the difference in opening up the world of learning.

(Central) Auditory Processing Disorders

Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD)
Understanding Auditory Processing Disorders in Children

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New Generation Black Panthers!

June 2nd 2011 04:53

The New Generation Black Panthers! You have got to be kidding. A 21 year old Black American friend of mine was accosted by two thirty something year old Black American women in front of a Starbucks this week. They were trying to recruit him to join the New Generation Black Panthers!

The two women dressed in all black wearing dark sunglasses asked my friend if he wanted Black on Black crime to stop. When he agreed they went into their recruitment speech about their organization, the New Generation Black Panther Movement.

These two representatives of the so-called New Generation Black Panthers were distributing a newspaper called Turning The Tide, Journal of Anti-racist Action, Research and Education. The motto on the paper read: "An injury to one is an Injury to All!"

Once the two women had my friend’s attention, they stated they wanted to help young black youth. The women pointed out that the police were terrorizing and killing black youth. The New Generation Black Panther group was planning to stage police surveillance.

My friend knew he was in over his head. He nodded and started stepping back. They went on to mention night walks, militant combat training and bearing arms. When they noticed he was slowly leaving they handed him a newspaper with a number to call if he was interesting in “taking back what’s ours”.

My friend is a young college student with a promising career and future ahead of him. The last thing he needs is to be involved with a group that wants to watch the police. The police for the most part watch out for us. Like any profession there are good and bad examples of service.

I was shocked to find out people are once again preying on our youth. When it is not the gangs, it’s a faulty education system, or drugs and alcohol that seem to take the young promise out of our communities. This young man knew better but our youth are sometimes lost and need direction. A confused young person could easily loose their way.

We need to continue to fight for our young people. Programs before and after school, summer programs and education, safe places to hang out need funding and support. Below are some organizations that make a difference in our children’s lives, pick one and give something toward a better tomorrow.

Get Lit- http://getlit.org/default.asp
At Get Lit we are committed to providing youth with as many opportunities as possible to develop a love of literature, poetry and language, and to present their voices in a variety of ways.

Boys and Girls Club-http://www.bgca.org/Pages/index.aspx
Inspiring and enabling all young people to realize their full potential as productive, responsible, and caring citizens.

Homeboy Industries-http://www.homeboy-industries.org/
Jobs not Jails: Homeboy Industries assist at-risk and formerly gang involved youth to become positive and contributing members of society through job placement, training and education.

Chicago Youth Centers-http://www.chicagoyouthcenters.org/
We invest in youth in underserved Chicago neighborhoods to help them discover and realize their full potential--from early childhood education to and through college

The Mary Magdalene Project-http://www.mmp.org/
MMP's five programs reflect our overall commitment to long-term permanent change and support for women and families.

Gems-http://www.gems-girls.org/
Girls Educational & Mentoring Services (GEMS) is the only organization in New York State specifically designed to serve girls and young women who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking.

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