« May 2005 | Main | July 2005 »
shawn time 17.06.01..06.29.05
open mic flyer
here is the flyer for the open mic nights.
if you would like to have your own copy to print and hand out to friends, or to magnet to the fridge, or hang at your local businesses, please download the pdf here.
hope to see many of you there with a guitar in your hand, a song in your mouth, or just some extra bucks in your pocket to buy yourself some pizza.
shawn time 22.29.14..06.27.05
it gets me
i dont watch too much tv, but when i do it is usually late at night, and i catch reruns of various shows...
over the past few weeks i have caught 4 or 5 episodes of a show called INTERVENTION
there is something about it.
i get choked up almost every time i watch it.
maybe it is watching people spiral down, but then seeing their family and friends that love them intervene to help them choose to survive.
transformation is powerful.
it gets me every time.
watch it if you can.
shawn time 17.45.52..06.25.05
advertising
feels a bit weird actually advertising my business...
this is for the Lake Oswego, West Linn, Tigard and Tualatin newspapers.
and a temporary sign for my office window...
shawn time 22.03.54..06.21.05
uk google map
looks like its gotten across the atlantic
road maps in UK, but not for the rest of europe, although the satellite image are available for the mainland and various parts of the world.
when you click on the links, and it takes you to the maps, make sure you use the zoom in/out slider on the left. some of the maps i posted can be zoomed in even closer.
london
vatican
paris
what the?
(anyone know what that huge tent thing is in paris?)
and western asia
kremlin
and some northern africa
giza
and......?
guess
now go find your own.
(and post the link in the comments)
shawn time 03.57.59..06.20.05
naps
i took a nap today
so nice
it was the first sunday nap in as long as i can remember
sunday is usually one of the busiest tutoring days
9.5 months
919 appointments
the school year is over
less tutoring
more not tutoring
shawn time 23.59.33..06.19.05
ID
An update on Tom...
Evidentally, the key to unlocking the entire issue with getting a man his ID (read: identity) back is a library card.
The issue was that Tom was not able to cash his social security checks because all he had was an expired Washington ID, and Fred Meyer was onto it. Freddy's let it slide for months. The checks were stacking up, and we had no way of cashing them.
All Tom had was an expired WA ID and a social security card.
Ideally, what Tom needed was a bank account. In order to get a bank account, he needed a current ID, in order to get an Oregon ID card, he needed 2 primary pieces of ID, which need both picture AND signature (it is a bit more complex than that, but...). SS card does not count without a picture ID.
At one point we thought Tom's service discharge papers (DD-214) would help us. So we went to that VA last summer, they said that they would send them. They didn't. (side note: to get into the Federal Building downtown you need a current picture ID. The VA offices are in the Federal Building. They almost did not let Tom in.). So a couple month ago we sent for them (DD-214 papers) again, and they came this time. A closer reading of the DMV requirements found that a SS card and DD-214 doesn't cut it. The DD-214, which I thought was going to be the key, unlocks nothing.
We needed to figure out how to get Tom's birth certificate. Tom was born in Idaho. I call Idaho. To get a birth certificate, he needed to send his SS card.
"That's it?"
"Yep"
"Really?"
"Yep"
"That's awesome."
"Yep. Oh, and throw in another piece in that has his signature on it."
"What?"
"Yeah, just throw in one other piece of ID also."
"Uh...like what?"
"Like a current drivers license, or library card."
"Library card?"
"Yep"
"Ok"
Library card. That should be easy. So I call Multnomah County library. No go. In order to get a library card, you need a current picture ID. Sucky.
Let me take a moment to list the various picture/signature ID cards that I have in my pocket right now:
Oregon drivers license
AAA membership card
PNCA Faculty card
PTCU Business Debit Card
24 Hour Fitness member card
US Bank Debit Card
and if I look at some other cards that I do not carry regularly:
Medical Examiners Certificate
J.Crew Credit Card
COMPUSA Credit Card
SoccerPlex ID card
Social Security card
Birth Certificate
USA Passport
Lake Oswego public library card
I could go out tomorrow and get any number more of these. I could potentially double that amount within the week. A fishing license, a donor card, another few credit cards, etc etc.
So, I decide to call LO library. I asked if they would give a library card to a man with an expired picture ID. I got put on hold. A supervisor was asked. I was told that they could probably arrange it. Arrange it? Arrange it. It all seemed a but shady, a bit like a mafia deal, a bit black market.
Or, it seemed like a moment of grace. A gracious bending of the rules to start a process to give a man back his identity. Tom's was lost. He was trapped without it. He could not even cash a check written to him from the government, that he earned. One grace-filled bend of the rule was THE moment. The point when you start walking downhill after a long uphill. The point where tiredness turns to ridiculous laughter. The point when... well... you get the point.
That same day we drove to the LO library. I am very grateful to the library. I started my tutoring business there. Before I started tutoring in homes, I met all of my students there. I have spent many hours there. They don't know me there. I just think that its cool that there is some history for me there. They were not doing me a favor. I believe that it was a geniune God-given gift for Tom.
It only took a few minutes to fill out the paperwork. Tom signed the card, I vouched for his address. I think they knew that he would never check out a book. Maybe even never again step foot in the place. I think they understood what was going on. I like to believe they did. I like the story that way.
Its all a downhill coast from here...
The library card gets sent with the SS card and $18 to Idaho to get a expedited birth certificate. Tom was adopted, so that added a bit of a hiccup in tracking down the proper name on the certificate, but we got it a couple weeks later.
The birth certificate, SS card, a piece of mail showing current home address, and $29 was taken to the DMV (the Lake Oswego one, of course), and after a few minutes Tom walks out with a valid current picture ID card. My friend Laura stopped by later that day, and Tom was out on the porch having a smoke, and the first thing he did was show her the ID card. It was like a kid showing off his new bike.
The ID card, SS card, birth certificate, and 2 SS checks were taken to Wells Fargo to open a checking account. 45 minutes later Tom has a checking account, savings account, and his SS checks are going to be automatically direct deposited for him. No matter where Tom goes, no matter where he lives, he will always have access to his money. He will never have to rely on me, or an absent-minded Fred Meyer clerk to cash his checks. It is his money. Deposited every month for the rest of his life.
Personal checks arrived a few days later. Debit card a few days after that.
Tom now has:
SS card
Birth Certificate
DD-214 Papers
Lake Oswego Library Card
Oregon ID Card
Wells Fargo Debit Card
6.
6.
6.
6.
6.
6.
It took a year to go from 1 (SS card) to 6.
Now, if he wants, he could double that number tomorrow.
shawn time 22.18.19..06.19.05
open mic
Something that I have wanted to start ever since my trip to Edinburgh last summer, an open mic. I really wanted to check out more open mics around Portland, and maybe I will between now and when this one starts, but I had to just jump in make it happen now that summer is here.
I live a block from The Lucky Lab. They have a great upstairs room that will accomodate the open mic nights.
Save these dates!!!!
July 11
July 25
August 8
August 22
All are Monday nights, all are 7-10pm.
More info soon.