Done...

... with Phase 1, anyway.

Sidney drove up from Chico California on Thursday, and we spent the long weekend producing a very clean and concise copy of the COAST (Continuum of Autism Spectrum Traits). Sidney and I work well together, and I think that shows in the finished product.

Thanks to Jake's very skilled (surgical) wielding of the editor's pen, the COAST now reads like a novel -- telling the story of six children with autism and their non-autistic friend.

Phase 2: Get ready for publication.

Phase 2.1: Flow the text into a book layout (I'm brushing up on my InDesign skills).

Phase 2.2: Develop the Evaluator's Manual and data recording/graph pages.

Phase 3 Focus groups of professionals and hopefully parents, giving us feedback.

Phase 3.1: Publish. Even if it's self-published.

Phase 4: Write some grants.

Phase 5: With the funds from the grants, run a variety of validity and reliability (correlational) studies.

Phase 5.1: Also with the funds from the grants, translate the COAST into Spanish. Run validity and reliability studies on the Spanish version.

Phase 5.2: Develop a web-based data entry site (in English and in Spanish)

Phase 5.3: Develop a handbook to compliment the COAST.

Buy a copy... we'll autograph it for you.

GO Ducks ! ! !

Game Day.

And Oh SO Much More than Game Day.

Even the Eugene Police have upgraded their Official Image – Note the Oregon Flag attached to the rear window.


Update, January 11, 2010: Oh MY, what a game. We didn't win, but we have nothing to be ashamed of.

"Learn to write well..."

This was the advice Dave gave to Jake as he prepared for college... Great advice.

And Jake apparently took it seriously.


Sara and I traveled to Seattle this weekend to watch the staged reading of Jake's fourth play. Staged readings are essentially professional readers theater; the purpose is to elicit feedback from actors and audience about the play. The playwright then considers the feedback, edits where appropriate, and then produces a finished play -- ready for performance.

The staged reading was brilliant. The actors were amazing, there was a large audience (unusual, apparently), and the feedback session lasted nearly two hours. The audience were engaged and generous in their praise.

This play will make Jacob famous.

You can watch a YouTube video of the staged reading (Vitriol, by Jacob Sherman). But really, you should just come to Seattle in July and watch the play.

Jake and friends have formed their own production company, Handwritten Productions. They will produce the play this summer: July 7th-9th, 14th-16th, 21st-23rd. I will be there the weekend of the 14th to the 16th. I'll rent an apartment for the weekend and host any overnight guests who need a bed... Anybody wanna join me?

Learn to write.

Jake did.


[update, May 17: Looks like I'll be in Seattle for Vitriol on July 8 and 9. Come join us!]

Out with the old...

Time to de-clutter. Again.

I've recently coined the phrase "The Bank-of-American Dream" to reflect my feelings about the US economy, consumerism, indebtedness and the continued growth in wealth of the richest 1% of my fellow citizens while the rest of us are a paycheck from couch-surfing (or are already there -- if we are lucky to have a friend with a couch.) The old "American Dream" of a house and a new car and the newest appliances, and ... and ... and ... does not serve us well. It enslaves us.

Last New Year's, I chose to de-clutter my mind with a three-day meditation retreat at Breitenbush. I had just decided that I was on my chosen path -- working for UO and Alaska, nice house, large plot of land, critters. No man in my life, but that was planful, too. Who needs those complications? Not I!

So of course, it was at the three-day (silent) meditation that I met Jerry. Funny how life works.

Since then, I have wiped my 5-year / rest-of-my-life plan clean and rethought what it means to be successful.

And I have decided that success cannot – should not – be defined by the things you own. Because ultimately, that is really a calculation of how indebted you are.

So, for 2011, I'll start the plan to de-clutter.

De-clutter what? Everything.

I believe that, at the end of 2015 (when I am 55), I will be completely debt free. I will have sold the house, the furniture, the stuff. Probably still have a dog or two (maybe even all four...). I will find a way to live for free.

I also plan to give up my UO job by 2015. And if we are successful in our bid for the next Alaska contract, that will be winding down in 2016.

I've got a few projects that I think will fund my minimalist existence...

• Michelle and I will write at least one book and it will be a success
• The Continuum of Autism Spectrum Traits (C.O.A.S.T.) will bring income to both Sidney and me
• I'll pick up a few other interesting projects, write a few grants, between now and then.

Of course, not paying a mortgage is a significant savings.

De-clutter. In the event of a fire, what is worth saving? Really, only the people and critters. That tells me a lot about how important the rest of the stuff is.


Shalom,

Kim

It's the end of a most amazing year...

... And the start of an even better one!

Michelle Jensen (my best friend, business partner, and Idea Popcorn Generator) and I took on a small project a few months ago -- we agreed to help a local organization that is working with several villages in Kenya to build community capacity.

Capacity for what?

Well, everything. It started with schools. Morphed into adult literacy. Spread into water wells, ecology, farming... All led by the needs of each community.

The problem was: how to organize all of these activities into an Annual Report / Presentation to potential donors?

The answer: The Annual Measure of Success (AMOS), (c) Kim Sherman and Michelle Jensen. (Email me if you are interested in the tool).

The Kenya director seemed very excited. Michelle may peddle the AMOS to some NGOs in Central and South America while she is there this Winter and Spring, and I'll see if a few other programs are interested in using the tool to measure their success.

Of course, the key to knowing if you've been successful is to start by defining what success will look like.

True in schools, in NGOs, in private businesses.

True in life...

Wow. Where did the Summer go?

I feel like I must have inadvertently stepped into a time machine. Seems like yesterday was mid-August, now suddenly October is nearly done.

Let's see if I can remember what has happened...

In August, Sara and I traveled to Seattle to watch a production of Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida, put on by the production company Jake and a few friends have founded. Well done. Sometimes actors chant Shakespeare, sometimes they sing-song his lines. Rarely do actors actually speak the lines as in a conversation. Happily, Jake's company's version was the latter.

Next summer, the company (Renamed "Handwritten Productions") will produce Jake's fourth play: The Munich Post. He finished the final draft a month and a half early, and has farmed it out to friends and family for review and comments.

End of August/early September, I went for a week of hiking and touring with the Wolfhounds and a friend from Florida who had never been to the PNW. We spent time in every Oregon Biozone: Mountain, high desert, river valley, lakes, ocean and Portland.

The 'Hounds were awesome traveling companions. And as much as I enjoyed the human company, and seeing Oregon from a newcomer's perspective, I am eager to try a solo hike -- just be me and the dogs. And I'd like to do a long hike with Jerry and the dogs.

Sidney came up for a long weekend, and we "scrubbed" the COAST (Continuum of Autism Spectrum Traits). We are very close to a working prototype. Next step: Find some sites willing to administer and review the scale with their parents, and compare the COAST results to the results of already administered autism tools. Sidney is now busily editing the draft while I re-learn InDesign for the book layout.

Then school started up in September, and I spent a week in Juneau training some teachers on our assessment system for kids with severe cognitive delays. I'll go to Anchorage to deliver the advanced training next week.

I rented out the middle bedroom to a lovely retired gourmet chef /caterer. Christine moved in October 6, and left on the 9th for a week and a half visit in Georgia. I'm nearly done painting her room. The master bedroom is occupied by John Monday through Friday morning -- he's a plumber from Medford working on re-plumbing a state park near Monroe.

And here we are, middle of October. Before the year disappears, I'll find time to visit Jake and Sara, hike with Jerry and the 'Hounds, take my little fishing boat out and do some fishing, and finish some home fixups.

And start planning for Thanksgiving III (Saturday, November 27 -- Sara asked for lamb instead of turkey...)

Life is good. Fast, but good.

Summer has slipped into Fall...

Much has happened since our DC trip, and much remains the same... Isn't that the way life goes?

I've hosted two sets of AirBnB guests in the intervening two months, both sets from the Seattle area. Currently, a nice young man is renting the master bedroom Mondays through Friday morning -- he is a plumber working a job in Junction City, with family and home in Medford. And Christine, a retired gourmet chef, will move into Marshall's room on October 6th. I have the other two bedrooms listed for long term rental, too, and they each have a few nibbles of interest but nothing definite yet.

The garage apartment isn't done yet, but it will be. The main delay is my own procrastination – Jerry is ready to finish the wall, build a bed/storage unit, whatever else needs doing. But I haven't moved my junk out yet. I don't know why... just got busy with other stuff, and the rooms weren't renting, so there didn't seem to be a need.

Now there is a need.

I'm currently in Juneau, just finished a two day training