Migration in Progress

Having been inspired by Kevin Barbieux yet once again, who recently migrated his blog to WordPress, I am currently migrating my personal blog here as well.

Had tried to find a different theme (i.e., blog template) to use, rather using than the same as Kevin’s; however, particularly due it having three (3) columns and its layout, it is the best one of those available to choose among.

Thus, having used Blogger for the most part since October of 2002, for the time being there will be quite a bit of construction and tweaking going on while I work on it and attempt to get used to using WordPress to blog with as my primary blog tool.

Wish List Item: Flip MinoHD

Although I usually do not have cravings to obtain material belongings, especially as some sort of status symbol or fad or whatever, what has quietly been high among my wish list of late of an item potentially worth having, particularly since I could then more easily create video diaries (e.g., when I am camping out and want to share some experiences or thoughts about such with others) and also do short interviews of others on various subject matters of interest as well as video tours and the like, is this Flip MinoHD, here.

It would also be good to be able to include the Flip Video™ Premium Service Plan too of course and, when I can manage to afford such and, who knows by then either prices may be lower or something even better may come along to purchase instead, it is my hope to get something these lines.

Homeless in the Woods: Week 1

*Updated* (with the usual edits and corrections)

Moved out of my temporary Winter quarters last Thursday and, after a failed attempt to find a safe place in the woods to camp within closer walking distance to downtown Montpelier than what I had for tenting out last year, finally managed to make camp in the woods much farther out than desirable and set up my tent just prior to dark setting in.

Due to pulling an all-nighter — my second within only a few days — the night before so I could finish packing, I was terribly exhausted, thus resulting in my being slower in everything I tried to do. In addition, certain things went undone as well.

With the help of an off-the-shelve sleeping aid and, despite considerable pain and discomfort, I managed to sleep relatively okay the first three nights.

However, although going to bed around 9:00 PM Sunday evening and, not wanting to take the sleeping aid night after night in a row and also because of some of the effects it seemed I may have been experiencing from it, I could not manage to get to sleep until 6:00 AM the next morning.

It had rained hard all evening as well as all Monday morning and did not seem to stop until around 2:00 PM or so. Yet this was not the only reason I could not sleep and it ended up being what I typically term as being a bad night, which is something I can experience on any given night, sometimes right out of the blue and other times because something has either upset or stimulated me in one fashion or another, setting my mind into overdrive.

Since I was so tired from a lack of sleep as well as lack of proper nutrition of late and with it raining so hard, I slept in until I could tell the rain had stopped.

Had to bail out some water that made its way into the tent and related problems caused by it.

Then I went into town for a couple of hours to run errands late in the afternoon, including for a quick birdbath, quickly check e-mail and grab my one meal of the day — other than having had a few of mini-Clif bars from a package of 18 bars I bought last Thursday.

When I got back to the tent last night I had some more mopping up to do, without what I really need to do so. It does not help that I have such poor camping or outdoor survival skills, knowledge or experience.

Overall I have been real tired and dragging, with my health not doing well, although I was experiencing some of the same to a certain degree when I was temporarily housed the previous eight (8) months too.

While these matters have made me feel rather desperate, as well as filling me with anxiety and causing further major depression and panic attacks at times, my continued attempts to find housing have thus far failed.

With no transportation available on Saturday due to it being July 4th and not much to do during the entire weekend, I managed to arrange to get inside for a three night stay indoors starting this coming Friday; particularly since it looks much of the next four months will be spent living houseless (aka homeless), with only my tent in the wood being the the place of last resort.

Suffice it to say that if I were to make the mistake to disclose to anyone specifically what else I was going through or experiencing and, how it made me feel and think at times relating to potential self-harm (i.e., one who is often prone to suicidal ideation on either a daily or episodic basis can easily be pushed there real quickly, particularly under rocky circumstances such as a lack of stable habitat, lack of proper nutrition or lack of enough restful sleep and even worse when it is a combination of any or all three*[1]), it could probably get me unwanted time in the state hospital or something else like that and just as bad; when much of what is really needed in my case is permanent housing along the lines of what would meet my needs and on terms acceptable to me, yet have not been able to manage to get there from here on my own either the past twelve (12) years or currently and that despite seeking assistance from those I feel safe or comfortable enough to do so from.

*[1: Ironically enough, when talking about bears and other creatures in the woods as well as concerns about having people come across me and my camp with intent to cause me or my property harm, someone generously offered me use of a handgun, however knowing how it either could too easily be used against me or used an excuse to harass me in some way, I declined; not to mention the potential of my using such on myself when in utter despair, which I have been struggling with both now and in years past of course. The person meant well, but had not thought it through, yet I had done so enough for the both of us in order to know better]

Sad to say, others have it much worse than myself and this does not make me feel any better, if anything it only makes things more depressing.

All that said, I do the best I am able at any given moment and, even when certain moments appear to be their darkest and bleakest, never ever give up hope, even and most especially when there is nothing to be hopeful about.

*Note*: made several edits and corrections for the purposes of clarification and readability; last updated on Wednesday, July 1, 2009 at 2:18 PM (ET).

Redesigned ‘look’ of my personal blog …

*Updated*

Have been engaged in redesign mode of the ‘look’ of my personal blog. Same for my personal Twitter account as well, here.

For those who either have not visited my blog recently or ever, for the sake of being able to compare to the current redesigned version, here is a partial screenshot of a cache of the previous version found today via Google:

Feedback?

Image by Norsehorse via Flickr

*Updated*: It has been quite a while since I last updated the bottom portion of my blog, including updating the blogrolls provided there as well, however I finally managed to do so.

The blogrolls now use the newer version of the Blogger blogroll linking feature, which should prove more useful. Besides the homeless related and Vermont blogrolls, both of which I have completely updated, I have also added a mental health related blogroll.

*Note*: added an update: last updated on Thursday, June 18, 2009 at 7:07 PM [ET].

Twin City Motel iGoogle Theme

If you either already have a personalized iGoogle page or may be inclined to set one up, below is a screenshot of the Twin City Motel (Berlin, VT) iGoogle Theme I recently created:

If you interested in doing so, get the above theme for your personalized iGoogle page, here.

Other iGoogle themes I created are the Camels Hump, Vermont theme as well as the Golden Dome, Vermont theme (screenshots below):

If you would like to create your own iGoogle theme using a photo of you have permission to use, it is rather easy to do so, here.

(hints and suggestions for creating iGoogle themes using above linked tool: 1. after you upload and tweak the photo to how you think you want it, click onto the button to the lower right of the image viewer in order to open another window; this will give a view of what it would look like when created. 2. use a photo that is extremely wide and panoramic rather than one with much height; around 1200 wide seems to work to fit the entire screen. 3. it can take several attempts to get the theme banner and everything else the way one likes it prior to actually creating the finalized version and it is worth taking one’s time to do so.)

computer generated art of mine from today

latest musings: redux

*Updated 2x*

Last night having been exhausted from pulling an all-nighter Monday evening and, also recently not getting either enough or good quality rest or sleep, I was finding myself falling asleep and so after a late supper finally went to bed.

However severe leg muscle cramps managed to disturb my sleep, this time just in the left leg and, as usual, the calve. Yet I went back to sleep, although struggled to do so deeply or long enough, only receiving about five hours.

While only still half asleep, since I have been pondering about how I have six (6) weeks left as of today until I have to move out of my ‘Winter quarters’ and if I do not have permanent housing or anywhere else to land by then will end up living houseless (aka homeless) yet again, the following poem were among my latest musings redux (*update 1*: posted embedded video of poem being read aloud):

homeless sneakers

restless thoughts
toss and turn,
without end
deep within
mind, body and soul
whether day or night,
about once again
becoming homeless

knowing the only
place to then call
home 24/7, will be
one pair of badly
worn out sneakers,
long overdue
for replacement

truth be told
however, those foul
footwear are in much
better shape, than the person
who will be barely
surviving inside them

whose remedy
will not be found
just by a new pair,
but within an abode
of their own,
one providing a permanent
roof and shelter,
under which to live
more restfully instead.

by Morgan W. Brown
Montpelier, Vermont
Sunday, June 18, 2006

[Originally posted, here; Sunday, June 18, 2006]

Speaking of sneakers, those I have are badly in need of replacement once again, which actually should have been replaced last year, however I was not able to afford it at the time. In fact, besides sneakers and because they help with both comfort and lessening of heat stress, I also need to buy a new pair of sandals as well. Although I should be able to afford such either by the end of the month or early next month on my own.

In addition, I am also hoping to get my bicycle out of storage and get it fixed and tuned up in order to put it back on the road. It has been in need of a new chain among other things, which should have been replaced last year, but could not afford it then either, yet think I have enough funds on hand to do it now.

Speaking of bicycling, if you have not previously done so, read my article about such published within The Independent — a Vermont publication for elders and people with disabilities: Where The Rubber Meets The Road (via Vermont Center for Independent Living: VCIL).

*Update 2*: Bought my new pair of footwear up at the Berlin Mall today, a pair of size 12 4E New Balance sneakers on sale for $39.99, originally priced at $59.95.

It was worth it being able to buy a pair that had the extra width, rather than those with regular width — which are never an exact fit.

They are a comfortable pair and, it is great to finally be rid of the old worn out pair, especially since my feet, legs and back had long been hurting as a result wearing them.

*Note*: added an embed of video of poem being read aloud; added another update with photo; last updated on Tuesday, May 19, 2009 at 8:03 PM (ET).

Goings On

*Updated*

Streaming alternative rock tunes via Shoutcast Radio while online at Kellogg Hubbard Library in Montpelier.

Came into town this morning to do a few errands as well as eat lunch at the soup kitchen of the day after attending an early morning meeting at the main offices of Washington County Mental Health Services (WCMHS) concerning the forthcoming new edition of Washington County Survivors’ Guide, which is still a work in progress.

The four of us, three WCMHS staff and myself, who are working on the project met to review and discuss the latest draft. Next, two different mock ups will be produced and the four of us will be going around asking various people to review them and provide feedback. Our next meeting in relation to the resource guide will be held in mid-July prior to having the new version going to press in order to review and discuss feedback we received. The progress on the guide is going purposefully slow as we want to do what is needed to get it right before going to press with the final draft.

However we are also planning to have a related meeting in mid-June to further discuss another aspect brought up both within earlier e-mails back and forth as well as during our previous meeting last month when we also had discussed matters relating to human services needs as well as resources and community outreach collaboration in our region, which we did not have time to discuss today.

It is our intention to have an agenda drawn up as well as invite certain others to this initial meeting, which will serve as a first step towards potentially turning an idea into something constructive and useful somewhere down the road.

*Update*: posted following video via Seesmic (using Disqus commenting tool, which fouled up and did not post it within the comments, so I went to the video on my Seesmic account and grabbed the embed code for use as an update to the post):

*Note*: made several edits for the purpose of clarification and readability; posted vlog; last updated on Wednesday, May 13, 2009 at 4:13 PM (ET).

Poll ?: President Barack Obama’s 1st 100 Days

Poll question (created by yours truly):

President Barack Obama’s first 100 Days milestone is Wednesday, April 29, 2009:

In your opinion, how has he done thus far?

Vote (via PollDaddy):

Additional information, here (via official White House Website), here (via CNN), here (via Fox News) here (via CBS News), here (via ABC News), here (via MSNBC), here (via Time), here (via New York Times) here (via Washington Post) and, here (via Huffington Post).

Forthcoming New Edition of Washington County Survivors’ Guide

Last month I was invited by Mary Moulton of Washington County Mental Health Services (WCMHS) to provide feedback concerning The Survivor’s Guide to Washington County they and the Turning Point Center of Central Vermont provide as an informational resource to members of the community whom find themselves in need, which — as I understand it — is a project sponsored by Green Mountain United Way (GMUW). It is in the form of a doubled-sided four section foldout business type card brochure. After some back and forth discussion with Mary, answering as well as discussing some of her related questions seeking feedback and, agreeing to help when and where I could, several e-mails have traded back between here and the two other WCMHS employees within the loop as well. It was also Mary’s plan for us to have a face to face meeting at some point and this will occur on Monday morning between the four of us in order to review the final draft. One of my suggestions was to include a sample of the final draft to seek feedback from those representative of the population who would use the guide as well as others who could advise of what would be helpful as other potential informational resources provided within such a guide. Mary reports she is very favorable to this concept and has already spoken with at least one of the contact persons at the local homeless shelter located within Barre. Although one cannot really make out the contents of either side of the guide, the photo within this blog post is what both sides of the current (i.e., old) edition of the guide looks like, photos of which were taken by Webcam and patched together. The new edition of the guide is merely in draft form and is still a work-in-progress, one I will not see a sample of until this coming Monday.