Continuing Education

Every field of work that I'm aware of has some sort of continuing education. Nurses continue to learn about new medications and techniques, accountants keep up on new tax laws, and mechanics keep up with new engine components. Web development isn't any different than these other careers.

Technology continues to change, and so does the way you program for it. One thing that I'm doing now is making sites so that business owners can do their own updates. This was something I barely heard of when I started working on sites, but now it's common practice. In order to do this, I, and a lot of web developers, use a program called Wordpress.

Wordpress was originally designed as a blogging platform, but is now behind more than 74.6 million web sites according to one source. In another month or two, I will likely be having a site redesign project that will be using this platform. That's not unusual, but the site designer and I will be using an addition, or plugin, that allows for streamlined control over the site's design. This plugin is what is new to me.

Therefore, I have been learning how to use it with two other sites I have been working on this month. So far, I'm liking the opportunities it provides in terms of site layout. However, it's taking time to figure out what goes where to make everything work. I learned yesterday that it also doesn't use a certain programming language I'm familiar with for design aspects. Yesterday was spent looking through the changes and finding a program (such as Microsoft Word for text) that can read the code and let me work with it.

Learning new things can be a fun challenge and I'm thankful I have the opportunity to learn before I need to be working quickly. I can see this being something I'll use quite a bit, at least until another replacement comes. That is what has been going on in the quad life.

Day of Acceptance

Today, January 20, 2015, is the International Day of Acceptance (IODA). It is a day given to educate about all kinds of disabilities and learn how to accept these diversities into mainstream life. That includes schools, work, and anything people do every day.

In living the quad life, I know the pubic in general are not fully accepting of someone like me with diverse needs. Despite the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) nearly 25 years ago, many places remain inaccessible to wheelchairs. An addition to the ADA, Section 508, requires web sites to have certain features added to make them accessible for all users. Unfortunately, I commonly find sites that don't meet these requirements and site owners can be reluctant to have them included.

Despite these problems, disability acceptance is improving. First of all, these laws exist and since the passage of the ADA in 1990, several improvements in accessibility have been made. Due in part to this, you can see someone with a disability more frequently in public places as well as work. Accepting a person with a disability is a great start, but this country is getting far worse at acceptance.

Yesterday, several of the groups I follow shared a news story about seven kids that were "stolen" from their home (text has more detail than the video) by police. It is a Christian family that home schools their kids and they prefer to go without footwear. After a second investigation, the children were taken due to the house having a chemical used to purify water for the garden. A social media campaign has since started showing support for the family.

The general thinking is the anonymous complaint was due to home schooling from a Christian perspective, similar to the family I talked about last year. From what I've read, this is similar to my ideal for raising kids, perhaps minus the water purifier. Christians are being less accepted and not allowed to openly practice our faith at a fervent pace.

Living the quad Christian life has its challenges, that in some ways are easier than times past. However, in other more important ways, they are ever increasing. We will see what comes up in another week.

The Royal We

A late post this week, but it is still within the correct time. On weekday afternoons, I have been watching an online show that covers Biblical evangelism. While watching, you can chat with others who are doing the same thing.

Caregivers from time past

One of them asked me where I live, and I answered we live in southeast Iowa, about an hour from Des Moines. His response was that he wasn't familiar with the city, but lived in Wisconsin. Therefore, I related my location to a few cities in his area, again saying we are a particular distance. After more responses using the plural, he wandered why I kept saying we and not I.

After some thinking, my answer was that I was referencing my town and family, not just me. In most conversations though, I find it strange, and even somewhat difficult, to just say I.

For pretty well every activity, I need help from someone else. I can run the computer on my own, but only after someone gets it setup for more. If I go to an activity such as a movie, concert, or just out to eat, I have to have two times the cost. For business meetings, I need to make sure the other person knows I'm bringing someone. I might be a bachelor, but everything I do is essentially as a couple.

When medical needs are being taken care of, caregivers will often ask how "we" are doing. I often respond with, "I don't know about you, but I'm fine." After so many years of hearing this, we has become my normal wording for most situations. It's only at times like above, when I'm not seen, that someone questions my reasoning.

In Matthew 28:20, Jesus tells His disciples that He is always with them, even to the end of the age. Therefore, no matter if we have a person physically with us or not, we are never truly alone. It's a part of the quad life, and every life that has been given.

Top Views in 2014

With 2014 now behind us, I thought I would look back to the most viewed posts from the year. The top five had several more few than the rest, but were somewhat surprising to me.

The fifth most viewed post was Cracked Door on May 4 with 199 views. This was the start of the following months with appeals and learning how to work with the new system of funding.

Coming in at position four with 204 hits is ACTS on July 27. Giving thanks in all circumstances is what we are called to do, and I'm glad to get reminders. I'm always thankful that I can work with kids, even when they surprise me.

In third position with 218 readers was the post titled Help from Friends on June 7. This past year I learned more about my friends than I knew and was very grateful for help. I'm still blessed to have friends in many different areas of life.

Second from the top was The Answer Is... on July 8 with a jump to 580 looks. After working on funding for over half the year, it was still not over. Continuing with appeals and contacting different doctors was getting very frustrating, as well as looking at care facilities.

In number one position, the most viewed entry of 2014 with 744 views, was New Horizon on April 7. After finally getting new insurance, learning that nursing would not be covered was quite a surprise. Thankfully, as we now know, it did work according to God's will.

I'm thankful for all the people that cared enough to follow this past year's story. I'm amazed at the numbers, but glad to have my story available for everyone. I can't guess at this point what will top out in 2015. One change I'm hoping to do is add more pictures or video. Looking at a solid block of text can be intimidating. We'll see what the first few week of the year brings in the quad life.