September 2019

Here is a link to photos and videos from the month of September, and this is what we've been up to:

Back to Lisa (Rob)

Since July, Alex has been doing an applied behavior analysis therapy program in New Windsor, NY run by Lisa Rinaldo and her staff. Becky has had a fairly positive experience working with them. After the summer program there ended in September, we tried a similar type of therapy program in Goshen, NY - which is more or less in the same region of the state. This program seemed to offer some advantages on the surface, but after trying it out for a week or so, Becky decided to return to Lisa and her program. Lisa is much more supportive of parental involvement in her program and willing to make individualized adjustments, and also very helpful with getting insurance co-pays covered and such. The other place was overly rigid in the administration of their services in every possible way. Given Becky's background in applied behavior analysis, we need to work with a clinic that is willing to incorporate input into the program. So we'll likely stick with Lisa and her team for the forseeable future. Next up is searching for an apartment in the area so Becky and Alex don't have to bound from one Air BnB to the next each week.

Employment Updates (Rob)

Becky has been seeing two clients on Saturday mornings here in the Binghamton area for the past couple months. To add to this, she started to look into doing similar work in the Hudson Valley area while Alex is in therapy. She interviewed with one speech therapy company out there this month and it went well. They pay better and seem easier to work with than the company she currently is working for on the weekends. I organized a curriculum vitae workshop for faculty this month, among other projects. My office is adding a third research development specialist to the office. The new hire is someone who has been working in a similar position elsewhere on campus that I know fairly well. He's a smart guy, and as it turns out, he competed on Jeopardy recently and his TV appearance will be on Oct. 1. He can't say how well he did, but he didn't turn down the job offer.

Weather and Weekend Activities (Rob)

September weather has been beautiful and it's just nice to be outside. Leaves have begun to drop along with the temperatures, although it still got up to 80 F every once in a while, even in late September. Most nights and early mornings this month are accompanied by a thick fog. In our photos this month, you'll see some hikes and trips to the parks, playing in the water and such. On Labor Day, we took a trip up to Greene, NY like we did last year for their annual event that includes carnival games and rides, barbecue chicken, a car show and many other small town festivities. Our old church friends from the branch in that town are very involved in putting it on, and so we got to say hello to them. Alex got to meet a real life tractor, which he was excited about as you'll see in a video below. Trucks and tractors have been his favorite thing lately, and "cuck" has been one of his most consistent words lately.  Later this month, we invited some new families from chruch to bring their kids and join us for a barbeque at the park. We had 3 families come, and enjoyed their company. We also had a couple from church over for dinner and games this month. We aren't as social as we used to be, but we still try.

Non-sequitur Tidbits (Rob)

September saw Rob's nephew Ethan return from his two-year church mission in Mexico, and Becky's little brother Nate leaving for his two-year church mission in Brazil. We finally gave up on obsolete technology and traded in our Samsung G5 phones in for G9s so that we could move to a cheaper phone plan offered by our cable company. I prefer to buy old phones on Ebay with minimal inherent value, but it is nice to have newer one that actually works the way it's supposed to now. We are looking forward to a visit from Becky's mom in October.