Portrait and Mug

Alison Schmuckal sits in front of the winter billboard in the classroom where she teaches the K-2 Transition Program for children with autism at Wilson Elementary School in Corvallis, OR.

The Good Weather is Coming

Sooner or later, the good weather will be here. The motorcyclist in me can feel it. I am hoping that I will be getting out on the open road and enjoying myself more this summer. I am also hoping to write some articles about it. I have a trip down the coast planned, from Astoria to Brookings. During this time, I am going to be taking a lot of pictures and writing a lot of notes. I think that it is going to have to be a two or three day trip, so I should get some good details about places to eat, and places to stay.

I am always open to suggestions though, so if any of you happen to know a good place to eat or stay along the route of highway 101 in Oregon, please feel free to drop me a line and let me know about it. With a little luck, a lot of hard riding and some eloquent writing, I am hoping to sell this article for a real price, something a little more than $50. Maybe this is just my ego, but I feel that my work and my time is worth more than that.

This spring and summer, the weather is going to look good and the riding is going to be great, so the stories are going to be flowing. At least, that is my hope.

Avanti Art & Design

Hello everyone out there in blogger land. I have an announcement to make. Although there are only four of you following me (yes, I know that it says five followers at the time of this post) I am hoping to gain more readership through the efforts of Michael Fleming plugging my blog in the Donkey Show chatroom at www.stickam.com/throbbittown and through my own efforts of pushing my garbage on poor unsuspecting friends and family. My latest follower is a friend of mine, she just doesn't know that she is a follower, or that she even has a blog yet. Her name is Wendy and she has a frame shop and art gallery called, Avanti Art & Design. I am trying to help her out in the advertising department, drumming up all the free publicity that I can. I will be throwing together a MySpace and Facebook profile for her as well. I will be getting pictures of her shop and her gallery to go up on these profiles, so please feel free to visit them when they are done. If you know anyone in the Seattle area that needs some work done, send them her way.

7317 Greenwood Ave. N.
Seattle, WA 98103
(206) 784-8475

Rare Genetic Disorder

This is Caven Cornell, who was born August 21st, 2007 in Corvallis, OR. He has a very rare condition called Lissencephaly, which when translated means “Smooth Brain”. During the development of his brain, the frontal lobe folds never formed, leaving him with little to no motor control. He has a gastrostomy tube which he is getting fed dinner through while sleeping here. He and his family came to dinner at my house and it was his turn to eat. Currently there is no treatment for Lissencephaly, as it is a physical disorder and there is no way to make the brain reform itself. The average life expectancy, depending upon how badly the brain is deformed, is about two years. There is ongoing research for prevention and so far scientists have been able to determine the genes that are responsible for causing the malformation of the brain.