I heard him say he was going to do this. I helped him do the research. I saw him pack his clothes and other essentials into his truck. But I was not able to believe it or write about it until I saw his truck drive off towards the “Little City by the Sea”. Even now I am hesitant because we are still crossing our fingers that all will go well.
Over seven months ago in August, Steve decided he wanted to receive professional training in the craft of Neon Glass Bending, a skill that seems appropriate for someone whose life has been in Sign and whose personality is as animated and colorful as a neon sign. After some research he decided his best bet was Jimmy Neon in Kingston, Washington. Voc. Rehab is paying for the training and since Jimmy is not in Utah, the VR counselor had to write a service request for Approval by Exception to Policy for out of state training. Before she could do this, he had to do quite a bit of research to justify the exception and the training.
The VR counselor wrote a lengthy service request (view request). After four weeks, the request was approved and he could begin the training on January 8. Then Washington state received bad storms and power outages. Jimmy received some damage, so this meant postponing the training until March. This was actually fine with Steve because he was afraid of getting stuck in a big snowstorm.
I do not know all of the details and correspondence that went on between Steve, his VR counselor, and Jimmy. There seemed to be quite a few emails going through cyberspace between them, and yet there was still some uncertainty even yesterday, the day he was set to leave. VR still has not paid Jimmy for the course even though the invoice has been signed and mailed. Normally he will not start teaching until he has been paid because he has some up front costs for supplies, etc., but Steve was anxious to get going. So being the good guy Jimmy is, he agreed to begin the teaching regardless. From what I understand, Jimmy is no stranger to people who are deaf and feels he will successfully teach Steve this craft.
Steve will be in Washington for about six weeks. Why are you not going with him, you ask. Well, there are several reasons, not the least of these is someone has to take care of these darn cats!
Filed under: Job Hunting and Working
