Saturday, February 6, 2010

On compensation and Bandar care

Clarifying my post from yesterday, "Help Wanted":

We expect to compensate (pay) the caretaker we hire to help out with "Bandar care" (see post). It won't be a lot. But we can't expect someone to be held accountable and keep an ongoing commitment without payment. We'll even pay in U.S. dollars!

Thanks to several good friends who asked for the clarification. Feedback's always good. Well, almost always.

Here's my favorite, a gentle challenge from my friend in Naples. I won't mention his name other than to say it rhymes with Dinger:
"What's the pay? You are a true manager, don't bring up the juice. Git 'em hooked on the mushy stuff but don't mention the juice."
Oh, there's juice.

Friday, February 5, 2010

Help wanted

Do you know of someone who might be available to help care for Bandar, up to five days a week for a few hours a day? Read on.
Bandar Wants You!
They say it takes a village. Somehow, I became the daytime mayor of the village responsible for taking care of Bandar, my dear mother-in-law. (Sophie gets the job every night and weekend, lucky woman!)

Now it looks as though the other villagers and I will need some assistance -- if a certain job prospect comes my way, sometime in the next two to six weeks. (Stay tuned for details. I can't say publicly what it is just yet.)
Bandar needs someone to come into the house a couple or more hours a day during the week to prepare food, serve and clean up and drive Bandar to one or more appointments each week, e.g., to physical therapy, doctor, dentist, etc. We anticipate this will require a commitment of 10 to 20 hours a week.
Maybe you are that someone. Or maybe you know that someone. You might live in the Mill Creek community, or know someone who lives nearby. Let us know.

Contact me via email, Or call, (216) 374-0856.

We want to put the word out now, because we believe that somewhere in our network of friends is someone who is the perfect person for this assignment. While we may need to go to a professional service, we are hopeful that someone we know, or someone we will get to know, will be a good fit for our needs.

We are blessed in so many ways. In the last several months, Bandar's health and mobility have improved immensely. The amount of time necessary to take care of Bandar day to day has decreased dramatically. These factors have allowed me to get back into the work world again, where I hope to make meaningful contributions to a new set of people and institutions, in new ways.

Besides Sophie, her siblings and me, we have a host of other villagers, treasured family members, friends and neighbors, near and far, who have been able to assist with "Bandar duties" from time to time. But now we need someone who can be there daily.

If you can help, let us know.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

More pop culture in Bandar Land

"Who's that lady?" Bandar asked. "I know her. How do I know her? Why is she up there?"

Why this sudden interest? I wondered.

As we were en route to Bandar's physical therapy session, the billboard we passed near the Harvard-Dennison bridge had a huge picture of a woman with big hair and a big smile. It said something about a TV show featuring Joy Behar. (I wondered to myself briefly, how do I know who Joy Behar is?)

"She's on TV," I said.

"Why is her picture up there?" Bandar asked.

"They want people to watch her TV show at night. It's advertising. It's a billboard."

"I watch her 17 years," Bandar laughed, apparently referring to Behar's daytime show, The View. "Every day. Four ladies. They're very smart."

I'll take Bandar's word for it. Meanwhile, I'm adding Behar to the Bandar list of improbable, eclectic favorites, along with Dallas and Dirty Jobs.