...our government is stupid!
I underpaid my taxes in 2003 by a fairly sizeable amount, at least in terms of my economy (how and why that happened is another story for another time). Anyway, I've been paying $200/month on the balance for several years and, as of the first of this month, the balance was $2200. After that balance was reported, the government applied our tax rebate of $1200 to the balance and THEN applied our tax overpayment of $1200 to it, in addition to my regular $200 payment for the month of May. I should have a $400 surplus in the account right about now, right? Not according to the IRS! After burning 1 hour, 34 minutes and 34 seconds of cell time with the fine people of the Internal Revenue Service (after which time, while "holding" for the 243rd time, some genius hung up on me!), it was decided that I had a zero balance on the principal, but owe $821 in penalty and interest. Uhhhh.....DO YOU PEOPLE READ THE STUFF THAT YOU SEND ME????? According to my May 7, 2008 statement, I owed $2,277.82, $572.20 of which was penalty and $1,198.26 was interest. I never did very well with math in school, but 2600 minus 2,277.82 equals a $322.18 surplus the last time I checked!
H-E-L-L-O-!-!-!-!-?-?-?-?.......Anyone at the IRS got a calculator? Uhhh....how about a pencil and some paper? Oh, all right; we'll just do a rough cut, then. 2600 minus 2200...errr.....that's going to be too tough; let's leave off the "thousands" since that's going to just confuse you. 600 minus 200....errrrr.....nevermind. Let's leave off the tens and ones, too. Too tough! Okay....6 minus 2 equals.......????? Did you say four? That's very good! Lollipop for you! Now, let's put the 10s and 1s back on there so we have the correct amount! That's right!!!! $400!!!! Mr. Dan has put 400 more apples into the basket than he owed!
Where's my freakin' apples, IRS?!?!
You know, this whole experience has soured me considerably on the IRS in particular and on the government as a whole. Look, I know the government is just people like you and I doing their jobs as best they can with the tools that they're given. Here's the deal. Our government is totally inefficient, clumsy, and...well....stupid!!! When the government is so large and unweildy that I have to wait on hold for nearly 2 hours to find out how on earth 2600 minus 2200 equals +800 and then they can't figure out how to operate a phone system so they hang up on me, something has GOT to change! Folks...it's just one account! It ought to be one file on one mainframe with some sort of back-up in case the thing comes crashing down. It ought to be accessible by whoever's been assigned to manage the account and whoever that person's boss is, AND THAT'S IT!!! When a payment is made, you open the file, deduct the amount from the balance, and call it a day. I don't know how penalties and interest are assessed, but let's say it's quarterly. On January 1, April 1, July 1, and October 1, someone opens the file, figures out the amount of P&I that needs to be added, adds it to the balance, and closes the account. Oooooohhhhh! I'll bet there's a computer program out there that will do that FOR you automatically if you set it up with the dates you want!
I wish this was rocket science, I really do. I could understand how it would be difficult if it were; but it's not. It's a simple tax account for a relatively modest sum from a relatively modest and hard-working American, and I'm fed up with the inefficiency and stupidity involved! It's time for SOMEONE to say, "You know what? You're right! The IRS is a stupid agency that regularly goofs stuff like this up and basically steals money from hard-working Americans and we're going to do away with it! From now on, everybody pays 10% of their income, period. No "deductions," no loop-holes, no tax shelters, no nothing. Employers and companies report their income at the end of the year and send in a check. Period." I'd be good with that, and it would be simple to maintain. Everyone would have to go on a fiscal diet so that they actually HAVE the money at the end of the year when it's due, and the government would have to show a little fiscal responsibility so that they don't spend all of that windfall at once and run out of money at the end of the year. Natually, some of it would have to go toward the quadrillion dollar debt that we have, but maybe, when they're getting close to paying it off, they'll have to burn cell time on hold for two hours listening to "Dance of the Sugarplum Fairies" only to find that someone accidentally hit a "plus" sign instead of a "minus" and they still owe 8 trillion instead of having a 400 billion surplus like they thought.
Instant karma!
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Friday, May 30, 2008
Closing out...
Well, we're coming to the end of yet another school year; two full days and two half days to go! I may or may not have to work on Friday, but that won't be determined until next Thursday, when I'll know if I've successfully gone through our close-out procedure. I can certainly use the time off, that's for sure! It's been an interesting year. I got to teach the honors classes this year for the first time! It really was different teaching kids who, by and large, were pretty motivated and interested in learning something. The other science teacher got pretty much the same deal this year that I had last year. She got all of the regular-ed kids and had to teach a section of Speech. Last year I had the same gig except that my extra section was "Study Skills." The difference, of course, is that she still had one conference period every day while I only had one every-other day. What's really tough about the schedule is the kind of kid who gets placed in "Study Skills" or "Speech." It's the kids who don't have Band, or Art, or Athletics, or Choir, or any other worthwhile elective. They're the ones who turned in blank course requests or got turned down for their choices because they're not exactly "model citizens." Uhhhh....how do you say it nicely? It's a room full of knot-heads, and they have no more interest in being there than the man in the moon! It's a rough gig and one I wouldn't wish on anyone! Consequently, it was not only a pleasure getting the honors classes, it was a tremendous relief NOT getting all of the knot-heads at the same time! I'm supposed to get honors again next year (my across-the-hall colleague couldn't take it anymore; she's going to another school next year!), so I'm looking forward to another good year in Science!
I'm teaching two weeks of "Gear Up!" summer camp again this year. Gear Up! is a program funded by the Feds that's supposed to increase the interest of the students in advancing their education beyond high school. They started with our 7th-grade class last year and they're following this one class through high school. There's a great deal of interest among teachers in securing the Gear Up jobs because they pay well and, unlike "normal" summer school jobs, you're not dealing with a bunch of losers who could not or would not do what's necessary to pass during the regular school year; you're dealing with kids who WANT to be there and are truly motivated and excited about learning something! Thus, it's a "cherry" job that every teacher wants and there are huge numbers of us who apply, but not that many, in relative terms, who are chosen. I'm blessed indeed to have been selected again this year!
For Gear Up I have to work two planning days on the 12th and 13th and then both following weeks (excluding Fridays). A week from this Friday, MDGD is coming to spend four days with us! Woo-hoo! Of course, our anniversary is a week from Saturday; MDB has to work all day at the Houston Hurricane Conference that is put on by the NWS and sponsored by CenterPoint Energy; we're going to be busy, but it should be fun! I'm going to take MDB out for a nice dinner to celebrate! It's going to be a hoot!
Well, that's enough for now. I've got a lot of cleaning up to do to get my room ready for summer!
I'm teaching two weeks of "Gear Up!" summer camp again this year. Gear Up! is a program funded by the Feds that's supposed to increase the interest of the students in advancing their education beyond high school. They started with our 7th-grade class last year and they're following this one class through high school. There's a great deal of interest among teachers in securing the Gear Up jobs because they pay well and, unlike "normal" summer school jobs, you're not dealing with a bunch of losers who could not or would not do what's necessary to pass during the regular school year; you're dealing with kids who WANT to be there and are truly motivated and excited about learning something! Thus, it's a "cherry" job that every teacher wants and there are huge numbers of us who apply, but not that many, in relative terms, who are chosen. I'm blessed indeed to have been selected again this year!
For Gear Up I have to work two planning days on the 12th and 13th and then both following weeks (excluding Fridays). A week from this Friday, MDGD is coming to spend four days with us! Woo-hoo! Of course, our anniversary is a week from Saturday; MDB has to work all day at the Houston Hurricane Conference that is put on by the NWS and sponsored by CenterPoint Energy; we're going to be busy, but it should be fun! I'm going to take MDB out for a nice dinner to celebrate! It's going to be a hoot!
Well, that's enough for now. I've got a lot of cleaning up to do to get my room ready for summer!
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Hades in a hand-basket (Part III)
Hello again, blogfans!
In this installment, we'll look at "No Child Left Behind" and see why it's not doing what it was intended to do. As usual, good intentions and lofty goals backfire when they're not undergirded by common sense!
"No Child Left Behind" is a program that was designed to increase accountability in school systems primarily by ensuring that standardized testing was administered and reported accurately. Since NCLB, the TAKS in Texas has become the primary focus of the entire school year and, as far as everyone, administrators, teachers, AND students are concerned, the school year is over after the last TAKS test has been administered.
THAT happened on May 2nd this year. The last day of school is June 5th.
This begs a question. What's the PURPOSE of school in the first place? Are students sent there to learn what they'll need to succeed in their future, or are we more concerned with teaching them how to pass a test? NCLB makes the answer simple; they need to know how to pass a test! Whether they're actually LEARNING what they need to know is completely secondary!
It's a sad state of affairs!
So, do standardized tests have their place? Of course! What is that place? To find out where students are in their academic development so that stuff they are "not getting" but need to know can be re-taught. Standardized tests today are given NOT to test students, but to test school systems, administrators and teachers; it's completely backwards from what it should be!
Students are tired of testing all the time and teachers are tired of "teaching to the test" when there's so much more to cover!
The bottom line: we're burning the kids out with all this testing all the time and they don't enjoy school anymore! What they don't enjoy they will not participate in! What they don't participate in, they will not get! It's a viscious circle and NCLB created it!
When will they ever learn!
In this installment, we'll look at "No Child Left Behind" and see why it's not doing what it was intended to do. As usual, good intentions and lofty goals backfire when they're not undergirded by common sense!
"No Child Left Behind" is a program that was designed to increase accountability in school systems primarily by ensuring that standardized testing was administered and reported accurately. Since NCLB, the TAKS in Texas has become the primary focus of the entire school year and, as far as everyone, administrators, teachers, AND students are concerned, the school year is over after the last TAKS test has been administered.
THAT happened on May 2nd this year. The last day of school is June 5th.
This begs a question. What's the PURPOSE of school in the first place? Are students sent there to learn what they'll need to succeed in their future, or are we more concerned with teaching them how to pass a test? NCLB makes the answer simple; they need to know how to pass a test! Whether they're actually LEARNING what they need to know is completely secondary!
It's a sad state of affairs!
So, do standardized tests have their place? Of course! What is that place? To find out where students are in their academic development so that stuff they are "not getting" but need to know can be re-taught. Standardized tests today are given NOT to test students, but to test school systems, administrators and teachers; it's completely backwards from what it should be!
Students are tired of testing all the time and teachers are tired of "teaching to the test" when there's so much more to cover!
The bottom line: we're burning the kids out with all this testing all the time and they don't enjoy school anymore! What they don't enjoy they will not participate in! What they don't participate in, they will not get! It's a viscious circle and NCLB created it!
When will they ever learn!
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Hades in a hand-basket (Part II)
Hello again, blogfans!
Today, we'll begin to examine the current culture in education that has been developed during the "Mister Rogers" or the "Everyone Gets a Trophy" era in our society. The bottom line: we've developed a generation of illiterate and ignorant young adults who feel really good about themselves but have no marketable skills and don't seem to see why that's a problem!
Since this is ostensibly a Christian society, let's start with the words of Jesus:
Matthew 25
14"Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. 15To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. 17So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. 18But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money. 19"After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.' 21"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!' 22"The man with the two talents also came. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.' 23"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!' 24"Then the man who had received the one talent came. 'Master,' he said, 'I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.' 26"His master replied, 'You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. 28" 'Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. 29For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. 30And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'
God gives us all some form of ability or some abilities, and He expects us to use them! The flip side of that coin is that some people have more talent than other people and some people don't have much at all! What this means is that some people are good students because they've been gifted academically, while others are not such good students; they're gifted elsewhere. We've got to get this concept down and realize it in actuality so that it's reflected in what we do in our schools! Some folks are just not cut out for advanced education, but they're really good with their hands, or they have sterling personality, or they can sing/dance or whatever. When are we going to stop trying to cram square pegs into round holes, all the while proclaiming our education system a failure, when it's being set up for failure simply by the students we include in classes they have no need for and have no desire to partake in?
In 1975, Congress enacted the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), legislation that was reauthorized in 1997. Basically, IDEA was developed to ensure that people with disabilities had equal access to education; a good and worthwhile concept. However, the law and the regulations that accompanied it soon morphed into something that was never intended; a catch-all excuse for any student who didn't want to work and still wanted to pass his classes! What am I talking about? Well, when I think of "disabled," I think of people who have some physical malady that prevents them from ambulating normally or precludes some other normal life function such as speech, or sight, or hearing, or whatever. That was before they invented Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Now, any kid who can't sit still for more than 10 minutes is "disabled" and has all the protection of law intended for people with actual disabilities! People who've been diagnosed with some form of learning disorder also fall under IDEA. Heck, we might as well throw in morbid obesity and yellow toe fungus so we can classify ALL of the students that way! It's ridiculous!
Anyway, part of IDEA states that students who are classified "disabled" under the law must receive their education in the "Least Restrictive Environment," i.e., they must be in a regular classroom whenever its possible. Last year, I had one class with 28 kids: 10 of them were either Special Education or 504 (Learning disability); 6 of them were ESL (English as a Second Language); 10 of them were "regular ed" (no alphabet soup for them!); and 2 of them were GT (Gifted and Talented). Uhhhh......how do you present a lesson in a class like that so that no one gets bored and no one gets left behind? Each of the "IDEA" kids has an IEP (Individualized Education Plan) that must be adhered to or its big trouble! IEPs contain "modifications" that are designed to make education more accessible for those who receive the mods. What a joke! What this becomes is a "Get Out of Jail Free" card for any kid with an IEP. I don't care how careful you are; somewhere along the line at some point you're going to fail to perform one of the provisions of a kid's IEP and, if someone wanted to document your failure, the district must take action (or risk loss of Federal funding for these programs). A child who has not been "served" according to his/her IEP CANNOT FAIL!!! What this means is that a teacher who wishes to fail a kid with an IEP MUST document every instance of that child's failure to perform DESPITE receiving modified work (or accommodation in the case of 504s). This is a nearly impossible task and one that, I'm sure, doesn't transpire very often! The bottom line is this: kids who aren't doing what's necessary to pass a class are passed anyway because of the restrictions imposed by this ridiculous legislation and the "gun" of Federal funding that's held to our collective heads! "Passing Johnny" is a game that's played every year for as long as he's in the system, which is why Johnny eventually finds himself walking across a stage wearing a cap and gown, carrying a diploma that he cannot read! He has no marketable skills and few, if any, prospects for the future. It's a tragic disservice to him and one that is TOTALLY unnecessary and avoidable!
What's the outcome? Well, as I said, Johnny gets the shaft because he got left behind even if he thinks he was getting over all those years. What's WORSE in my mind, is the fact that he was in a regular ed classroom all of those years dragging down other students who DID want to learn and who had just as much a right to a "free and appropriate education" as he did! Educational, governmental, and industrial experts bemoan the fact that our students are falling behind those in other parts of the world, but THOSE SAME "EXPERTS" are the ones who are creating the situation in the first place! In India, students who are not academically gifted don't go into higher education; they go into a vocational track and learn a trade! The same is true of these other countries that are constantly cited as outstripping us academically! They realize the wisdom of Jesus; not everyone has the same gifts, but we have the command to accentuate and develop the gifts we DO have rather than try to develop those we weren't blessed with!
What needs to happen here? IDEA needs modification! Students with IEPs should be educated with their peers so they can follow along at their own pace. Part of the process for them should be aptitude testing so their abilities and proclivities can be determined and cultivated. Many of these kids just don't have the ability to do higher level work in education; they should be taught what they DO need to know for their future! Many "504" kids are very intelligent and can do "on-level" work if given enough time. No one minds helping kids like this out because they are motivated and do their very best to overcome their disability. When the tool to help becomes a crutch and is used as such, the system is broken and needs to be repaired or replaced! IDEA was initially a good concept; include those in our society who've been shunned and give them what they need to succeed. What it's become is a joke! This situation needs to be addressed and it needs to happen sooner than later, or the "everyone gets a trophy" generation is going to take over and the only trophy we're going to get is a Chinese-English dictionary!
I have a feeling that our collective self-esteem won't be that important anymore!
Tomorrow, we'll look at why "No Child Left Behind" ought to be called "EVERY Child Left Behind!"
Today, we'll begin to examine the current culture in education that has been developed during the "Mister Rogers" or the "Everyone Gets a Trophy" era in our society. The bottom line: we've developed a generation of illiterate and ignorant young adults who feel really good about themselves but have no marketable skills and don't seem to see why that's a problem!
Since this is ostensibly a Christian society, let's start with the words of Jesus:
Matthew 25
14"Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. 15To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. 17So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. 18But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money. 19"After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.' 21"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!' 22"The man with the two talents also came. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.' 23"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!' 24"Then the man who had received the one talent came. 'Master,' he said, 'I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.' 26"His master replied, 'You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. 28" 'Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. 29For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. 30And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'
God gives us all some form of ability or some abilities, and He expects us to use them! The flip side of that coin is that some people have more talent than other people and some people don't have much at all! What this means is that some people are good students because they've been gifted academically, while others are not such good students; they're gifted elsewhere. We've got to get this concept down and realize it in actuality so that it's reflected in what we do in our schools! Some folks are just not cut out for advanced education, but they're really good with their hands, or they have sterling personality, or they can sing/dance or whatever. When are we going to stop trying to cram square pegs into round holes, all the while proclaiming our education system a failure, when it's being set up for failure simply by the students we include in classes they have no need for and have no desire to partake in?
In 1975, Congress enacted the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), legislation that was reauthorized in 1997. Basically, IDEA was developed to ensure that people with disabilities had equal access to education; a good and worthwhile concept. However, the law and the regulations that accompanied it soon morphed into something that was never intended; a catch-all excuse for any student who didn't want to work and still wanted to pass his classes! What am I talking about? Well, when I think of "disabled," I think of people who have some physical malady that prevents them from ambulating normally or precludes some other normal life function such as speech, or sight, or hearing, or whatever. That was before they invented Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Now, any kid who can't sit still for more than 10 minutes is "disabled" and has all the protection of law intended for people with actual disabilities! People who've been diagnosed with some form of learning disorder also fall under IDEA. Heck, we might as well throw in morbid obesity and yellow toe fungus so we can classify ALL of the students that way! It's ridiculous!
Anyway, part of IDEA states that students who are classified "disabled" under the law must receive their education in the "Least Restrictive Environment," i.e., they must be in a regular classroom whenever its possible. Last year, I had one class with 28 kids: 10 of them were either Special Education or 504 (Learning disability); 6 of them were ESL (English as a Second Language); 10 of them were "regular ed" (no alphabet soup for them!); and 2 of them were GT (Gifted and Talented). Uhhhh......how do you present a lesson in a class like that so that no one gets bored and no one gets left behind? Each of the "IDEA" kids has an IEP (Individualized Education Plan) that must be adhered to or its big trouble! IEPs contain "modifications" that are designed to make education more accessible for those who receive the mods. What a joke! What this becomes is a "Get Out of Jail Free" card for any kid with an IEP. I don't care how careful you are; somewhere along the line at some point you're going to fail to perform one of the provisions of a kid's IEP and, if someone wanted to document your failure, the district must take action (or risk loss of Federal funding for these programs). A child who has not been "served" according to his/her IEP CANNOT FAIL!!! What this means is that a teacher who wishes to fail a kid with an IEP MUST document every instance of that child's failure to perform DESPITE receiving modified work (or accommodation in the case of 504s). This is a nearly impossible task and one that, I'm sure, doesn't transpire very often! The bottom line is this: kids who aren't doing what's necessary to pass a class are passed anyway because of the restrictions imposed by this ridiculous legislation and the "gun" of Federal funding that's held to our collective heads! "Passing Johnny" is a game that's played every year for as long as he's in the system, which is why Johnny eventually finds himself walking across a stage wearing a cap and gown, carrying a diploma that he cannot read! He has no marketable skills and few, if any, prospects for the future. It's a tragic disservice to him and one that is TOTALLY unnecessary and avoidable!
What's the outcome? Well, as I said, Johnny gets the shaft because he got left behind even if he thinks he was getting over all those years. What's WORSE in my mind, is the fact that he was in a regular ed classroom all of those years dragging down other students who DID want to learn and who had just as much a right to a "free and appropriate education" as he did! Educational, governmental, and industrial experts bemoan the fact that our students are falling behind those in other parts of the world, but THOSE SAME "EXPERTS" are the ones who are creating the situation in the first place! In India, students who are not academically gifted don't go into higher education; they go into a vocational track and learn a trade! The same is true of these other countries that are constantly cited as outstripping us academically! They realize the wisdom of Jesus; not everyone has the same gifts, but we have the command to accentuate and develop the gifts we DO have rather than try to develop those we weren't blessed with!
What needs to happen here? IDEA needs modification! Students with IEPs should be educated with their peers so they can follow along at their own pace. Part of the process for them should be aptitude testing so their abilities and proclivities can be determined and cultivated. Many of these kids just don't have the ability to do higher level work in education; they should be taught what they DO need to know for their future! Many "504" kids are very intelligent and can do "on-level" work if given enough time. No one minds helping kids like this out because they are motivated and do their very best to overcome their disability. When the tool to help becomes a crutch and is used as such, the system is broken and needs to be repaired or replaced! IDEA was initially a good concept; include those in our society who've been shunned and give them what they need to succeed. What it's become is a joke! This situation needs to be addressed and it needs to happen sooner than later, or the "everyone gets a trophy" generation is going to take over and the only trophy we're going to get is a Chinese-English dictionary!
I have a feeling that our collective self-esteem won't be that important anymore!
Tomorrow, we'll look at why "No Child Left Behind" ought to be called "EVERY Child Left Behind!"
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Society's Going to Hades in a Manual Cartage Device!
Hello again, blogfans!
I saw a piece on one of those news magazine shows the other night that curdled my blood. Apparently, the so-called "Millenial" generation doesn't like the idea of working their way up the corporate ladder into prosperity; they want to be hired at or near the top and if they don't get it they'll bring mom or dad into the CEO's office to register a complaint!
What's this world coming to?
According to the show, the whole attitude is to be blamed on the "Mister Rogers" culture that expressed the unique character of everyone and stressed that everyone is special in their own way. It also stems from the "everyone gets a trophy regardless of achievement (or lack thereof)" movement that most of my own kids went through. I would have said something, but the world was being run by soccer moms who insisted that THEIR special darlings should not only get a trophy but should play every minute of every game and THAT at shortstop!
"Ma'am, I'm sorry; your kid's going to get hurt at shortstop. He can't field his way out of a wet paper bag and his reaction time is slightly less than frozen honey. I've got a nice spot for him, though. Bring your binoculars to the game - he'll be in right field."
Somewhere between reality and "everyone gets a trophy," the millenials decided that they really WERE special and they deserved the very best regardless of whether they were properly prepared for it or were even able to do the work! Here's a sad dose of reality, Millenials. If I have to do your job AND my job, then I don't need YOU! I hope that doesn't damage your tender sensibilities, but we've got a lot of work to do if we're going to put Humpty together again and we need all hands on deck! So, put down the Blackberry, back away from the half-caff mocha latte', and get busy!
What do you mean you don't know how to read?
More tomorrow on how it is that L'il Johnny managed to get a high school diploma that he can't read and how the problem isn't getting better under "no child left behind" but is actually getting worse!
I saw a piece on one of those news magazine shows the other night that curdled my blood. Apparently, the so-called "Millenial" generation doesn't like the idea of working their way up the corporate ladder into prosperity; they want to be hired at or near the top and if they don't get it they'll bring mom or dad into the CEO's office to register a complaint!
What's this world coming to?
According to the show, the whole attitude is to be blamed on the "Mister Rogers" culture that expressed the unique character of everyone and stressed that everyone is special in their own way. It also stems from the "everyone gets a trophy regardless of achievement (or lack thereof)" movement that most of my own kids went through. I would have said something, but the world was being run by soccer moms who insisted that THEIR special darlings should not only get a trophy but should play every minute of every game and THAT at shortstop!
"Ma'am, I'm sorry; your kid's going to get hurt at shortstop. He can't field his way out of a wet paper bag and his reaction time is slightly less than frozen honey. I've got a nice spot for him, though. Bring your binoculars to the game - he'll be in right field."
Somewhere between reality and "everyone gets a trophy," the millenials decided that they really WERE special and they deserved the very best regardless of whether they were properly prepared for it or were even able to do the work! Here's a sad dose of reality, Millenials. If I have to do your job AND my job, then I don't need YOU! I hope that doesn't damage your tender sensibilities, but we've got a lot of work to do if we're going to put Humpty together again and we need all hands on deck! So, put down the Blackberry, back away from the half-caff mocha latte', and get busy!
What do you mean you don't know how to read?
More tomorrow on how it is that L'il Johnny managed to get a high school diploma that he can't read and how the problem isn't getting better under "no child left behind" but is actually getting worse!
Monday, May 26, 2008
Happy Memorial Day!
Well, it was a nice day off, but who really remembered why we got the day off?
I did.
I was named after my Uncle Danny, my mom's brother. He went off and fought in WWII in the US Navy just like every other young man of his generation and, believe it or not, he made it home alive! Not a month later, he was killed in a car wreck!
My dad joined the service as well. He was in the Army Air Corp. He wanted to fly, but guys with less than 20/20 vision were not trained to fly in those days, so he fought his war in the jungles of South America.
Why there was a US military presence in South America I'm not sure, but that's where he was stationed! He had several brothers who also served, all with distinction. If I recall, they all made it home safely.
A lot of guys like them did not.
Here's to the WWII generation; those who served in the armed forces and those who worked and sacrificed at home. Together, they defeated the greatest threat to world peace that this world has ever seen. Thank God for them!
Meanwhile, I got the weekend off so we got a lot of rest and caught up on the movie stash!
Anyone seen "27 Dresses?"
I'm sorry!
JK!!!! It was kind of cute, actually. It was "Izzy" from "Grey's Anatomy" playing a girl who was the perpetual bridesmaid and never the bride. Naturally, it detailed her life as she found her own love and invited all of those brides from her past to her own wedding.
You got to see a chick flick every now and again just so you know what the women at church are talking about!
We started "The Number 23" but didn't get very far. Too weird! We started "The Bourne Ultimatum" and then realized we'd already seen it. We watched "American Gangster" and realized that we'd seen the real life version on The History Channel series "Gangland."
We didn't get a lot of work done. MDB worked on keeping the laundry caught up and I folded a big pile while I watched all of the stuff mentioned earlier. I did some dishes and cooked a brisket yesterday. Today, we went into Galveston, fully expecting a huge crowd, and found it earily empty! We went to a couple of stores after eating lunch at "The Sunflower Cafe' " , which was a little bizzare! There was a table of 3 obviously gay men sitting next to us at lunch and three more waiting for a table as we left (must've been gay pride week in Galveston and I just missed it!). Then, in one of the stores we visited, the same three guys who'd been seated next to us at lunch were in there trying on clothing....
Is there a statute against gay stalking?
Anyway, we went from Galveston to the outlet mall in La Marque; MDB needed some "personal attire" and there's a store there that has what she needs at the right price.
I made it out without any incidents!
This evening, I cut the grass, weadeated, and blew away the chaff. It's amazing how much we do that requires the use of gasoline! Fortunately, I can make a can of gas go all summer long. At the beginning of March I went down and filled up both of my 5-gallon cans for the summer. I haven't touched one of them and now it's worth 50% more than I paid.
I think I'll sell it on E-Bay!
Nice, restful weekend! The best part was that me and MDB got to spend the whole time together and she's the awesomenest woman in the universe! Seriously, she's incredible and I'm unbelievably blessed to call her my wife!
I did.
I was named after my Uncle Danny, my mom's brother. He went off and fought in WWII in the US Navy just like every other young man of his generation and, believe it or not, he made it home alive! Not a month later, he was killed in a car wreck!
My dad joined the service as well. He was in the Army Air Corp. He wanted to fly, but guys with less than 20/20 vision were not trained to fly in those days, so he fought his war in the jungles of South America.
Why there was a US military presence in South America I'm not sure, but that's where he was stationed! He had several brothers who also served, all with distinction. If I recall, they all made it home safely.
A lot of guys like them did not.
Here's to the WWII generation; those who served in the armed forces and those who worked and sacrificed at home. Together, they defeated the greatest threat to world peace that this world has ever seen. Thank God for them!
Meanwhile, I got the weekend off so we got a lot of rest and caught up on the movie stash!
Anyone seen "27 Dresses?"
I'm sorry!
JK!!!! It was kind of cute, actually. It was "Izzy" from "Grey's Anatomy" playing a girl who was the perpetual bridesmaid and never the bride. Naturally, it detailed her life as she found her own love and invited all of those brides from her past to her own wedding.
You got to see a chick flick every now and again just so you know what the women at church are talking about!
We started "The Number 23" but didn't get very far. Too weird! We started "The Bourne Ultimatum" and then realized we'd already seen it. We watched "American Gangster" and realized that we'd seen the real life version on The History Channel series "Gangland."
We didn't get a lot of work done. MDB worked on keeping the laundry caught up and I folded a big pile while I watched all of the stuff mentioned earlier. I did some dishes and cooked a brisket yesterday. Today, we went into Galveston, fully expecting a huge crowd, and found it earily empty! We went to a couple of stores after eating lunch at "The Sunflower Cafe' " , which was a little bizzare! There was a table of 3 obviously gay men sitting next to us at lunch and three more waiting for a table as we left (must've been gay pride week in Galveston and I just missed it!). Then, in one of the stores we visited, the same three guys who'd been seated next to us at lunch were in there trying on clothing....
Is there a statute against gay stalking?
Anyway, we went from Galveston to the outlet mall in La Marque; MDB needed some "personal attire" and there's a store there that has what she needs at the right price.
I made it out without any incidents!
This evening, I cut the grass, weadeated, and blew away the chaff. It's amazing how much we do that requires the use of gasoline! Fortunately, I can make a can of gas go all summer long. At the beginning of March I went down and filled up both of my 5-gallon cans for the summer. I haven't touched one of them and now it's worth 50% more than I paid.
I think I'll sell it on E-Bay!
Nice, restful weekend! The best part was that me and MDB got to spend the whole time together and she's the awesomenest woman in the universe! Seriously, she's incredible and I'm unbelievably blessed to call her my wife!
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Conspiracy Theorists Unite!!!
Hello again, blogfans!
You know, generally speaking, I am NOT a conspiracy theorist. I think that Lee Harvey did the deed all by himself; I don't think that the Crusades were done to find Mary Magdeline, and I know that Paul McCartney never really died. Most conspiracies are concocted by bored people who need to make sense of something that doesn't make a lot of sense otherwise.
Current (and future) gas prices, however, are a modern conspiracy of astronomical proportions. Why a conspiracy, you may ask? Well, examine the evidence:
1. Al Gore has been screaming "global warming" from the rooftops for a decade or more and the only thing that's gone up more than greenhouse gas emissions is the sales of Hummer H2s.
2. Oil companies are making RECORD profits on their sales of fuel; a sure sign that prices are being unnecessarily inflated.
3. Oil company executives are steadfast in their solidarity on the topic, despite the weak attempts of Congress to protest. Meanwhile, the only action being taken is from the guy who goes out with that long suction-cup stick to raise the numbers on the sign!
What am I trying to say? The global warming crowd finally won! They realized that the only way to move people out of their gas-guzzlers was to make fuel for them out of reach financially. Here's the sad part: people who were just barely getting by with gas at $2.79 a gallon are now suffering immeasureably with it pounding on $4/gal! Of course, the fate of polar bears is much more important than the fate of a bunch of welfare mothers, so what deserved to be saved?
Here's a prediction: When everyone who doesn't REQUIRE a vehicle that gets 8 mpg (delivery vehicles, vehicles used to tow things, WORKING vehicles like towboats, dump trucks, etc.) has adjusted and gotten the hybrid that the enviro-nazis require at great personal sacrifice, a great pool of oil will be discovered and prices will drop back to less than $2/gal where they should be! As it is, the US has enough oil to make it happen NOW, if those same enviro-nazis would back off long enough to allow drilling off the coast of California or in the Alaskan National Wildlife refuge.
What's hard to believe is that so many people bought into the notion that polar bears are worth more than people.
You know, generally speaking, I am NOT a conspiracy theorist. I think that Lee Harvey did the deed all by himself; I don't think that the Crusades were done to find Mary Magdeline, and I know that Paul McCartney never really died. Most conspiracies are concocted by bored people who need to make sense of something that doesn't make a lot of sense otherwise.
Current (and future) gas prices, however, are a modern conspiracy of astronomical proportions. Why a conspiracy, you may ask? Well, examine the evidence:
1. Al Gore has been screaming "global warming" from the rooftops for a decade or more and the only thing that's gone up more than greenhouse gas emissions is the sales of Hummer H2s.
2. Oil companies are making RECORD profits on their sales of fuel; a sure sign that prices are being unnecessarily inflated.
3. Oil company executives are steadfast in their solidarity on the topic, despite the weak attempts of Congress to protest. Meanwhile, the only action being taken is from the guy who goes out with that long suction-cup stick to raise the numbers on the sign!
What am I trying to say? The global warming crowd finally won! They realized that the only way to move people out of their gas-guzzlers was to make fuel for them out of reach financially. Here's the sad part: people who were just barely getting by with gas at $2.79 a gallon are now suffering immeasureably with it pounding on $4/gal! Of course, the fate of polar bears is much more important than the fate of a bunch of welfare mothers, so what deserved to be saved?
Here's a prediction: When everyone who doesn't REQUIRE a vehicle that gets 8 mpg (delivery vehicles, vehicles used to tow things, WORKING vehicles like towboats, dump trucks, etc.) has adjusted and gotten the hybrid that the enviro-nazis require at great personal sacrifice, a great pool of oil will be discovered and prices will drop back to less than $2/gal where they should be! As it is, the US has enough oil to make it happen NOW, if those same enviro-nazis would back off long enough to allow drilling off the coast of California or in the Alaskan National Wildlife refuge.
What's hard to believe is that so many people bought into the notion that polar bears are worth more than people.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Phrasing Comments
When are people going to learn how to frame their comments so that they're actually understood?
John Hagee is an evangelical minister from San Antonio. I've heard him preach many times and, most of the time, he speaks very much in line with my own beliefs. He believes, for example, that we are living in the end times and that many of the signs of our times point to the idea that biblical prophecy in that regard is being fulfilled. Not all of it, mind you, but much of it.
One of the main points Hagee made has to do with the re-establishment of Israel as a state, one of the benchmarks I'm referring to. There is no scripture that I know of that says directly "Once Israel is re-established..." or anything like that. There IS scripture that refers to the destruction and desecration of the Temple and the cessation of sacrifical worship in the last days. The presumption being, of course, that the Jews must occupy Jerusalem and the holy land for a third Temple to be reconstructed before any desecration of that Temple could take place! Therefore, many Christians believe that the re-establishment of Israel in 1948 was a sign that would lead eventually to the fulfillment of the scriptures that describe these events. Hagee is not alone in this belief.
Where Hagee went over the top a bit was the claim that Hitler was doing God's work without offering a detailed explanation of what he was claiming. Do I think that Hitler was doing God's work? Absolutley not! Hitler was evil incarnate and everything he did was absolutely atrocious and totally reprehensible. Does God use evil for good on occasion? Can good things ever come from acts that were meant for evil? I think they can and I think they do from time to time. If the persecution and murder of Jews led to the formation of the state of Israel, which no one can deny, did that absolute evil lead to something good? We have yet to see the reconstruction of the Temple, but, if the Temple is indeed reconstructed as predicted in scripture, it is a sure sign that the end of days are upon us. Is THAT a good thing? Well, for any Christian who awaits the promised return of Jesus, it is a good thing indeed! So, though it may be somewhat convoluted and definitely circuitous, what Hagee meant by his remarks, I'm sure, was what I just explained. He could have used greater wisdom in phrasing the comments!
Is McCain wise to distance himself from Hagee? At this point, I don't know if it is. Evangelical Christians are a base that almost always vote Republican. They vote as much on the abortion issue alone as much as anything. If evangelicals see McCain as "Obama Light," then they're more apt to move with the rest of the country away from what most of us have come to consider the distasteful policies of Bush and toward the guaranteed change that will come with a Democrat in the White House. If I were McCain, I'd ask Hagee to clarify his comments, offer my own version of what I think he was trying to say, offer my own beliefs on the topic, and let it go. Let's face it; people who are not Christian are probably going to vote Democrat in any case. Why would McCain distance himself from those who probably WILL vote Republican? There's only one reason; McCain want to move toward the middle and entice the so-called "Reagan Democrats." To do that, he has to do what he can to appeal not only to evangelicals but also to those with no particular religious affiliation. Tough act!
Let's pray that he can get that job done! Otherwise, we'll get Jimmy Carter 2008 in the White House and I don't think ANYBODY is going to like that act again!
John Hagee is an evangelical minister from San Antonio. I've heard him preach many times and, most of the time, he speaks very much in line with my own beliefs. He believes, for example, that we are living in the end times and that many of the signs of our times point to the idea that biblical prophecy in that regard is being fulfilled. Not all of it, mind you, but much of it.
One of the main points Hagee made has to do with the re-establishment of Israel as a state, one of the benchmarks I'm referring to. There is no scripture that I know of that says directly "Once Israel is re-established..." or anything like that. There IS scripture that refers to the destruction and desecration of the Temple and the cessation of sacrifical worship in the last days. The presumption being, of course, that the Jews must occupy Jerusalem and the holy land for a third Temple to be reconstructed before any desecration of that Temple could take place! Therefore, many Christians believe that the re-establishment of Israel in 1948 was a sign that would lead eventually to the fulfillment of the scriptures that describe these events. Hagee is not alone in this belief.
Where Hagee went over the top a bit was the claim that Hitler was doing God's work without offering a detailed explanation of what he was claiming. Do I think that Hitler was doing God's work? Absolutley not! Hitler was evil incarnate and everything he did was absolutely atrocious and totally reprehensible. Does God use evil for good on occasion? Can good things ever come from acts that were meant for evil? I think they can and I think they do from time to time. If the persecution and murder of Jews led to the formation of the state of Israel, which no one can deny, did that absolute evil lead to something good? We have yet to see the reconstruction of the Temple, but, if the Temple is indeed reconstructed as predicted in scripture, it is a sure sign that the end of days are upon us. Is THAT a good thing? Well, for any Christian who awaits the promised return of Jesus, it is a good thing indeed! So, though it may be somewhat convoluted and definitely circuitous, what Hagee meant by his remarks, I'm sure, was what I just explained. He could have used greater wisdom in phrasing the comments!
Is McCain wise to distance himself from Hagee? At this point, I don't know if it is. Evangelical Christians are a base that almost always vote Republican. They vote as much on the abortion issue alone as much as anything. If evangelicals see McCain as "Obama Light," then they're more apt to move with the rest of the country away from what most of us have come to consider the distasteful policies of Bush and toward the guaranteed change that will come with a Democrat in the White House. If I were McCain, I'd ask Hagee to clarify his comments, offer my own version of what I think he was trying to say, offer my own beliefs on the topic, and let it go. Let's face it; people who are not Christian are probably going to vote Democrat in any case. Why would McCain distance himself from those who probably WILL vote Republican? There's only one reason; McCain want to move toward the middle and entice the so-called "Reagan Democrats." To do that, he has to do what he can to appeal not only to evangelicals but also to those with no particular religious affiliation. Tough act!
Let's pray that he can get that job done! Otherwise, we'll get Jimmy Carter 2008 in the White House and I don't think ANYBODY is going to like that act again!
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Shocking!
I just read an interesting article. Apparently, a man was killed Wednesday night at Atlanta's Turner Field when he fell 150 feet down a stair well.
Uh....skulls don't do too well versus concrete and steel apparently.
According to the article, the man was sliding down the hand rail when he lost his balance and took the plunge to his demise.
Also according to the article, alcohol "may have been involved."
You THINK?
The article also says that the coroner is going to do an autopsy to determine the cause of death. Does the coroner in Atlanta not have anything better to do? I could solve that case right quick! "Blunt force trauma to the cerebellum caused damage to the portion of the brain that operates the diaphragm and he stopped moving air in and out. Over and out!" Or, if that's too much technical lingo, you could simple list the cause of death as "stupidity." Of course, that's assuming that the article I read was correct and that alcohol was involved. People who can't handle drinking without doing stupid stuff ought to choose not to drink!
A couple of weeks ago, MDB and I went to see the Astros play the Brewers (how appropriate!) at Minute Made Park. One section over and a couple of rows down, a guy who obviously identified with the Brewers was sitting. Well, I SAY he was sitting. For most of the game he stood and shouted for his team (which is okay given the circumstance), when he wasn't absent on a "beer run." We lost count of the number of frothy concoctions he consumed, but right before the cut-off time, he returned to his seat with a beer in each hand (he must have been related to Rockefeller judging from the beer prices at Minute Made!), both of which he dispatched with all due haste. In the meantime, he swung a little kid all around, stumbling several times in the process. On more than one occasion, several of us jumped up to rescue the tot in the event that he went flying, but we were pulled back from the precipice each time. Scary! We left a little early, not so much because the game wasn't interesting; we were afraid we'd be driving near "Brewer fan" and get killed!
Apparently, this is not the first time something like the Atlanta fatality has happened. (Duh?) According to the article, a man at New York's Shea stadium fell from an escalator to his death earlier this year. He was apparently riding the handrail when he lost his balance.
Wonder if alcohol had any involvement in that one?
Yes, I think the coroner should save the taxpayers of Fulton County a little money and simply list "stupidity" as the COD.
I guess Darwin was right all along. "Natural Selection" determines which of the species will pass along their genes - these should certainly be considered for the Darwin Award if they're not already finalists! - Dan
Uh....skulls don't do too well versus concrete and steel apparently.
According to the article, the man was sliding down the hand rail when he lost his balance and took the plunge to his demise.
Also according to the article, alcohol "may have been involved."
You THINK?
The article also says that the coroner is going to do an autopsy to determine the cause of death. Does the coroner in Atlanta not have anything better to do? I could solve that case right quick! "Blunt force trauma to the cerebellum caused damage to the portion of the brain that operates the diaphragm and he stopped moving air in and out. Over and out!" Or, if that's too much technical lingo, you could simple list the cause of death as "stupidity." Of course, that's assuming that the article I read was correct and that alcohol was involved. People who can't handle drinking without doing stupid stuff ought to choose not to drink!
A couple of weeks ago, MDB and I went to see the Astros play the Brewers (how appropriate!) at Minute Made Park. One section over and a couple of rows down, a guy who obviously identified with the Brewers was sitting. Well, I SAY he was sitting. For most of the game he stood and shouted for his team (which is okay given the circumstance), when he wasn't absent on a "beer run." We lost count of the number of frothy concoctions he consumed, but right before the cut-off time, he returned to his seat with a beer in each hand (he must have been related to Rockefeller judging from the beer prices at Minute Made!), both of which he dispatched with all due haste. In the meantime, he swung a little kid all around, stumbling several times in the process. On more than one occasion, several of us jumped up to rescue the tot in the event that he went flying, but we were pulled back from the precipice each time. Scary! We left a little early, not so much because the game wasn't interesting; we were afraid we'd be driving near "Brewer fan" and get killed!
Apparently, this is not the first time something like the Atlanta fatality has happened. (Duh?) According to the article, a man at New York's Shea stadium fell from an escalator to his death earlier this year. He was apparently riding the handrail when he lost his balance.
Wonder if alcohol had any involvement in that one?
Yes, I think the coroner should save the taxpayers of Fulton County a little money and simply list "stupidity" as the COD.
I guess Darwin was right all along. "Natural Selection" determines which of the species will pass along their genes - these should certainly be considered for the Darwin Award if they're not already finalists! - Dan
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Anniversary
I was married to MDB on June 7, 2007, which means that I am rapidly approaching my anniversary.
What a year it's been!
I used to watch "chick flicks" on occasion. As usual in a chick flick, the hero and the heroine wind up desparately in love at the end and end up getting married and living happily ever after. While I watched these (I don't think I ever watched one on purpose, but I have seen them NOT on purpose as much as anyone, I suspect), I would often think to myself, "Does that really happen? Do people who are the 'loves of their lives' really meet, fall in love, and get married?"
Who'd have ever thought I'd be living a "chick flick?"
MDB is absolutely the sweetest woman in the universe! She sees no fault in me and loves me unconditionally! She actually thinks I'm attractive! She constantly thinks of what she can do to make me happy and to make my life easier! She always thinks of me first and never criticizes me or finds fault in me about anything! In short, she treats me like she really loves me! In turn, I think she's the kindest, most compassionate and caring, most beautiful woman on earth. I want nothing more than to make her happy! I live to please her and to make her life as easy as I can. I WANT to do things for her and with her. She works so hard and so consistently, it's not a struggle to join in and help! MDB is perfect and, even better, she think's I'M perfect! We were made for each other and God finally saw to it that we are together! I've never been happier in my life!
Is God awesome, or what?
I'd like to be able to express how I feel about MDB, but there are not words to express it.
I've tried a few times, but it isn't sufficient!
I only wish that every person on earth could be as blessed as I've been!
The world would be a much happier place! - Dan
What a year it's been!
I used to watch "chick flicks" on occasion. As usual in a chick flick, the hero and the heroine wind up desparately in love at the end and end up getting married and living happily ever after. While I watched these (I don't think I ever watched one on purpose, but I have seen them NOT on purpose as much as anyone, I suspect), I would often think to myself, "Does that really happen? Do people who are the 'loves of their lives' really meet, fall in love, and get married?"
Who'd have ever thought I'd be living a "chick flick?"
MDB is absolutely the sweetest woman in the universe! She sees no fault in me and loves me unconditionally! She actually thinks I'm attractive! She constantly thinks of what she can do to make me happy and to make my life easier! She always thinks of me first and never criticizes me or finds fault in me about anything! In short, she treats me like she really loves me! In turn, I think she's the kindest, most compassionate and caring, most beautiful woman on earth. I want nothing more than to make her happy! I live to please her and to make her life as easy as I can. I WANT to do things for her and with her. She works so hard and so consistently, it's not a struggle to join in and help! MDB is perfect and, even better, she think's I'M perfect! We were made for each other and God finally saw to it that we are together! I've never been happier in my life!
Is God awesome, or what?
I'd like to be able to express how I feel about MDB, but there are not words to express it.
I've tried a few times, but it isn't sufficient!
I only wish that every person on earth could be as blessed as I've been!
The world would be a much happier place! - Dan
Sunday, May 18, 2008
not much going on...
except for:
1. fishing trip on Saturday morning: took my oldest son and four of his best friends out on the boat (along with MDB of course! I feel naked without her and she's my best friend EVER). MDB caught the most keeper fish, and what we caught was a mixed bag for sure! 3 keeper speckled trout, 6 or 7 sand trout, 3 whiting, 1 golden croaker, and 1 vermillion snapper. We had dinner plans to celebrate RDA's graduation at 6:00, so it was nearly time to get showered and dressed when I finally finished cleaning fish and cleaning everything else! Wooh!
2. When we got back to mom's after dinner, we spent several hours just talking with mom. Mom lives alone and gets little contact with anyone in her family, so I like to spend as much time with her as I can. She's 78 and won't be around for much longer, so I want to cherish my time with her as much as I can. I'm so blessed that MDB understands and allows me to spend so much time with her without saying anything or making me feel like I'm ignoring her by spending time with mom! MDB is such a blessing!!!
3. Sunday morning is time for church! We go to sunday school first and then church afterward. Sunday school starts at 9:30 and church wraps up at around 12:00! After church today, we had plans to meet mom for lunch with my sister. Mom invited us to go along for a couple of reasons. First, she wanted my sister to be able to meet MDB! (so thoughtful and sweet!) Second, since mom and my sister have been somewhat "estranged" for several years, she wanted us along to sort of "buffer" them in case things didn't go well. Well, everyone was in very good spirits and the lunch went great! At dinner the previous evening, mom had said something about the news about Ted Kennedy, who, unbeknownst to me, had experienced two or more strokes and was in poor health. Not being a big TK fan, I made a remark about it. Anyway, before my sister showed up, I told mom that she'd better not mention TK just in case the mention of politics would add fuel to the fire. Well, apparently my sister is not a big TK fan, either, because when I repeated the comment, I thought she was going to fall out of her chair! Here's how the original conversation went:
Mom - Did you hear that Ted Kennedy is in the hospital?
Me - No....what happened? Did he drive off of a bridge?
Mom - What!? That wasn't very nice! He had a couple of strokes!
Me - Strokes, huh? How could anyone tell the difference?
Mom - That's terrible! The man had strokes! He's been through a lot! He may be in a coma!
Me - That's nothing new, either! From what I've heard, he pretty much does the coma thing every night!
Well, my sister corrected me on that one. She said that he goes into a "stupor" on a nightly basis. I said that I thought "stupor" was his normal daily condition and that "coma" was what he did after consuming as much alcohol as a human can do without reaching fatal toxicity! Oh well...enough Kennedy humor. I hope he gets well, soon. The People's Republic of Massachussetts deserve his representation as much as any state I can think of!
4. Back from lunch, time for chores! We had to get some "picking up" done and get "mount wash-day" folded and put away before our small-groups meeting this afternoon.
5. Small groups! Our "small groups" group is really good! We have some good discussions and our group dynamic is friendly and informative!
6. More chores when we got home! I had to get some mowing done, so I did that and then checked on the dog (who was barking incessantly for some reason). The dog has been digging holes all around his kennel, so his latest effort caused his food bowl to drop around 18" and fall over. He wasn't happy about the results of his actions, so I had to fill all of that in again and refill his bowl! After the dirt work, I picked the garden and turned on the water.
7. Now I'm blogging. It's 10:25 and I still have to make my lunch for tomorrow and get ready for bed.
Now you can stop asking what I do in my spare time! Here's the common denominator: MDB is the most wonderful woman EVER!!! She fully understands me and supports me! She loves me unconditionally and makes me feel like a king! If I make her feel half as happy as she makes me, she feels AWESOME!!!
May God bless you if you're reading this and may you find as much happiness as God has given me! - Dan
1. fishing trip on Saturday morning: took my oldest son and four of his best friends out on the boat (along with MDB of course! I feel naked without her and she's my best friend EVER). MDB caught the most keeper fish, and what we caught was a mixed bag for sure! 3 keeper speckled trout, 6 or 7 sand trout, 3 whiting, 1 golden croaker, and 1 vermillion snapper. We had dinner plans to celebrate RDA's graduation at 6:00, so it was nearly time to get showered and dressed when I finally finished cleaning fish and cleaning everything else! Wooh!
2. When we got back to mom's after dinner, we spent several hours just talking with mom. Mom lives alone and gets little contact with anyone in her family, so I like to spend as much time with her as I can. She's 78 and won't be around for much longer, so I want to cherish my time with her as much as I can. I'm so blessed that MDB understands and allows me to spend so much time with her without saying anything or making me feel like I'm ignoring her by spending time with mom! MDB is such a blessing!!!
3. Sunday morning is time for church! We go to sunday school first and then church afterward. Sunday school starts at 9:30 and church wraps up at around 12:00! After church today, we had plans to meet mom for lunch with my sister. Mom invited us to go along for a couple of reasons. First, she wanted my sister to be able to meet MDB! (so thoughtful and sweet!) Second, since mom and my sister have been somewhat "estranged" for several years, she wanted us along to sort of "buffer" them in case things didn't go well. Well, everyone was in very good spirits and the lunch went great! At dinner the previous evening, mom had said something about the news about Ted Kennedy, who, unbeknownst to me, had experienced two or more strokes and was in poor health. Not being a big TK fan, I made a remark about it. Anyway, before my sister showed up, I told mom that she'd better not mention TK just in case the mention of politics would add fuel to the fire. Well, apparently my sister is not a big TK fan, either, because when I repeated the comment, I thought she was going to fall out of her chair! Here's how the original conversation went:
Mom - Did you hear that Ted Kennedy is in the hospital?
Me - No....what happened? Did he drive off of a bridge?
Mom - What!? That wasn't very nice! He had a couple of strokes!
Me - Strokes, huh? How could anyone tell the difference?
Mom - That's terrible! The man had strokes! He's been through a lot! He may be in a coma!
Me - That's nothing new, either! From what I've heard, he pretty much does the coma thing every night!
Well, my sister corrected me on that one. She said that he goes into a "stupor" on a nightly basis. I said that I thought "stupor" was his normal daily condition and that "coma" was what he did after consuming as much alcohol as a human can do without reaching fatal toxicity! Oh well...enough Kennedy humor. I hope he gets well, soon. The People's Republic of Massachussetts deserve his representation as much as any state I can think of!
4. Back from lunch, time for chores! We had to get some "picking up" done and get "mount wash-day" folded and put away before our small-groups meeting this afternoon.
5. Small groups! Our "small groups" group is really good! We have some good discussions and our group dynamic is friendly and informative!
6. More chores when we got home! I had to get some mowing done, so I did that and then checked on the dog (who was barking incessantly for some reason). The dog has been digging holes all around his kennel, so his latest effort caused his food bowl to drop around 18" and fall over. He wasn't happy about the results of his actions, so I had to fill all of that in again and refill his bowl! After the dirt work, I picked the garden and turned on the water.
7. Now I'm blogging. It's 10:25 and I still have to make my lunch for tomorrow and get ready for bed.
Now you can stop asking what I do in my spare time! Here's the common denominator: MDB is the most wonderful woman EVER!!! She fully understands me and supports me! She loves me unconditionally and makes me feel like a king! If I make her feel half as happy as she makes me, she feels AWESOME!!!
May God bless you if you're reading this and may you find as much happiness as God has given me! - Dan
Friday, May 16, 2008
Interesting...
The other basketball coach and I pretty much see eye to eye on most everything. Today, we decided that society is going to hades in a manual cartage device because we have lowered the standards on pretty much everything in the name of "inclusion." You see, self-esteem and a sense of self-worth is much more valuable than the finished product, even if the recipient isn't at all marketble at the end of the journey!
One of the prisons not too far from here is being investigated because guards there were allegedly involved in the marketing of contraband to inmates for profit. Hmmmm....underpaid prison guards doing what they have to do to get by? What a shock! Well, there was a time when the Texas prison system wasn't overcrowded and it paid for itself lock, stock, and barrel! Guards were well-paid, too! Of course, that was before the Federal court system got involved and declared incarceration in a Texas prison unconstitutional because it was "cruel and unusual." Of course, "C&U" was forcing the inmates to grow all of their own food, maintain their own housing, make their own clothes, and produce most if not all of the state-used "public" goods (road signs, etc). The prison system sustained itself and the labor wasn't something to be looked forward to, so people didn't want to be in there! There! Two birds with one stone! No overcrowding and NO public expense to operate the prisons! What a concept!
That was then....this is now!
Now, Texas prisons are a huge drain on the state economy. Guards are paid much less than they deserve and taxpayers are supporting criminals instead of the other way around. Thanks, Feds!
I have an idea. Why not let Texas decide what's cruel and unusual in Texas! We'll let Massachussets do the same (of course, if they're to decide, there wouldn't be any prisons in Massachussets; we might hurt the criminal's feelings if we put them in jail!). Since prison isn't supposed to be a place that you want to be, I say let's go back to the "self-support" model and let the Federal Judiciary kiss our collective license plates!
Meanwhile, those kids with no marketable skills at graduation are going to do what THEY have to do to get by. They're going to sell drugs, or steal, or both. Maybe we should do something about the system of education BEFORE we do something about the prison system. Soon, they'll be one and the same!
One of the prisons not too far from here is being investigated because guards there were allegedly involved in the marketing of contraband to inmates for profit. Hmmmm....underpaid prison guards doing what they have to do to get by? What a shock! Well, there was a time when the Texas prison system wasn't overcrowded and it paid for itself lock, stock, and barrel! Guards were well-paid, too! Of course, that was before the Federal court system got involved and declared incarceration in a Texas prison unconstitutional because it was "cruel and unusual." Of course, "C&U" was forcing the inmates to grow all of their own food, maintain their own housing, make their own clothes, and produce most if not all of the state-used "public" goods (road signs, etc). The prison system sustained itself and the labor wasn't something to be looked forward to, so people didn't want to be in there! There! Two birds with one stone! No overcrowding and NO public expense to operate the prisons! What a concept!
That was then....this is now!
Now, Texas prisons are a huge drain on the state economy. Guards are paid much less than they deserve and taxpayers are supporting criminals instead of the other way around. Thanks, Feds!
I have an idea. Why not let Texas decide what's cruel and unusual in Texas! We'll let Massachussets do the same (of course, if they're to decide, there wouldn't be any prisons in Massachussets; we might hurt the criminal's feelings if we put them in jail!). Since prison isn't supposed to be a place that you want to be, I say let's go back to the "self-support" model and let the Federal Judiciary kiss our collective license plates!
Meanwhile, those kids with no marketable skills at graduation are going to do what THEY have to do to get by. They're going to sell drugs, or steal, or both. Maybe we should do something about the system of education BEFORE we do something about the prison system. Soon, they'll be one and the same!
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Maslow's Hierarchy
For those who do not know, in 1943 a psychologist named Abraham Maslow published a paper called "A Theory of Human Motivation," in which he attempts to explain why people do what they do (see diagram above). According to his theory, people do whatever they have to do to settle basic physical needs first; food, clothing, and shelter. Second only to physical needs are those associated with security; a stable family and society that protects us from violence and interruption of physical needs. After security and physical needs are met, people tend to seek love and acceptance as their third most important need.
Think about that; love and acceptance comes only after food, shelter, and security! In this day and time when broken homes are the norm rather than the exception; when kids are left unattended for long periods and are raised by day cares centers, and when parents, in many cases, need to grow up as much if not more than their kids, is it any wonder that gangs and gang memberships are exploding?!
I see it first-hand every day. Even in an internediate school, gangs are moving in at an alarming rate. Why is this? When you investigate, you find that these are almost always cases of single-parent households where mom works long hours and has little or no time for Junior; that the environment that Junior is exposed to is less than ideal, and that Junior has had exposure to gangs at one level or another. These "recruiters" make the experience seem empowering and fulfilling. They make it seem as though the members are a big happy family AND that money will never again be a problem.
Gangs lie a lot!
Well, one gang that I've heard a little about, MS-13, tells the truth about their "dotted triangle" tatoo. The dots in the triangle stand for Death, Prison, or the hospital. Now THERE'S something to look forward to, isn't it?
So, why would anyone get into an organization that promises eventual death, destruction, or ruin?
Maslow's hierarchy is powerful! The need for acceptance is second only to physical necessities and security; it's a powerful incentive to kids who otherwise feel isolated, alone, and abandoned.
So, how do we bring these kids back from the edge? I'd like to say it's easy, but it's really not. If 2-parent nuclear families were coming back, they'd have come back a long time ago. Research has shown that kids do much better in such environments, so no one would do the 1-parent thing if they had a choice, I'm sure of it. Also, sad as it is, single-parent homes where there was NEVER a father are usually less-educated and therefore have less earning power than their college-educated, single counterparts from a divorce situation. That means mom works longer and sees Junior less. Parent surrogates such as teachers, "big brothers," coaches, and others, can fill the void somewhat, but only when everyone involved admits there is a problem and does what is necessary to head the gang off at the pass.
Kids will seek acceptance and love, regardless of where it comes from.
I pray that this scourge will end soon and that more people will rise up and say "No more! We WILL get involved! We will NOT allow thugs and criminals to take our kids away from us!"
I'm afraid that they'll wind up on one of those three dots if it doesn't happen soon.
Think about that; love and acceptance comes only after food, shelter, and security! In this day and time when broken homes are the norm rather than the exception; when kids are left unattended for long periods and are raised by day cares centers, and when parents, in many cases, need to grow up as much if not more than their kids, is it any wonder that gangs and gang memberships are exploding?!
I see it first-hand every day. Even in an internediate school, gangs are moving in at an alarming rate. Why is this? When you investigate, you find that these are almost always cases of single-parent households where mom works long hours and has little or no time for Junior; that the environment that Junior is exposed to is less than ideal, and that Junior has had exposure to gangs at one level or another. These "recruiters" make the experience seem empowering and fulfilling. They make it seem as though the members are a big happy family AND that money will never again be a problem.
Gangs lie a lot!
Well, one gang that I've heard a little about, MS-13, tells the truth about their "dotted triangle" tatoo. The dots in the triangle stand for Death, Prison, or the hospital. Now THERE'S something to look forward to, isn't it?
So, why would anyone get into an organization that promises eventual death, destruction, or ruin?
Maslow's hierarchy is powerful! The need for acceptance is second only to physical necessities and security; it's a powerful incentive to kids who otherwise feel isolated, alone, and abandoned.
So, how do we bring these kids back from the edge? I'd like to say it's easy, but it's really not. If 2-parent nuclear families were coming back, they'd have come back a long time ago. Research has shown that kids do much better in such environments, so no one would do the 1-parent thing if they had a choice, I'm sure of it. Also, sad as it is, single-parent homes where there was NEVER a father are usually less-educated and therefore have less earning power than their college-educated, single counterparts from a divorce situation. That means mom works longer and sees Junior less. Parent surrogates such as teachers, "big brothers," coaches, and others, can fill the void somewhat, but only when everyone involved admits there is a problem and does what is necessary to head the gang off at the pass.
Kids will seek acceptance and love, regardless of where it comes from.
I pray that this scourge will end soon and that more people will rise up and say "No more! We WILL get involved! We will NOT allow thugs and criminals to take our kids away from us!"
I'm afraid that they'll wind up on one of those three dots if it doesn't happen soon.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Born again
In my last post, I described Jimmy Carter as perhaps the worst President this country has ever had. He may have been a bad President, but he was a terrific human being! Seriously, you've got to love Jimmy Carter as a man. He was one of the first that I can recall in the public discourse to use the term "born-again" to describe himself and it got a lot of discussion going regarding the topic.
Let's review what Jesus said:
John 3: 1Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."
3In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."
4"How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"
5Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' 8The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."
So, according to Jesus, no one can enter God's Kingdom without a rebirth of the spirit by acceptance of God's Holy Spirit within. According to the Word, when we ask forgiveness and accept God's Holy Spirit, He remembers our sin no more (Isaiah 43:25). The slate is wiped clean! So why is it that the devil tries so hard to remind us of our former shortcomings? Frankly, he plays on our own human memory and our inability to consider ourselves worthy of such a gift. He throws in our face those things that went before and hopes to bring us down with them. In such times, I just thank God for His Grace and the great gift He gave us in his Son Jesus! If God is for us, who can be against us?
So, try all you like to remind me of the past, satan. God has forgiven me and you have nothing to hold against me! Praise God forever!
Let's review what Jesus said:
John 3: 1Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."
3In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."
4"How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"
5Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' 8The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."
So, according to Jesus, no one can enter God's Kingdom without a rebirth of the spirit by acceptance of God's Holy Spirit within. According to the Word, when we ask forgiveness and accept God's Holy Spirit, He remembers our sin no more (Isaiah 43:25). The slate is wiped clean! So why is it that the devil tries so hard to remind us of our former shortcomings? Frankly, he plays on our own human memory and our inability to consider ourselves worthy of such a gift. He throws in our face those things that went before and hopes to bring us down with them. In such times, I just thank God for His Grace and the great gift He gave us in his Son Jesus! If God is for us, who can be against us?
So, try all you like to remind me of the past, satan. God has forgiven me and you have nothing to hold against me! Praise God forever!
Watching the Democrats with trepidation
As I've said before, I'm at a place in my life where I don't have a whole lot of faith in politicians in general, regardless of party affiliation.
Democrats want to steal my money using the IRS as their hammer and give it to people who haven't done anything to earn it. They do this for two reasons: they want a large percentage of the voting public to owe them a favor and; they want their constituents to become dependent on them so their very livelihood depends on keeping Democrats in office.
Republicans really do want smaller government, but they want it at the expense of benefiting giant corporations that will then steal my money in the form of confiscatory prices that far exceed what any normal human would consider a "fair" profit.
I'm well past ready for a "happy medium" between the two.
Let's look at it like this. If I sold water, or milk, or ice, or any other very necessary commodity in the aftermath of a hurricane at obscene rates and made a ridiculous profit in the process, I'd be hauled off the jail and quite probably killed by very angry residents there. There are laws against such behavior! Why is it that, in a time of economic downturn when thousands of people are losing their homes and we are experiencing a recession, are the actions of big oil seen any differently? Frankly, they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law! We have no option available to us other than to continue buying their product at whatever obscene profit they demand; maybe it's time for some compassion on those who've been financing those profits and calling off the dogs a bit!
So, who's going to win in November? I'm convinced it will be a Democrat, regardless of who that party chooses as a candidate. Sad to say, the Democrats have done their usual horrible job of choosing a candidate! Where's JFK when you need him? Where's Jimmy Freakin' Carter when you go to look? Ever since McGovern in '68, the Dems have chosen one loser after another! Fortunately for us, the American public had a choice in those elections; in this one, there really IS no choice! We're going to get more of the same with McCain or we can choose to become a Socialist nation under Obama.
Here's a little history lesson. In 1976, after one of the worst political scandals in the nation's history (Watergate), a disgusted electorate turned to the party of the opposition and voted Jimmy Carter, perhaps the worst President in this nation's hsitory, into office. I'm afraid that our disgust with GW Bush is going to lead us to another Carter; seriously! Unfortunately, we're not in the same position militarily or finacially that we were in at that point in time. Our manufacturing base is eroded, our "all volunteer" military is dangerously short-handed, and our economy overall is weaker than its been in a very long time.
I think I'll stay home this November!
As I've said before, I guess I'll hold my nose and vote for McCain, but I'm not happy about it! The Republicans have gotten more like Democrats as the years go by -
They can't choose a decent candidate, either!
I'm waiting for politics to go back to the way it used to (and ought to) be; candidates said what they believe because THEY REALLY DO BELIEVE IT!!! We choose a candidate based on those beliefs and vote for the one who most closely mirrors our own views.
That's how Reagan got so many Democrats to vote for him!
Where's RR when you need him? - Dan
Democrats want to steal my money using the IRS as their hammer and give it to people who haven't done anything to earn it. They do this for two reasons: they want a large percentage of the voting public to owe them a favor and; they want their constituents to become dependent on them so their very livelihood depends on keeping Democrats in office.
Republicans really do want smaller government, but they want it at the expense of benefiting giant corporations that will then steal my money in the form of confiscatory prices that far exceed what any normal human would consider a "fair" profit.
I'm well past ready for a "happy medium" between the two.
Let's look at it like this. If I sold water, or milk, or ice, or any other very necessary commodity in the aftermath of a hurricane at obscene rates and made a ridiculous profit in the process, I'd be hauled off the jail and quite probably killed by very angry residents there. There are laws against such behavior! Why is it that, in a time of economic downturn when thousands of people are losing their homes and we are experiencing a recession, are the actions of big oil seen any differently? Frankly, they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law! We have no option available to us other than to continue buying their product at whatever obscene profit they demand; maybe it's time for some compassion on those who've been financing those profits and calling off the dogs a bit!
So, who's going to win in November? I'm convinced it will be a Democrat, regardless of who that party chooses as a candidate. Sad to say, the Democrats have done their usual horrible job of choosing a candidate! Where's JFK when you need him? Where's Jimmy Freakin' Carter when you go to look? Ever since McGovern in '68, the Dems have chosen one loser after another! Fortunately for us, the American public had a choice in those elections; in this one, there really IS no choice! We're going to get more of the same with McCain or we can choose to become a Socialist nation under Obama.
Here's a little history lesson. In 1976, after one of the worst political scandals in the nation's history (Watergate), a disgusted electorate turned to the party of the opposition and voted Jimmy Carter, perhaps the worst President in this nation's hsitory, into office. I'm afraid that our disgust with GW Bush is going to lead us to another Carter; seriously! Unfortunately, we're not in the same position militarily or finacially that we were in at that point in time. Our manufacturing base is eroded, our "all volunteer" military is dangerously short-handed, and our economy overall is weaker than its been in a very long time.
I think I'll stay home this November!
As I've said before, I guess I'll hold my nose and vote for McCain, but I'm not happy about it! The Republicans have gotten more like Democrats as the years go by -
They can't choose a decent candidate, either!
I'm waiting for politics to go back to the way it used to (and ought to) be; candidates said what they believe because THEY REALLY DO BELIEVE IT!!! We choose a candidate based on those beliefs and vote for the one who most closely mirrors our own views.
That's how Reagan got so many Democrats to vote for him!
Where's RR when you need him? - Dan
Monday, May 12, 2008
Pretty incredible weekend!
Well....where to start?
Friday, I took the day off so I could take care of business and we could leave town in a timely fashion for RDA's graduation from TAMU. Uhhh....best laid plans.....
I had a doctor's appointment set up for 8:30. My GP wanted me to get an echocardiogram because of my family history. They actually brought me in at 9:45, finished the test by 10:45 and had me on my way at 11:00. The good news is that the doctor couldn't understand why I'd wasted the time. He said I have a really good heart and that there are no abnormalitites whatsoever. Woooohhhhh! What a relief! (JK!) I could've told him that before they even broke out the KY!
Anyway, I had to get over to "my" house and get it ready to show. The buyer I had set up wasn't able to get financing that was acceptable to her, so it's back on the market. My agent said that he's had a lady who's been bugging the begebers out of him the whole time it was under contract and he had her set up to view it on Saturday morning, so I had to make sure the place was clean and the yard was cut, etc. I finished with that A/O about 1:00 pm. We were supposed to meet mom for lunch at about that time and I still had to make the 40-minute drive home, get showered and dressed, and drive to mom's to get her. We got to her house at around 2:15 or so, I'd guess. THEN we went to lunch after a detour to the post office. Long story short - we were finished with lunch and on the road to College Station at about 4:00 pm; the VERY WORST time of day to head out 290 from Houston! We wanted to get there at about 6:00 or 6:15 so that we'd get a good seat and would be able to park in the handicapped parking (mom has a real hard time getting around - the diabetes affects the nerves in her legs ["neuropathy" I think they call it], so she's got a hancicapped sticker for her car), but we didn't get there until right at 7:00 and the ceremony was just getting under way. Anyway, I dropped mom and MDB at the curb and parked in regular parking about three zip codes away and then went and found them. They had seats all lined up when I got there, so at least that part of the deal was done! Anyway, the ceremony went pretty quickly and RDA is now a college graduate with a degree in electrical engineering! Woo-hoo!
We got into bed at 2:00 on Saturday morning. I slept in because MDB is awesome and lets me sleep under such circumstances. SHE, on the other hand, got up at 7:00 and started to work on the mother's day dinner we'd planned for our mom's on Saturday. When I got up, I helped as much as I could, but she'd already done most of what needed to be done. I mowed the front and made a trip to the store for her, but that was about it. The dinner went splendidly! All the moms were pleased with the meal and the gift MDB had fixed up for them and a fine time was had by all! Suffering from sleep deprivation, MDB crashed at 9:00!
Yesterday was a "stay in" day. MDB woke up with a terrible headache, so we didn't even go to church. I picked another huge bowlful of yellow squash along with some additional green beans and another zuchini, so MDB did a freezer prep on them and put them away in those vacuum-seal bags for another time. I had picked about a handful of peas before this and I picked about that many more yesterday, so I had fresh peas as well. UNBELIEVABLE!!! Those were the best peas I've ever had! Having fresh produce right from your own garden is THE BOMB!!! It's awesome! All I did yesterday was mow and weed-eat the back yard and change the oil in MDB's truck. The rest of the day was a basketball marathon! The Jazz/Lakers game was pretty good - it went into overtime and now that series is tied at 2 apiece. Frankly, I think the Jazz have the upper hand now. Kobe's getting beat up pretty good and LA just doesn't have the other pieces necessary if Kobe goes down. I guess we'll see how it plays out, but I'd put my money on Utah if I was a betting man.
That's enough for now. MDB is awesome; the sky is blue; water is wet! Those are the incontrovertible facts for the day! - Dan
Friday, I took the day off so I could take care of business and we could leave town in a timely fashion for RDA's graduation from TAMU. Uhhh....best laid plans.....
I had a doctor's appointment set up for 8:30. My GP wanted me to get an echocardiogram because of my family history. They actually brought me in at 9:45, finished the test by 10:45 and had me on my way at 11:00. The good news is that the doctor couldn't understand why I'd wasted the time. He said I have a really good heart and that there are no abnormalitites whatsoever. Woooohhhhh! What a relief! (JK!) I could've told him that before they even broke out the KY!
Anyway, I had to get over to "my" house and get it ready to show. The buyer I had set up wasn't able to get financing that was acceptable to her, so it's back on the market. My agent said that he's had a lady who's been bugging the begebers out of him the whole time it was under contract and he had her set up to view it on Saturday morning, so I had to make sure the place was clean and the yard was cut, etc. I finished with that A/O about 1:00 pm. We were supposed to meet mom for lunch at about that time and I still had to make the 40-minute drive home, get showered and dressed, and drive to mom's to get her. We got to her house at around 2:15 or so, I'd guess. THEN we went to lunch after a detour to the post office. Long story short - we were finished with lunch and on the road to College Station at about 4:00 pm; the VERY WORST time of day to head out 290 from Houston! We wanted to get there at about 6:00 or 6:15 so that we'd get a good seat and would be able to park in the handicapped parking (mom has a real hard time getting around - the diabetes affects the nerves in her legs ["neuropathy" I think they call it], so she's got a hancicapped sticker for her car), but we didn't get there until right at 7:00 and the ceremony was just getting under way. Anyway, I dropped mom and MDB at the curb and parked in regular parking about three zip codes away and then went and found them. They had seats all lined up when I got there, so at least that part of the deal was done! Anyway, the ceremony went pretty quickly and RDA is now a college graduate with a degree in electrical engineering! Woo-hoo!
We got into bed at 2:00 on Saturday morning. I slept in because MDB is awesome and lets me sleep under such circumstances. SHE, on the other hand, got up at 7:00 and started to work on the mother's day dinner we'd planned for our mom's on Saturday. When I got up, I helped as much as I could, but she'd already done most of what needed to be done. I mowed the front and made a trip to the store for her, but that was about it. The dinner went splendidly! All the moms were pleased with the meal and the gift MDB had fixed up for them and a fine time was had by all! Suffering from sleep deprivation, MDB crashed at 9:00!
Yesterday was a "stay in" day. MDB woke up with a terrible headache, so we didn't even go to church. I picked another huge bowlful of yellow squash along with some additional green beans and another zuchini, so MDB did a freezer prep on them and put them away in those vacuum-seal bags for another time. I had picked about a handful of peas before this and I picked about that many more yesterday, so I had fresh peas as well. UNBELIEVABLE!!! Those were the best peas I've ever had! Having fresh produce right from your own garden is THE BOMB!!! It's awesome! All I did yesterday was mow and weed-eat the back yard and change the oil in MDB's truck. The rest of the day was a basketball marathon! The Jazz/Lakers game was pretty good - it went into overtime and now that series is tied at 2 apiece. Frankly, I think the Jazz have the upper hand now. Kobe's getting beat up pretty good and LA just doesn't have the other pieces necessary if Kobe goes down. I guess we'll see how it plays out, but I'd put my money on Utah if I was a betting man.
That's enough for now. MDB is awesome; the sky is blue; water is wet! Those are the incontrovertible facts for the day! - Dan
Thursday, May 08, 2008
Selfishness
Hello again, blogfans!
As it says in my little thumbnail, I consider myself a student of human nature. I have a little "law" that I share with students every year while we're going through the topic of energy. I call it "Armstrong's Law." It goes like this:
Everything in nature, including students, will travel the path of least resistance to the lowest state of potential energy
In other words, people always find the easiest way to get something accomplished.
This is why people are basically selfish most of the time. It takes less energy to hoard things and keep them from people, even people they know to be trustworthy, than it does to share and make others happy. I can't stand selfish people!!!
Now, this is not without caveat. I've loaned things to people I thought I could trust, only to have problems. Either the thing I loaned was abused, or it was kept for an inordinate period of time, or it never came back at all. Those people got a resounding "no!" next time they asked to borrow something of mine. You know, the old "fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me!" thing. However, I at least gave them the opportunity to prove themselves trustworthy.
Material things aren't the only things we can be selfish with, though. We can be selfish with our time and our talent just as easily. When you know it's going to disappoint someone to NOT show up at a family function, for example, but you do it anyway just because of some flimsy excuse or because someone else's priorities are more important to you, that's a form of selfishness as well.
Well, what goes around comes around, as the saying goes. Those who show selfish qualities don't like it much when the tables are turned and something THEY want is suddenly unavailable.
We all have to grow up some day, I guess.
As it says in my little thumbnail, I consider myself a student of human nature. I have a little "law" that I share with students every year while we're going through the topic of energy. I call it "Armstrong's Law." It goes like this:
Everything in nature, including students, will travel the path of least resistance to the lowest state of potential energy
In other words, people always find the easiest way to get something accomplished.
This is why people are basically selfish most of the time. It takes less energy to hoard things and keep them from people, even people they know to be trustworthy, than it does to share and make others happy. I can't stand selfish people!!!
Now, this is not without caveat. I've loaned things to people I thought I could trust, only to have problems. Either the thing I loaned was abused, or it was kept for an inordinate period of time, or it never came back at all. Those people got a resounding "no!" next time they asked to borrow something of mine. You know, the old "fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me!" thing. However, I at least gave them the opportunity to prove themselves trustworthy.
Material things aren't the only things we can be selfish with, though. We can be selfish with our time and our talent just as easily. When you know it's going to disappoint someone to NOT show up at a family function, for example, but you do it anyway just because of some flimsy excuse or because someone else's priorities are more important to you, that's a form of selfishness as well.
Well, what goes around comes around, as the saying goes. Those who show selfish qualities don't like it much when the tables are turned and something THEY want is suddenly unavailable.
We all have to grow up some day, I guess.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Missing her!
Good morning, blogfans!
Well, it's been 25 hours, 3 minutes, and 37 seconds since I last saw MDB. She went with a coworker and an interagency cohort to a "diversity" seminar out of town yesterday, and I miss her! Oh, it's not like when one of the kids at school asks me that, either! They'll say, "Mister! Did you miss me?" and I'll reply, "Yes, but my aim is improving!" It's not like that. I really DO miss MDB!
What did you miss, you may ask? Uhhhh....everything!
I missed her greeting me at the door when I come home from work. She has the most wonderful smile and she shares a hug and a kiss with me and tells me about her day. I missed sitting down beside her and telling her about my day. I missed having dinner with her and then cleaning up. I missed seeing her in her chair, either doing a craft or working on her computer. I missed checking on the garden or watering together. (We're already eating produce from our garden! It's so exciting!!!) I missed catching her coming from the shower (Woo-Hoo!) and I missed holding her and kissing her good-night. Last night, I missed feeling her next to me and I missed the way she fixes the sheets. This morning, I missed fixing her coffee and watching her get ready for work. I missed kissing her good-bye and praying that she comes home to me safely.
I just MISSED her!!!!
You know, being in love with your wife is the most wonderful thing! I'm the most blessed man on the planet!
On a related note, while talking with MDB last evening, we decided to get our moms cards for Mother's Day. They're both coming over on Saturday for a dinner celebration. We decided the cards should be "thank you" cards. Mine will say, "Dear Mom - thank you for giving me birth and thank you for NOT giving me afterbirth! Your loving son, Dan"
Mom will understand! - Dan
Well, it's been 25 hours, 3 minutes, and 37 seconds since I last saw MDB. She went with a coworker and an interagency cohort to a "diversity" seminar out of town yesterday, and I miss her! Oh, it's not like when one of the kids at school asks me that, either! They'll say, "Mister! Did you miss me?" and I'll reply, "Yes, but my aim is improving!" It's not like that. I really DO miss MDB!
What did you miss, you may ask? Uhhhh....everything!
I missed her greeting me at the door when I come home from work. She has the most wonderful smile and she shares a hug and a kiss with me and tells me about her day. I missed sitting down beside her and telling her about my day. I missed having dinner with her and then cleaning up. I missed seeing her in her chair, either doing a craft or working on her computer. I missed checking on the garden or watering together. (We're already eating produce from our garden! It's so exciting!!!) I missed catching her coming from the shower (Woo-Hoo!) and I missed holding her and kissing her good-night. Last night, I missed feeling her next to me and I missed the way she fixes the sheets. This morning, I missed fixing her coffee and watching her get ready for work. I missed kissing her good-bye and praying that she comes home to me safely.
I just MISSED her!!!!
You know, being in love with your wife is the most wonderful thing! I'm the most blessed man on the planet!
On a related note, while talking with MDB last evening, we decided to get our moms cards for Mother's Day. They're both coming over on Saturday for a dinner celebration. We decided the cards should be "thank you" cards. Mine will say, "Dear Mom - thank you for giving me birth and thank you for NOT giving me afterbirth! Your loving son, Dan"
Mom will understand! - Dan
Friday, May 02, 2008
After TAKS
After TAKS, the kids pretty much figure that school is over. They get completely out of control for the most part and, even though we've got another month of instructional time and PLENTY of curriculum to fill it, we really can't get a whole lot done.
In 7th grade, we don't have a Social Studies or a Science TAKS. They do those in 8th grade. The SS test has always been almost entirely American History, which is taught during the 8th-grade year, so that makes sense. The Science test covers curriculum from 6th, 7th, and 8th grade. It really doesn't make much sense to test them over stuff they haven't seen for 21/2 years, but that's the way its done! Oh well....as I said yesterday, change is coming.
Since the 7th grade is done testing on Wednesday, we have a couple of days to fill while the 8th-grade continues to test. This year they decided to rotate kids from Home Room to Home Room, doing a different activity in each. I started them off with an observation warm-up. They have 60 seconds to look at a drawing of an accident and make as many mental or actual notes about the scene as they can, then I ask them a series of questions about it. It's really a lot of fun, and the kids, for the most part, have seemed to enjoy it. Next, I'm giving them my "Instructions Test." You've probably taken one before. It's a series of instructions that ask you to do all sorts of crazy stuff, like jump on one leg or write your name with your foot and then finally, at the end, the last instruction says to ignore all of the other instructions and simply write your name and date at the top and turn it in! Even though some have heard and some figure it out, I still catch a lot of them with it! I'm having them complete it regardless just for the fun of it! Finally, I'm showing them my "Optical Illusions" powerpoint. It's a series of optical illusions that are really pretty amazing. I get lots of "ooohhs and ahhhhhs" during the showing! I finish it off with "Negative Jesus," which is a rather strange looking blob on a page that, when you stare at it and then close your eyes, you see the image of Jesus! The kids love it! They'll holler "Mister! I see Jesus!" Yesterday, one little girl said "I see Jesus over there! Oh! Now He's over there! Mister, He's EVERYWHERE!!!" I said, "You know, they told me that at church one time, too!" Anyway, I'll enclose the image and you can see if it works for you! - Dan
Thursday, May 01, 2008
More mindless rambling!
There's lots of stuff going on, so let's get to it!
It's TAKS week here in Texas. For those of you not from here, the TAKS test (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) is the current version of the state-mandated assessment which is SUPPOSED to judge where the kids are in their academic development. "Supposed" is in caps because, contrary to the intended purpose, TAKS is used to guage the job performance of school districts, schools, faculties and administrations more than it is to gauge kids' development. As such, it is a pressure-packed week all around! In a couple of years, TAKS is supposed to be replaced by a subject-by-subject end-of-course test that will test kids on the curriculum they're supposed to get in any given year. It should be better than what we've got now, that's for sure!
Barack Obama says that what his pastor says is reprehensible and that he is not the man he met twenty years ago. Frankly, I have a hard time believing that. I think he's saying the same things now that he said in his well-publicized sermons of several years ago; you know, the things that Obama apparently had no trouble with at the time! Well, he apparently had no trouble with them; he stayed at that church, after all. I mean, I've left churches for a variety of reasons. One I left because I had a philosophical difference with the pastor. He wanted me to teach a Sunday school class that defies scripture. I told him I wouldn't do it. He started making things uncomfortable for me and my family, so I left. I left another church when the "numbers game" became paramount, moreso than the preaching of the Word. So, I have a little experience with leaving churches for different reasons. It would have been real easy for Obama to leave his church, too. You just stop going! When the question arises, you say, "You know, the pastor there is a little misguided in my opinion and he was making a variety of claims from the pulpit that I just didn't agree with, so I stopped going there." Instead, we got a laundry list of excuses. Here's the dirty little secret in my opinion. Obama is just like any other ethnic group, whites included. When racial hatred exists in someone's mind and they find themselves in a mono-racial group, that hatred will find voice. To disagree with the stance is to take a stand against one's own race, or at least that's how it will be percieved by the haters. So, what you do is simple! You don't associate with that group of people if they express thoughts and feelings that you find "reprehensible." Obama didn't do that, which means that, tacitly if nothing else, he agrees with the sentiment. That, my friends, is truly despicable!
Houston is perhaps the worst sports town in the world. It's a shame, too, because we have world-class facilities for all three major sports (a fourth if we ever get hockey) and they're trying to build a new soccer stadium downtown for the Dynamo. (I know....the WHO??? That's our MLS champion soccer team. I've heard they're pretty good, if you're into soccer). Anyway, we have stuff going on here that wouldn't be heard ANYWHERE else, and it's just because we have uneducated, "seat-of-the-pants" type fans who only exemplify what a fan is when the team is winning. THAT doesn't happen very often around here! The Rockets are in the play-offs, but all we here about is how Tracy McGrady melts in the 4th-quarter. Uhhh....he's one assist from a triple-double and because he doesn't score another twenty in the 4th, he's garbage. He's probably EXHAUSTED!!! He hasn't had a break the whole game! Roll off, H-town! Drayton McClown (McClain, actually) is the penny-pinching owner of the Astros. Whenever he gets someone with a future, he runs them out of town. He hires rubes to manage his club because anyone truly qualified would cost him a few extra nickles, so they consistently lose. A few years ago, they got hometown discounts from both Roger "the steroid taking philandering (allegedly)" Clemens and Andy "I only did it twice...errr...make that five times" Petit, and they STILL couldn't win a game. Even the Pirates have a few world championships and they haven't had a winning season since Dimagio's streak. But we're not talking about the teams; we're talking about the fans, primarily. Houston fans pay big to go to a game, then show up an hour late. They stay for an hour; maybe an hour and a half, then they leave. It matters not whether the game is still going on; they weren't there for the game anyway! They wanted to get out with some friends and what better way to do it than pay $18 for parking, $200 for tickets, $10 for a really bad hot dog, and $8 for a drink! Visiting players remark about how quiet Houston stadiums are. It's not because the fans are polite, it's because they're not paying attention! I'd like to comment on Texans games, but I can't - I've never been to one! I have been to professional football in Houston, though. I've seen the Browns play the Oilers twice in the Astrodome. It wasn't much different than an Astros game or a Rockets game. There were more Browns fans there than Oilers fans and the stadium was only half-full to begin with! I have a feeling that the Texans games are much the same. They say they're sold out every week, but when you watch it on television, there are large chunks of empty seats visible! I think the seats are sold to corporations who just don't use them every week. Why they don't put them on StubHub and auction them off to people who'd use them, I don't know. Frankly, I have no proof that that's what's going on in any case, but that's my suspicion. If you want to follow a Houston sports team with a rabid fan base, follow the Dynamo. The games are always sold out, the crowds are boisterous, and the team is good (from what I hear). You won't be able to understand anything anyone says, but you should be able to decipher "G-O-A-L !!!!!" when the announcer hollers it (of course, it IS soccer, which means they only score about once a month!). Pitiful!
MDB is leaving me! Oh....not for good, just for a business trip! I'm going to miss her! It'll be the first time we've been apart for any time at all since we got married. She's going to a "diversity" seminar. I guess it's one of those things that everyone has to do every so often. We used to have to do "sexual harrassment" training every so often at my last job. I guess it was because no one knew how to do it; they had to teach us! Anyway, it's another CYA I'm sure, much like this TAKS test we've been doing.
Well....that's enough for now! - Dan
It's TAKS week here in Texas. For those of you not from here, the TAKS test (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) is the current version of the state-mandated assessment which is SUPPOSED to judge where the kids are in their academic development. "Supposed" is in caps because, contrary to the intended purpose, TAKS is used to guage the job performance of school districts, schools, faculties and administrations more than it is to gauge kids' development. As such, it is a pressure-packed week all around! In a couple of years, TAKS is supposed to be replaced by a subject-by-subject end-of-course test that will test kids on the curriculum they're supposed to get in any given year. It should be better than what we've got now, that's for sure!
Barack Obama says that what his pastor says is reprehensible and that he is not the man he met twenty years ago. Frankly, I have a hard time believing that. I think he's saying the same things now that he said in his well-publicized sermons of several years ago; you know, the things that Obama apparently had no trouble with at the time! Well, he apparently had no trouble with them; he stayed at that church, after all. I mean, I've left churches for a variety of reasons. One I left because I had a philosophical difference with the pastor. He wanted me to teach a Sunday school class that defies scripture. I told him I wouldn't do it. He started making things uncomfortable for me and my family, so I left. I left another church when the "numbers game" became paramount, moreso than the preaching of the Word. So, I have a little experience with leaving churches for different reasons. It would have been real easy for Obama to leave his church, too. You just stop going! When the question arises, you say, "You know, the pastor there is a little misguided in my opinion and he was making a variety of claims from the pulpit that I just didn't agree with, so I stopped going there." Instead, we got a laundry list of excuses. Here's the dirty little secret in my opinion. Obama is just like any other ethnic group, whites included. When racial hatred exists in someone's mind and they find themselves in a mono-racial group, that hatred will find voice. To disagree with the stance is to take a stand against one's own race, or at least that's how it will be percieved by the haters. So, what you do is simple! You don't associate with that group of people if they express thoughts and feelings that you find "reprehensible." Obama didn't do that, which means that, tacitly if nothing else, he agrees with the sentiment. That, my friends, is truly despicable!
Houston is perhaps the worst sports town in the world. It's a shame, too, because we have world-class facilities for all three major sports (a fourth if we ever get hockey) and they're trying to build a new soccer stadium downtown for the Dynamo. (I know....the WHO??? That's our MLS champion soccer team. I've heard they're pretty good, if you're into soccer). Anyway, we have stuff going on here that wouldn't be heard ANYWHERE else, and it's just because we have uneducated, "seat-of-the-pants" type fans who only exemplify what a fan is when the team is winning. THAT doesn't happen very often around here! The Rockets are in the play-offs, but all we here about is how Tracy McGrady melts in the 4th-quarter. Uhhh....he's one assist from a triple-double and because he doesn't score another twenty in the 4th, he's garbage. He's probably EXHAUSTED!!! He hasn't had a break the whole game! Roll off, H-town! Drayton McClown (McClain, actually) is the penny-pinching owner of the Astros. Whenever he gets someone with a future, he runs them out of town. He hires rubes to manage his club because anyone truly qualified would cost him a few extra nickles, so they consistently lose. A few years ago, they got hometown discounts from both Roger "the steroid taking philandering (allegedly)" Clemens and Andy "I only did it twice...errr...make that five times" Petit, and they STILL couldn't win a game. Even the Pirates have a few world championships and they haven't had a winning season since Dimagio's streak. But we're not talking about the teams; we're talking about the fans, primarily. Houston fans pay big to go to a game, then show up an hour late. They stay for an hour; maybe an hour and a half, then they leave. It matters not whether the game is still going on; they weren't there for the game anyway! They wanted to get out with some friends and what better way to do it than pay $18 for parking, $200 for tickets, $10 for a really bad hot dog, and $8 for a drink! Visiting players remark about how quiet Houston stadiums are. It's not because the fans are polite, it's because they're not paying attention! I'd like to comment on Texans games, but I can't - I've never been to one! I have been to professional football in Houston, though. I've seen the Browns play the Oilers twice in the Astrodome. It wasn't much different than an Astros game or a Rockets game. There were more Browns fans there than Oilers fans and the stadium was only half-full to begin with! I have a feeling that the Texans games are much the same. They say they're sold out every week, but when you watch it on television, there are large chunks of empty seats visible! I think the seats are sold to corporations who just don't use them every week. Why they don't put them on StubHub and auction them off to people who'd use them, I don't know. Frankly, I have no proof that that's what's going on in any case, but that's my suspicion. If you want to follow a Houston sports team with a rabid fan base, follow the Dynamo. The games are always sold out, the crowds are boisterous, and the team is good (from what I hear). You won't be able to understand anything anyone says, but you should be able to decipher "G-O-A-L !!!!!" when the announcer hollers it (of course, it IS soccer, which means they only score about once a month!). Pitiful!
MDB is leaving me! Oh....not for good, just for a business trip! I'm going to miss her! It'll be the first time we've been apart for any time at all since we got married. She's going to a "diversity" seminar. I guess it's one of those things that everyone has to do every so often. We used to have to do "sexual harrassment" training every so often at my last job. I guess it was because no one knew how to do it; they had to teach us! Anyway, it's another CYA I'm sure, much like this TAKS test we've been doing.
Well....that's enough for now! - Dan
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