clarifying my ideals

I strongly believe that schools, while it would be expensive, should strive to be more like the following:

$ smaller class sizes, peaking at 22:1 student to teacher ratio, but preference toward 15:1 ratio
$ community schools where parents can actually go to the school for activities, rather than 45 minutes away
$ be granted more flexibility regarding materials (books used, etc. rather than getting the state mandated selected books) -- in my experience, there are teachers who use 70s books because they are more effective. I saw books I had when I was a kid ... and they work based on phonics and sound principles.
$ greater scale accountability on part of student and parent/guardian: in other words, when the child prevents education in his/her class, the child is subject to removal and faster removal from that school, rather than having the child in the school for 6 out of 9 months making education impossible for one class or that school.
$ schools should be allowed to "lane" students into classes that better meet their needs; students who need more remediation should get that and those needing less repetition and more challenge should get that { THIS IS NOT the SLOW kids and the SMART kids, but rather making schools the best they can be for children's success } +
$ ensure safety of students with community schools, in that even less-savory parents might give a darn about the success of the school and children; yes, I've seen it happen

^^ With the cost of fuel and vehicle costs, eliminating waste is important ... so true that administration could be cut, for who needs a vice-assistant-vice-assistant-sub-chair-committee-approval secretary's secretary? In other words, the administration has too many bodies, with too high salaries and doing nothing to help children learn. Don't cut a Hydra at the head, cut it at the claws, in this case cronies or couldn't teach-we'll promote him/her.

+ potentially further removes some behavior problems by challenging students rather than confusing or boring them

Get back ... get back .... get back to where you once belonged

Schools, no longer "forced" to meet racial balance? That might be the Castor oil for school's problems. Some soundboarders would claim, "That would make Black schools". To them, I'd say ... yep, that would happen. In this case, you could then better find the better, but not happy, medium for the "No Child Left Behind".

Hey, this school has a cluster[fudge] of problem kids, "I'm a problem child".+ This school needs some help, dude! You think? Where many or over forty percent could factually, actually be Campbell's soup; ADHD, ADD, FAS, MMR, ED, home six in Foster Care, AIDS, opiate or amphetamine baby, etc. I mean this, not as a slant toward non-whites, but rather the racial balance swing will undoubtedly be applied to many other categories. Throw into this non-English speakers and you got mini-metropolis and the start of PS 01 and so on.

So, with this potential policy, there may be fewer bus drivers and a vast need for non-white teachers specializing in special needs. It isn't a bash against communities, it's just a likelihood that the token white teacher would be a target for profiling, harassment, and lawsuit in a nearly all non-white school.

On the "positive" side, there will be the local, "protected" as it were golden schools that could realistically have a waiting list. It will also spell the regrowth of racism, for if you don't see many non-whites and the locals tell you they are bad --- you're likely to make that assumption before meeting one.

If this law goes into effect, then the proverbial gauntlet is cast and I dare-say that racial balance policies will hereafter fail. The perfunctory retort will be, 'quotas kill competition and potential success'.

+ AC/DC

Jacob's ladder roads

Well, well, well. So you wanna go West or East. Too bad. We'll close off a main road for two months -- so, ha! Now that one is open, we'll seal off another. On the first one, you'll notice that it's new and kicks butt. The second, well ... we did something, but not that you can tell.

Happy July 4th and good luck trying to get where you are going, care of the 3RC (Three Rivers Construction [barricades]).

100225

Well, putting 90 miles daily on the car quickly pushed the odometer past 100,000. Right now, over 100.2 K. I need to retire it for a car that isn't spontaneously going to quit on me. It's held it's own, but it won't last forever, so Hundai is likely my next car, for they are cheaper, fuel efficient and becoming reliable.

purpose

Since I don't share my psychosis with others, others feel free to share their neuroses with me. I am a comfortable shoulder on which to cry. I suppose there are worse lots in life ... however mine is doomed to loneliness.

For anecdotal use, I have a little less acronium on one shoulder. I lost bone mass and I'm not a smoker. Oh, well, there was that surgery that left me the scar. The trade off was a better functioning shoulder.

passing sloop

I am but a ship on the water, passing and make a minor wave that pushes ships that are adrift.

I was told this weekend of people breaking up with long-term, and short-term persons. I had few facts of the "others", but I suggested that one, from what I was told, was a bad seed and worthy of crushing not planting. The other person I considered frankly unsure. Since the person was unsure about the other, I probed only that the reasons for the breakup and reuniting were significant; namely, that if the person sought the relationship again there was "something". To break it off more than twice, well ... the question there is the same, "why". If you can sort out that, then you have your answer and a logical direction. In this case, I would surmise that is was a value situation, i.e.: which is more valuable to you A or B?

One guy at work would be like an Arkansas hero ... in that anything that walks looks good. It's almost like the joke about the pig caught in the gate, he being the last guy to respond to the situation. He's 4 degrees from child molester ... not by relationship, but rather by preferences and near-pathological attention seeking (adoration) from younger ladies. Again, I elaborate, "consent before the law?" Uh, no.

Meanwhile, there are a couple of ladies at work that entrance me, one's foul-mouthed and wild, the other is tipping the scales at gravely immature, perhaps a long-time before reaching "drinkable wine" age.

Hell, different than bitching

Well ... I guess inadvertantly, I chose sides. There are those who direct and those who do. I made good with those who do and in doing so, put up a wall to those who direct. The bad thing is ... I'm supposed to be one of those who direct. So, "in madness [I] dwell"+ I am the wellspring of work and ambition and I put my foot in a cast with this. Actually, I know that the bigger cheifies and see I'm a sweaty brow man who goes home dirty from a hard day's work and is quick to find solutions, also ever ready to complete some project that needs attending without having to ask.

The other two trainees might have a more slippery slope in that one is slow in the academic arena and the other is set to have a personal fallout that will undoubtedly affect his work. So, "Stand or fall", as the Fixx would sing ... or something odd patched together from Lt. Frank Drebin of Police Squad.++

The other fly in the ointment at work is the re-introduction of a guy who's arrogant, cocky, young, and the management likes him. So, he's protected, an orphan boy of sorts. [key in "Consider yourself ... at home"] He's like the fifth-level underDuke of Toledo, a far cry from the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. He's here to stay and it wouldn't shock me to find that they might push him into management. He's got the bully part down just right, but the tact and being a man ... well, his young and lacks it. The guys in management they have now are not yet men, despite their chronological age. When I see a couple of them get into "whose is bigger" or "pissing contests", they are a far-cry from men.

+ "Thing That Should Not Be", Metallica
++ "But I wouldn't wait until the last minute to fill out those organ donor cards.", Naked Gun

Blue and the Gray

FW is holding petitions to vote for and against the FWCS plan. Namely, should taxpayers put in one half billion dollars to fix schools. Many people say, 'skip all that, I'm paying too much now'. Who could argue with that. The yellow=yes, blue=no lobbyists hope to sway people.

The subject, pay higher taxes for FWCS

con: higher taxes and the newest annexed area gets hit hardest with hikes of up to 40 plus percent by some analysts. So then the money doesn't go to that district's school system, but rather the city's wickedly poorly maintained system; "Ragtag fugitive"+, crumbly bumbly buildings and reverse-Jenga top-heavy administration FWCS. Good Joss!++ So, the buildings are fixed but there is no change in student to teacher (or more over adult) ratio ... plainly skip, please. This is coupled with the Harrison Square project on which taxpayers were not allowed to vote.+++ Pay more, get nothing tangible and in ten years the bill comes back --- "fix me"!

pro: the buildings are scrap, needing "so much more than dusting"++++, and quite frankly if the bill isn't paid now ... in five years it doubles and the taxpayers won't get a "choice" as it were whether or not to pay it. Really, the political waste is quite high fighting for and against this fixing of FWCS. The newly, nearly-unlawfully acquired SW quarter is paying a fartload of money. Granted that area is better off, but they got the short end of the progressive tax shunt there. Put your back to the wall SW, for if you turn your back, FW will stab you again. NE FW and SW will pay far more than their share to fix FWCS. The situation is this ... 25 years ago, they needed help, but the elected school board were yes-persons to the flake in charge. This has therefore been the case for decades. One buttmunch bought buildings to house cronies. When you have a fool spending money on cronies not children, you are left with hell. FW has just that ... hell, from betting on the 100:1 shot each and every time. FWCS needs help and this cruddy bill of 0.5 billion dollars will inoculate the system for, about 7 years.

It's nearly like the "North agin the South" +^5

+ Battlestar Galactica
++ Taipan computer game
+++ dubious gain, economically for FW, based on questionable numbers on a minor minor league team
++++ Beauty & the Beast, Disney
+++++ Beverly Hillbillies

Schedule

Due to change at a flick of a switch ...

T: OFF
W: 2:00 - 10:00
R: 8:30 am - 8:00 pm
F: 5:00 - 11:00
S: 5:00 - 11:00
N: 5- Close
M: 5- Close

Throw him to Sarlacc

Where he can be digested over a period of a thousand years. He's a molester, his son's a molester and they molested the same child. Huh...
verdict: guilty
sentence should have been: immediate death

Instead, with a plea agreement, the guy gets a lighter sentence and is eligible for parole.

American justice needs a good swift kick in the pants!

ignorant observer

Things that I saw that I didn't get ...

The first thing was simply funny. I was traveling to work and saw a blue car parked in the driveway. In the driver's seat was a "top prize" from a carnival, Wile E. Coyote. That's right, Wile E. was the driver, which says something about the owner of the car. Darn it! That's great and I missed it!

I saw two squad cars had pulled over a car. The traffic was slow due to construction, so I got a longer look. The one officer put two car seats in the trunk of his cruiser, while the other officer had a woman, infant in her arms, and two kids enter the back of his cruiser. The man with the family, of seemingly comparable ethnicity, was allowed to return to his vehicle and allowed to drive away -- sans family. I suppose I could write an elaborate story about it, but it really seemed odd, not knowing any of the facts.

I was at a corner waiting to turn, in the town where I work, and saw sign-carrying persons. There were about eight of them at the four corners of the street. I thought, "car wash", but no. The signs were "turn to God", which is a nice message, but then other signs were more sinister. "If you marry a divorced woman, you are committing adultery" is a sign I got a chance to read. Sadly I am supporting free speech for this crap?

I objected for the following reasons: I disagree with the concept; at least two children were among those carrying signs; the sign holders were next to the library where the public would be; the phrase, "divorced woman" is a sexist way of making a point, whereas divorce' covers both sexes. If only I had stopped for some eggs on the way to work ... The thing that came to mind was Blues Brothers, "Those bums won their day in court. Who? The [blanking] Nazi party. I hate Illinois Nazis."

Records shattered?

At work yesterday was one of the ugliest and darkest days I've had. It was rough, tough, and unacceptable. I have a self-policy of acknowledging my fellows with token gift for "brothers in arms" during heavy periods when we get slaughtered. The prinicple reason last night was busy night with a person who was a no-show. The strange thing about it is that work doesn't terminate the person. Work has been none-to-worried about canning people before for such a transgression, especially on the frequency that this person has done it.

I wonder if there's a story there I should know ... favoristism, methinks.

I ran, and ran, and ran ... broke stuff, and was quite sore by night's end. I reluctantly completed a time-wasting assignment that helped solve an error. It is a twice-daily job, but here saved an eggresious error from miscounting. I had other things I needed and wanted to do, but I finished it and found an error, observed by the other "m". We concured on the new number and I buggered out of there.

I suspect that tonight will be modestly better with a slight chance of less spanking and more possibilities. I informed the cheify that training others to do other jobs would have been wise, but he didn't act on it. I think we caught it on the butt or face for his lack of effort on this action. He, of course, is out this week.

I have graded this week to be a 65 percent. This means it's an "F", but it shows some competency. Perhaps extra credit would help. Writing of which, I wonder if I can talk personnel into OT for me, namely to put things into "real shape" so that work isn't perpetually doing catch-up. They're pretty lame-brained, so I don't have high hopes.
----
While lower-wage service industry jobs have high turn-over rates, I think if work would get off its duff and work, morale would not quite be in the toilet on some days/nights. Last night was a flushable morale night. Beaten at work, lackluster compensation, followed by an unsweaty browed "m" saying, "attagirl; attaboy". If I mix this with, oh, and do the work of the no-show person too, you get people sick of work. Can you blame them; I cannot. I think the management needs to go back to school on that one. You missed Morale Boosting 101.

"He suffers from delusions"

Well, so did Pat Buchanan about winning the nomination for Republican, yet he wasn't executed. This jackhole killed family in front of family and people should be concerned whether he's insane? So, he's insane and he's not getting sane. He killed because he's insane. We're in agreement so far? If he's executed, can he kill anyone else? No.

Well, I'd say kill the guy and be done with it.

We'll get back to you on that

While the detainees petition, the Supreme Court is out of session until Fall, with the closing note of, 'We'll look into it, but right now I think a DQ blizzard has my name on it."

This Fall, new on Fox is Cavemen and the Detainees, a hilarious comedy about Geico cavemen and well-fed, detainees communicating with each other with clicks, hand signals and the shared desireto evolve.

Hellovawickedday

That's right ... and that's all I had time to say as I was running like a chicken sans head. I think I was actually panting as I ran back and forth. What a piece o' crud line of circumstances.

I had a mess of crud yesterday and today, it doubled. I bought thank you cards for the servers and got each of the two ladies yesterday a bar of chocolate.

Tomorrow I will do the same, as the ladies tonight busted butt and more butt and more... crazy, nuts, crappy, but they did it and they aren't always well paid for it.

Thanks ladies!

What have you done for me lately?

I am continuing with job hunting and profolio building. Last night I copied, on my own time -- grumble, what I requested be sent to me. I reformated it from all upper case to sentence case, correcting, "rite" and "nite" to the correct English words. The next favor they ask me, I think I'll offer, "Bight Me"!

iWait

So ... those of you in line for days waiting for the iPhone, how many of you have real jobs? Oh, nobody ... how shocking! I would suspect that anyone with a real job couldn't camp out at a store for days waiting for the iPhone. I wonder if they gave out free T-shirts with,"
iStink for iWaited for iPhone -- iStupid"

bad, bold move

Someone at work impulsively turned in two weeks notice. I also put together a proposal for that person regarding pay and vacation. That person still wants me to tweak it with changes and still plans on submitting it. Okay ... uh, the point of the proposal was essentially an ultimatum ... now that you turned in your notice, you're done. One woman, at hearing news that this person actually turned in notice to quit was almost overjoyed--doing a little dance as it were.

Perhaps I should ask these people if they plan on shooting themselves in the foot before I begin.

We have that now

Oh ... I get it now. I was thinking they meant, fatherless children which we have now.

I prefer etha-holic

I think I like it better because, while alcoholism is regarded as a disease, more often people have ethaholism, which is a cop-out. I would like to enter a treatment program to avoid incarceration. I'm entering treatment (to avoid losing my job). I can shorten my sentence with a treatment program. Thank goodness Jack Daniels mixes well with the free coffee offered at 11:00 at night in the bottom of a dimly-lit building.

I can have the taxpayers pay for my treatment and the cancer I get from smoking cigarettes like others breathe oxygen. I'll sue the tobacco industry for my addiction and its side effect of chronic fatigue syndrome that made me lose my job of six days.