Life... Part 2

Okay,

So I was surfing the net and I saw something that, especially as an educator, just REALLY got my goat! I saw an ad that said- "No More Studying, Buy Your Degree Here!".

The thought that crossed my mind was, "Wow!!! We live in a lazy, selfish, demanding world where people feel like they are entitled to what ever they want without doing the work!". When you can simply BUY a degree- what does that say about us as a people? Now, I am sure that no business in its right mind is going to accept a "bought" degree as grounds for employment (although, maybe someone will invent the "No More Work!! Free Paycheck- Just Click Here" website and hook-me-up), but still- the very idea that studying isn't needed to actually LEARN what you need for your degree is crazy!

So I guess when you go to the doctor, dentist, accountant, etc, pray they didn't just "buy" their degree! Like I tell the kids I am around- "If you don't work harder in school so you can run the country- I'm moving to Canada!" I am seriously concerned about this rising generations ability to run a country and provide for themselves without "mommy and daddy" holding their hands and giving them handouts!

So, that line of thinking, coupled with the overload of being home now, but not being home (as I am practically living at the school trying to get my room ready for 25 students in 2 weeks), canning vegetables from our garden (that was an adventure as we have never used a pressure-canner until today, and I am happy to report that we DID NOT even blow up our kitchen- Wahoo!) has really given me time to think.

About what you ask?

About a lot of things:

1) Why am I fat?

2) Why is it so hot?

3) Why am I poor? (Oh wait, I'm a teacher! Ha Ha!)

Ok, wait a minute, that's not what I was thinking- just checking to see if you are really reading of just scrolling!

I have really been thinking about my life. Where it is going, where it has been, what goals I want to achieve this coming school year(assuming I ever even get my room ready!), and really pondering my decision to pursue a Masters of Administration from the University of Utah. Do I have any answers for all these "thinks"? The short answer is NOPE!

But I will continue to ponder them and let you know as I feel inspired about the answers.

I have a lot to do tomorrow at church. I am the president of the Elder's Quorum in my church. I am conducting a presidency meeting at 8:00am with high councilor from out of town, I am teaching a Sunday school class with 13-14 year old kids(they are some of the kids I taught in 6th grade my first year back in town- should be interesting), and tomorrow evening I am meeting with a gentleman in my group for a one-on-one discussion of church and family matters. Busy, but focused.

Updates to Past Traumas:

1) I have tried to call Gordon of Spring Communications in Murray, Utah for several day now with NO return phone call. So he must have realized that he COULD NOT give me the discount he promised and is now avoiding me. I think I will have my little sister pay their store a visit and see if she can scare him straight! (Nobody messes with my little sister and lives to tell about it!)

2) I have never heard back from McDonald's after talking to the " human shield"- Don't expect much to happen there, but I think it would be great if everyone who reads this calls them and complains!

3) I think that I am over the Wal-Mart issues! I hate the store and will ALWAYS (as their theme is) will hate them.

And now for the exciting conclusion (sorry this post is long- but I missed a couple days and a lot happens in the life of an educator):

A) I helped my parents pour their cement foundation for the ginormous shed they are building in the "park" (they have a double lot and it has all the kids toys so we call it the park). I think I can safely say that I would NOT make a good full-time construction worker. I did learn a lot though, and I enjoyed helping them. They were paying the other men $10 per hour. When they tried to pay me I told them I will "deal with you later". I think that scared my dad. I don't want their money. Good grief, I owe them more money than I have made teaching in the last 7 years!

B) I don't remember after all the stuff I had in my head for this post. So if and when I remember I will be sure to share it with you! I guess that is what happens when you watch a count down timer that tells you you have very little of your summer left! Oh well, life happens!

Later...

Wally World Stinks (and Micky D's and ATT and ...)

I actually am trying not to be angry (AGAIN) over yet another Wal-Mart incident! I hate the store anyways- so what happened today wasn't all that shocking, I think it is more their attitude of "We don't care if we screw you over because there are lots of other people out there!". We made it here to Logan, Utah (which is a really nice city nestled in the Northern part of Utah) and decided that since we are on our last presentation and motel stay (thank goodness) that we would eat a good dinner (Olive Garden) and cruise the main street to see what was in Logan.

When we happened to see a Wal-Mart sign we decided to brave the store as we knew that they had a few items we needed. While visiting the toy department (because you ALWAYS have to visit that department so the kids will chill out) we saw the spinning globe lights and the all three tags below them read 88 Cents. We thought that was cool and added 20 of them to our cart. When we went to check out they rang up for $3.97!!! A huge difference. So they lady was going to override (which she should have seeing the entire display was mispriced and NOT my problem) the price for us. Well a supervisor was called, went and looked and brought all the tags over to "prove" that we were wrong and she was right. Now, I don't care about the price thing- whatever, but her attitude was rude, obnoxious, and irritated. As we left, my wife and I decided that we are going to start looking at other stores to support as Wal-Mart already owns most of the free world. So should you feel inclined- I urge you to also look for other stores to support. Maybe if enough of us get off the "Wal-Mart Addiction" we CAN make a diference in thier bottom line. I mean honestly, we have shopped at Target this week- I think they have just as good of prices and thier store is cleaner, people actually know what they are talking about, and you can find things you need that are IN STOCK!

So that is my rant on Wal-Mart.

I did hear back from McDonald's in Salt Lake today. That lady was also rude and unhelpful. All she said after I explained the problem was "I will pass that on to the owners". I said a lot of things (nothing my mother would be ashamed of) all to the same answer of "I understand, I will pass that on". I told her all she was was a shield for the owners so that they wouldn't have to hear how customers truly felt. I guess that is their problem as well. We refuse to ever eat at McDonald's again. (Which is truly ok as their food is D-I-S-G-U-S-T-I-N-G!!!!! :))

I guess I sound like a grouchy old man with all the issues. I could even tell you about my trauma with AT&T Cellular Service today as well, but I am still working on that.

Sometimes I just want to scream- WHY ME???? Why do I always get SCREWED over? But I do know that there are reasons beyond my understanding. So, deep breath, and moving on! :)

Tomorrow I am FINALLY finished with CORE Academy and I can focus on getting my classroom ready to go. YEA! And the count down timer will be at ZERO before anyone knows what hit them!

Check out my other blog if you get a minute (teachertechhelper.blogspot.com). I will be adding more posts as soon as I get home and life back to normal!

Thanks for reading,
Later...

Tick, Tick, Tick

I must say that sitting here watching the Marvin counter above count down isn't really bringing me much happiness!

I do have good things to report! I have made it safely with my family to the beginning of the end of CORE Academy. Two days and it will be over. It has been good and I am thankful for the chance I have had to meet and interact with over 400 sixth grade teachers! But it will be nice to focus on my family and getting ready for the school year.

I also just created another BLOG. One that I think will really be a success! http://teachertechhelper.blogspot.com/
Check it Out! It is new and "young" so be patient, but it is going to be really cool! I am very excited. I also have my amazing younger sister (CS DESIGNS) working on a "real" header for the page as the text just isn't appealing!

I am also considering starting a 3rd blog, but that will be later this year or early next. I want to see how well this one works out!

I hope to be able to write about my presentation tomorrow, well, tomorrow night!

Oh, good news, I was able to contact McDonald's Main Salt Lake Office today. I will be receiving a call tomorrow, at least I was told I will- we shall see.

Based on the fact that it is almost 1am- I am going to go to bed!

Later...

Excuse Me... You What?

Well,
It has been quite the day. My wife and I were up until 2am. Now before you go getting your mind in the gutter, we were watching the world premier of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. We were kicked off POGO. They shut down the entire site for some reason. Anyways, so we were up late. Then our baby fell off the teeny tiny double bed they gave us to sleep on, and if you are like us, and have a king size bed at home, sleeping on a motel full size bed just doesn't cut it. Anyways, at 4am this morning, our baby was in our bed. I thought my wife was still in bed, as I am not really thinking well at 4am, not to mention legally blind without my glasses. So he sit up crying and think, that's nice, my wife will take car of that. Next thing I know, WHAM!!! and S-C-R-E-A-M-I-N-G galore. I roll over to discover I was alone in bed (my wife as taking a nighttime potty break) and I was freaking out (as I mentioned earlier, I am not really functioning at that time of day). It all worked out. I ended up holding him and falling asleep in one of the all too comfortable (NOT) motel chairs. I wake up an hour later with no feeling in my legs and a crick in my neck bigger than Texas. I laid the baby by his mom and fell back into a good sleep. I awake thinking that hey, that was okay, and it is only 7:30am or so. I look at my watch, and again go into Freak Out Mode. It is almost 9:30am! We still had to have breakfast, shower the entire family, and leave early so my wife could go a store called The Wood Connection. It is a store that sells cut wood letters of different sizes and fonts. My wife is going to sell them (after she alters them after the fashion of scrap booking) at our community fair in September. I hope she makes alot of money back on them, 'cause we have invested heavily in them. Anyways, we get everyone up, dressed, fed, showered, and we head out. (Amid scary new noises being emitted for our van-I really hope we make it to the next stop, Vernal, tomorrow afternoon). We get to the school and I give my presentation. It went SO good this time. I really enjoyed it and the teachers had a great time with me. Yea.
Then we met my sister at D.I. (Deseret Industries- a thrift store). This D.I. by her house is amazing. They have the neatest items. While we were there, I was walking around and was backing up. A lady walked by me and said, "Watch where you are going!" in a rude tone of voice. I said, "Excuse me- you are being rude". Well that sure got her attention. We had a nice "discussion" if you will. I ended up telling her that she was being really rude and to have a nice day. I feel bad about it now. I should have apologized. Shame on me. We leave D.I., and go to the motel so I can change. We then go to McDonalds. You think I would have learned a little something from my experience at D.I. and being feisty. Now, just to clue you in, that is NOT usually my personality. I tend to avoid confrontation at all costs. But lately I have felt pretty spunky and I am tired of being treated rudely by people and not doing anything about it. So we are at McDonald's. We eat. The kids play. I get thirsty. I had ordered a meal with the Extra-Large drink. My sister asks if I want a refill and I say, "Sure, thanks for asking." My sister goes in there and starts filling my ex-lg cup. Suddenly, the lady at the counter tells her that because the drinks are sold at a discount price of 99cents there are no refills on the XL drinks. My sister had already filled the cup. They told her she could pay $1.99 for the refill or dump it out. DUMP IT OUT! So they already wasted the soda. WOW! That really didn't go over for me. So I went up to the counter and asked for the manager. They tried to tell me to call the number printed on a plaque. I asked them how was I supposed to take that information with me? Could they write it down? I then told them that if they are NOT going to do refills on a drink, they should tell their customers when they are ordering. I would have ordered a Lg and refilled it 5-6 times. She rudely said that the sign is posted next to the soda machine. I informed her that I don't walk into a food chain and scope out the soda machines to see if I get refills or not. Common courtesy would suggest informing customers. And then I proceeded to tell them that $2 for a refill is out of control! They wanted TWO DOLLARS for the refill. After I had already paid 99 cents for it the first time. Wow, I didn't think I could get so worked up. I asked if she knew how much syrup costs, because $2 for a refill was out of control. Another manager was there and said that they are only following established rules, and please call the number. They don't like it either. So, listeners, I am asking you to call this number- 801-272-9233, and let McDonald's know that this isn't going to cut it. I know that I will NOT be eating there again anytime soon (or any McDonald's franchise for that matter). I know that I will be sharing my thoughts about their methods with them tomorrow morning. I will gladly share my results with you, and ask that when you call, you let me know your little story as well. We then headed to Robert's Crafts (notice how many stores we visit for my wife?). Of course they had to be having their Truck Load Sale. Now, if you have never shopped at Robert's Crafts (the Scrapbook Super Store- and Art and Crafts Stores) imagine everything your wife could possibly want (and everything you wish they wouldn't buy) under one roof. Anyways, we ended up spending $50 and saved $254.57 at this sale. So I guess that it was worth it. They had a huge 75%-90% off. So that was fun. Then we headed back to my sisters to visit and that is where I am sitting- typing up this groovy day.
I guess I also need to finish my mouse story, but after this LONG post, I think that I will again save that for another day. It is worth waiting for- the ending is a good one. Until tomorrow- (I hope, my in-laws in Vernal don't have internet- and the free Wireless around them is REALLY unreliable.) Remember readers- Call McDonald's and BOYCOTT them if you believe... Believe!