It has been a few weeks since I have written. So much has gone but it also seems as nothing has gone on. I am well into my school this year. Lots of stuff to do, of course, getting A's but I am not stressing about it this semester (not that I did previously). I am happy to get a C but I am not working for a C. As always, I will do my absolute best and hope I get an A. So far, so good.
The kids are back into the swing of things. Religious Education is on, scouts for both kids (I am working on updating their website), Ryan is playing the cello and Isabelle is very much into her dance. Dance is definitely her thing, at present.
I try not to get political in here. What is it that you are not supposed to talk about in mixed company, sex, money, religion and politics? Okay, staying neutral on all subjects. But, what I will say is that no matter how you feel about the issue on health care, please let your Congressmen know about it. I think most people agree that something needs to be done with it. The biggest expense of hiring someone, outside of actual salary, is health care.
I am not going to say what I feel should be done about it, mostly because it is a complicated issue and I don't know it all. But, we do pay these people in Washington, D.C. lots of money to try to figure it out. I did write all of my Congressmen and tell them that I was tired of the bipartisan fighting on both sides of the aisle. We are all adults and one thing we learn as adults is that you are not going to get all that you want. Try to find a middle ground that you can work towards. Why is that so hard to understand?
Just for the sake of fun (and also because I believe in it), I put in that I felt that Congress should be held accountable to what they do. What I mean by this is, they should have the same health care plan that we have. I also think that they should have the same retirement plan that we have but that is another story.
John McCain wrote me back a lengthy letter and if I get enough response, I will be glad to post the entire letter (or just e-mail me and I will send it to you). I am going to post one paragraph of his lengthy letter (and I was quite impressed with the letter, by the way).
"I was also a strong proponent of an amendment that would have required Members of Congress to participate in the proposed public health plan if one is enacted into law. If the health care reform legislation that is being considered becomes law, it would force millions of people to give up their current forms of health care coverage and participate in the government run program. I believe that Members of Congress cannot expect these individuals to participate in this new public program if they are not willing to enroll themselves and their families in the same program."
Now, I don't know if the present health care plan (and what is the "present health care plan"????) would force millions of people to give up their current forms of health care coverage but at least he is asking for Congress to abide by what they put into place.
You can check WebMD for their position on it or try Fact Check as I think both of them are non-partisan and may give us some truth. We know that both sides are probably not telling the entire truth.
Anyway, I highly encourage you to write your Congressmen and let them know how you feel. It is about time that they started working for us and not just for themselves.
Now, back to work for me.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Monday, September 7, 2009
I am looking forward to Labor Day......2010
As I sit here at the computer, I think about how nice my life is at this present time. Both kids are young enough to be at home (and not in the teenage years, yet), and both my wife and I are at home. You see, Kellie has been working a lot of weekends and so it is a rare treat when we are all home together. You see, I know to cherish this from reading my sister-in-law's blog whose children are all grown, although not all out of the house.
I will frequently comment on my school and I am sure that we can all surmise that this is due to the fact that it such a big thing in my life right now, for good or bad. My comment in regards to this post is that I am looking forward to Labor Day 2010 (that is next year for those of us that can be calendar challenged). My explanation for this is that I can't rest. Knowing that my next class deadline is looming ahead of me, even if I am completely caught up on all of my school work. Technically, I am caught up. I have homework due on Wednesday, Friday and the ever all important Senior Project (which will be completely easy, as long as I can figure out what to do).
Speaking of Senior Project, I wish to thank everyone for whatever support you have given me in this project so far, whether that support be ideas or just emotional support. A lot of you have given me good ideas that I need to research and see if it will work. There is one project that I read that surveyed 20 local churches and their use of online donations and then just tabulate the data and come to some conclusions. Of course, the comment that I love the best is "I so remember my senior project so much that I finally gave up on it and did an internship instead." I vaguely remember down at University of Arizona in the early 90's that we either had to do an internship or a senior project. Here, we have to do both. So, with that, I am very much looking forward to my senior project, whatever the topic happens to be.
Back to school and rest: I don't know why but I cannot rest. It goes so far as I limit my activities while school is in session. I did the rare instance of playing poker and I actually had a shot of whiskey at the game. Now, it isn't like I drink a lot anyways. I would occasionally have a drink, maybe 1 drink every other month or so, rarely would have 2 and never more than that.
Maybe I can't rest due the fact that I place a much higher importance on school than I did when I was younger. You won't find me talking during class to my classmate about things that don't pertain to the topic at hand (I have always hated that). You also won't find me wearing pajamas to class (which I witnessed last Spring). You also will find me completely repulsed when a classmate shows up in class with a see-through dress (which I also witnessed last Spring).
Side note: This led to an interesting question of, should I tell the person or not? Here are the facts: 100 person lecture class, of which about 30 of us showed up on a regular basis. There was no personal interaction between the students, so a true lecture class. I did not speak to her once during this class. I will also throw in that this was one of those that the dress did not appear to be see-through and was only see-through when "stretched" such as when bending over to pick something up or when sitting down. I was almost as appalled to think that nobody told this young woman that her dress was see through, although I did not mention it myself to her. It was also quite evident that this is what she wore to work as she always showed up in nice clothes that one would wear to work as if she was a saleswoman.
Anyway, I look forward to next Labor Day when I won't have the prospect of school looming over my head not allowing me to completely relax.
Off topic note: I ended up watching part of the Ted Kennedy funeral last weekend. Politics aside, I did enjoy the full Catholic funeral with all of the pomp and circumstance that was displayed. Of course, Ted Kennedy was quite a polarizing individual. You either loved or hated him and there were not many that met in the middle on that. He was responsible for the death of a young woman, thrown out of Harvard twice, admitted three times (how does that happen? and what does that say about Harvard? come to your own conclusions on that one). He was a drunk and a womanizer. He also was responsible for the American with Disabilities act. He worked for the opportunity for every American to have health care. He attended Mass daily yet he disagreed with the Church on abortion and never allowed his faith to change his mind on that. It was during his funeral that I found out that he used a bible passage as his guidance for his career in politics. The passage was the one about "I was thirsty and you gave me drink, naked and you clothed me, etc." It was also after his death that we find out that there wasn't a day that went by that he did not think about Mary Jo and her death that he was responsible for. And so although I did not approve of how he behaved at times during his life, I will look forward to reading his memoir. If anything, I am hoping it will give me an insight into this polarizing figure in American history.
I will frequently comment on my school and I am sure that we can all surmise that this is due to the fact that it such a big thing in my life right now, for good or bad. My comment in regards to this post is that I am looking forward to Labor Day 2010 (that is next year for those of us that can be calendar challenged). My explanation for this is that I can't rest. Knowing that my next class deadline is looming ahead of me, even if I am completely caught up on all of my school work. Technically, I am caught up. I have homework due on Wednesday, Friday and the ever all important Senior Project (which will be completely easy, as long as I can figure out what to do).
Speaking of Senior Project, I wish to thank everyone for whatever support you have given me in this project so far, whether that support be ideas or just emotional support. A lot of you have given me good ideas that I need to research and see if it will work. There is one project that I read that surveyed 20 local churches and their use of online donations and then just tabulate the data and come to some conclusions. Of course, the comment that I love the best is "I so remember my senior project so much that I finally gave up on it and did an internship instead." I vaguely remember down at University of Arizona in the early 90's that we either had to do an internship or a senior project. Here, we have to do both. So, with that, I am very much looking forward to my senior project, whatever the topic happens to be.
Back to school and rest: I don't know why but I cannot rest. It goes so far as I limit my activities while school is in session. I did the rare instance of playing poker and I actually had a shot of whiskey at the game. Now, it isn't like I drink a lot anyways. I would occasionally have a drink, maybe 1 drink every other month or so, rarely would have 2 and never more than that.
Maybe I can't rest due the fact that I place a much higher importance on school than I did when I was younger. You won't find me talking during class to my classmate about things that don't pertain to the topic at hand (I have always hated that). You also won't find me wearing pajamas to class (which I witnessed last Spring). You also will find me completely repulsed when a classmate shows up in class with a see-through dress (which I also witnessed last Spring).
Side note: This led to an interesting question of, should I tell the person or not? Here are the facts: 100 person lecture class, of which about 30 of us showed up on a regular basis. There was no personal interaction between the students, so a true lecture class. I did not speak to her once during this class. I will also throw in that this was one of those that the dress did not appear to be see-through and was only see-through when "stretched" such as when bending over to pick something up or when sitting down. I was almost as appalled to think that nobody told this young woman that her dress was see through, although I did not mention it myself to her. It was also quite evident that this is what she wore to work as she always showed up in nice clothes that one would wear to work as if she was a saleswoman.
Anyway, I look forward to next Labor Day when I won't have the prospect of school looming over my head not allowing me to completely relax.
Off topic note: I ended up watching part of the Ted Kennedy funeral last weekend. Politics aside, I did enjoy the full Catholic funeral with all of the pomp and circumstance that was displayed. Of course, Ted Kennedy was quite a polarizing individual. You either loved or hated him and there were not many that met in the middle on that. He was responsible for the death of a young woman, thrown out of Harvard twice, admitted three times (how does that happen? and what does that say about Harvard? come to your own conclusions on that one). He was a drunk and a womanizer. He also was responsible for the American with Disabilities act. He worked for the opportunity for every American to have health care. He attended Mass daily yet he disagreed with the Church on abortion and never allowed his faith to change his mind on that. It was during his funeral that I found out that he used a bible passage as his guidance for his career in politics. The passage was the one about "I was thirsty and you gave me drink, naked and you clothed me, etc." It was also after his death that we find out that there wasn't a day that went by that he did not think about Mary Jo and her death that he was responsible for. And so although I did not approve of how he behaved at times during his life, I will look forward to reading his memoir. If anything, I am hoping it will give me an insight into this polarizing figure in American history.
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