Aristo! Aristo! A la lanterne!: Pre-snowpocalypse (III) ramblings

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Pre-snowpocalypse (III) ramblings

So.... the weather guessers are calling for 'something' to happen tomorrow. It doesn't sound like they are quite sure what, but it will probably involve snow. Somewhere between six inches and "Oh MY GOd We Are ALL GOnna DIE!"

Oh... and 50 mile an hour winds.... just to keep it lively.

At Castle Carteach the wood box is stuffed, as is the pantry. Princess will be home before the snow drifts over the door, and we are set if it gets stupid the next few days. My only fear... school admin will put off deciding about closing, and may try to to stay open till first lunch so it's an official school day. It might happen... might not. The dice are still in the air right now.

Something of humorous note today....

I 'torture' my students by hitting them with hard questions and making them think, as in "I'm going to torture you now, and this will hurt you while it amuses me". Today I told a student I wasn't going to ask him any questions at all, and just sign off his work with a smile. He followed me around for an hour DEMANDING I ask him hard questions..... LOL. Gods, I love my job!

In the E-mail today, an interesting invite from "BLACKHAWK!" to attend a shooty-blogger seminar later this year. A few days of range fun, and a chance to play with their products. It sounds like a ball, and I am inclined to accept.... everything but the air travel. They are only as far as Norfolk, and I suspect the drive down from PA will take no more time than I would spend dealing with airline lack-o-service and TSA insanity/moronity/incompetence.

Why did they ask me? It wasn't my handsome charm... that much I know for sure. I suspect they would like me to write about their products over on Carteach0. We shall see.....

On a not-funny-at-all note......

I have a fair number of industry certifications. Some will expire in the near future, and I must re-certify to keep them. These particular certifications are required for my program to stay certified as well. This year, the school admin says they 'can't afford' to pay for the re-cert tests. There is 'no money' in the budget.....

We are talking less than $200 here... not a sack of hundreds. Can't afford it.... but today I see a brand new shiny coat rack being assembled in the maint department. "Where is that going?" I inquire... and was told the admin office. It seems they need a new one... that is shiny... and new. "How much did that cost?" I inquire.... and the invoice was produced. The shiny new coat rack cost more than my industry re-certs.... which the school just can't find funds for in their multi-million dollar budget.

Oh.... I'll get re-certed.... oh, yes I will..... and then I'll take them home and keep them there.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...: Funny, isn't it, when people make sure they let you know how you fit into the hierarchy. This leads to people...becoming creative with...alternative methods of compensation. Now, I'm not saying the satisfaction of plugging the administrator's toilet with concrete would be worth the costs they shifted on you, but it MIGHT. And the money the superintendent saved might just have to be spent cleaning his car if you put mercaptan compounds on the manifold. Or a ball-bearing in one of the cylinders. I think that loosening all the lug nuts on a wheel is taking things a bit far, and so is cutting a break line. But the creative mind is... useful.

Like I'm signing this one.; February 24, 2010 at 9:52 PM
Anonymous said...: I thank you for your efforts to teach under those conditions.

See Ya; February 25, 2010 at 3:16 PM
Crucis said...: Those certs can be used---elsewhere. I took the Project Management certificate program some years ago. It was a 20 week course and at the end we'd be ready test for industry certification. The cost for the test (this was in 2000) was $650. After the company spent several thousand dollars sending me to class, they balked at paying the $650 for the certification. (We also got college creds for the course. It was all accredited.)

I never took the certification test. I did get a transcript for the accreditation and a Master's certificate from St. Louis University. It worked just about as well. I don't have the cert by I do have the courses documented in the transcript as well as the straight A grades.; February 25, 2010 at 4:37 PM

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Robert Heinlein

"Do not confuse "duty" with what other people expect of you; they are utterly different. Duty is a debt you owe to yourself to fulfill obligations you have assumed voluntarily. Paying that debt can entail anything from years of patient work to instant willingness to die. Difficult it may be, but the reward is self-respect.

But there is no reward at all for doing what other people expect of you, and to do so is not merely difficult, but impossible. It is easier to deal with a footpad than it is with the leech who wants "just a few minutes of your time, please — this won't take long." Time is your total capital, and the minutes of your life are painfully few. If you allow yourself to fall into the vice of agreeing to such requests, they quickly snowball to the point where these parasites will use up 100 percent of your time — and squawk for more!
So learn to say No — and to be rude about it when necessary.
Otherwise you will not have time to carry out your duty, or to do your own work, and certainly no time for love and happiness. The termites will nibble away your life and leave none of it for you.

(This rule does not mean that you must not do a favor for a friend, or even a stranger. But let the choice be yours. Don't do it because it is "expected" of you.)"