Sad for California Teachers

As many of you know, the economy is still pretty terrible. One thing that's been in bad shape for some time now is keeping teachers in jobs in CA. I know this is true because I've had many friends who became teachers and since the day they got their teaching credentials, have had a truly tumultuous experience. But now it's all over the news and it just confirms it. Depending on what you read, you'll see numbers anywhere from 20-26,000 teachers received "pink slips" telling them there is a good chance they won't have a job next year. They also say that in 2003, which up to date, was the worst year for pink slips, all but 3,000 out of 20,000 were without jobs by fall. But predictions for teachers keeping jobs for next year, fall 2010, suggest that things might not be that good this year because the economy is much worse than it was in 2003.

Most of my girl friends who wanted to be teachers have gotten pink slips every year for the past 6 years (since they started teaching). Sometimes they got their job back after budgets were figured out, but that didn't mean that it was waiting for them after the pink slip they got the next year. Some of them have left teaching all together because the instability is too much to handle. One is hoping that an $8/hour job at TJ Maxx will hold her family over until she can get a teaching job again. She said "I was rich when I was a teacher and I didn't even know it". It has crushed them. It makes me so very sad. For the teachers, for the schools and for the kids.

And for those of you who don't know this- teaching is a rough profession. I never thought that when I was a student in public schools in CA. I always thought it was pretty cushy job. Two weeks off at Christmas, two weeks at Easter... two and a half months of summer... what a life huh? But what you don't know is that they get there usually a couple hours before students do. They leave much later. They bring work home every single night. They are constantly planning, every night for every subject (elementary) or every class (middle/upper) and are grading papers all the time... even over all those lovely little breaks they get. They work just as hard, if not harder, than many other professions despite the lovely summer months off. And for all that work, the pay is crap. But most of them love it, so it doesn't matter to them, although I'm sure they wouldn't turn down a pay raise.

I was reading an article that said that enrollment in teaching programs has very significantly decreased. The state is "worried" because according to one article it needs 20,000 new teachers each year to make up for retirements and other losses in teachers but the reduction in enrollment is down by 10,000 in the past two years. Do you blame them? Imagine. You're young, you're starting your life, deciding to get married and start a family... but every year, you don't know if you'll still have a job at the end of the semester. Are you kidding?!?! It's ridiculous. No wonder enrollment in teaching programs is down. With that kind of career outlook, if I was in school and wanted a rewarding career with a stable future, I'd go into nursing.

And frankly, California SHOULD be concerned about those numbers. What has President Obama been going to schools talking to kids about? "DO YOURSELF AND YOUR COUNTRY A FAVOR. GET AN EDUCATION. YOU ARE THE COUNTRY'S FUTURE. YOU HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO DO GREAT THINGS AND ADVANCE THIS NATION IN WAYS NO OTHER GENERATION EVER HAS." You know what, I believe that. I really do. But if you can't get a decent elementary and high school education, how are you supposed to get to college let alone be successful? Just curious. How are you supposed to have a substantial enough base to really succeed in higher ed? And for kids who don't get the support they need at home, how are you going to get the encouragement and support and motivation to do great things with your life if your classes are jam packed with too-many students and an over-worked teacher who doesn't have the time to care the way he/she probably wants too? How?

I like this poster here.

I'm just glad that I am not a CA public school teacher. I am also glad that I don't have children in CA public schools who would no doubt feel the impact of all of this nonsense.

California, get it together.

Beaver Hunt

While having lunch out on the lawn today, Dave spotted a beaver swimming along. We spent a bit of time chasing him around... in and around the bushes… underneath the docks… it was fun. Here's some pictures of us beaver 'hunting'.


I didn’t notice the classic paddle-type beaver tail. It looked more like a possum tail, but based on this creature’s interest with the not-quite-blooming bushes and stick collection, we decided it was a beaver. He was a lot smaller than I had expected, but I think that makes him pretty cool.

You can see him pretty well in some of the pictures. I've seen ducks, swans and a blue herring, but never a beaver. We both thought it was pretty cool.

Out on the Lake

Dave and I spent a little over an hour today out in the canoe on the lake in my backyard. We did some exploring in a part of the lake we had never been to that started off through a tunnel just to the right of our dock. It really is a beautiful day out today. I am pretty sure that the high is about 70 and starting tomorrow we're going to be back in the low 50's again. Boo. But at least we were able to enjoy a Saturday outside before it gets cold again.


There also seems to be a run-away dock in this neck of the woods. But don't worry. Dave tamed it and then shoved it off back into the great unknown...

Camera Found! Here's what you missed:

1. More snow. I think it makes the houses across the lake look like gingerbread houses.
But I think it simply looks beautiful in the trees... even though it's cold.


2. The not-so-wonderful & completely mis-happed birthday dinner for jumper boy... But people celebrating appropriately :) BUT- I did make the "planned" dinner the next day to make up for the late-movie make-shift birthday dinner



3. But at least we had a candle. That DID go right. :)

No More Camera

Well, as I mentioned before, Valentine's weekend was Jumper boy's birthday. I had a camera. I took a picture of him holding is dessert with a candle for all to see. That picture is on my camera. The camera is MIA. I'm very sad. I wanted to take a picture of the crazy ice outside my house. No can do. I thought I had left it at his house last weekend. I did not. I know I had put it in my bag. But somewhere between the bag and coming into my apartment, the camera is gone. How sad is that!!!??? You all know I am a picture fiend! The jumper boy and I want a nice new SLR digital camera, so we've started a savings fund for that, but it's only got $50 in it right now and the camera is closer to $800 at Costco. I'll say though, it is nice having a small little camera when you want to go out with friends and it fits in your purse. And I love my little camera. It's a Panasonic TZ4 with a Leica 28mm wide angle lens with 10x optical zoom. This lens is the same one that the multi-million dollar microscope that I use at school has. That's one of the reason's why I chose this camera over others. It's big for a "small" digital camera, but the quality is unbelievable and it fits in my purse, so it doesn't bother me! So sad it's gone!

Anyways, if you see it anywhere, let me know!

A Birthday Weekend

Jumper boy's birthday is on Valentine's Day. Yippee. Which of course means that I get presents on his birthday :) I like that deal! In all fairness, I did petition to him that I felt like we should do V-day the day before so that on his birthday we could just do a birthday celebration and not worry about doilies and chocolate. Although I may SAY that I want to ignore V-day completely and ONLY celebrate his birthday, let's be honest, I'd have been a little sad if he didn't do ANYTHING for me all nice-and-sweet. But we did a little V-day gift exchange the night before... I got him a much-needed gym bag (not because I'm forcing him to hit the gym, but because he didn't have one). I also put little goodies in it with cute little notes that said things like "nothing says 'love' like 'fix that smell' (because i put the note on little things you put in your shoes to keep them from smelling up the place).


He gave me an ever-so-sweet-because-we-both-wanted-it-Cuisinart-Food Processor. :) I do love it... it chopped a whole onion in seconds. It shredded a block of cheese in an instant. It whipped up potatoes so fast they turned starchy! Really, the thing is brilliant. What got him into trouble was when he foolishly said, "nothing says 'love' like 'cook me some birthday dinner'. Ya... well... whatcha gonna do. He was kidding.

Now, for HIS birthday, we hung out, we went to a movie that was PACKED!!, it got out late and we started cooking dinner late. The grocery store didn't have my ingredients, Then they didn't have the meat... boo. It sorta all fell apart. Good news is, the next day, I cooked the meat I planned and the day after that, I cooked the soup. It all turned out, just not when I wanted it to. But we had a great weekend...

Re-Finishing the Table

When I moved into my new little studio apartment, I desperately needed a table. John & Marianne, who so often take care of me out of the goodness of their hearts, took me down to the unfinished furniture store in Westborough and I picked out a table and chairs so that I would have a place to eat and cook. Well, to prevent them from getting damaged, Dave and I finished the set January 16-19... they look great! We did two coats of stain and about 4 coats polyurethane on the table top and four on the chairs. Here's the pics: