She's flailing away on the keyboard, exploring the ToonTown at Disney this evening.  Completely engrossed in what she's doing for over an hour, making cartoons, pushing the quirky avatar all over the place, checking out every nook and cranny.

When she's ready to relinquish the keyboard to her anxiously waiting brother, she leans back, stretches, and says, God, I do so love high-speed internet...

Me too, baby, me too.  

You go, girl!

10:09:36 PM    comment []

A former high school classmate bitched earlier this week in a forum about our state's financial troubles and the impact on education, while offering excessively charitable comments about the federal "No Child Left Behind" program. 

I received this responsive email today from another former classmate:

I, as much as anyone, don't like the predicament the MI schools are in.  Unfortunately, ALL general fund programs are being cut.  High school for adults is gone.  Everything is hurting.

 

I work for MDOT as a highway designer.  And I'm becoming very tired of hearing everyone bash the state workers.  For some reason, there is a common belief that state workers make a ton of money and have super benefits.  Not true.  Check out the jobs listed on the state website. For example, corrections officers start out at $13.65 an hour.  How would you like to risk your life for $13.65 an hour?  I wish all the residents of Michigan knew the sacrifices that ALL state workers are making for THEM in 2004.  Instead of the state raising taxes to spread the burden upon all the residents of MI, (who are ALL recipients of state services), the state govt. has decided to put that burden only on the state workers. We have to take 5 UNPAID days off this year.  We also have to work 40 hours, but only get paid for 38 hours per week.  That amounts to $2000 to $4000 a year for most of us. In essence, we state employees are being taxed an additional $2000 to $4000 a year, so that YOUR taxes won't go up.  And just like everyone else, our benefits are constantly being eroded.  So you should all thank your road workers, unemployment and Sec. of State staff, etc. for the cash they are giving to YOU.

 

In defense of the Governor, she tried to raise the sales tax to head off our deficit, but our legislators wouldn't hear of it.  (They're too worried about getting re-elected).   So what do you cut, when there's nothing left to cut?  If you want to point fingers, ask them to justify the 38% raise that they voted for themselves a couple of years ago.  Ask them about their huge salaries, lifetime pension, and free lifetime health coverage.  The problem isn't with state workers, it's with the state politicians that you voted in, and you have the ability to vote out.

 

As far as "no child left behind", doesn't anyone find it strange that King Bush has waited until election time to talk about the economy, "no child left behind", money for space exploration, and 3 year visas for illegal immigrants?  He's simply trying to throw everyone a bone, to garner as many votes as possible.  All the empty promises will be forgotten after the election.  Am I the only one who sees through his smoke screen?  I feel that his foreign and domestic policies and record have made him the worst president we've ever had.

 

(Did I say that out loud?)

What he said.  In spades.

The "No Child Left Behind"(NCLB) has been a hardship financially on a state that can bear no more burdens.  Good schools, already performing very well, have had to cut their budgets due to state budget deficits; the NCLB cut into resources needed for essential services.  What a joke! 

Certainly, our legislature in this state needs a good spanking.  Every person paid by state tax dollars should be sharing the hurt -- particularly those that added the pork to spending in the Fatboy Engler years.  (Believe me, I will be writing a LOT of nasty grams about this crap!  Even my own family has taken paycuts and lost a job because of this state's challenges; state legislature can bear the burden with us!)

Yet taxing our children by cutting into their educations to pay for inefficient federal programs is immoral.

It's time for regime change, before our children have to pay any more for this ineffectual hogwash.

As Senator Kennedy said yesterday, the election can't come soon enough.

8:15:40 PM    comment []

Andrew Bayer is car shopping; his Saturn is on its last legs and must be replaced soon.

His last post tells us he's narrowed his search to:

Civic Hybrid (way outside chance) 

Toyota Prius

Nissan Sentra

Toyota Matrix

2003 Camry, pre-owned

2003 Accord, pre-owned

I'm betting he's going to pick a Nissan Sentra or a 2003 Accord (if there's an Accord available that meets his taste).

Why?  He's a young man -- and we all know how they feel about power.  Toyotas are reliable, thrifty cars with good resale value.  Sure, I'll grant you that.  But they have a mushy feel and are doggy on acceleration.

Let's see if I'm right or wrong.  Maybe he's lived so long in a densely populated area that he's lost the appreciation for the thrill of punchy acceleration on an open stretch of highway.

I hope not; I know I haven't!

2:30:35 PM    comment []

Two kids under foot here yesterday afternoon; too much pent up energy, thwarted by an unexpected reprieve.

They’d had a half-day; for some twisted reason our school district takes mornings off on the second Wednesday of each month.  The kids stay up late the night before, sleep in the next morning, then take their sweet time getting ready for school at 11:25 am.

The day was wrinkled by falling snow, the leading edge of a snowstorm.  Based on my guesstimate, it would be at its worst about the time the kids were to be picked up from school.  But there is no announcement on television; there are schools closed an hour south of here, but not this area. 

Son-of-mine does not want to go to school, having wished that school would be canceled; he’s having difficulty delaminating from the luxury of slowness this morning.

After tears and squabbling – the usual morning fire drill, delayed -- we’re in the car and on the road.

Odd, this: there is no traffic east bound, only west bound.  It’s as if it were evening rush hour, all the traffic headed home towards the bedroom communities.

Odder: there are no cars in the drop-off lane save for a single van.  Usually there is a fleet of vehicles – stupid soccer mothers who’ve parked in the drop-only lane, stopping to talk with other stupid soccer mothers about yesterday’s shopping trip.  Parents already working even as they drop off their spawn, talking on their cell phones and paying little heed to the line of cars behind them, spilling out onto the road.  A couple of furious, irritated parents like this one behind the wheel of a red Honda CR-V, swearing in foreign languages as they wave madly at the cell-phone headed moron in front of them.

My daughter jumps out of the CR-V and runs in towards her door; she says she’ll come right back if the school isn’t open.  What a bright child; she’s already put together all the details and come to a conclusion and course of action.

I tell her I will pull up next to the kindergarten door for her brother.  He is slack-jawed and disbelieving, uncertain what to do next.  The single van pulls along side me, rolling down a snowy window; the father shouts, Hey, they closed the schools!  I never heard anything about it!

Me neither, thanks for letting me know, I shout back.  Wha-a-at? says my son, still uncertain.  You have no school, you got your wish, I tell him.  He is stunned.

He breaks into tears as his sister bursts back into the car with a flurry of snow.

What’s his problem? She asks, watching him dissolve into a tantrum.

Guess he’s not too happy with getting his wish, I said as I pulled out into the snowy street and head for home.

10:49:21 AM    comment []