WillThink4Wine

Now, before you read this I want to assure you that this is not my opinion of ALL teachers. I happen to have 2 teachers in my immediate family who absolutely love teaching and both of them are brilliant and gifted educators! I also have friends who are College Professors and even a fellow Wine Taster who happens to be Dean of Students at a wonderful university. As a general rule I have the deepest respect and the highest regard for teachers, cops, firefighters and our military. In my opinion, they are all undervalued, and I don’t mean just monetarily. However, as is true with any profession or field, there are exceptions to the general rule. No matter where you go, you will always find “them”. So don’t get crazy on me!!

A few years ago I was looking for a full time employee. I needed someone to do shipping and receiving as well as my ink mixing. For the benefit of those of you who’ve never worked in the Graphic Arts or Printing Industry, this basically means opening the book to the specific formula and figuring what percentages of each of the 2, 3 or 4 colors of ink are needed for a pound of that particular ink color. Yeah, this is not Rocket Science.

One of my customers asked me to consider an acquaintance of his for the position. After interviewing him, and despite his teaching degree and 20 years of experience teaching 4th grade in the Fort Lauderdale Public School System, I hired him. He was overqualified, but he needed a job and I needed someone I could depend on.

During his first week I assigned him a task I am confident could adequately be completed by an average 10 year old. I know this to be true because my own niece had done it several times. After giving him the 10 minute instructions and having him observe me mixing while reviewing over a few days, I asked him to mix a pound of ink on his own.

Think “Deer in the head lights”.

Much to my astonishment, this man, this teacher of our precious youth, had no idea how to calculate percentages! It’s not as though there wasn’t a calculator just to the right of him. Needless to say we never progressed to multiplying for 2 or more pounds or (Heaven Forbid!) fractions. Oh, I am totally serious.

As a footnote, I will mention that I ignored my better judgment when I overlooked the errors he made filling out the application. In hindsight, I discovered he also wasn’t skilled in reading or writing either.

Note to self: First Impressions and Gut Instincts are never again to be disregarded.

How long did he remain in my employ, you ask? He quit after 2 weeks. Apparently, I have unreasonable expectations.

Next!

And now, in the tradition of one of my favorite bloggers, a joke. Empress Bee said I could borrow has no idea I’m using this, but it is so true that I had to post it, along with the above story from my own personal experience.

Thanks, Miss Bee! You’re a real Georgia Peach!

1. Teaching Math in Florida in the 1950s:
A guy sells a truckload of alligator hides for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price. What is his profit?

2. Teaching Math in Florida 1960s:
A guy sells a truckload of alligator hides for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price, or $80. What is his profit?

3. Teaching Math in Florida 1970s:
A guy sells a truckload of alligator hides for $100. His cost of production is $80. Did he make a profit?

4. Teaching Math in Florida 1980s:
A guy sells a truckload of alligator hides for $100. His cost of production is $80 and his profit is $20. Your assignment: Underline the number 20.

5. Teaching Math in Florida 1990s:
A guy goes into a beautiful swamp to get alligators and messes it all up because he is selfish and inconsiderate and cares nothing for the habitat of animals or the preservation of our woodlands. He does this so he can make a profit of $20. What do you think of this way of making a living? Topic for class participation after answering the question: How did the fish and other alligators and birds feel as the guy messes up their homes? (There are no wrong answers, and if you feel like crying, it’s ok.)

6. Teaching Math in Florida 2008:
Un individuo vende un camión del cocodrilo oculta para $100. Su coste era $80. ¿Cuánto él hace?

Tags: Thought for the Day

Today is my brother John’s funeral. The Service should be over in just a few minutes, actually. I did not attend, partly because our parents live with me here in Georgia and the services are in New England. They are just not up to the trip, emotionally or physically. It is too much for them to fathom, too much to face. Truth be told, I have never been one to attend funerals. If they were held months or even seasons past the pain and emotion, perhaps. But not so soon.

This is the last Family Portrait where all of eight children and our parents were all together. It was taken at SisterDear3’s wedding, so I’m estimating it was 22 years ago or so. We were planning a new one for this summer.

MotherDear asked me to sign John’s Online Guestbook on behalf of our youngest brother who cannot attend. I searched for a poem I thought would suit them both. As I reread it, it makes me sweetly sad. I think they would both approve.

Remember

Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.
Remember me when no more day by day
You tell me of our future that you plann’d:
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.

Love, Billy

By Christina Rossetti with thanks to The Poetry Foundation

Tags: Family, Gatherings, Thought for the Day

It was a lovely Christmas morning. Me, my SisterDears and brothers were joyfully opening our gifts. Later in the day we were having a large family gathering, my favorite kind of Christmas! Nana Gert, Auntie Jeanne and her family were coming to have Christmas dinner with us. I had crocheted a peach-colored scarf and hat for Nana and I couldn’t wait for her to open  it!! It was going to be a most wonderful Christmas Day!

I had just opened a gift. It was a brand new 45 that I’d been wanting so badly, Precious and Few by Climax.

The phone rang and MotherDear answered. I heard the most mournful sound come from her mouth. Nana Gert had died during the night at Auntie Jeanne’s. She had fallen asleep in the rocking chair, knitting a last minute gift for somebody. The doctor said she had likely fallen asleep and had a stroke during the night. She never knew anything.

The rest of that day is just a blur, the only other thing I remember from that day is that I went downstairs to the basement and spent the entire day and long into the night crying my heart out. I played that 45 over and over and over again. I literally wore it out, remembering my Nana and missing her so badly it was physically painful.

It was the first time in my life that I realized that I had to treasure each moment with somebody who I love. From that moment, I am always mindful that it might be my last opportunity to share time with them. Because none of ever knows when the last moment in time may come.

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Visit here if you’d like to do your own Message in a Bottle, you do not have to be tagged. I chose to combine mine with a post because Nana Gert was my inspiration for my Message.

Tags: Family, Gatherings, Holidays, Music, Nana Gert, Simple Pleasures, Thought for the Day

Wow

Caution: There’s an elephant in the room. This may cause you to live your life differently.

I’m posting this because it is the most awe-inspiring thing I have personally seen in quite some time. It’s a must-see. If you have not yet watched this video, read the transcript or heard of Randy Pausch - here’s the unabridged version of the video. If you’d rather not watch the entire 76 minute video, there are links at You Tube to abridged 5-10 minute versions as well. Yahoo has the video of Randy’s Reprisal of the Last Lecture on Oprah.

Prepare to laugh. Prepare to cry, as Randy teaches us how to live, not how to die. Tissues highly recommended.

You can order the DVD (and more) by visiting Carnegie Mellon. Randy’s own web site is here.

Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch, who is dying from pancreatic cancer, gave his last lecture at the university Sept. 18, 2007, before a packed McConomy Auditorium. In his moving talk, “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams,” Pausch talked about his lessons learned and gave advice to students on how to achieve their own career and personal goals.

Reprisal on Oprah (11:32)
Unabridged Version (76:26)

Tags: Randy Pausch, the Last Lecture, Thought for the Day

Here in the Deep South tonight it is cold, dreary and raining. It’s been raining all day. It will rain all day tomorrow. I watched our Canadian Geese standing at the edge of The Swamp today, just waiting it out.

As I was driving home tonight I couldn’t help but wonder where all the homeless people were sheltering, where all the wildlife go to and where so many feral pets were hiding from the cold and damp tonight.

Then I turn on the news and hear that Barack Obama is currently getting 1 million dollars a day donated to his campaign fund. A million dollars a day.

And it makes me terribly sad.

Enter the ICHC online Poker Cats Contest!

Tags: Thought for the Day

Many people believe that if you see a penny on the ground and it is facing “heads up”, then you should pick it up for good luck. I’ve actually watched people throw them back to the ground if they were “tails up”. MotherDear is one of those people; she says they’re unlucky. Even from a strictly practical standpoint, it is real currency. It is free money.

The inscription on every coin reads “In God We Trust”. I pick it up as an affirmation to God that my trust is in Him. This applies to any coin; pennies, nickels, dimes or quarters, whether “heads up” or “heads down”.

I believe that whenever I find an old, tarnished and dirty penny, that is God sending me a message. He’s reminding me that He is always watching over me and He is always in control.

If God desires to have a conversation with me, who am I to walk on by?

Tags: Faith, Thought for the Day

Thursday Thirteen - 3rd Edition

Thirteen Things for which I am Grateful

1. SisterDear2  - She is so amazing! SD2 did day care for 18 years or so while she raised her 2 boys. She was so great at it that her waiting list was a couple of years out. SD2 just graduated from Nursing School. She is now an RN! She just turned 51 before she graduated from college!  You go girl!

2. SisterDear3 - She is so inspiring! SD3 is wife to a cop and mother to 4 children. She has a daughter in college who happens to have Bipolar Disorder, a teenage son and twin 8 year old sons, one of whom is Autistic (PDD/NOS). She faces each day with faith, love, humor and grace. She finally got her son placed in what we hope will be a good fit for him. She is anxiously looking forward to re-joining the work force soon! She so needs to reacquaint herself with grown-up conversations again!

3. SisterDear4 - She is so incredible! SD4 has literally reinvented herself in the last 5 years since her divorce. She has a teenage son and a preteen daughter. She remodeled her entire home in the past couple of years. She can do it all! Bringing home the bacon, gardening, repairs, painting… She doesn’t always want to do it all, but she can and does.

4. My Cats - I can’t imagine my life anymore without my cats. I’ve always had dogs (Pekingese). I had just lost one little lovey and was in the final month of my other sweet puppy’s life when my cats found me. They totally rescued me.

5. My Business - Had someone told me 25 years ago that I would be self-employed I’d have told them they were nuts! I opened my first business (with a partner) in 1987. Since that day there hasn’t been a day that I did not look forward to going in to the Office. I look forward to Mondays - Go figure!

6. My Parents- I never expected to have my parents living with me. However, when I sold my first business and was looking for a house to buy in Georgia I asked them if they would also like to move with me. I was their only child (of eight!) living in Florida and I felt horrible about leaving them there, childless! They accepted and moved in with me and the Boys just about 2 years ago. I’m amazed at some of the stories my Dad tells me that I might never ever have heard unless they moved in with me. My Dad has a phenomenal memory that goes back to grade school. My Dad is 79! MotherDear is Queen of the Kitchen! She is my all-time favorite cook! Dinner is ready and on the table every night when I get home from work (even if I don’t feel like sitting down to dinner when I get home). This is just the coolest thing! I could go on and on about my parents. It’s been awesome having them here!

7. Health - I have not had any major health issues in the 14 years since my divorce. Coincidence? No, I don’t think so.

8. My Home - I joke quite a bit about hating the Yellow House. It had been painted just before the sellers put it on the market. Let me just say that Yellow is not my favorite color! I bought it in spite of the Yellow. But I am loving this house! I actually gave the Realtor a wish list with “Deal-Breakers” and stuck to it. I got everything on my list! How cool is that?

9. Family- There’s a couple of doosies in the basket, but mostly I have the most wonderful family anyone could ever wish for and we have such a great time together.

10. Friends - I have been blessed with some of the most amazing friends. Most I call family because they feel like family.

11. Wine - I am grateful to have discovered my affection for wine! Wine is an adventure for me while at the same time an old familiar friend.

12. My Walk-in Closet - My previous house was an adorable Cottage. I loved it. I absolutely hated to leave it. Cried my eyes out. I miss it. But I had NO closet!

13. God - I was brought up in the Catholic Church but somehow missed God completely. I found God and was saved when I was about 38 years old!

Tags: Sisters, Thought for the Day, Thursday Thirteen