Leelanau Whippersnapper

Once again, Bill Maher has penned an honest portrayal of the idiocy in this country.  I admit, I’m a bit biased when it comes to this but lets talk about education for a minute.  First, my background.  A significant number of my immediate and extended family members are teachers or have been teachers at one point or another in their lives.  Growing up, education..or more to the point, GETTING ONE, was the number one rule, ahead of anything else despite my pathetic attempts to think otherwise at times.  My folks made time for reading every night to my sister and me whether it was reading TO us or allowing one of us to read to THEM.  They both struggled along with us trying to figure out ways to tell a 14 frustrated year old that Algebra is actually relevant and to just suck it up and learn it and they RE-LEARNED it with me.  My folks went out of their way to provide Sarah and me with educational opportunities, not because they wanted genius children (hopefully that was not their wish) but because they both knew and understood the importance of a basic education.  They sent Sarah and I to enrichment programs, they participated and helped us to participate in Cub Scouts, Brownies, plays, programs, events, museums, and yes, even instruction about shoveling shit on the farm.  Education is important.  It was important to my parents and it was eventually important to me.  I’m not talking here about post-secondary education but the basic shit.  Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic — K-12 public education.

Today on the Huffington Post

Firing all the teachers may feel good – we’re Americans, kicking people when they’re down is what we do – but it’s not really their fault. Now, undeniably, there are some bad teachers out there. They don’t know the material, they don’t make things interesting, they have sex with the same kid every day instead of spreading the love around… But every school has crappy teachers. Yale has crappy teachers – they must, they gave us George Bush.

According to all the studies, it doesn’t matter what teachers do. Although everyone appreciates foreplay. What matters is what parents do. The number one predictor of a child’s academic success is parental involvement. It doesn’t even matter if your kid goes to private or public school. So save the twenty grand a year and treat yourself to a nice vacation away from the little bastards

Click on the link above to read the rest.

I get so sick of the bullshit in the papers and on line criticizing teachers for ‘failing kids’.  Bullshit.  The only teachers who are failing kids in this country ARE THE PARENTS.  Yes, there are bad teachers, AND bad doctors, lawyers, and scientists but come on if you are going to take the time to write in to the newspaper editor, at least show your kids that you know how to use a spell checker or that you can FINISH a fucking thought in a single sentence!  So, the next time you get an urge to criticize a teacher, stop and think for a minute about what you are doing.  Is little Jimmy’s failure to learn his times tables the fault of the teacher OR is it YOUR fault for failing to make sure little Jimmy got home after school to DO HIS HOMEWORK!  OR, is it YOUR fault for failing to drill them into his head like you were asked to help do by the note you got from the teacher BECUASE YOU YOU COULD NOT BE BOTHERED TO SHOW UP FOR PARENT / TEACHER CONFERENCES!

One reason, among many others that I got out of the Education thing for myself was that I had a very difficult time understanding the lack of involvement of parents in their kids lives because it was SO foreign to me. Growing up I couldn’t shit without one of my parents asking me about school and about my life and good Lord there were times when I absolutely HATED their incessant nagging, prodding, and scornful stares and I would slam my books on the table and leave for coffee at Denny’s just to piss them off more. My parents were doing their jobs, THEY were being teachers, never mind their own backgrounds.  THEY were demanding accountability from me and THEY were going to stand by me and help me even while frustrated with me to make sure that at the VERY least, I got my ass through High School with an education.  Yes, I know everyone has shit going on in their lives but come on, you do not have to be a scholar to be a teacher to your child, you only have to be there and show that to your child.  They will know your expectations, you don’t even have to explain what they are,  that’s the beauty of a parent / child relationship.  The kid WILL come to you for help even when they know you won’t be able to give them the answers.

Lack of parental involvement is the #1 reason that our education system in this country is shot.  It is not however broken and it is not un-fixable.  It is also not the sole responsibility of teachers in this country to raise YOUR CHILDREN.

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Finally, I’ve had a reasonably relaxing weekend.  Of course tomorrow I head back in to hell for what will likely turn into a 6 day work week.  We begin a major re-set in my department tomorrow morning, there is a ton of work to be done and only 1 week to do it.  I’m going to have to be a cheerleader most of the week and that is indeed exhausting work.

Today I packed up the dog and headed out to the lake.  The sun has been out for the past few days, something exceedingly rare this time of year and I figured I would take advantage of it today by bringing my camera along.  I ended up going down to a beach I had not been to in quite some time.  It was further south than I usually go but still on Good Harbor Bay, just down the road further.  It was quite nice.  There were a few people out today but because of the Super Bowl and my complete lack of interest in sports, it was pretty quiet overall.  Gavin was able to run around off the leash for a while and I spent some time trying to capture a few good pictures.  I’ve uploaded a new gallery at leelanauphotography.com, just click the picture below to check it out.

The folks are off to Iowa for about 6 weeks tomorrow morning.  They’ve decided to spend some time away from here this winter since it’s easy to get really stir crazy this time of year.  We still have a good 3 months of shitty weather before spring starts to hit, I really hate this time of year up here.  Luckily, my job keeps me quite busy so it’s hard for me to care much.  Mom and Dad will be staying with Sarah, Brian and Christopher and I’ll be interested to hear how that all works out.  I love my folks to death but given the choice, I would not choose to have them live with me for any extended amount of time.  I’m pretty sure my folks would say the same about me. Our family dynamics are a bit much to tolerate day in and day out.  And, at my age, and their age, that’s the way it should be.  Christopher will be spoiled by Grandma and Grandpa for 6 weeks, and, that’s the way THAT should be too!  He’s a lucky kid, even if the only words he can say are “doggie” and “LOOK”.  We’ll see if Grandpa can teach him a few words during his stay.

I have made a new purchase since my last entry in this blog.  Last week, I broke down and bought a Wii so that I too could join the ranks of 30 something’s who are sick of being out of shape but who don’t want to join a gym.  I have always enjoyed video games even though I suck at them and I like the concept of being more involved in them rather than just sitting on a couch with a controller.  The Wii promises to at least get me off my ass for a little bit each day.  Eventually I’ll buy the Wii balance board and Wii Fit Plus game so that I can actually start getting in shape.  Sadly, they are sold out nearly all over the country and it’s going to be several weeks before they get back in stock.  Oh well, I’ll be busy enough at work.

Bonus time at work is fast approaching.  Profit Sharing checks are handed out Feb. 16th and my Managers bonus is due in mid March.  Crazy thing about my job is that I make more in the first 3 months of the year than I do the next 8 months of regular work just because of bonuses.  It’s nice to get big fat checks but it’s also dangerous because it’s easy to just go out and spend it.  If I had this job at any other time in my life, I’d be broke all the time but fortunately I’ve learned how to manage my money in much healthier ways so I’ll be able to save what is necessary but I’ll also be able to go out and get a few toys to play with.  This year I am buying a keyboard and I’ll write more about that when the time comes.  So for now, enjoy the new gallery.

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I finally got around to uploading the holiday pictures from Christmas.  You can see them at leelanauphotography.com.  Not much new going on right now in the northwoods, at least nothing I care to write about right now.  I have the weekend off, I’ll write later on.  Enjoy the pictures!

Uncle David teaching Christopher to be a nerd.  He got up on my lap without prompting indicating that even though I only see him a couple times each year, he clearly knows who the “cool” uncle is!!  haha.

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Well, I made it through the crazy Black Friday madness at work and things are settling down now for the Christmas Holiday.  I spent my day off today out at the lake decorating the parents Christmas Tree and enjoying some meatloaf.  Really Mom, you ought to make that more often.  It was good and it doesn’t appear to have taken any more effort than a frozen Lasagna.  I’m preparing now to head off for the annual trip to Eau Clair Wisconsin for my company’s yearly training seminars.  I’ve always got mixed feelings about these things.  On the one hand, I am thankful that for a huge company they still take the time to make sure their managers know about the products they are selling.  On the other hand, it’s all crammed into a 2 day period consisting of 16 hour days each day.  By the end of it I am whipped and as the years go on, I don’t come out knowing anything that new or exciting.  Oh well, it’s 2 days away from the rednecks up here I guess.

Lots of interesting things going on in politics although I don’t have the energy to report on much of it.  Eventually I’ll get around to writing another prophetic post blasting the religious right and the drag your heals left.  It’s exhausting.  I’ll leave you with a couple pictures below.  Hopefully I’ll find more time to write soon.

Santa Times 2

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As you can obviously see, I’ve once again changed the theme on my blog.  I’ve decided for now to go simple but I’ve been playing around with more complicated themes and options that eventually I’ll try out on you.  As I’ve said before, I change the themes because I get board with them and I like new things.  I think it’s pretty neat that this sort of platform even exists.

Tonight I am going to have dinner with my former in-laws.  Jirar’s folks are up here in the northwoods and we have planned a dinner at our favorite local dive.  It’s always good to see them and it’s nice that they’ve kept in contact with me.  Tomorrow, I am going to spend the day cleaning out my car (likely doing so out at the lake house so Gavin can play).  I need to unload the Malibu soon so that I can take possession of my new car and finally start driving it.  I have to get rid of my current car though first.  Any of you readers looking for a used car under $2000?  If so, let me know and I’ll consider your offers.

Not much else going on lately.  Fall is upon us and the weather has been shitty.  I guess I should expect it but this is my favorite season, I just wish it would not rain for a few days and be in the upper 60’s (rather than the low 40’s).  I’m going to also get out tomorrow and take more pictures.  Hopefully I’ll have a new gallery uploaded soon on my web site but for now, here is a nice picture you can use as your background on your computer!

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Well, I’ve got a problem at my condo and I’m not entirely sure how to get it taken care of.  I mentioned before here that I thought there might be some sort of animal living under my house because Gavin had been eating lots of little pellet poop in the yard.  Turns out I had a hole in the side of my condo leading to the crawl space and I suspected at that time, there might be a rabbit living under the house.  To my dismay, I ventured down into the crawl space a couple weeks ago and there are 2 sections under there.  The main part which runs under 90% of the condo was very clean and I could not locate any sign of animal activity.  Unfortunately, the small addition that was put on to this unit has a foundation that fully encloses it and there is no access to this 10×10 area from the main crawl space.  That’s where the animal is and now it’s starting to stink.  I’ve got a couple of options.  I can call the landlord and see if he can tell me how to get into that part of the crawl space (I suspect he has no idea).  I can dig a bigger hole next to the smaller one to see if I can get past the foundation wall but this is problematic because this is a condo, the owner of the condo doesn’t actually own the structure and I’m not sure I want to get in to screwing around with how this place was built in order to solve this problem.  I can call animal control or some pest control company and pay them to come and figure it out or I can just continue to live in what is quickly starting to smell like a barn.  I think I’ll go with the first option and see what the landlord has to say.  Unfortunately, I likely won’t get a response until Monday so I’ll just have to put up with it until then.  In the meantime, if you have any ideas for how to catch a rabbit (although I think it might be dead already and that’s why it smells so bad) I’d love to hear it.

In other news, I continue to amaze myself with my geeky fascination over technology.  Over the years, I’ve built up a rather impressive collection of old computers, cases, parts, hard drives and the like.  You know you can’t just toss that shit into a land fill so I’ve just never bothered to recycle any of it.  Last night, I hauled it all out, pulled out all the good components from the 4 old computers and reassembled them into a new hybrid computer.  My goal?  My big flat screen TV has an option to connect a computer to it and I have this urge to sit in my recliner and be able to surf the web.  Actually, there are all kinds of web sites available now where you can stream TV shows and movies (either free or for a fee) and by connecting this computer to the TV, I can now watch old re-runs of Silver Spoons, Family Ties, and the Golden Girls on Hulu.com on the big screen TV!  Shit, who needs cable any more, I can watch whatever I want for free via the Internet with the right technology.  So this morning I am re-installing an operating system before I head out to the lake for the day and tonight, we’ll see just how well it performs.

Anyhow, I need a life.

I’m going to be 35 freakin years old on Monday.  I’m not entirely sure where the past 10-20 years of my life has gone but I can’t say that anything that’s happened has been all that bad or that I regret any of it.  I’ve always tried to live my life the way I want to live it by my rules and for the most part, I get support from the people who matter for doing so.  I never thought I would end up back in retail, I certainly never thought I would end up living in Traverse City (seeing this place primarily as a vacation spot for most of my life), and I never thought that at this point in my life I’d be single again.  That last part bugs me a little bit but at the same time, I really don’t mind where my life is at right now.  I’ve always been fairly solitary, I do pretty well on my own, and to be completely selfish, I enjoy spending money on myself rather than supporting other people.  I make more money now than at any other point in my life (as it should be), I’m healthy, my parents are healthy, and I can pretty much do whatever I want, whenever I want within the confines of a retail schedule of course.  Looking ahead, just 35 more years until I’m 70 and hopefully (fingers crossed), I’ll be retired and living comfortably by that point.

I thought I’d share this picture with you as I approach my birthday.  They say that being gay is something you are predisposed to at birth and that social conditioning plays a roll but it’s not the only factor.  Do you think this kid is being socially conditioned to be straight or does he just have parents with boundary issues?  I can’t even begin to imagine Hooter’s being an appropriate venue for a 10 year old’s birthday party!   He apparently doesn’t seem to mind.

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Just when you think you’ve seen it all, today I got my first glimpse of “Car Surfing”.  I was driving down the road about 55mph going home from work and approaching me in the other direction was a car load of kids, although as they passed these were not young kids, they well into their late teens or 20’s.  2 of them were fully outside of the car (also traveling at a high speed) hanging on to the car door screaming and yelling (my windows were down and they could be heard as they whizzed by me).  A couple cars later, the same thing!  2 more kids, a little younger this time, hanging out of the car clearly enjoying themselves but oblivious to their own safety (and everyone else’s). Now, I did a LOT of dumb ass things as a kid, hell, I did stupid things well into my 20’s that looking back now that would have clearly marked me as an idiot but I’m proud to say that “car surfing” was not one of them.  I’ve always taken the responsibility of driving (and riding) rather seriously.  No seat belt, no ride kind of thing.  I just can’t imagine what was going through their minds, oblivious to the fact that a passing semi truck alone could have easily sucked them right off the side of their car and on to a certain and rather nasty death.  Wow.

It’s been a BUSY week for me.  Work has been a zoo but not exactly in the same way it has been most of the summer.  By zoo I mean that someone literally left the gate open at the zoo and untamed wild beasts have been shopping at the store this week!  One customer brought my assistant to tears this week, yelling at her for a problem he created, and yelling because when he discovered it he could not deal with that revelation.  I had another customer holler at me for having to come back and get more driveway sealer because what he got was too good and too thick and not like what he bought before even though what he got before was purchased at some other store in some other part of the state.  I had several other people in this week complaining that we are out of stock on SEASONAL items (stains, sealers etc.) and that I should have anticipated a shitty summer for doing outside projects and that 75% of the state has waited until the absolute last minute to do anything around their homes.  FUCK YOU, buy shit IN SEASON, you snooze you lose.  On top of the general jerks, it’s been beautiful outside now for the past 10 days and I’ve been stuck inside working my ass off.  Oh well, at least I can pay my bills…with the Michigan jobless rate above 12%, I can at least say I’m lucky to have an income.

Not too much else going on lately.  I am planning a trip to the Upper Peninsula with the folks in early October which will hopefully result in some good photography opportunities.  Right now, I don’t live any further from Lake Superior than I do from Grand Rapids (for the most part) and I’m sad that I’ve not bothered to just do a day trip up there.  If you like being out in the middle of fucking nowhere, the UP is certainly the place to do it.  I’ve been a little lax this year taking pictures.  Plenty of family pictures were taken and tons more pictures of Gavin, but I’ve not spent very much time in the woods this year like I’ve done in the past.  Most of that has to do with the fact that I live much further from nature now than I have in the past.  There are places to hike here in town but there are also lots of people, I can’t let Gavin off his lead, and I just don’t like being able to hear car horns and screaming children when I’m out hiking in the woods!  Oh well, at least I’m not sitting on my ass in front of the TV.  Anyhow, toodle for now.  Time to make dinner.

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I’m in a slightly better mood from my previous post here.  For two reasons.  First, we had our third and final inventory audit at work today and I scored a 90% which not only gets me my bonus for having passed (I have to score at least an 80% or better to get the bonus) but it is the best we have done on an audit since they began doing them 2 years ago!  I went into this audit, having only found out about it yesterday, pretty scared and I spent most of the day yesterday at work counting, organizing, filling shelves, and generally being an ass to my employees who, after that show, might now finally get where I am coming from and what I expect from them.  As a general rule, I’m not a mean person, I don’t talk down to my employees, and I don’t really even tell them what to do because for most of them, they should just know what to do on a daily basis.  I have found however that when demands are placed on me to perform, I have every right as a manager to turn around and expect the same from them and they came through for me on this one.  I accomplished more in my department yesterday than I had been able to accomplish in the past 3 months.  So, that is why I am in a better mood part one.

Part two goes like this.  I work at a store that is remarkably similar to big box Walmart.  I see the same clientele that you expect to see in a rural big box.  The diversity at my store is tremendous compared to the other home improvement stores because (and only because) of our massive product mix.  We sell stuff for everyone, not just nails and screws.  As I mentioned before, I read all kinds of blogs on the Internet.  Today I was sent a link to one that just cracked me up.  Not only is it funny because it pokes fun at some of the random people who shop at Walmart, it’s funny because they are the same people I see at my store EVERY day of the week.  So, I’d like you to visit this blog and look at the pictures.  THESE are the folks I am taking about when I go off on rants about idiot people, smelly people, funny people, drugged out people etc that I encounter during the course of my day.  When you work in retail, especially in big box retail with high volumes of traffic, you can see and experience the entire scope of humanity all within the course of about an hour.  This is par for the course in my life and it’s actually, despite my rants, one of the reasons I’ve grown to love retail and sales so much.  It cracks me up, makes me feel just a little bit better about myself and helps me to realize that we are all just a bunch of freaks trying to get through life…some of us doing a much better job than others.  Take a look.  The People Of Walmart.

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Once again, I have higher ambitions than my body will allow me.  I’ve not had the time or the energy lately to write in my blog here but the winds are changing.  It’s now mid-August and traffic at the store is starting to slow down a bit.  The past few weeks have been pretty crazy with the last big rush of tourists heading north for the end of their summer vacations, the camp grounds are full, the beaches are packed and the traffic is horrible.  This has been a different summer for me.  It’s not been a bad one, it just feels like we never really had a summer up here.  It’s been cold, wet,  and people’s attitudes reflect an attitude of having missed something this year.  Maybe it’s the economy or maybe it’s just the weather but people have been awfully moody this summer, myself included.

Jirar was up here for a couple days this week and despite our continuing friendship, it’s somewhat difficult to see him leave each time he comes to visit.  I’m reminded that I’ve not done much to improve my social life in any substantial way, sure I’ve got friends I can hang out with but it’s not the same as having a spouse there to push you in the right directions.  I have to remind myself that I don’t have to be in a hurry to find someone else, that I can indeed be perfectly content by myself for a while.  I’ve got plenty of good things going for me not the least of which is a hugely supportive family both immediate and extended who have my back when I need it.

I did find out this past week that I am not going to be in a position to buy my condo that I am renting.  I’d need to come up with about 40K as a down payment to make it possible and I just don’t see that happening.  On a brighter note, my landlord did agree to extend my lease for another 12 months but after that I will have to find another place to live next summer.  This condo has been a great place for me.  The size is great, the location is perfect, and the cost of living here is right within a good range.  There are really very few good places to rent up here.  The houses for rent in town are really nothing but trash, obviously rentals that have been worn down by negligent landlords who don’t give a shit about the property.  The apartment complexes are nice but most don’t allow pets and to buy a home up here I have to either cut back on the toys that I enjoy and that keep me entertained, or I have to settle for a property that would end up needing a lot of work.  I’m really just over the money pit stage.  I don’t have time for it.  I have a list of criteria that I require for housing and I’ve found that it’s hard to find things that fit up here in the northwoods, even though the things I want should be common….around here they just aren’t.

Anyhow, now it’s time for bed.  Tomorrow I work in the morning and then hopefully, as long as the store is slow, I can get out of there by noon and get out to the cottage with Gavin to spend some time on the lake.

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FINALLY, it was warm enough today to spend a day at the beach with the family.  Got some great pictures of Christopher and everyone else, you can see them all at leelanauphotography.com by clicking the link.  Sadly for Gavin, he had to sit this one out and really it’s a good thing he did too.  There were just too many people at the beach for him to handle and he would have had to be tied up since at least in the summer time, I can no longer take Gavin to the beach and let him run around, especially if there are other people around.  It’s a $50 ticket and from what I hear, the rangers are not nice about it either.  Oh well, they all disappear with the tourists sometime in September and then I have until next spring to let Gavin wander with me on the beach.

Going to be a busy weekend at work so I likely won’t write again until the end of the weekend.  Have a good night!

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