Opposite of a Fool

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." -Winston Churchill

An Uphill Battle

Even though we know the cards were stacked against him, it still hurts to see Brad fired.  Millsie is a solid baseball man with the patience of Job.  Moreso he is a better than fine human  He teaches the game the right way.  When you lead a group that is far less experienced than the opponent, you're bound to lose more than win. 

Brad will land somewhere and do fine.

The Blessing of Work

The title has come to have a few different meanings to me.  I think of the fact that I have a paying job as a blessing.  I'm reminded of my grandfather who moved half a country away from his family to find a job in 1932 when I look at 3 of my children looking for jobs.  Fortunately they each have some work, but the hope of a better job carries them onward.  I have a job. I can help them just as others helped me.

Work is also a blessing when it can carry you way from difficulties.  The job I have is different than many.  We are judged by a score on a test.  The job has a cycle in that each year we have a beginning, with some hope of a "better" year, and an end with the release from failures.  In time these seasons can look similar to the previous years.  Except to some the beginning is another chance to try something new.  The blessing is the ability to close the door, and go to work with young people. The work helps us forget about the new program with its attendant business.

Work also can take us away from the dissonant chatter of the world.  We inhabit a world that is fighting against itself in so many ways, that the rubbing is wearing through the good.  Work lets me move to another place for a while.

Work is a place I go to each day and afterwards I go to a place of greater blessing. Home to my family.

The New Classroom, Part 1

 Southwest corner with West wall, mostly covered windows with some of the work tables

 East wall that divides main shop from 3 storage rooms & office door under the left tv

 Storage unit in Kiln room

Northwest corner and North wall with wonderful friend that helped clear some of the big items

In May I wrote about the change in my teaching schedule and the new class I will be supervising, Crafts.  After school ended I have been working on the Crafts shop and cleaning and rearranging the space.  Above are four pictures of parts of the shop as I inherited it.  The first four weeks of summer were spent mostly teaching summer school, and occasionally I could slip away and spend some time digging through the room and planning a bit.  The last four have been spent in this room and other rooms Crafts has used for storage.

This building I was told was originally the cafeteria, but I have only known it as the Crafts shop.  The building is split lengthwise by a supporting wall giving a main room which is about 2/3's of the entire space.  The rest of is divided into three smaller rooms.  The North room and the smallest is where the three kilns are located. Only two of the kilns have been connected to electricity.  The two big kilns take up about a third of the room with the remaining walls covered by metal shelving used for storing  kiln materials.  The storage unit in the picture above was rescued from a chemistry lab remodel and I have removed it from the room to create more storage.

One of my reoccurring themes in the changes in this shop is clearing of clutter and unused storage.  Besides the four rooms of this building, there is Crafts tools and material in four other rooms across campus.  Two rooms were in the music building and two more in the weight room.  I eventually hope to get that down to one other room.

The next room in the Crafts building is the office.  At one time we had a great animation lab and this room was home to multiple computers used in the animation process.  What that meant was a room full of cabinets and shelves that made the space feel small.  I cleaned out some of the shelves and reused them for tool storage in the main room.

The South and last room is just for storage.  It is the largest of the storage rooms. I have a planer and large air compressor in the room.  I moved most of the wood storage to a rack in this room.  The biggest job in this room is to organize the tools. Some, like the planer and chop saw, aren't used often and never by the students, at least at this time.  I'm still trying to ease my fear of students with sharp objects in their hands.  I have no pictures of this room before the cleanup, but the janitors have told me stories of having to slide/shinny sideways to get through the room with no attempt to clean because it was futile.  Some of the objects round have surprised me.  Three rolls of unused mil-spec surplus webbing in one drawer, with the military tag still on the roll was one find.  I have paused work in this room and figure it will be a task to tackle over the first semester.

Probably the biggest overall task is the storage of unused and "out of season" tools.  Tools such as the throwing wheels and clay recycler that are only used in the second half of the year.  These are big items that take up lots of space.I have an idea of building tables to fit over the throwing wheels.  When we are not working with clay the tables will be used for other projects.  When clay starts the tables will be removed and the wheels will then be usable.  Nice idea, but still not done.  Maybe next summer.  What really happened is I stored some of the wheels off campus or in areas I cleared out in the shop storage rooms.  I dedicated one of the music rooms to clay storage space.

The tasks before me immediately if the arranging of tools on the tool wall and the decisions on what projects to do this year.  After filling more than two dumpsters, one can get a different feel when walking in the room. After pictures will be coming as I complete more of the renovation. So far there is a sense of accomplishment at the cleaning, but a greater feeling of being overwhelmed at teaching a new subject.

Oh yeah I forgot to mention, school started two days ago.

Shame on You, Why Did You. . .?

Today the semi-regional paper, The Visalia Times Delta, reported that the Tulare County Board of Supervisors voted themselves a 4.56% salary increase. That's a $4,121 raise on a salary of $90,376.  As a reference, that's more than I make, but I only teach 181 days of the year.   Two supervisors voted against the  recommendation and one, Peter Vander Poel refused to accept the raise.  The supervisor that represents my district had a different response.
Board Chairman Allen Ishida  said the supervisors have earned raises.  “We are one of the few government agencies in the state of California able to give its employees raises” since the financial crisis, and he credited responsible fiscal leadership for putting Tulare County in that position. 
“When you really earn your money … is when times are bad, not when times are good,” Ishida said.  He added that with staff cuts, county workers are doing more and deserve pay raises across the board, but “We can’t give it to everybody yet.”
So you aren't going to give increases to the people that actually implement your decisions?  The people that take the brunt of the public attack when the county office is closed and people are angry because they have taken time off work and traveled to the county seat to do business only to find the office shuttered for the day?  The county employees that actually make your choices function and work?  They won't get an increase?  But YOU will?  You, Mr. Ishida, who are  making these tough decisions, how can you be so out of touch with your constituents?  Why are you giving yourself an increase when others don't receive one?  Why don't you wait until you can give everyone an increase?
Or how about splitting your $4,121 amongst two or three that don't get a raise?  I'll bet they would appreciate it because they haven't had any salary increase in a while.  Something is better that nothing, and really better than the boss getting something when they get squat.
But remember this if you remember nothing else, I will not forget this vote.  This vote after the consent vote you used to cover your last "almost" raise.  I will remember that you didn't learn your lesson. I will remember, and I will not vote for you.  And I will tell everyone I see also.