One of the options we offer at my school for some students is for them to take classes online.  For most students, this means having one of their classes spent in the computer lab working on a course of their own (social studies, math, etc.).  This is a nice option for us because since we have such a small staff, there are only so many classes we can offer and sometimes students (seniors in particular) need a specific credit.  It is also a good option for students who have an infant at home, or for some reason is unable to come to school.

One of the students who is doing online classes only (I don't know why) is taking a class called Social Issues.  It covers material like Civil Liberties, Drug Control, Abortion, The Middle East, etc.  This student submitted an essay for the Education lesson.  First, the directions he was given:

Find two articles on one of the topics discussed in this lesson. Use the articles and the information in this lesson to write an opinion essay on whether you agree or disagree with one of the following statements:

• The government should give parents vouchers to send their children to private schools.

• No Child Left Behind is bad for schools, students, and teachers.

• The federal government should provide funding to raise teachers' salaries.

And here is the 5 paragraph essay:
1.  I did go to college to be a teacher for the salaray, you know.  To heck with med school.  Doctors are chumps.
2.  Yes, many teachers went to college to teach because we just love kids so much.  Others of us, though, stay up late at night dreaming up ways to ruin our students' educational experiences.
3.  You know... this might be a valid point.  Nothing makes me feel superior more than my scheduled wallow in all of my excess money at the bank on Saturday afternoons.
4.  Ok.  I'll try to remember that the next time one of the girls comes to class with her shirt straining to keep her contained and the guys are talking about who their latest hook-up was.
5.  'Cause teachers never have late nights grading papers, or writing lesson plans.  Though I will admit that one reason I wanted to be a teacher is for summer break, I will certainly be teaching summer school and preparing for the coming school year.
6.  NEVER!
7.  Clearly your English teachers played a part in you failing to reach yore full potential.
8.   Mean mean?  Wow, that's pretty mean.  Maybe someday I will learn to be that mean.
9.   Let me get this straight. You lost that one credit so you can't graduate, which is why when you enrolled online you needed 9 more?  Wait, what?
10.  Well yes, sometimes.
11.  Market economy and all, I'm sure we'd have some seriously qualified teachers if we paid them minimum wage.
12.  Zuh?

Oh teaching.  Always something interesting going on.

Simple pleasure - a bachelor dinner
Peace

The balance in our checking account got significantly smaller yesterday when we finally were able to pick up our new car.  Perhaps I'll write a bit about the process later, but right now I want a nap.  Until later, here are a couple pictures of our new car.

I was a little crabby already yesterday when I was in the bathroom dealing with a clogged drain and I heard Sarah yelling something frantically from the basement.  I galloped down the stairs to see water raining from the ceiling of the basement.  We had a leak, and not an insubstantial one.  After lots of cleaning up of water mixed with drain cleaner we went upstairs to see a little water running down the walls in a couple places in the kitchen.  Splendid!

So we called a plumber and we decided I would not take a teaching job today so we wouldn't have to pay evening hours for a plumber to come.  The plumber showed up at 8:30 this morning and after about two hours there was no more leak, no more clog, and $450 less in the checking account.

Ouch.

Sometimes I really think a log cabin in the woods without running water and electricity would be pretty nice.  At least it is finally nice outside today.  I think I am going to go for a ride.  I need it.

Simple pleasure - a bright sunny day
Peace

Well, we got our taxes done today.  Despite not having any federal or state income taxes taken out of my paychecks - due to the way payroll at my school works - we are still getting a federal refund. Once we find out about some property tax things, we'll see whether we owe state taxes or not.  It's nice to have it done relatively early again and to have thing organized. 

Sarah is a very good influence and presence for me.  I was ADDing hardcore while we were going through Turbotax.  I was reading instructions and individual words made sense, but any meaning they carried just bounced off my head and rocketed off into space.  On my own I would have eventually gotten through it after many hours and hesitations, but with her help it was relatively painless.  Because of her too, all of my tax information is pretty well organized and if we needed something from last year it only took a couple minutes to find it.  That's a nice change indeed.

Time to go put in a swim now.  It'll be another 2500 yards today I think.

Simple pleasure - inevitable peanut butter cookies
Peace

Note:  I wrote this at school this morning between about 8 and 9am during my prep periods.  I don't particularly feel like reading it over right now, so there's a good chance it's a bit rambling, but it is also genuine.

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I am worried.  This is not something that I say lightly because I generally don’t think worrying serves much of a purpose.  If you can do something about what you are worrying about, then do it.  If you can’t, then don’t worry about it.  Simplistic, maybe, but it is generally how I operate.

 That being said, I am worried about the economy and the greater state of global economic affairs and there isn’t one darn thing I can do about it.   

 Locally, I am worried about how an economic downturn will affect Sarah and I.  We are doing better than many, but that doesn’t mean that we are necessarily all that far from money trouble.  Mortgage, a big-assed pile of student loans, paying off a new (to us) car, driving another car that is definitely showing its age, plenty of other monthly bills… it is quite a lot of money that is leaving our pockets.  I/we have been looking forward to the day that I get my own teaching job.  When that happens, I will easily be making more than I ever have and will more than double what I am bringing in now.  But if we suffer a serious economic downturn, could that reduce my chances for a job?  It probably wouldn’t, since kids will still need to be taught, but it is something of a concern.  Could it jeopardize Sarah’s job?  I don’t know.  I will leave it to Sarah to talk about her company should she choose to do so.  But should something happen to her job or mine, that could spell trouble.

 All signs right now are pointing to recession.  This morning, the Fed announced a .75% reduction in interest rates when no meeting for the Fed was scheduled.  This follows a weekend where the international markets have tanked.  It sounds like the U.S. markets are going to probably follow their example despite the interest rate cut.  So it looks as though the economy is going to slow even more.  Combine that with a huge rate cut and it appears we have a recession combined with a good chance for inflation.  Splendid.  Just what we need, higher prices for our consumables. 

 I am listening to NPR right now and they’ve got it right in analyzing what the Fed is thinking.  They have two worries, inflation and growth.  With this rate cut they are saying that they’ll worry about inflation later ‘cause growth is more important in getting the economy on track.  This is where my quieter, yet more ominous worry lays. 

 Our economy is based on consumption and growth.  Says the market news, “GigantoCorp’s stock went down fifteen percent today because their quarterly earnings didn’t meet projections.”  The U.S. was built on the foundation of the marketplace and growth.  Our prosperity is based on buying cars, and MP3 players, non-stick fry pans, Go-gurt, designer clothing, McMansions and Levitra.  If we don’t continue to buy, the economy suffers.  So we buy more and more and more, often times crap we really don’t need.  But we buy it ‘cause we are told to buy it and because we feel it will make our lives better.  The problem is that an economy based on growth is an awful lot like a pyramid scheme, it can only grow so much before it collapses.  It is remarkable that our economy has grown as much as it has in the last 500 years, but it just can not continue.  We are approaching a point where more Best Buys can not be built, more oil can not be pumped, and more bauxite can not be mined ‘cause there just aren’t any more consumers and there is a finite amount of raw resources.

 One of my concerns is that we have reached too far, economically.  One of these days I believe there will have to be some serious pruning of our recent growth, or it may die back in ways we like even less.  I believe that despite our amazing economic history and growth we wrongly went down the path of capitalist and growth economics long ago.  Not that it probably seemed like there was any other option at the time, but those smart choices in the past have lead to the unsustainable economy of today.  In the last ten years or so as I learned more and more about economics, resources, and the state of affairs I have believed that this capitalist system needed to change. 

 My worry is that even though I want a revolution to come, I am comfortable where I am.  Changing our economy away from growth and profit to something more sustainable is impossible, in my view, without supremely painful changes that probably wouldn’t be resolved for years, if not decades.  I can’t even imagine what it would take to change our economic system away from capital and growth to something healthier.  That change would take a near reversal of attitudes by everyone.  I don’t want to give up my bike and outdoors gear any less than the folks in suburbia want to give up their Audis and Prada.  It’s going to happen one way or another though… whether it happens tomorrow, ten years from now, or whether it is somehow postponed for a hundred years.

 I’m not sure I want to see the likely anarchy that would result.  I suppose I will put on a mask of ignorance like everyone else.  I suppose I will buy into the stimulus package that the president, presidential candidates, and congress all support to stimulate more consumption and march blindly towards the precipice. 

I wish I knew how to grow and hunt for my own food and build my own shelter.

We sat down to do our taxes today. I loath doing my taxes. It's not that I mind paying taxes, if anything I think taxes should be higher. The way I operate makes doing very important things that require lots of careful thought, preparation, and organization very stressful. I have applied for extensions to complete my taxes several times. One time I didn't even do my taxes until November or December. More than once I have had to get in touch with employers to have them send me duplicate forms because I lost them. Or I would sit down to do them and when I got to something that seemed complicated or confusing I would just get up and walk away (sometimes for days).

Then came Sarah and Turbotax.

I looked into having our taxes done at H&R Block, but they wanted to charge us around $300. I did my taxes online last year, but that was stressful. Someone recommended Turbotax to me. The people at Intuit software deserve many many hugs. Taxes have never been less painful.

We sat down with our forms and two hours later we are done with our taxes. Sarah kept me focused and we powered through everything. Once we find one last form, we'll be able to submit everything and we'll have our refunds on the way. This is the earliest either of us have ever finished doing our taxes.

Last year I bought an engagement ring with my refund. This year our refunds will pay for our honeymoon. Filing taxes as a married couple isn't exactly romantic, but it is another one of those reminders that a great new chapter to my life has started... and that ain't half bad.

Yes, our taxes are paying for the military-industrial and prison-industrial complexes and many other ill-conceived and unjust programs. They are also paying for schools, foreign aid (some of which is very good), environmental protection, and even though it pisses me off terribly it pays for the relatively smooth running of our stable and more or less good government.

Simple pleasure - the little flowers my mom got us open and close each day with the sun
Peace