May 7-8 was a huge Scout Jamborall held in Blackfoot at the Idaho State Fair Grounds. The local amateur radio club set up a booth at the event to show the scouts what ham radio can do. They needed volunteers to help man the booth, so I went up on Saturday morning and stayed until early afternoon. I had a lot of fun with the scouts and the other folks from the club.
On the way home my phone rang. It was Nina. She’d been in Idaho Falls doing some not-so-successful clothes shopping. I answered the phone.
“You’re speeding!” she said.
“Huh? According to the GPS I’m going 77 mph,” I replied.
“You just went flying past me on the freeway and you’ve got to be going faster than 77. I’m going 75 and you blew right past me.”
Well, the Avalon’s speedometer isn’t all that accurate. It reads faster than you’re actually going. Even though it says 75, she was probably going about 71 or 72. Still, I don’t think I “flew” past her! Interesting coincidence that we met up like that.
We had our normal Friday morning shift at the Idaho Falls Temple on Friday morning. Getting up was made a bit more difficult because we didn’t get home from Stephanie’s graduation until about 10:30 p.m. That made for very few hours until the 3:30 a.m. wake up. The trip to Salt Lake, which included driving over to Soda Springs to pick up my mother and then taking her back home before coming home, was definitely worth it. Again, congratulations Stephanie!
I had an appointment on Friday afternoon to meet with the company in Pocatello that wants to outsource some programming work to me. I signed a pretty detailed non-disclosure agreement, so I won’t be talking about them very much on the blog, and definitely won’t be talking about any of the clients of theirs for whom I’ll be doing some work. The rate of pay is excellent and the amount of work … 20 to 25 hours a week … fits very nicely into my schedule. The first assignment will come on Monday and should be able to be finished on Monday afternoon.
A member of the Pocatello City Council has been appointed by President Obama to be the new U.S. Marshall for the State of Idaho. Brian Underwood has been the warden at the local womens correctional center as well as serving on the City Council. He’s a great guy and will be missed here when he leaves in a week or so to take up his new position.
However, that leaves an opening on City Council. I filled out my paperwork and dropped it off at City Hall to put my hat in the ring for the appointment. There’s little chance of being appointed, but not getting into the race would be a for-sure-non-appointment! The Mayor will be reviewing the applications next week, making a short list, and then interviewing candidates. I’d be really pleased just to get an interview, actually.
Our oldest grandchild Stephanie graduated with her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Utah on May 6th. Of course, we were there for the ceremony!
Stephanie graduated just a few weeks after her 21st birthday. She’s wizard smart, witty, brilliant, pretty, and just plain delightful … and I’m not just being biased! She took all the Advanced Placement classes in High School that she could and entered the University of Utah as a Sophomore. She worked at a five-star hotel in Salt Lake City through her school years and got some very valuable experience as well as tuition assistance from the hotel. We had lunch in one of the restaurants where she works and it was clear that she’s well liked and respected at the hotel.
I’m not going to name the hotel for a simple reason. They aren’t going to take advantage of the asset that is our granddaughter. Hopefully what I’m writing in this post won’t come to haunt her … but there’s no plan at the hotel to do something with her beyond the job she currently has. Very Dumb.
That’s one of the major flaws in our corporations today. Advancement only comes by quitting your current job and going somewhere else, taking your experience and qualifications with you. It’s all part of the Quarterly Report Syndrome that all public corporations seem to have. They have to report detailed financial information every quarter to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Investors prognosticate the future of the company based on those reports and the stock price goes up or, heaven help the company’s officers, goes down. Since labor is a significant component of the corporation’s costs, they focus heavily on controlling that cost. It is far more profitable in the near term for the company’s officers, who have a significant part of the compensation tied up in the stock price, to cast off experienced, higher-paid employees and replace them with lower cost, less experienced employees. Even though the future of the company walks out the door and benefits some other corporation, that’s not their concern right now.
It hasn’t always been that way. It shouldn’t be that way now. Until it changes, the loyalty of employees to companies and companies to employees extends only until the next paycheck. And a five-star hotel in Salt Lake City seems to be willing to sacrifice a future asset. Very Dumb.
But, congratulations, Stephanie. You’re degree in hospitality management will serve you very well … and you’ll find that employer who understands that. Good luck and God Speed!
Each month during the school year, Pocatello-Chubbuck School District 25 holds a “key communicator” meeting on the first Wednesday of the month. To accommodate folks in the community they hold two meetings, one at 7:00 a.m. and one at noon. I usually go to the 7 a.m. meeting and occasionally, like today, I go to the noon meeting. There are more people at the noon meeting, sometimes meaning a better conversation.
The topic for May (the last meeting of this school year) was about a change the school system implemented this year to meet the State of Idaho requirement to add a Freshman Studies class, another math credit, another science credit, and a Senior Project. To do that, the system switched from semesters 18 weeks long to trimesters 12 weeks long. Further, the system went from 7 50-minute class periods per day to 5 70-minute periods per day. Several Junior-year students came to the meeting to tell us their likes and dislikes about the new system. All of them were honor students deeply involved with Advanced Placement and Dual Enrollment classes and they were unanimous in their opinion that the change limited their ability to take interesting elective classes.
The “culprit” is that the AP classes take all three trimesters. The reasons are that the AP tests are given in May and by going all three trimesters, the students can get more in-depth and be better prepared for the test. They all felt that the extra time to learn the material and prepare for the test was very beneficial. Further, all of them were taking at least two AP classes (and two were taking 3 AP classes), meaning that they actually had two or three fewer periods in the year to take other classes, and that some of the classes they wanted to take were only available during time periods when they were in an AP class.
There is probably no good solution to their problem. But, I did learn one interesting / strange thing. In order to be in the drama plays, the student has to take a drama class during the trimester when the play will be presented. Also, in order to be in Student Government (a class officer or being elected to the school senate), they had to be enrolled in a government class. In one case, one of the presenters had to give up her class officer position because she simply couldn’t work in the required government class. The Superintendent assured us that they would be reviewing these requirements and that changes would be made.
So, instead of financial woes, we learned about student woes. It was interesting, the kids were very well prepared, very articulate, and Very Smart. The financial woes continue … and the State of Idaho needs to be held accountable for what they’ve done to our schools. But, I did meet a group of very motivated students who will make the best of their high school time, regardless of what happens to the school district financially. I liked what I saw and heard.
Every other week the City of Pocatello picks up the recycle bin. That material is sent to a place in Portland, Oregon where it is sorted and, well, recycled. The program does not pay for itself directly, but indirectly it is a real win for the City. The landfill is getting about 30% less trash than before the program started, meaning that the need to add additional capacity to the landfill has been pushed out for several years. Adding capacity to the landfill is an expensive proposition.
I did get word that my demonstration website was accepted by the company I’ve been interviewing with and they’ll get back with me by the end of the week. So, I’m still in the running. There is competition for this contract and I’m hoping that wisdom and experience will trump youth and enthusiasm.
Nina’s niece Ashlyn and her husband Eric have been staying with us for a few days. They weren’t able to negotiate a few days extra on their lease, so they needed to move out somewhere. They’re leaving to go back east later this week, so staying with us was a great option. We tried out a new pizza place here in Pocatello … New York Style Pizza. Some of the best pizza in the world comes from New England and this new restaurant has successfully brought some of that taste here. We’ll definitely be back … often!
Nina came into the computer room and handed me the “missing” ribbon bar from my time in the Air Force. Out house is indeed a “safe house” as Nina has declared … that is, things don’t get lost, they’re just in “safe” places.
Earlier I posted my picture from back in my Air Force days which displayed two rows of ribbons. This picture makes up the whole of everything I was awarded while I was an airman.
It’s nice to have a relatively non-busy day. Late nights and busy days on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday meant that Monday’s non-schedule would be a nice change.
But, it was not to be! I have been talking with a company in Pocatello about the possibility of doing some contract programming work for them. I had another interview with them on Friday, the 30th and they asked me to build a demonstration site to show what I could do for them. They gave me a small specification and wanted it to be done by the end of the business day on Monday. I didn’t have time to do any work on it until Monday … but it came together quite nicely and I turned it over to them for their review well before the end of the day. Hopefully something will come from it!
My usual Sunday assignments start fairly early in the morning and continue for most of the day. That means I don’t have a chance to check out Twitter or Facebook until sometime in the evening, even with an iPhone. However, there is one bit of iPhone magic that is fairly essential to me on some Sundays. That’s the Scriptures application.
This application, including having all of the Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price immediately available (although I prefer my book for these), it also has the lesson manuals. Sometime during the week I use my iPhone to read the material that’s going to be taught and discussed in Sunday School so that I can be somewhat prepared for the class.
Occasionally (and sometimes more often) the teacher for the 16-17 year-old class simply doesn’t show up. The Sunday School President, knowing that I have read the lesson, will often ask if I’ll be an on-the-spot substitute for the class. These folks in this class are absolutely delightful people and I thoroughly enjoy being in class with them. They like to talk and they like to joke, but they also really like a good, thoughtful religious discussion. Having the manual immediately available on my iPhone is very helpful for these impromptu opportunities.
The material for the lesson on May 2nd was centered around the story of Balak the King of Moab and Balaam the Prophet of Mesopotamia with Balaam’s interaction with his donkey being one of the key points for the lesson. There was quite a bit of discussion about Balaam’s lack of reaction when the donkey talks to him. As we wrapped up the lesson, I asked them what they thought I should learn from the story. To do that, I go around the room and let each class member have a turn. Of course the remark, “When the donkey talks, you better start listening!” got a good reaction. Then one of the more quiet and shy students said his take-away was that the “call to repentance often comes from the least expected and least respected sources.”
The trick is to remember upon waking up on the first day of the month to say, “Rabbit Rabbit!” before saying anything else. If I remember the night before, then I usually remember when I wake up. On this May Day I totally forgot. There goes the luck for the month….
Four Saturday afternoons a year we have an assignment to work from noon until about 7 p.m. at the Idaho Falls Temple. May 1st was the second of our four days. We leave about 10:45 a.m., so getting breakfast, getting things cleaned up, and getting ready to go takes most of the morning. Saturdays are usually pretty busy at the Temple and this one was no exception. Nina and I were able to take a short break about 2 p.m. and have dinner in the cafeteria. That started our Fast.
In the LDS Church on the first Sunday of the month we fast for two meals in a 24-hour period and donate the money we would have spent for these two meals (plus a generous additional contribution) for the care and feeding of those less fortunate. Nina and I usually eat dinner on Saturday and then fast until dinner time on Sunday evening. Having dinner at 2 p.m. on Saturday worked out very well for us. It is also a good feeling to know that we’re actually doing something healthy for us and of benefit for others.
