Do you have Hoarding Syndrome?

We Americans love junk. Admit it. Somewhere in your home, boxes reside, untouched, (but you know what is in them!) waiting for the next move..

My friend, Isabel spent her childhood making excuses as to why friends could not visit. In 10th grade I finally got a peek inside her house-three bedrooms filled to the top with newspapers. The kids in the family slept on the couches. What possessed her mom?

On a smaller scale, we Americans just like junk. No one can accuse us of being "poor savers"-we save all the time-we love to save. We are probably the only country in the world where people rent spaces to put their junk. What is in those boxes in storage and if we aren't using the stuff-why save it?

My all time favorite junk savers are the PODS-

not only can we save junk-we can park it in the front of our house and show the neighbors how prosperous we are-so prosperous we have to store our stuff in a little mini house..

Pondering our propensity for junk I started to ask myself these questions:

1. Do I need more than one of something? Do I need two blenders, or two potato mashers? (What, I am going to have a party and invite everyone to mash..?)2. When was the last time I used it?

3. I am saving this for......

4. What is the worst that can happen if I throw this away? (well, if it is my tax returns..)

5. Why not use the free stuff websites to get rid of it?-one person's junk is another's gold.

6. And last-what is my freaking problem?? Throw it away-donate it-sell it-let it go!! 

Headlines on Huffington Post

FED WANTS BANKS TO STRESS-TEST THEMSELVES

hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

When learning history becomes history

In today's New York Times a small article on the front page describes the discovery of what I am sure is one of the few  remaining Nazi criminals .  How many teachers have the time to teach about World War II?  The Kamikaze pilots(very much like the the bombing attempts in the Middle East) or  the new  global image of the United States government via the  response to Hurricane Katrina?

How many students have the opportunity to learn about the development of the US Space program, the famous walk on the moon?

Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

Vietnam?

I am not going rant about how testing mentality has robbed our current generation of the rich sources history and social studies generate for the purpose of developing a deeper understanding and philosophy of human culture.

Nope. (Did I just do it?)

I'll just show the pictures

Nevada, neither blue or red-what color speaks?

The blue car HAS to represent teachers in Las Vegas-looks ten years old and the tail lights are illegal now. harhar

 Thars that vacant look 

 Scares me..

: 

CCEA's  idea of showing teacher solidarity -ha

..Right-he really shouldn't be smiling-it may be a 30 sq foot house-but he still pays taxes like it was 2005

Rerrerun-politicians have their very own, bonafide jet stream--whichever way the wind blows..

Every day is Mother's Day-mom knows this

Mom radar begins the day a baby is born. There is no sleeping like a dead person anymore. Something kicks in-some new brain circuit lasting an entire lifetime. Yep, till the dying breath, a mom hears every cough, sees every pain in a son or daughter's eyes, rides the tide of joy and celebrates each accomplishment with a profound sense of love.

Kids don't have a clue, do they? If they only knew how deep the well runs from mother to child, they would be astounded at the power and enormity of mom's love.

I remember the day my son was born-21 seems young today but that was a respectable age at one time. I held him and my brain registered this HUGE responsibility, my internal voice recognizing with awe, DEAR GOD-THIS IS FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE..and it is..

Roses-to moms

 Pink Roses for moms who read to their children and read with them as they mature.

 Yellow Roses for moms who, with their absolute faith and confidence in their children, allow them to take risks and learn from natural consequences (within reason, for goodness sakes..)

Double roses for single moms , never sleeping, working at work and working at home, exhausted, yet never losing the commitment and desire to parent.

 Scarlet Roses for moms of children with disabilities-because they know the potential and talents of their children and they fight for them.

 Teacher versions of Roses for moms who make sure their kids do their own science projects, homework and book reports.

Red Roses for every mom for the birth experience -and the willingness to have more after the first!

Rainbow roses for all moms-just remember, moms shape our society, our culture, our mores and our beliefs -men don't ever kid yourselves,

every  nations' leader had a mother, each artist, poet, writer, teacher, monk, priest, athlete, genius, great dad, great boyfriend, loyal friend, musician, and a even a few slackers(ha).

Happy Mother's Day

Outsourcing your financial information to India..

I had a problem with Coldwater Creek, an online women's site. I used the link on the site to converse with a customer service rep. She was handling the call from India.

I started to wonder what other corporations were outsourcing business to India.

I had to call AT&T for a technical problem and the tech rep's accent was too difficult for me to understand so I gave up and told him I would try to figure it out myself. turns out the modem installed was defective-I kept telling the tech it was overheating-the bottom got so hot I had to turn it off.

When I was about to give up completely he agreed to send me a new one and I haven't had a problem since. But not without a good hour of frustration trying to understand one another.

Outsourcing jobs is a real threat to all of us.

If you only knew how many companies outsource your financial information to India, you might think twice about whose hands you are trusting with  credit and banking information 

This is an incomplete list of some of the businesses I am not going to be visiting with my dollars. I have a feeling the damage may already be done-but maybe I will fell a little better knowing I at least voiced my protest.

Here is a link to a list of many businesses who outsource customer service to Indian companies-

http://www.nojobsforindia.com/

Here is a short list :

Home Depot

JCPenny

Albertsons

Avon

Capital One

AOL

Travelocity

Charles Schwab

ATT@T

Delta Airlines

Dupont 

Google

Johnson and Johnson

MBNA

Citibank

Bank of America

Wachovia

Shell Oil Company

H&R Block

Lexmark

Walmart online

Purina

Target

Nike

Bell South

MBNA

Dell

Normally I am not an alarmist. I didn't worry about SARS or stay awake with a gas mask on waiting for my letter with the white powder to come in the mail.

I am not egotistical enough to think every major disastrous possibility is going to happen to "special little ole me"

The outsourcing of my credit, banking, social security number, financial information and personal data to another country because they do it cheaper does not comfort me. Does it comfort you?

Now, if I thought corporations were outsourcing because India provided superior security and service, and I knew for a fact that in the United States we did not, I wouldn't peep.

But this is what freaks me out-they are doing it because it is cheaper!!!!!! arrgghh!

We already know what that means-guys-flammable pj's, leaded paint, tainted fruit and veggies, lead painted Toys r Us-

No, this does not comfort me.

My bank does business with India. I don't like that. I think we need to boycott them. 

Hello?? Americans purchase these products. If a business has such little respect for  our bucks -then our bucks should  stop here-in America.

That's my slogan for them-"The Buck Stops Here-in the US-

My son had a great idea-he believes all corporate executives should have to live in the third world country that business exploits. I agree.

The Job Application on-line-discrimination

The Internet has produced many wonderfully efficient caches of production. For example, paying bills online is probably putting the US Mail out of business. Shopping is another great contribution. I hate Christmas shopping-amongst hordes of runny nosed, flu contaminated fellow citizens who would call in sick but never, even consider not going into public with the same disease..(that's another rant).

Without the stress of the masses, shopping for presents is delightful.

This isn't about the wonderfully creative and positive developments.

Have you noticed most businesses and companies now require you to apply on-line? Many require you take a personality test as well. They ask you for full job histories and pretty much tell you if you don't provide it you are lying and will not be considered. They ask for all the from-to dates for degrees and certificates.

Before you ever get your foot in the door.

They don't have to respond to you after they have taken all your information. They don't even have to e-mail you to tell you they received your application.

They can pretend they never received it if they want to ignore it.

The process allows for major discrimination. Age discrimination is probably the greatest abuse in the professional world at present.

With the thousands of Baby Boomers returning to work or out of work looking for jobs because of the economy, business can just ignore the application and fail to respond.

Two years ago states couldn't get enough teachers. They were publicly wooing older adults to consider a career change to education. The merits of personal satisfaction and altruistic motive were touted and appealed to many professionals.

Teach For America appealed to new graduates with no degree in education, asking them to sacrifice a few years in the nations toughest school districts.

I heard that message. At age 46, with a graduate degree in social work, I returned to graduate school to earn the 36 credits needed to become a highly qualified teacher. My daughter was in second grade. I took out school loans to pay for my degree, with the promise that help was available for tuition because teachers were needed so badly.

After seven years teaching in one school district, with excellent job reviews, a professional five year certificate, a highly qualified rating and experience with at risk students successfully passing standardized testing, when I apply for a job (which are ironically scarce right now-what happened in just two years??) often I don't hear back at all. Not a peep.

Do you think it has to do with the fact I am 56??

I can't even get my foot in the door for a face to face. If one employer in this area would just meet with me, I might, just might, be able to communicate my level of knowledge, my passion and my commitment to children and education.

Or is the competition all about age?

What do you think?