Rick2

OMG, that's a riot. I'm going to have to carry a Barbie pole in my boat as a fishing secret weapon.

Another shooting/murder in a school yesterday. A school is basically the same as any other place. If they want to do a shooting in a school there's not much we can do. If they want to do a shooting in a shopping mall there's not much we can do. If they want to do a shooting at a baseball game there's not much we can do. You get the idea. I think the same rule applies for most anything. Doesn't matter how many alarms you have on your car, if they want it they'll get it. Is your house secure enough? Never is.

I had a lot of funny events happen while building my house. It’s the first house I ever built so things didn’t always go so smooth. I ended up buying the lot next to my new house for extra space and not to get a neighbor next door. Problem was the tall pine trees on that lot. I bought a new chainsaw and 100 feet of rope, tied one end to the saw and the other end to the belt loop of my cut-off shorts and started climbing way way up. When I got to the top I pulled up my chainsaw with the rope and started limbing the tree. Keep in mind it’s in the middle of July and real hot. Real hot. So hot that I wasn’t wearing a shirt and was “commando” style under those cutoffs. One of those tree limbs that I cut off got caught in the rope on its way towards the ground and ripped the chainsaw out of my hand. I stood on a large branch watching my new saw and a tree limb race their way to the ground. I quickly remembered that the rope was stilled fastened to my shorts. ... Rip. Moments later I found myself naked in the tree. It gets worse still. Of course the neighbors saw me climbing down the tree naked and pulled their children into their homes. With only 10 feet left to go I slipped and fell out of the tree landing inches away from my still running chainsaw. I got up and ran to the back door of my house but the door was locked. This meant I had to go around to the front door which is near a rather busy street at 5:30 pm. Rush hour. I’ll have to post the air conditioner story next time, or maybe the one about tarring the foundation with an S10 blazer and a 6 pack of Bud, or lighting the roof on fire with an explosion from the backyard. Many more. I’ll never build my own house again.

Did you hear the news from Knoxville this morning?

Yeah, the money is real nice but the work is tough. I'd much rather be washing than plowing. It's really bad when equiptment breaks down in the middle of a bad storm. Welding and cutting in a No'easter can get on your nerves something crazy. Been there and done that way too many times.

No problem Beth. Listening to the audiobooks helps the time to go by faster and drowns out the drone of the machines running in the background. Lots of educational audiobooks out there too. Learn a new language, relive WWII, etc.

Several of my friends that snowplow with me carry guns in their trucks. We are usually out late at night and carry quite a bit of cash from customers that pay us in cash. I perfer checks. Only once did my friend have to pull his gun a someone. He was plowing a parking lot when someone ran up to his truck and opened the passanger door. Jim pulled his gun and that's all it took for that guy to go running off in the other direction.

Some years back the police used to park their cars around the back, out of sight because they didn’t want to make an impression to the public that a police presence was necessary at a public school. These days, with the public more aware of school conditions, the police park their cars out front so they will be easily seen by the public. A type of assurance I guess.

If anyone likes to listen to audiobooks while ther're working you must visit this site. It has hundreds of audiobooks, all free to download. Be sure that the book you choose to download is compleated. Some are still a work in progress. www.podiobooks.com Another great site in the Internet Archive. Thousands of free downloads that are mostly OTR (Old Time Radio) www.archive.org/details/radioprograms You'll have to spend a little time looking through this site because they have so many things on it. All free downloads.

Can I filter it through my kidneys first?

You got that right. 100 percent right! How does Skinner say it? Sure got that right

I think it’s called “learned dependency” or something like that. Capable of making a living and willing to make a living are two different things. I have a niece that will sleep with anything that has a pulse and has numerous “*******” children. Okay with her because the government pays for them all. Never let her on you home property because she will “fall” and sue your homeowners insurance. On the other hand her brother works his butt off to get where he wants. Most people I know work two jobs especially if they work for the city. My brother whom is a policeman works as a welder for his second job. My other brother is a fireman and owns a landscaping company. We are all capable and willing to work. Not everyone is.

At least you don't have to water the lawn for a few days. :)

That's exactly what we call them here, a crazy check. BTW, I work in School B.

When they get expelled they have to be placed in another environment by law, let’s call that “School B.” The problem is School B become increasingly populated with the expelled students. Most children that become expelled don’t learn poor behavior on their own, they are exposed to it at home. Now School B is increasing in size not with just children that are expelled due to behavior issues but the parents that “brought” them there. You may think this is just another blanket statement but I can assure you that when I have to deal with a student that is normally out of control the chances are that mom and dad were never nominated for the Parent of the Year award. When I lived in Japan they had the same system. Believe me, they have their share of problems too. Kids with behavior issues were removed from school and sent to “private” schools. It was more like warehousing them to keep their influences out of the public schools. Huge disgrace for most of the parents. Does it work? I guess it works to a point. We’ve all heard how much higher their test scores are compared to that of the USA. There’s another side to that too. When they compare test results Japan does not include those children in “private” school where we include all children.

No, I don't get it but I can live with it.

Where do they go?

How come my typing got smaller at the end of that last post? Getting back on topic most people I work with would not carry a weapon to work We had this discussion before. I have my gun permit but would never dream of taking it to work with me.

Beth, you’re missing the focus of my post. I’m not trying to stereotype here, just stating the facts. Do you deny people abuse the system? If not, where do you think this abuse is more common, the inner city or the more affluent areas? I guess I’m not as much as an optimist as you are. I believe every child has the ability to achieve but I also know that every child will not achieve. Hopefully this will be the minority of the population. As far as stereotype go, well many are true and some are not. I’m sure you’ll attack me for that statement too. Take for example CPW’s post on illegal immigrants. Do you think they all come here to find jobs and a better life? Some do but look at the population in American prisons and you may be surprised at the percentage of illegals from Mexico. I’ll bet they didn’t come here to study medicine. But I’ll say it again, it’s not all like that. My wife is an immigrant from Eastern Europe and in the 8 years she has been in the country she has worked her way up from being a dispatcher with Comcast to running the Comcast phone network between Massachusetts and Connecticut. If she can do it why can’t others. Simple, they lack the drive. You and Ron run a successful business. Did someone do all the work for you? I doubt it. You and most (if not all) others on this site had a dream of owning their own business and made it happen, we weren’t looking for handouts. I can’t understand why you take it as a personal attack about my stand on IEPs. Your son had an IEP, so what. I sure there was a ligament reason for it. You keep stressing the fact that he’s very intelligent and made honors with a standing ovation. That’s great, really is, but I never said or even remotely implied anything different. To say I stereotype everyone with an IEP as a cheat and “damn the parents” is totally uncalled for.

Shame on me? Beth, I’m just telling it the way I see it from first hand experience. I know my job and I know it well. Do you think I’m fabricating all this? I’m not attacking every child that has been issued an IEP. There are children that greatly benefit from an IEP. My problem is with the parents who work the system in order to receive undeserved money at their child’s expense. And yes, they do know how to play the game. I don’t know what kind of school your child went to but I work in the inner city area, I doubt it is similar to yours. As for being a parent I have been blessed with a healthy boy that is now three years old. He will not attend public schools.

Well Ron, that’s a tough call. School violence seems to be at an all time high these days. I don’t think many of us are surprised anymore when we hear of another shooting in the public schools. Normally it is gang related or boyfriend/girlfriend conflicts. It is very easy for a student to bring a weapon of choice into the building. Metal detectors are not always operational and sometimes the walk-through types are only there for show. If a student wants to bypass the detectors they will leave the weapon hidden outside of the school and retrieve it when they go outside for lunch. Random locker searches are sometimes effective but they still are random. Aside from my 15 (16?) years as a power washer I am also a math and science middle school teacher. In my 17 years as a teacher I have personally witnessed a large variety of weapons brought into my public middle school. Handguns, tons of knives, and even a shotgun two years ago. Last year I found a .38 in one of my student’s backpack. These are just the things I know about but I’m sure there’s much more that goes on that I’m not aware of. Needless to say this type of thing never makes the news. My brother is a K9 police officer in my city and is often at my school doing drug searches or arresting a student. We average one or two arrests each day in school. The kids have no fear of the law and consider it a rite of passage if they have to do time in lockup. It literally gives them something to brag about. Law enforcement is thought of as a joke in my school. It’s nothing for a kid to say F.U. Mr. Morrow but they will even do that to the police stationed in my building. Our hands are tied when it comes to discipline in the schools. I’d like to thank the lawyers for that one! Some might argue that we can just suspend the student. Not really. Parents know how to play the game too. Just get the kid on an IEP (Individual Education Program). Reasons for this can be as simple as ADD. Once on an IEP the parents get a check from the government every month for 500 dollars or more and the student cannot be suspended for more than 10 days a year. When you have that kid for 180 days out of the year, 10 days is a complete joke. It is also very hard to fail a failing student because of their “disability.” I’ll fail a kid for the year but the office will change it to a passing grade. In short there’s nothing much to keep a student from coming into my class and putting a bullet in my head. I don’t know if allowing teachers permission to carry is the answer. I honestly don’t know what the answer is.

I'll try those ideas. Thanks.

I'd much rather be plowing snow.

Mostly I listen to Podcasts and Audiobooks. I love to listen to the horror stories while I'm working. Comedy is great too. Check out "The Distorted View", "The Dr. Rock Show", and "Sick and Wrong". These are my favorites. Not rated for children. Actually I wouldn't even let my wife listen to the "Distorted View."

Don, here's a few pictures of part of my basement. I think you'll like it.