sea kittens - PETA has decided that they want the world to stop eating fish, or maybe more specifically to stop KILLING fish. Their suggestion/solution? Hey, let's call them 'sea kittens!' You know, because no one in their right mind would ever want to kill something called a 'sea kitten.'
Seriously. Look it up yourself. My question is: What are these guys smoking? First of all, they are called FISH. Second of all, you can call it what you want, but I will have no problem pulling up to Long John Silvers and ordering a basket of fish, sea kittens, or seaside-roadkill for that matter. Call it what you want, I'm eating it. According to a news report I heard, the site (no I have not checked it out myself yet) mainly focuses on farm-raised fish. So, only those raised specifically for the purpose of eating are going to be called 'sea kittens??' You have got to be kidding me.
There is a Shell gas station in Hope, AR, that has nothing but pay-at-the-pump. There is no store, no attendants, just a few gas pumps. Here is my question: If there are no employees to pay, then why is the gas there actually one of the HIGHEST price gasolines in town? Seems to me that if you don't have to pay anyone to man the fort, you could shave quite a bit off the cost of the gas and corner the market in Hope. Then again, maybe the owners refuse to eat 'sea kittens' too...
The McDonald's in Hope is closed. Why? because they want to build a new building. In fact, they wanted to build the new building ON THEIR OWN LOT next to the existing building. The city refused to let them do that. So, they have to tear down the existing building and put up a new on in its place. Frankly, I'd tear it down and leave town. Nah, I'd just leave town and let the next sucker that comes in deal with the building. How stupid on the city's part. They are going to lose a ton of tax revenue while the new building gets constructed.
Do you know who reads your blog? Your boss? Mine does, or at least she has a time or two. how do i know this? well, she told me. The question then arises: Once you know your boss (or wife or kids or mother or whatever) is reading, does that change what you post and how you post? For me, the answer is "nope." I write what pops in my head. If it sits 'wrong' with those that know me, I figure they will either quit reading or respond or maybe both. Do I worry about getting fired? No. why not? Because I was taught a long time ago that you shouldn't put down on paper (or online) anything that you wouldn't say outright. So, basically, I don't intend to write anything that would warrant getting fired. Of course, sometimes I may write something that I didn't realize could be used in terms of continued employment, but then I will deal with those consequences if/when they arise. Of course, if you've read most of the things I post, they are too far off center to be seen as anything other than satire or humorous takes on life. So, why bring all this up? Well, I offered a suggestion that I thought was 'outside the box' for our organization. evidently, it was too far 'outside the box.' I think it's funny how we are told that we have to change certain things because we are trying to break the 'we have always done it that way' mold, and then when I suggest changing something that has been in place for 25+ years, I'm breaking tradition. Or, at the least, going to cause expense in order to change it (I'm talking about the company logo here). Well, at least my boss(es) were open to the suggestion. That's more than I can about a whole lot of other companies I've worked for...
I spent the day in Little Rock working on our E-rate forms. E-Rate is the government's way of giving money to schools in order to help get technology into the districts. You see a 'universal service fee' on your phone bill every month. That money goes into a pot and is divided among all the schools in the nation that apply for a share of it. the share is based on the number of free/reduced lunch students you have in your various schools. Well, actually, a percentage is calculated. Then, the schools apply for that discount on things like phone bills or network wiring, etc. Let me tell you, it is a pain in the butt. It is a whole lot of work to pull together the phone bills, contracts, statistics, etc. This is my first year of working with the system, and today's experience did not help me enjoy the process at all. By the time I had spent 4 hours researching, filing, etc, the system had duplicated information before we (i was getting help) realized what it had done. so, we submitted the form and then saw the problem. 4 hours wasted. well, maybe not 'wasted' but certainly not spent as best as it could have been. Now, I get to Fax in a cancellation request for what I did today (Monday) and then spend Tuesday and/or Wednesday re-entering the info all over again. Well, at least I am a education service center and not a whole state...
Tonight, I was supposed to teach some parents about Internet safety. I showed up. No one else did. Nice.
