Thursday, February 22, 2007
Status Quo
I listened to a radio program today on a National Public Radio station out of St. Louis, Missouri. I was impressed by the program that was running. It was about students selecting colleges to attend. While most students are selecting the "Status Quo" colleges to attend, one student indicated that she selected a college that was not popular, but for the intellectual curriculum that was available at the college.
I thought what a novel idea. A college selected for the intellectual values, not the clout that an ivory league college brings with it.
The program went on about how having an ivory league college on your resume will help you get the elite jobs.
Another point however, was whether it would be better to be at the head of the class from a little know intellectual college, or at the lower end of the class from an ivory league college.
There was a college in Vermont that was mentioned, where they don't even tell the students their grades until their junior year. What about that? Going to school to learn while not worrying about how well you are doing, just going to gain knowledge and fitting into the work place.
While I believe that knowledge is important, I think that we should learn that not all the education in the world will do anyone any good if they don't have any common sense. You have to have common sense in order to apply what you have learned. If you cannot apply what you have learned, then what good did it do you to learn it?
My Dad always said that "Common Sense Rules the World".
You can find more about the program that I listened to, and selecting the right college by going to http://www.npr.org.
I thought what a novel idea. A college selected for the intellectual values, not the clout that an ivory league college brings with it.
The program went on about how having an ivory league college on your resume will help you get the elite jobs.
Another point however, was whether it would be better to be at the head of the class from a little know intellectual college, or at the lower end of the class from an ivory league college.
There was a college in Vermont that was mentioned, where they don't even tell the students their grades until their junior year. What about that? Going to school to learn while not worrying about how well you are doing, just going to gain knowledge and fitting into the work place.
While I believe that knowledge is important, I think that we should learn that not all the education in the world will do anyone any good if they don't have any common sense. You have to have common sense in order to apply what you have learned. If you cannot apply what you have learned, then what good did it do you to learn it?
My Dad always said that "Common Sense Rules the World".
You can find more about the program that I listened to, and selecting the right college by going to http://www.npr.org.
Sunday, February 04, 2007
Being a Good Neighbor
I heard about a woman who was the oldest living american, 114 years of age, on Headline News the other day. They asked this woman what she found different between today and the years past that she has lived. Her response was that people were a lot friendlier back in the day.
What happened to being neighborly and friendly with people? Are we all too tied up in our own little worlds that we cannot take time to smile at people and help them? You know what I am talking about. Have you ever tried to move something about your yard or house and wish that you had some help? How many of you went to ask a neighbor for some help? If not, why not? Are we that far apart in this world today that we cannot ask for nor give help to our own neighbors?
What do you know about your neighbor? Is it really that bad to get to know your neighbor a little bit? Think about it. Remember when you were young and your Mom went to borrow and egg or a cup of sugar from a neighbor, just because she was in the middle of baking a cake or something and realized that she did not have the egg or cups of sugar that the recipe called for. Maybe you remember the neighbor coming over to borrow an onion?
Come on now, what is so bad about that? It helps you get done whatever you are cooking without having to stop everything and run to the store. I always noticed that whatever was borrowed was always returned. Imagine that happening in today's society.
We may all have rough times coming our way. Wouldn't it be nice to know that you can depend on a neighbor for help. It would even be a nicer thought to believe that we would be willing to help that neighbor out, the next time we see them struggling with something in their yard or house.
Would you be willing to help a neighbor out if they came to you?
This past summer my wife and I decided to add top soil and grass seed to our lawn and decided to do it ourselves. We started out wheel barrelling the top soil out with the help of my wife's mother and another friend. Before we were done, a couple of neighbors jumped in and helped us. I had let one of the neighbors borrow our snow blower to clean his driveway and sidewalk the winter before.
Try being a good neighbor. It may wear well on you.
What happened to being neighborly and friendly with people? Are we all too tied up in our own little worlds that we cannot take time to smile at people and help them? You know what I am talking about. Have you ever tried to move something about your yard or house and wish that you had some help? How many of you went to ask a neighbor for some help? If not, why not? Are we that far apart in this world today that we cannot ask for nor give help to our own neighbors?
What do you know about your neighbor? Is it really that bad to get to know your neighbor a little bit? Think about it. Remember when you were young and your Mom went to borrow and egg or a cup of sugar from a neighbor, just because she was in the middle of baking a cake or something and realized that she did not have the egg or cups of sugar that the recipe called for. Maybe you remember the neighbor coming over to borrow an onion?
Come on now, what is so bad about that? It helps you get done whatever you are cooking without having to stop everything and run to the store. I always noticed that whatever was borrowed was always returned. Imagine that happening in today's society.
We may all have rough times coming our way. Wouldn't it be nice to know that you can depend on a neighbor for help. It would even be a nicer thought to believe that we would be willing to help that neighbor out, the next time we see them struggling with something in their yard or house.
Would you be willing to help a neighbor out if they came to you?
This past summer my wife and I decided to add top soil and grass seed to our lawn and decided to do it ourselves. We started out wheel barrelling the top soil out with the help of my wife's mother and another friend. Before we were done, a couple of neighbors jumped in and helped us. I had let one of the neighbors borrow our snow blower to clean his driveway and sidewalk the winter before.
Try being a good neighbor. It may wear well on you.
Thursday, February 01, 2007
Que Sera, Sera
Well it happened. My Wife was advised on January 31st that her job was being eliminated and her services will no longer be needed at the company that she is working for. She will get a reasonable severance package if she does not find another job within the company before March 2nd.
This really stinks since I was let go from the same company last year. We had just gotten our budget in tune with my decrease in salary, since I decided to drive a truck instead of waiting for an IT job to come along. I could not sit around and wait, drawing unemployment which would run out eventually anyway. I have to be working. I cannot sit still.
I did enjoy the break in employment though, it was a little breather. If my wife has to take a break in employment, I hope that she takes time to enjoy it, because she, like me, has worked her entire life. We have always had to earn the money to buy the things we needed to survive. For us, it is difficult to accept the fact that we have to take "time out".
The face of the nation is changing however, and keeping jobs into retirement is going to sound like a myth by the time our children grow up and have to take jobs they don't like in order to survive. Corporations no longer are trying to keep employees around for quality, they are hiring/outsourcing jobs to foreign countries in order to save money and earn their profits.
The whole danger in this whole situation is though, the middle class will be eliminated in America and you will only have the upper and lower class. Then all of the commericals will have to lean towards the upper class, hoping they will buy the products coming off the production lines in China, Singapore, India, or where ever they happen to come from, because there will be no middle class to buy their products.
In all of this, as an ending to a gloomy outlook for America, I have to say that for every door that closes, another one opens. What ever will be, will be, and we just have to make the best of it.
My wife and I are saddened by our recent layoffs and wonder how we will make it through all of this, but I have faith that God will show us the way, and that we will be taken care of.
I am an American Veteran who put his life on the line to keep the freedoms in this country alive and well. I answered JFK's statement and question, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country."
God Bless
This really stinks since I was let go from the same company last year. We had just gotten our budget in tune with my decrease in salary, since I decided to drive a truck instead of waiting for an IT job to come along. I could not sit around and wait, drawing unemployment which would run out eventually anyway. I have to be working. I cannot sit still.
I did enjoy the break in employment though, it was a little breather. If my wife has to take a break in employment, I hope that she takes time to enjoy it, because she, like me, has worked her entire life. We have always had to earn the money to buy the things we needed to survive. For us, it is difficult to accept the fact that we have to take "time out".
The face of the nation is changing however, and keeping jobs into retirement is going to sound like a myth by the time our children grow up and have to take jobs they don't like in order to survive. Corporations no longer are trying to keep employees around for quality, they are hiring/outsourcing jobs to foreign countries in order to save money and earn their profits.
The whole danger in this whole situation is though, the middle class will be eliminated in America and you will only have the upper and lower class. Then all of the commericals will have to lean towards the upper class, hoping they will buy the products coming off the production lines in China, Singapore, India, or where ever they happen to come from, because there will be no middle class to buy their products.
In all of this, as an ending to a gloomy outlook for America, I have to say that for every door that closes, another one opens. What ever will be, will be, and we just have to make the best of it.
My wife and I are saddened by our recent layoffs and wonder how we will make it through all of this, but I have faith that God will show us the way, and that we will be taken care of.
I am an American Veteran who put his life on the line to keep the freedoms in this country alive and well. I answered JFK's statement and question, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country."
God Bless
