WAGES

I saw this quite a while back but it is still interesting:


Teachers hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or10 months a year! It's time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do - babysit!

We can get that for less than minimum wage.

That's right. Let's give them $3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked; not any of that silly planning time, or any time they spend before or after school. That would be $19.50 a day (7:45 to 3:00 PM with 45 min. off for lunch and plan-- that equals 6 1/2 hours).

Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children. Now how many students do they teach in a day...maybe 30? So that's $19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day.

However, remember they only work 180 days a year!!! I am not going to pay them for any vacations.

LET'S SEE....That's $585 X 180= $105,300per year. (Hold on! My calculator needs new batteries).

What about those with Master's degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage ($7.75), and just to be fair, round it off to $8.00 an hour. That would be $8 X 6 1/2 hours X 30 children X 180 days = $280,800 per year.

Wait a minute -- there's something wrong here! There sure is, the average teacher's salary (nation wide) is $50,000. $50,000/180 days = $277.77/per day/30 students=$9.25/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student--a very inexpensive baby-sitter and they even EDUCATE your kids! WHAT A DEAL!!!!

YOU WERE A 90'S KID IF:

1. You can sing the rap to "The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air" and the opening to Full House and Step by Step
2. You played Sega
   
3. You know that "WOAH" comes from Joey from "Blossom"
   
4. You remember when it was actually worth getting up early on a Saturday to watch cartoons.
5. You got super excited when it was Oregon Trail day in computer class at school.
6. You remember reading "Goosebumps"
7. You know the profound meaning of "Wax on, wax off"
8. You danced to "Wannabe" by the Spice Girls
9. You owned multiple slap bracelets.
10. You had ugly bangs.
    
11. You still get the urge to say "NOT" after (almost) every sentence...Not...
12. “Where in the world is Carmen San Diego” was both a game and a TV game show.
13. You remember when super Nintendo became popular.
14. You remember going to the skating rink before there were inline skates
15. Two words... Trapper Keeper.
16. You wore socks over leggings scrunched down
17. "Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack, all dressed in black, black, black….
    
18. You remember boom boxes and CD players
19. You knew all the characters names and their life stories on "Saved By The Bell"
20. You played and collected "Pogs"
21. You know the Tanner's phone number
    
22. You had at least one Tamagotchi, GigaPet or Nano and brought it everywhere.
23. You watched the original Care Bears, My Little Pony, and Ninja Turtles.
24. You remember when the new Beanie Babies were always sold out.
25. You used to wear those stick on earrings, not only on your ears, but at the corners of your eyes.
26. You know the Macarena by heart.
27. "Talk to the hand" ... enough said
28. You thought Brain would finally take over the world
29. You remember when razor scooters were cool.
30. You knew how to live and communicate in a time before the internet & text messaging.
31. When you rented VHS tapes, not DVDs.
32. When gas was $0.95 a gallon & Caller ID was a new thing.
33. Played games like Red Light, Green Light and Heads Up 7 Up.
34. You drank SqUeeze It "Squeeze The Fun Out Of It"
35. You watched Blossom, Hangin with Mr. Cooper, Wishbone, Bill Nye the Science Guy, Mr. Rogers, Full House, and all things TGIF
    
36. Wearing your new shoes on the first day of school and they were...Doc Martens.
    

AMAZEBALLS

I love America. I love Utah. I love a good 4th of July in Kaysville (there is literally nothing that beats a Kaysville parade and fireworks - your town can try but they will never come close). I love festive desserts (thanks for the coaching Ashton).

CNN FAIL

One of these things is not like the other. Do you see it yet??? Nice CNN. Really nice.

TX

I took a trip to Austin. An extremely over-due trip to Austin. Over Memorial Day weekend I flew to the Texas to visit Heather. I met up with Sarah and Jessica as well and we had a grand (all be it sweaty and humid) time. Saturday started off with a meat lunch at Rudy's. Delicious. Later we went and toured Lake Austin. Nobody told me that Texas could be so green. We spent the day on a boat and the night at a delicious restaurant on the pier. I had never been so happy for cool, evening temperatures. Well, maybe Egypt was worse. But still, TX was hot.

On Sunday we did some worshiping and driving tours of the Austin area. We drove all the way around the Lake Austin area. After getting home we got to do Satin Hands and Satin Lips with Heather's Mary Kay genius mother


Unfortunately, Monday was the day to go home. We ate lunch in downtown Austin near the church streets. Mormons, Jews, Baptists, Scientologist, etc. More religion than Utah! Then it was a fun drive up to Houston for our departure. It was a VERY short trip but ever so wonderful to see Heather in her natural Texan environment.





Sarah, Heather, Jeff, and myself hanging out on the lake















Touring the trailer foods district of downtown Austin. Cupcake from a trailer? Yes, please.















What was the name of my cupcake you ask, MICHAEL JACKSON! Of course I chose that one.
















Darling Sarah enjoying some Rudy's BBQ sauce.

TOPAZ

My first class this summer was a course on Topaz. I learned so much from the professors, the field trip, the internees, and the darling 442 soldier.

In this picture I am standing in block 22 of the Topaz Relocation Center. Over 11,000 Japanese were "evacuated" from the east coast and sent to this location. The barracks, mess halls, hospitals, and administration buildings were removed from the site in 1946 and sold, mostly to farmers in the Delta area for barn storage. Over 100,000 total Japanese were forced to live in camps just like Topaz. I didn't learn about Topaz until I was in college and I am finding that's the trend for most people. Why is this something that is not taught in American History???

What one of the barracks would have looked like. They each had about three beds and one stove. The Japanese had to bring their own belonging or make what furniture they could out of scrap wood.

Lisa and I with the darling Nelson Akagi. He was a soldier in the 442 regiment during WWII. His unit, made up of Japanese American citizens, were considered enemy aliens but became the most decorated unit in American history. He was the most adorable thing I have ever seen.

TRY NOT TO DIE AT HOW CUTE:

2 of my 6 favorite kids ever

THE ONLY LIE

My dear Grammy was the sweetest and most innocent lady that ever walked this earth. One of my favorite stories about her is the one lie she told. I mean SHE ONLY TOLD ONE LIE EVER! She lived 83 years and only told one lie!!! And she wasn't lying about only telling one lie. She was so ashamed she ever told it. Here is her one and only:

When she was in junior high she struggled with history (this is the reason she told me the story in the first place, because I love and teach history). Her teacher was not a very kind woman and in Grammy's words, "was not the best at getting me to understand information." By that, she meant she was a sucky teacher. She had a big history test that she was so nervous for. She didn't know how or what to study, so she just didn't. The day of the test came and she was so upset about the possibility of failing that she told the teacher she was sick and needed to go home. She didn't want to take the test so she lied about being sick.

That's it! That is her one lie!!! Can you believe it? Can you believe I am even related to a woman that pure and wonderful?

Grammy @ the age of her "lie"

SUMMER SCHOOL

Lindsay loves to comment that teachers don't really get three months of summer off. It really bothers her. Imagine how much it bothers me! School ended yesterday but I didn't even get home until 11:00pm. I have all day meetings at OJHS on Monday and Tuesday. I have a Topaz class for 3 days, Utah Geography class for 5 days, department collaboration meetings for 4 days, a physical geography course for 5 days, and I go back to school on August 16. Total week days this summer = 51. Total week days I have "summer school" = 20. That means my total free summer lovin days are: 31. THAT IS ONLY 1 MONTH!!!!!!! I will be in "summer school" longer than my students who failed my class will be in real summer school. Sick. Nobody told me that teachers are actually busy in the summers. Rude wake up call. I better live it up those 31 days.