I'm building a multi-story Barbie doll house for my daughter that she designed. I assembled the first 3 floors of the house and she is downstairs sanding the edges. This is the first time she;s done a woodworking project so this should be interesting.
Monday, November 07, 2011
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Teachers protest "horrid working conditions" by boycotting back to school night
Ok, I'm more than a little miffed at the teachers in a nearby school district. They have the nerve to protest "horrid working conditions" by punishing their students and not going to the back to school night. Let me put this into perspective:
average starting salary: 30k salaried
work week: 7:30-3:30 m-f
Days off: every weekend, most holidays and most of the summer, a week at Christmas and Easter Many teachers get summer jobs to supplement their school salary.
Retirement: district paid pension, maybe a 401k on top of this.
Medical, dental, and vision with little or no employee contribution
Many sick and personal days (5-10 a year at the beginning). They usually can roll over from year to year until retirement.
1 week paid vacation to start.
Maximum salary at retirement $125k
Paid lunch
Duties include standing in front of a class for about 1/2 hour at a stretch, with intermingled desk time to do paperwork.
Now to put these horrid conditions in perspective
Typical office worker:
starting salary: $10/hour or less, about 20k a year
work week: 9-5 m-f
Days off: weekends, some holidays. 1 week paid vacation after 1 year of service
Retirement: 401k or IRA. If the employee is lucky the employer matches a portion of their contribution. Many don't.
Medical. Employee pays about 1/2 of their portion and 100% of their spouse and kids. No dental or vision coverage.
2-3 sick/personal days a year. use it or lose it
Maximum salary at retirement: $45k
30-60 minute lunch, may or may not be paid.
Duties include sitting at a desk mostly
Typical retail worker:
starting salary: $7.25/hour (minimum wage)
work week: 4-5 days a week, 30-35 hours typical. Schedule varies from week to week and is usually posted a few days before the week starts so planning vacations, family events is hard to do. Usually has to work most weekends and some holidays such as Thanksiving day, Christmas day, 4th of july. Hours can be anywhere from 7am - 10pm or later.
Annual salary: about $12k
Retirement: maybe an IRA and possible employer match
No medical, dental, or vision plans for part time workers
No sick or vacation time off. You don't work, you don't get paid.
Maximum salary: $30k for a manager
Duties include standing on your feet for your entire shift, lifting heavy boxes, etc.
un-paid 30 minute lunch after 4 hours of work, if you are lucky enough to be scheduled for more than 4 hours that day.
Unemployment (the other 9-10% of the work force)
If you're lucky you qualify for unemployment benefits. If not, you rely on your spouse's pay to cover the bills. If you're really unlucky, you have moved your entire family in with your parents because both you and your spouse are out of work.
So, just how horrid are those union negotiated contracts that the teachers are forced to endure really? They should be thankful they aren't working retail or unemployed.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Tuesday, September 06, 2011
The TRON Light Cycle - DudeIWantThat.com
All I can say is... Drool... http://www.dudeiwantthat.com/autos/motorcycles/the-tron-light-cycle.asp#!prettyPhoto
Sunday, September 04, 2011
Hard drive failure
Thank goodness for crash plan. My laptop hard drive just died. Now to wait for best buy to open.
Saturday, September 03, 2011
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Sunday, August 28, 2011
We're still here
I just got up and it's calm outside. According to the radar, the eye
is just to our northeast and it has 75MPH winds, yet we have gusts of
maybe 40MPH here. I've seen stronger nor'easters. There are no trees
down within sight. Heck, I've seen more leaves blown off the trees in
a nor'easter. I was up around 4am when the storm was less than 50
miles from us and even then the winds were nowhere near hurricane
strength. The eye of this storm passed within about 20 miles of us.
Talk about anti-climactic. I'm sure there is flooding along the shore
areas, but otherwise Irene has not done much at all.
is just to our northeast and it has 75MPH winds, yet we have gusts of
maybe 40MPH here. I've seen stronger nor'easters. There are no trees
down within sight. Heck, I've seen more leaves blown off the trees in
a nor'easter. I was up around 4am when the storm was less than 50
miles from us and even then the winds were nowhere near hurricane
strength. The eye of this storm passed within about 20 miles of us.
Talk about anti-climactic. I'm sure there is flooding along the shore
areas, but otherwise Irene has not done much at all.
Still here
It's about 50 miles from us and still doing ok here. Wind not too bad. Going back to bed.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
thank goodness for the weather alert app on the droid
We had about a 5 minute warning of a tornado headed right for our area
and took shelter in the basement. No sign of it but it was good to
have the warning.
and took shelter in the basement. No sign of it but it was good to
have the warning.
Hurricane IRENE Forecast Discussion
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MIATCDAT4+shtml/272057.shtml? Irene is slowing down a bit. It should be down to barely Hurricane
level if not below by the time it hits us.
level if not below by the time it hits us.
Still hanging out
More rain, occasional wind. Nothing big yet, but then this thing is
still like 300 miles from us. Gonna go make some dinner I think.
still like 300 miles from us. Gonna go make some dinner I think.
We're prepped and ready
All Irene preparations are as done as they can be. Now we just wait
for the wind to start. We're far enough from the ocean that storm
surge is not a concern. Right now they are talking sustained winds
less than 70 mph.
for the wind to start. We're far enough from the ocean that storm
surge is not a concern. Right now they are talking sustained winds
less than 70 mph.
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