While I’m not a fan of political signs, I tolerate them. I understand their purpose, especially in races in which most voters know nothing about any of the candidates. People who see one candidate’s sign more than the other’s, like it or not, will probably be more likely to vote for the person with the most signs.
But I have a big problem with political signs when a business puts one up, and it seems as though more and more businesses are engaging in this practice.
Drive into a parking lot at a store and people may find a sign greeting them at the entrance. Walk through the door at certain restaurants and patrons may find a sign for specific candidates smacking them right in their faces. Cruise past a block of businesses and roadway signs may tell people whom they should vote for this election season.
I understand this practice for residences, as it really puts democracy in action. No matter what one may think of a person’s choice or choices, it’s hard not to appreciate that person’s decision to be involved in the election process.
But this same philosophy does not apply to businesses that choose to display political signs. Why not?
Businesses, with few exceptions, are entities that should be void of all political connections. When I go into a store, I don’t want to know what the store thinks of the Congressional candidates vying for Dave Obey’s seat. In most cases, I don’t know the owner of the store, and a sign in front of it will only foolishly give a personality to the store that doesn’t really exist. Since I can’t have an actual discussion with the store about its political opinions, this weird concept that the store supports someone is kind of confusing.
A sign may also cause potential customers to go elsewhere. This is pretty self-explanatory, but judging by the number of signs I’m seeing at businesses this political season, it needs explanation for many business owners. People who may not like the candidate a business is touting may go to another business. A sign for a Republican candidate on a restaurant door practically begs Democrats to go elsewhere, while a Democrat sign at a construction company may convince potential Republican clients to use the rival company down the road.
In this economy, business owners should try to do as much as possible to get as many customers as possible. While political signs might garner a few customers who agree with the business owner’s politics, the potential risk of the number it could lose just doesn’t seem worth the risk.
Business owners may also risk upsetting their employees who may not agree with their politics. If the higher powers at The Gazette were to suddenly start supporting candidates I don’t like on our front window, I’d have a few choice opinions to throw their way. While I wouldn’t do anything that could be considered insubordination, employees at other businesses might not be as nice as I am.
For years, businesses seemed to abide by an unspoken rule stating “Thou shall not be political.” In addition to not displaying political signs, business owners kept their mouths shut about politics when customers they weren’t familiar with were around. It’s one thing when it’s a coffee shop or a bar and the owner is freely giving his opinion about Joe the Plumber to all his regulars, but it’s completely different when patrons he’s never met before are confronted with his rants about President Obama’s Labor Day speech in Milwaukee.
A few businesses understand why they shouldn’t be political, but they actually show this by being as political as possible: they display signs for all candidates. The first time I ever encountered this I was baffled. Why is this business displaying signs for both Kerry and Bush? Who does it support?
And then I realized I’m not supposed to know who it actually supports. I just needed to know it’s supporting democracy in the ultimate way: by encouraging people to make a choice and actually vote.
Now that’s the type of business I want to support.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Braces aren’t meant for adults who don’t like complications
Starting in July, eating became a complicated issue for me. It’s not because I developed a weird food allergy or that I’m on some sort of super diet in which I can only eat nonprocessed all-natural carbohydrates void of any Omega-3 fats. It’s because I got braces.
Braces, which are usually lovely gifts puberty gives to young preteens and teenagers, are not meant for adults, although many more adults are now getting them.
I decided to get them because I’ve got a gap in my front teeth large enough for the Titanic to pass through if it were still afloat. And that’s a comment on the size of the gap, not my head.
By getting braces, I figured I could get rid of the gap and also create equal spaces between all my teeth so flossing would be easier. I’ve never had an issue flossing between my gappy teeth, but getting between the tight ones has always been a semi-painful experience I avoided as much as possible.
This avoidance hasn’t been good to my teeth, nor was growing up in a family without health insurance where dentist visits were done because of necessity, not for preventive care. In my late 20s, root canals were practically a weekly experience as dentists attempted to save my teeth from my poor younger years.
They saved them quite nicely actually, allowing me to have the luxury of choosing to get braces to make them even better.
Once I decided to get braces, I thought my orthodontist would put them on, I’d wear them for a year or so, and then all would be good.
I wish. I spent six months receiving consultations, fittings, photography sessions for my teeth and other advice before the first actual brace was placed on any of my teeth.
Even then, the orthodontist only put the top set of braces on first. I’m glad he did, though, because it allowed me time to get used to the feeling of having a mouthful of metal.
At first, it didn’t hurt and didn’t seem to be an inconvenience. A day later, though, my opinion quickly changed. The braces were rubbing against my inner lip, cutting it up and making me want to rip my teeth out of my mouth. Eating was no longer an activity I liked, and smiling was not an option anymore.
My poor wife didn’t even want to be around me then, saying I was acting like a bear. I tried not to, but I think the metal was picking up radio signals that subliminally channeled messages to my brain to make me act that way.
To my surprise, a week later the braces no longer hurt. My inner lip calloused up and I learned how to chew in a way to avoid my braces.
But then I got braces put on my lower teeth, thus starting the pain process all over again.
Again, my mouth got used to them within a week, but now eating was much more complicated than when I just had upper braces. I couldn’t use my chewing techniques anymore, because a large part of it involved me using my lower teeth.
Eating is still complicated. I ate a sandwich the other day, thinking I had done so successfully. While I usually try to brush my teeth after eating, it’s not always possible.
When I can’t, I try my best to make sure food is not caught between the braces and my teeth. I thought I had done so in this instance, but when I got home, I discovered several chunks of sandwich right in open view. It was quite embarrassing.
I’m already counting down the days I’ll get these things off. Then my life won’t be so complicated.
Braces, which are usually lovely gifts puberty gives to young preteens and teenagers, are not meant for adults, although many more adults are now getting them.
I decided to get them because I’ve got a gap in my front teeth large enough for the Titanic to pass through if it were still afloat. And that’s a comment on the size of the gap, not my head.
By getting braces, I figured I could get rid of the gap and also create equal spaces between all my teeth so flossing would be easier. I’ve never had an issue flossing between my gappy teeth, but getting between the tight ones has always been a semi-painful experience I avoided as much as possible.
This avoidance hasn’t been good to my teeth, nor was growing up in a family without health insurance where dentist visits were done because of necessity, not for preventive care. In my late 20s, root canals were practically a weekly experience as dentists attempted to save my teeth from my poor younger years.
They saved them quite nicely actually, allowing me to have the luxury of choosing to get braces to make them even better.
Once I decided to get braces, I thought my orthodontist would put them on, I’d wear them for a year or so, and then all would be good.
I wish. I spent six months receiving consultations, fittings, photography sessions for my teeth and other advice before the first actual brace was placed on any of my teeth.
Even then, the orthodontist only put the top set of braces on first. I’m glad he did, though, because it allowed me time to get used to the feeling of having a mouthful of metal.
At first, it didn’t hurt and didn’t seem to be an inconvenience. A day later, though, my opinion quickly changed. The braces were rubbing against my inner lip, cutting it up and making me want to rip my teeth out of my mouth. Eating was no longer an activity I liked, and smiling was not an option anymore.
My poor wife didn’t even want to be around me then, saying I was acting like a bear. I tried not to, but I think the metal was picking up radio signals that subliminally channeled messages to my brain to make me act that way.
To my surprise, a week later the braces no longer hurt. My inner lip calloused up and I learned how to chew in a way to avoid my braces.
But then I got braces put on my lower teeth, thus starting the pain process all over again.
Again, my mouth got used to them within a week, but now eating was much more complicated than when I just had upper braces. I couldn’t use my chewing techniques anymore, because a large part of it involved me using my lower teeth.
Eating is still complicated. I ate a sandwich the other day, thinking I had done so successfully. While I usually try to brush my teeth after eating, it’s not always possible.
When I can’t, I try my best to make sure food is not caught between the braces and my teeth. I thought I had done so in this instance, but when I got home, I discovered several chunks of sandwich right in open view. It was quite embarrassing.
I’m already counting down the days I’ll get these things off. Then my life won’t be so complicated.
First day of kindergarten can come too quickly for parents
Our babies grow up too fast.
As I write this, my 5-year-old son, Braden, is sleeping in his bed, resting for his first day of kindergarten tomorrow. It seems as though he was born just yesterday.
I remember nearly every detail of his birth; the two days we spent in the hospital following it, trapped there because of bad weather; the drive home with him in the car for the first time, nervous that it would be the time I’d have my first real accident; the realization when we got home he seemed really yellow, jaundice the culprit as he hadn’t had a bowel movement in his first few days in this world; and the joy we had in calling our mothers to let them know we were having a “poop party” because he finally went.
I remember many of the sleepless nights when it seemed like we were getting up every few hours to take care of him, but then finding out he was a pretty sound sleeper compared to most babies.
We laughed when some of our friends who also had babies complained we had it easy compared to them, as their kids were keeping them up all night, every night. To this day, my wife states he developed a good sleeping habit early because she took him to a chiropractor when he was just a couple of weeks old, and the adjustments the doctor made to Braden’s back allowed him to sleep well.
I remember his first bath, his first haircut, his first tooth, his first laugh, his first crawl, his first steps, his first word, his first visit with Santa Claus.
I remember the first diaper I had to change, the first time he sprayed me as I attempted to change him, the first time he baby-barfed on me, the first time he threw food at me while I attempted to feed him, the first time he sassed me, the first time he accidentally hit me where it really hurts and the first time he broke something important to me. All funny to me now.
I’ve learned to relish the time I have with him, but I’ve also come to cherish the time he spends with his grandparents.
He and I took our first trip to Disney World in Florida together, proudly wearing pins declaring it was our first time there.
Baptism, countless vaccinations, plenty of agonizing tantrums, and his recent 4K graduation. It’s all vividly engrained in my mind, hopefully until the day I die, but it has gone by in the flash of a camera.
This despite the fact my wife and I decided to uproot our lives when he was 2. She accepted a job in Marshfield, far away from our Wautoma home, which we spent nearly a year trying to sell after I found a job at The Gazette. The commute was long and brutal, but the time still whizzed past us as we tended to the duties of raising our child.
A new town meant a new daycare for him. It was a change he adjusted to quickly.
One year after moving, my wife decided she wanted to pursue a master’s degree, and now several years later she has earned it. When he was born, we never thought either of us would ever have such a degree, especially within the first six years of his life. People with babies and small children aren’t supposed to be able to accomplish such feats.
And now as Braden begins kindergarten, I’m hoping time will slow down at least a little bit. Graduation will come way too soon if it doesn’t.
I have two pieces of advice to offer him as he begins his education: Don’t worry about messing up kindergarten like I did and do follow his mother’s example in always pursuing more education.
I’ve written about flunking kindergarten before, so I won’t elaborate too much. I’ll just say it was one of the best things to ever happen to me, as learning the basics twice made me a much better student in later grades.
As for following his mother’s example, he would be following a great role model if he chooses to do so. She’s never looked at education as a chore, but as a way to improve her life. That’s a philosophy worth following.
Although I usually take Braden to daycare in the morning, I’m allowing my wife to take him to kindergarten for his first day at St. Paul Lutheran School tomorrow. It’s my hope more of her will rub off on him, rather than more of me.
Plus, it’s one of those mother-child moments that will probably leave her in happy tears. I’d probably just drop him off and tell him not to drive his teacher nuts. I prefer to put my sentiment to written words the night before.
As I write this, my 5-year-old son, Braden, is sleeping in his bed, resting for his first day of kindergarten tomorrow. It seems as though he was born just yesterday.
I remember nearly every detail of his birth; the two days we spent in the hospital following it, trapped there because of bad weather; the drive home with him in the car for the first time, nervous that it would be the time I’d have my first real accident; the realization when we got home he seemed really yellow, jaundice the culprit as he hadn’t had a bowel movement in his first few days in this world; and the joy we had in calling our mothers to let them know we were having a “poop party” because he finally went.
I remember many of the sleepless nights when it seemed like we were getting up every few hours to take care of him, but then finding out he was a pretty sound sleeper compared to most babies.
We laughed when some of our friends who also had babies complained we had it easy compared to them, as their kids were keeping them up all night, every night. To this day, my wife states he developed a good sleeping habit early because she took him to a chiropractor when he was just a couple of weeks old, and the adjustments the doctor made to Braden’s back allowed him to sleep well.
I remember his first bath, his first haircut, his first tooth, his first laugh, his first crawl, his first steps, his first word, his first visit with Santa Claus.
I remember the first diaper I had to change, the first time he sprayed me as I attempted to change him, the first time he baby-barfed on me, the first time he threw food at me while I attempted to feed him, the first time he sassed me, the first time he accidentally hit me where it really hurts and the first time he broke something important to me. All funny to me now.
I’ve learned to relish the time I have with him, but I’ve also come to cherish the time he spends with his grandparents.
He and I took our first trip to Disney World in Florida together, proudly wearing pins declaring it was our first time there.
Baptism, countless vaccinations, plenty of agonizing tantrums, and his recent 4K graduation. It’s all vividly engrained in my mind, hopefully until the day I die, but it has gone by in the flash of a camera.
This despite the fact my wife and I decided to uproot our lives when he was 2. She accepted a job in Marshfield, far away from our Wautoma home, which we spent nearly a year trying to sell after I found a job at The Gazette. The commute was long and brutal, but the time still whizzed past us as we tended to the duties of raising our child.
A new town meant a new daycare for him. It was a change he adjusted to quickly.
One year after moving, my wife decided she wanted to pursue a master’s degree, and now several years later she has earned it. When he was born, we never thought either of us would ever have such a degree, especially within the first six years of his life. People with babies and small children aren’t supposed to be able to accomplish such feats.
And now as Braden begins kindergarten, I’m hoping time will slow down at least a little bit. Graduation will come way too soon if it doesn’t.
I have two pieces of advice to offer him as he begins his education: Don’t worry about messing up kindergarten like I did and do follow his mother’s example in always pursuing more education.
I’ve written about flunking kindergarten before, so I won’t elaborate too much. I’ll just say it was one of the best things to ever happen to me, as learning the basics twice made me a much better student in later grades.
As for following his mother’s example, he would be following a great role model if he chooses to do so. She’s never looked at education as a chore, but as a way to improve her life. That’s a philosophy worth following.
Although I usually take Braden to daycare in the morning, I’m allowing my wife to take him to kindergarten for his first day at St. Paul Lutheran School tomorrow. It’s my hope more of her will rub off on him, rather than more of me.
Plus, it’s one of those mother-child moments that will probably leave her in happy tears. I’d probably just drop him off and tell him not to drive his teacher nuts. I prefer to put my sentiment to written words the night before.
Summer interns show education is not failing
While many recent headlines scream “Our educational system is failing,” two interns at The Gazette proved to me this summer education itself is not, even if the system around it is crumbling.
Those two interns, Rose Schneider and Thomasina Johnson, are both products of local schools. Schneider is a 2008 graduate of Pacelli High School, and she is majoring in international journalism at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Johnson is a 2008 graduate of Stevens Point Area Senior High School, and she is majoring in journalism and French at Miami University of Ohio.
I’ve been in this business for 13 years, and over those years I’ve worked with a lot of interns. Some have been decent, while others have been less so. None have excelled like these women.
I knew right away I had something special with them, before they had even written, proofed or edited one word for us. It was clear while interviewing them for the internships they were sharp, articulate students who were on a mission to learn.
Schneider wanted the internship for course credit, but more so for the experience of working with a community paper.
Johnson wasn’t taking it for course credit; she wanted to build her portfolio, and knew the best way to do it was to write for her hometown newspaper.
I kept them in The Gazette’s old location on Church Street the first week, so the budding journalists could get accustomed to the paper’s way of operation, but I decided to set them free the following week, giving them story assignments with tight deadlines. Both turned in stories better than those of any previous interns I’ve ever worked with, including a man who is now the managing editor at a central Wisconsin daily newspaper.
All summer, each girl wrote two to three stories weekly, ranging from upcoming event stories to human interest, and sometimes animal, stories. When I could, I walked them through the editing process, showing them what they did right and where they made mistakes. The right far outweighed the wrong, and the wrong was usually just stylistic mistakes that didn’t follow Associated Press format.
Their summer internships are now over, as both women need to head back to college. In reviewing their internships, I’ve been trying to figure out why they’ve excelled so well.
I’m sure part of the reason was competition. Although neither intern has ever said or done anything to indicate she was competing with the other one, it’s probably a given each one secretly didn’t want to be outdone by the other. That’s a natural, and healthy, instinct in the workplace, and it definitely worked to The Gazette’s advantage.
Part of the reason was probably their drives to make themselves marketable once they are ready to enter the workforce. The economy is tough, which allows employers to pick and choose only the best candidates when they hire people.
An internship such as this one will help them stand out, especially when they can show a future employer a whole summer’s worth of articles they published in an actual newspaper, and not just a college one. My glowing references for both of them should also help set them above the competition.
But I believe a large chunk of the reason was the excellent education they received both in Stevens Point and their universities. Their teachers and professors have provided them with a quality education that has instilled them with a desire to learn, an ability to listen and a need to excel.
As the system around those teachers and professors has fallen apart in recent years, those girls still received the instruction that has made them what they are today. Their teachers may have not have had the resources they’ve needed, but they still managed to make sure their students received the priceless education they’ve always been expected to give.
While I’m sad The Gazette will no longer benefit from the everyday presence of these two invaluable interns, I was happy to learn both women want to continue their relationship with the paper. Schneider wants to write articles for us when she can, and she said she also wants to come back next summer. Johnson said she would like to write for The Gazette over her winter break.
Truly, though, I’m just proud knowing The Gazette played a role in the education of two people who will go on to do great things in the journalism field.
Those two interns, Rose Schneider and Thomasina Johnson, are both products of local schools. Schneider is a 2008 graduate of Pacelli High School, and she is majoring in international journalism at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Johnson is a 2008 graduate of Stevens Point Area Senior High School, and she is majoring in journalism and French at Miami University of Ohio.
I’ve been in this business for 13 years, and over those years I’ve worked with a lot of interns. Some have been decent, while others have been less so. None have excelled like these women.
I knew right away I had something special with them, before they had even written, proofed or edited one word for us. It was clear while interviewing them for the internships they were sharp, articulate students who were on a mission to learn.
Schneider wanted the internship for course credit, but more so for the experience of working with a community paper.
Johnson wasn’t taking it for course credit; she wanted to build her portfolio, and knew the best way to do it was to write for her hometown newspaper.
I kept them in The Gazette’s old location on Church Street the first week, so the budding journalists could get accustomed to the paper’s way of operation, but I decided to set them free the following week, giving them story assignments with tight deadlines. Both turned in stories better than those of any previous interns I’ve ever worked with, including a man who is now the managing editor at a central Wisconsin daily newspaper.
All summer, each girl wrote two to three stories weekly, ranging from upcoming event stories to human interest, and sometimes animal, stories. When I could, I walked them through the editing process, showing them what they did right and where they made mistakes. The right far outweighed the wrong, and the wrong was usually just stylistic mistakes that didn’t follow Associated Press format.
Their summer internships are now over, as both women need to head back to college. In reviewing their internships, I’ve been trying to figure out why they’ve excelled so well.
I’m sure part of the reason was competition. Although neither intern has ever said or done anything to indicate she was competing with the other one, it’s probably a given each one secretly didn’t want to be outdone by the other. That’s a natural, and healthy, instinct in the workplace, and it definitely worked to The Gazette’s advantage.
Part of the reason was probably their drives to make themselves marketable once they are ready to enter the workforce. The economy is tough, which allows employers to pick and choose only the best candidates when they hire people.
An internship such as this one will help them stand out, especially when they can show a future employer a whole summer’s worth of articles they published in an actual newspaper, and not just a college one. My glowing references for both of them should also help set them above the competition.
But I believe a large chunk of the reason was the excellent education they received both in Stevens Point and their universities. Their teachers and professors have provided them with a quality education that has instilled them with a desire to learn, an ability to listen and a need to excel.
As the system around those teachers and professors has fallen apart in recent years, those girls still received the instruction that has made them what they are today. Their teachers may have not have had the resources they’ve needed, but they still managed to make sure their students received the priceless education they’ve always been expected to give.
While I’m sad The Gazette will no longer benefit from the everyday presence of these two invaluable interns, I was happy to learn both women want to continue their relationship with the paper. Schneider wants to write articles for us when she can, and she said she also wants to come back next summer. Johnson said she would like to write for The Gazette over her winter break.
Truly, though, I’m just proud knowing The Gazette played a role in the education of two people who will go on to do great things in the journalism field.
Swimming beaches have long kept kids from dying of boredom
Swimming at the beach. It’s one of America’s most popular pastimes.
It’s something I grew up doing in one form or another. Quite often, when I was younger, it was from a public boat landing at Witter’s Lake in Waushara County, and when I was older, it was in the crystal clear waters of the White River in Marquette County. Neither of these locations actually had a beach.
I remember many summers days and early evenings begging my parents, especially my mother who had a much more difficult time saying no, to take my sister and me swimming. “It’s so hot. We need to cool off,” I’d beg.
I’d bring out the big guns when they were determined not to fall prey to my begs. “It’s so boring. We never do anything fun.”
Speaking as a parent now, I realize it’s difficult to ignore a challenge from your kid to keep him or her entertained. My 5-year-old son, Braden, constantly wants us to keep him entertained.
“Where are we going today? I want to do something.”
“I’m bored. Let’s go somewhere.”
“Take me to the big park. I want to play.”
“We haven’t been to Wisconsin Dells in so long. Let’s go there.”
“Staying home is so boring.”
Many of these statements have come within minutes after doing a major activity, such as the case this last Tuesday night when Braden was challenging me to do something with him immediately after getting home from an hour-long swim at Pacawa Beach-Park in Plover.
He and I went there because my wife, his mother, was working late, and not wanting to hear his demands for entertainment and because it was so hot out, I thought I’d nip two problems with one cure: Pacawa.
Pacawa is sort of a hidden gem in Portage County, as it has a nice beach and even better water. Every time I’ve been there, only a handful of others are there, too. I’ve been to plenty of lesser beaches and swimming areas that are far more crowded.
Compared to my swimming locations when I was a kid, Pacawa is a bit of a paradise. The sandy bottom is ideal for people squeamish about stepping in muck, as was the case at Witter’s Lake. And its warm, shallow water is much better than the colder and more treacherous waters of the White River.
It has also allowed for me to help Braden begin learning how to swim, at an age much younger than I was when I learned how to swim. He’s figured out how to float both on his back and stomach, and he’s started the basic techniques for doggy paddling. After watching me freestyle swim, he even attempted to try it himself. Unfortunately for him, he couldn’t coordinate correct breathing with his arms strokes, resulting in him swallowing a mouth full of lake water. At least the water’s clean, though.
It’s good he’s learning how to swim at a young age. My summers as a youngster were a lot less boring than they could have been had I not known how to swim.
I have a feeling, though, my summers now until he is old enough to drive are going to be booked with plenty of swimming excursions. Unless I don’t mind hearing him challenge us to keep him entertained, much like Kurt Cobain of Nirvana who once sang “Here we are now, entertain us.” I love this song, but it gets repetitive if heard too often. I’d rather go to the beach.
It’s something I grew up doing in one form or another. Quite often, when I was younger, it was from a public boat landing at Witter’s Lake in Waushara County, and when I was older, it was in the crystal clear waters of the White River in Marquette County. Neither of these locations actually had a beach.
I remember many summers days and early evenings begging my parents, especially my mother who had a much more difficult time saying no, to take my sister and me swimming. “It’s so hot. We need to cool off,” I’d beg.
I’d bring out the big guns when they were determined not to fall prey to my begs. “It’s so boring. We never do anything fun.”
Speaking as a parent now, I realize it’s difficult to ignore a challenge from your kid to keep him or her entertained. My 5-year-old son, Braden, constantly wants us to keep him entertained.
“Where are we going today? I want to do something.”
“I’m bored. Let’s go somewhere.”
“Take me to the big park. I want to play.”
“We haven’t been to Wisconsin Dells in so long. Let’s go there.”
“Staying home is so boring.”
Many of these statements have come within minutes after doing a major activity, such as the case this last Tuesday night when Braden was challenging me to do something with him immediately after getting home from an hour-long swim at Pacawa Beach-Park in Plover.
He and I went there because my wife, his mother, was working late, and not wanting to hear his demands for entertainment and because it was so hot out, I thought I’d nip two problems with one cure: Pacawa.
Pacawa is sort of a hidden gem in Portage County, as it has a nice beach and even better water. Every time I’ve been there, only a handful of others are there, too. I’ve been to plenty of lesser beaches and swimming areas that are far more crowded.
Compared to my swimming locations when I was a kid, Pacawa is a bit of a paradise. The sandy bottom is ideal for people squeamish about stepping in muck, as was the case at Witter’s Lake. And its warm, shallow water is much better than the colder and more treacherous waters of the White River.
It has also allowed for me to help Braden begin learning how to swim, at an age much younger than I was when I learned how to swim. He’s figured out how to float both on his back and stomach, and he’s started the basic techniques for doggy paddling. After watching me freestyle swim, he even attempted to try it himself. Unfortunately for him, he couldn’t coordinate correct breathing with his arms strokes, resulting in him swallowing a mouth full of lake water. At least the water’s clean, though.
It’s good he’s learning how to swim at a young age. My summers as a youngster were a lot less boring than they could have been had I not known how to swim.
I have a feeling, though, my summers now until he is old enough to drive are going to be booked with plenty of swimming excursions. Unless I don’t mind hearing him challenge us to keep him entertained, much like Kurt Cobain of Nirvana who once sang “Here we are now, entertain us.” I love this song, but it gets repetitive if heard too often. I’d rather go to the beach.
$600 million golfer worth way too much
Tiger Woods’ soon-to-be ex-wife, Elin Nordegren, will reportedly receive $100 million in their divorce settlement.
My initial reaction upon hearing this was not they she was getting too much, as I think she deserves every cent she can get from his dirty paws, but that Tiger Woods has way too much money.
Yes, he’s one of the greatest golfers of all time. Yes, he’s helped the sport of golf and the companies he’s an ad spokesman for earn a lot of money and he’s entitled to a cut of it. Yes, the popularity he’s achieved and the accomplishments he’s earned deserve to get rewarded.
Nordegren is only receiving about one-sixth of her soon-to-be ex-husband’s estate, as Forbes Magazine values his worth at $600, which in my opinion is approximately $400 million more than any professional golfer should be worth, according to the unofficial “What a person should be worth” chart I keep in my head.
This chart, which most other people probably also have, is quite nice in allowing Tiger to be worth $200 million, as that’s more money than you or I could barely earn in 200 or so lifetimes.
According to my chart, surgeons deserve to make the most money. They spend a lot of money to receive training that will help save a lot of lives, and should the situation ever occur where I or someone I know needs the life-saving skills of a surgeon, I hope that person is comfortable financially so not to be thinking of those matters while operating.
Next on my list are firefighters, police officers, emergency medical technicians, paramedics, doctors and teachers. These are the people who keep us safe, healthy and smart – all qualities I greatly enjoy.
Some might argue teachers are paid too much, especially as evidenced by the defeat of two referendums for the Stevens Point Area School District, but I will say they are paid too little. Think about the good teachers you may have had in school and all you learned from him or her. I had several outstanding elementary teachers, a great middle school teacher, a couple of super high school teachers and one incredible college professor who all helped make me the person I am today.
Imagine if all teachers were as good as those teachers. This country and the people in it would be much better. Higher teacher salaries would weed out the bad teachers, as the brightest and best people would seek those jobs.
The next occupations on my list are construction workers, engineers and people who make things. All of these jobs require skills many of us, me especially, don’t have and deserve to be rewarded for their efforts.
Good workers in the service industry are next on my chart. Bad workers fall to the bottom, though, as they often seem like the most worthless employees out there.
As much as I love television, films and sports, people in those businesses would be on the lower tier of my chart. Granted, the big stars, like Tiger Woods, help rake in a lot of money, that doesn’t necessarily mean they deserve as much as they earn, nor do the studios, sports teams or others who benefit from them deserve it all. After certain amounts, the money should go to deserving charities. I’m sure many charities would be much better if Tiger’s $400 billion overpayment went to them.
I don’t mean to get too socialistic, but it’s hard to argue against me. Too few have too much, and too many don’t have enough. Spread the wealth.
Where do journalists, my profession, fall on my chart? Well, anybody that’s seen our paychecks knows we’re certainly not making too much. If we were paid more, then maybe the quality of journalism today would improve, as I’m definitely not going to argue with you that we should be bragging about our profession right now.
Unfortunately, my chart will never come to fruition. This is a world in which a golfer is worth $1.5 billion and a teacher earns an average of $50,000 annually. At least it will get a little better, when the golfer’s net worth decreases by $100 million.
My initial reaction upon hearing this was not they she was getting too much, as I think she deserves every cent she can get from his dirty paws, but that Tiger Woods has way too much money.
Yes, he’s one of the greatest golfers of all time. Yes, he’s helped the sport of golf and the companies he’s an ad spokesman for earn a lot of money and he’s entitled to a cut of it. Yes, the popularity he’s achieved and the accomplishments he’s earned deserve to get rewarded.
Nordegren is only receiving about one-sixth of her soon-to-be ex-husband’s estate, as Forbes Magazine values his worth at $600, which in my opinion is approximately $400 million more than any professional golfer should be worth, according to the unofficial “What a person should be worth” chart I keep in my head.
This chart, which most other people probably also have, is quite nice in allowing Tiger to be worth $200 million, as that’s more money than you or I could barely earn in 200 or so lifetimes.
According to my chart, surgeons deserve to make the most money. They spend a lot of money to receive training that will help save a lot of lives, and should the situation ever occur where I or someone I know needs the life-saving skills of a surgeon, I hope that person is comfortable financially so not to be thinking of those matters while operating.
Next on my list are firefighters, police officers, emergency medical technicians, paramedics, doctors and teachers. These are the people who keep us safe, healthy and smart – all qualities I greatly enjoy.
Some might argue teachers are paid too much, especially as evidenced by the defeat of two referendums for the Stevens Point Area School District, but I will say they are paid too little. Think about the good teachers you may have had in school and all you learned from him or her. I had several outstanding elementary teachers, a great middle school teacher, a couple of super high school teachers and one incredible college professor who all helped make me the person I am today.
Imagine if all teachers were as good as those teachers. This country and the people in it would be much better. Higher teacher salaries would weed out the bad teachers, as the brightest and best people would seek those jobs.
The next occupations on my list are construction workers, engineers and people who make things. All of these jobs require skills many of us, me especially, don’t have and deserve to be rewarded for their efforts.
Good workers in the service industry are next on my chart. Bad workers fall to the bottom, though, as they often seem like the most worthless employees out there.
As much as I love television, films and sports, people in those businesses would be on the lower tier of my chart. Granted, the big stars, like Tiger Woods, help rake in a lot of money, that doesn’t necessarily mean they deserve as much as they earn, nor do the studios, sports teams or others who benefit from them deserve it all. After certain amounts, the money should go to deserving charities. I’m sure many charities would be much better if Tiger’s $400 billion overpayment went to them.
I don’t mean to get too socialistic, but it’s hard to argue against me. Too few have too much, and too many don’t have enough. Spread the wealth.
Where do journalists, my profession, fall on my chart? Well, anybody that’s seen our paychecks knows we’re certainly not making too much. If we were paid more, then maybe the quality of journalism today would improve, as I’m definitely not going to argue with you that we should be bragging about our profession right now.
Unfortunately, my chart will never come to fruition. This is a world in which a golfer is worth $1.5 billion and a teacher earns an average of $50,000 annually. At least it will get a little better, when the golfer’s net worth decreases by $100 million.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Budget fix strips unions of rights
While Gov. Scott Walker may have the right idea in asking some public employees to contribute more to their own health care and retirement costs, he is going about “asking” in the wrong way.
As part of his state budget repair bill, Walker has proposed requiring state employees to contribute 5.8 percent of their pay to their pension and requiring them to pay 12.6 percent of their health care costs. He says this fix could save the state $30 million of the $137 million deficit it faces this year, and $300 million of the $3.6 billion shortfall projected for the next two years.
He says this is necessary to avoid 6,000 state employee layoffs and the removal of 200,000 children from the Medicaid program. Legally, though, Walker cannot remove these children from the program, according to a Feb. 16 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article.
Walker is not asking state employees to consider these implications, though, when negotiating contracts – implications they most likely would take seriously. Instead, he’s trying to force these measures upon them by stripping unions of the right to negotiate on anything except wages. And increases in wages would be capped at the consumer price index unless approved through local referendums.
One big reason this country became an industrial and consumer giant is because of the deals negotiated by unions to get employees safe working conditions, fair wages and benefits suitable to a middle class lifestyle.
In recent years, as unions have been unfairly targeted and membership has dropped considerably, we’ve seen a dismantling of the middle class and entire industries moving to other countries so big corporations could make more money. While unions may have contributed to this by sometimes being inflexible, in recent years they’ve been forced mostly into a defensive mode, usually making concessions when management asks, or, tells, much like what Walker is proposing.
By stripping state employees of such union negotiating rights, Walker isn’t even giving them the dignity of choosing whether or not they want to help the state solve its budget woes. They deserve at least that much.
It gets worse, too. If approved, and should public employees protest it, Walker has said he’ll bring in the National Guard to stop any protests.
Maybe he’s never heard the adage “ask nicely and you shall receive.”
As part of his state budget repair bill, Walker has proposed requiring state employees to contribute 5.8 percent of their pay to their pension and requiring them to pay 12.6 percent of their health care costs. He says this fix could save the state $30 million of the $137 million deficit it faces this year, and $300 million of the $3.6 billion shortfall projected for the next two years.
He says this is necessary to avoid 6,000 state employee layoffs and the removal of 200,000 children from the Medicaid program. Legally, though, Walker cannot remove these children from the program, according to a Feb. 16 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article.
Walker is not asking state employees to consider these implications, though, when negotiating contracts – implications they most likely would take seriously. Instead, he’s trying to force these measures upon them by stripping unions of the right to negotiate on anything except wages. And increases in wages would be capped at the consumer price index unless approved through local referendums.
One big reason this country became an industrial and consumer giant is because of the deals negotiated by unions to get employees safe working conditions, fair wages and benefits suitable to a middle class lifestyle.
In recent years, as unions have been unfairly targeted and membership has dropped considerably, we’ve seen a dismantling of the middle class and entire industries moving to other countries so big corporations could make more money. While unions may have contributed to this by sometimes being inflexible, in recent years they’ve been forced mostly into a defensive mode, usually making concessions when management asks, or, tells, much like what Walker is proposing.
By stripping state employees of such union negotiating rights, Walker isn’t even giving them the dignity of choosing whether or not they want to help the state solve its budget woes. They deserve at least that much.
It gets worse, too. If approved, and should public employees protest it, Walker has said he’ll bring in the National Guard to stop any protests.
Maybe he’s never heard the adage “ask nicely and you shall receive.”
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