On to the NEXT chapter!

Well, Joe and I sold the house, said goodbye to our laid back Milwaukee lifestyle with readi-access to great beer (micros, not Miller). We are both living with our wonderful parents!!!

Next step - I need to find a job, then we will get the house.

Short post...stayed tune.

Cellphone etiquette - necessary?

I am in Subway ordering my $5 footlong veggie, it's not really busy but the customer in front of me is on her phone. From the sounds of it, she was speaking another language. The Subway worker was trying to be patient asking her the same questions over and over again about her sandwich. I starred at her, trying to give her the none verbal - "can you concentrate here?" but it did not work. I passed her up and got my sub. I told the worker helping me that that is very rude.

After I left I thought, can a worker refuse to help someone who is on their phone and not paying attention? Should I have said something since the workers did not feel like they could call her out on her rudeness?

Lakefront Brewery - Cream City Pale Ale (CCPA)

photo taken from: http://www.lakefrontbrewery.com/ales.html

I have tasted many Lakefront beers and my personal favorite is Cream City. This is a pale ale with a slight caramel taste from the malt and slight bitter taste. Of course this is not for everyone but if you have tried this you should also try the organic ESB, first fully organic beer ever made.

P.S. Lakefront has been rated the number 1 tour in Milwaukee...you can even go on a Friday night and also have a fish fry!

Stop pushing kids through

What is annoying to me is students who get pushed through the system when they should clearly not be graduating to the next level.

First of all, if they have not worked at the current level why would he/she work at the next? Then the next teacher has to take more time out to help this student, which ends up being wasted time since the student obviously does not care about school.

Second of all, parents need to step up to the plate! If their child is failing, they need to re-evaluate what they are doing to help their child pass. Parents made the decision to have kids, they need to realize that educating their child is partly their responsibility.

Third, administrators need to back their teachers and make parents responsible. If traditional behavior plans do not work (detentions, suspensions) then think outside the box - community service. This child is costing the district money by wasting teachers time and affects other students education - so they should give back to the district. I am sure the custodians have plenty of jobs they could do - or something.

What if the parents refuse to do anything except enable their child to continue to be a problem at school and fail multiple classes... well I have already talked about tax credits being associated with students grades. Another radical proposal is if the student is held back a year, the parents have to pay a certain amount. Yes, pay for public education - if they have to repeat a year because of behavior and/or grades.

Do I have kids yet? No, but if my parents could get me through school then other parents can do it also. I went to summer school, grounded, no TV in my room, loss of phone priveldges (which was HUGE to me) and etc. Nowadays, there are even MORE things to take away from kids - but that does not seem to happen for the majority of poor students (that I have seen).

What are parents afraid of?

Who is SB...

Well, I do not have alot of credentials to lean on to be able to break down each beverage to individual tastes. I can not tell you the process behind each type of beer or liquor. BUT I can tell you where ever I go I seek new beers to taste and if there is a local liquor I will taste that also (unless I have already had beer). I am sure you are thinking, what about wine or champagne? Well, I have found that I have an allergic reaction to many wines and champagnes so I keep trying them every once in awhile - but I do not seek them out.

Enjoy and share your thoughts... Thanks for reading.

I am no K-12 teacher

OK...well... I have come to the realization that I love education, I love teaching - but NOT teaching K-12. You have to have be a special person to be a K-12 teacher, it is difficult. First of all, you have the students who after the 7th grade start trying to become individuals and sometimes that includes being disrespectful to adults. What is interesting is that sometimes you get to meet the parents of these students and I find it disturbing how much the apple does NOT fall from the tree. Sometimes the parents will say, "I'm trying everything" of course you can not dispute this but REALLY??? You've tried EVERYTHING?! Why does your child still have a PSP? a cellphone? out with friends? REALLY???!!!! Of course a teacher would never try and give parenting advice, but if you are lucky you do get teaching advise from parents. For example, "What ever you are doing is not working" What I am doing? You are the parent, with all the power. As a parent you can take things away you can even HOLD YOUR CHILD BACK A GRADE - WOW...novel idea. Now grant it, there will be some teachers extremely upset with having to teach that child again - but you are actually DOING SOMETHING extreme to get your child's attention so he/she knows WHO'S THE BOSS...

Moving forward!

WELL... we have sold the house, made it through the home inspection and looking forward to our house closing July 18th. Sarabeth still has to finish her masters and find a job, so in the mean time we are each living with our respective parents untill we get a place.

Also, David (Sarabeth's brother) is getting married July 12 so we need to get as much done before then so we can relax and celebrate!

Stayed tuned for our next post which will hopefully be... a new job, new house, finished masters.... all back in IL!