Hooray For Saturday!

Letter To The Editor Education Edition

I write this as a concerned parent of a child enrolled in Kentucky public schools.

Even though the proposed budget from Governor Beshear makes education a top priority, it still includes cuts to the department of education. Over the past 18 years, education funding in the Commonwealth has been subject to cuts. Education has gone from 60% of the state's budget in 1990 to 40% in 2008 and as of now, if things go unchanged, education could be facing a 13% budget cut over the next two years. I ask, where will it end?

Over those years Northern Kentucky has seen, and continues to see, a growth rate, due in part to some economic development in the area which is fortunate. However, it has added pressure on the school systems having to keep up with the inflow of students.

Currently Boone County Schools, where our child attends, has over 50% of their schools over capacity. Even with the addition of another elementary school, that is scheduled to be built and completed for use for the 2010 school year, our child's school will still have more students than the original building was meant for. Boone County Schools also implements a cap on classroom size for grades kindergarten through 3rd grade at 24 students per class, however, enrollment in our child's half-day kindergarten class currently stands at 27 students. It goes beyond being concerned for the students, but the teachers as well.

As far as our teachers go, with budgets continuing to be cut, classroom sizes growing and federal mandates in place, it's easy to see how just one of those variables would lower the moral of our educators. However, in talking with some teachers from the area, they aren't even discussing raises or things that would better themselves personally, they only talk about things that continue to help our children, such as Professional Development training and textbook adoptions. They speak of the extra time they put in outside of the classroom, at home preparing lessons, not as complaints, but just matter of fact as part of the job. These statements alone show how special the teachers in our area are and with that being said, it shows how much our legislators should stand up and fight for them.

I have hope, and I do believe that this country can claw it's way out of this vast economic trench it's dug itself into, but it's going to take time. In that time our legislators, cannot afford to put education funding on the back burner. They cannot afford to put the Commonwealth at a risk of losing upon the potential of an economic turn-around. Our representatives cannot afford to not stand up for what the children of Kentucky deserve, a quality public education. Quality schools bring businesses into the state. Those businesses know they will be able to find a quality workforce, based on the education system provided to their employees. Those employees form communities which further drive the economy by the goods and services needed. All of that feeds the tax revenue of Kentucky, which helps to make the Commonwealth a desirable place for business and communities, while offering good quality of life for it's citizens.

All of this would be great if we weren't in a recession, the way we are. I am fully aware that in times like these tough decisions have to be made, not only in family budgets, but the budget for the Commonwealth too. With that being said, I implore our legislators to search for other places in the budget to cut, besides education, and to find additional ways for the Commonwealth of Kentucky to generate revenue. Now is the time to lobby federal government for additional funding for those school districts in the Commonwealth that are experiencing growth and development, such as Boone County Schools. It's time to look back at the state tax cuts that have been enacted over the years that have costs our school districts millions. I know it's not an easy thing to do, but it's the right thing to do. It's time for our legislators to step up and do the hard work that is needed to help both the teachers and students succeed.

A Solid Week

The call came in a few minutes ago.  It's official, tomorrow is a snow day and that makes a solid week that school has been out here.

I'm wishing I could get the keys to one of the big county snow plow trucks for the night.  I got nothing going on and after looking at the job that is getting done around here, I'll go on record and say, I think I could put a dent in some of this ice and snow around the county if I was behind the wheel.

Knowing the fleet of trucks that the county has, it's easy to wonder why they haven't done a better job at getting the roads cleared, unless it's just a question of manpower.

Time to get busy thinking of ways to burn daylight tomorrow.  We have done about everything we can in this house, four times over, to keep away from boredom.

The Weather Man

This goofy ice we are receiving, which I wish was just snow, is really making me miss Tom Skilling right now.

He would be able to explain it to us in a neat, scientific manner, instead of the local Cincinnati guys just telling us we are all gonna die.

News Flash: Watch Your Converter

I usually sit down, once a week, after the kids go to bed and take a look through our local paper when it is delivered on our front door. 

I read over the front page, glance over the first couple of pages, then read the idiot section...excuse me, the Letters to the Editor section.  Then after that, I glance over the front page of section two, which is the Life section.  The front page of it usually had a Best Friends segment and a type of getting to know your neighbor segment on it.  Sometimes it features troops from the area that are returning home from Iraq, which is good to see.  Lastly, I glance through the Police Reports.

Here in the Cincinnati suburbs of Northern Kentucky, most crimes are people that like to drive under the influence of something, be it alcohol or drugs, and people that like to steal stuff.  The majority of crimes reported are DUI and theft. 

One thing that sticks out, is the number of catalytic converters that are being reported stolen off of vehicles.  I knew most catalytic converters contain small amounts of platinum or rhodium, and with a wife and friend that work in the metal business, I knew some metals were going up in price.  However, having the balls to slide under a Cadillac or Toyota in a grocery store parking lot at 1pm is kind of crazy.

Perhaps the people taking catalytic converters are the same ones out there driving under the influence?  It seems like one would have to be drunk or high to pull off that one.

Time Is Lung Cancer

Almost everyone I know says they can't stand WalMart, however, it is hard to live here and not go in the place.  Excuses, excuses.  There are things that I just have to get there, such as boys toddler underwear.  There are some accidents that you just don't want to throw in the washing machine and a six pack of tiny, no name brand, colored briefs for a rollback price, is money well spent.

So, me and the boy were there yesterday picking up a cornucopia of junk and as we are checking out, the cash register receipt machine gets jammed up.  We weren't in a hurry of any sorts and these things happen, so we just kind of patiently waited for it to get fixed.

The guy two shopping carts behind us was very bothered by this delay.  So bothered, that he started offering up his services to fix the printer with either the motor oil or shotgun shells in his shopping cart.  The young lady that was working the register, that didn't really have a clue to what was wrong with the printer and had called management for assistance, respectfully declined the offer.  After a few heavy sighs and curse words, instead of rolling his shopping cart into another lane, he says, "Well shit, I'm going outside to have a smoke.  Watch these things and that thing better be fixed by the time I get back."

Seriously?  Yes.

The printer jam was fixed about 30 seconds after he walked away.  The lady behind me, and in front of Smokey, couldn't believe his actions.  I could.  This is another reason I go to WalMart, the people watching is worth the trip.  It's an eclectic mix of people, like a car wreck...you can't help but look.

We took our time leaving to see if indeed Mr. Smokebreak would return, and sure enough he did.  He returned to a checkout aisle that was a worse headache then before, because of him leaving his cart full of junk in the middle of the candy, jerky, magazines, laser pointers and nail clippers.  I was impressed by the manager lady for telling him that if he had any patience whatsoever, he could have already been checked out, in the parking lot, enjoying his smoke on the way to his car.

Time is...whatever.

One Of These Things Doesn't Belong Here

Doodlebug and I were going through a workbook featuring many pages of illustrations this evening.  In some of the illustrations you circled matching stuff, in some you circled things that did or didn't belong and in some you found things within the picture that were cleverly hidden.

One drawing was an outdoor setting, with a young lady swinging in a tire swing.  The object was to circle things that didn't belong in the setting.

So I was going over the page with the child, vocalizing the things she was circling.  It went a little something like this.

Correct!  One of those flowers is a lightbulb, that doesn't belong.  Right!  The rope holding the swing is a snake, that might not belong.  Uh-huh, forks don't belong in the grass.  Yep, couches don't belong outside.

At that moment The Lady looks over and says, "Success!  We live in Kentucky, and she knows a couch doesn't belong in the yard."

Good thing she gets the smarts from her mom.

Chainsaw Fever

I've been busy, as of late, trying to get things together for this PDGA tournament me and a friend are putting on this Saturday.

It didn't help matters with the remnants of Ike blowing down numerous trees and large branches on the course the event is taking place on.  A few of us have been spending a lot of evenings out on the course trying to get it back in shape.

The local parks district came through for us last Saturday, not only with some chainsaws, a giant chipper and dumptruck, but also with some manpower, by way of the local county jail.  A few of us showed up to volunteer and work side by side with some guys from the local jail work program.  In talking with a couple of the gentlemen from the program, they were pretty happy to be out working and making a small amount of money to go towards necessities back at the barracks.  These guys had quite a work ethic and they played a huge part in helping us get the park back into shape.

Even though a couple of them were really excited to be wielding chainsaws and dropping big ass trees, I never really thought of them as convicts, just guys helping to clean up a huge mess.

Well....that is until there were a couple of us putting big branches and some small logs into the chipper, and over the load roar of the machine grinding larger masses of wood into little chips and splinters, one of the guys gave me a grin and shouted really loud, "You know, I'd never wish harm on anyone, but I know a couple of sum bitches I wouldn't mind running through this thing!"

Don't hold this against me in court or anything, but I couldn't agree more.  No, not really.?

No Like Ike

The remnants of hurricane Ike rolled through our neighborhood today.  The low pressure system, that was formally Ike, meet up with a cold front and a lower level jet stream, whichmade for steady winds of about 50mph for four hours, with gusts recorded at 80mph on numerous occasions.

Houses in our neighborhood suffered major roof damage and in the greater Cincinnati area over 600,000 people are without power.  Needless to say, trees are down everywhere.

   

   

Just a small glimpse of the damage in the neighborhood.  Crazy enough, we lost one shingle and never lost power.

Clean living?  Karma?  We were very fortunate. 

I was pretty amazed by the winds of this storm, some 1000 miles away from where it originally made landfall.  I was telling my neighbors how it sucks to be on the east side of the center of circulation and that is exactly what was going on today.  Another crazy thing about it, when the majority of the wind damage was being done, it was beautiful and sunny out.  And not a drop of rain all day, when we actually could have used some.  It went all northwest of this region through Chicago.  That's the last thing they needed, more rain.

Be A Hero To A Gyro

There is a locally owned restaurant here in Florence, KY called Florence Y'all Gyros & Wings.  If you click the link for Florence, KY you will get a clue as to how the establishment came up with it's name.

I like the place for numerous reasons, the biggest being because it's locally owned and the guy that owns it is really nice.  He is a true entrepreneur that is always striving to make his establishment better.  He is always there and works his backside off to serve up good food ata good price in a land where his cut throat competition is every chain restaurant you can think of, be it Crapplebee's, Tooters, & Olive Yards.  This place is covered with chain, cookie cutter restaurants, so any place we find that is locally owned we do our best to support them.

The owner of Florence Y'all Gyros & Wings is also a sponsor of the three annual disc golf tournaments a couple of us direct, out at Idlewild Disc Golf Course, and he is always willing to lend a hand anyway he can.

Recently, our friend and his restaurant were nominated by the local ABC television affiliate as one of the best Gyros in the Cincinnati region.  So, if you have the time and you would like to take my word for it that his gyros are very delicious, please go to this article, click on the link to submit your vote, and drop an email voting for Florence Y'all Gyros & Wings as the best gyro in the region before June 26th. 

Trust me, you will be helping a good guy get a bit of well deserved, free advertising to help better his business.

Me And My Wine

I will be attending a fund-raiser event on Friday night that happens to be a wine tasting and competition.

Here's the catch, I'm not a wine drinker.  Sure, I used to throw back a swig of Ripple back in the younger years, trying to look cool, but I never acquired a taste for any sort of wine in my adult years.  I'm a bourbon guy, if and when I ever have an alcoholic beverage. 

The event is happening like this:

• Form a team of one to three people and choose three bottles of the same wine to bring to the event.
• Each team will submit two of their bottles to be bagged, numbered, then put out for tasting.  The third bottle will be held aside.
• All attendees can taste and rate the wine on some sort of scale.
• The team that brought the winning wine, will take home all the third bottles set aside.  The loser gets to have their third bottle back to go drown their sorrows in.

So my question to you, Internet.  What is a good wine, that I can go get three bottles of, that won't break the bank?  I know about Two Buck Chuck, so maybe something different.

You may be thinking to yourself, Why are you asking this?  You just said you are not a wine drinker.  What do you need a shot at winning wine for?  Gifts!  I can use those bottles to take to my father-out-law when we travel up to see him.  If we ever get invited to dinner where a bottle of wine might be appropriate to bring, presto!  Free wine.

I thank you for any recommendations submited by y'all.  Who knows, you might turn another wine lover on to your favorite.