Bear's Ramblings

Pet peeves plus

2005-12-22

Teachers or Coaches--Which is more important

I have always been of the belief that the education of our youth is just about the most important thing that can be done for them.  But we all should know that teachers made little money compared to the amount of time and effort that they had to put in just to be able to become teachers.  It is a really sad ratio.

Just recently, the coach of a nearby University was offered a hugh amount of money to move to a college in Colorado.  Of course he took the job.  The Colorado college is even paying his previous employer a hugh amount to buy out his contract.

With the amount of mony that is involved both schools could  afford to increase the income of all of their other employees--Mostly teachers---to a reasonable amount.  But obviosly the education of our youth is not nearly as important as sports. 

It makes me sick when I hear numerous professional athletes speak only to hear that they are nearly illiterate, yet many of they were formerly college athletes.  WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE? 

I realize that the schools use sports as a way to raise money for the schools but why is sports more important than education?


Posted at 05:35:27 AM  |  Post Comment  |  Read Comments (3)

2005-12-16

Joys of Arthritis

Wow,

I remember hearing people say, "If I had any idea that I would live so long I would have taken better care of my self".  Well, truer words were never spoken. 

When I was much younger than I am today, I thought that I could do about anything physically.  I did things that I now know were going to cause me great pain and difficulty as I neared maturity.  I used to toss 94# bags of rock up on to roofs so that I would not have to climb up ladders.  (Because of problems from a motorcycle accident).  At times I would carry 3 bundles of shingles up a ladder or carry 2 kegs of asphault at a time so as not to have to make so many trips.

Boy were those things dumb or what.  My knees are shot as are both of my shoulders.  I have had surgeries on all of them(one shoulder twice this year).  Now I am looking forward to having one of my knees replaced because the pain is even preventing me from driving for any distance.  And that really puts a strain on my poor wife who has to do all of the driving if we go any where further than a few miles.

Right now with the below normal temperatures that we have been having I am having so much pain in my index fingers that at times they are nearly usless.  They often don't bend and when they do, it hurts like the dickens.

Since I don't want to take pain meds all of the time I usually just grin and bare it, but that is very difficult at times.  My Doctor will keep me supplied with vicodine, but I stretch a 1 month supple to 4-5 months.  They say that the are addicting, but I think they are like any other drug that is considered addicting and that is that they are not addicting to everyone.  Just the unfortunate ones of which, fortunately, I am not one.

In a few days I am going to talk to my Orthopedic Doctor about getting the knee replaced (largely do to my wifes concern). We will just have to wait and see.


Posted at 05:47:21 AM  |  Post Comment  |  Read Comments (1)

2005-10-29

You can't go back to find things as they were

Some time ago I took my new wife to visit some places I had lived as a boy. WOW, things were completely different. One of the places was unlike anythingI had remembered. The road by where I had lived stopped only a few feet beyond where the Old Four Room School House had been, in which I had lived. I sould not even see the Old place. there were a bunch of little houses scattered through out the area which had been MY yard.

The worst thing was that I could not take my wife down the road to show her my favorite place to play. It had been an old military gun battery right along the Oregon coast. How ever I did find a road near the enterance to the "fort" which did lead to an old gun battery, but it waqs not the same one that I had played in as a child. This gun battery was now a tourist attraction along with a bunch of other things from the era as well as the area. So we visited the establishment there and I found out some things that were completely unknown to me before about the atrea. DID YOU KNOW that during World War II that the coast of Oregon had actually been fired upon???? I sure didn't. It was never mentioned in history class either. WOW, what a shook that was.

2005-09-13

West Nile Virus

The threat of West Nile is ever increasing and there is really nothing that we can do to prevent it except avoid being bitten by mosquitoes. And that is easier said then done. As for me, I am a mosquito magnet. If there is a mosquito around anywhere, it will find me.

There is now a verified case here in the small town that I live in. I wonder how many cases there are that have not been verified? When I got to work last night the administrator told me that a doctor told him that he probably had West Nile, yeah right, based or his complaint of muscle and joint pain along with nausia and diahria. Of course it is not verified and probably will never be.

But as vague as the media has been about the symptoms it is really going to be interesting as to how many cases are verified when many people will think that they only have a case of the flu. Only time will tell.

2005-08-17

Reality TV---Ya, Right

The thought of having to watch a 'Reality TV' program makes me sick. If the producers of this type of trash think for one minute that any normal inteligent human being would really watch that dripple then they are dumber then I thought. How can anyone call those shows 'reality' shows. Those shows are a real joke.

Why would any one want to watch the obviously stagged behaviors of individuals that, for the most part, have no truely redeeming qualities. I know a teacher that used to get upset when she missed an episode of "The Apprentice". Give me a break. Or "Fear Factor", now there is a worthless program. Watching people doing some of the most disgusting thing that anyone can think up.

Better yet, lets follow a family around that is going to pretend that the cameras are not there. I don't believe it, do you?  I guess the newest one is going to follow the two tennis playing sisters around.  It will be as phoney and rehearsed as all of the rest.

Are the networks so desperate that they  think for one minute that 'real people ' would watch that garbage?  Not me, not on a bet.

2005-08-03

My children are out of control!!!

I hear far too often that some peoples chi;dren are out of control. Why?? Often its because far too many parents treat their children as good friends or 'buddies', so the respect of the parents is often lost in the process. Many children get to a point where they expect things just because they want them, not because they have earned them or even need or deserve them. In a nutshell-----there is a terrible lack of discipline in this day in age.

It makes me sick when I see a child in a public place that is throwing a fit because it is not getting something that it wants (usually in a depertment store or near the candy/cookie aisle of a grocery store). Now who is responsible for this kind of behavior. Why the parent(s) of course. The parent(s) let the behavior build from a much younger age until the parent(s) no longer has a grip on that type of situation.

Of course, the fact that the economy is so out of control that most families can't afford to make ends meet without both parents working (if both parents are even together any longer) doesn't help. With the parents working it makes it hard for the children to have proper supervision much of the time. This lack of proper supervision often leads to children falling into the influences of the delinquent behaviors of others.

To make matters even worse, there are parents out there that think that their child can do no wrong, and continually make excuses for the childs poor behavior/choices. Had these parents taught their children proper morals then this problem would be greatly reduced.

2005-07-27

Violence on TV

I continually hear it said that the violence on TV or even on the big screen has nothing to do with the great increase in violence perpetrated upon our society more and more every day. WHAT A JOKE!!! The morals of this society have diminished as the morality of TV and Movies continues to decrease. When young children are allowed to watch the totally unnecessary violence because it is easier to let them watch it than to find something more appropriate for them to watch, or better yet, something for them to do rather than watch anything at all.

I can remember when the profanity that is commonplace on regular network TV was only heard at the movies. Not any more. now it is OK to use words on TV that were not allowed years ago. WHY???? Don't censor me or I will cry, yea, right. What ever happened to common sense. When our youth hear profanity continually on TV, they assume it is OK to use it. Isn't and it never was. Since the vocabulary of our youth is so greatly affected by the vocabulary they are exposed to on TV, why would anyone believe that it is any different with violence. DUH.

2005-07-14

Athletics or Education

I can remember when I went to school(yes I can still remember back that far) that athletics was an intregal part of the education process. It taught teamwork. Sports were an extra curricular activity and if your grades were not mantained at a certain level you could not play. But that has apparently changed. Now it seems that sports has taken over and education now takes a backseat.

Now a days if a youth shows talent in anyone of a number of athletic endeavers they can sometimes(depending on the school)get by without maintaining proper grades in order to partake of their chosen sport. Apparently the"team" excelling and the school looking goood is more important then the students getting a good education.

When an athlete can make as much or more then 100's or even 1000's of teachers or other people that work with our youth, it makes me wonder where this societies priorities have gone.

It is apalling to think that someone with a natural given athletic ability is worth millions of dollars when they do not even contribute any truely tangible benifit to society. When our teachers struggle to make a living it makes me sick to think of 'Super Athletes' (some of whom talk as if they are illiterate) making millions of dollars.

Since education has taken a backseat to Athletics, this countries education has gone down the toilet. I believe that we now have one of the worst education systems going. And people complain when individuals from other countries get 'our' good paying jobs. Well, think about it. In most other countries school is at the top of their priority list.  I many other countries the children are not allowed to do anything other then school until they have graduated and their education is, in many cases, far superior to ours.  Or is that their children understand the importance of a good education and therefore apply themselves. But, not here, here it is SPORTS. Here children are allowed to skip school or even to drop out at a certain age. This is appalling since the most important thing in a young persons life is an education. It doesn't have to be a formal education, but it should be that or vocational training so that the individual youth have some way to support themselves, rather then a burden on society, once they reach the age when they are considered to be adults.

It is far to often the fault of the parents who see their child making millions of dollars and not cosidering the chances that it will not happen. The chances are very slim considering the number that really get there. When they should have been working on an education they concentrate on Athletics and end up short changing their children.

2005-06-30

Speed Limit ----Yeah Right

'What is the speed limit', you may ask yourself as you have cars flying past you. You KNOW that you are going the posted speed limit. Is there something that we, the general public, don't know.

I have lived in a number of different states and have driven in about 70% of the states. It is hard to respect the speed limits when many states have a policy that they don't ticket or even stop persons that aren't going at least 10 or 15 mph over the posted speed limit. Yet again there are states where you can get pulled over for going 1 mph over the posted speed limit and Idaho is one.

If states are not going to do anything about speeders then why do they bother to post a speed limit. Right, we all know that it is to get a larger chunk of Federal Highway Funds.

There is a 2 lane highway, between where I live and Boise, Idaho, that is a grand total of about 14-15 miles long. There have been a large number of fatal accidents along there from people trying to pass cars that are going "too slow". They say that they have stepped up the police coverage which includes 2 different counties and the State Police, but for the life of me, I still rarely see any police at all. My wife has to commute to Boise 5 days a week and it is sad when she gets stuck behind someone that goes about 15 mph under the speed limit with a string of cars for miles behind them. it is people like this that are the underlying cause of many of the accidents along that highway. This is something that I know is rarely dealt with by the police even though in most states there is a law that you must pull over and let cars pass you if more then a certain number of vehicles are behind you. It is a rare thing to see people abide by that law.

But, of course there are always those people that are never satisfied with the speed of the cars in front of them. They will try to pass anyone in front of them and then they will slow down and go slower then the cars that they just past.

What I really hate are those people that ride almost on your bumper but will not pass you even if you hug the right side of the lane and slow down. Sometimes they get so close that you can't even see the front of their car in the rearview mirror.

Enough said.

2005-06-23

Sadness of Pet Ownership

Today I had to do a favor for a friend. I took his beloved pet, Joey a blue healer that he had had for over 11 years, to the Vet to be put out of his misery. Poor Joey had very bad arthritis and was without teeth. Joey spent the night here and it was real sad to see him trying to lay down or even worse, get back up again. Poor Joey had trouble getting up and down the steps of my house. When I took Joey to the vet, the worst thing was the way that Joey reacted and looked at me as he was lead to the back of the vets office. It was as if he knew why he was there.

Unfortunately, that was not my first experience with suffering pets. A couple years ago I had a fluffy white cat, Lilly, who suddenly started having seizures. To keep the dogs from eating all of her food, we kept it on top of a high stool. Often Lilly would be eating and suddenly have a seizure and fall to the floor. Lilly had other seizures and she would hide under the bed for long periods of time, as if she thought that she had done something wrong. To stop Lilly's suffering I took her to the humane society where they relieved her of her suffering.

Last year, my 'lap dog' Belle, a blue great dane, started getting a growth in her mouth that was growing with great speed. Within a few weeks it was well over an inch long so I took her to the vet. The vet gave her some medication but it did know good. Within a very short time the growth had grown to be about 2.5 inches long and 0.5 inches wide along her upper jaw. So, back to the vet to have the growth removed. The vet said afterwards that it was surely cancerous and that he could send it to a lab to find out if it was malignant or not(about $200). I did not have the money. Within less than a week the growth had grown back and was even larger than before it had been removed. It was obvious that she was suffering greatly, so we made one last trip to the vet.

Those two events were probably the two most difficult things that I have ever had to do as well as the most painful. But as hard and painful as it was I will continue to have pets for all of the joy that they provide.

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