“Girls Against Boys” Not at our School.

 Today my son came out after school a little bummed.  He took me aside and said he got sent to the principal’s office.  Trying to reassure him that I would not be upset, I urged him on and asked him to tell me what happened and let me look at the Pink Slip. 

He explained what happened and now I am furious!  This is what the report said.  My son, 1 other boy and a girl (names omitted due to privacy) were referred to the principal’s office for trying to organize a girl’s against boy’s game of tag.  In the report the Box was checked that that their actions were not ‘respectful’ and my son had to write down what he thought was a good punishment for his part in this horrible event.  He wrote “I should miss recess” He also had to write why it was not respectful and he wrote the following; “It is not fair for the girls”.

After reading this I turned to him and he immediately saw the anger in my eyes and told me how sorry he was.  I looked at him and told him that I would talk to his principal about it.  I asked him to stay there while I dealt with this crime of the century.

Have teachers and parents really gotten to the point where a game of girls against boys tag is something a student or students should be sent to the principal’s office for.  I mean we have taken dodge ball away, the pledge of allegiance for all practical purposes is never said, we now refer to ‘Christmas Vacation’ as Holiday Break, our district has taken valuable class time away from English speaking students to teach them Spanish in the name of social integration on the playground.   The kids when it snows are not allowed to go outside for recess any more because some students refuse to wear or do not have appropriate clothing and the kids that do, now get the joy of sitting in the hallway for recess on snow days.  . 

What ever happened to girls can do just as well as boys, when did it become OK, to send kids to the principal’s office for something so ridiculous.  Talk about a self esteem breaker, sitting in the principal’s office next to Little Johnny who got in a fight on the playground as they are both handed a pink slip.  How can that possibly be fair.

I think it is wrong, I think the teacher was wrong in what she did, how she acted and should apologize to my son for being a dumb ass.  There is nothing wrong with Tag, boys against girls, coed what ever, how many activities can you possibly eliminate from recess or PE.  Instead of calling it PE Class they should call it SOYA which stands for Sit On Your Ass and do nothing class.

When I came back I turned to my little boy and told him I was not angry with him, and him telling me the truth meant everything in the world to me, and that even though I thought what they did to him was wrong.  He needed to make sure he did not do it again. 

Now to the teacher, are you really that bored?  Can you take anything else away from our kids, maybe we should stop letting them play basket ball because not all kids are tall enough to play.  Or maybe the girls should sit out every other PE class so that boys and girls do not play together at all.  We would not want girls and boys to ever think that they might be better than someone of the opposite sex or lose to a member of the opposite sex.  What you did was wrong inappropriate and disrespectful to both girls and boys and more importantly hurt the feelings of a little boy who just wanted to play tag against some girls.  Shame on you!      

© All Rights Reserved 2009

Spanish for Dummies!

I attended my sons Parent teacher Conference several weeks ago, and as usual all went well.  My sons a great student, he is polite, and he gets his seat work and homework done and turned in on time.  His teacher is awesome and he likes which is great when you are trying to do everything you can to keep you children interested in school until after college. 

As we concluded our conference she, explains a little bit about what’s going on with CSAP and the fact our school is a candidate for the IB program.  Our school is classified as a Bilingual school part of being an IB school is focusing on Bilingual education.  However, their idea of Bilingual is completely different than mine.  It’s more of an accommodation school for kids who can’t or will not learn English.  They provide classes for those students, referred to as English Language Learners, in Spanish and have no real incentive for those students to learn English.   

Now at the end of our conference, the teacher asks if my son has told me about the ‘New’ opportunity he has to learn a second language.  I already knew where this is going, but I wait patiently for her ‘Pitch’ and then it became all so clear.  What this new ‘New Opportunity’ really is designed to do is teach English Speaking kids Spanish so that the School District does not have to deal with the political and social stigma of actually asking or telling someone they need to learn English.  My son’s ‘New Opportunity’ is that he is required to leave his core studies, 2 hours a week and learn Spanish. 

As educators and teachers the importance of providing 2 hours a week on Computers, or learning where Australia is never even comes up.  This is not about being Bilingual this is about a societies and education systems unwillingness to say you should learn English.  Can you imagine the firestorm if a school said you have to learn English to move on to the next grade?  If you offer 2nd grade classes Spanish speaking children in Spanish, then offer CSAP in Spanish, and when they graduate, continue to cater to the language barrier there is never an incentive to learn anything other than Spanish.  They have no reason to, every thing is in Spanish.  So why go the extra mile and learn English?   

Rather than teaching my son Spanish as a required course maybe they could offer multiple language courses if second language instruction is really what they want to offer.  But more importantly maybe they should focus on teaching our children the basics such as Math, Science, Reading, and Writing so that they can succeed in finding a job.  It does not matter if you can speak a million languages, if you can’t add, or you do not know what the make up of water is, who cares what language you can say “I don’t know!” in. 

 So I guess I look at it this way!  At least under the current structure of our education system particularly in our little hometown there is one benefit for the other student not to learn English.  My son and his ELL student counter will at least both be able to say “I do not know the answer because know one ever taught me how to add!” in Spanish.    

© All Rights Reserved 2009 – 2010

Tastes Like Lemonade!

So you take a bunch of lemons and squeeze then into a pitcher, add some sugar, some water, ice and you stir it.  Then you put it on a table, with a sign that says .25 cents a cup and hope the rest of the neighborhood wants some lemonade.  I think love is sort of the same thing. 

Essentially just like lemonade you take 4 things, mix them all together and hope its love.  Think about it for a moment!  You take two people (lemons and Sugar), put them in a relationship (pitcher), add all of their skeletons (ice), all of their other emotions (water), stir it, and hopefully you have a relationship and your in love (lemonade). 

I personally prefer my lemonade sweet, I mean don’t get me wrong there are times when the exact same recipe of lemonade turns out to be a little more sour than the previous batch, it happens from time to time.  I think it’s just like being in love, sometimes it’s the sweetest thing in the world and other times it’s all you can do to keep from walking away when it is sour and bitter.

Making lemonade takes hard work and patience to get it right.  Besides, it’s tough to ask for your .25 cents back after you have already taken a drink from the glass.  Sometimes though, even if you can return the lemonade you really wish you hadn’t. 

 

6 large Lemons

2 Cups of Sugar (to taste)

1 tray of large ice cubes

4 large muddled strawberries    

8 -10 cups of water

Squeeze lemons over ice, until drained.  Pour strawberries over Ice, top off with sugar, add 8 cups of water, stir and enjoy.   Add more water or sugar to taste.   

© All Rights Reserved 2009

PTO Fundraisers!

The beginning of the school year brings lots of emotions, new experiences, and some of same routine that every parent and child goes through.  One of those is the student fundraisers, as parents I know we love these so much.  Those coupon books, Jog-a-thons, candy bar sales, and car washes seem to go on all year around. 

When I was a kid, I hated those fund raisers but it was cool to get the new climbing rope in the gym.  Of course when I was a kid there was no such thing as moving on to 3^rd grade until you passed 2^nd grade with at least a D-!  Which for those of you who do not know what that means, it means you barely passed and out of all reality you probably should have failed.  However, your teacher felt sorry for you or hated you so much that he or she wanted to get you out of their classroom.  So I guess a lot has changed since I went to school.   

In school we were all given the opportunity to sell candy bars, I usually did really well, well I mean I had to do very well because I always ended up eating them and my parents had to write a check.  Don’t get me wrong fund raisers were good and for the most part proceeds went to the Physical Education, Music, or Art Departments.  Back then most of those departments were usually the underfunded bastard departments of the education system.

Now that my son is all grown up and in 4^th grade it seems that not only are those departments underfunded, but everything except teacher salaries and CSAP Training is underfunded.  I recently received a letter in the Monday folder what the proceeds of past fund raisers had been used for.  While I was not surprised as I co-chaired out PTO for two years I think a lot of parents would be surprised at what is no longer paid for by the school districts. 

Our PTO pays to put gas in the bus for field trips; we paid for the driver’s time, and bought educational material for the classrooms including textbooks.  We paid for English to Spanish translation of documents because the school district allows anyone who can’t speak English to join the school even though they can’t fund the basic necessities to facilitate bilingual education.  One year we bought a set of drums for the music department again because the district does not have the money to buy music equipment for their music departments.    

Currently we pay to have our IB program at the school and that technically is just for the opportunity to be a candidate.  We reimburse teachers for their out of pocket expense when they purchase a globe for their classroom.  Yes, a globe is not on the priority list for many districts.  I often wonder if our kids learn that the world is flat.  However, even the maps and encyclopedias that are at my son’s school are outdated.  The encyclopedia set, on the second floor still shows a main frame computer in them with a note that science is moving forward to make computers smaller.  The Berlin wall is still in there and the last update for this set of encyclopedias is 1978. 

Now don’t get me wrong, I think learning how to fundraise is not a bad thing, I just wish that once those kids raise all their money they could spend it on play ground equipment.  I guess I think it is kind of like sending you’re 12 year old off to work part time so you can make your mortgage payment.  I mean really who’s responsibility is it to buy a Globe?   

© All Rights Reserved 2009

Stop Yelling!

“You’re Yelling at me!”  Depending on circumstances and age of everyone involved my guess is that I probably have yelled even when I was not actually raising my voice.  One thing my ex monster in-law explained to me was that you never actually have to raise your voice, use profanity, or say a thing and the perception of the other person would can be that you are yelling.  She turned to me and said that is all that counts. 

Last night I had a conversation with my Girlfriend and she insisted I was yelling and being negative.  Later after a lengthy conversation I realized, while I had not raised my voice and my intentions were nothing but supportive, she took it as I was yelling and guys that is all that really matters.  Then the awful truth came over me, Monster in-law was right.  I hate it when I am not right and someone else is wrong.  But it was a good reminder of several things specific to the art of arguing with your wife, girlfriend, or your Childs mom.

Sometimes men intimidate rather than communicate, then we end up sleeping on the couch!  I am guilty of this and my guess is that I am not the only one.  Over the past several years I have come to the stark reality that I can be intimidating even when I am not trying to be, I can yell with out raising my voice, and more importantly your intentions sometimes do not matter as much as the perception of your little boy, wife, or girlfriend….   

© All Rights Reserved 2009

Let’s Start a Band!

Brad Paisley has a new song out titled “Start a Band” it’s a pretty cool song and video.  Several weeks ago my son decided that he wanted to play guitar.  He has a friend learning drums, one learning bass, and one more that is also learning guitar.  Its funny to hear them talk, one even learned a brand new song titled “Iron Man” by a new band called Black Sabbath and it was all I could do to keep from laughing when I heard about this ‘New’ band.  Who would have thought Iron Man or Back in Black would be the songs of choice to start learning on the guitar in 2009. 

Anyways, my son has been pretty good about practicing at least 45 minutes a day and even though his fingers are still getting used to the strings, it is just as painful on my ears right now.  Man, now I know why my parents did not want me to play drums or electric guitar.  They always told me “when you can play several songs all the way through, then and only then will we get you an electric guitar and amp.”   Now I completely understand why!  Can you imagine the volume turned up to 10 as I plucked 1 string at a time trying to get through ‘Crazy Train’?  My parents would have either killed me or shot themselves.

I have to give him credit he is learning some scales, now what scales they are I have no clue right now, but he is learning.  He is also working really hard and has not quit yet which is hard for any young boy to do.  So I think he is learning a few more things than just how to play guitar which is awesome. 

You know I have no idea if he will ever start a band, I know their 9 & 10 year old little minds have already started thinking about it.  I have heard names like the Rocking Jedi’s tossed out in the past couple of weeks but I am not sure they will be able to market that very well.  I have heard two of the boys say they want to change instruments already because they now know how to play Iron Man on guitar.  So who knows maybe they will start a band. 

I wanted to start a band when I was younger, never did work out for me, but many of my friends went off to chase their pot of gold in the music scene both here and in LA.  Some of those guys still play in bands even with their very long hair and yes they still play “Back in Black”.  But I hope that regardless of whether or not he moves off to LA when he is 12 to pursue his dream of being a country or rock star I hope he will have learned this.  If you don’t try you will never succeed, if you don’t ask you will never get, and if you don’t dream you will never know what you want, even if you are the worlds greatest Rock Star. 

© All Rights Reserved 2009

Paradise

7 Days ago, I was looking in the mirror and I had a little grey hair poking out just above where I let my goatee grow out and got to thinking how much grey hair can a guy my age possible have.  My son thinks I look like a mountain man, but little does he realize sometimes I feel just that.  A man that spends most of his time catering to a 9 year old boy much Like Grizzly Adams catering to the bear and the wilderness.  

2 weeks before this great discovery of grey hair I had gone to the Doctor, can you believe my Doctor said I was borderline Obese.  For all of you who have no idea what that is it means I am fat.  Then my brand new insurance agent told me I had to get a physical to make sure I would not die before the insurance company got all of their money.  The ‘Nurse for Hire’ who is also obese asked me if I was nervous.  I said “no, why do you ask?”   She turned to me your and said “your heart rate is a little high”.

I guess sometimes Life does not exactly turn out the way you planned.  I remember in High school talking about being the next George Lynch on Guitar then some genius convinced me I should be a stockbroker.  I look back sometimes at different things in my life now and realize I could probably be a lot farther than I am.  A little more work here and there, a little less time with friends or my son and I could be living in LA instead of four wheeling with my son and Girlfriend. 

Today I got home and went to the bathroom, when I was done I looked in the mirror.  I looked at the long scraggly unshaven face staring back at me in the mirror and laughed.  I remembered the camping trip with my girlfriend, her kids, my son, and thought for a moment.  I looked in the mirror again and smiled to myself.  Maybe your idea of happiness changes as you grow older.  I guess that BMW does not seem so important anymore however, the little boy crying over peach oatmeal seems so damn funny that it definitely trumps being George Lynch and my sons Star Wars Expeditions make me smile ear to ear.   

I love being a Dad, I love our jeep, and I even love that little bit of Gray Hair I have.   Right now, I feel very lucky to have that little bit of gray hair and tonight when I left that bathroom and mirror I realized that I really want one more day in Paradise because so far it is the happiest place I have been.    

© All Rights Reserved 2009

STD’s, Camping, Meeting Mom. It’s been a busy 2 weeks!

My computer got a sexually transmitted disease, I hate that all because of some jackass geek thought it would be cute to come up with some way of messing with someone’s computer while he sits his ass in a dorm room wondering why he is a social retard.  I never realized how much I rely on my computer until I did not have one to work with.         

I went camping with my son, GF, her Kids, and my friend Aaron and all of his kids.  It was a three day adventure.  While camping, the boys built a lean two to sleep in but it thundered and rained so to keep the adults from getting scared the kids slept with us.  I was so thankful for their bravery.    Made it through the first night no problems.  Then Breakfast happened!  The only person to cry all weekend was a 10 year old boy (mine is 9) who sounded like a 5 year old girl; he did not want to eat peach oatmeal.  Seriously, come on its peach oatmeal not spinach and spam! 

During this trip I quickly realized how glad I was not to have girls.  The following night after bed the girls were acting like guys who drank too much at a Frat party.   Ages 5 – 15 they each had to pee twice in the night.  Now 2 times is not bad but take 2×6 girls that is 12 occasions of girls getting up in the middle of the night to go pee.  It’s supposed to be quiet and peaceful in the mountains!  But out of all seriousness the camping Trip was a blast and the kids did an amazing job for their first real camping trip.      

This weekend we celebrated my Girlfriends Birthday and the party was a blast even though it rained and she passed out.  Ok according to her she was tired and went to sleep, with her clothes on laying across the bed not end to end.  But I know she had a good time and so did I!  I met her Mom and a bunch of her friends.  Her Mom even said I was scoring brownie points with her, Moms never say that about me.  My own Mom does not say that about me.  Maybe this is why I have not met Jason’s imaginary Girlfriend just yet, she’s a mom.    

Let’s see what else has been going on.  Oh I know!  Friends, don’t send me porn I can get my own if I am interested.  My computer was so jacked up for 2 weeks because of an email.  If the email I send you says “Girl who loves Horse C*ck” in the subject line it means my email got hijacked.  It does not mean that I get off watching a girl do a horse and I decided to share the experience with you.  Don’t send me facebook application requests.  My Girlfriend unintentionally posted a porn link on facebook and then we all had porn on our FB page.  That’s how sexually transmitted computer diseases spread.  I think some of her friends were wondering what the hell she was doing.  It was kind of funny but not really, ok it was damn funny.    

So it has been a very busy past couple of weeks and apologies for not posting.  My computer has been sick, I have been meeting her family members and friends, four wheeling and camping with 9 kids all the and it is now time to catch up.  So I was unable to respond to many of the health care comments posted or emailed last week and I have been neglectful in studying up on the issues in Honduras that my Friend has told me to study up on.  So today after work I will get back to the real world and start studying and posting.    

© All Rights Reserved 2009

Health Care

So much debate about Health Care Reform, Health Insurance, and/or government run health care!  It’s actually a proposed option for under insured or uninsured individuals, not a mandated decision, but for the sake of argument let’s call it Government Run Health Care.  I am going on vacation for several days and thought I would invite the debate to move from FB to my blog (www.wazhers.wordpress.com ) and give you a little information on me and then later tell you what I really think about the whole thing and let you convince me other wise or convince other readers.    

I am a single dad of one son, Diabetic and for the past four terms voted for Democrat, Republican, Republican, and Democrat.  Yes I voted for the new guy.   I personally am with out insurance however, my son is insured.  I am self employed and because of the pre existing condition a good monthly would be about $950 a month with low deductibles and $600 a month with very high deductibles. 

So you have 5 days with out hearing from me to post all of your rants and raves and debate.  Keep it civil, be nice, but lets share some ideas and thoughts about this issue.  Feel free to share the link with your friends.  I have no spam isues and will not add anyone to my FB friends list, who is not already on the list.  Have a great weekend and enjoy.

One last thing I will not be able to approve your comments until I get back Tuesday. Post your comments to my blgo and not on my FB page.  You ahve more room to post all of yoru thoughts on the blog.

Camping, Cooking, and Labor Day Weekend!

When you are a parent, camping is an adventure but it’s also a chore.  Trying to keep kids from wandering off or falling into the fire while you cook is a constant battle.  Over the my friends Most of whome are parents) have developed a system for cooking that is easy, quick, and tasty.  No need for bringing all the ingredients to camp and trying to prepare dinner and cook it while watching the kids.  We needed simple, but good, and something that just needed to be placed on the fire until it was cooked.  Kids and adults love the meal below and it can be made for about $25.00 dollars so its cheep as well.  Have a great Labor Day and enjoy!     

Rib Eye with Steamed Asparagus and Mixed Vegetables

 

4 Bone in Rib Eye                                                                                 

1 bushel of Asparagus

4 Small Red Potatoes (boiled for 10 minutes)                 

1 Small White Onion

1 yellow zucchini squash                                                              

.5 lbs white mushrooms

Olive Oil (Garlic and Pepper Infused)                                 

Lemon Pepper, Salt, Pepper

1 Red Bell Pepper Sliced into 16 slices

 

Marinade – 1 12oz bottle of Teriyaki Marinade, 2 Minced Garlic Cloves, 3 Tbsp BBQ Sauce, 1 cup of water, ½ cup of Szechuan’s Spicy Stir Fry Sauce.  Mix all together and evenly place in 2 plastic zip lock bags

Tenderize Steaks and place 2 steaks in each of the 2 plastic Zip lock bags containing the marinade and refrigerate over night in 1 2.5 gallon Zip Lock bag and seal.

Lay out Asparagus on large sheet of Aluminum Foil.  You are going to wrap it so make sure you have enough to roll the foil around the asparagus and seal at both ends.  After placing asparagus on foil add 2 TBLSP of olive oil, lightly season with salt and Lemon Pepper   and add 4 tbsp of Water and seal.  Once sealed, place in 1 gallon Zip Lock Bag and refrigerate overnight.

Slice Red Potatoes, Yellow Zucchini Squash, into ¼ inch thick slices and divide into 4 piles on 4 12×12 sheets of aluminum foil.  Slice Onion, break apart leaving long strips of onion and place evenly into the 4 piles of vegetables adding 4 slices of Bell to each pile.  Lightly Drizzle Olive Oil over each pile then lightly add salt and pepper.  Fold bottom of foil over vegetables so it covers the top edge of vegetables.  Fold sides over so each side edge is meeting in the middle.  Then Fold top down creating a easy open envelope.  In 2 one gallon bags add two foil packs to each bag then combine into 1 2.5 gallon zip lock bag. 

At camp, let fire burn down to a small flame making sure there are a lot of embers and coals in fire pit.  Place steaks in fish basket or pan and begin to grill to taste.  About 5 minutes into cooking steak add Vegetable Foil Packs to the outside rim of fire (in the coals rotating about every five minutes).  Add Asparagus Foil Pack 5 minutes after that and rotating about every 5 minutes until tender serve meal on plate.      

*** The reason for the double bagging serves 2 purposes. Zip lock bags do sometimes leak so I keep the meats separate from the vegetables for health reasons in case one pack breaks open.  Bears, where we camp there are bears and mountain lions and the double bag seems to really keep down the visits other campers experience from wild life.  In addition we use those bags for all the scraps and aluminum foil afterwards before we throw them in our pack out trash bags. Also this meal is best prepared one day in advance.  It will last for about 3 days on ice in a cooler.

© All Rights Reserved 2009