Monday Musings...

And we're off on another exciting (???) excursion into that thing we call a WEEK.
I'm also holding down the "Fortress" as Wifey is down visiting her dad in Vincennes for a few days.
But that's okay...got my 2 cats inside, and one cat outside helping to "stay the bastions", as it were.
Our Hoosierland weather for today brings us mostly sunny skies as a starter, temps reaching up to around 83 degrees, and that chance for a late afternoon/evening isolated thunderstorm.

Can't seem to get away from those, can we?
So, what say we get that morning drink to assist in waking us up, as we see what else has been going on, hmm?
*** First off of the coffee table is our "What the hell happens today, Bob?" feature:
JUNE 5 -
---It's National Veggie Burger Day

(LMAO, yeah, like THAT'S gonna happen at OUR home - hell isn't planning to freeze over)
---It's National Gingerbread Day

(funny, I thought all things gingerbread could be found around Christmas?)
---It's National Moonshine Day

(one good thing - if it wasn't for moonshine, we wouldn't have NASCAR...lol)
*** Next, let's put the crime aside for a spell and concentrate on better things...like "Kitten Corner"...

The kids were in fine form over the weekend...plenty of play time, and Gallifrey managed to sneak in a few catnaps before and after meals. Violet is getting more "lovery-dovey" with rubbing her head against us, and wanting her neck scratched. She does takes time to follow Wifey into the bathroom on a regular basis, too...heh.

Gallifrey just watches me shave, and that's it.
*** Next up, let's stop over to check out the "Tales of Midnight"...

I can haz the day off?

Well, he didn't have to supervise much this weekend, but was there bright and early every day for his "eats". He also spends a lot of time lounging on the patio. I don;t think he missed napping on one inch of it, either.

He did make sure Wifey got off safely Sunday by waiting near the steps out back for her to leave.
Like I said...I got me some patrol cats...inside AND outside.
*** Next up, I want to change gears here and speak a little about some stuff close to home.

First, let me say that I've always admired people who have managed to hold down a CAREER, and not just a job.
When I was getting out of high school there were jobs out there (and plenty of them) that could well lead TO a career.
I know...I had one (in the making) for a publishing house downtown in Philly. Worked there NINE years.
Started out as a messenger, on the streets of various citiies and libraries, gathering books and permissions from authors, and the like. Was a lot of footwork, but the company paid well enough (less than $5/hr with per diem for transportation)

Seemed that way.

Worked my way through the production department and into M.I.S.(Management Information Systems)...lead computer operator - day shift (yeah, we had a room-size computer complete with phone modem and a transfer rate of a whopping 120kbs
(that's KILObytes per second...lol).
I had WORKED my way up to close to $10/hr in that time, but CBS bought our company and shaved down personnel and eliminated positions (wholesale). Yeah, got my walking papers, but there were people there close to 25 years who also got the boot. That tends to sour one's perspective on career opportunities. Hell, my Dad worked at his job for 27 years before he passed (within 3 years of retirement).

After that, I took some sage advice (from Dad who told me years prior) to heart: "A job is like standing on the corner for a bus...wait long enough, and another one will come along." And he was right.
I had my share of JOBS, everything from window making to welding and sheet metal manufacturing.
Even pulled a two-year stint as a federal employee with the Treasury Dept (IRS division). I left THAT job over my conscience. I like to sleep at night, and what the feds did and did not do (breaking their own rules along the way and turning a deaf ear and a blind eye in the process) bugged me to no end.

So you can imagine how I feel after Wifey make her choice to leave FWCS, And that was after TWENTY YEARS.
It's nothing she did or did not do...Lord knows that to be as true as the day is long.

It was (and usually is) "the system", and the way they "decide" to change things for no reason and, to suit a few, while ignoring the many. I've been down that street myself...not a good neighborhood at all.
Now, I fully support Wifey in this matter. I'd be a fool not to, considering how things went in my "professional" career.
She's got a damn good head on her shoulders, PLUS something I never quite got - a DEGREE!
I had been after her to get her masters for years (prophetic in some way?), but still, between her bachelors and ALL those years experience, she will do okay finding something else when the time comes.

As for FWCS? Well, you know how I feel about them, and it's not as good as how Wifey feels. Her beef is not with FWCS proper, or any principal or admins like Dr. Robinson...it's the overall "system" as it currently stands - a system which is slowly devouring itself with problems it won't be able to easily rectify.
We've seen how all the money (haphazardly) tossed at the public education system has done little since the inception of the Dept of Education (during Carter). We HAVE seen our nation's achievement (for children) drop significantly on the global arena since then, too.

And who does everyone typically BLAME for this?
The educators.
How effin' wrong is that?
This is like if your army isn't winning a battle or war, you blame the soldiers?
NO, you moron...you blame the GENERALS who direct the soldiers (as well as the POLITICIANS who have their finger in the warfare pie). Soldiers follow orders (when practical), and educators also do what they're told, in spite of knowing that it can be detrimental to the educational process (and get them fired if they so much as oppose the regime).

THIS is the kind of problem we create in our society, and as is always the case, we have those in power always looking and implementing "solutions", when they never even come close to knowing WTH the problems are.
That is "the system", and many of us get caught up in the cogs of the machinery.
Like I said, Wifey is no slouch and always did what was required of her as a teacher (and THEN some), but there does come a time when you just have to close a door on something you were passionate about, just to maintain your sanity and ethics.
And, as Wifey said on her FB post, with every door that closes, another one opens (she's been hanging around me for 20 years...must be rubbing off...lol).
I just get so very bummed when people have to sacrifice a career in the process.
A job is just that (a job), but a career is something I always look up to, because I've never been able to have one.
Got close a couple times, but close still only counts with horseshoes and hand grenades, right?
I suppose there is some solace to be taken for knowing there has been (and will be) so many of us this has happened to. Thing is, what about everyone who wanted that career, but through circumstances, had to leave or had it leave them?
There's something to think about. Maybe I'll revisit this as the week progresses.

Be well, make a difference to someone, and...
Stay SAFE out there, America.