Keeping far too busy these days....

I have had an odd couple of months. I’ve been incredibly busy even though once a month for the last two months, we’ve had a week of “break” where I work. Teaching in the public school system is nice for that every so often, but now, of course, I dread the next few months because it is a vast wasteland of never having another day off teaching kids who already think it’s time for school to end for the summer.

In the last two months:

I have resolved, for the most part, a court case that had been pending for well over a year. Suing someone is never fun, even when you know you’re in the right. Suing someone who doesn’t mind spending other people’s money is even worse. Thankfully, that’s almost over. Once it is, I fully intend to sit down and put it all together. It’s not a book on its own but it’s definitely a few chapters.

I have completed an online teaching certification program through the Michigan Virtual University. that was one of the most intense seven weeks of my life. Coupled with my Masters degree in the Geosciences, a teaching certificate that allows me to teach any/all science in the state of Michigan, DAPCEP training and more, I should be about as employable as any Science teacher in the State of Michigan. I love teaching, I just hate the District for which I teach.

I have several jobs. I teach high school Science, I teach a college class, I run a web site and I am a firearms safety instructor certified by the Utah BCI, the NRA and an organization just getting on its feet in the State of Michigan. Oddly, I am also certified by MCRGO, the group I ended up having to sue for their continuous violation of state statutes, not to mention ethics.

Just as oddly, I continue to be assailed by people who cannot get over stupid emotions like jealousy and envy. There's nothing to be envious over, of course - I work my behind of and if some of the individuals worked as hard as I do, put in the kind of time I do, had the same supportive spouse I do, they might see the same kind of results I do. What kills me is that some of them seem to think it's unfair that I have what I have in life.

Here's a piece of advice for all of you out there wishing you had what others have worked for. Work for your own; then it belongs to no one but you.

"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." - - Thomas Alva Edison.

What I would very much like to do over the next few months is find a job that I can really enjoy. There’s an opening at a local community college that would suit me very well, I think, but it is a pay cut from where I am now. I’m going to apply and see what happens.

Wish me luck. Then pray they up their starting salary by about $5K so I can afford to take the job.

March 21st

March 21st is Cody's birthday.

I didn't miss it or forget it; I just really couldn't face it.

Cody Che-Me-Gas Neilson is my oldest granddaughter. She turned 14 on her last birthday.

It was a tough day for me. I haven't seen her for too many years. The last time I did see her, she was gawky and missing a tooth, her hair uncombed, her face a little dirty. Of course her clothes didn't fit quite right and had stains here and there. Her mother never was much at keeping the kids clean, fed, cared for.

I didn't see Cory that day. Her mother had never been much on the younger of the two girls so all too often, Cory would be left somewhere else while Cody got taken here and there.

Her mother took her and her little sister, Cory Ann LaRue Neilson, away to live with some teenager she'd gotten involved with over the Internet. Eventually, in a Court snafu of monumental stupidity, my ex daughter-in-law won custody of the girls and we have never seen them again.

Cody and Cory were taken off to Canada by their mother to live in poverty among strangers - their mother's paramour closer in age to Cody than to her mother.

By now, both girls are young women - and I wouldn't know them if they passed me on the street.

I don't know if I will ever be able to forgive their mother for taking them away from all of us.

Or for taking us away from them.

I miss you, Cody, and I miss your sister as well. I wish I could say, "See you soon, sweetie."

Love you bunches and bunches.

What Gender is My Brain?

Been a while and I have a lot on my mind - in any case, a quick, fun thing before I delve....

Your Brain is 53.33% Female, 46.67% Male

Your brain is a healthy mix of male and female You are both sensitive and savvy Rational and reasonable, you tend to keep level headed But you also tend to wear your heart on your sleeve

What Gender Is Your Brain?