Educashun

Well it's back to school for a lot of folks and it's got me thinking about the whole education thing. As I went through school I typically achieved average to above average grades. I was often interested in the subjects, did my homework, studied for tests etc... but I was never really that motivated. I was much more interested in discussing and analyzing topics than I was in simply remembering all the important facts and regurgitating them on exam day. In fact, I think people like me are at a distinct disadvantage in the current education system because a) we sucked at most sports and b) exams simply tested our ability to store and retrieve information.

I really think it's a major flaw in the system that is reliant on achieving test scores so that funding can be allocated. Why couldn't we be tested by, say, hosting a debate on a chosen topic, leading the class in a lecture, explaining your use of art techniques and inspirations...etc.. For those of us that second guess ourselves in exams and can't remember the exact date of every battle in the reign of Henry VIII this would be much more appropriate and fitting.

One has to look at the actual end result: What skills do you want these children to have when they finish education? Sure, they are now great at remembering the shopping list they left at home but can they put forward a reasonable, informed argument about why they believe in freedom of religion, or gay marriage, or why the sky is blue? Are our children leaving the school system curious about the world and open to critical thinking about their lives, or did athleticism or brain power allow them to achieve the highest accolades in school but leave them closed minded and inwardly-focused?

In some fields simply remembering the facts is actual very important. Such as the laws of physics and math. Engineering pretty much relies on absolute truths. However, I completed a degree in the human science field which pretty much leads to working with people yet I found myself sitting with at least 4 or 5 people in every class who lacked even basic people skills. These same people usually aced every exam though. They had neat folders with coloured tabs marking each different topic, they brought Dictaphones to every lecture, they asked endless, pedantic, questions when it came to test time or writing a paper. "How long should it be?" "How short can it be?" "Can I use a pencil?" - demanding guidelines and rules in a field where the papers are as long as it takes you to explain the topic adequately.

Unfortunately, I see these people out in the field now. Working with people yet seemingly mystified by them. Some even seem to be angered by others, and without that ability to look inwards or ask "why?" they have walked into the cage of their profession without thinking to check the combination lock on the door.

The American Dream: A lie that persists today

I watched a clip today from a documentary. A woman is crying in front of her home. She is talking in between sobs to an interviewer behind the camera. She says:

"We are hard working Americans and they are taking our home away from us".

It illustrates to me the greatest lie from the American Dream. Not that we can all obtain a 4 bedroom house, white picket fence, a lawn, a job that pays well, a pension, health care, be equal with one another. But that Hard work = Success.

We have heard that equation for years. Benjamin Franklin was a huge fan of it stating "Early to Bed, and early to rise, makes a Man healthy, wealthy, and wise." and while this may have been true in the 18th century, it is no longer the case today.

You can work as hard as you possibly can and still find yourself unemployed, Foreclosed on, underwater, outsourced, without a decent pension. It's no wonder the number of prescriptions of anti-depressants is ever increasing.

Of course, that's a complete over-simplification of cause and effect but it sounded good. Much like being a "Hard Working American" sounds good. I'd hate to be one of those people called a "Hardly Working American".

So, what does "Working Hard" really even mean?

For a pilot, does it mean flying extra good? Cracking jokes on the intercom every now and then? Telling you the sights as you pass over them at 30,000 feet?
For a psychiatrist, does it mean providing the "good" therapy? Does one psychiatrist who researches medication, keeps up to date on their journals and theory but works 3 days a week and only 4 hours each day work harder than the psychiatrist who puts in a 10 hour shift in down-town New York, working with violent offenders but just goes through "the motions"?
For a teacher, does it mean making sure all your students excel, or does it mean providing the children with the skills they will need in life? Does it mean correcting behavior or achieving results?

It's pretty gosh, darn complicated.

My best advice is to shake off the chains of the lie. Be good to your neighbour. Think critically. Vote with your brain and as one of my colleagues always says "work smart, not hard". Success comes from within and can't be measured by the amount of "things" you have or the car you drive or the property you own. Measure you success by your own goals and not by a dream, invented to make you buy more "things", that has quickly soured into a nightmare. Then, perhaps, you won't be so upset when your "hard work" = crap street.

Email and the economy

The economy is bad. I know this first hand thanks to a little pre-Christmas day, post-Christmas shop incident in which I was robbed. Yes, robbed not for my wallet, but for my coupon book.

Zing! Take that economy and a big thank you to Leno's joke book, found in a dumpster outside of the NBC studios.

But seriously, I did accidentally leave my coupon folder (yes, I have a coupon folder and no I'm not over the age of 65) after a big Christmas spending spree at Kroger, in my trolley..umm buggy. I realized a few hours later and returned to the store only to discover it was gone and till this day never to be seen again. Apparently someone must love coupons more than their soul. It's in the commandments people.

Anyway, speaking of buggys why do they only have two wheels that move?? Back in England all four wheels move allowing one to move side-ways if say a rather large teenager on a motorized Wal-mart scooter wants to zoom past you in the busy snack aisle to get that last bag of cheesy Doritos. I constantly find myself dragging the buggy sideways and pulling my shoulder out of it's socket. I must invent the four wheeled buggy and retire.

While I'm complaining about things I may as well have a gripe about getting back to work. If you read my blog before Christmas I was kinda burnt out. After Thanksgiving I found it hard to really fire on all cylinders. Right now I'm feeling pretty darn good though and very positive about my job and getting everything done that I need to and then some. But what often chips away at my shield of 2010 positivism are them folk that ignore emails.I'm not talking about friends who you send an email asking about the weather, the pets and the kids. I'm talking about those important work emails that actually require a response. They actually sometimes even say that in the email: "I AWAIT YOUR RESPONSE" or "PLEASE RESPOND". Yet there IS no reply and in the end I'm forced to call someone or just bring it up in person when I see them which is not what I wanted to do or had time to do which is why I sent the flipping email in the first place. It really does tick me off.

Second on my email peeves (amongst many others) are those folk who reply to an individual email you have sent BUT copy in everyone and their dog and rather than answer the questions in your email write bold statements saying how great they are and declaring information and achievements as if they have had a spontaneous epiphany rather than just replying to the original email to you.

It usually goes something like this:

"Everyone,

I completed the TPS reports late on Friday. It was another all-nighter for me. It wouldn't have been so bad but I had such an early start that morning with meetings (when I closed the big account, go me!!) and then I worked through the weekend, 56 hours straight while hanging upside down, testicles in a vice, and one eye shut.

Dave"

Email was invented round about 1971. Maybe by 2071 we will have figured out the etiquette.

Robbed by a New Yorker

Yesterday morning I awoke, stared bleary-eyed at my phone and checked my emails. Apparently, an apple wakes you up more than a cup of coffee in the morning. Yesterday morning an email telling me that my bank account was below the watch amount I had set up on it woke me up faster than apple flavoured coffee with a shot of red-bull. I rushed downstairs to check my account. Did I really have less than $50 in my account? Had I spent that much already this month?
My account loaded up and it turns out I DID have less than $50 in my account. Less than $20 in fact. Less than $0. I actually had $-700 in my account.
"How queer" I thought to myself mildly bemused. "Must be a banking error."

Ok. I didn't actually think that. I thought "Where the **** is my money?". Turns out I must have sleep walked to NY and spent the whole lot. I apparently sleepwalked straight into Gap Kids. Twice. Spending over $200 there. Then I decided that Staples was next. $200 there too. I must have bought a metro card too and enjoyed various other stores around the NY area.

There were two major clues that tipped me off that perhaps it wasn't me sleep walking.

1) I didn't have any of the cool baby clothes and staples products you would think I would have.
2) I had somehow managed to be in Gap Kids at the same time that I withdrew money from an atm in West Virginia.

So you can imagine I am not a happy bunny today.

What made it worse is that I had SPOKE to the bank two days ago reporting a problem with my card. "Hmm I don't see any problems sir" they told me "must just be a faulty card". A faulty card?? Your telling me! So my own bank couldn't tell that it was being used to run up hundreds of dollars in another state even though I was putting the physical card into ATMs in WV?? What a joke. And how were they able to run me into so much debt without triggering any alarm bells at my bank or declining any transaction? Depending on how it goes at the bank tomorrow will determine whether I stay with them or not.

There is one thing the bank was able to do incredibly effectively. Charge me $34 for 7 different overdrawn transactions. Thank you!

More health insurance blues

I received another letter the other day. I once enjoyed receiving mail but now I almost dread it. The last time I visited my GP I went for a blood test. Now, I couldn't have it in-house because my insurance didn't cover that (wtf??) so I went to another outside company. It was under my own recommendation that I have my blood tested as I wanted to check my cholesterol because a) it's nice to keep a check on that kinda thing, and b) my uncle had had a heart attack and there is a history of heart attacks in my family (he is fine now, btw). So, I figure I better get myself tested. Then two months later I get the bill from said company because apparently my health insurance doesn't cover silly tests like cholesterol testing, despite my valid reasons for it.

This shows that the health care industry isn't concerned about diagnosing potential problems early and thus saving the patient their health and their money but instead are content for people to become sick and THEN offer the specialists and treatment...at a price of course.

I saw a recent figure about where folks spend most of their money when it comes to health care and the highest percentage was on prescription drugs. Not surprising as Americans are given prescriptions to help them deal with an existing problem and can gain instant relief, or some relief. However, if you are on a tight budget, why would you pay over $100 to have a test that may or may not tell you that you have a problem if you Doctor hasn't suggested it but it may be hereditary?

Sticking it to the man

Gas went up to $2.69 a gallon round these parts over the memorial day weekend. I waited and waited until today and got mine for $2.59. Alllllll-riiiight.Take that big oil companies!

I know it's that time of year that gas prices go up but it's still perfectly reasonable to complain, in my eyes. I hear some people say "well, at least it's not like last year" but that's not the point. It's higher now that it was a month ago but without any real reason, unlike last year when we apparently did have real reasons.

Those same folk were probably saying last year "Well, at least we aren't paying European prices".

The Advertisers latest dirty trick

Just when we thought advertising could sink no lower, a bright exec. must have had a brain storm when they invented "Brand Power". Have you seen the commercials? Here is one some one recorded off the tele:



Now, I have nothing against Breathe right, but this is just an example. There are a bunch of other similar ads (commercials) that obviously haven't made their way to youtube yet (although you can watch an aussie version of a product called "Glen 20"; perhaps the most boring name for a cleaning product they could think of).

What really gets me is that the advert is set up as if it is some sort of third party consumer group saying "hey, here is a great product, you should try it" in a very non-threatening, over-the-fence, kinda way. But then, at the very end, in small letters you see "Sponsored by Breathe Right". So, the commercials are actually from the company themselves!

Strangely, on the Aussie version it didn't say who it was sponsored by so I suppose it's nice that they let us know we are being duped. Don't fall for it, people.

Securing us from ourselves

Have you even seen "I, Robot"? The Will Smith movie set in the future where everyone has a robot and surprise! things get screwed up. Totally Sci-fi fantasy, right? Well, I think we are actually closer to the future that it might seem. I'm not talking about Robots here (unfortunately) as the technology just still isn't there (unless Japan is secretly hiding this fact from us), but if you watch the movie, (SPOILER!!!!!) the role of "protectors of humans" that the robots take on, result in the ultimate consequence. Protecting humans from themselves as we aren't taking care of ourselves and it is this consequence that we are inching towards. Beginning with Internet and banking security.

The number of logins and passwords now needed in the average person's life, online, is just growing out of control. I swear I'm buying a frigging retina scanner or thumbprint reader because I'm just fed up with it. Because there are so many and each have different requirements I can never use the same password or login, or have to change my password every tenth new moon and so I've been locked out of bank accounts for days "for my own security". I've had to call and answer a thousand security questions, give my address, age, and shoe size and waste time just to reset my password. Now, I don't want anyone getting at my money (hey, I need that $12 for Hussan's) but I do want to have access to it myself. It's my money afterall. There is one bank right now that they are insisting I walk into the branch in person just to verify it's me. Hang on, bank, all those times I called you and logged on online you were happy knowing that I was umm me but now I have to walk in? What happened?

I can understand banks having the intensive security. Especially as they will have to pay for it if someone does start spending your money. They could at least only lock down the account when something unusual happens, say, all my money is transferred out to a strange account. However, I can't understand when I am asked a barrage of security questions to order a Papa John's or gourmet popcorn, or mail order bride. These sites don't even have access to my credit card details and so the worse that can happen is someone knows I enjoy caramel and chocolate and plenty of cheese on my deep pans.

The system is beginning to secure us from ourselves and it won't be long before you'll have to give DNA samples even down at Kroger. Can't have anyone else getting those Kroger rewards points, can we?

Smoking in Putnam County

Yes, here comes another anti-smoking rant. If you can't stand the stench of it go outside ;-)

Reading through the local rag I was disheartened by new news stories that almost seemed to push to the dark dusty corner of the paper. One was that Blinko glass is in trouble. The gas has been switched off and hence the furnace is no longer burning. The 100 year old business looks to be doomed although the viewing gallery is still open I believe. Sad times. Once Blinko has gone, my stretch of the interstate will simply have a blank space under "Attractions".
The other piece of disappointing news was that hotels and motels are now re-allowed to have smoking rooms. It feels like a huge step backwards for the county. What will happen next? No new fangled drugs in the hospitals, like Penicillin. Men will have to start wearing hats all the time and women will be refused jobs. The argument is that the rooms become "private property" and so the occupants should be able to treat them like such. Smokers, you have the entire great-outdoors to smoke in. Look out your windows. There's lots of it out there. That's your "private property" right there. I mean who is actually staying in these places who is even from the county? I mean someone has obviously fought for this "rights" but will they be the ones staying in the hotels? Probably not. I look forward to a complete and total smoking ban (not a total-smoking ban) for the state and country so I can FINALLY get some clean air in my $20 motel room.

Putnam complaints

Yes, I'm moaning about Putnam county again but hey, someone has to give a crap about the "taint" of West Virginia. I'm still annoyed about the lack of restaurants and it seems there is no foreseeable fix for it. The new Arby's and Taco Bell are up and running but mean while La Sha's, Smokies and Rocky top Pizza have all closed. Three unique-ish places that you can't find in every small town USA. There are nice flat pieces of land being cleared along the main road through Teays Valley. One was cleared earlier in the year and a Tim Horton's was built. Great! A place I can get ok-ish Donut's and a fairly decent breakfast. However, another is being cleared now and a First Sentry Bank is moving in. Further down the road more housing is being built. Everytime I see construction of a new building I used to feel hope but now know it's going to be a car dealership or a phone store. Surely there needs to be a focus on business that will..you know..create business and interest in visiting Putnam. Perhaps it is forever to be a mere stop-off point for the drive to Huntington/Charleston. A place to grab a bite of fast-food to eat, take a leak, do some banking and then quickly forget about.

Summer Drought

Last summer I posted a blog post about the lack of water in the Teays Valley area because the reservoir had run dry. They ended up driving(?) in truck loads of water. Strange. Driving through the area recently I find myself worrying again about the low level in the reservoir. I mean guess who has to pay for those trucks to drive(??) that water in? That's right, the water users. Despite any attempts by the water company to educate and promote or enforce water conservation. Anyhoo, at the moment the reservoir looks like crap. I mean it is honestly ugly. Murky, brown, muddy water. Lots of debris. Some sort of pump-boat that is half sinking. Hardly a "tourist trap" or even something pleasant to look at for anyone in the city park. This could be a really nice area for people to go and enjoy but instead the city is too busy catering for mega food marts and car dealerships. Still, at least that new Arby's will be built soon.

Scaremongering

I'm sorry to hear about a teen dying today down in Atlanta. They had scaled a couple of 6-foot fences and entered the restricted area of one of the roller coasters. A dangerous, but deliberate move. What upsets me is the way the AP decided to end the story:

"A teenager's legs were severed when cables snapped on the Superman Tower of
Power ride at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom in Louisville in June 2007."

I mean what has a mechanical failure/complete accident have to do with this story? Yes, it was at six-flags and yes it was also tragic but mentioning it is like apples and oranges. To me it feels like scaremongering, basically telling the public: "Roller coasters are dangerous and you'll probably die or have your legs cut off if you ride one. It happened in Atlanta, oh and by the way do you remember what happened in Kentucky? That's right. So, stay inside because it's a big scary world out there. Everyone is out to get you. Even fun, safe places like theme parks. Don't trust anyone. Except the AP of course."

/End rant

Ohio

The grass always seems greener on the other side doesn't it? Is Ohio "better" than West Virginia? Is life easier there? Is it nicer to live there? I wish I could tell you. Apparently the gas is cheaper there though. It went up to $3.89 today. The link is to WSAZ.com who like to post a lot about the cost of gas in Ohio but not really so much on the West Virginia prices. I suspect an intern types up the story, realises how high gas is and then their head simply explodes. You may have guessed I like to complain about gas prices. Overall I will nitpick about a lot of things but gas prices is a biggie for me I guess. I think what makes me more frustrated is that others aren't really complaining about it. Well, not to me at least. Although that could be because they don't want another rant from a know-it-all limey. I think what also annoys me is watching the CNN news ticker. The one that says "Gas prices reach a average record high of $3.xx" and the "Average price" is always about 15 cents cheaper than what we are paying here. Still I suppose that's the downside of living in one of the most affluent states. Would anyone like to invest in my rik-shaw business in down-town Huntington?

A few issues at Marshall

A few things in the news recently have caught my attention.. especially the increase in tuition fees and the new recreation center fee. Catch the whole story here. $150 fee per semester? I wonder how much plasma I'll have to donate to pay for that.

Also of note this week is the proposed smoking ban. I'll be happy if this comes into effect to be honest. I'm tired of walking through a cloud of smoke every time I have to enter a building and tired of breathing in the smoke when I wait outside a building. Watching maintenance guys standing around campus smoking is also something I could do without.

AND...parking at Marshall. Just a complete nightmare. $140 for a student parking pass..but guess what, no space to actually park your car. The staff haven't got things much easier as majority of the spaces force staff and faculty to cross one of Huntington's busy and 3rd or 5th Avenues which flood at the drop of a hat.

I think I'm more frustrated than usual because there is a attitude of apathy among student on campus and I doubt there will really be much protest for any of these matters.

Maybe I can transfer to WVU and get me one of those free MBA's I've been hearing about.

Man, my blog posts have been ranty recently. I'll have to post something positive soon.

Perhaps about my fantastic experience at the Hibatchi in South Charleston :-)

Here comes the sun

Looks like the warm weather is finally here. True, it's going to rain this weekend and it's pretty chilly overnight but at least it should brighten up again next week. I enjoy the summer...but of course there are always things to complain about:

1. Insects - Man, I can't stand insects. I can't bring myself to kill them but really hate bees, wasps, hornets, and any other flying things that decide to pester me during the summer. I usually just go into panic mode. Same goes for ants and gnats...except the panic mode. Ladybirds(bugs) are probably my only exception for no real reason.

2. Stupid clothing - Yes, you know who you are. You in those silly shorts that look like smart full length trousers but finish above the knee. And You, the guy in those flip flops. (On a side note, have you ever noticed that whatever time of day or year there is always some guy shopping wal-mart/kroger in shorts and sandals and t-shirt?)

3. Sweating - Not that manly sweat you achieve at the gym or on the B-ball court that you show off with pride and triumph. No, instead that face or leg sweat from it simply being far too hot outside and makes you stick to plastic chairs.

4. Sunbathers - I don't mind a little bit of sunbathing. Maybe read a few pages of my book or do a puzzle but after about 30 mins it's pretty uncomfortable. Usually because of (1) and (3). But it gets a bit much when all you do is sun-bath all day. To get a tan? To show off? Who knows.

5. Gas prices - Argh. Expect to see another blog post about this rant. $3.65??

6. T.V. - Why o why does T.V. have to lower it's standards over the summer? Is it a covert plan to force people into more exercise and other activities asides from watching T.V.? There are some of us who aren't (4)'s who want some quality programmes on the tube.

7. Co-worker vacations - I'm not talking about getting to go on vacations. I'm talking about when that fellow co-worker goes on vacation for 2 weeks either without giving you a heads-up or bragging about it for weeks. And either way completely screwing over that project you were working on/that reimbursement you were waiting for/that prank you were going to do.

Conversations with a "real person"

Ah "Customer support" my arch-Nemesis. Sometimes you are good to me, sometimes you just plain suck. I've had both this week. An on-going issue with Blockbuster total-access was finally cleared up after getting to speak to a "real person" (my thanks to Redzeppelin). Apparently, the online customer support (which the website promotes intensely) does not have the authority to make any "account changes"! I didn't see that written anywhere on the website. Needless to say the bare minimum was done; a refund and an apology and not really much else to ensure I stay with total-crapcess.
My second run-in with "Customer Support" was with Fed-Ex today. They actually have their customer helpline on their website, bravo! And I was not held in a queue on the phone. After a few automated messages I was straight through to a person. Unfortunately, I think that we had some difficulties in communication what with my British accent, and her Spanish/Portuguese accent (sorry - I can't define it any more than that!). It almost made me flash back to the same difficulties I had with a Homeland security guard, but that's another story.

Allclick: "Yes, I wish to report that I scheduled a package for collection, and no-one came in to collect it"
Fed-Ex: "O.K. can i have the pick-up reference number?"
Allclick: "Well all I have is a tracking number....it wasn't picked up so I don't have that."
Fed-Ex: "I need the pick-up reference number to check on your pick-up, sir"
Allclick: "The package is right here next to me. It says "tracking number". I have an email it also just says "tracking number" (believe it or not, I'm not being sarcastic at this point! :-) )
Fed-Ex: "As your package has not been picked up the tracking number will not help me."
Allclick: "It's not helping me much either."

And so on... eventually it turned out that all she needed was my zip code..then my address...name, dimensions of the package...so in fact I had to RE-schedule a delivery. I received a slight apology and asked how I would be paying for this. If only Fed-Ex operated some sort of "tipping" system. Speaking of which, do I need to tip the guy if when he shows up?

Blockbuster or Block Bust-ya

Well no-one really wants to hear about all the problems I've had with Blockbuster do they? All about how I've using Total Access and every single month it seems as if my dollar is suddenly worth less. All about how whenever you email them a complaint, it's responded to by a robot that doesn't even address the question you asked. All about how it takes almost forever for a turn around on the DVD's. No-one really wants to hear that. But I will emphasize the second aspect about the email complaints. It is beginning to become a common problem for me. You sign up for a service online and then when you have an issue you spend 10 minutes looking for contact details only to find a form online that you need to fill in to state your problem. You instantly receive an email " Thank you for submitting your comment, will be get back to you shortly" hmm ok what does that mean then? Then a couple of days later you receive something along the lines of:

"Dear First_name (yes, many times it does actually say this!)

Thank you for your recent comment. I am sorry (sure!) that you have had any difficulties with our service. We aim to blah blah. Your issue is that you should be paying us more for a service that will get progressively crappier and more expensive over time. I hope that solves your current problem, first_name.

Yours Sincerely,

Joe Bloggs"

It is obvious that it's a computer generated response. Most of the time it doesn't even remotely answer the question or will only answer one part of it, and usually it has first_name or Customer_107321 because the program screwed up. But they still stick on a name at the end (as if you can call them and ask to speak to the person) and make it seem like it's a specific response to your problem. If anyone has a solution to these computer generated emails please flow forth thy comments.

Time for a rant...

Well, you may have seen my previous post about the water situation in Hurricane. It's getting pretty bad. In fact, it is so bad now that there are "trucking in water". I'm not sure if this is a turn of phrase or actual trucks but either way it's an apparent justification to raise water prices. Again. I'm pretty annoyed about it. In fact thinking about it too long just makes me feel sick inside. I mean it sounds reasonable. There is no water in the reservoir and so more must be brought in which is going to cost more money. What really gets me is that they must have known for at least 3 months that this was going to happen. The reservoir has looked pretty empty for a while now but there has been no water bans. I think I first heard about one last weekend and I'm not even entirely sure what the ban was on! I've still seen people out washing there cars and plants with hoses. A water ban would have helped the reservoir and kept resident's water bills lower. The other thing that gets me is the lack of preparation for the water running out. It seems like they waited to the last minute to find a solution and the solution is: Raise prices. They should have made preparations months ago using the money they already have, not jack up the price at the last minute because they failed to act. I can feel a sense a strongly worded letter heading towards the Hurricane council members, and while I write it I'll be dancing for the rain to come.