School Education

School Education

It’s amazing how out of touch some people can be. Take for example our secretary of education, Mr. Rod Paige. He decides to call the NEA a terrorist organization and now is having to explain himself. His critique is that the NEA goes against the wishes of many teachers when it comes to accountability, etc. Of course, the NEA seems to have quite a bit to say on the subject of accountability and other activities related to teaching. Check them out here.

Eliot Soloway once labeled the No Child Left Behind act for what it really is: No Child Left Untested. It’s amazing to think that schools and teachers are held accountable for what students (who may or may not take an active role in the learning process) learn. Seeing Laureen teach a bunch of kids who don’t give a rat’s behind about learning is frustrating, especially when it comes review time. “Did you engage the kids?” “Well, no. I’m not on TV, I don’t talk about drugs, sex, or money, and I don’t associate with gangs, so no, I didn’t immerse myself in these kids’ lives in order to teach them the quadratic equation.”

Sheesh.

Baseball

Baseball

If the mere thought of sports turns you off, you can go ahead and skip this article. However, if you’d like to read about local folly, please, allow me to elucidate.

Tom Hicks is the owner of the Texas Rangers and the Dallas Stars. He is a very wealthy man who has done lots for the state of Texas, namely sink his investment company’s hooks into the teacher’s retirement fund to use in investments. I’m not entirely sure if he’s doing the same for the Texas School Trust Fund, but suffice to say he’s made his money by investing other people’s. Mr. Hicks is a relatively good bidnessman, except in the area of baseball.

3 years ago, Hicks announced the largest ever contract for a professional athlete: $250 million over 10 years to Alex Rodriguez. Alex is a phenomenal athlete when it comes to baseball. Many people think he might be the best to play the game. Ever. Is he worth $25 million a year? That’s the question that has dogged and plagued the best of minds since he got here. On the field, Alex is a great player, but when the other investments in Hicks’ portfolio took a beating in the stock market, it came time to clamp down on the expenses of his sports teams. When one player is taking up a third of what you expected to pay in salaries for an entire 40 man roster, something’s gotta give, and the Rangers gave. The New York Yankees, the team with already $180 million in payroll on their roster, took.

The contract’s been reported elsewhere, but as it turns out, the Rangers are still paying Alex money UNTIL THE YEAR 2025. (Cue the Zager and Evans music.) Texas will have had Alex for 3 years at a total cost when they’re done paying him of $140 million. New York gets him at $117 million for 7 years.
Can anyone see the logic in this deal? Not only are the Rangers giving up the best player in baseball, but they’re paying him to play on another team. I’ll be 54 when the Rangers stop owing Alex money, and I’m pretty sure I won’t be going to any games until then just as a matter of protest.

Baseball as a business makes very little sense. For more info on the right way to do things, read the book Moneyball. Very very good.

Birthing Classes, Insurance, and the Meaning Of It All

Birthing Classes, Insurance, and The Meaning Of It All

We finished our series of birthing classes yesterday, which means that all of a sudden, I can do things on Wednesday nights again (such as play doubles racquetball, hint, hint). It also means that I have learned a lot about childbirth, the stages of labor, and every other thing that matters. Childbirth class was fun, and we had a great teacher.

We also were in infant safety and CPR class Tuesday night. If there is ever a more depressing, angst-producing film in the universe than the house safety film, I dare people to name it. Every room, every drawer, everything in my house can cause Serious Injury. It seems like the ideal home would be something like the supermax penitentiaries where all of the furniture is molded into/out of the walls. Even then, you’d have to ensure that all of the corners were rounded down.

Our insurance situation is reaching some sort of conclusion: it makes no sense to cover me on COBRA because I’ve already used GISD’s insurance. However, we can choose to cover Laureen only because of the pre-existing condition clause. This is a Good Idea as we don’t have to pay the entire $800 or so per month for both of us on top of what we pay Garland. Either way, I’m looking into incorporating and finding a way to insure us through a side corporation. That would help matters out a bit, except that I know very little about it.

As far as The Meaning Of It All, I’m open to suggestions.

Insurance woes

Insurance woes
It just keeps getting better with our insurance situation.
Background:
We decided to switch to GISD’s benefits after mine expired thinking that it would be cheaper than COBRA. Well, as it turns out, it is cheaper, but the benefits are really, really bad. So, we decided to try and switch to COBRA so that Laureen could actually have Jacob in the hospital. In the meantime, I went to the doctor and used the insurance card. We also filled two prescriptions for Laureen. The total benefit we’ve received from GISD so far is a grand total of $33.11 (yes, we added it up). Here’s the fun part: Laureen can’t really use GISD’s benefits to help with Jacob, but she can use the pre-existing condition to take advantage of COBRA benefits. I can’t use COBRA, because it immediately becomes invalid once I’m on another insurance plan (such as…GISD)! So we’re screwed in terms of insurance. We can’t get out of GISD because it’s a pre-tax benefit and the IRS comes into play. So we’re stuck until Jacob’s born, and even then, we’ve got coverage questions about who can be covered on what. This is about the time I start really kicking myself for even bothering to get in with GISD’s coverage in the first place. We thought that it would cover Jacob’s birth more than $500, but no….
There are just some times when words aren’t able to express what the heart feels. I don’t know how to describe the distinct amount of frustration I’m feeling with the entire setup, and I’m just not sure what to do.

Middlekauff Ford – dubious track record

Middlekauff Ford – dubious track record

As I mentioned yesterday, we’ve been having some issues with the truck-formerly-driven-by-me (now christened “The Schlomobile” by Laureen–I have never felt a need to anthropomorphize a vehicle, but all of Laureen’s cars have had names. I’m currently driving “Scoupey”). Basically, the right rear wheel was wobbling wildly. We took it to our dealer (Middlekauff Ford) once, but the problem still existed. We take it back to Middlekauff, and they say it’s a bent axle. They propose replacing the axle and doing an alignment. Cost – $660. Sigh. This is on top of the $350 that we’re already going to have to pay for the thermostat sensor that went bad (good job guessing that was bad, Dad!). I’m ready to give in on the repair, but Laureen says “No, let’s check around.” So we get a recommendation from a co-worker for a garage that does repairs that’s relatively close to us. The truck goes in, and we get an estimate of $350 if it’s the axle. Apparently, mkford wanted to do a front-end alignment to fix a rear axle problem….Strike 1.
The next day, the people from the garage call Laureen, and she goes to pick up the truck. Total cost? $90. As it turns out, they put the axle on the rack and what appeared to be a bent axle was actually an extra washer that was left in from the last time mkford serviced the brakes. One of the lug nuts wasn’t going flush with the others, and that was the tipoff that it might not be an axle issue after all. They removed the washer, and everything went back to a non-wobbly state.
So mkford introduced extra wear and tear on my tires by not properly completing the repair on the brake service….Strike 2. Then, when we took it in to check out this issue, they charged us for a rebalancing that didn’t fix the problem….Strike 3.
Here’s where human nature gets the best of me. I’d very much like to believe that the rest of the time the dealership worked on my vehicle that they were doing the right stuff the right way, but I’m just way too suspicious of the whole situation now.
Sigh. Life goes on. I’m just thankful that the truck is better now.

Insurance Follies

Insurance Follies

I’ve got so much fun stuff to talk about today, I don’t know where to begin, but I’ll pick something.

1. Work – The adjustment back to being a member of the working class has been somewhat hard. The drive is 22.5 miles each way to and from work, and I have to go into the office (Corporate Policy). Then there’s the matter of my being the only person at the office doing the work I do (the rest of the team is in the hinterlands of California, New Jersey, and Tampa Bay) gives me very few options in terms of asking other members of my team about what the heck I’m supposed to be doing. My manager has a cube near me, but he tends to work from home. “Tends” is actually a code-word for “is 95 percent of the time”.
2. Birthing Classes – I made it through the Week 3 films without any ill effects. We are learning how to assist our beloved’s in case there are such complications as back labor (DEF: when the baby’s rotated the wrong way along the Z-axis). There was one point where we were all massaging our wives, and I looked up briefly. I was very, very glad no one had a camera with them.
3. Insurance – The loss of my job and subsequent benefits at TI has carried some residual effects. We made the decision to switch to Laureen’s insurance through Garland ISD, since it appeared at the time that COBRA was going to be too expensive. We found out yesterday that Garland’s insurance considers her pregnancy a pre-existing condition and is willing to pay a grand total of $500 toward it. For those of you unfamiliar with skyrocketing hospital costs, it costs an average of $10,000 to have a child in a hospital. The OB/GYN fees are usually a flat $3,000 or so, and the hospital nickel-and-dimes the remaining amount out of you (charging per ice chip, I guess…). Now, some of you may be wondering why Laureen’s pregnancy is considered a pre-existing condition. We switched insurances in December, and because Garland ISD’s insurance is (and I quote) a “self-funded non-governmental organization”, they are free from all sorts of HIPPA rules and regulations requiring insurance carriers to admit people with pre-existing conditions….
Big sigh. Laureen spent the remainder of her yesterday (after getting out of Garland’s jury duty) getting us back on Nortel’s COBRA benefits. We can actually still do that. Yay! Of course, we have to back pay for December, January, and February all at once at roughly $700 a month, but hey, we can have Jacob in a hospital! No, home birth is NOT AN OPTION. I don’t care what everyone else’s circumstances were.
4. Car and truck woes – Well, my dad was kind enough to babysit the truck while we were in Boston, and he noticed that the thermostat was malfunctioning. Sure enough, it’s not working, so there’s another $350 down the tubes. Oh, and the right rear wheel is shaking, not like a polaroid picture (dig the cultural reference?), but more like a top that’s starting to wind down. Apparently that’s a bent axle, which at the dealership is another $650.
5. The Super Bowl Halftime Show – I saw the show, but I missed the part causing the brouhaha, mostly because I wasn’t exactly looking for it. We know one thing for certain: we can lay the “Michael and Janet — one person?” rumor to rest. Frankly, I’m beginning to think that they should go back to simple halftime shows. Invite some local bands, like the MOB, to play. We haven’t caused a controversy since 1989!
Seriously, I put a lot of blame on Viacom, the parent company of both CBS and MTV, for trying to meld together all of their properties without any real idea as to whether it was a good idea or not to have certain artists play. Frankly, I’m disappointed by a lot of halftime productions that happened this year; the Orange Bowl had four unhearable artists, including:
6. Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson – I don’t care how stupid she plays on TV, they both know how good the ratings buzz is. Keep marketing it while you can, kids. Oh, where’s that new 98 degrees album?
7. Celebrity Trials – Kobe: if not guilty, then stupid, stupid, stupid. Michael Jackson: if not guilty, then weird, weird, weird. All others: if not guilty, then adjective, adjective, adjective.
8. The proposed $2.4 TRILLION budget – how can an entity take in so much money and still not be able to balance their books like mom and pop companies have to do? Oh, yeah, there’s nothing requiring the government to balance their books (don’t talk to me about Gramm-Rudman — that succeeded largely through accounting tricks such as shifting expenses forward into the next year).
9. Gun Control – I ran across an interesting article at corporatemofo.com: Check it out
10. The Case For Or Against Iraq – Yes, the U.S. didn’t have the best intelligence before it rolled out the case for invading Iraq. Let’s remember one thing, however: the U.S. attacked Milosevic’s army on purely humanitarian grounds twice during Clinton’s terms, and Hussein was arguably ten times worse than Milosevic. The only problem is that this argument wasn’t the primary cause given to the American People about why we should attack Iraq. It was all about the Weapons, baby. If the government had presented other reasons to the world community and to us as a people, I believe it would have gathered more support.
11. Pakistan – Ah, what to do, what to do. Hey, they had a guy give away nuclear secrets to the axis of evil! Why don’t we just bomb them? Oh, they’re our allies in the fight against terrorism. That’s the biggest problem with simplification in a world where there are very, very few things that can be considered simple.
12. Current reading list – Zero Hour by Joseph Finder, Digital Fortress by Dan Brown (of the Da Vinci Code fame), Why America Slept by Gerald Posner, Bushwhacked by Molly Ivins and Lou DuBose, Our childbirth class book, Survivor by Mark Bennett (recapping the first episode).
13. Current watching list – Like I have time for TV anymore…that’s why we have a PVR! Good Eats, Monster House on the Discovery Channel (funny, funny show), 7th Heaven (which has completely jumped the shark), Unwrapped on the Food Network, Gilmore Girls (excellent, excellent writing on this show), Most Extreme Elimination Challenge (will they show any new episodes this year? Who knows?), Survivor All-Stars (yes, I got sucked in).
14. Conference Realignment – I’m convinced that TCU is afraid of Rice. They left Conference USA just to avoid them…

Second Class Citizens and other things

Second Class Citizens and other happy fun stuff

Greetings. It’s been awhile, but hey, I’m back.

The second class went just fine. No fainting, and they even showed a film on a woman receiving an epidural. I’m glad that we had breathing exercises to do before they showed the film, however. I wasn’t able to look at it straight on, but like Lisa Wright told me, I can control my breathing.

My doctor said that there’s no seizure indications, primarily because I had some advance warning that I was going to faint.

I have been told that dilitation is an actual word, most commonly used with curettage in a medical context. Thanks to Chris and Lisa both for pointing that out.

I just started the new job yesterday, and it’s going to be OK. I have to remember how to write ASP code and get it to work properly, but that shouldn’t be that difficult. I hope to get back around to writing tests eventually.

For anyone interested in a really good musical performance on DVD, the Blue Man Group’s Complex Rock Concert tour is out. It was shot in Dallas (and Minneapolis, but primarily in Dallas), and so if you check it out, you’ll see me in the sea of faces in the audience…maybe. They did three shows here, and I’m not sure which night they taped. Their site : blue man group

Anyway, I’m going to go back down and take a nap. I woke up a bit too early and am feeling it.

a first class experience

A First Class Experience

Yesterday was the first in a series of prepared childbirth classes that Laureen and I are taking in preparation for Jacob’s arrival. It was in the same building as my doctor’s office is in, which is a Good Thing. The fact that it’s next door to Richardson Regional Memorial Hospital is another Good Thing. I wasn’t really sure what to expect out of class. It’s not really a Lamaze-style breathing class, although they cover breathing. It’s pretty much a “here’s the entire book on childbirth, taught by someone who’s been through it” adventure.
We get there a bit early, and since it’s the first class, there’s the standard icebreaker with the other couples: sign-a-square. If you’ve been (un)fortunate enough to know what this is, skip down a few lines. Otherwise, imagine a bingo-style board, but instead of numbers, each square has some sort of datum that makes you go “oh, that’s interesting”: Lives in the same town as you, sees the same OB/GYN as you, has a birth date in March, Has never changed a diaper, etc. The idea is to get other couples to sign these squares for the things that are true. In our version, with 7 couples total in the class, we were able to sign up to three squares. The winner is the one with the most boxes filled with signatures. The amazing thing is that this does little to promote communication among class members other than the “can you help me out here” variety. I was able to sign a few of the items, seeing as how I’ve never changed a diaper, we plan on using cloth diapers (apparently, safety pins are a thing of the past), Laureen was born in Texas, blah blah blah. I got to meet other fathers and mothers, albeit remarkably briefly as we scanned the sheets.
After class starts, our teacher, an RN named Mary (who is a certified Good Person) gave us sheets to interview another couple. We spoke with the people on our right and filled out the forms. At the bottom of the sheet was a great question about fears. What is her biggest fear about this process? What is his biggest fear? Glen, the father in our target couple, had no fears. He also has an 8 year old daughter from a prior marriage. I said, “doing or saying the wrong thing.”
Thinking back on it now, I’m positive that somewhere along the way I’m going to do something wrong at least once. So, I should really just get over that fact and move on to something that might be a more legitimate fear, but for now I’ll hold onto it.
We go around the room, and I must admit, it’s interesting hearing what other people consider fearful: pain, fainting, passing out, the health of the baby and the mother. There are parts of me that worry a lot about all of those, especially fainting. Of course, there’s a history behind that:
When I was young and my heart was an open book…wait, that’s a song. Second try: when I was still in Oklahoma (less than 13 years old), I remember skinning my knee playing a game of football at a neighbor’s house. I remember going into shock because of the experience and being carried home by Mom because I couldn’t remember exactly how to get back there. Other traumatic events produced similar reactions, like the time I broke my arm and very nearly passed out on the way home. When I became a teenager and had to deal with cystic acne, I took Accutane, a delightful medicine that requires you to have your blood drawn at regular intervals to ensure that you’re not poisoning your body with too much Vitamin A (or D…I’ve blocked the experience out for the most part.) So every month for five months, mom would take me to the doctor’s office and I’d get my blood drawn.
I fainted three out of five times. If it were baseball, I’d be a billionaire.
I’d love to know what the trigger is, and I think we’ve even talked about it before in this space. Sometimes it’s the sight of my own blood. Sometimes it’s a particular smell that’s only associable with hospitals and hemo-workers, a sickly-clean ammonia smell that causes me to tremble with fear and dread. Somehow, this has become connected to my autonomic nervous system, so I know that I’m not feeling well, but I have a hard time doing anything about it. Even getting away from the situation still requires some time to actually get away, and sometimes that isn’t enough. My worst experience so far was in San Diego, when I fainted twice and threw up three times in the hospital with nothing really wrong with me.
However, since I knew that having a child meant that my presence would be required, I had been working on a regimen of “anti-fainting” activities to ensure that when it came time for the child, I’d still be there in the delivery room. I’ve watched a lot of CSI, including the morgue scenes. I’ve watched some of Discovery channel’s Life in the ER series. I’ve even watched “A Baby Story” on TLC, although that show only goes to prove that you can turn every single special event into the same exact special event in four acts:
I. Exposition – hey, we’re having a baby!
II. Conflict – hey, here’s the reason why this might not be easy!
III. Climactic Struggle – hey, here’s the brave decision to go ahead…ta da!!!
IV. Resolution – hey, ain’t our baby cute?!
I’ve also spent time at church during the blood drives to try and condition myself to the smell. Of course, a church auditorium is much, much different than a hospital, so I’m still not sure how things are going to turn out.
Back to the class.
We start discussing dilation (and forgive me, Mary, but it isn’t dilitation. That ain’t a word; cervices dilate, the act is dilation. Dilettantes might engage in dilettation, I don’t know) and engagement. Then, the doll comes out. It’s a cute little plastic baby! Look, it fits into the mock pelvis we have! Aw, look at the fuzzy placenta with the umbilical cord that attaches to the baby….
Next thing I know, I’m on the ground, looking up at Laureen and our instructor, wondering why I have carpet burn on my face from a prepared birthing class.
It was the fuzzy, cuddly placenta that did me in. I’d started feeling not well a bit in, but for some reason, attaching the placenta to the baby combined with the illustrations of the side view of the birthing process in the background triggered a fainting spell in me all at forty-five minutes into class.
So today is a trip to the doctor, not just for this fainting (because apparently it looked more like a seizure than a faint to other people), but also to clear up this silly upper respiratory infection so I can breathe normally.
Yes, the fainting bothers me and worries me. I’m going to find better ways to deal with it, though. No fainting in the delivery room is my credo. I just hope I can deal with it better next week.