Friday, June 5, 2009

A morning of hot coffee and a warm computer

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Life will seek to normalize, and I won't fight it. Last night I spent a little free time blog walking, and checking in with friends I haven't had time (or will) to in a while. Over at Brigid's place she has posted a good piece on Glocks, and plastic pistols in general.

I've never been a Glock owner, nor fired one of the Austrian/USA offerings. Every
one I ever held just felt 'funny' to me. On the other hand, I own and carry a S+W M+P, and it's a favorite, so plastic is not the issue. I appreciate a well made tool of steel and wood. It speaks to something deep inside that I couldn't explain without Brigid's talent.

School (teaching) has ended, and I now collect the time I lost during the school year. All those sixty and seventy hour weeks.... the next ten weeks are recompense. I gather most folks think teachers get a three month paid vacation every year... as I used to think. That would be incorrect. Teachers are paid for the time they work, by contract, and no more. They are allowed to defer that pay out to cover the summer months their job supposedly vanishes. We know it's a 'deferment' because the IRS just tried to steal another 20% off the top for that reason.

I say supposedly, because it really doesn't just go away. I will be taking required college courses all summer. Exciting things like 'Educational theory and law'. Yes, the school picks up the tab on the course, but our time is not compensated. One might think "Sure, but you get a college education for free!". Yup, sure do, as long as the college education is one specially designed for a specific teaching certificate and of no use anyplace else in the world. It's like getting a free (on your own time) six week training course on how to run a proprietary software program at a large corporation. It's all well and good... as long as you work for the company.

In any event, I slept in till 7am this morning, which felt like the crack of noon. Given that we are supposed to have an inch or two of rain today, I have no great plans for my first day of semi-freedom. Mostly just the three basic R's. Relax, recover, and reload. There is a rifle match this weekend... and I would like to shoot something better than the 1950's Yugoslavian military surplus I've been banging away with.

More later friends, as I revel in free minutes... and hours.


1 comment:

Old NFO said...

Works! Take a break Sir, it is WELL deserved...