Summer has begun

Between work, school, family and fun, my blog has taken the backseat. I apologize to those who have asked about my new endeavours and have received the ever annoying sound of crickets as a response. I've been pretty busy, and now the summer has officially begun, its only going to get better.

Last weekend was spent in large part at the lake. Once by ourselves and the other with some friends and their kids. Between those days we were invited to a BBQ where we partook in some yummy food, jager and margaritas.

This weekend we decided to host our own BBQ. It went well, but the fun was halted when a sudden summer thunderstorm came on. So it ended a little early, but all in all, we had a good time. Jake happen to be browsing through classmates on FB and stumbled upon a girl he graduated with that lived in Reno (which is quite a coincidence given the distance). They emailed back and forth a few times, so I encouraged him to invite her over for the BBQ. I didnt think she would come (personally, I applaud her because Im not sure I would have had the courage to go), but she did! And I'm really glad too because she seems really fun.

Next weekend we are going to San Francisco and Monterey. My cousins wife (from Spain) is coming to visit her sister studying at Stanford so Jake and I are going to meet them for the weekend.

Life as a FT worker has been great. It has been easier to make that transition than I originally thought it would be. I really believe the kids are benefitting from being in a schedule driven environment - both at home and at school and the afterschool program. The constant bickering has decreased and keeping them in line seems to have gotten a little easier. As for work, its quite an easy job but its enjoyable. My boss keeps mentioning how I will have tremendous opportunities once we merge with the other division and how he wants to expose me more to the program side of things so that I can take advantage of those opportunities soon. That is definately nice, but at this point, having an easy job to get my feet wet is certainly coming in handy.

Working

I'm a working woman. Not that I wasn't before, but this is my first "real" job in over 9 years. The transition into the working world hasn't been as bad as I had anticipated. It's a little ridiculous, but the thing I was dreading the most was waking up early. I'm a night owl, and frankly, waking up before 830 is considered early in my book. Up until now, the kids didn't have to be at school until 9, so typically the kids and I would wake up about 8. That time has now shifted to 6am for myself and 630 for the kids. It helps a lot to have Jake around to feed them and keep them in line while I get myself ready and fix the girls' hair, so it has gone a lot smoother than I thought.

As far as work, its definitely a piece of cake. Granted, I'm the low man on the totem pole with an easy going boss in a relatively low work volume office, but hey, its still work. I work in the office of Disability Services, which facilitates the funding and grants that get distributed to non-profit agencies that assist those with disabilities (blindness, deafness, wheelchair assistance, etc). My main job requirement is to assist the program managers with council meetings. Oh yeah, and we also have "volunteers" (e.g. people that have community service alternative sentencing arrangements) that my boss decided I would manage as well. So really, its a pretty easy job - for the time being. We are being integrated into the division of Aging Services in July, so my duties may change. In the meantime, I'm surrounded by people that are much more educated that me (that's uncommon when working for the state government) and that are genuinely concerned about the people that have much more difficult lives than the rest of us.

The family has adapted well. Jake and I hit the gym every day at lunch, so we see each other a lot during the day. The kids no longer spend most of their time fighting and bickering with each other; they are much too tired for that after spending in scheduled activities in the afterschool program. I cherish the time with them moreso now than I ever did before. Tonight I even played a couple rounds of Uno with them, which is something I would not have had the patience nor desire for when I was at home.

The money is surely not the motivation. Our lovely governor wants to cut 6% (oh wait, he upped it to 15% on Friday) of my already low salary (which covers daycare costs with a little left over to pad our 401k and a few hundred dollars of extra spending money). But I have to start somewhere and as far as I can tell, this "somewhere" is about the best place I could have chosen to begin my working life.

Kids Say the Darnedest Things

We moved Lexi to a preschool near my new work (no worries, I will blog about that eventually). Its a christian preschool that Jacob attended for 3 months when he and Jake moved back to NV prior to us girls. Jake almost nixed that idea when he went to sign her up and he saw an enormous "We love Jesus" sign plastered across the main entrance wall, but he decided to overlook that given that the preschool is so convenient and we were familiar with it. Plus, he reassured himself that he was exposed to Jesus for many years and it failed to make him a follower.

Lexi and I always seem to have the best conversations while I'm in the shower. She just sits there and tells me about her day or whats going on in her little 4 year old brain. It was no different yesterday. As I am lathering up my hair, she begins asking me if I knew that god made the stars and the sun and everything else. It was cute because we haven't really mentioned the whole god thing to her, so it was all brand new information to her. I explained that some people think that, but that nobody knows for sure.

"But my teachers know. And they also said that god made the food too".

"Didn't the farmers make the food?"

"Yeah, but god helped them make the food" she said adamantly.

I was kind of curious so I started picking her brain a little. I asked her who god was and what he looked like.

"He's a monster. But a nice one."

"So where does he live?" I asked, fully expecting to hear something along the lines of heaven or the sky or something.

"He lives inside us."

"Inside us? I don't want anything living inside me. How do I get him out?"

"Well" she says "you have to punch your belly and your legs and arms and maybe he will come out. Lets do it together because I don't want him living inside me either"

After a minute or so of jokingly beating ourselves up, she decides to tell me more about her concept of god.

"Mom, god does everything and makes everything. He even made your shower. And he even cleans it too. Except that really you clean it. We just say he cleans it." Then she smirks with her 'I know, I don't believe it either' smile.

And for the talent portion of our competition....

I was reading the news this morning (as I always do) and found that Ms. California made the front page in almost all the media outlets. First of all, I have to give her props. She stood up for what she believed in, knowing how unpopular it was among the target audience, judges and not to mention 48% of Californians. That takes a lot of you-know-what.

It kind of got me thinking about her statement 'I was raised that marriage is between a man and a woman' and I found myself correlating my current cognitive and moral development course with real world situations (whoa! I'm actually learning!). Many psychologists and researchers in the field have suggested that people operate at different stages of moral development. This is not to say our morals are better or worse, they are just more developed. Its complicated and requires much more than a few paragraphs to explain, but basically the beginning stages entail a black and white perspective and then move on to eye for an eye. The consensus is that the higher the level of moral development, the more tolerant one is of others and their choices. It is also characterized by individualization and the intense scrutinization of social norms. In other words, instead of merely accepting "because this is how its always been, this is the way it should always be" one begins to question and make ones own decisions by critical self-investigations.

I guess what I am saying is that Ms. California obviously hasn't reached that level of moral development yet. Others are doing the thinking for her. And her boobs are taking care of eliminating any other thinking she may encounter.

A Small World

So a while back ago I was subbing at a high school that I sub at quite often and ran into a teacher that I recognized from my own high school. She used to be my art teacher. Now for the background:

It was my sophomore year or maybe my senior year... I can't remember which (I skipped my junior year). My ceramics class was something I dreaded going to every day. Why? Because of a certain guy that would not leave me alone. He was a football player, and a big, muscular one at that. And he had no problem using his strength - even toward a female. For some reason he took a liking to me, and not the good kind of liking. He spent the entire period harassing me. He would block the doorway to the supply room and try to force me to make my way through his blockade, grabbing and groping the whole time. Disgusting. When he ditched class, his friends would try to act cool and do the same thing. However, I had no problem standing up to them, so it didn't get quite as bad with them. Thinking back on it now, I have no idea why I didn't tell someone about the situation.

Actually, I know why I didn't. This same guy would do similar things to the teacher - not so much in a physical way, but he would ask extremely inappropriate questions. Mainly about her sex life and sexual acts. She would roll her eyes and tell him it was inappropriate, but that's about it. I was sure this teacher had to be somewhat aware of this guys actions with other students - me in particular, yet she had never taken any action. So either she was completely oblivious (which I highly doubt), or she looked the other way.

Fast forward a few years. I was working at the Carson Nugget Casino in the personnel department. Basically, I was in charge of taking applications and setting up interviews for those who I thought were a good match. The guy came in and applied. I don't think he even remembered me (granted, I had put on some weight). He was applying for a dishwasher position. I took his application and made sure to leave a sticky note saying 'this guy is bad news. Do not hire. See Laura for details' , just in case one of the other girls in the office were to be deceived by his clean cut, charming appearance and give him a job. I never saw him again after that.

Fast forward another decade or so to February 2009. I'm subbing at the high school (keep in mind, this is 30 miles from where I originally went to high school) and see a teacher come through my room. I immediately recognize her. So I introduce myself, and of course, she doesn't remember me. However, when I mentioned this other guy, she rolls her eyes and says "oh yes, I remember Chad." I'm not sure if it was just me, but I felt a little uneasiness from her after that. As if she was embarrassed.

So today, I check my email and I see that I have been assigned a 3 day sub job. I was caught a little off-guard because normally the teacher will contact me first before just assigning me to the job. I look to see who is requesting me and am a little shocked. Its her. Obviously I will be working for the state and will have to cancel the sub assignment, but there's a little part of me that wonders if she ever put two and two together.

The Grass is Greener

At least that what I am hoping for.

Despite these hard economic times, I received two calls for prospective employment. One was for a job at the social security administration for which I had sent my resume to over a year ago. The other was unsolicited from the State of Nevada. At one point, I had applied for a similar position and had taken the test. The department head decided to take the names of applicants directly from the top of that list to see if they were interested.

I have to admit, when they called me for the interview, I wasn't really interested. Its just an entry level admin type job and I didn't want to waste my time on that. But I figured it wouldn't hurt to go to the interview. I'm glad I did because the job seems like a perfect fit. The location is a 2 minute drive from Jakes work and the preschool Lexi would go to is on the same street. And Jake and I can hit the gym across the street at lunch together. Also, the boss seemed super laid back and very nice. They recognized that I was overqualified for the position, but they were ok with that because they want me to work on getting involved with their various boards and eventually move into a higher position. The job doesn't pay a whole lot - especially when you factor in all the daycare costs, but it still pays more than a first year teacher would make.

The other job for the social security administration is still in limbo. The salary is much higher and the federal benefits would be a nice addition to Jakes state benefits. However, it seems much more demanding and intense. I nailed the interviews and the people there all seemed very happy (despite the fast-paced nature of the job). So that and the money make it so if they were to offer me the job soon, I'd definitely consider it.

Its a miracle that the federal government has anyone working for them, because the process is long and time consuming. I applied March of 2008, got called in January 2009 once they received funding, interviewed in February, and finally received the formal request from the regional HR office to complete the application and testing process. I was informed that I passed that section and the next step was to wait until the federal budget was passed. It would be a matter of time before congress allocated money for the social security administration and that those funds would further be passed on to the individual offices. I expect to hear from them at any moment.

Why did I make the decision to go back to work, you ask? Well, I realized that even if I finish my masters within the next year, landing a teaching job is likely to be impossible. At least for the foreseeable future. So why spend all that money when I can just get my foot in the door with the state, making more money than I would teaching and still having the satisfaction of helping others (I'd be working in the elderly disability services department).

I expect to finish my first semester of my masters with a 4.0, so there is always a "Plan B" if for some reason this doesn't pan out.

Foreign Perspectives

As promised, I wanted to comment on a foreigners perspective of the U.S. Its insightful because as Americans, we are constantly fed how we live in the greatest country in the world and no other can compare. Yet Europeans, especially, tend to disagree.


One of the things I was asked is, what do Americans think of Europeans. After thinking about it a few minutes, I came to the conclusion that I think it boils down to education and class. Those with no college education and a lower class status tend to think Europeans live in run down shacks in a third-world environment. When the truth is, although they do live in smaller homes than the average American, the quality of life is much better. In terms of their living environment, it tends to be cleaner and more upgraded than a typical American home. I think lack of exposure (usually this means lack of money to travel, but sometimes it also means lack of desire) among Americans and the "land of the free" type perception makes us very ignorant about the rest of the world.

Of course, I did point out the stereotypes we give Europeans - bad teeth, every-other-day bathers and socialists. I think even though these are stereotypes, they're pretty accurate ones.

So some of the things she pointed out about the U.S. - some I recognize, others I didn't:

- The US healthcare system sucks. I informed her that Americans tend to think socialized medicine is just eerie and that this leads to the government making decisions over who lives or dies. The notion that in socialized medicine there is a master list, rating those who deserve healthcare and who doesn't, is quite prevalent among many Americans. She laughed it off and said that there are no lists and that everyone gets treated appropriately. AND, she said that if you so desire, there is always privatized healthcare. I have to agree with her. My grandpa is 85 and just had surgery twice in the past year, even though it was a relatively minor, non threatening procedure.

- Americans are a throw away society. Everyone uses single-use products. Silverware, tupperware, paper towels, etc..

- College here is in some ways much more time consuming. In most of Europe, your grade consists of a difficult comprehensive final exam. You either pass or fail. Here in the US you are flooded with all kinds of assignments throughout the semester and then given a fairly easy final exam. She thought the American technique was better. And as much as I despise all the papers I have to write, I have to admit students understand and retain information much better this way.

- People here are ultra mega religious. She pointed out that in Europe there are plenty of believers, but nobody really practices, except for the traditional ceremonial events. The whole organized religion thing is perceived as almost cult-like. Amen to that.

- People spend all day drinking coffee here. I explained that 1. our coffee is watered down in comparison to the yummy lattes in Europe. and 2. Americans need it to survive; we don't get the abundance of vacation and holidays Europeans get.

- Our food is horrible. Everyone eats out or eats junk food. Nobody cooks decent meals or uses fresh ingredients. I couldn't argue with her there.

- Fat chicks everywhere. Ok, so she didn't point this out. I had talked to my cousin on the phone while she was here and somehow the subject of "Americanas gordas" came up. Thank god that I am no longer in that category.