Things should calm down in 3 weeks but the next three weeks will be going from one class to the next I start at 8 am then get a break at 2:30 pm !!!
I gotta find a job that pays more than this for all the work I am doing. Not that I am complaining I got a good job and out here what I make goes far but still....I was looking at annual average incomes based on Education ad I saw that an average salary for someone with a MA is $84,000 ! Drag makes me feel poor. Then again my sister cannot find a place to rent in MI for under $750 and the place when has has DEA drug raids ! Yeah she was saying for $750 / month she gets the privilege of dealing with being in the Projects! And I get to live in an exclusive apartment for $625! So I do have to say that my salary is a bit more considering the purchase power. Sure food cost are higher but I really do not spend that much more on food here than I do in the states. I wonder... Anyway this is all academic as I doubt I would ever move back tot eh states plain and simple I doubt we could live as well as we do on 2 teachers salary.
M knee still hurts but I am going to try to do the hash tonight. It is funny my knee hurts a lot when I start to move from a resting position but once moving it feels fine. I am not sure. I know I should go to the Dr. but I got no time I might go down to the PI for a complete Physical over Thanksgiving. What do you think should I hash tonight or not? When I went on the cat hash my knee felt great while I was doing it.
Saturday, June 09, 2007
Update on the Saipan Rumptz house
We are in Saipan and it is nice but I do not know how long I want to live in any one place anymore. I like my life of travel and the kids seem to enjoy it if we do not move to much too often. Granted we have just moved to the new apartment complex and living on Saipan is nice once again! We had lived at a very small place for most of the last 4 years. The resent was $375 and we had an AMAZING view from our place. Also we were right next to the ocean so we had a constant ocean breeze through the house. But as the rent was low our neighbors were far from the most concerned about their children and it became a VERY bad influence on Andrew. He came home hurt a few too many times doing too many stupid things to be "cool" and it was time to move. Oddly he had no problems moving and the new apartment complex has two families with kids around his age. The kids of one family are (sometimes not so sensible) home schooled Christians (white parents to mixed like my kids) and they all get along great. In fact I think my kids are the more well adjusted of the lot. We also have another set of white kids (I am not hating on my race I'm just telling it like it is) who are a bit spastic but they are good around our kids. All in all it is a nice place. It has a huge yard, I am talking a 5 acre yard, and the kids are having a blast. Andrew, and Ashley next year, goes to the local public school and is doing well in his grades and on his national test. Ashley went to a private kindergarten that was good but way to religious for my taste, they subjugated science for religion. But she did learn a lot about phonics and writing. So the kids have it good. The problem is that there is no way in heck I am sending Andrew to the local Jr. High (that would be in Fall of 2008) it is nicknamed Hopeless (by the kids and teachers)~ and teachers who work there tell me not to send my child there! So it is tempting to move off island after next year.And here is that bit....
As you know I just applied for a PhD in Special Ed. The only problem is that the program is at the University of Hawaii. But it is for a scholarship that pays for the entire program and pays for housing too. But I have not lookied into any other PhD program and am not sure that I would do a PhD in even if it were free. I mean I am not sure I want a PhD but if I did go for one do I really wnat to do it in Special Education? So itr is truly up in the air. Too bad I will have to put it off until the next year (Fall of 2008) as Tita's grad school (her MA) and her citizenship- we have to wait until she gets sworn in.I am hoping two things first that I get into the program and second that they let me put it off for a year...I did mention that I forced Tita into a MA in Education ? Yeah it is a program where the professors come out for a week or two and do the entire class in that time it is crazy for her but she gets done and does not have to move. It is not that hard and I am doing a lot of research to help her out. I do a lot of research for the classes i teach so I just help her out the best I can.
Well like I said I have the travel bug so it would be nice to move in about a year but I really do not like Hawaii, well Oahu anymore. Oahu is not as nice as people say. It is way to touristy and boring for me. I hate Waikiki and the rest of that Pearl Harbor area. The rest of the island is pretty lame as well. After living in some real island nations I have to say I would not want to live there. But I hear that the PhD program sends you to live on the smaller islands to help train the teachers in Special Education teaching methods. If that is the case it might be cool. Who knows. I might just say toss it all and go to Africa or China.
But sadly I doubt we can afford to leave Saipan. We have it good hear you can live middle on a teachers salary- I know unheard of in the mainland. Heck with Tita and I teaching we can live at the upper middle class. So I do not know if we will be leaving island anytime soon. But things are changing here - federal takeover seems imminent - the federal government just raised the minimum wage - everyone is scared that the economy which has been in the doldrums for years is going to collapse when the minimum wage increases - it is currently $3.05/hour. And then we worry that the federal government is going to get rid of all these overseas contract workers- basically dirt cheap labor. SO it is a big toss up as to what will happen in the next few ears for us if we can ride out the storm we might stay here - the pay is good. But part of me would like to see more of the world. I mean live in other parts of the world. It might have to wait until the kids are done with college. Then I Can afford to have a job that does not pay well. Right now I think of Andrew and Ashley's college education.
I am SO bad I have classes to prepare for - lots of them- and here I babel on and on
Rumptz
As you know I just applied for a PhD in Special Ed. The only problem is that the program is at the University of Hawaii. But it is for a scholarship that pays for the entire program and pays for housing too. But I have not lookied into any other PhD program and am not sure that I would do a PhD in even if it were free. I mean I am not sure I want a PhD but if I did go for one do I really wnat to do it in Special Education? So itr is truly up in the air. Too bad I will have to put it off until the next year (Fall of 2008) as Tita's grad school (her MA) and her citizenship- we have to wait until she gets sworn in.I am hoping two things first that I get into the program and second that they let me put it off for a year...I did mention that I forced Tita into a MA in Education ? Yeah it is a program where the professors come out for a week or two and do the entire class in that time it is crazy for her but she gets done and does not have to move. It is not that hard and I am doing a lot of research to help her out. I do a lot of research for the classes i teach so I just help her out the best I can.
Well like I said I have the travel bug so it would be nice to move in about a year but I really do not like Hawaii, well Oahu anymore. Oahu is not as nice as people say. It is way to touristy and boring for me. I hate Waikiki and the rest of that Pearl Harbor area. The rest of the island is pretty lame as well. After living in some real island nations I have to say I would not want to live there. But I hear that the PhD program sends you to live on the smaller islands to help train the teachers in Special Education teaching methods. If that is the case it might be cool. Who knows. I might just say toss it all and go to Africa or China.
But sadly I doubt we can afford to leave Saipan. We have it good hear you can live middle on a teachers salary- I know unheard of in the mainland. Heck with Tita and I teaching we can live at the upper middle class. So I do not know if we will be leaving island anytime soon. But things are changing here - federal takeover seems imminent - the federal government just raised the minimum wage - everyone is scared that the economy which has been in the doldrums for years is going to collapse when the minimum wage increases - it is currently $3.05/hour. And then we worry that the federal government is going to get rid of all these overseas contract workers- basically dirt cheap labor. SO it is a big toss up as to what will happen in the next few ears for us if we can ride out the storm we might stay here - the pay is good. But part of me would like to see more of the world. I mean live in other parts of the world. It might have to wait until the kids are done with college. Then I Can afford to have a job that does not pay well. Right now I think of Andrew and Ashley's college education.
I am SO bad I have classes to prepare for - lots of them- and here I babel on and on
Rumptz
Saturday, June 02, 2007
Great Cat Hunt
It was the textbook cartoon morning at my house. One of our cats, Mr. Paws, had been missing of the past few days and we did not know what to do. Our other cat Mr. Tuffs, was acting very strangely this morning and so I decided to ask him where his brother was~ we had watched a movie about fairies last night. So Mr. Tuffs proceeded to meow and look at me so I figured this was worth investigating. So I did! Again I asked him if he knew where his brother was and as he started to lead pausing to look back and meow I figured it was the "Timmy is in the well with a broken leg" meow that they give in Lassie. So I followed the cat Into the jungle behind my house. He ran fast and did not take into account my size in his journeys so I was much slower than him. When I was lost I would meow and wait for his response and then follow the sound. This went on for a while and I get to see parts OT the jungle behind my house like a great bamboo forest. It was truly amazing and it look very ancient but I am sure it is not that old. Alas I had lost my lead so I needed to back track to find my leader Mr. Tuffs. After backtracking for a bit I caught the sound of his voice sure that he was leading me on a trail to his brother. I headed up his and got caught by surprise when a small coconut crab came out of a coconut I was about to step on. Well I had the sound of the cat in the distance and had even caught a glimpse of him a few time when I swore I had heard the sound of our other cat. In a fever I foll wed that distant call ~ the cat has been missing for days. I was worried and so I followed with reckless abandon until I ended up in the middle of a bush surrounded by no easy or passable exits save the entrance I can in. At this point I tried futilely to find another exit before giving up and calling it the mission off. I finally found my way back near hoe when I see note placed on the eh ground by my son. He wanted me to come home to eat breakfast. Cute. So I traipse home and clean my very dirty close and body. But I had a clue as to where Mr. Paws was. So after a shower and some water I take the kids on the explore I figure he is in the grass by the road as that is my best guess to where I was in the forest. Well we traipse a long for a bit then we hear IT! But it turns out he is not in the grass or in a well with a broken leg no he is up a huge tree, which is more of his style. This is the 3 time he has gone up a tree for safety. The last two times it was up a 26 foot coconut tree in our old apartment. Those times I almost killed myself getting him down. This time I found a ladder and tried getting up the tree but was hit by a bunch of paper wasp. It is funny the sting is bad but as the stinger does not stay in like a bee it only last a few minutes and then it is back to normal. I tried the ladder on another part of the tree but never could get it high enough. And the cat would not come down to me. Right now my wife says let him learn his lesson. I am surprised as it seems like it is a much easier tree to get down from and if my knee did not hurt so much I would be able to climb a bit more to get the silly cat. As far as the journey Mr. Tuffs had taken me on ... I guess I am a sucker to listen to a cat, he just wanted to get me out in the woods so he could take advantage of me and he did!
Oddly enough summer is busy for me all the classes I sighed up for have gone! It is weird as most classes did not go this summer. but I had some good luck. I will be busy this summer but luckily the classes are short so they will be done soon.
I also had to write the following to the Saipan H3....
My son Andrew (10 be 11 in July) has been asking me to go on a hash! I am all for it the adult content is right up his alley but I need to ask you. He is pretty good. I would say he is almost at my level. He went on the Laderan-Tangke Trail and did fine he had no problems with it and I would like to take him whit me but I do not know what the rules are about kids. I do not know if he is permitted to go on the hash trust me the "adult material" is nothing new for him and I would like to encourage him to get out and exercise more. he has a bit of a belly on him ~ like me.
Well let me know the rules an what it would cost to take him along if he is permitted. He would love to go and he would be fun to have a long. he is a very sharp witted kid~ again like me. And he has a pretty good sense of things too.
Oddly enough summer is busy for me all the classes I sighed up for have gone! It is weird as most classes did not go this summer. but I had some good luck. I will be busy this summer but luckily the classes are short so they will be done soon.
I also had to write the following to the Saipan H3....
My son Andrew (10 be 11 in July) has been asking me to go on a hash! I am all for it the adult content is right up his alley but I need to ask you. He is pretty good. I would say he is almost at my level. He went on the Laderan-Tangke Trail and did fine he had no problems with it and I would like to take him whit me but I do not know what the rules are about kids. I do not know if he is permitted to go on the hash trust me the "adult material" is nothing new for him and I would like to encourage him to get out and exercise more. he has a bit of a belly on him ~ like me.
Well let me know the rules an what it would cost to take him along if he is permitted. He would love to go and he would be fun to have a long. he is a very sharp witted kid~ again like me. And he has a pretty good sense of things too.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
naturalization (almost) and stuff
*Check out my photos*
*Photos old and new*
lick on link above to view
Tita FINALLY got got approved for naturalization!!!
We were in Guam for the tests but since we live in Saipan we have to wait until they come up to Saipan to swear her in. Usually they do it the same or next day but we have to wait. that means we are stuck on Saipan for a while,no worries after 10 years Tita has finally (almost) gotten her US citizenship!
Just think in December Tita will be a US citizen and have a Masters Degree in Education- let the divorce proceedings begin! Just joking lucky for me that is just too strange of a Filipino to do that- says she will divorce me when I am rich and famous which is going to be NEVER!!!
Summer reregistration is dead I think this is a bad sign for the fall semester and beyond. On the good news Tita did get a job for next year teaching first grade so we will be fine in that respect.
I just applied for a PhD in Special Ed but I will have to put it off until the next year (fall of 2008 if the let me) as Tita's grad school (her MA) and her citizenship- we have to wait until she gets all done before I can think of moving we have worked too long and too hard to play with either of these things.
--- Summer numbers are down butI happened to chose the right classes so I am busy as heck
I am busy
Will be running from class to class for the next 6 weeks
Will barley be able to see my own kids so busy with work.
Good news will have brand new cars paid off in less than a year. Not bragging but happy we can do it.
Got to go RELAX i.e. get off the computer and try to play Sudoko thanks to my nephew Ben I know how to play (easy ones) and am in love with it.
David
*Photos old and new*
lick on link above to view
Tita FINALLY got got approved for naturalization!!!
We were in Guam for the tests but since we live in Saipan we have to wait until they come up to Saipan to swear her in. Usually they do it the same or next day but we have to wait. that means we are stuck on Saipan for a while,no worries after 10 years Tita has finally (almost) gotten her US citizenship!
Just think in December Tita will be a US citizen and have a Masters Degree in Education- let the divorce proceedings begin! Just joking lucky for me that is just too strange of a Filipino to do that- says she will divorce me when I am rich and famous which is going to be NEVER!!!
Summer reregistration is dead I think this is a bad sign for the fall semester and beyond. On the good news Tita did get a job for next year teaching first grade so we will be fine in that respect.
I just applied for a PhD in Special Ed but I will have to put it off until the next year (fall of 2008 if the let me) as Tita's grad school (her MA) and her citizenship- we have to wait until she gets all done before I can think of moving we have worked too long and too hard to play with either of these things.
--- Summer numbers are down butI happened to chose the right classes so I am busy as heck
I am busy
Will be running from class to class for the next 6 weeks
Will barley be able to see my own kids so busy with work.
Good news will have brand new cars paid off in less than a year. Not bragging but happy we can do it.
Got to go RELAX i.e. get off the computer and try to play Sudoko thanks to my nephew Ben I know how to play (easy ones) and am in love with it.
David
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Saipan the past few weeks
In the four years we have lived on Saipan the past few weeks have been the best. I went on my first hash (more on that in a bit), and the kids have finally found what neighbors are. There are 5 kids who live next to us and 2 more across the grass yard. There are supposedly two Taiwanese kids but i have never seen them though I have seen their mom. I also met a girl from Mongolia but she does not speak much English. Anyway I ramble the point is that Andrew and Ashley have found kids their won age who like to play outside. In our old neighbor hood the kids mostly sat inside playing video games. There was really not much of a group that hung out together. Now at the new place the kids are looking for each other hanging out and playing doing things kids should do. i really am loving the new place we live in. I am glad Tita has a job and I am thinking we will be here for at least another two years. god forbid we end up staying here. But that was the subject of my last email On to the Hash...
The Hash House Harriers (the "Hash") is an international group of runners (hashers) whose primary goal is to have "fun". see note at end of e-mail explaining more. My first hash was amazing. I saw parts of the island I had never know existed and they were literally in my backyard. It inspired my to start treaking around the jungle. I went, with Steve Vance, on a trip up an over one of the local ridges. The trip started on my old walk in front of Andrew's school and I figured we would hit the jungle once the road ended instead of coming back like we had done previously. Well we hit the jungle and had a great journey and after about an hour of jungle treaking we came to a road passing through a valley in the jungle and we eventually decided to follow it until it hit a paved road. Well as we started to come into the clearing low and behold we were literally in my backyard. So we stopped off at my apartment and refreshed before we walked back to our cars in front of Andrew's school.
The next day Steve had a conference call until 8:30 am so I went out exploring. It turns out that there is a Japanese / Buddhist temple in my backyard as well. I am guessing that it was built when during the Japanese occupation around WWII. Anyway I climbed up to the temple and it was built inside a cave and much more impressive than I had though. But it was early still so I decided to follow the trail and climb the face of the ridge that made the cave the temple was in. I had no problem climbing it was well overgrown so there were lots of plants with sturdy roots and trunks to use for climbing. At the top of th ridge I did some exploring but all roads seam to lead to the high switch grass. It is about 5 to 8 feet tall and it gets hard to walk through as vies grow in it and they tangle you up. But I was having fun exploring until I found my sell on the ground. It turns out that the grass had covered up a hole. But all of the grass was the same hight so I could not tell the hole was there. I fell in and hit my left knee on the side of the hole with my arms holding me up on either side, while my right leg dangled down not touch the bottom of the hole. Well I got home and Steve showed up, sure my knee was sore but it did not hurt that much, so off we went on the next hike. This hike was OK it was a lot more treaking through the grass so it was just OK. The next day my knee was killing me and I could barley move it so I have been hobbled ever since then. I was upset as I could not do the Cinco de Mayo hash which sounded great- I guess they went by one of the B29's that crashed on island during WWII. I am sad I missed it but I hope to be up and into the mix by next Saturday. I am hoping to be up and moving before so I want be a total dead weight on the next hash.
David
The Hash House Harriers (the "Hash") is an international group of runners (hashers) whose primary goal is to have "fun". see note at end of e-mail explaining more. My first hash was amazing. I saw parts of the island I had never know existed and they were literally in my backyard. It inspired my to start treaking around the jungle. I went, with Steve Vance, on a trip up an over one of the local ridges. The trip started on my old walk in front of Andrew's school and I figured we would hit the jungle once the road ended instead of coming back like we had done previously. Well we hit the jungle and had a great journey and after about an hour of jungle treaking we came to a road passing through a valley in the jungle and we eventually decided to follow it until it hit a paved road. Well as we started to come into the clearing low and behold we were literally in my backyard. So we stopped off at my apartment and refreshed before we walked back to our cars in front of Andrew's school.
The next day Steve had a conference call until 8:30 am so I went out exploring. It turns out that there is a Japanese / Buddhist temple in my backyard as well. I am guessing that it was built when during the Japanese occupation around WWII. Anyway I climbed up to the temple and it was built inside a cave and much more impressive than I had though. But it was early still so I decided to follow the trail and climb the face of the ridge that made the cave the temple was in. I had no problem climbing it was well overgrown so there were lots of plants with sturdy roots and trunks to use for climbing. At the top of th ridge I did some exploring but all roads seam to lead to the high switch grass. It is about 5 to 8 feet tall and it gets hard to walk through as vies grow in it and they tangle you up. But I was having fun exploring until I found my sell on the ground. It turns out that the grass had covered up a hole. But all of the grass was the same hight so I could not tell the hole was there. I fell in and hit my left knee on the side of the hole with my arms holding me up on either side, while my right leg dangled down not touch the bottom of the hole. Well I got home and Steve showed up, sure my knee was sore but it did not hurt that much, so off we went on the next hike. This hike was OK it was a lot more treaking through the grass so it was just OK. The next day my knee was killing me and I could barley move it so I have been hobbled ever since then. I was upset as I could not do the Cinco de Mayo hash which sounded great- I guess they went by one of the B29's that crashed on island during WWII. I am sad I missed it but I hope to be up and into the mix by next Saturday. I am hoping to be up and moving before so I want be a total dead weight on the next hash.
David
Grandma, Tita & news
Turnss out my maternal Grand mother was Italian after all. Here is the e-mail from my mom...
We go down to Guam on May 17th for Tita citizenship interview. God willing she will be done with all of this paperwork then. After that we have to wait for her swearing in, which is on Siapan- it could be in June but it could be later as well. Not quite there yet as the passport will take a while to get so I doubt we will be able to go anywhere this summer. Unless we decided to come to visit the states.
On the good news Tita has found a job for next year- she will be working the streets in Garapan. Err I mean she got a transfer to the Kagaman Elementary School as a 1st grade teacher. So we will be on island for a few more years. I do not think we will be here for too long see news article below.
Well I got to get ready for church.... enjoy the posted stories
David
+++++++++++++This guy happens to live in the apartment just above me +++++++++++
http://www.saipantribune.com/newsstory.aspx?cat=1&newsID=68121
A dancer at the Chicago Club in Garapan testified yesterday how a public school teacher beat her up when she refused to have sex with him. The dancer said Peter Edward Gannon slapped her twice and then punched her in the face in the early morning of Jan. 28, 2007. Gannon had denied the charges. The alleged assault happened after their first date, according to the dancer in her testimony in the ongoing bench trial of the 52-year-old Gannon who is being charged with two counts of assault and battery.
+++++++++As I said I doubt we will be here too much longer++++++
http://www.saipantribune.com/newsstory.aspx?newsID=68175&cat=1
Since 2005, the CNMI's economic situation has worsened owing to the lifting of the worldwide trade quota. This has adversely affected the local garment manufacturers, with many of them downsizing operations or closing down altogether. Last December, the island's largest apparel factory, Concorde Garment Manufacturing Inc., shut down, resulting in a huge loss of revenues for the government.
The tourism industry, meantime, which has not fully recovered from a series of international events such as the 2001 terror attack, Asian crisis, and SARS scare, was further crippled in October 2005 with the departure of Japan Airlines. This was followed by a number of unfortunate events such as the termination of Taiwan and Hong Kong direct flights in late 2005, and recently, the suspension of Osaka flight as well as the termination of evening flights from Narita.
Japan, the CNMI's main tourism market, is now served only by Northwest Airlines, which suspended the Osaka flight and reduced the Narita flights. This has resulted in a downtrend in tourist arrivals from Japan. From over 500,000 tourist arrivals in 2004, Japan arrivals are expected to drop to a little over 200,000 this year.
I found grandma and grandpa's Marriage certificate and it said she was born in Italy, will keep looking and let you know.
Passport date April 1907, said he travled with wife and 7 minor children, Grandma was born in 1906 or 1907, she died in Nov of 1979, and her birthday was in April of that year she turned 73.
Don't know anything about boat, ect.
You know I had asked dad about that several times well before he got sick and nothing came of it. Now you find it in less than a week. Thanks again.We go down to Guam on May 17th for Tita citizenship interview. God willing she will be done with all of this paperwork then. After that we have to wait for her swearing in, which is on Siapan- it could be in June but it could be later as well. Not quite there yet as the passport will take a while to get so I doubt we will be able to go anywhere this summer. Unless we decided to come to visit the states.
On the good news Tita has found a job for next year- she will be working the streets in Garapan. Err I mean she got a transfer to the Kagaman Elementary School as a 1st grade teacher. So we will be on island for a few more years. I do not think we will be here for too long see news article below.
Well I got to get ready for church.... enjoy the posted stories
David
+++++++++++++This guy happens to live in the apartment just above me +++++++++++
http://www.saipantribune.com/newsstory.aspx?cat=1&newsID=68121
A dancer at the Chicago Club in Garapan testified yesterday how a public school teacher beat her up when she refused to have sex with him. The dancer said Peter Edward Gannon slapped her twice and then punched her in the face in the early morning of Jan. 28, 2007. Gannon had denied the charges. The alleged assault happened after their first date, according to the dancer in her testimony in the ongoing bench trial of the 52-year-old Gannon who is being charged with two counts of assault and battery.
+++++++++As I said I doubt we will be here too much longer++++++
http://www.saipantribune.com/newsstory.aspx?newsID=68175&cat=1
Since 2005, the CNMI's economic situation has worsened owing to the lifting of the worldwide trade quota. This has adversely affected the local garment manufacturers, with many of them downsizing operations or closing down altogether. Last December, the island's largest apparel factory, Concorde Garment Manufacturing Inc., shut down, resulting in a huge loss of revenues for the government.
The tourism industry, meantime, which has not fully recovered from a series of international events such as the 2001 terror attack, Asian crisis, and SARS scare, was further crippled in October 2005 with the departure of Japan Airlines. This was followed by a number of unfortunate events such as the termination of Taiwan and Hong Kong direct flights in late 2005, and recently, the suspension of Osaka flight as well as the termination of evening flights from Narita.
Japan, the CNMI's main tourism market, is now served only by Northwest Airlines, which suspended the Osaka flight and reduced the Narita flights. This has resulted in a downtrend in tourist arrivals from Japan. From over 500,000 tourist arrivals in 2004, Japan arrivals are expected to drop to a little over 200,000 this year.
Monday, April 30, 2007
My Space account
I have finally gotten my act together and gotten a My Space account http://www.myspace.com/185140538 with more of my photos. I am in the process of getting a Yahoo Photos site with tons of pictures too- I do not think you need an account to see those photos, I will let you know. Of course if you want to see the photos My Space makes you create an account- sorry but they all do this. Creating an account should only take a few minutes , unless you are my mom with the old dial up connection. No one lets you share photos without creating an account. Now you have to click on the tiny link below my picture to see the photos.
Some of the photos I have you can only see at my other web site www.geocities.com/rumptz_sh8kr (I cannot find them on my hard drive to put up to the new site)
Well I hope this is easiest for everyone.
David
Some of the photos I have you can only see at my other web site www.geocities.com/rumptz_sh8kr (I cannot find them on my hard drive to put up to the new site)
Well I hope this is easiest for everyone.
David
Saturday, April 14, 2007
The Passing of Don Rumptz (my Dad)
I regret to inform you that my Dad (Donald Rumptz) passed away at home at 1:10 pm on 4-11-07.
My dad was sick and his health and mind had been declining so I am glad he is out of pain and I am glad my mom does not have to see him get worse.
There will be no funeral and if there is going to be a service it will be with the immediate family. Mom is talking of placing some of his remains (he was cremated) in his mother and fathers graves.
As far as coming back to Michigan it is really a question of do I want to bear with the 24 hour flight 10 hours of time difference and the cold in Michigan to hang out for a week. Then spend another 24 hours on a plane and deal with another 10 time change when I get back.
OK, well I have decided to come to Detroit for the week see details below. I hope to be a help to my mother. As far as I know there is not going to be a service for my farther but a private family (fight over who he loved the most - gave the most money too) err I mean family service - my mother had said this would be held in the summer but this is the only time I can make it back to the Detroit Area for a year.
It would be nice to see as many people as I can in the time I am there between helping her out. This is the first trip I have made back to the area in 4 years and I am guess it will be as long before we return - unless I get a good job.
Sadly Tita and the kids will not be able to make the flight (cost too much).
David
My dad was sick and his health and mind had been declining so I am glad he is out of pain and I am glad my mom does not have to see him get worse.
There will be no funeral and if there is going to be a service it will be with the immediate family. Mom is talking of placing some of his remains (he was cremated) in his mother and fathers graves.
As far as coming back to Michigan it is really a question of do I want to bear with the 24 hour flight 10 hours of time difference and the cold in Michigan to hang out for a week. Then spend another 24 hours on a plane and deal with another 10 time change when I get back.
OK, well I have decided to come to Detroit for the week see details below. I hope to be a help to my mother. As far as I know there is not going to be a service for my farther but a private family (fight over who he loved the most - gave the most money too) err I mean family service - my mother had said this would be held in the summer but this is the only time I can make it back to the Detroit Area for a year.
It would be nice to see as many people as I can in the time I am there between helping her out. This is the first trip I have made back to the area in 4 years and I am guess it will be as long before we return - unless I get a good job.
Sadly Tita and the kids will not be able to make the flight (cost too much).
David
Saturday, April 07, 2007
The Laderan-Tangke Trail
++ The Laderan-Tangke Trail+++++ this message was written by Steve Vance but I stole it to share+++
Steve and I took the kids on a hike this morning on The Laderan-Tangke Trail a 1.8 mile loop around the area of a cliff face on the northern part of the island. It's really a great hike. Lots of up and down, some of it pretty steep and rocky. Ashley got tired before the end so I carried her on his back part of the time- but she made most of the hike on her own- very impressive for a 6-year-old.
We heard lots of birds, and saw a few very up close - could almost touch a few. We heard Kingfishers. We saw these white birds (Fridgite Terns I think) flying around together with this weird call sort of like a muted sonar. We also saw another bird with some really pretty tail feathers that it fanned out whenever it landed. Whether it was trying to intimidate us or attract a mate, I really don't know.
There were also some very cool swarms of insects. I know. You're asking, "Cool swarms of insects?" They seemed to be two types, sometimes swarming in the same area, and sometimes distinctly separate. One was a type of moth that, when they landed, were on the branches so thickly that they visibly weighed them down. Both types were swarming so thickly that you could hear the sounds of them hitting the leaves in the foliage so much that it sounded like a light rain storm. The other was something very gnat-like. You definitely needed to keep your mouth shut when going through the areas. You wanted to keep your eyes shut, but you wouldn't be able to go through very fast then. They also sensed our passing, and got very active and agitated. Since Steve was taking up the rear, they were especially thick.
Steve managed to get stung on the ear by a wasp while we were passing some nests on the trail. No big deal. A red mark, but not even any swelling. Just a little bit of an irritating prick and a burn for a short time.
The trail went through a serious rain forest. Lots of cool trees. Many of them were growing with buttressed roots, large root clusters, and in some cases, roots that fanned out like legs to keep the tree trunk out of the rot of the soil. Also, there were the occasional mango, noni, and pandanas trees. There were also scarlet ivy gourd plants and some cool looking hard red seeds with black caps. I've now exhausted the limits of both mine and Dave's knowledge of rain forest foliage.
All in all, it's a great trail. Steve and I will probably tackle it by ourselves next Friday.
David
Steve and I took the kids on a hike this morning on The Laderan-Tangke Trail a 1.8 mile loop around the area of a cliff face on the northern part of the island. It's really a great hike. Lots of up and down, some of it pretty steep and rocky. Ashley got tired before the end so I carried her on his back part of the time- but she made most of the hike on her own- very impressive for a 6-year-old.
We heard lots of birds, and saw a few very up close - could almost touch a few. We heard Kingfishers. We saw these white birds (Fridgite Terns I think) flying around together with this weird call sort of like a muted sonar. We also saw another bird with some really pretty tail feathers that it fanned out whenever it landed. Whether it was trying to intimidate us or attract a mate, I really don't know.
There were also some very cool swarms of insects. I know. You're asking, "Cool swarms of insects?" They seemed to be two types, sometimes swarming in the same area, and sometimes distinctly separate. One was a type of moth that, when they landed, were on the branches so thickly that they visibly weighed them down. Both types were swarming so thickly that you could hear the sounds of them hitting the leaves in the foliage so much that it sounded like a light rain storm. The other was something very gnat-like. You definitely needed to keep your mouth shut when going through the areas. You wanted to keep your eyes shut, but you wouldn't be able to go through very fast then. They also sensed our passing, and got very active and agitated. Since Steve was taking up the rear, they were especially thick.
Steve managed to get stung on the ear by a wasp while we were passing some nests on the trail. No big deal. A red mark, but not even any swelling. Just a little bit of an irritating prick and a burn for a short time.
The trail went through a serious rain forest. Lots of cool trees. Many of them were growing with buttressed roots, large root clusters, and in some cases, roots that fanned out like legs to keep the tree trunk out of the rot of the soil. Also, there were the occasional mango, noni, and pandanas trees. There were also scarlet ivy gourd plants and some cool looking hard red seeds with black caps. I've now exhausted the limits of both mine and Dave's knowledge of rain forest foliage.
All in all, it's a great trail. Steve and I will probably tackle it by ourselves next Friday.
David
Moving but only across island
We are moving as the area we live in is getting very ghetto. The kids across the street are a very bad influence on our children so we have decided to move. We move on Wednesday. This is another reason we might stay longer our new place will be almost twice what we pay now but much nicer and no slums. I guess we are paying more because we know our neighbors will be professionals like ourselves. So who knows we might stay or might leave it is all up in the air. I contacted the position in Taiwan to see if I might be able to start in August no word back on that one yet. Again we do not know what we are going to do.
We did the move every year for 8 or 9 years but it included switching between 5 countries and 10 cities. Since we have been married we lived in the hills on Camiguin,Philippines at the ocean, at Tita's parents house for a month, in Keelung Taiwan, in Taichung Taiwan, At my my parents house for a month, on Campus at Columbia, in Queens NYC, In Ferndale, in the Marshall Islands for a school year and here for 4 years (almost)
Actually I thought about it and this is the longest I have lived in any place since I was 18! Even at the frat I moved every year sometimes twice a year.
David
We did the move every year for 8 or 9 years but it included switching between 5 countries and 10 cities. Since we have been married we lived in the hills on Camiguin,Philippines at the ocean, at Tita's parents house for a month, in Keelung Taiwan, in Taichung Taiwan, At my my parents house for a month, on Campus at Columbia, in Queens NYC, In Ferndale, in the Marshall Islands for a school year and here for 4 years (almost)
Actually I thought about it and this is the longest I have lived in any place since I was 18! Even at the frat I moved every year sometimes twice a year.
David
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Highly Qualified Housewife
3-27-07
I am done with Saipan cannot wait until we move. As far as us staying my wife would not mind staying but she is sick of jumping form job to job. Currently we are planing on her being home next year. She will be a Highly Qualified Housewife - instead of a Highly Qualified Teacher!
I went to the funeral for the Korean students who perished while swimming this morning, lots of people were there from all parts of the college there was strong support. I had also gone on Sunday and one of my former students was their because her husband had died. This is a great person who had helped Tita in her first year at Head Start - dare I say got her th job as a favor to me. A woman full of life and spirit totally rude and inappropriate like me! I feel bad for her but her husband had cancer for a while so it might have been for the best for him to be out of pain. So to make sure we showed her support we went to mass that they held for him last night. We talked to her a bit after wards but not much to say.
Again I do not think there is much for us on island but oddly when I was talking to Tita I had mentioned I had though she wanted to settle down here for a bit. She agreed that she had wanted to settle down to the same school the same co-workers and get into a nice routine but now it does not seem possible. Consider even if she does get a job next year it will be 3 jobs in 3 years not exactly stable.
As far as her prospects for next year they look bleaker each passing day- week. One principal did come and talk to her but never called her back another principal said she would but then never did. I guess Tita said that there are 7 teachers from head start without work lined up yet for next year. Well she is done with her masters in December and we can leave then. I would liek to wait until the end of the school year for the children but the job I have kind of lined up in Taiwan might want me then. We shall see.
I would not mind going some other places as well but until the children get older I would like to limit my moves to once every 3 to 4 years. It is really not fair to move so much on them.
As far as Saipan I am done with the place I am getting antsy to move on in my life. It has been a good place for the family but it is time for me to move on.
I would love to work in as many countries as you have but I am young still and have time to move on. How about retirement aren't you worried about that? Or did you save enough to retire? Me I never planed on Social Security but it would be nice to work some where long enough to get a retirement. The trick I am going to try to pull is get hired when I am older and work the minimum year which is usually 10. Who knows I plan to retire in the Philippines anyway so money should not be a huge issue for me. I actually plan not to retire I plan to be like my dad work until I get too sick to work.
As far as life after Faculty Senate- All I can say is I have one now. No one care one bit what I say or do. It is nice. But I do hope the things I had started get finished. It would be a nice legacy.
Rumptz
I am done with Saipan cannot wait until we move. As far as us staying my wife would not mind staying but she is sick of jumping form job to job. Currently we are planing on her being home next year. She will be a Highly Qualified Housewife - instead of a Highly Qualified Teacher!
I went to the funeral for the Korean students who perished while swimming this morning, lots of people were there from all parts of the college there was strong support. I had also gone on Sunday and one of my former students was their because her husband had died. This is a great person who had helped Tita in her first year at Head Start - dare I say got her th job as a favor to me. A woman full of life and spirit totally rude and inappropriate like me! I feel bad for her but her husband had cancer for a while so it might have been for the best for him to be out of pain. So to make sure we showed her support we went to mass that they held for him last night. We talked to her a bit after wards but not much to say.
Again I do not think there is much for us on island but oddly when I was talking to Tita I had mentioned I had though she wanted to settle down here for a bit. She agreed that she had wanted to settle down to the same school the same co-workers and get into a nice routine but now it does not seem possible. Consider even if she does get a job next year it will be 3 jobs in 3 years not exactly stable.
As far as her prospects for next year they look bleaker each passing day- week. One principal did come and talk to her but never called her back another principal said she would but then never did. I guess Tita said that there are 7 teachers from head start without work lined up yet for next year. Well she is done with her masters in December and we can leave then. I would liek to wait until the end of the school year for the children but the job I have kind of lined up in Taiwan might want me then. We shall see.
I would not mind going some other places as well but until the children get older I would like to limit my moves to once every 3 to 4 years. It is really not fair to move so much on them.
As far as Saipan I am done with the place I am getting antsy to move on in my life. It has been a good place for the family but it is time for me to move on.
I would love to work in as many countries as you have but I am young still and have time to move on. How about retirement aren't you worried about that? Or did you save enough to retire? Me I never planed on Social Security but it would be nice to work some where long enough to get a retirement. The trick I am going to try to pull is get hired when I am older and work the minimum year which is usually 10. Who knows I plan to retire in the Philippines anyway so money should not be a huge issue for me. I actually plan not to retire I plan to be like my dad work until I get too sick to work.
As far as life after Faculty Senate- All I can say is I have one now. No one care one bit what I say or do. It is nice. But I do hope the things I had started get finished. It would be a nice legacy.
Rumptz
2-23-07
Well Steve Vance is on island for the next 6 weeks (well 5 now) and we ahve been hanging out during the day. He has been going out exercising with me in the mornings most days because we wanted to go do a hike on Friday. I had forgotten that Friday was on e of the "C" holidays but figured no big deal . turns out Andrew went along with us. It was a nice hike the 3 of us boys went off to Forbidden island. Well we actually did not go on Forbidden Island I was concerned - being the dad- that we would not have enough stamina after climbing Forbidden Island to hike out of the valley. It turned out to be no problem getting back up. I let Andrew lead the way out and we stopped on a regular basis. Sad news turns out that a bunch of Korean students- some from the college some from a couple local high schools- went swimming there in the late afternoon and 4 of them drowned!
It is nice having Steve back on island we are all having a great time. I am trying to convince Steve and several other people to move here even as I talk about leaving island. Why is that? Well first it is because of where I work, you see the college is not loved on island by the government which pays for most of it. Granted we are doing much better with the government but they had striped us of our budgets in the past. Second if you do not work for the college you are pretty safe on the island. I mean even if you work for the local public school you have got -pretty much- nothing to worry about. Third it is a darn nice place to live few places offer so much beauty and the weather is perfect as well. Fourth the cost of living is a low on the most part, I mean in what place could a teacher afford a membership to the local club? And with both of us working it is no problem. Sure some food items -beer- and gasoline is expensive but at the end of it all it is a cheap place to live. Saipan is a beautiful little paradise if it were not for me wanting to travel more I would stay.
Tita has her ELS methods class coming up in a week so she has been getting prepared for the class non stop this has been a good refresher for me as I have been helping her prepare for the class. She has two classes this summer and then two in the fall and she will be done. We are looking to leave island shortly after she is done. The paper is full of factory closings and we know the economy of the island will go from bad to worse.
We are ready to get off island as I had mentioned most of this is just boredom on my (and Tita's?) part. I am getting tired of living in the same place. I am sure we could weather the storm of the economy (see the next bit) if we wanted to but really it is just an excuse for us to leave island. You have to understand this is the longest I have lived in any one place (the same I changed rooms every year in college) since I was 18. I told myself I would stop moving around so much once Andrew started school and I have stuck to that promise but it is time to move. I figure if we only have a few more years we can jump around before we HAVE to settle down. I mean at some point we ahve to get into a retirement system. Sure we have been very goos about saving what we can but if you stay long enough at some place they actually GIVE you money to retire on, it is a strange thought to me as I have lived my life KNOWING the Social Security will be bankrupt when I reach 65 (62?). Anyway one of these days but not right now. I ahve stopped looking right now as the job offers started coming in and I do not want to tell people I am just looking. I had thought it would take much more time to land a job than this so I started the normal year before I wanted to move but it seems I and Tita are much more marketable than I had thought. I had figured with the 2 school aged children we would never find a job out of the US but that is not the case so i will hold off until we are closer to our moving date (Tita gets her MA in December we can leave after that)
The news of the economy keeps getting worse with more and more government budget cuts looming. The largest factory closed a few weeks ago and the next largest just announced they are closing in June. The college I work at is a public college so the government pays a good 50% of the colleges budget. It is just a matter of how long it will be before the government decides to cut our budget again. The last time they cut it I was the Faculty Senate President and had gone to all of the budget meetings, so I know we have very little fat we can trim from our budget. It is not like the other government agencies who had been protected by the cuts. So I see problems at the college not at the Public Schools.
David Rumptz for the Traveling Rumptz Family - Tita, Andrew & Ashley
It is nice having Steve back on island we are all having a great time. I am trying to convince Steve and several other people to move here even as I talk about leaving island. Why is that? Well first it is because of where I work, you see the college is not loved on island by the government which pays for most of it. Granted we are doing much better with the government but they had striped us of our budgets in the past. Second if you do not work for the college you are pretty safe on the island. I mean even if you work for the local public school you have got -pretty much- nothing to worry about. Third it is a darn nice place to live few places offer so much beauty and the weather is perfect as well. Fourth the cost of living is a low on the most part, I mean in what place could a teacher afford a membership to the local club? And with both of us working it is no problem. Sure some food items -beer- and gasoline is expensive but at the end of it all it is a cheap place to live. Saipan is a beautiful little paradise if it were not for me wanting to travel more I would stay.
Tita has her ELS methods class coming up in a week so she has been getting prepared for the class non stop this has been a good refresher for me as I have been helping her prepare for the class. She has two classes this summer and then two in the fall and she will be done. We are looking to leave island shortly after she is done. The paper is full of factory closings and we know the economy of the island will go from bad to worse.
We are ready to get off island as I had mentioned most of this is just boredom on my (and Tita's?) part. I am getting tired of living in the same place. I am sure we could weather the storm of the economy (see the next bit) if we wanted to but really it is just an excuse for us to leave island. You have to understand this is the longest I have lived in any one place (the same I changed rooms every year in college) since I was 18. I told myself I would stop moving around so much once Andrew started school and I have stuck to that promise but it is time to move. I figure if we only have a few more years we can jump around before we HAVE to settle down. I mean at some point we ahve to get into a retirement system. Sure we have been very goos about saving what we can but if you stay long enough at some place they actually GIVE you money to retire on, it is a strange thought to me as I have lived my life KNOWING the Social Security will be bankrupt when I reach 65 (62?). Anyway one of these days but not right now. I ahve stopped looking right now as the job offers started coming in and I do not want to tell people I am just looking. I had thought it would take much more time to land a job than this so I started the normal year before I wanted to move but it seems I and Tita are much more marketable than I had thought. I had figured with the 2 school aged children we would never find a job out of the US but that is not the case so i will hold off until we are closer to our moving date (Tita gets her MA in December we can leave after that)
The news of the economy keeps getting worse with more and more government budget cuts looming. The largest factory closed a few weeks ago and the next largest just announced they are closing in June. The college I work at is a public college so the government pays a good 50% of the colleges budget. It is just a matter of how long it will be before the government decides to cut our budget again. The last time they cut it I was the Faculty Senate President and had gone to all of the budget meetings, so I know we have very little fat we can trim from our budget. It is not like the other government agencies who had been protected by the cuts. So I see problems at the college not at the Public Schools.
David Rumptz for the Traveling Rumptz Family - Tita, Andrew & Ashley
Sunday, March 25, 2007
I Wanna GO!
Well Steve Vance is on island for the next 6 weeks (well 5 now) and we ahve been hanging out during the day. He has been going out exercising with me in the mornings most days because we wanted to go do a hike on Friday. I had forgotten that Friday was on e of the "C" holidays but figured no big deal . turns out Andrew went along with us. It was a nice hike the 3 of us boys went off to Forbidden island. Well we actually did not go on Forbidden Island I was concerned - being the dad- that we would not have enough stamina after climbing Forbidden Island to hike out of the valley. It turned out to be no problem getting back up. I let Andrew lead the way out and we stopped on a regular basis. Sad news turns out that a bunch of Korean students- some from the college some from a couple local high schools- went swimming there in the late afternoon and 4 of them drowned!
It is nice having Steve back on island we are all having a great time. I am trying to convince Steve and several other people to move here even as I talk about leaving island. Why is that? Well first it is because of where I work, you see the college is not loved on island by the government which pays for most of it. Granted we are doing much better with the government but they had striped us of our budgets in the past. Second if you do not work for the college you are pretty safe on the island. I mean even if you work for the local public school you have got -pretty much- nothing to worry about. Third it is a darn nice place to live few places offer so much beauty and the weather is perfect as well. Fourth the cost of living is a low on the most part, I mean in what place could a teacher afford a membership to the local club? And with both of us working it is no problem. Sure some food items -beer- and gasoline is expensive but at the end of it all it is a cheap place to live. Saipan is a beautiful little paradise if it were not for me wanting to travel more I would stay.
Tita has her ELS methods class coming up in a week so she has been getting prepared for the class non stop this has been a good refresher for me as I have been helping her prepare for the class. She has two classes this summer and then two in the fall and she will be done. We are looking to leave island shortly after she is done. The paper is full of factory closings and we know the economy of the island will go from bad to worse.
We are ready to get off island as I had mentioned most of this is just boredom on my (and Tita's?) part. I am getting tired of living in the same place. I am sure we could weather the storm of the economy (see the next bit) if we wanted to but really it is just an excuse for us to leave island. You have to understand this is the longest I ahve lived in any one place (the same I changed rooms every year in college) since I was 18. I told myself I would stop moving around so much once Andrew started school and I have stuck to that promise but it is time to move. I figure if we only have a few more years we can jump around before we HAVE to settle down. I mean at some point we ahve to get into a retirement system. Sure we have been very goos about saving what we can but if you stay long enough at some place they actually GIVE you money to retire on, it is a strange thought to me as I have lived my life KNOWING the Social Security will be bankrupt when I reach 65 (62?). Anyway one of these days but not right now. I ahve stopped looking right now as the job offers started coming in and I do not want to tell people I am just looking. I had thought it would take much more time to land a job than this so I started the normal year before I wanted to move but it seems I and Tita are much more marketable than I had thought. I had figured with the 2 school aged children we would never find a job out of the US but that is not the case so i will hold off until we are closer to our moving date (Tita gets her MA in December we can leave after that)
The news of the economy keeps getting worse with more and more government budget cuts looming. The largest factory closed a few weeks ago and the next largest just announced they are closing in June. The college I work at is a public college so the government pays a good 50% of the colleges budget. It is just a matter of how long it will be before the government decides to cut our budget again. The last time they cut it I was the Faculty Senate President and had gone to all of the budget meetings, so I know we have very little fat we can trim from our budget. It is not like the other government agencies who had been protected by the cuts. So I see problems at the college not at the Public Schools.
David Rumptz for the Traveling Rumptz Family - Tita, Andrew & Ashley
It is nice having Steve back on island we are all having a great time. I am trying to convince Steve and several other people to move here even as I talk about leaving island. Why is that? Well first it is because of where I work, you see the college is not loved on island by the government which pays for most of it. Granted we are doing much better with the government but they had striped us of our budgets in the past. Second if you do not work for the college you are pretty safe on the island. I mean even if you work for the local public school you have got -pretty much- nothing to worry about. Third it is a darn nice place to live few places offer so much beauty and the weather is perfect as well. Fourth the cost of living is a low on the most part, I mean in what place could a teacher afford a membership to the local club? And with both of us working it is no problem. Sure some food items -beer- and gasoline is expensive but at the end of it all it is a cheap place to live. Saipan is a beautiful little paradise if it were not for me wanting to travel more I would stay.
Tita has her ELS methods class coming up in a week so she has been getting prepared for the class non stop this has been a good refresher for me as I have been helping her prepare for the class. She has two classes this summer and then two in the fall and she will be done. We are looking to leave island shortly after she is done. The paper is full of factory closings and we know the economy of the island will go from bad to worse.
We are ready to get off island as I had mentioned most of this is just boredom on my (and Tita's?) part. I am getting tired of living in the same place. I am sure we could weather the storm of the economy (see the next bit) if we wanted to but really it is just an excuse for us to leave island. You have to understand this is the longest I ahve lived in any one place (the same I changed rooms every year in college) since I was 18. I told myself I would stop moving around so much once Andrew started school and I have stuck to that promise but it is time to move. I figure if we only have a few more years we can jump around before we HAVE to settle down. I mean at some point we ahve to get into a retirement system. Sure we have been very goos about saving what we can but if you stay long enough at some place they actually GIVE you money to retire on, it is a strange thought to me as I have lived my life KNOWING the Social Security will be bankrupt when I reach 65 (62?). Anyway one of these days but not right now. I ahve stopped looking right now as the job offers started coming in and I do not want to tell people I am just looking. I had thought it would take much more time to land a job than this so I started the normal year before I wanted to move but it seems I and Tita are much more marketable than I had thought. I had figured with the 2 school aged children we would never find a job out of the US but that is not the case so i will hold off until we are closer to our moving date (Tita gets her MA in December we can leave after that)
The news of the economy keeps getting worse with more and more government budget cuts looming. The largest factory closed a few weeks ago and the next largest just announced they are closing in June. The college I work at is a public college so the government pays a good 50% of the colleges budget. It is just a matter of how long it will be before the government decides to cut our budget again. The last time they cut it I was the Faculty Senate President and had gone to all of the budget meetings, so I know we have very little fat we can trim from our budget. It is not like the other government agencies who had been protected by the cuts. So I see problems at the college not at the Public Schools.
David Rumptz for the Traveling Rumptz Family - Tita, Andrew & Ashley
Friday, March 16, 2007
3-4-7 not Faculty Senate President
3-4-7
Not much to say things have been good here not much to worry about my life is a lot easier now that I am not Faculty Senate President.
Oddly enough I am thinking of applying to be the Director of the Information Technology. For some stupid reason I still think of being in administration. I know the job would totally suck and everyone would bitch at me but… Like I had said I might want to be an administrator one day and this would be an easy entry. Why you ask? Because administrator pay a lot in the USA and there is nothing like experience. I should just realize that with Tita working I do not have to kill myself to put the kids through college. I worry it is what I do!
We got back from Guam on Monday our ride was no where to be found finally had to call and remind them . Guam was nice we traveled around a bit of it and saw things we had not before. It was nice to see that Guam has a non-tourist kind of like Saipan side. Actually kind of wild. If we do get a chance to move to Guam I think Tita will be more into it now that she has seen this part of Guam.
The volcano a few islands up in the chain erupted and the Volcanic Ash/Fog (vog) was really bad for a few days. They canceled public schools one day but they really did not need to and so the college and private school remained open.
The night have been cold here at night even dipping as low as 71! That is a new low for me! And the daytime temperatures are as low as 83! Sunday is forecast to be 79 I have pull out my jeans and turtle neck for that!
The swimming is nice and fun now that I got the Finis swim MP3 player. Lets you listen to music while you swim connected to my goggles. It is a blast!
But the shoulder still acts up a bit I am trying a new swim routine seems to help but I should be better about doing my Physical Therapy - boring! I am hoping that by the change in my swimming my shoulder will get better. Gone are the days of doing 75 yard Butterflies, drag! That bothers me as I had gotten pretty strong in the Butterfly and was thinking of getting it up to 100 Butterflies! Again it is my hope that I will rebuild my shoulder by slowing down. I can always go back to pushing up the exercises once the shoulder is back in shape. I had my sciatic nerve go out while I was in grad school. It took a while but it more or less went back to normal. I am hoping the same thing happens with my shoulder granted I am not 20 anymore!
Rumptz
Not much to say things have been good here not much to worry about my life is a lot easier now that I am not Faculty Senate President.
Oddly enough I am thinking of applying to be the Director of the Information Technology. For some stupid reason I still think of being in administration. I know the job would totally suck and everyone would bitch at me but… Like I had said I might want to be an administrator one day and this would be an easy entry. Why you ask? Because administrator pay a lot in the USA and there is nothing like experience. I should just realize that with Tita working I do not have to kill myself to put the kids through college. I worry it is what I do!
We got back from Guam on Monday our ride was no where to be found finally had to call and remind them . Guam was nice we traveled around a bit of it and saw things we had not before. It was nice to see that Guam has a non-tourist kind of like Saipan side. Actually kind of wild. If we do get a chance to move to Guam I think Tita will be more into it now that she has seen this part of Guam.
The volcano a few islands up in the chain erupted and the Volcanic Ash/Fog (vog) was really bad for a few days. They canceled public schools one day but they really did not need to and so the college and private school remained open.
The night have been cold here at night even dipping as low as 71! That is a new low for me! And the daytime temperatures are as low as 83! Sunday is forecast to be 79 I have pull out my jeans and turtle neck for that!
The swimming is nice and fun now that I got the Finis swim MP3 player. Lets you listen to music while you swim connected to my goggles. It is a blast!
But the shoulder still acts up a bit I am trying a new swim routine seems to help but I should be better about doing my Physical Therapy - boring! I am hoping that by the change in my swimming my shoulder will get better. Gone are the days of doing 75 yard Butterflies, drag! That bothers me as I had gotten pretty strong in the Butterfly and was thinking of getting it up to 100 Butterflies! Again it is my hope that I will rebuild my shoulder by slowing down. I can always go back to pushing up the exercises once the shoulder is back in shape. I had my sciatic nerve go out while I was in grad school. It took a while but it more or less went back to normal. I am hoping the same thing happens with my shoulder granted I am not 20 anymore!
Rumptz
Finally
We have some AMAZINGLY great news Tita has an interview for US citizenship (including US History / Govt test) scheduled for May 17th 2007!!!! So fingers crossed she will finally be American on that day!!! We have waited so long for this day we are very excited!
The Traveling Rumptzes (Again?)
I know I have not bothered you lately and I know you are bummed because of that.. HA HA I have been busy looking for work lately I am worried about the state of this islands finances! I am getting sick of being here too. It is just too small of a place for me and I have stayed for the 4 years I had planed.
I kind of have a Great job offer back in Taiwan. Thing is the guy said he would give me his job once he lands one. I told him I would love the job but I do have to wait a year before I can move as Tita is doing her MA and US Citizenship. She is worried it will be like last time no one will give her a job even with her MA. I think if she goes to a good international school they will hire her. We shall see. The job pays great more than I make now and it comes with a free apartment. It would be a great except I kind of want to go to a new country not back to Taiwan. I want to explore more not go do that over again.
I am looking into places where Tita would get some respect. I hear that in Korea they would be cool I am not sure about that. But top of my list is Australia and New Zeeland Thing is I am having a hard time finding a good job board. So if you know where to look for jobs in those countries let me know.
Rumptz
Did I tell you Tita will be done with her MA in December and she had said she would not mind leaving shortly after that! I was stunned.
Did I tell you we got a job offer in Africa in Tanzania for next year? Well I got an e-mail back from the recruiter saying contact us before we want to move she (the recruiter) did not answer my questions about the cost of moving (who would pay) and salary which is upsetting but she had mentioned that she was busy calling and interviewing people for this upcoming year.
Still before I make any decision about any move I am going to want to know about the salary it is not the defining point but it is a point. I also found an international school in Bien a bit more in the doggy area being near Ivory Coast and all but still a though. And of course there is the Taiwan program. I told you I got an offer to take over a University ESL Program in Taiwan once the person running the program finds a job back in the states.
Tita seems open to anything as long as she is respected I figure she is willing to go there- this is kind of why she does not want to go back to Taiwan. We still have another year here and we will make our decision but she seems more eager to leave than I. I was kind of surprised by this reaction. I had figured she wanted to stop moving around the world.
I know Andrew is not going to be very happy about the move when it does come but he will get over it, I hope. I have to say he has fallen in with a crowd not that I did not at his age but his grades are very wishy washy now. One day he brings home a B+ (one point from an A) one day a F-. This is part of the reason I want to make the move so we can get him into a good school while he can still handle the demands of a good school. If we get a job at a good international school the kids go to school for free or a reduced price at least. I know I was a total goof most of my time at primary and secondary school but I want better for my son and I know he can do it. I have seen him when he pays attention to school I have seen him get good grades. I do not want him to be a total book worm just do well in school. I know he will mature and school will begin to matter to him when he does but I do not want him to have to play catch up. I have told him time and again if he can maintain his grades I do not care what he does but when he starts bringing home low grades his friends are out of the picture.
David
I kind of have a Great job offer back in Taiwan. Thing is the guy said he would give me his job once he lands one. I told him I would love the job but I do have to wait a year before I can move as Tita is doing her MA and US Citizenship. She is worried it will be like last time no one will give her a job even with her MA. I think if she goes to a good international school they will hire her. We shall see. The job pays great more than I make now and it comes with a free apartment. It would be a great except I kind of want to go to a new country not back to Taiwan. I want to explore more not go do that over again.
I am looking into places where Tita would get some respect. I hear that in Korea they would be cool I am not sure about that. But top of my list is Australia and New Zeeland Thing is I am having a hard time finding a good job board. So if you know where to look for jobs in those countries let me know.
Rumptz
Did I tell you Tita will be done with her MA in December and she had said she would not mind leaving shortly after that! I was stunned.
Did I tell you we got a job offer in Africa in Tanzania for next year? Well I got an e-mail back from the recruiter saying contact us before we want to move she (the recruiter) did not answer my questions about the cost of moving (who would pay) and salary which is upsetting but she had mentioned that she was busy calling and interviewing people for this upcoming year.
Still before I make any decision about any move I am going to want to know about the salary it is not the defining point but it is a point. I also found an international school in Bien a bit more in the doggy area being near Ivory Coast and all but still a though. And of course there is the Taiwan program. I told you I got an offer to take over a University ESL Program in Taiwan once the person running the program finds a job back in the states.
Tita seems open to anything as long as she is respected I figure she is willing to go there- this is kind of why she does not want to go back to Taiwan. We still have another year here and we will make our decision but she seems more eager to leave than I. I was kind of surprised by this reaction. I had figured she wanted to stop moving around the world.
I know Andrew is not going to be very happy about the move when it does come but he will get over it, I hope. I have to say he has fallen in with a crowd not that I did not at his age but his grades are very wishy washy now. One day he brings home a B+ (one point from an A) one day a F-. This is part of the reason I want to make the move so we can get him into a good school while he can still handle the demands of a good school. If we get a job at a good international school the kids go to school for free or a reduced price at least. I know I was a total goof most of my time at primary and secondary school but I want better for my son and I know he can do it. I have seen him when he pays attention to school I have seen him get good grades. I do not want him to be a total book worm just do well in school. I know he will mature and school will begin to matter to him when he does but I do not want him to have to play catch up. I have told him time and again if he can maintain his grades I do not care what he does but when he starts bringing home low grades his friends are out of the picture.
David
The Park
Having Mauricio die brought it all back. That small insignificant park of our childhood was located in the middle of the smallest street in the neighborhood. It was hard to call it a park at all considering that is was only 2 house lots joined with a few appurtenances of the normal park. But that park was the most significant part of my life until adulthood. The playground of our childhood was a map to our lives and the physical structure of that playground was indicative of age. Starting at the most distant childhood memory going forward to the last days we had spent at the playground would literally take you from the furthest corner of the playground to the outside.
The slide, one of the first joys I had at the park, was set in deepest part of the playground. To arrive at the slide you had to enter the park and pass the maniacal metallically menacing beast, the swing set. As a child there was not a more menacing creature in the playground than that instrument of torture. On to the safety of the slide, which ironically was a big metal beast that stood all most as tall as the swing but with no moving parts. Without fear I climb the stairs, well with some but too brave to show Mauricio any I would climb. Pushed on but loathing each steep I would climb until I reached the apex of the mountain. At the summit I would look down with horror and anticipation of the joyous ride to the bottom. I placed my Rumptz on the shinny surface and knew I was in for the ride of my life. The simplicity of the pleasure was analogous to the earnest candor of childhood joy.
The swings will always have a special place in my heart for it was here that I truly cemented the friendships that would last me a lifetime, albeit too short of a lifetime. The swings became the playthings of my prepubescent adolescence when friendships were simple and carefree as the swings themselves. The swings are located left of the entrance just inside the park they stand in front of the slide. Easy to get to like a true friendship, the swings were no longer the menacing beast they had been in my youth they became the refuge from the torrent of shocks of a turbulent youth. That we continued going to the playground in our adolescence could be summed up in two words “No Parents!” But we had to move on from the childish slides to the more manly swings. Also the slide could only accommodate one person at a time and as teens we wanted all to be first so the swings, with 6 seats, were perfect. The seats perfectly aligned in a row allowed us to talk about the woes of our world, parents, school, and boredom. The swings were adolescents themselves being long lanky and easily mixed up. Danger lurked in every thrust of the swing scared you might be the one who actually went all the way around. Then just when you were at the apex of the swings’ arc, to avoid the complete rotation, to impress your friends or to just have some fun you would jump off and land in the grass to the howls of your peers. That is until they attempted to do you one better.
Finally we reach the entrance to the park, the final resting place of the group’s activities. While we had spent our prepubescent adolescence playing in, on, under and around the park it was not until we reached pubescence that we understood the full utility of the playground. Gone were the daylight hours starting were the night hours at the playground. For you see our original intent for seeking refuge in the park was “No Parents” now it was “No Adults!’ and especially “No Police.” From now on our time at the playground became more nefarious. We sought the refuge of the playground and we needed the cover of darkness for our clandestine and illicit purposes. We needed the space of the street offered for cars, for dance contest, for the number of people that group had swelled to. Surprisingly, considering that the park was engulfed in houses no adults or police cared to bother us even when the music was quite loud. Although we became old enough to go to bars we still came back to the park for the secrecy and security that it offered, but only occasionally.
My youth was spent at a small park in Detroit, Michigan called Bleden Park. As you walk into the park you walk into my past. I befriended a young Columbian boy named Mauricio at this park. He would be a friend whom I would have all of his life. We had spent many a year at the park discussing life and what it meant to be a man. He, like the park itself, remained wonderful only to those who knew how to see past the detritus. The irony was that he would die of consumption as I was planning to visit him after a 10-year hiatus of contact. Though he has died the park will remain forever the same small and insignificant place I call my childhood.
The slide, one of the first joys I had at the park, was set in deepest part of the playground. To arrive at the slide you had to enter the park and pass the maniacal metallically menacing beast, the swing set. As a child there was not a more menacing creature in the playground than that instrument of torture. On to the safety of the slide, which ironically was a big metal beast that stood all most as tall as the swing but with no moving parts. Without fear I climb the stairs, well with some but too brave to show Mauricio any I would climb. Pushed on but loathing each steep I would climb until I reached the apex of the mountain. At the summit I would look down with horror and anticipation of the joyous ride to the bottom. I placed my Rumptz on the shinny surface and knew I was in for the ride of my life. The simplicity of the pleasure was analogous to the earnest candor of childhood joy.
The swings will always have a special place in my heart for it was here that I truly cemented the friendships that would last me a lifetime, albeit too short of a lifetime. The swings became the playthings of my prepubescent adolescence when friendships were simple and carefree as the swings themselves. The swings are located left of the entrance just inside the park they stand in front of the slide. Easy to get to like a true friendship, the swings were no longer the menacing beast they had been in my youth they became the refuge from the torrent of shocks of a turbulent youth. That we continued going to the playground in our adolescence could be summed up in two words “No Parents!” But we had to move on from the childish slides to the more manly swings. Also the slide could only accommodate one person at a time and as teens we wanted all to be first so the swings, with 6 seats, were perfect. The seats perfectly aligned in a row allowed us to talk about the woes of our world, parents, school, and boredom. The swings were adolescents themselves being long lanky and easily mixed up. Danger lurked in every thrust of the swing scared you might be the one who actually went all the way around. Then just when you were at the apex of the swings’ arc, to avoid the complete rotation, to impress your friends or to just have some fun you would jump off and land in the grass to the howls of your peers. That is until they attempted to do you one better.
Finally we reach the entrance to the park, the final resting place of the group’s activities. While we had spent our prepubescent adolescence playing in, on, under and around the park it was not until we reached pubescence that we understood the full utility of the playground. Gone were the daylight hours starting were the night hours at the playground. For you see our original intent for seeking refuge in the park was “No Parents” now it was “No Adults!’ and especially “No Police.” From now on our time at the playground became more nefarious. We sought the refuge of the playground and we needed the cover of darkness for our clandestine and illicit purposes. We needed the space of the street offered for cars, for dance contest, for the number of people that group had swelled to. Surprisingly, considering that the park was engulfed in houses no adults or police cared to bother us even when the music was quite loud. Although we became old enough to go to bars we still came back to the park for the secrecy and security that it offered, but only occasionally.
My youth was spent at a small park in Detroit, Michigan called Bleden Park. As you walk into the park you walk into my past. I befriended a young Columbian boy named Mauricio at this park. He would be a friend whom I would have all of his life. We had spent many a year at the park discussing life and what it meant to be a man. He, like the park itself, remained wonderful only to those who knew how to see past the detritus. The irony was that he would die of consumption as I was planning to visit him after a 10-year hiatus of contact. Though he has died the park will remain forever the same small and insignificant place I call my childhood.
Sunday, March 04, 2007
Shoulder Hurts still
Things have been good here not much to worry about my life is a lot easier now that I am not Faculty Senate President.
Oddly enough I am thinking of applying to be the Director of the Information Technology. For some stupid reason I still think of being in administration. I know the job would totally suck and everyone would bitch at me but… Like I had said I might want to be an administrator one day and this would be an easy entry. Why you ask? Because administrator pay a lot in the USA and there is nothing like experience. I should just realize that with Tita working I do not have to kill myself to put the kids through college. I worry it is what I do!
We got back from Guam on Monday our ride was no where to be found finally had to call and remind them . Guam was nice we traveled around a bit of it and saw things we had not before. It was nice to see that Guam has a non-tourist kind of like Saipan side. Actually kind of wild. If we do get a chance to move to Guam I think Tita will be more into it now that she has seen this part of Guam.
The volcano a few islands up in the chain erupted and the Volcanic Ash/Fog (vog) was really bad for a few days. They canceled public schools one day but they really did not need to and so the college and private school remained open.
The night have been cold here at night even dipping as low as 71! That is a new low for me! And the daytime temperatures are as low as 83! Sunday is forecast to be 79 I have pull out my jeans and turtle neck for that!
The swimming is nice and fun now that I got the Finis swim MP3 player. Lets you listen to music while you swim connected to my goggles. It is a blast!
But the shoulder still acts up a bit I am trying a new swim routine seems to help but I should be better about doing my Physical Therapy - boring! I am hoping that by the change in my swimming my shoulder will get better. Gone are the days of doing 75 yard Butterflies, drag! That bothers me as I had gotten pretty strong in the Butterfly and was thinking of getting it up to 100 Butterflies! Again it is my hope that I will rebuild my shoulder by slowing down. I can always go back to pushing up the exercises once the shoulder is back in shape. I had my sciatic nerve go out while I was in grad school. It took a while but it more or less went back to normal. I am hoping the same thing happens with my shoulder granted I am not 20 anymore!
Rumptz
Oddly enough I am thinking of applying to be the Director of the Information Technology. For some stupid reason I still think of being in administration. I know the job would totally suck and everyone would bitch at me but… Like I had said I might want to be an administrator one day and this would be an easy entry. Why you ask? Because administrator pay a lot in the USA and there is nothing like experience. I should just realize that with Tita working I do not have to kill myself to put the kids through college. I worry it is what I do!
We got back from Guam on Monday our ride was no where to be found finally had to call and remind them . Guam was nice we traveled around a bit of it and saw things we had not before. It was nice to see that Guam has a non-tourist kind of like Saipan side. Actually kind of wild. If we do get a chance to move to Guam I think Tita will be more into it now that she has seen this part of Guam.
The volcano a few islands up in the chain erupted and the Volcanic Ash/Fog (vog) was really bad for a few days. They canceled public schools one day but they really did not need to and so the college and private school remained open.
The night have been cold here at night even dipping as low as 71! That is a new low for me! And the daytime temperatures are as low as 83! Sunday is forecast to be 79 I have pull out my jeans and turtle neck for that!
The swimming is nice and fun now that I got the Finis swim MP3 player. Lets you listen to music while you swim connected to my goggles. It is a blast!
But the shoulder still acts up a bit I am trying a new swim routine seems to help but I should be better about doing my Physical Therapy - boring! I am hoping that by the change in my swimming my shoulder will get better. Gone are the days of doing 75 yard Butterflies, drag! That bothers me as I had gotten pretty strong in the Butterfly and was thinking of getting it up to 100 Butterflies! Again it is my hope that I will rebuild my shoulder by slowing down. I can always go back to pushing up the exercises once the shoulder is back in shape. I had my sciatic nerve go out while I was in grad school. It took a while but it more or less went back to normal. I am hoping the same thing happens with my shoulder granted I am not 20 anymore!
Rumptz
Thursday, February 22, 2007
This thing called ‘failing’
This is a piece of writing I did in one of my classes. My students had to write an illustration essay and so I wrote one as well. You might be familiar with bits of it as I took them from some of our e-mails. I hope you like it. If not fuck you err I mean well you know. PS if you want a good one look up this link
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=fuck&searchmode=none
Rumptz
In all my life falling down has been a necessity to move me beyond that which I had accepted as normal. But I have never let it keep me down, not since that day I came told I had to repeat the third grade because I could not read and write well. On that day I was kept down and I stayed down for a long time. Then one day my Italian Grandmother filled me with spirit, she had pointed out that she was not educated but she was not stupid as well, “So, you cannot read now! You go lock yourself in the bathroom and read out load every day!” As crazy as it seems, and although it did take several years before I could realize it, I did just that and I have never let embarrassment or failure get in my way. I have looked at falling down as the impetus dare I say a necessity to get me out of the rut I had dug myself into. And even when the horse that is life kicks you in the teeth for the thousandth time, as my Grandmother was inclined to pint out it would, you needed to pick yourself up for by picking yourself up you are winning not losing. Or as Mary Pickford so eloquently said “This thing called ‘failing’ is not falling down but staying down.” In some ways I would say I need to fail so that I can move on with my life.
The second failure I had in life was with the battle of the bulge. I guess that I have, in my lifetime, gained and lost well over 400 pounds! I have not always been large, in fact in my youth I as of slight frame, But some time after failing third grade I turned to food for a comfort for that and the shock of a turbulent family life. The rush that a Snickers bar gives was just the thing needed to take away the pain of failing and the tumultuous family life I had, in part as a result of failing. And with my mountains of pain I needed heaps of chocolate to abate the suffering. I ate and suffered and ate until I was quite obese at a young age. As a child it is acceptable to be friends with a fat kid but as a teen being fat was tantamount to being dead of having a face full of pimples! So in the guise of becoming more popular I began a several year transformation joining any team I could at my high school. And although I achieved popularity, not for being an athlete but for my oddness, I did lose the weight and kept it off until I graduated from college. After graduation from college I made a series of misfortunate and extremely stressful career choices, which led me back to food as comfort, and I in 1999 had ballooned up to 285 pounds. After totally failing to maintain my weight I had decided to pick myself up and began an extreme diet. I lost 110 pounds in 6 months. But it is a daily battle that and some days I still fail to keep the weight off. I keep failing but I keep picking myself up and fight to keep the weight off.
The third failure that I have fought and won has been that of addiction. I swear I could be addicted to chalk if it gave a buzz of any kind. As I had mentioned my first addiction was to food. But that was only the start, for compared the delight that a snickers bar give a bag of marijuana is a mountain of joy! As a child of the 70s I was raised in a culture predominated by drugs, for it was the drug milieu, the zeitgeist of imbibing freely and I was a chief adherent. I started smoking marijuana for the joy and to numb the pain of life, and because it was in a sense a tradition amongst siblings. I used to get up at 6am to do my paper route and then smoke. Then I would hang out with the juniors and smoke with them at school. If I had any money left I would go buy a bag after school and smoke some more. My life was one big fat joint and I did not know what sobriety was. I decided at the tender age of 15 that I was an addict and had to stop. Then alcohol began to be a problem for me at this time. I had started buying beer on a regular basis at around 13. The problem is that drinking is socially acceptable. You see there was at least some social pressure for me to stop smoking marijuana but since alcohol was acceptable I was just being a boy. And then I move on to harder stuff, I finished High School in 1985 the year that crack became big in Detroit. This was not the time in my life to abuse this drug although I would use it frequently. I did not have enough money to really abuse it. It was all so new back then that no one saw it as a big issue was. I was just smoking coke. Over the years experiences became too sordid to retell here but they involved, speed, coke, and LSD (acid) I had many more episodes of drug addiction thought my life. Finally I became addicted to crack, not that is a source of pride. I had graduated from college and started a job at Enterprise Rent A Car (ERAC). It was supposed to be a management-training program but I was renting cars day and night and cleaning the rental cars in my suit and tie! It was a horrid and difficult life and so I turned to the most horrid addiction of my life, crack. I smoked more crack than I made in a week of work, which was a lot! I would smoke crack all night long and go to work with no sleep. I was addicted like I had never been before. I finally had enough of my ERAC life and decided to go back to graduate school in philosophy. Stopping work made me want to quite the drugs but it was a long battle to quit. Finally I had had enough of it and stopped all drugs and drinking as well, for it was my gateway into drugs. You see drinking impairs judgment and that meant doing drugs to me. So I went completely clean and sober for 7 or 9 years. And because I do drink now I still have battles with my addictions. But I still win I do not let my addictions keep me down I pick myself up and fight.
Finally the last failure that I have had but not stayed down for is work. I grew up with out a father. No, I did not but my father’s time and energy were spent primarily at work. Now I hardly can blame the man who achieved so much from so little for being obsessed with work and success but I decided at an early age that wealth was not worth that much of a sacrifice. As I had mentioned hen I tried to do the things my father did while at Enterprise Rent A Car it ate up my soul and I turned to drugs. Having failed and feeling like a corporate whore I returned to school to peruse a master’s degree in Philosophy. I decided to go back to work in the construction field, so I could get into the Peace Corps, in the middle of my masters. After working for about a year I got into the Peace Corps and found that it was full snakes. The odium and contempt that my fellow Peace Corps held from me culminated in a story passed on to me by a new Volunteer. When I told whim where I was a volunteer, he calumniated to me a story of a volunteer from that place who did noting but spent time with his wife and child. I had to mention that his asperity was cast at none other than me. He capitulated but I explained that there was not need for after being there for two years I began to find the opprobrium with which I was held to be comical. Currently I am faced again with egregious enormity. It all started with my big fat belly! I went to the Dr. office and when I got I the scale I weighed in at 210! Then the nurse took my blood pressure 140/90! I new some dramatic action was in order. I had recently renewed my family’s membership to the Pacific Island Club (PIC), and as PIC had no exercise equipment I decided to go back to swimming. But by doing so I enraged many members in my department. The hatred had all come to a boiling point when I went to work Friday January 26th, 2007. I had some meetings to attend; I do not have class on Fridays. Well one of the meetings was about the Faculty Senate Election, in the meeting I was told by one of the Faculty Senators that I need to stop talking about going swimming because it infuriates some of my colleague / office mates. Another topic I am not to discuss is my devotion to my children. I guess they get mad when I say unreasonable things like “ I cannot do _____ because I have to pick up my kids and help them with their homework.” or “ I am sorry I cannot attend that meeting because I have to exercise in the morning” or “I love going to PIC (The Pacific Island Club) with my family” Such statements are unbecoming of a professional. I guess I should hide my tan as well. I might consider coming to work in a Burka with my mouth taped, so as not to inflame any tension in my office. In the end I did not give up I persevered and continued doing the things I love. I had some serious falls but I still kept at it I would not let others hold me down, my time for that was over in the 3rd grade!
Although falling down is painful and it calls for dramatic changes in your life it has been what I needed to move on in my life. If it were not for my alleged colleagues pushing me to not swim and be with my family I might realize how important those things were from me. Had I not been completely addicted to crack, I would not have seen the need form me to make such a complete and utter change in my personality. If I had not been morbidly obese I would have never gotten the strength to change my diet and lifestyle. Granted I still have much work to do in the battle of all of these problems. I am far from a perfect father I try but I fail. I far from in balance between my work life and my family / personal life the scales go askew in new directions each time. I still have days that I drink too much and know it. I am constantly in a battle to reach a normal weight for myself as well but love the wrong types of food. In the end I fail but I do not let my failures keep me down I just get up and try better the next time.
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=fuck&searchmode=none
Rumptz
In all my life falling down has been a necessity to move me beyond that which I had accepted as normal. But I have never let it keep me down, not since that day I came told I had to repeat the third grade because I could not read and write well. On that day I was kept down and I stayed down for a long time. Then one day my Italian Grandmother filled me with spirit, she had pointed out that she was not educated but she was not stupid as well, “So, you cannot read now! You go lock yourself in the bathroom and read out load every day!” As crazy as it seems, and although it did take several years before I could realize it, I did just that and I have never let embarrassment or failure get in my way. I have looked at falling down as the impetus dare I say a necessity to get me out of the rut I had dug myself into. And even when the horse that is life kicks you in the teeth for the thousandth time, as my Grandmother was inclined to pint out it would, you needed to pick yourself up for by picking yourself up you are winning not losing. Or as Mary Pickford so eloquently said “This thing called ‘failing’ is not falling down but staying down.” In some ways I would say I need to fail so that I can move on with my life.
The second failure I had in life was with the battle of the bulge. I guess that I have, in my lifetime, gained and lost well over 400 pounds! I have not always been large, in fact in my youth I as of slight frame, But some time after failing third grade I turned to food for a comfort for that and the shock of a turbulent family life. The rush that a Snickers bar gives was just the thing needed to take away the pain of failing and the tumultuous family life I had, in part as a result of failing. And with my mountains of pain I needed heaps of chocolate to abate the suffering. I ate and suffered and ate until I was quite obese at a young age. As a child it is acceptable to be friends with a fat kid but as a teen being fat was tantamount to being dead of having a face full of pimples! So in the guise of becoming more popular I began a several year transformation joining any team I could at my high school. And although I achieved popularity, not for being an athlete but for my oddness, I did lose the weight and kept it off until I graduated from college. After graduation from college I made a series of misfortunate and extremely stressful career choices, which led me back to food as comfort, and I in 1999 had ballooned up to 285 pounds. After totally failing to maintain my weight I had decided to pick myself up and began an extreme diet. I lost 110 pounds in 6 months. But it is a daily battle that and some days I still fail to keep the weight off. I keep failing but I keep picking myself up and fight to keep the weight off.
The third failure that I have fought and won has been that of addiction. I swear I could be addicted to chalk if it gave a buzz of any kind. As I had mentioned my first addiction was to food. But that was only the start, for compared the delight that a snickers bar give a bag of marijuana is a mountain of joy! As a child of the 70s I was raised in a culture predominated by drugs, for it was the drug milieu, the zeitgeist of imbibing freely and I was a chief adherent. I started smoking marijuana for the joy and to numb the pain of life, and because it was in a sense a tradition amongst siblings. I used to get up at 6am to do my paper route and then smoke. Then I would hang out with the juniors and smoke with them at school. If I had any money left I would go buy a bag after school and smoke some more. My life was one big fat joint and I did not know what sobriety was. I decided at the tender age of 15 that I was an addict and had to stop. Then alcohol began to be a problem for me at this time. I had started buying beer on a regular basis at around 13. The problem is that drinking is socially acceptable. You see there was at least some social pressure for me to stop smoking marijuana but since alcohol was acceptable I was just being a boy. And then I move on to harder stuff, I finished High School in 1985 the year that crack became big in Detroit. This was not the time in my life to abuse this drug although I would use it frequently. I did not have enough money to really abuse it. It was all so new back then that no one saw it as a big issue was. I was just smoking coke. Over the years experiences became too sordid to retell here but they involved, speed, coke, and LSD (acid) I had many more episodes of drug addiction thought my life. Finally I became addicted to crack, not that is a source of pride. I had graduated from college and started a job at Enterprise Rent A Car (ERAC). It was supposed to be a management-training program but I was renting cars day and night and cleaning the rental cars in my suit and tie! It was a horrid and difficult life and so I turned to the most horrid addiction of my life, crack. I smoked more crack than I made in a week of work, which was a lot! I would smoke crack all night long and go to work with no sleep. I was addicted like I had never been before. I finally had enough of my ERAC life and decided to go back to graduate school in philosophy. Stopping work made me want to quite the drugs but it was a long battle to quit. Finally I had had enough of it and stopped all drugs and drinking as well, for it was my gateway into drugs. You see drinking impairs judgment and that meant doing drugs to me. So I went completely clean and sober for 7 or 9 years. And because I do drink now I still have battles with my addictions. But I still win I do not let my addictions keep me down I pick myself up and fight.
Finally the last failure that I have had but not stayed down for is work. I grew up with out a father. No, I did not but my father’s time and energy were spent primarily at work. Now I hardly can blame the man who achieved so much from so little for being obsessed with work and success but I decided at an early age that wealth was not worth that much of a sacrifice. As I had mentioned hen I tried to do the things my father did while at Enterprise Rent A Car it ate up my soul and I turned to drugs. Having failed and feeling like a corporate whore I returned to school to peruse a master’s degree in Philosophy. I decided to go back to work in the construction field, so I could get into the Peace Corps, in the middle of my masters. After working for about a year I got into the Peace Corps and found that it was full snakes. The odium and contempt that my fellow Peace Corps held from me culminated in a story passed on to me by a new Volunteer. When I told whim where I was a volunteer, he calumniated to me a story of a volunteer from that place who did noting but spent time with his wife and child. I had to mention that his asperity was cast at none other than me. He capitulated but I explained that there was not need for after being there for two years I began to find the opprobrium with which I was held to be comical. Currently I am faced again with egregious enormity. It all started with my big fat belly! I went to the Dr. office and when I got I the scale I weighed in at 210! Then the nurse took my blood pressure 140/90! I new some dramatic action was in order. I had recently renewed my family’s membership to the Pacific Island Club (PIC), and as PIC had no exercise equipment I decided to go back to swimming. But by doing so I enraged many members in my department. The hatred had all come to a boiling point when I went to work Friday January 26th, 2007. I had some meetings to attend; I do not have class on Fridays. Well one of the meetings was about the Faculty Senate Election, in the meeting I was told by one of the Faculty Senators that I need to stop talking about going swimming because it infuriates some of my colleague / office mates. Another topic I am not to discuss is my devotion to my children. I guess they get mad when I say unreasonable things like “ I cannot do _____ because I have to pick up my kids and help them with their homework.” or “ I am sorry I cannot attend that meeting because I have to exercise in the morning” or “I love going to PIC (The Pacific Island Club) with my family” Such statements are unbecoming of a professional. I guess I should hide my tan as well. I might consider coming to work in a Burka with my mouth taped, so as not to inflame any tension in my office. In the end I did not give up I persevered and continued doing the things I love. I had some serious falls but I still kept at it I would not let others hold me down, my time for that was over in the 3rd grade!
Although falling down is painful and it calls for dramatic changes in your life it has been what I needed to move on in my life. If it were not for my alleged colleagues pushing me to not swim and be with my family I might realize how important those things were from me. Had I not been completely addicted to crack, I would not have seen the need form me to make such a complete and utter change in my personality. If I had not been morbidly obese I would have never gotten the strength to change my diet and lifestyle. Granted I still have much work to do in the battle of all of these problems. I am far from a perfect father I try but I fail. I far from in balance between my work life and my family / personal life the scales go askew in new directions each time. I still have days that I drink too much and know it. I am constantly in a battle to reach a normal weight for myself as well but love the wrong types of food. In the end I fail but I do not let my failures keep me down I just get up and try better the next time.
Friday, February 09, 2007
NMC = Not Much of a College
I am worried about the college more and more. The Govt. is talking about cutting the college ANOTHER $900,000 this year! The college looks in worse shape everyday. But who knows they might protect us. I doubt it as they usually like to hit us over the head and protect PSS. Now, I guess I am taking the Praxis not just to protect myself from my fellow instructors but also to protect myself from the college's eminent bankruptcy. I have to say that if they put this cut in place I am sure WASC will move us right up to Show Cause I doubt they will close us down right away but they might just let us graduate our current batch and not let any new students come in. Things are getting weird around here! I told you the college was expecting and EXTRA $350,000 this year that was so we could afford the changes we needed to make to be in compliance with WASC. Now the Govt. wants to take back $900,000! Yikes.
David
David
Sunday, February 04, 2007
Long Time comming
First I am planing to dig out all of my old stuff from last year and post it. I know this is kind of silly but I am gonna do it just to have it one place on the web.
Next my psot ofr today..
As always my ideas about life are in flux between doing a radical change or staying put I usually opt for the radical change.But I do not know this time as there is TIta and the kids (older now) to consider.
As far as us being around here or not I doubt we can afford to leave the island we are living pretty. I would have a hard time finding any place that we could do this well. Also I heard form one of the guys who is married to another Filipino that it can take up to 3 years for the paperwork to clear. Sometimes it can take up to 10. So I d o not see us leaving for a while. But at the same time I have heard you can make as much money at some of these international schools and they pay your housing. But them it is a matter of them hiring us because they would have to cover for Andrew and Ashley at that school. This is also part of the reason I would consider going to the Public Schools as it would be good to get more Kind to 12 teaching exp. So they would consider hiring me and Tita.
On a positive note the money we make her is great. As I had mentioned this is one of the few places in the states where you can live well off a teachers salary. I am really in flux on this whole moving thing. I guess work has calmed down some.
I should know for sure in abbot a week what is going on with the Faculty Senate. The election for Faculty Senate is on Friday and then I would like to meet the new group so we can decided on the leadership. So I figure it will be a week or two before I know what is going on.
I am still not sure if I want to do the Faculty Senate President next year. I have very mixed feelings about it all. I want my life back and I have done a good job of setting limits this semester but I need support for the next Faculty Senate if I am going to continue as Faculty Senate President. I can do much but not EVERYTHING. I also need to exercise and take care of my family. I cannot be a smoking bitchy parent who never had time to do his homework teacher running like crazy like last semester. I believe the UN Human Rights convention will back me up on this. So I can see myself limping on for a few weeks until I get the results of the election. It really depends on who will be in the next senate who knows I might not even be in it. I know there are a lot for and against me.
As far as leaving NMC I am not sure on that either. It would be hard as I like being able to make my own schedule but if the guy at the High School is correct that you do get 2 hour breaks in the day and you can leave campus it might work better for me as I could go swim then. Also the whole making more money part is appealing. But I this a balance of the freedom of the college and the restrictions of PSS. I am going ot talk to come people at PSS and think about it. But I know myself I might just end up staying at the college.
It is a strange time for me I really want to leave island but I want to stay almost as much. As I have said Again and Again, there is no way we can do anything until we have Tita squared away.
David
Next my psot ofr today..
As always my ideas about life are in flux between doing a radical change or staying put I usually opt for the radical change.But I do not know this time as there is TIta and the kids (older now) to consider.
As far as us being around here or not I doubt we can afford to leave the island we are living pretty. I would have a hard time finding any place that we could do this well. Also I heard form one of the guys who is married to another Filipino that it can take up to 3 years for the paperwork to clear. Sometimes it can take up to 10. So I d o not see us leaving for a while. But at the same time I have heard you can make as much money at some of these international schools and they pay your housing. But them it is a matter of them hiring us because they would have to cover for Andrew and Ashley at that school. This is also part of the reason I would consider going to the Public Schools as it would be good to get more Kind to 12 teaching exp. So they would consider hiring me and Tita.
On a positive note the money we make her is great. As I had mentioned this is one of the few places in the states where you can live well off a teachers salary. I am really in flux on this whole moving thing. I guess work has calmed down some.
I should know for sure in abbot a week what is going on with the Faculty Senate. The election for Faculty Senate is on Friday and then I would like to meet the new group so we can decided on the leadership. So I figure it will be a week or two before I know what is going on.
I am still not sure if I want to do the Faculty Senate President next year. I have very mixed feelings about it all. I want my life back and I have done a good job of setting limits this semester but I need support for the next Faculty Senate if I am going to continue as Faculty Senate President. I can do much but not EVERYTHING. I also need to exercise and take care of my family. I cannot be a smoking bitchy parent who never had time to do his homework teacher running like crazy like last semester. I believe the UN Human Rights convention will back me up on this. So I can see myself limping on for a few weeks until I get the results of the election. It really depends on who will be in the next senate who knows I might not even be in it. I know there are a lot for and against me.
As far as leaving NMC I am not sure on that either. It would be hard as I like being able to make my own schedule but if the guy at the High School is correct that you do get 2 hour breaks in the day and you can leave campus it might work better for me as I could go swim then. Also the whole making more money part is appealing. But I this a balance of the freedom of the college and the restrictions of PSS. I am going ot talk to come people at PSS and think about it. But I know myself I might just end up staying at the college.
It is a strange time for me I really want to leave island but I want to stay almost as much. As I have said Again and Again, there is no way we can do anything until we have Tita squared away.
David
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