Our Teachers Are Afraid

Florida has long been a less-than-ideal place for teachers.  In fact, our teachers are some of the lowest-paid in the nation, yet they operate under some of the strictest scrutiny.  Micromanagement is an epidemic at every level of educational administration at the school, county, and state levels.  Gone are the days when teachers were made to feel as though they do an important job by educating our future generations.  These days, teachers are asked to do more and more with less and less and for smaller and smaller compensation.

This school year, the median salary for 10-month teachers in Escambia County is $40,187 (step 13 of 26 steps).  That may not sound so bad, but when you do the math, it gets worse.  Teachers in this county, on average, work 7½ hours per day at school.  While their contract guarantees them a duty-free lunch, high school teachers are the only ones who get that "perk" on any regular basis, meaning that they are on the clock for that 7½ hours each day.  Based on my own observation, I would say that it's not at all unusual for a teacher to spend 2 hours per night at home (or staying late at work) grading papers on weekdays and another 4-6 hours over the weekend.

$40,187 annually for a Step 13 teacher (32.825 on step 1 or 51.986 on step 26) (link) works out to a miserable pittance, once you take into account the hours that teachers spent "working" on their own time (working lunches, grading papers, and writing plans at home) during the school year and over the summer.  That is less than the average McDonald's employee (link)!  And those are the figures for a Step 13, veteran teacher!  Add to this the fact that teacher's pay is spread over 12 months, for most, instead of just the 10 months during the school year and you can plainly see that our teachers are being hugely underserved by the system that could not operate without them!

In addition to the low pay, most teachers spend their own money on work.  Teachers at several schools I know of each received a $100 budget this year to be spent on classroom and office supplies.  Teachers and aides also each qualify for up to a $250 tax credit on their annual income taxes.  Ask a teacher how much they spent last year on their classroom and work-related supplies.  It's very probable the number will tally far higher than $350.

And this is how our governmental system shows its appreciation for educators!

September 11th: Fallen Heroes & Innocent Victims

What I am publishing here today is neither original nor unique.  We all know that there were nearly 3,000 people killed on September 11th, 2001.  It will be another one of those dates in history that people look back and can all very specifically say "I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when....."

In several places today, I have seen people posting lists of people killed on that day.  There were firefighters, police officers, paramedics, Port Authority, airline passengers, civilians on the street, military personnel at the Pentagon, and thousands of businessmen and women and children all going about their normal workdays.  I would say that most every person in the nation was affected personally in less than the standard "six degrees of separation."

The sheer numbers of people are shocking and tragic. Here I have combined all the (reliable) lists I can find.   The list below contains 953 names, representing roughly one-third of the 9-11 related deaths.  As you scroll down the list, allow yourself to take in how very long the list actually is.  Let us not forget that, while this attack changed our country forever, many people were affected on a much deeper level because of the loss of someone they loved.

It's Pi Day!

Happy Pi Day, Friends & Readers!

Today, March 14th, is Pi Day....also known as π Day.  Why?  Because pi is an enormously long number, so is shortened to "3.14" for more practical use in teaching the concept to students.  3.14.  March 14.  Yep.

At school today, we are doing lots of fun Pi-related activities to reinforce this concept with our students: eating pi-e (apple and cherry) in homeroom, handing out pencils stamped with the first 60 digits of π, and watching videos schoolwide at the start of each class period—each with a song, poem, story, or historical fact about π.  Since these activities will be filling most of my day, I fear I won't have much time left for blogging.  So, today, I'm going to share with my readers some of the same information we'll be sharing with our students at school today.

A Brief History of Pi (π).

[Quoted from Exploratorium.com]

Pi has been known for almost 4000 years—but even if we calculated the number of seconds in those 4000 years and calculated pi to that number of places, we would still only be approximating its actual value. Here’s a brief history of finding pi:

The ancient Babylonians calculated the area of a circle by taking 3 times the square of its radius, which gave a value of pi = 3. One Babylonian tablet (ca. 1900–1680 BC) indicates a value of 3.125 for pi, which is a closer approximation.

Rhind Papyrus (ca.1650 BC), there is evidence that the Egyptians calculated the area of a circle by a formula that gave the approximate value of 3.1605 for pi.

"Those" Homeless People

If you've driven around Pensacola for any length of time, you have no doubt seen at least a few local homeless sitting or standing roadside, often near high-volume intersections.  Some are holding a sign and hoping to earn enough money to buy something to eat....others are seen just sitting, alone or in groups, by the sides of the roads because they simply have nowhere else to go.  The homeless in our community have been getting a lot of press lately, as the Pensacola City Council and Escambia County Commission have been working overtime trying to pass anti-panhandling ordinances and other regulations limiting where people can sit, lie down, or "camp" without being fined (or worse).  And while the press may bring attention to the already-obvious fact that we have homeless in our community, it's not doing anything to fix the problem.

I don't understand why society spends so much time trying to take more and more away from these people who already have so little!  As a society, we spend millions more annually on providing food, shelter, and health care for our pets than what we spend on aid for the homeless!  How could we have forgotten that these people are still people?

While we're climbing into our clean, safe beds each night with stomachs full of nutritious food, it's easy to feel like that "homelessness" thing could never happen to us.  But we're wrong to be so sure.

"7 out of 10 Americans are one paycheck away from being homeless."  ~Pras Michel

It occurs to me that, thanks to society's mass dehumanization of the homeless, many do not have an accurate idea of exactly who these homeless are.  I had only a very loose understanding of this myself, so I decided to do some research.  Let me share with you some of the basic statistics I found.

Statistical Geek-Fest!

Anyone who writes a blog or manages any other type of website can tell you that page statistics are fascinating to blog authors and webmasters.  I'm no different.  I love seeing my blog reach new milestones in readership and tracking what key words and search terms lead people to my site.  It's amazing to me to see how many readers come to my blog from places outside the United States.

I thought I must certainly have a reader or two who were similarly geeky and might get a kick out of viewing my site stats.  So, I have created an InfoGraphic packed with site stats and posted it for public viewing.  The InfoGraphic was fun to create, but somewhat time-consuming, as I wanted it to be unique and not automatically generated by some web tool.  Because of the work involved, I think that for now, I will update it annually.

Check it out!

Red Blog's Annual Statistical InfoGraphic

You can also link to the InfoGraphic from the bottom of any page on the Red! main blog, to view it as you wish without having to revisit this post.

Hush Little Baby

As I sit down to write this, it is 10:00p.m. on a Friday night.  Kaleb is sound asleep in his new "Big Kid" bed, and has been for about an hour and a half.  Unfortunately, my news feed is currently filled with posts by friends who are struggling to get their kids to go to bed or to sleep.

People often tell me that I am very lucky to have a child who goes to bed without a fight -- and they're right!  I love not having to deal with tears and tantrums to get Kaleb into bed when it's time.  But, while he was an excellent sleeper as a baby, I worked to maintain his good sleep habits as he got older by establishing a routine early on and sticking to it faithfully, with very rare exceptions.

2 days old, 1st night home from hospital

I've discovered that some of my friends are surprised that Kaleb sleeps "so much."  And, by comparing notes with friends and some coworkers, I've learned that Kaleb sleeps more than many of my friends' children.  At Kaleb's last check-up, I asked his pediatrician if that was ok....was Kaleb sleeping too much?  The answer I got?  Nope, Kaleb is sleeping just enough, and many of the other children I know aren't getting nearly enough!

So, in hopes that maybe someone I know can find some information here they can use, I'm publishing here some of the info I got from Kaleb's pediatrician as well as some of the methods I have used myself.

Review: Graco Argos™ 70 Car Seat

Evenflo Triumph Advance™

Well, the time has come to upgrade Kaleb to a new car seat! I've been extremely happy with the 2½ years of use I've gotten out of our Evenflo Triumph Advance™ (Ours was mint green and tan instead of light and dark brown.).  But, as with anything else associated with kids, this seat has reached the end of its usefulness for us and is starting to show those wear-and-tear signs that signal the seat may not provide as much protection as it did when it was new.

I've been doing lots of online research on car seats currently available and have also gotten some input from several of my mommy friends.  I've compared brands and safety standards as well as prices.  I want the best protection I can find for my Little Guy, but I also have to find one I can afford to buy!

Once I had all my options narrowed down to a few real possibilities, my friend Sharra and I went to Toys 'R Us (since we don't have a Babies 'R Us) to "play" with the demo models.  One of the things I love about car seat shopping at Toys 'R Us is that they don't strap their demo models down to the shelves, like so many stores do.  That means I was able to haul any seat I want off the shelves and onto the floor to inspect and test out all the features.  It got me a strange look or two from other shoppers.  And upon watching me heave one of the seats back onto the shelf, the sales clerk joked that he guessed he better stay out of my way.  But, none of that bothers me when it comes to choosing a safe seat for my son.

Wanna Check Your Odds?

Ever wondered what the odds might be that YOU could win the lottery?  Or be audited by the IRS?  Or die tragically?  Check this out!

Life's Little Cheat Codes

Sometimes I think it would be nice if life had cheat codes, as I'm told many video games do.  Sure, it's fun to experience a challenge and do things the hard way, but sometimes you just need a little help.  I have compiled, in this post, some of life's little secret cheats.  Some of these are my own, and others I have flagrantly plagiarized from other websites.  Enjoy!

Home Cheats

1. De-clutter your wardrobe:

Put your clothes into your closet with all the hangers reversed one time each year. As you pull clothes out and wear and wash them, hang them up and return the hanger to a "normal" position. At the end of the year, give away any clothes still hanging on backwards-facing hangers, since you haven't worn them in an entire year.

2. Get out of the house on time:

Make your playlist exactly as long as you have to get ready. Start out with slow songs, and work your way toward more upbeat and energetic songs as you approach the time to leave. You'll be able to tell how you're doing on time by the currently playing song.

3. Open a banana the right way:

Instead of tearing open a banana at the stem (which can be difficult), just flip the banana open and open it by pinching the dark/flattened end (pinch with the thumb and first finger of each hand, then pull your hands apart). There's a reason monkeys do it this way.

4. Always remember to take important things with you by placing them with your shoes or car keys the night before.

5. Chill any warm beer or soda in minutes. Put the cans in a pot, cover with ice, add 1½ cups of salt, then fill with water. The can will chill to ice cold, on average, in about 3 minutes.

6. Save the punch:

Keep your fruit punch at a party from getting watered down by melting ice by freezing juice in ice trays before putting the punch into the bowl. Use these frozen juice cubes to keep the punch cool in place of regualr ice.

7. Rejuvenate the glass caraffe of your coffee pot or glass tea pitcher without harsh (and expensive) cleaners or chemicals. Over time, deposits build up in these items with regular use. To clean them like new, put 3 Tbsp. of salt and ¼ cup lemon juice (or half a lemon, cut into wedges) into the caraffe. Add 10-12 ice cubes, and swirl. The lemon juice breaks up the deposits, while the ice and salt scrub them away. Once the bottom looks clean again, rince thoroughly and they're ready to use!