Wait Til Next Year!

Being a Lakers fan in the 1960s was like being a Cubs fan anytime in the past century. 

I'm beginning to wonder if those of us who root for Hurricane High Tiger football are in the same boat.  Our family has lived here 18 years now.  We moved here shortly after HHS moved from 2A to 3A.  It had success in state championships at the 2A level, but for several years struggled as a school barely half the size of the bigger 3A schools it now competed with.

Coach Homer has done a good job with these young men, first getting them to the state playoffs regularly, then guiding them to advance ever deeper in the playoffs.  Today was the third year in a row they have played in the state championship game, all three times against Juan Diego, a relatively new Catholic school in southern Salt Lake County.  Once again they lost in the final seconds of the game.

Wait Til Next Year!  But we better hurry.  Now we are flirting with enough enrollment to need to move to 4A.  As Doug Jr. says, deja vu 2.

Day 7 ... the walk came at the end of the day rather than the beginning.  I had to drive this morning at walking time, which forced walking by determination at sleep time.  I did 1.36 mi at 2% grade, burning 137 calories in 30 min.  I was on a different treadmill today, this one also records your pulse.  Early in the walk it was 97 and gradually increased, peaking at 119.

I read some more Alma 7 today, wanted to ponder it more deeply.  Also listened to Jeremiah 27-30.  It set a good tone for the day.

I will close with a political thought that may surprise some of you.  Much has been said about the U.S. House of Representatives voting no to a 3-month extension of unemployment benefits from November 30 to February 28, reportedly for 4 million people whose benefits are about to expire just in time for the holidays. 

I think they made a mistake, a bigger mistake even than just the 4 million people in question right now.  I don't think there should be a limit on unemployment benefits.  What!?!  Wouldn't that motivate people to stay on unemployment forever?  Here's the rest of my thought.  No time limit, but no free lunch either.  If you are on unemployment you have to choose from three options and report on those options weekly to continue receiving benefits.  You could choose one or more of these options, and you would be expected to work on them full time -- (1) actively searching for a job, (2) public service employment (building infrastructure, or cleaning highways, public restrooms, and similar projects), and (3) maintaining an acceptable performance level in a retraining program leading to qualifying for work in a new field for those whose former jobs have been permanently eliminated by industry changes.

How would I pay for it?  Not by borrowing.  Let me answer how I would pay for it by sharing an experience.  Many of you have heard my story of crossing a picket line of my teachers daily for the last month of my high school senior year in 1970 in Los Angeles.  I was told I would not graduate if I didn't and I bought the lie.  (Hundreds of my classmates spent that month at the beach and were at graduation with me a few days after the strike was settled.)  The school district claimed it could not afford raises, they had already cut out one period of school and some other education programs (music for many of the students for example) for the year before this strike.  Come to find out, the district had more non-teaching employees on the payroll than teachers.  Something like 26,000 administrative folks supporting 25,000 teachers in a district of 800,000 students as I remember it.  I understand the buildings and lawns need to be maintained (actually they needed more maintenance than they got), and a team of people was needed to order the millions of books used by the district. 

Still there were too many chiefs and not enough indians.  I know this is true in the federal government as well.  And the chiefs have a great pay and benefit package.  I wouldn't cut the number of chiefs, at least not on the first pass.  Instead, I would cut their pay 10% by staggering one unpaid day off every two weeks (different people off each day). 

If you have a better idea, bring it. I for one would be interested in what you have to say.  And thanks for reading clear to the end of this post.