Rantings & Ramblings

Zoinks. So many thoughts have been whirling by since I last posted that rather than trying to make sense of them all, I'm going to just file this under R&R. Boy, don't I wish that stood for Rest and Relaxation.

Work Work Work
Work at the office has picked up speed to a break neck pace. I'm responsible for training the entire company in MS Office 2007. I've developed a curriculum, written manuals, established a schedule and I'm frantically teaching classes every day as I try to get people in as quickly as possibe. I'm currently the only trainer in the IT Department. My hope is that one day I may find myself managing a small staff of trainers here. Right now, given the success I've had to date, that is a very real possibility.

Work on Upham Manor
I don't believe I've mentioned it here before, but Janet has started a home day care. Completely apart from the time, effort, and expense that has gone into this, I have found myself slaving on the grounds of the manor each week making sure that things are well groomed, safe, secured, fenced off, and made child-friendly. I've had to construct and install fencing, clean areas once used for construction materials, relocated various elements of the yard from one place to another, and ensure that things are very well groomed. I've been spending long days expending mental energy and coming home to expend physical energy.

The parlor has been lost. My precious room has been wholly revamped to make way for kids. A fine splay of swords has been replaced with cardboard letters of the alphabet and other preschool visuals. My all of my great furniture has been moved out to the Mead Hall. In short, my very existence has been relocated. I'll no doubt be spending my time out in the Hall over the next few months seeking some peace and that R&R I mentioned needing.

Janet's first client has been found after a great deal of advertising and effort. Huzzah! We hope to bring in four more children for a total of five.

Master Benjamin
Poor Been Jammin's been sick for several days! An occasional touch of fever that we were not sure was the result of teething or of the cold has been fought off and he is finally recovering well. His nose was still running like a fountain when I kissed him goodbye this morning, but he seems much happier and filled with energy and appetite.

He is not yet "crawling" in the conventional meaning, but he has found his own means of locomotion that takes him all over the house. Rather than bending his legs and crawling on his hands and knees, he's discovered a manner of crawling much like that of a World War I soldier going under the wire. He lies flat to the ground and uses his hands and elbows to pull his limp legs and feet along behind him. It's a great method for avoiding enemy fire and it has the added benefit of keeping the kitchen floor clean.


Politics
There seems to be a growing undercurrent -- one I am all too ready to be swept along in -- that rejects the exponential increase of governmental inteference in our lives for a reactionist, activist, libertarian attitude. It has become increasingly difficult to sit and listen to news reports of the next new program the Commonwealth or the Federal government has put into place to "help" you and me and our economy.

New France. That's who we've become. We've untied our capitalist, laissez-faire mooring and we've cast off, rowing at full speed, into a sea of socialism.

Very soon I am going to write a post explaining one more time what government is supposed to do. It's a very short list. And no, it doesn't include things like giving private companies money as a reward for failing to earn their own. Nor does it include backing warrantees to consumers on low quality automobiles. Why am I paying for some moron's Chevy Blazer or Ford Taurus? If they were dumb enough to buy that kind of crap, let them eat their own destiny. I'm on my fourth Nissan Maxima having never experienced a breakdown or major repair on any of them.

Why do we reward failure?

Why do we spend so much on special education for people with limited abilities and zero ability to contribute to society and we provide next to nothing to gifted kids who may one day change our world?

But I digress... Stay tuned.