Back in the Desert

Year number twenty-eight.
Couldn't ask for better friends.
Can't wait for number twenty-nine.

How Politicians Manage Education

The politicians manage our educational system as well as they manage the budget.

Let's say you cut pay and benefits of all of your managers in your business. Then you cut all of your manager's operating budgets by over 80% in four years. Next, you told your managers they would never be allowed to fire under-performing employees, even if the employee did no work, swore at you, and harassed their fellow workers on a daily basis. Finally, you told your managers that your own pay was guaranteed to never be cut, you also get full medical benefits for your entire family, and you can travel any time you want, all on the company's budget, which you haven't balanced in years.

How many top talented managers do you think this business would recruit, let alone retain?

Welcome to Washington State education.

Keep blaming it on the teachers.

Fun on the River

Today we took six of the kids from our advanced flyfishing class to the Nooksack River. Half of our kids were girls, by the way. No fish were caught, but a great time was had by all.

I was talking with some of the parents later in the day, and we were impressed with the fact that even though the spot we were at had cell service, the only activity the kids had with their phones was to take pictures of each other. It was so nice to see kids having fun old school, without electronic entertainment.

The morning was spent learning to wade and learning flyfishing techniques such as skating, upstream dry fly fishing, swinging, streamer stripping, and nymphing. At noon we headed back to the cars to eat lunch and warm up. While crossing the bridge, Abby and Kalia spotted a school of fish (whitefish) under the bridge. Lunches were scarfed and kids were hurriedly sliding down the bank to try and catch whitefish.

After no luck with the whitefish, the river Olympics were on. Rock skipping, river dancing, and other events were creatively invented by the kids. What's that? Kids being kids? It was refreshing. No fish caught, no need for artificial entertainment, and much laughter and many smiles were the order of the day. Not bad for a bunch of 12-14 year-olds who are "at that age."

Not All of Them!

I had a conversation with a friend of mine over the phone today.  We usually talk mostly fishing but every once in a while the topic of relationships comes up.  She expressed to me that she believes most couples experience extramarital affairs, especially marriages started at an early age.

Later, after I got off the phone, I started thinking of several exceptions I knew of.  Then one particularly poignant example replayed in my mind.  Though my eligibility for an early-age marriage is far in the rear-view mirror, the story of John and Nell Wooden remains important to my sense of hope for others.