Horses, People, Feherty, and Entertainment

As I go through my day I contemplate what is going to strike me when I sit down to put my thou ghts on this piece of paper. Most of the time what I think I am going to write about just slips out of my mind and a random thought enters and the writing begins. It is no different this evening. I sat down to enjoy some cuddle time with Michelle, both of us working on our computer, and we realized there was nothing good on the television so we decided to watch one of the many shows we have DVR’d throughout the past few months. Tonight’s choice was the season premiere of Feherty which made me think about what entertains us. We all find entertainment in different ways. As I reflect on today I kept myself entertained a multitude of times. I am going to run through some of them and as you scroll through see if you also find entertainment in some of these same ways. Today started at the barn taking care of the horses. Now, don’t get me wrong, I know shoveling poop isn’t always glamorous but it is amazing what horses can accomplish in a 12x12 stall from night time until the morning feeding. Seeing my pet dove, Eugene, coming in to eat, the barn cat running to hide, he is very anti-social, and then the tranquility of the morning mixed with the smell of poop is just a really good experience. After finishing up it was time to head to FSC to knock out some early year work, catching up on email, which means my daily stop at either Circle K or Race Trac. Convenient stores are great places to people watch on the go. Today was no different. My drive to work has now become a massive construction zone. From the time I get on Hwy 60 until I pass Edgewood Drive in Lakeland it is all construction of one type or another. This leads to workers and slow times at one of the three stores I can stop at on the way to work. Today was one of the road crews having their break at the same time I needed to get my Polar Pop from Circle K. The most interesting part of the stop was the guy that came in, purchased a pack of cigarettes, a drink, and $2.48 worth of gas for his mid 90’s F150. Not even one gallon of gas but he got his smokes. Once the drink was securely in my cup holder I needed to finish the trip to FSC so up Hwy 98 I went. FSC is also going through a construction phase which is amazing and somewhat inconvenient but for progress to occur there must be a little inconvenience. This is when the entertainment becomes personal. There are multi-million dollar projects going on all over campus and the end product is going to be beautiful and people are still complaining that they can’t do certain things or get to certain areas. Why are we so impatient? For God’s sake, we complain because we feel that improvements need to be made and they come to fruition and then we complain because we are either inconvenienced or the project isn’t what we wanted. Just listening to people complain, maybe that is too strong of a word, is fun. Sometimes prodding them along adds to my joy for the day. That seems kind of cold but if people are going to give me what I want I am going to push to get my fill. After scrolling through all my old email I headed home but first I had to have some lunch around 4:30. Yes, I forgot to stop and eat so I decided I wanted a Peach milkshake so it was off to Chic-fil-A. I know, they are under a fire storm for the stance of their COO and the comments he made. Whatever, we all have opinions and that shake was damn good. Does that mean I support them because I like their milkshakes? I hope not. I hope it means I like their food and nothing more because I also like adidas shoes and they are made in sweat shops in Asia. Oops, I digressed from being entertained but I also find our taking everyone so seriously very entertaining as well. Well, Feherty is over and it was really funny. He is politically incorrect so if you can’t stomach it please don’t watch it because you will be offended and we will all have to hear about it. Oh wait, complain about it and somewhere, someone will be entertained by your diatribe just as I am on a daily basis.

Don't forget to set your alarms Teachers!!

Oh no, my summer is gone! That is the phrase being said tonight by almost every teacher in Polk County as the realization that tomorrow morning they will trudge, I mean gleefully, head off to their classrooms for the first official day of preparation. It seems that in early June the summer will last forever and then it happens; that moment you realize that your time on the sofa, sleeping late, or whatever it is that you enjoy doing while not standing at the white board is over. Many of us have starts that jolt us back to our norms. Why do they sneak up on us? We know the day is coming but we are still shocked that it actually occurs. Maybe we are not shocked as much as disappointed that our free time is over. Maybe it’s because we had so much fun doing our family outings or traveling to destinations of our choice that we are sad they are coming to an end or perhaps it’s because we didn’t do what we had said we were going to do with the free time we knew we had. Sometimes I think the actual reason is because the teachers are going back to a job in which they are unappreciated, underpaid, and looked at to make miracles happen to kids that don’t care or come from families that don’t care. What ever the reason tomorrow morning is a sad occasion for thousands around the county. A week from now our children will be feeling some of the same thoughts but they seem to go with the flow more easily than their older counterparts. I feel for teachers and understand their pain but also understand they made the choice to do this as a career and understood what they were getting into before they signed their contract. Oh wait, they haven’t had contracts in years. We all loathe parts of our jobs but we must get up and do our best within the constraints we are dealt. It does us no good to complain and make no efforts to make change. When we complain without attempting to effect change we are just whining and then people believe we hate what we do and question why we are in the job in the first place. If you like, or love, what you do show it. Every day will not be great but it is up to you to do the best you can every day with what you are given. As you wake up tomorrow make the commitment to complain less and realize that you chose what you are doing and that you will do it to the best of your ability and if that is not good enough for your satisfaction or those that you answer to you will find another option. The worst thing you can do is to feel that you are stuck doing a particular job because if you are not doing your best you are cheating someone, either the kids, the county, or yourself. Good luck and I appreciate your dedication to the youth of Polk County. Make it a great year.