Those Overpaid Teachers

A friend sent me this email. Now I know why the daycare provider down the street is a homeowner and drives a LandRover and I well, we just won't go there.

"

AREN'T YOU ALL SICK OF THOSE HIGH PAID TEACHERS??

>Their hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work nine or ten months a year! It's time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do... baby-sit!

>We can get that for less than minimum wage. That is right. I would give them $3.00 dollars an hour and only the hours they worked, not any of that silly planning time. That would be $19.50 a day (7:45 AM to 4:00 PM with 45 min. off for lunch).

>

>Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their

>children.

Now, how many do they teach in a day... maybe 30? So that's 19.5 X 30 =$585.00 a day. However, remember they only work 180 days a year! I am not going to pay them for any vacations.

>

>Let's see . . .. that's $585 x 180 = $105,300 per year. (Hold on! My calculator must need batteries!)

>What about those special teachers and the ones with master's degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage just to be fair, round it off to $7.00 an hour. That would be $7 times 6-1/2 hours times 30 children times 180 days=$245,700.00 per year.

>

>Wait a minute, there is something wrong here!

>

>There sure is, duh!

>

>Make a teacher smile; send this to someone who appreciates teachers!

>

>(Average teacher salary $50,000/180 days = $277per day/30 students =$9.23/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student.) Very inexpensive babysitter, and they even educate your kids! Crazy!

"

Coming off of a 40 hour week (and it has not been a good week, either)...it's only Thursday and we had Monday off. You do the math. Oh well, sleep is overrated me thinks!

New Year, New Car

I'm sure many of you have been dying to know what car I finally decided on.

Well, the winner is DogCar.com's dog car of the year...the Honda Element.

So, yet again, I bought a vehicle for my dogs. Who could resist features such as the waterproof, nylon type fabric seats or the fact that you can remove one or both rear seats or simply flip them to the side? There is also the urethane coated flooring...so much easier to clean than carpet. To top it off, a feature that will appeal to my teenager is the iPod outlet. I also like the fact that I can live out of this car, if need be (plenty of room for a mattress in the back and the spare tire cover converts to a card table). One needs to be prepared in this Bay Area housing market.

At first, I thought this was a god awful ugly contraption. But, the look has slowly grown on me. I've also gone from a white truck, to 'tangerine orange'. Caleb said, "Well, if you ever get in an accident, nobody can say they didn't see you coming." In a sea of earth tone colored cars, I think it's nice to have a punch of color for a change.

I also didn't realize that owning an Element admits you into a cult, I mean, special club.

They Were NOT Kidding!

(the above car was parked on Dolores St. )

(above: One of many trees uprooted-this one in Glenn Park! below: scaffolding tumbles on Washington and Divisadero St.)

Wow. Friday's storm was truly that. I thought we were in the middle of a hurricane! Driving to work was downright dangerous and every class had at least 5 students absent. My class and I spent a lot of the day staring out the window and marveling at the heavy rain flooding our schoolyard. After 42 years in San Francisco, I don't recall ever having a storm like this. Power was out all over, bridges closed, trees falling and damaging homes and cars.

The worst seems over. We seem to be getting a reprieve this morning.

Batten Down the Hatches

A huge storm is scheduled to hit tomorrow. Sandbags are actually being handed out in San Francisco. Today's .09 inches of rain in SF was a prelude. Are we weather wimps or what? Still, winds are supposed to get over 100 mph in the Sierras and 40mph down here...with 2 to 4 inches of rain and 25 - 30 foot swells along the coast. Could be exciting. I love a good storm.

We'll see. I think I have enough food (there is always Pizza Orgasmica one block away) but not sure about the batteries for the flashlights.

All I know is that rain during the week is every teacher's nightmare. I look forward to a day trapped in a room with 20 - 7 year olds!

Snow Dogs