Now if the wind wasn’t blowing so hard again today, it would’ve actually been quite pleasant, which had me nearly chilled to the bone when having so gallantly braved it by deciding not to wear my wool coat when walking less than two blocks from my office to City Hall and back. Yikes! The strength of our downtown wind tunnels are not to be underestimated, and especially when the wind is out of the northwest.
I couldn’t help getting a good look at that ticky-tacky apartment house they’re constructing at the corner of 1st NE and N. Delaware. More than once, I remember our ‘powers that be’ saying it was only going to be a 3-storied apartment building. Well, they lied because there are in fact four stories, and the first floor is where some of the tenants will be parking their vehicles. With our crazy Federal government rattling our stock market, along with the slashing of many thousands of government jobs and private contracts, I won’t be surprised if they’ll be having some real problems getting those units rented. It would be interesting to find out what the vacancy rates are on those two ‘River’ build-outs, along with the one that’s at the corner of N. Federal and 2nd St. NE. I sure as heck wouldn’t be sticking my neck out financially in these times, because we have nearly four more years of enduring the near-daily crazy proclamations coming out of the mouth of our POTUS.
Most of my day was spent running errands, stopping by a job site, paying bills, setting appointments, and finally getting a call from my tax preparer saying my tax package was ready, so before the day was over, I stopped at their office, signed what I needed to sign, wrote out a check, and then walked out with my package which contained another year’s tax bills. Oh well, I decided long ago that there’s absolutely nothing I can do to stop the willful waste that takes place in both our Federal and State governments.
On my way back to office, I decided to stop at a groceteria and pick up a few things I was in need of, and while there, I happened to run into a retired public school teacher whom I’ve known for a very many years. Oh my! She definitely had some not so kind words regarding the willful way in which our State government is working very hard at de-funding our public schools. What really got me going, was hearing they’d raised the voucher program from $7,000 to $8,000 for each child that’s being sent to a non-public school, but the biggest gripe for me, is knowing that many of the parents of those children are more than financially capable of paying for their children’s tuition. On top of it all, I also heard where those children going to private schools, are free to be a part of a public schools extra-curricular programs, but not the other way around. What the heck is getting into the minds of our State’s elected officials? Our pin-head Governor is definitely the water girl for those who’re now pulling the strings. Shame on all of them.
I can speak freely and openly about this nonsense because I’ve now decided to share a little family history of my own regarding the attendance of parochial schools. Believe it or not, half of my siblings graduated from a public school, and the other half from a parochial school, but the catch of it all, was the fact that all of us were sent to a parochial school thru the 8th grade on our parents’ dime, but if any of us wanted to continue on and finish our schooling at a parochial school, we had to work summers and evenings to pay for it ourselves. Yours truly happened to be one of the ‘tribe’ who chose to continue on, and to this day, I have no complaints about having to personally work for every dollar that was spent on my tuition, and believe me, my mother kept detailed records as to how much was received, and what was still owed by the time the following year’s school started. Truth be told, I consider myself having received a better education, and only because I had to work for it. Sort of makes sense doesn’t it?
The highlight of my day, was having entered into conversation with a delightful young man who works for one of our area’s construction companies. Our conversation didn’t last but ten minutes, but in that short time, I came to the conclusion he’s going to start climbing the ladder of success, and only because of his positive attitude and work ethic. While driving away, I began wishing I could snap my fingers, clone him about a hundred times, and then start spreading him all over North Iowa. Perhaps the reason I was even more impressed by his character, is that fact that more in our general public have grown more ‘issy’ and demanding, which is likely being exacerbated by this craziness going on in our Federal government. Earlier today, I did quietly scold a young man regarding the way he’s been mis-managing his money by insisting, “Just remember, thanks to our POTUS, our economy is going to get worse before it gets better, so you’d better start prioritizing your expenditures.”
While in conversation today with my dear friend, I couldn’t help smiling to myself while she was talking about my mother whom she worked with many years ago. Yes, she definitely remembers how my mother would take down others in debate after she’d cleverly throw in a heaping tablespoon of sarcasm which oft-times wouldn’t register with the person it was being directed at until likely much later or never. Too funny!
Tonight’s One-liner is: Do the right thing, as it will gratify some people and astonish the rest.
