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Saving money shopping
Since my wife is a teacher and she on spring break, I thought it would be a good time to inspect the car she drives. It’s an older model Honda CRV, we like it, and good car maintenance is important. I have my step dad mechanic to drive it and he gives me some good advice. Next day I go to the side of the road tire guy I have gone to for years. This time, he advises me that I need two rear tires. Then strangely he convinces me to buy two used tires costing $30.00 because it was a deal and he is a good guy. Cool.
Next order of business. Stepdad has recommended new shocks and struts. When shopping the price on the web it looks something like the dealer charges around $1,100, some places will do it for $750 or $800 (but I got a guy). My guy says he will do the labor for $180 and I know that is a great price.
I go to a couple of car places and they quote around $425 after taxes for the four parts. At this point it would seem to be $425 + $180 = $605 but no. Buying auto parts on the web I find two places that sell would I need for $160 with no shipping (and possibly no sales tax). My point
The range in consumer cost, I will be paying $340 but could have paid $1,100.
This takes me back to the time I took my young son to a pediatrician. He sent us next door to a pathology place to draw and test blood. When they said it would cost $800 and be coming out of my pocket as part of the deductible first deal, I kind of freaked because we don’t just have $800 for blood stuff at our house.
Drove away thinking about it. Saw a sign that said pathology lab 200 yards from the first place. Went in with son and said how much for this, they said $400. WOW so I said ok
Then because I paid cash they took 20% off.
I paid 320 and 200 yards back it would have been $800. The morale of my story.
Shop everything
Going to the doctor
So I escorted my wonderful wife to an arthritis specialist Monday morning. The wait for the appointment was four months.
We arrived promptly to find a waiting room absolutely packed with people wearing coats.
Our appointment was for 10 AM. She was called at 11:30 to pay in advance, then a few minutes later was called to the examination area.
Making clients who all have appointments wait for extended periods of time in a inadequately heated waiting area is extraordinarily offensive. Not only do I find the scenario extremely vulgar, it shows absolute disdain for the clients who pay the facilities salaries.
The implication as I see it is that since everyone in the waiting area is in pain and absolutely needs to see a specialist, they do not say anything for fear that their personal needs will not be addressed if they do. Apparently the doctor either does not recognize this or does not care. He or she found a personal rationalization for their behavior. I think it is a case of scheduling incompetence,greed, lack of professionalism, or indifference. In any other profession this type of conduct would be rewarded with severe consequences.
What it implies is that money is so important to a staff that undoubtedly earns more than almost every one of their clients, is they cannot be bothered to monitor the thermostat to make sure the people who pay their salaries are comfortable. Furthermore, rather than schedule patients in a timely and courteous fashion, they are packed into a time frame that consistently requires everyone except the very first clients of the day to wait for extensive periods of time. (Because they can get away with it.)
As a general observation and based on my experience, a conservative estimate of 40 people a day wait on average a minimum of 60 minutes (we waited 90) for an appointment that everyone in the room has scheduled in advance.
40 people a day waiting 60 minutes is 40 hours a day x 5 days a week = 200 hours x 40 work weeks in a year = 8000 hours. So clients spend 8,000 hours a year wasted waiting to see just one doctor who is obviously unconcerned about their being inconvenienced but very concerned about getting every single person in the door possible.
In some cases the average reasonable person takes off a half day thinking a 10 AM appointment is a 10 AM appointment and they will be back at work in the afternoon. NOT
I am sure these numbers are very conservative.
Their is no excuse.
I think everyone should bill the doctor for any wait of a non – walk in facility at their pay grade.
(Of course the doctor would probably raise his rates in response.
Irritating
The Case for Changing the Educational Hierarchy. 8d Teachers
Plumbers
Electricians
Carpenters
Lawyers
Optometrists
Dentists
Accountants
Chefs
Doctors
Veterinarians
Nurses
Architects
All acquire professional credentials that make them the presumed unequivocal expert in their fields and those to whom others look to for guidance, protocols. and standards of excellence.
Only in teaching is this straightforward approach to professionalism ignored so arbitrarily.
Of the four decision making bodies, teachers are by far the most qualified to evaluate other teachers. They are also the most qualified regarding subject time line appropriateness, age appropriateness, curriculum and probably hiring.
To improve the standard of education in a community there are a number of options.
Creation of master teacher positions that are determined by percentage consensus of other teachers or predetermined qualifications.
Peer teaching evaluations or at a minimum teaching evaluations by those working in the profession.
Pay incentive that rewards pursuit of teaching excellence in college while remaining in the classroom.
(plus 15/plus 30/Masters/plus 15/plus 30/PhD)
In other words, a pay scale that pays more based on educational merit for teachers.
Synopsis
Parents must not be allowed disproportionate control of educational protocols based on personal opinion. Nor can they be allowed to shirk parenting responsibilities when it comes to responding to their child’s behavior when a lack of social skills is disrupting the educational environment.
School board members duties relative to education decision making should be appropriately subordinate regarding hiring, curriculum, evaluative and educational decision making better left to professionals.
Administrator positions should be primarily facilitative in nature. The scope of duties should be subordinate to professional educator recommendations and requirements when interacting educationally. Non educators working in these positions should not be involved in educational decision making, teacher evaluations or staff hiring. Decrease salaries accordingly.
Teachers should be required to achieve academic merit pursuing advanced education and financially incentivized accordingly.
Teachers should have their own peer evaluation system with masters teachers who are educators playing a role.
Disciplinary problems in the class room should be referred to administrators and parents immediately and be in their purview while not distracting from teaching and learning in the classroom.
Teachers should make educational decisions with school administrators, parents and school board members showing appropriate deference to professional expertise.
Shopping, Cards, and Shiny Things
How is it possible the general population is so easily manipulated, so easily deceived.
Things that are both shiny and non functional are worth more than other things.
Furthermore, if you don’t buy into this idea, you will be chastised and thought to be cheap, classless, and having poor taste.
A guy proposes marriage and there are ring expectations because of what the symbol represents and commitment. What a bunch of nonsense. A young couple starting out and has little in the way of income should not be led to believe a shiny thing that costs way way more than they can afford and serves no functional purpose is something they must have, even when it requires a high interest credit rate and puts them in debt.
Rarely does the jeweler point out that it is a must to have 5 supports for a diamond because it only has 4 and one stud break, oops.
Shiny must be really important.
Everybody thinks its valuable so it is, but it really isn’t.
Incidentally, capitalistic countries like ourselves bass the dollar on a bunch of gold bars that suit almost no purpose other than wearing to show status.
It’s Shiny but doesn’t do anything except sit, or decorate, and it’s heavy.
Occasion cards. Someone got everyone to think you were a bad person if you didn’t sent people a birthday card, a Christmas card and more recently cards for a whole new bunch of invented holidays that didn’t use to exist but do now.
Someone has an occasion, you go to the store, look at a bunch of cards that all cost too much, write two to ten words, and mail it.
They read it, throw the envelope away, and keep the card with a whole bunch of other cards they feel to guilty to dispose of and never look at them again.
The cards cost like five bucks.
Let’s go shopping. What are we shopping for. I don’t know, I’m not there yet.
gee.
It is amazing how many people do just this for no reason other than immediate gratification and the belief that it is an appropriate use of time.
Almost no one can afford this behavior, but many seem unable to alter what has become a mindless lifestyle socialization choice. They do it because their friends do it, their families do it, and they have always done it.
Shopping is not something to do when they are bored or want to hang out.
Shopping is something someone else needs you to do so they earn money.
OK I’ll stop now. http://www.danoettel.com
The Case for changing the educational hierarchy. 8c School Administration
When there is a right to work law, somehow that translates to weak teacher unions or advocacy groups.
In many ways, school districts in such states have determined local municipalities deserve a significant role in school policy and are capable of acceptable standards of conduct, hiring, educational decision making and honorable behavior.
Self governance with inadequate deference to expertise.
Many, if not the large majority of school districts have in place policy whereby teachers who attain a masters degree in education receive annual bonus of $500-$1,000.
In the meantime, teachers who acquire a certain supervisory professional credentials can be hired to work in administration and make significantly more income while not yet having acquired a masters degree.
They will make significantly more money with significantly less responsibility and stress. (Unless one thinks it is harder to direct paid subordinates than unruly children or that the administration working two weeks longer a year in any way compensates for the total number of hours teachers work annually.)
Self governance with improper deference to prioritization.
Local school districts may justify the hire of a variety of administrators by allowing themselves to distort school district responsibilities based on social economics, empathy, ignorance, or agenda.
Salaries can be justified by relating commensurate positions to those in the private sector.(Guess no one mentioned it is a service occupation. Duh)
Self governance by accepting and acting on invalid premises.
None of these compare with the really big salami.
There are various professional journals and other reputable writings about what it takes to truly be a professional and at the top of ones field of endeavor. A time line has been repeatedly quoted as 10,000 hours, which is to say, the amount of time spent acquiring top of the food chain qualifications based on a serious commitment to a precise, non-distracted unwavering goal.
In some states or school districts income disparity between school administrators favors administrators too such a degree, it actually makes everyone think, upwardly mobile means leaving teaching and moving into adult employee supervision.
Unfortunately, this financial dynamic incentivizes many teachers early on, and let’s face it, teaching is not easy. So I observed a coincidence of sorts in my years as a teacher. Many teachers became administrators approximately five years after they began teaching. Then one day I realized why. Five years was about the amount of time a full time teacher earning a living and paying the bills would take while attending college part time to acquire the necessary credentials to leave the classroom, become an administrator, and make more money.
Admirable right!
1 Throw into the equation those teachers desiring to leave the classroom are not just doing it because of the pay increase.
2 They may have made a life choice mistake and have limited career options.
3 They may have had terrible classroom management skills.
4 They more likely than not, changed grades or teaching duties at least once and probably twice further undermining the timeline to acquire true mastery of a grade or subject.
5 While teaching and acquiring the very demanding expertise necessary to be great, (an absolutely all encompassing endeavor that one must throw themselves fully into in order to be truly great), there are those who have the time to attend college part time taking away focus, time and effort when they are most developmentally important.
6 Are we to assume that leaving one field to go to another will not affect their commitment to mastery in education adequately and the learning curve it entails?
7 If you buy into the time line mastery concept, do we just accept and rationalize grade or subject changes as not being a step backwards in area mastery.
I am not trying to beat these folks up.
I just do not think they are the education experts.
They used to be teachers.
Now they are not.
They are now teacher supervisors who; evaluate, schedule, prioritize, determine policy and perform a host of other duties while making significantly more money than professional educators..
Regarding anything connected to the educating of children and evaluation of teaching excellence, people who work in offices should; follow mandates determined by professional educators and facilitate their wishes.
The case for changing the educational hierarchy. Ex. 8a The parents of students
As I understand it, there are four decision making bodies in public education; parents, teachers, administrators, and school board members. Each has a role to play, but in many cases it is no longer appropriate to qualifications and reasonable expectations.
When children arrive at school and lack social skills the burden almost always falls on the classroom teacher. Somehow, many parents believe this is an appropriate expectation. It is not.
A teachers main responsibility is to teach, not socialization training. When even a few parents neglect their responsibilities regarding training their children to interact with others without distracting, stealing from or hurting others it affects everyone and undermines the process to an unacceptable degree.
All to frequently situations are occurring throughout the country in which a few parents abstain from socialization responsibilities. They had children, but wether it be neglect, irresponsibility, or ignorance, have decided it is the teachers problem to provide the social modifications required. Unfortunately, this attitude adversely affects all the other children and the teachers unfairly. Furthermore, most parents are unaware of the significants of this dynamic.
Unless appropriate consequences exist for the parents and students alike the status quo will continue.
More likely than not schools are cowed by a dynamic in which either administration lacks the backbone to stand up to the perpetrators of this unjust situation, fears litigation, or lacks the courage of conviction to maintain consistent consequences.
Because of the difficulties in parenting and the ease with which responsibility can be deflected, many believe the problem falls under the school systems prevue. It does not.
Just because someone’s job can be affected when the school sends a child home does not mean it goes without saying it is up to the school to fix the problem. It does not.
When a parent does not know what to do about a child’s behavior they often times think it is the schools problem. It is not.
When a child has a behavioral problem that adversely affects others, it is a parental responsibility.
To think and act otherwise is unfair, unreasonable, and inappropriate.
The case for changing the educational hierarchy. Ex. 1 Decision Making
A school district has a parade on a Saturday morning to promote community literacy awareness and garner support for reading. The decision is almost assuredly made by administrators because it is doubtful professional teachers would spend time in such a manner on their own. It is also highly unlikely that such an action would occur in a state that had a strong teacher union.
It is not that teachers are not supportive of initiatives. It is just the amount of time they already spend in most cases no less than 60 hours a week and in most 70 or more, so they allocate their time wisely.
I do not believe anyone would dispute the admirable intent of such an endeavor. Furthermore, if someone did, they would appear to be sour grapes, not a team player, a dissenter, and any number of negative adjectives. It might even be reflected in their teacher evaluation. So coercion is certainly in play.
My personal read; the district administration probably felt compelled to show the community they are trying to do something to justify their positions, the number of them there are, and how much they earn. It is a never ending game of; the flavor of the week, change made for changes sake (usually prior to proper assessment can be made), and position justification using deflection.
So here’s the deal. Someone decided it was a good idea to go out, raise community awareness, put on a show, give away books and display commitment. But not so fast.
The schools are required to build floats.
School moral is low because teachers are dramatically overworked by overly critical and unreasonably demanding administrators. Probably because their bosses are the same way.
There is the pervasive expectation of win at all costs, failing is not an option,etc.
Suppose the district has 15 elementary schools, 3 junior highs, and 2 high schools in a town of say 30,000.
All schools are tasked to build floats with the best float winning a prize.
At the elementary level the assignment goes to teacher aides primarily.
Don’t leave out many of the administrators are extremely competitive.
Five paraprofessionals work on the floats all day for a week. 5 para x 6 hours conservatively = 30 hours times 5 workers is 150 hours.
Forty staff members are asked to give up their 45 minute conference period to work on the floats. 40 x .45 min = 30 hours.
20 staff put in an additional 5 hours each after school.
Discounting the after school time and figuring teacher aides make $12.00 an hour and teachers $20.
150 x 12 = $1800 + 30 x 20 = $600. So on average $2400 worth of man hours educating has been lost per campus.
Suppose only 12 campuses take it seriously and three principals are a bit rebellious.
12 x $2400 = $28,800 lost in district educating hours. This does not include any other financial contributions or hours lost at the upper grades. It is easy to see where such an endeavor could easily run $50,000 in terms of hours lost educating.
To my mind and financial considerations aside, here is the deal. Someone thought it was ok to take those paraprofessionals away from the kinder, first and second grades they were assigned to. They were assigned there for a reason and every teacher I know, knows what it is.
In grades k – 2 unless you are blessed, one or two children will take up 50% of the teachers time become they lack social skills in someway or another. When you take away the aide to make floats, you just caused the education of every kid in those rooms to suffer academically. The one or two who gets considerable attention because they need it and the other 18 kids in the room who were not taught at remotely the same quality as they would have been because of the distractions made by the two.
It was decided it was a prudent choice to raise community literacy with a parade because that was considered more important and relevant than;
adding to the overwhelming workload of a faculty and in many cases coercing faculty member participation,
spending $30,000 in educational hours,
depriving five teachers of 20 student classrooms their teacher aides at each campus for five days. That would equate out to 100 students at twelve campuses or 1200 students receiving far less quality education than they normally would have received.
A teacher decision would have been to keep the aides in the room and teach the kids.
The administration thought their idea would be a better use of resources.
Do we or do we not lead by example?
Ebola Observation
Every morning I make a pilgrimage to the local Starbucks where I satisfy my socialization, read world events from a variety of sources, and generally plan the rest of the day.
The first thing when I sit down is that someone has left the local paper there and as I glance over I notice in big bold letters ‘Ebola Fears Rising’. This is what they are leading with. For this to be posted in such a prominent way by the local media makes me take pause. Although I am someone who reads a lot, perhaps there is something about this situation that I have missed. So I begin to scour the web on the topic.
On Facebook the shares provided and folks comments certainly made me think I must have had it all wrong. This could really be something and we should all both be afraid and not trust the government to get it right. I continue to read and talk to a few folks. One young lady canceled a trip to Dallas. Numerous folks from my hometown think this is really something we should be concerned about and then of course there is that headline.
So I stop reading what common folks are saying and begin doing my own research. Within seconds I come across a reputable article by NBC that says as follows and I quote
“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and just about every leading expert on infectious disease that you can find agrees: Ebola is very unlikely to spread in the United States. Even in a country affected by an outbreak, an individual’s chance of getting it are very low, but in the developed world, they’re virtually zero.”
It wasn’t even hard to find which brings me to my point,this is what the local newspaper leads with EBOLA FEARS RISING. Isn’t running something lacking scientific support to such a degree the worst type of journalism. It’s like, hey for all of you out there that really don’t know what is going on we’re going to try and raise your blood pressure, get you excited and raise sales all in one fell swoop by spreading inflammatory propaganda about something you probably know very little about.
This brought to you by the same folks that refuse to believe the experts who agreed nine hundred to zip that we are causing global warming I’ll betcha.
danoettel 
Cy Young – Player of the Year – MVP problem solved.
This year at the end of baseball season a discussion popped up for the umpteenth time concerning the appropriateness of a pitcher winning the Most Valuable Player Award. Most position players would argue a pitcher should not win because pitchers already have their own award in the Cy Young and are not deserving anyway because they only pitching one fifth of a teams’ total innings at most.
So maybe my solution is overly simplistic or I just probably missed something.
Why not have:
the Cy Young go to the best pitcher,
the Player of the Year go to the best player, (the word player implying not a pitcher)
and the MVP go to the person who was the most valuable to a competitive teams’ success, whether it be pitcher or hitter.
That’s it.
Piece of cake.