Rest in Peace

Collin James Keck 12/31/85-9/18/08

I want to dedicate this post to an old friend from high school who passed away yesterday. Collin was a year younger than me in school, and I was ashamed to admit it at the time that I had developed a slight crush on him (it's SOOOO not okay to date younger guys in high school). When I was a junior and he was a sophmore, I asked him to Prom. He was going to be one of the only sophmore boys there. But he paid no mind to that fact. And because of his lack of concern for what other people thought, I had more fun at that dance than at any others! We went on a few dates after that, and things eventually fizzled. But Collin was one of those people who was genuine and real. And there are not very many people like that in this world. May Collin always be remembered for the gifts he shared with each one of us. His gift to me was the wonderful memories I have of our short (but sweet) time together. Rest in peace Collin James Keck.

Raiders Football!!!

I just wanted to post a few pics from the football game we went to the other night. Pat got free tickets to the first Monday night football Raiders game from work (his company has 3 sets of season tickets as well as a luxury box).

We had awesome seats, 46 rows up, in the last row of the lower deck!

I just went for the $9 beer!

Make note of the score: Ouch! The Raiders took a beating!

The game itself was nothing too exciting. Unfortunately for all of the Raiders fans, they got spanked by the Broncos. Let me just say this (and if you are a Raiders fan, stop reading this blog right now), Raiders fans are CRAZY!! True, they love their team, just like any other fanbase. But I was literally fearful for my safety in this environment. Had I not been wearing Raiders colors, I would probably have been taunted, cussed at, and possibly beaten up (and I am not even kidding). And don't even get me started on the traffic! Driving in the Bay Area is a whole different scenario than what we are used to here. The traffic on the way there was not bad. But once we turned into the stadium, it took us about 2 hours to drive 1/2 mile! When we did get to the stadium, we found out that the parking was sold out, so we drove to the "Overfill Lot" (same price, dirt field, 1 mile walk to stadium). I'm glad I can now say that I've been to a professional football game, but I let my husband know that the next free tickets he gets will go to better use if he takes someone who's a little more of a football fan than myself.

Oh, and we are now 72 days into the fiscal year, and still no CA state budget. :(

Ahhh, the wonderful state of California...

Sorry that I haven't posted for awhile. There hasn't really been anything significant to post about since we got home from Vegas.

There is one subject I'd like to bring to light, however, because it directly affects me in terms of my field of study and potential career path. And that topic is the budget situation as it stands in California. As of today, the state is 66 days late on signing an official state budget. Consequently, the future job security and stability for thousands upon thousands of people in this state hangs in the balance. All part-time and temporary employees have been laid-off (which makes the dreaded annual trip to the DMV even worse than it has to be). Additionally, the individuals who are still fortunate enough (if you could call it that) to have a job with the state of California have all been cut down to minimum wage. The purpose of this monumental decision, according to "the Governator", was to apply some added pressure to the legislature in an attempt to expedite some sort of budget agreement. Incidentally, this blew up in good ol' Arnold's face. Instead of both sides approaching that center aisle, and each making a compromise for the sake of negotiation, neither side will budge. Here we stand, the grand state of California, where celebrities are aplenty, where one can visit the coast and go skiing in the same day, home of Disneyland and the Dodgers (the greatest baseball team of all-time, according to my older brother), and no state budget. Yet our legislators (the highest paid in the nation, might I add), continue to show up to work every day, to collect their $116,000 annual salaries, along with their $35,000 annual living expense stipend, and accomplish nothing! Forty-nine other states have been able to compromise and negotiate their way to a budget that both sides can live with.

Being someone who's job security depends on the decisions of others, this disgusts me! Have these legislators lost sight of what they were elected to do?????? Why should they care about the future livelihood of mere teachers, social workers, school nurses, and psychologists???? They can still show up every day to work, collect a hefty paycheck, and take their long weekends (because God forbid such upper-class individuals be required to put in a few Saturdays here and there for the sake of doing the job they are paid to do). I suppose this is just another example of bureaucracy at its finest. Like I've been saying to my good friends and family who live out-of-state, the longer I live here, the more convinced I am that this state is going to hell in a hand basket!





Thanks for reading my rant. :)