Cant Keep Quiet!

For some reason, Orange County Public Schools flipped the schedules for middle schools and high schools this year. Yeah, yeah I know that the change will supposedly save money for transportation. At least that’s what the school board told us.

In the long run, though, I think the district will end up losing money.

First of all, they didn’t flip the schedules exactly.  High schools now start half an hour to an hour later than the middle schools started last year.  We have to arrive at work at 9 am and don’t get off until 4:30.

So what happens if we need to see make an appointment for a doctor or just about anything else?  Well, we’ll have to take 1/2 day off.  Hell, if we have to take a half day to go to the dentist we might as well take the whole day to get everything else done that we didn’t have time to do thanks to the schedule change.

Today I had to race to my vet’s office to get my dog’s special dog food.  I barely made it there before they closed.

Previously, if one of my pets were sick I could call and make an appointment for the afternoon and not miss any work.  Now if I don’t take time off then they will just have to wait until Saturday when I have only 1/2 a day to get them to the vet.

Or take time off to take the pet to the vet.

If I need to take myself to the doctor or the dentist, I’ll have to take time off when previously I could do it after work.

Yes, I understand that middle school teachers had this problem last year, but I don’t think it was quite as bad.  Remember, high schools are starting and finishing even later than the middle schools did last year.

The district has guaranteed that the need for substitutes will be higher this year.  Since people only get 6 days of personal leave (that has to be asked for at least 5 days in advance), they’ve also guaranteed that more people will be calling in sick.

That doesn’t even take into account that these days seem to be the longest I’ve ever worked.

I really hate this new schedule.

Technorati Tags: Orange County Public Schools

Tomorrow I’ll vote for Alan Grayson for the Democratic nominee agaisnt Ric Keller.  I think he’s the best candidate out there.  He’s definitely better than Charlie Stuart.

When I was a kid I babysat his kids from time to time.  He and his family lived two streets away from us.  I know him.  I know his family.  For Charlie Stuart, that should be enough of a reason to vote for him.  Literally.

The only mailing I’ve seen from him says “Those of us who have helped grow the Central Florida community have always chosen our elected officials because we knew them.”  In other words, I have more name recognition so you should vote for me.

Stuart also claims that he’s the only one who can beat Keller.  Why?  Because he lost to Keller.

Personally, I think that Stuart’s narrow defeat to Keller doesn’t prove only he can win this race.  It proves that any Democrat can win against Keller.  If they mount a campaign against the man.  Stuart had no money to run a campaign against Keller during the 2006 elections.  The fact that he came so close proves that people are tired of Keller and will vote for a Democratic candidate.

If any Democrat can win against Keller, why not vote for the best candidate to run against Keller?

Grayson is the best qualified candidate. He worked his way through Harvard, cleaning toilets and working as a night watchman. He started a Fortune 1000 company, on the second floor of a funeral home. He founded one of the nation’s largest law firms prosecuting war profiteers. He was Taxpayers Against Fraud’s Lawyer of the Year, and the Florida Civil Rights Association’s Humanitarian of the Year. After eight years of incompetent leadership in Washington, we need someone who knows how to get things done.

Grayson has been fighting to protect the taxpayers and the troops for years.  He’s testified before Congress four times regarding war profiteering.  He’s also won the only case against Iraq war profiteers. . . so far.  With Grayson in Congress, you can bet he’ll do more about war profiteering.

Here’s Grayson’s latest ad:

If you are a registered Democrat and you live in Florida’s 8th Congressional district I urge you to vote for Grayson tomorrow.

Technorati Tags: Alan Grayson, Charlie Stuart, Congressional Seat 8, Ric Keller

Schools were cancelled across most of Central Florida again today.  Too many places had no power or flooding to make it safe to transport using buses.

Fay is finally heading out of the area, maybe.  Who knows with this one.  She may decide to turn back on come here again.  Even on her way out, though, it is still raining, raining, raining.

Personally, I thought they should have closed schools yesterday.  I fought my car most of the way home yesterday.  At times, winds were so strong that it seemed my car was going to change lanes against my will.

I’m including a picture of part of the lake one street behind my house.  In the front of the picture is a stream that is normally about 3 feet lower than seen in the picture.  In the mid-upper region of the picture you can see some plant life just above the water.  Those plants are on a spit of land.  The plants height is normally a good 3 feet above the water line.

Technorati Tags: tropical storm Fay

I’m sure that there isn’t a single resident in Florida that doesn’t wish that tropical storm Fay would just go away already.  We have flooding and wind damage and homes destroyed due to tornados and Fay doesn’t look she’s going anywhere any time soon.

Most of this damage had been occuring on the east coast of Central Florida.  We’ve been getting lots and lots of rain here but no flooding to the extent Brevard County has seen.

Fay has been moving at a snails pace.  This has resulted in 2 feet of rain in some areas.  The ground just can’t handle that much rain and neighborhoods have been flooding.  People have shot pictures of catfish swimming in their yards and an alligator was swimming through one neighborhood.  The alligator has been taken away.

Click here to see some of the pictures that people have taken.

Technorati Tags: flooding, tropical storm Fay

No, not the presidental race.  Hurricane season.

In 2004, school started and was in session for less then a week when hurricane Charley decided to come visiting.  This year it is Tropical Storm Fay that is expected to hit this area sometime tomorrow or Wednesday.

School started today for most counties in Central Florida.  Most of these counties have closed their public schools for tomorrow.  We won’t know if we’re back in session on Wednesday until tomorrow afternoon.

There are some important differences between Charley and Fay.  Charley was a level 3 hurricane when it hit Florida’s shores.  It was also very, very fast.  Fay is still just a tropical storm.  It might be a level 1 hurricane when it hits Florida’s southwest coast tomorrow morning.  It’s also moving slowly and a bit erratically.

For a while it looked like Fay would just skirt the coast of Florida.  Now it looks like it hit between Sarasota and Naples.

Hopefully this is a one day only event for the entire hurricane season.  I definitely don’t want to get into the school starts/school’s on hold cycle that happened in 2004.

If you’re interested, read my farewell to 2004’s hurricane season.

Technorati Tags: hurricane Fay