*blend

I have one of those little desktop cup warmers that’s supposed to keep your coffee hot. It’s great, but one drawback. My cup of coffee never lasts long enough to get cold in the first place! So it’s on a shelf in my office, never to be used again, I’m sure. But this…hmmm…this I might could use. Because a can of Diet Dr. Pepper can sit in front of me for hours before I drink it. I used to prefer a room temp soda over a cold one, but the older I get, the colder I want my pop…so here’s a gadget I just might use..unlike so many other thing-a-ma-boppers I’ve gotten in the past only to forget which drawer they’re in because the newness wore off oh-so-soon.

bit-tech.net | On our desk this week - Coolit beverage chiller

Tim Berners-Lee (inventer of the Web) speaks his mind concerning Net
Neutrality (If you don’t know what this issue is about you better start
reading up…)
Net Neutrality: This is serious

More about Net Neutrality…
Senate deals blow to Net neutrality | CNET News
InformationWeek | Net Neutrality | Senate Panel Backs Telco Bill, No Net Neutrality | June 28, 2006
Net Neutrality has a spokesperson: Article by John C. Dvorak (RE: Senator Ted Stevens)

I had to make a last-minute trip yesterday to San Antonio.
(hey Smitty - it was really nice to meet you - the next time you’re in port bring your bike back to FS and we’ll take that trip to Big Bend you missed out on!)
On the way back to FS, we stopped in Boerne to grab some dinner. It was about 6:30 or so and I really didn’t want fast food, nor did I want Mexican food - so I drove further down into Boerne hoping something would be open. Right on the main street amongst antiques and candles shops is a little place called Boerne Grill. GO THERE. Make any excuse you can to drive through Boerne, Texas and GO to the Boerne Grill. This place is great! I was expecting burgers and such, but instead walked into a very comfortable coffee shop. Everyone there was very friendly, especially the staff. One look at the menu and I knew I was going to have trouble making my mind up. There wasn’t a single type of burger listed…but plenty of reubens and phillies and salads…just the descriptions made me excited. My better half wasn’t too excited about this “hippy” place I had selected, but it didn’t take long for him to change his mind when he got his philly steak and cheese sandwich. I finally settled on the Grilled Chicken and Pecan salad: grilled chicken, fresh salad, beautiful raspberry chipotle vinagrette dressing and molasses/cayenne crusted pecans. I was in heaven. On the way out I got a cappuccino and biscotti for the road.

If you do go to the Boerne Grill, tell them I sent you. And tell ME you went…and what you ordered so I won’t have as much trouble making a decision the next time I go.

Boerne Grill
143 South Main Street
Boerne, TX 78006

Students are graduating from college with an average $20,000 in debt??? That’s not what I would call a good way to ’start’ your life. So you work and work and work, and maybe you get it all paid back, and THEN you can start saving for a house and providing a solid foundation for a family. I say this is a bad system. We tell our children “If you want to make a good living, to get higher paying jobs, to better yourself and your community, you need to go to college” Here’s a GREAT idea on how to manage our future college students and the growing costs of getting a degree:

Tell these students:
YES, we will give you a loan to pay for your education, and yes, you have to pay it back…
BUT….if, when you graduate, you commit to 4 or more years of CIVIL SERVICE, we will forgive your education loan. Civil service jobs pay less. You take this low-paying job and lend your expertise to this area, and we will reap the benefits of your educated service, and you get actual job experience.

Let’s use a law student and a state county as an example.

The law student goes straight to his career of choice after graduation and applies to that prestigious big-city law firm he’s been eyeing. IF he was an exceptional student, he might get hired. THEN he spends the next ten to THIRTY YEARS repaying his college loans.

I propose he goes to work upon graduation with the county or state. There are numerous departments that will benefit from his education, but couldn’t afford to hire him at the ‘going rate’. He does the exact same thing he would be doing with a private firm, benefits the community, makes a difference in the level of service the county or state can provide, and does it all for the same wages a non-degreed county employee makes.

In four years, he’s not weighed down with education debt, and goes to that firm and applies. NOW he has not only his track record as an exceptional student, but actual work experience in applying that education. And if he worked hard and was dedicated to his civil service job, he WILL be able to say
“I made a difference to that community by [fill in the blank].”
“I developed [fill in the blank] for this service area”
Because THAT’S what civil servants do. Each of their jobs and positions affects the lives of the people living in their community, from city to county, state to federal. He can’t walk away from a civil service job without seeing, and learning, what an impact these areas have on others. In my opinion, that law firm is going to look more favorably upon him as a potential employee than the kid straight out college he was just 4 years ago.

Maybe, as a civil servant myself, I’m biased to this idea. I think it’s a great idea. I think the added benefits to everyone, including the student, are well worth the initial investment from government. Over the life of the student, he will more than make up the cost of the loan through his tax-paying and purchasing power (remember, he’s not making college loan payments!), not to mention the great service he will provide as a civil servant.

No, this plan isn’t for everyone. And there will be those who will try to float through their time as a civil servant doing little or nothing to benefit the areas they serve. But all in all, who loses? I think about those students who WANTED to be public school teachers to begin with, but can’t afford to repay their college loans on a public school teacher’s salary. Whole generations of young people lose the level of teaching this person would have brought to them. Some of the college students who take part in this type of plan may find great reward and satisfaction in civil service, and decide to stay in those positions.

Now, who to talk to about actually trying to find a way to fund and implement this plan????

All in favor….raise your hand!

I’ve never been able to keep a plant alive. Houseplants are given a death sentence when I bring them home. But when Allie gave me a handpainted pot with flowering plant for Mother’s Day, I decided to do all I could to keep this little thing alive. I watered it regularly, carried it gently to the porch mornings, then back in again later in the day so it wouldn’t get burnt to a crisp in the afternoon sun. I set it in the kitchen near the window. It was happy. Weeks go by and this little gift is growing and strong. New leaves sprouted and it doubled in size. I was happy. Then today, I go to get my little potted plant to water it and move it to the porch for the morning, and find someone had pulled all of the leaves and stems from it. There they lay, piled in the pot, limp and dying. All that was left was a stub poking sadly out of the soil. And 6 young people in this house all said it wasn’t them that did it. How often do I hear “Not Me”…I won’t even begin to try to get across how frustrating that is. But with this we go to a moral and ethical base. Why? Why take something I have worked so hard on, that meant something to me, and to Allie, and purposefully ruin it? With no other reason than to hurt me? No other reason than to undermine something I have cared for and enjoyed. When I write about my family, you’ll see extremes. Extreme happiness and satisfaction and successes. But also extreme failures, and extreme pain. There seems to be no middle ground when it comes to families. Is it more pronounced because we are a blended family? I laugh at that phrase - “Blended Family”. There are days there is absolutely no “blending” at all. It’s “Us” versus “Them”. From both sides. Things like this, and many more instances of action beyond reason, that make me wonder - how am I to bond to these people? How am I to grow to love them? I care for them, I provide for them, I will protect them and lead them and teach them. Prepare them for adulthood as best I can. But then these actions devastate me. They are half-grown. These are not infants we are taking about. I am beyond the time of their lives that I can form a firm foundation of values and morals and right actions. But I am expected to be a parent to them. How can you parent people who hate you in such a fundamental way as to pull the leaves off a little plant in a handpainted pot just to hurt you?