Good Morning!
For obvious reasons, today’s daily thread is a little thin on content. So you pick the music, and pretty much everything else. 🙂
I’m off to the hospital to hopefully retrieve my lovely wife. I’ll check in later.
Have a good day!
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Wandering Views 
Morning all. Praying for Cheryl and your family Aj. Glad that you will have her at home.
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Good evening Jo.
You got here just before I did, and I thought I was late.
What time is it there? I’m figuring 9:30 p.m. PNG standard time.
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Morning Everyone. Little or no sleep last night. Someone and I am not saying who snored last night. Someone else and let’s just call them “Princess” for the sake of privacy was hot last night so when I finally crawled out of the sofa when the alarm went off it was SIXTY EIGHT degrees in my house!!!!!
BG has done surprisingly well with the oral surgery. Yesterday she spit into the sink –something she wasn’t supposed to do– and caused herself some serious pain. I had to hold her and rub her back for about 15 minutes while she cried and drooled on me. I have given her a couple of whole pain pills and a couple of half pain pills. I went in this morning and gave her the thyroid medicine, the antibiotic, and the steroid that is to help with the swelling. I asked if she needed anything for pain or if she was OK. She said she didn’t.
I have to be at the office at 7:30 to meet the sign guy, follow him to Bay Minette and show him where to put the commercial sign on the property.
It’s off to the salt mines again….
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AJ I think it is safe to say we are all praying for Cheryl.
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Michelle, I read your follow-up comments on internships, and I agree that isn’t good.
When I went through college, my program didn’t require an internship; it was optional (you could get credit for it, though). It was important to me that I get a job in editing, so I worked yearbook for three years (a paid job or I couldn’t have done it, since I needed to put myself through) and then my senior year I worked an internship. It was unpaid, with the possibility of doing some paid work on the side; I did well enough at the unpaid writing (press releases) that they gave me some paid opportunities (book covers). One of my press releases even landed a book on Oprah, who was the biggest thing in Chicago in those days. And the internship was one more thing that helped me land a job in editing that I started (on a trial-period basis, but paid) two days after graduation. The job was “permanent” by the end of summer. So basically my internship was a course for college credit, some opportunity to earn some money on the side, and a step into my career–a win-win for sure.
In Nashville one of my housemates had gotten her master’s, with her focus being “music for film,” which would of course be a competitive field and not one where you just fill out an application. Her father had done the paperwork for the finances for school, so she didn’t know until she graduated how much she owed for her undergrad and that master’s; it was more than the remaining mortgage on my house (though I didn’t tell her that). She moved to Music City as one possible place to get a career going, but she took any paying work she could find. So she walked dogs, babysat, and taught lessons for voice and piano. But she also took an unpaid internship where she was using her degree and writing music–but writing it for someone else, with the promise that if their business got off the ground it would turn into something paid. She liked the people she was working for and she liked the work, so she worked for them months after month, probably 20 hours a week, even after she began to suspect they just wanted free help. As soon as she quit, they had another intern, and soon another.
That is the one time I have seen an intern sorely used–but she was in a field akin to acting, where having a degree holds no hint of a promise of paying work. Putting tens of thousands of dollars into that education was even more of an investment than six or eight months of working for nothing–they shouldn’t have taken advantage of her that way, but they may well have been in the same sort of bind she was, being in a field where there were more wannabes than people with sufficient paying work.
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Really cool dragonfly shot, AJ. I’ll have to show it to my husband at some point.
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I had a co-op situation as a senior in Accounting at Georgia State. It paid quite well and was a bit like being an intern. I agree, Michelle, it is a lousy way to start off the young people. It seems a bit like a form of limited time slavery. Son had to do some service hours to get his degree from Covenant. Through my church contscts he worked with English as a Second language and tutoring refugee children. That was just good volunteer work rather than an internship.
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I never had anything to do with internships. But you have to remember in ancient – and not so ancient – days. That’s how young men learned a trade. He became a virtual slave to a toolmaker, tailor, or some such and someday became that man.
If your name is Taylor, Baker, Farmer, Butler, etc. That’s what you were.
II don’t know about the guy with the last name of King.
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I’m reminded of a Fernando Ortega song called “Dragonfly”, whose first verse and chorus are:
Come a little closer, dragonfly
Settle down with me a little while
I’m turning off the phone and enterprise
I could use your company, alright
Hey, hey, dragonfly
I’d like to stare into your big bug eyes
Get a closer look at your fine wings
Think about some fleeting, pretty things
Hey, hey, hey dragonfly.
Yeah, it’s an odd song, but he had some that were that way. Here is Fernando performing the song.
https://youtu.be/pv-FSGayCIs
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Kim- I thought I had sent you an email, but it was still in the draft folder because of DSL issues. It should be on its way (if email will ever decide to send it). Okay, it just went.
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Internships are a wonderful way to get experience and a foot in the door. Like apprenticeships. Hmmm. Maybe I ought to go find out what people are saying before giving my two cents. Nah. I will press post and then read what was said.
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Chas, I said some of that last night, because I really think there is something to be said for that sort of apprenticeship. One of my brothers chose to go a similar route when he wanted to learn to build houses. Over a period of several years, he volunteered with Habitat for Humanity. He could learn any aspect of homebuilding he wanted, and he learned most of them. He wasn’t getting paid for his work, but it went to a good cause and he learned without paying any money for trade school or materials. Win-win.
My own internship was eight or ten hours a week for one semester of college. Considering it got me some contacts in the job I worked for ten years (plus twelve years of freelance so far), it was well worth it.
The problem is when people go into debt the equivalent of a small house, and graduate from college, and they still need to work part-time unpaid positions. Of course, if they were fully supported by parents in their college days and didn’t work during college (which could well be the case for some of them), then unpaid work after college makes some sense, simply to get some job experience.
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When I was taking the labor intensive accounting courses I felt like I should be paid for all that work especially when I would look across the room and see my Art major roommate having such fun earning her credits. 🙂 And that was only for the first two accounting courses I took at Georgia Southern when I lived in the dorm.
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That is part of the issue, Cheryl. As one young woman said to me, “how can I afford an internship if I have to pay for my insurance, food, housing, car and student loans?”
I told my daughter her costs to drive to her internship were tax deductible–since she was giving of her time to work at a HOSPITAL of all things, basically in an LVN job. The hospital, of course, no longer needed LVNs because they had all these college students working for free.
I still believe it a travesty. We can afford it–last year she lived for free with relatives and house sat–her only expenses were the car, but that’s not the point. She was an adult. A worker is worthy of her wage. She, and so many other young people, deserve to be paid if they’re performing essential work. Even minimum wage would be something.
And of course, she’s now been begging for her letter of recommendation for months so she can finally put in her med school application.
But that’s another story all together. Sigh.
But here’s another question. What lesson does that teach the kids about valuing work?
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When middle GD, Mary was in nursing school at USC, she volunteered at the Baptist Hospital in Columbia. All she got was experience.
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You know, Mumsee, you’re one of the few people I know whose kids are doing meaningful work this summer AND getting paid. I salute you, your family and your neighbors.
Maybe this problem is California?
BTW, no surprise, I worked my internship for Donna’s paper for free back in the dark ages . . . They did eventually pay me mileage when I drove.
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Haha, some things never change, michelle. 🙂 We may all re-achieve intern status with a few more pay cuts. Back to the Future.
Which reminds me, there will be a fun story coming for us to cover this fall, but it’s all hush-hush.
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My son has had paid work for most of his college years and he had a lawn mowing job when younger that paid. I have realized how blessed he has been. A lot does depend on locale, and being in less liberal areas such as Chattanooga and Texas probably means that in general people are considered to be of greater value.
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I look at the education I have and the work I do and the amount I am paid and wonder…why?
I am glad I have the education, but I would really do what I am doing with a GED. That is all you have to have in Alabama to get a real estate license. You must be 18 and have at least a GED. I don’t even want to talk about my “salary” that you would think was killing him to pay…especially when I have had to take off Thursday and part of yesterday. I worked from home both afternoons and you would have thought I was lying through my teeth about BG having anything done. Pff. What ev
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Someone posted this on FB and I thought some people don’t have the luxury;
Say how you feel
Leave the job you hate,
Find your passion
Love with every ounce of your bones
Stand up for things that matter
Don’t make apologies for who you are….
Be Brave
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Some students have to actually pay their university for the privilege of working for nothing. That hurts. How do they do it? Spouses or parents help. Those without can sometimes moonlight.
My SIL had three unpaid internships last school year. He cannot find a job in his area, because he “doesn’t have enough experience.” This is after almost a decade in his last teaching position and longer in that field. His student loans will all start on time, though.
I do take exception, though, with assuming that this generation was not treated as well as the last one. My husband and I paid for all our own schooling (although he did have the GI Bill to help a bit). Our children live better sooner than we did. I know lots of families that would say the same thing. It is a generalization to think that our generation had it easier than the one graduating now. One difference is that they expect more, IMO, than we ever did.
Making it illegal for anyone to not work at a fast food place until they are eighteen is ridiculous, IMO. Two of mine started at sixteen and it was a very good starting place. They had babysitting jobs earlier than that. Teens need to have real work to do at both home and away. Properly training them and having decent work conditions is another issue.
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Peter check you email
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The state of newspapers (we’re mentioned a few graphs down into this piece, Digital First):
http://www.niemanlab.org/2015/07/newsonomics-the-halving-of-americas-daily-newsrooms/
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“Cigar maker. Elevator operator. Pinsetter. Iceman. Lamplighter. Switchboard operator.
“Local daily newspaper reporter?
“How soon will we have to add this once-stable occupation to the list of jobs that once were — occupations once numerous that slid into obsolescence? (Not to mention the even more colorful spittleman [hospital attendant], rotarius [wheelwright], and hamberghmaker [horse collar maker].)
“In this morning’s released annual census, the American Society of News Editors found its first double-digit decline in newsroom count since the Great Recession of seven years ago. Newsroom jobs dropped 10.4 percent — down to 32,900 full-time journalists at nearly 1,400 U.S. dailies, 2014 over 2013. That’s the loss of 3,800 jobs in just one year. ….”
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IRS is basically turning income tax return preparers into auditors for them so there goes another category of jobs. And if any of the alternative tax ideas go into place then all the preparers jobs will disappear. I heard a doctor say within the past year or so that he believes pharma sales jobs will at some point be a thing of the past. So there goes the work of all my family. And son has yet to face competition for being an English prof. I heard there was one, yes ONE, of those positions available in the USA last year. A lot of teaching at college level is now by adjunct professors. Everything is changing. The Christian preschools are having regulations thrown at them in our area that will shut many down. Whopping big costs for repairs to bring facilities up to county code is hitting predominately white churches hard. Well, that covers a few industries. Best thing to do is to learn to live on a little and not have great expectations. At least son learned that at home.
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This came up on the Milk Station on my phone today as I was driving. It says it was first recorded in 1981 but seems appropriate for today and especially with the conversation here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jrPgqxMeuo
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Perhaps I am talking about younger interns. Eldest son volunteered with a company while we lived at West Point, went to college for a year and when he got here, he was immediately employed at seventeen plus an hour due to his volunteer education. He was earning that at seventeen. He since went on to work with the Olympics and some company in LA, that owns some portion of the Clippers. It was worth volunteering for a few months to get such a start.
Daughter took nursing at PCC where they are required to intern at local hospitals. I just figured it was part of the education. She was immediately employed, prior to graduation and went quickly up the ranks.
Daughter finished high school quickly and took the CNA course, which had an internship program At seventeen she moved to the city with eldest daughter, got a full time job at a nursing home, and has taken the course to distribute meds. Rather scary to have a seventeen year old responsible for such and for being the person in charge of a bunch of seniors with a bunch of thirty plus who make less than her.
The point is not to brag about my wonderful children, but to point out that each took advantage of different training opportunities and benefited from same. The same opportunities were available to others, and they chose not to avail themselves of them. For us, it has worked and worked well.
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We’re finally home. 🙂
Now I’m off to fill Cheryl’s prescriptions.
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Mumsee, when I was in college and internships weren’t mandatory, few students took advantage of them. Few students in the writing program sought the paid on-campus jobs on newspaper and yearbook (most of our staff were in other degrees). I was kinda unique among people I knew in having a bunch of writing credits by the time I graduated.
One fellow writing student found out I was signed up for an internship, and he said something like, “You too? I keep telling the chairman of the department to let me know if any internships come up, and so far he hasn’t told me of any.” Um . . . he didn’t tell me of any, either. In my junior, I figured I wanted to do an internship my final semester (the first semester wouldn’t have worked well, since yearbook was about 30 hours a week since I was editor-in-chief), and I didn’t want any internship given away because I took too long to apply for it, so I called and told them who I was and that I wanted to do an internship the following year, and did they take interns? They said yes, they did sometimes, but hadn’t done so for a few years (in other words, students weren’t knocking down their doors seeking them out), and we set up an interview and I was accepted, with final details to be worked out the next year when I had my class schedule and knew what times I was free. Pretty simple, but it just took a tiny bit of initiative on my part. But I’d also done the work of taking relevant classes, working on yearbook three years, writing a little bit for the newspaper, and writing some book reviews (paid) for a magazine when I got the opportunity. So my resume already looked like I was serious. (I don’t know if I’d actually put together a resume yet, but I would have had writing samples.)
I thought that on one level the program was wise in eventually requiring internships for all writing students, but on another level, the fact that it wasn’t required but I did it anyway put me a step ahead, and I at least was OK with students who were less proactive being taken a little less seriously. Upon graduation my classmates were taking jobs that would have been wonderful internships but horrible careers (such as writing ad copy for magazines for soft-drink companies), and I stepped right into editing. But then, I had an age advantage on my “peers” too; I was almost 26 and before college I’d worked full-time for two years, part-time for a couple more, and I worked part-time during school years and full-time during all breaks. So I had great advantages over the others, and I’d recommend the “gap year” or two to any young person who asked, if college is seen as primarily a way to get an education (take a year or two off and you’ll be more ready to continue) OR primarily a way to prepare for a job (the job experience is helpful in getting a job, and it also allows one to earn money for college and to think more about what you want to do long-term). If the primary reason for college is social, there are cheaper ways to accomplish that, but I suppose that going to college right out of high school, and being the same age as your classmates, is probably a better fit for that priority.
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Welcome home Cheryl (Mrs. AJ). Never a dull moment with you guys.
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Michelle, I really get the sense that things are far worse in California than in other places. I have a nephew who did a couple years of college there, and didn’t manage to get a job during college (though he tried) and thus didn’t have the money to finish. But any place I have lived, it’s harder to get a career job right out of college, but nothing like what you mention.
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Part of it may be the lack of willingness to work of so many folk that those who hire have grown tired of unproductive hirees, therefore looking for those with more experience. Around here, and I take it with a large grain of salt, we are told that our children are the only ones willing to work. A couple days ago, a guy was at our house, asking for the boys. He claimed that every one he talks to, when he tells them he is looking for help, refers him to the (our name) boys. It may well be true. He told the boys that a good reputation will take them far.
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One of the ladies in my writing critique group had a business where she hired teenagers. She said the homeschoolers had the right attitude and knew how to do the work. The others could learn but took a lot of her time to train them.
I once hired two neighbor girls to help me. They did not want me watching over their shoulder when they mopped the kitchen. I think they poured the mop water down the kitchen sink. Not good. Also, I was trying to teach the girls to cook and one broke open an egg and it landed on my son’s head. I was not happy at all. I eventually gave up on getting them to help. It was too much effort.
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I have hired a few teenagers. One spent the morning telling us how tired he was as he leaned against his shovel. Two girls spent an entire day painting the roof of the pig pen. The roof consists of two sheets of eight by four plywood. None of them were hired again by me. Actually, one of them was in her early twenties. We hired a grown man to work around here. He spent most of his time on his cellphone. We have not had him back. It is frustrating. One tries to offer competitive wages, but one wants some return on the money.
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I hope everything is ok at Aj’s house. This gives us cause for concern.
And prayer.
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I agree, Chas. I hope Cheryl’s pain levels are manageable. And I’m trying not to be worried that we haven’t heard from AJ since he announced yesterday evening that he was leaving to get his wife her prescriptions. I always pray when I know AJ is going somewhere, because the memory (what little I know) of the serious car accident he was in some years back is prominent in my mind at those times.
And AJ, I am so sorry about Cheryl’s fall and broken bones. (Just catching up around here.) Praying.
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