Just nod and shake your head yes..

This is a quick moment of venting.. I just got off the phone with a student who was not satisfied with their situation. They are a major flip flopper about which term they want to start and are mad at me because they have to pay their application fee again. Then the student had the audacity to ask me who I was. I replied with my name. She then was like, "Are you one of those federal work study students?" I calmly replied, "No, I am a full time employee." She then starting asking questions about financial aid and when I said "I don't think that you will have a problem" with that situation, she said "Well I need a definite answer" I replied with, "Then you need to contact financial aid. I do not handle that and I cannot be positive." I then asked her if she wanted to be transferred to finaid and she said yes which was good for her because by that point, I was about to loose it.

The thing that really set me off was her asking me about my job status. I know that my voice is not deep and it doesn't have that "manly-man" ring to it, but that does not give anybody the right to call me out and question my ability to do my job. I gave her all of the right answers. There was no reason for her to question my authority. Even if I was a student, she was transferred to me for a reason, the reason being that I was the best person to help her with her situation. Age does not dictate an ability to do a job. I am 22 years old, why do I still have to deal with this? I have encountered this before, so it is not entirely new to me, but I have the same blood boiling reaction every time. The last time that I really had this I worked at a grocery store and was 16/17 and was young for my managerial position, so that was a little more understanding, but it still hurt a bit. Still yet, it is not an excuse to assume that if someone if younger that they do not know how to do their job.

Sorry, had to get it off the chest. The blood is not back down to 140 degrees from 212, so it helped..

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Grr....

I am so tired of hearing about people with guns and buildings! Right now, some idiot is holed up at JSC (Johnson Space Center in Houston) with a gun. Due to all of this, Clear Creek ISD had to lock down Space Center Intermediate because they are on the JSC grounds, practically right across the street from the building where all of this mess is happening.

Why can't we use our words? Why is it that people choose guns? Why is it that we are the only country in the world that has these types of problems?

If you go back and look at the United States Constitution, at the 2nd Amendment, and read the true content of the amendment, it was only written to allow states to have militias. It was not written for the intent of people having guns. Just for the ability to have guns to arm the militias. Unless you are a part of your local state guard, military or public safety, nobody else really needs a gun. They only ask for trouble. If a student was packing heat at VA Tech when the crazy dude came in, would it really have helped or stopped him earlier? No. There probably would have been more injured, or even dead.

Do we need more gun control? Yes. Is it ever going to happen? No. Why not? Because it is too controversial and nobody would ever agree on a single piece of legislation. How did the Brady Bill get passed? I have no idea. I wish that it was not allowed to expire, because now that it has expired, assault weapons are more readily available than before the Brady Bill. If the Brady Bill were still in effect, the gunman from VA Tech would not have had the gun that he used and also it would have slowed him down and possibly preventing him from harming others. What's going to happen in the future? Who knows....

Random Thoughts (sorry its boring)

So I have been thinking about going abroad and taking classes in the UK. I've got a bug and something has to kill it. However, there are a lot of factors that come into play if I were to do this.

Cost is key, but if you read a previous posting, there are some possibilities. Another thing would be what would I study? The only subjects that make since is Education and American Studies. If I were to do Education, I would still have to take some certification tests once I came back here to start teaching.

However, I am already starting classes and preparing to take my subject test at the beginning of next month. With the American Studies degree, my first instinct says "Why study America in the UK? It doesn't make since." The only logical thing that I can pull from it would be that I could study it and see how foreigners construe the US while teaching about it. Also, it would be a good chance to live abroad (something that I have always wanted to do) and to take in some UK culture (no, it is not too different from ours, but there are some differences). I just think that it would be awesome. I know that I just came back from a study abroad trip, but that is not the same. We did not stay in one place for more than 3 days and it was not like a typical study abroad experience (it was still awesome!).

Additionally, I have bills here that I have to pay, take care of my new car that has a 3 year lease on it, stuff like that. I just don't know what to do. Should I continue what I am working on and forget about it? Should I just do this after I get my Masters and then go and study abroad?

I think that I will still investigate the options, but I don't know what I would do.

What would you do?

Why mess with a good thing?

I know that I have probably told all of y'all about the recent 'news' with Grey's Anatomy... The business about how they are going to have a spin off with Addison Montgomery as the lead character. Personally, I think that this is a bad move. The show is great as it is. There is a great dynamic as it is with all of the characters. If they remove one, I think that it will mess up the dynamic and take away from the show. This is a really popular show, it does not make since. I don't think that Addison is strong enough to actually be on her own. They are bringing in all kinds of people who had shows that eventually failed so who knows how that will pan out.. A lot of shows have had spin offs: Friends had Joey (which only lasted a season and a half) the Cosby's had A Different World (I'm sure that did not last long..) etc. You get the picture. They rarely work. Maybe ABC is trying to give these actors a second chance, or maybe they had contracts with some of them. I just call it a bad move. They will figure it out this fall when they see a decline overall ratings with Grey's Anatomy.

Denton Apartments Suck!

Recently, my roommate and I have been shopping around for a new apartment. That is just something that you do around the time that you lease is up. We were interested in looking for a new place, some place that was more modern and had a few specific features that we were looking for. As we were driving around on Saturday to these newer apartment complexes in town, we quickly discovered that we could not move into any of them. Why you may ask? They are all Federally subsidized and subject to income restrictions. WHAT!?!?!?!?!?!?! I was livid, especially after the 3rd place that we went to told us that. These are all brand new apartments, all built within the past few years and are the nicest apartment complexes in town and they are out of reach because our incomes equal over $31,000. The only choices that we have remaining to us are some dumpy apartment complexes or ones that we cannot afford altogether. Where is the logic in this? One apartment manager put it eloquently, "You are being penalized for actually having a job."

My question in all of this is why is there such a need for low income housing in the City of Denton? Denton is not that poor in my opinion. Yes there are some parts of town that seem poorer than others, but over all, we as a city are not doing that bad economically.

So I thought.... Then I checked with the Census Bureau. According to the 2000 Census the median household income was $35,422 for the City of Denton, comparing to 63K for McKinney, 54K for Lewisville, 62K for Carrollton and 78K for Plano. I just cannot believe this. I don't understand why the median household income is so small for Denton. We have a lot of industries here, Peterbilt, national headquarters for Sally Beauty Supply, UNT, TWU, Denton ISD (it is a big school district) and other big employers. I guess what this number shows is that a lot of people are not making that much money from these employers (I know that I'm not) or that they are living in other communities outside of Denton.

Maybe the fact that we have a large population of college students living in Denton has something to do with how low our median income numbers are. I don't know. You would think that the Census Bureau would account for this though. Who knows? It is just a major shock to me and my roommate. Now we have to decide if we want to stay in our current complex or possibly pay more and live in another complex a little more out of the price range. I just seems a little unfair for those who are actually starting off in their adult lives and want to continue to live in Denton.

Maybe I should be complaining more to the City of Denton for not enticing other complexes that could cater to a customer such as myself. Yes, we have a lot of complexes already in Denton, but if you really look at a lot of them, nobody would really want to live in them. Ah, and that is another thing. Maybe I should complain to all of the management companies for not keeping up with their properties and making them appealing to people. Curb appeal says a lot. If it does not look good on the outside, that is definitely an indicator of what you will find on the inside.

I am still boggled by the income numbers for Denton. I just don't understand. Even if these incomes were for 2 people, they would still be too high for these low income complexes. There are a lot of variables and would be a good topic of study for somebody who needs an economic or business project...

What do you think of all of this? Post your thoughts below...