Politics and My day job

Was watching the State of the Union and took some notes...

Obama: Science and Technology has twice as many openings as we have workers who can do the job...at a time when there are millions of Americans looking for a job.... "it's inexcusable, and we know how to fix it."

Obama brought up Jackie Bray, a single mom from NC who was laid off...she had a job as mechanic. Then Siemens opened a gas turbine factory in Charlotte, NC. Siemens partnered w/ Central Piedmont Community College to help them develop a curriculum to get those skills to provide the actual type of training necessary to help run the plan. Also, the company helped to pay tuition.

Obama's challenge: "join me" to train 2 million Americans with skills that will directly lead to jobs.

What does this have to do with my day job? Everything....it aligns very well with one of my objectives on delivering real-world skills to high schools, community colleges and university students ....skills that we use everyday, skills my clients use everyday.

Vows

Our wedding vows - because I think it is important to keep them: 

Where you go, I will go,

And where you live, I will live;

Your people shall be my people,

And your god, my god.

Where you die, will I die,

And there will I be buried.

Your hands, are my hands, and my life, your life.

With these promises to you,

I Sunil, take you, Betsy,

to be my wife.

I will cherish our friendship

and love you today, tomorrow and forever.

I will trust you and honor you.

I will love you faithfully

through the best and the worst,

through the difficult and the easy.

What may come I will always be there.

As I have given you my hand to hold,

so I give you my life to keep.

Where you go, I will go,

And where you live, I will live;

Your people shall be my people,

And your god, my god.

Where you die, will I die,

And there will I be buried.

Your hands, are my hands, and my life, your life.

With these promises to you,

I Betsy, take you, Sunil,

to be my husband.

I will cherish our friendship

and love you today, tomorrow and forever.

I will trust you and honor you.

I will love you faithfully

through the best and the worst,

through the difficult and the easy.

What may come I will always be there.

As I have given you my hand to hold,

so I give you my life to keep.

                                                                                                                           

A

Sunil and I just had a great discussion about "Ahme...".  He thinks he's a leader doing great things to bring his country ahead.  I think he's got the potential for greatness....or evil.  My point: once I see that he's doing these things to truly better his people - i.e. build schools, roads, improve life, etc. - then I may change my mind.  20 years....we shall see.

Brave Ellie

This morning, I am sitting at the kitchen desk completing my homework for Org Behavior when I see Ellie run to the back door.  The screen is the only thing closed because Texas mornings are finally bearable. 

Through the screen I hear Ellie emit a deep growl - highly unusual for our face-licking, lap-sitting girl.  I turn to see only her back pressed as close to the screen door as she can get.  The fur along her spine, rigid, at attention.  My first thoughts are that the mean dog next door is giving her hell again.  So, "momma" goes to the door, steps outside and says to Ellie "Show me".  Sure enough, she cautiously pads over to the gate, looks through its bars and then back at me "Look, Mom, there it is."  Then I see it; I see the beast, the terrorizer of Ellie. 

The big gray cat.

What a wimp.

Life

So much has happened since 2010 began. We're engaged (February), I quit teaching and went back to school, we bought a house and moved in (July), Sunil got a major promotion...It feels like a pretty good year.

The whole wedding planning business is a lot of work, but it is the most fun "work" I've done. It's stressful - I've gotten a little overly irritated at dumb things - but a great distraction from the other work stuff I have going on (Principles of Marketing and MicroEconomics). Just about everything has been booked and decided on. So the weight is beginning to lift, and my focus is finally able to shift towards other areas of life a little bit more. :)

Now we just have to fix up the house a little bit: paint the outside (I have to pick that today some time, YIKES!), paint the inside, rework the kitchen, landscaping and some electrical stuff. Hmmmm....can it all be done before the end of September? I think so. But maybe I'm just being optimistic.

Premonition

Saturday night/early morning I have a dream, a nightmare really.

I am driving down the road (around 635 and Midway area) when a car on my left is slammed by a car careening from my right. I, like all the other cars around me, slam on my brakes. "Are they okay" "Oh my god!" - thoughts pummel my mind.

A glance to the rear view determines my fate - BAM! My car is crumpled by a large truck from behind. Single driver.

Darkness.

I wake in the hospital. Sunil at my side.

"They did a test to determine the driver of the truck."

I weakly look at Sunil for the answer.

"It was T.O."

A sigh releases from my lips.

"I promise, I'll take him off of your Fantasy Football League. I can't stand him for what he did."

Weakly, I nod.

Dream ends....

Sunday -

"Hey, Bets. I think your team is gonna lose this week. T.O really sucked this week and screwed you over."

No kidding.

A sense of community - through food.

Mom and I have been trying to figure out just the right weekend for her and Dad to come visit (it's been a while). Part of the conversation eventually pulled itself towards the ever-burning question of what to do in the evenings. Should we (Mom and Dad) come up on Friday or Saturday? If it's Friday, then what will Dad do during the day? Golf. With whom? Hmmm....

Ok. Let's come Saturday. Afternoon.

Perfect.

Ah, but where to eat? Have drinks? What type of food? Oh, the questions never end.

The funny thing is, when Mom comes to visit on her own, there is rarely a question. Red Wine. Pasta. With Italian sausage-flavored turkey meat. And some garlic bread. The biggest question usually looming for us is - which movie to watch and when to start cooking. Dad would (and sometimes does) disapprove of our homebody-ness. But we like it. It opens us up for all kinds of cooking conversation.

And isn't that interesting...the act of cooking opens us up to this ability to discuss things we normally might not. I don't think it's too far from fishing or driving. When our hands are busy, our minds are able to divulge. It is the time to bring us back into our fold.

It reminds me of my family. Both the women and the men. Thanksgiving - the aunts - cooking in the kitchen. Christmas - the aunts - cooking in the kitchen. (Oh, my mom is included in "the aunts") Summer - the men - grilling on the patio. Early Autumn - grilling again.

What is it about family and food? Why do we so strongly tie ourselves together?

I ask these questions, knowing the answer. Communal. We allow ourselves the opportunity to give to each other in a nourishing way. We feed each through conversation, recipes shared across generations and families. We feed each others' health. We grow together - in more than one way, I suppose.

So I ask - beyond the obvious socialization answer - why do we always insist upon "taking you out to eat"? What happened to cooking a meal for each other and sharing in a communal meal? Who decided it was better to take someone out rather than take the time to prepare a meal together?