Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Phone service, make that call!

Just a strange thing. Fairpoint, our phone and internet provider, had sent me and thousands of other customers a brochure offering to save me $20 a month for a year. I figured it was not worth my time because I was already getting one of their best deals. I could use up to 150 minutes a month long distance. No additional charge for local. There   was call waiting and voice mail. It was bundled with  internet access. What more could you ask from a provider that has no competition  in our area. They are in the driver's seat on this. No Verizon tower near enough for wireless, and no internet without Fairpoint either. I decided to waste my time and a call one more time. "Hey, ya never know!" as the lottery ad touts.
Come to find out, they don't even offer the plan I was on any more. I had what I had, yet they were not selling it any more. But surely, if I exceeded my 150 minutes, I would be nicked for .10 a minute over that. Yet, they were not going to simply change me to a new plan unless I called them first. Just keep paying the old price, and the old penalty.
So the new plan is $20 less, unlimited long distance (almost everything is long distance from here.) After a year, the price goes up $10. If I quit them, the only provider of service here, before the year is up, I have to pay them $99.
Funny, of all the useless calls I get from all sorts of nutty companies, one from Fairpoint would have been most welcome. And I urge all of you to check out the phone plans that were good five years ago to make sure they are still the deal they appeared to be then. No one is watching out for you except yourself. Caveat emptor!

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

March Madness: Notre Dame, what happened?

As "March Madness" envelopes the land, I try to rise above the fray. There are no teams or coaches that I particularly care about. Jimmer Freddette from Glens Falls, NY is one whom I like to keep an eye on. I sometimes look at the conferences to see how many teams from each make it into the sweet sixteen. There are two big east teams left, from a record number of eleven teams in the final 60 or so. Maybe that is the correct proportion. I would follow it more carefully for the first round if Siena made it to the big dance.
 
But I like Notre Dame, a big east competitor. Phyllis' Uncle Bart was a ND graduate in 1930 something. He watched and taped every game possible and often returned to his alma mater for a football game. He remembered the great ones, whom I have forgotten. The night he died, in his nineties, he watched ND win a close basketball game. I had  the pleasure  of watching the first half with him in the hospital. Phyllis and Pat were with me, and when it was time  to go home, Pat said to him "Do you mind if we leave/"  And he looked at them and then at me and said with a twinkle in his eye "He can stay." Of course that was not possible. So I guess I watch Notre Dame sports in his memory, knowing that where Bart is sitting now, he can do a lot more for his team, sometimes.

So I decided to watch Notre Dame enter the sweet sixteen for 2011. I think Bart fell asleep. I think the whole team did. The ball seemed to bounce into FSU players hands  whenever ND had it. The hoops seemed to elevate a foot or two whenever they attempted an inside shot, and beyond the circle.while the ball was in mid-air, magically, the hoop moved back a couple of feet producing an air ball. FSU jumped higher, shot way better, and outplayed the only team I was interested in (except Jimmer's team BYU). I lasted until one minute was left in the first half, and joined Bart in sleep. Maybe I was mad.

Monday, March 21, 2011

UN, Libya, US, quo vadis?

In the early 1960s, while I was living and going to school in Washington, DC, I happened to stumble into a Senate hearing at which Adlai Stevenson was testifying. It could have been a confirmation hearing for Stevenson to assume the ambassadorship to the United Nations. It was easy to get into hearings in those days. I was not fully aware of all the politics that were going on then. Some of those in the hearing included Senator Everett Dirksen and Senator Edward Kennedy. It was Stevenson who was in the lime light, and he relished it. He gave lots of reasons for maintaining membership in the UN and supporting the organization. Among the reasons were the police actions the UN had accomplished in many countries around the globe which were broadly supported by member nations, and which actions would have been impossible if the United States had attempted to do them alone. Participation in the organization made interventions possible because of the shared vision, workload and costs.

Today, the UN has endorsed an action in Libya to safeguard the citizenry there from the threatening vengeful ruler, Khaddafy. We can only hope that the benefits enunciated by Ambassador Stevenson many years ago hold true today. No one wants the USA involved in another war. People here and abroad are tired of America interfering in many other nations' affairs. Here, we ask, where does intervention stop? Why not march into other rebellions- Iran for instance? Do opposition leaders expect USA support and protection? Why Libya, and not another place? Who pays for it all? What guarantees a good outcome for the US?

I think I am glad for the UN to take up the cause of the Libyan people.I am sad that it comes down to arms as a method of solving the problem. I want the people to win, and live in freedom. I worry when bluster replaces real diplomacy. I believe in the latter. There are so many questions and concerns which result in confusion and uncertainty, and  I would like to see the US, the UN, and all parties get back on the right track.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Rah rah, St. Patrick!

Yesterday, I broke  open the box that contained decorations for "Holidays other than Christmas" and placed a few statues of leprechauns around the room, some candles with shamrocks and similarly enhanced napkins and paper plates on the table, and then began hanging some strings of shamrocks on the beams of the porch. It was a beautiful sunshiny March 16, and I began singing what amounted to St. Patrick's Day carols.

"Hail glorious St. Patrick, dear saint of our Isle,
on your dear sweet children bestow a sweet smile..."

Something like that. I looked around and Phyllis was laughing at my antics, and I realized that her experience in catholic schools was way different from mine. She went to Immaculate Conception School, whereas I was  privileged to go to the school named after the greatest saint of all, Patrick.

St. Patrick rocks. He drove the snakes out of Ireland, he tamed the heathen by picking a shamrock and explaining the inexplicable doctrine of the Trinity. But he probably did his share of tippling at the pub, might have tossed refrigerators or microwaves out the window to get rid of those evils. He was our hero, head and shoulders above others. He inspired raucous songs that bring people together and help us unite in the wearing of the green. What a guy!

What can you do with Immaculate Conception, or if you were unlucky enough to go to St. Peter's, or Paul's, or any of the others? Maybe look with wonder and envy as the real saint is honored, and his revelers rejoice!

Rah! Rah! St. Patrick!

Monday, March 07, 2011

Teacher, Unions, and Budget

With all the hubbub about breaking unions as the way to fiscal balance, and teacher unions in particular; with notions that these unions are protecting the weaker members; movement to eliminate the last in first out protection for long term employees;  I am glad that there are teachers' unions.
Good teachers are also protected by unions, and I would say there are more good ones than bad ones. Many good teachers stay for years in the same school district   because they were rightly evaluated and found to be competent and effective and granted tenure. They continue to grow and improve with age. They have built up a wealth of understanding about what makes kids tick. They have developed and continue to develop methods that help students learn. These teachers are often in the middle or near the top of the pay scale.
Without protection, they could be eliminated, replaced with new teachers, and the cost of education plummets, until these new teachers get up onto the pay scale in a couple of years, and they in turn could also be fired. The students would have been denied the expertise of the seasoned teachers, and would be in the hands of the untested, inexperienced group.
Administrators seem to indicate that tenure is unbreakable, and so incompetent teachers cannot be fired. That is not true. It can be done if the administrators make the case and follow the procedures. Is it easy, no. Is it possible yes. Perhaps instead of berating teachers and their unions, it would behoove the people in charge of education to do their jobs as they evaluate, grant tenure, set standards, and exercise other responsibilities in helping our students to learn. 

Add to the list on which everyone is evaluated, administrators, board members, teachers, students- did he or she encourage and support or try new ways to teach and to learn. That is the bottom line we should be looking for in our schools.