That's the Pros for You

I walked out in the yard this morning when I let the dogs out and noticed that fall had arrived overnight. Several of our trees have begun to shed their leaves in earnest. And so it begins, The Battle of the Leaves, 2012.

Rachel is probably busier now than she's ever been in her life. I texted her Saturday morning around 9:30 and was surprised to get a response. She was up early studying. In addition to college, she's taken on a part-time job working as a CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant) with a local retirement facility in the city of Rochester. She'll be working three six-hour shifts per week (a .6 in medical jargon). She was trying to get some studying done before her shift later in the day.

Once again this year finds her filling roles as co-captain of UMR's Ballroom Dance team; student ambassador; student liaison representative for UMR (where she sits in on staff meetings among other duties) as well as serving as one of the coordinators for STLF (Students Today Leaders Forever). STLF is the group she's involved with that puts together spring-break trips across the country where they organize volunteer opportunities. They'll spend a week on a bus clocking thousands of miles as they complete their tasks. There's a lot of preparation that goes into it. Like I said, she's a busy person.

I'm not sure where she has time in her schedule to fit in the CNA job but she doesn't have much choice. She'll need around 1400 hours of medically related experience before she can apply to whichever Physician's Assistant school she decides on. Her hours spent as a CNA will count toward satisfying that requirement.

Did you purchase a TV, monitor or laptop computer that contained an LCD flat panel screen between January 1, 1999, and December 31, 2006? You no doubt answered 'yes'. You may want to check out this link (edit: it's no more) to see if you qualify and then add your name to the list of people who will be sent checks in the amount of at least $25 provided you're in one of the 24 states that participated in the suite. I first heard about this from a local news program. Apparently, there was a class-action suit against some overseas manufacturers who colluded to keep prices higher than they should've been. No receipt is required.

Being the sometimes political junkie that I am, I'm looking forward to watching at least a little of the presidential debates that begin this week. But I don't know why because all any of us will likely hear are just more of the same soundbites we've been hearing all along. What good is that, really? I'd much prefer an in-depth discussion of what led us into the mess we find ourselves today and what steps need to be taken to get us out of it. Will there be any talk of the lack of regulation in the banking industry and on Wall Street that created an environment where sub-prime mortgages flourished beyond the scope of any prying eyes? I seriously doubt it. Will there be any mention of Dodd-Frank and the need for even more regulation, not less? Doubtful.

Unless you're willing to invest a fair amount of time either reading about what happened or watching documentaries about it you'll have to settle for the likely misleading, slight-of-hand talking-points that barely scratch the surface of what happened and you'll remain woefully uninformed. For those interested, here's a four-part series Frontline recently did. It's a good place to begin.

Speaking of slight-of-hand, here's something that I find quite cool. Watch closely but watch it more than once because once just simply isn't enough to see what happens. I'd recommend at least 3 or 4 viewings to fully appreciate it if that's even possible.


Jauregui from Jacky Durand on Vimeo.

The translation is something along the lines of this:

The guy in the white mumbles "perfect" Kinda of like "not bad"
Jackie Durand says "did he just change bikes?'" " I hardly saw that!"
The guy in the glasses says "that's the pros for you"