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grtmtnchic

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Everything posted by grtmtnchic

  1. grtmtnchic

    Gas prices

    wow, what an intelligent reply they suck ass because....?
  2. grtmtnchic

    Gas prices

    One word: BIOFUELS Better for your car Better for the environment Better mileage Widespread availability at the pumps in Washington and Oregon Non-foreign source of fuel We should all be buying diesels...today (myself included, as I drive an old gas-fueled blazer that gets maybe 14 miles/gallon on a good day) check out www.fieldsoffuel.com or the book Biodiesel America.
  3. The union I paid dues to for years was totally useless. When I actually needed them on 2 occasions they did NOTHING to help me. I was optimistic when I first joined, went to the meetings, tried to be involved, then I saw what a powerless, stupid, money-wasting thing it was. I was more powerful on my own than under the protection of a union when it came to employment issues.
  4. It's not all the education system's fault. A lot of my students' parents spent their daytime hours either drunk or at the casinos, so you know there's not a lot of positive reinforcement at home. But this isn't a thread about our culture, so I'll leave it at that. All I really wanna say is a little hard work never hurt anyone!
  5. I think the one kneeling was my biology professor at CU Boulder!
  6. If a given skillset won't generate a return sufficient to generate any profits (Help: Total Comp/Hour = $20. Labor value added/hour = $10. Operating loss from labor/hour = $10), how do you propose to fund the said benefits and wages. In reality. Here. Now. Yes, see, this is a lanuage I understand. I worked in a public elementary school for a year and the inefficiency drove me insane and forced me to move to higher ed. I kept thinking that if only we could have the students be generating a product(s) AS part of the learning process, the schools could actually afford good teaching supplies/aids/experiences and - hate to say it - more competent teachers! Everyone would benefit. Except for the slacker teachers who would have to find jobs better suited to them.
  7. grtmtnchic

    Sexy Time!

    In most stereotypes theres a grain of truth. As for the dating guys without money, didn't you mention you had been dating climbers lately? Ha-ha-ha...good one! Yeah, good thing I quit dating climbers...now I can get some free dinners!
  8. My only real problem with the situation is the inefficiency I have witnessed in the gov't and education system. If they were run like businesses, the quality and efficiency would go up. But perhaps then there wouldn't be jobs for a lot of the slackers I used to work with in gov't...they didn't do anything, so they'd get cut. Or they'd get the kick in the ass they need to be productive. I just saw so many people who did nothing all day, contributed nothing, but soaked up a good paycheck and great benefits. How does that benefit society?
  9. There was only 1 climber I worked with - a very cool chic, and she'd probably agree with all of this. And I've barely begun to reveal the secret inner-workings of the gov't....but a lot of the same kinda shit goes on in the private sector. I worked in SF during the "dot-com" boom...talk about wasting money!!!! That was amazing...but it was investor money rather than taxpayer money which makes a big difference.
  10. Ha-ha! Pretty much. But those eastsiders have to pay for Seattle's problems as well....just your basic dysfunctional family. We'll open a big can of worms if we get into this one.
  11. Oh yeah, and gov't wages are the same accross the state, regardless of local equivalent wages. So a public employee with a real cost of living in Seattle makes the same as a public employee living in Yakima where the cost of living is a fraction of Seattle's. Is that right? The whole system needs to be overhauled.
  12. The list of positions affected by that FY "adjustment" was pages long. My personal experience is limited to higher ed, and most of the positions affected were specialized, like childcare center workers, lab technicians, etc. Maybe in Seattle they could "jump ship" to better paying jobs prior to this increase, but a huge percentage of gov't employees are in cities with depressed economies (I'm from the eastside of the state). The best employer BY FAR is the gov't in most smaller towns. People rarely jump ship from gov't jobs in eastside towns, not without a really strong reason.
  13. yawn - the demand for services is rather constant, no? Or in the next recession should we just stop having a legal system? I think that easing off of the auto-COLA's, brining employee health insurance contributions in line with those that prevail in the private sector, transitioning to defined contribution plans instead of fixed pensions, tying compensation in manual/clerical and all other easily replaceable positions to private sector averages, eliminating promotion based on seniority, making the process of elminating poor employees more efficient, etc would provide for better services in good times, and make the need for either higher taxes or service cuts less probable in recessions. Keep pretending that civilization will collapse if the Document Specialist 4's actually make market wages, pay for more of their own health care, earn raises instead of having them granted automatically, etc though if you need to.... I'm with you on all of this. However, supposedly all positions are analyzed and their payscale is set to equal private averages. I'd really like to know who does that study, however, and whether it looks at hourly rate or total compensation. Last fiscal year, some positions saw 25% pay raises!!!!! to bring them UP to the private average. A whole slew of positions saw pay increases in the 12-25% range. It was unbelievable. I have a really hard time believing the justification for that took into account total comp.
  14. OK, Jay, how about we limit this discussion to the "change-makers" and other similar clerical/manual/menial positions...there are too many exceptions otherwise. I'm with you on that level of employee that their total compensation package far exceeds anything they could get in the private sector.
  15. Well, I agree with your argument as far as the types of jobs you mention (clerical, manual, etc.), BUT there actually are a lot of "highly skilled" positions that are local, state or federally funded, like in higher education. Beware of making such a broad generalization.
  16. cost of living and health insurance! OMFG! you want competent employees you have to pay for them. cut wages and benefits, people leave and it will end up costing you more to do less Have to say, after being a gov't employee for a long time, there's a lot of INCOMPETENT gov't employees (not me, of course) soaking up all those good benefits and pay increases. The system kinda needs an overhaul - such as merit pay increases to replace blanket COLA's. The health insurance for gov't employees is a really sweet deal! Too sweet? Well, I'd be the last one to complain. From what I've witnessed, once someone's in the gov't system it's really hard to get rid of them, regardless of how incompetent they are.
  17. grtmtnchic

    Sexy Time!

    Very interesting, Rob. And I agree. I don't believe in marriage - it's a faulty institution with unrealistic expectations - and people get married for mostly the wrong reasons. Marriage was begun as a way for the church to assert reproductive control. There's about 1 in 10 marriages of people I know that make me want to ever be married. The other 9 in 10 make me SOOOOO happy to be single. And I've never had a guy NOT cheat on me! Probably why we both have such strong opinions here. jeebus, you people have a rough time choosing other halfs. And when you boil it down, the problem with most people and most marriages is that a lot of people plain suck. Aww...I think I may have exaggerated a bit - there were a few bf's that didn't cheat. I'm just bitter from the last 2 "truth-challenged" dipshits! Certainly there are lots of good people out there. And I think the problem with a lot of marriages is that people don't suck enough
  18. grtmtnchic

    Sexy Time!

    I have little ground to speak from as I've never been married, but it seems it takes 2 to make a marriage work and there's all kinds of compromises and submissions partners make. People choose to stay with partners who don't love them (or who they don't love) and cheat on them for so many reasons - it's called co-dependency. I hate witnessing it. Pisses me off. I think she's stupid, but I shouldn't judge. And he's a dipshit.
  19. grtmtnchic

    Sexy Time!

    That's because men pay for it in one way or another, it's either dinners and movies or cash withdrawls, either way there's a paper trail. That is such bullshit! That's a stereotype...or I just date guys who never have money. Ok...maybe that's it! What was it those prostitutes made - $5K/hour...seriously?!
  20. Absolutely! Looking good, John. Again, glad you made it out there.
  21. grtmtnchic

    awesome!

    kinda like football? Ha-ha-ha!
  22. grtmtnchic

    awesome!

    ...you're almost saying the same thing. A state of wonder and amazement is desirable. Minx was inspired by this achievement - she tapped into it - that's great. Having that feeling continually, tapping into the wonder contained in more mundane things, well that's great too. Impressed, inspired, bewildered...all semantics, and all good. I see your point tho', SC, about the "danger" of being impressed by a single act...there's a lot of ego involved in that. Is it really wrong to find some moments more amazing than others tho'?
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