Oh Happy Day

"Happy Birthday, Connie" said Kevin as I pounced on the coffee machine. Oh, yeah, almost forgot. I had something more exciting today to look forward to, and it was a nice birthday present.

I KNEW I was going to get called in today because teachers were going to take the day off to watch the Inauguration. Just to be prepared for this, I was up late last night reading a class assignment and showered at midnight. So when the first phone call came through at 5:40am I knew I was working today. Then the second district called which I had to turn down. I volunteered for American Government for Seniors. What better subject for today!

Weather was beautiful again, the second day in a row we had 50F morning weather. (It got to 78F in Tucson yesterday). This won't hold for long as a mean storm front is pushing in off of the California coast. The sunrise over northern Sonora was a bright red spreading across high cerrus clouds. What a view to drive into.

I managed to do in class what I would have done at home: watch the Inauguration live via television. Since I went to the Inaugurations of 1993 and 2001 --I lived in New Jersey during those years-- I was able to add some commentary, but today's event was simply history in the making. I wanted the students to see it.

One observant Senior was able to identify former Presidents Carter, Bush41, Clinton, even Senators John Kerry and McCain who all were in the VIP seating at the Capitol Building.

Most of the Seniors seemed more interested in talking about the Senior Prom and how the school district is no longer passing out free condoms for all participants because of the national controversy that old practice created last year. The national attention and subsequent press coverage embarrassed the local policy makers. The new school superintendent decided not to pass out condoms this year.

"I guess they don't care if Seniors get pregnant or catch some kind of STD" said one out-spoken Senior. The discussion quickly changed to teen sex. I mentioned how aghast I was when my own daughter came home one day and talked about a classmate who was caught giving head to two boys on school property. (This was at the Pacific Grove Middle School in California) The girl was expelled, the boys were not. Soon everyone in the middle school was talking about who gives head and who does not. One Senior boy told me I was from the "older generation" and that the newer generation doesn't frown on oral sex like us Old Folk do...I said no more. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1998342/posts

I didn't stay in Bisbee for long after work. There was no massive party in the Old Bisbee section and those who were playing music looked rather wasted. I read a few magazines at the library for a few hours and then drove home, ready to type my essays for tomorrow's class. There was an inaugural ball in town later that night but I didn't attend.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=61003

The not-so-good news is losing our Governor, Janet Napolitano to Homeland Security. Our new governor, Jan Brewer, seems promising though. She's a known fiscal conservative, someone I can work with. Our state deficit has grown now to $1.6 billion. I just hope she doesn't cater too much to the wealthy duffers who seem to keep moving to this state. She's already said she will cut back on the education budget to curtail the rising deficit.

Tucson and southeast Arizona tend to get ignored by Phoenix. (I would seriously recommend retiring duffers move to Florida where there is year-round green grass and where water is not a problem.)

I got a blister on my right ankle that got aggravated during the day. I hope that didn't get infected. I have a smaller one on my left big toe that's also a nuisance. I'm going to need Kevin to help me with walking the dogs for a few days.

http://www.svherald.com/articles/2009/01/20/news/breaking_news/doc49766ae4eefd0715100014.txt http://www.svherald.com/articles/2009/01/21/news/doc4976c069d12e0384292019.txt
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