A long weekend doing nothing

I spend the entire President's weekend inside, at the computer working on class assignments. This isn't how I imagined a four-day weekend to be!

These on-line classes are very time consuming and if these weren't required courses I'd never take them on-line again. While Kevin enjoyed family time in Phoenix, I was under self-imposed exile. The cold winds didn't help much. We didn't get any rain, either, and the dogs were outside my office door bored. I didn't even walk them out in this wind.

Arab protests in Libya continue to spiral and gas prices are shooting up even more. I dread to see the latest prices in town. Some people are talking about $5 gasoline. That will spark riots right here in this country. Americans want everything as cheap as possible.

I have a road bike I could fix up and start riding into town...

Protests continue in Madison, WI concerning eliminating collective bargaining rights for unions, cuts in teacher benefits and state-wide cuts in many services. Now I'm reading that cutbacks are proposed in Indiana for teachers as well. Too many states are baffling with their deficits. Teacher pay here in Arizona can't get any lower than it already is, so I don't expect even more cuts for them here should these demands become nationwide. The governor already slashed cuts to education last month. Apparently a lot of Wisconsinites are upset that teachers had such high pay and benefits. According to some of my Facebook contacts, for some teachers the cuts in pay would amount to $10,000 a year as they will now have to pay more into their pension and health plans. That's one-third of the starting salary here for teachers.

And all this has me wondering...why should I become a teacher? Yes, I love the profession and I love mentoring younger people. The pay has never been my #1 reason and the workload can get intense. Having summers off is a big deal for me for travel and recreation but I'm seriously reconsidering a new profession as I enter the Masters Program within this year. I still have required math and science classes to take to fulfill the UA requirement (which never seem to end!)

Suddenly these classes I'm taken seem to mean nothing to me anymore. I know I have to get out of this slump. The classes I am taking right now are by no means useless, though, but there will come a point where I will tire of always having something to study for or research. I don't have much of a life when I'm sequestered behind a computer.

Another thing over this weekend is experiencing my first credit card fraud.
Three days ago I was notified by my credit card issuer that my account had been compromised. I went to check the latest charges on-line and sure enough, there were two charges dated 17 Feb totaling around $500. One was done from Australia and the other from Massachusetts. I spent my Sunday morning on the phone talking to a company rep: I had to close the current account to avoid any further charges. A new card should arrive today.Once the bank analysts confirms that I didn't make either of those charges, I should receive a refund on my account. Both fraudulent charges were still "pending" which will make the refund easier.

It's a sickening feeling to have one's account compromised. What if this had happened with me on the road somewhere? I went to my favorite shopping websites to cancel all accounts temporarily. Luckily I have a full tank of gas in my truck and won't need to gas up this week, but a few other items that I regularly have mailed to me from an on-line site all were canceled indefinitely.

Perhaps there is good news in this, though. I buy a lot of stuff that I DON'T need. I have more coffee stocked up to last me a year. I have coffee syrups to last me six months. Everything else is not "required" stuff and I can learn to live without. Maybe I'll end up like Kevin and become super-frugal...but that also has its downside.

Kevin had an enjoyable weekend i Phoenix. When he arrived yesterday around noon he went straight to bed to read his eBook, only getting up to use the bathroom or smoke. It rained the entire time there.

My little dove continues to recover. She got out of her cage Sunday morning and she's been free in the office now for two days, mostly sitting on my ceiling fan looking down at me. I don't mind her staring at me, but her butt is precariously positioned right above me.