So...My Job

 After several false starts, misunderstandings, a serious miscalculation my new project has begun!

So to recap, I'm not called to be a teacher. It's not in me but it's my new project right and I'm determined to change the way we do fundraisers and combine it with an educational course. Altogether the district invested just over ten thousand dollars into my vision.

We have 13 new Anycubic printers to pair with the 4 printers from last year and one casualty of the school year last year. A Kaya Cast vacuum pump, smelter, and a kiln on backorder. You guessed it! We are going to create our own fundraising things.

The students start learning 3d modeling software. We advance to the 3d printer stage, in The Foundry (my rebrand from the Fablab) where we learn to use the Kaya and how to vacuum cast our own medallions and such! We will be able to work with the teacher directly or administration or district directly and custom create any project they can come up with and market it. 

Right now you have things like chocolate where you have kids that don't want to do it and hand it off to parents that dread it and bring it to angry coworkers that also might have to bring in their kid's fundraiser so they buy your kid's fundraiser. 

Why not have a student create a coin for example, could be a special ring, athletic medals, etc. with the teacher/coach/administration wanting the fundraiser? 

We can presale the coin, create that many to fulfill the orders, no wasted products, the kid gets a cut of the proceeds for the design, the school benefits on something that might cost us $2.00 at most to create if we make ten at a time. The fundraisee gets a brand new handmade by the fundraiser itself with 100% of the proceeds going directly back to the school. Make it a new tradition. Just one of at least a dozen ways off the top of my head we can use this for the school's and student's benefit! Eventually expand it to each of the other area schools. 

I'm sure there will be red tape and such but that's the ultimate plan for my Foundry. I can also say this has been exhausting. It's drained me, physically and emotionally and I drag myself home every night and can barely move for a while. Then I don't want to think for a while longer. Some of these kids have some solid futures ahead and some, I'm worried about. Phones have eaten their brains in schools. They have to be banned, there's no other way around it. 

Once the kiln arrives, at whatever future date that is, I'll get things organized and put where it's going to live! So things are out and not put up yet so a little chaotic there, kind of when you move and you're putting things around and organizing like that. It was all to be put together and tested before school started and you are up to date and we are several weeks into school with October next week and the breaks begin. 

They believed in that plan and have been nothing but supportive during this whole building process and all of the setbacks and unforeseens. It's a challenge and it's my new project. I don't know where it'll lead to but I know the growing pains have been intense! And again, it's exhausting but in a better way and leading somewhere! 

I just have nothing left after work, I mean nothing but when we get it completed and bug free, it'll be worth it!

The Revolution Started The Other Day

It was a few minutes after 6 p.m. Saturday and I had just come back from a delivery at Pizza Hut (yes, I drive for Pizza Hut and I also have one of the coolest jobs ever right now, I'll get into that in a minute) and my buddy from Nashville that I drove Spark delivery with before I tripped into being a teacher, had a crowd around him watching his phone. 

Trump had been grazed by an assassin's bullet, and then I saw the footage of the raised fist! 

And the mainstream media yawned because he lived. Let that sink in. No matter how much you hate them, it's not enough, not sure who said it, but that is the summation of the Uniparty. Just like the Cold War brought down the USSR, I believe the Uniparty's days are numbered. 

There's a groundswell of genuine change out there. It's been a lifetime of change but I mean, this feels like it's finally time for genuine change. There used to be civility in disagreement but it changed little by little, just like the proverbial boiled frog, the watertight corpse is now floating at the top of the churning water. 

How's that analogy? Try this one...

The left was more subtle in the day, moderate by any standard. But like those that become addicted to power, give them a fraction of an inch and they'll take over your culture and drive your country to ruin to maintain power. Do your own research, it's in front of you. 

The corrupt Uniparty is a combination of politicians, lobbyists, and media narratives directed by the Uniparty. It's orchestrated chaos for the most part. Push a narrative, create a crisis (sometimes they flop like the gas stoves, remember that climate narrative?) and that drives ad revenue. Ad revenue creates profit all around for everyone including dimocrat and RINO politicians who are always the roadblocks. 

It's changing now, the big money events like pride, the BLM riots, Antifa, Ukraine, and the IDF/hamas war. All of it became possible when President Eisenhower said, "Beware the military-industrial complex, when war became profitable, there will be more of it and we saw the cost of the last 20+ years, a disastrous withdrawal, and going to paying the taliban tens of millions per week of money we don't have. That is beyond disgraceful and I would hope that sometime in the past if real journalism had any integrity, they would do something about this and make it mean something. 

Make the sacrifice of these men and women who bear a weight so heavy we should be grateful we will never know the nightmares they have, make that mean something Uniparty. 

Saturday night we almost woke up to a different country and they should be on their knees, thanking Christ, the Sovereign God, and His Divine Providence that bullet missed. I don't think a lot of people would have slept that night and a lot of men that wanted to be left alone spoke up. The country would have been forced to change that night and even today things would be very fluid and events happening right now that I never thought we'd see. I never ever thought the people would finally catch on like they have. 

There is real change happening right now and I don't feel like I'm in the political minority anymore. The Uniparty has a real problem right now, they've finally added the final straw! Something about metaphors tonight, hhhmmm. They forced people too far to keep power by importing tens of millions of illegals to wreak havoc in the country, overload the system for votes, and finally kill the two-party political system ending our constitutional republic once and for all. 

Saturday changed things. I'm a taxi driver this summer with a well-established company here in town. Every passenger with whom I talk (some don't want to talk and I'm good with that too) tells me the same story. They can't make it anymore on what they are earning. Most of them have two jobs, and some like me have three (but for different reasons) they need all the money they can get, and I have the extreme luxury of boredom. 

Damn, just typing that out makes me think right now we don't need to Make America Great Again, we need to rescue America first. There are so many different factors but here is what the American Dream should be, live on one income with enough for a house, food, 2.7 kids, and various household pets over a lifetime with the freedom to go further and dream bigger all you want. 

That'll never happen again, but what can happen is all of the costs that artificially keep costs high like fictitious carbon taxes, the full stop on domestic production in our own very rich energy fields, unlimited funding for wars that don't concern us and are inching us closer to a very real nuclear exchange type of danger,  the destruction of the dollar through vast interest payments and the end of the world reserve currency status our economy will collapse. It's inevitable now and it won't matter who is in office when it does. 

(What matters is how you are prepared for it. Insulate yourselves by protecting your food supply, water supply, and freedom supply. Know your neighbors, have a plan so everyone helps everyone, remember The Twilight Zone episode The Shelter and you'll understand. Show them if they don't and then show them your arsenal in your safe. You don't have to show them how much ammo you have, they can assume that part. But offer them a solution instead just in case!)

If The Uniparty will try and change out Biden next, he just tested positive for covid today. As if that isn't a HUGE Red Flag waving over D.C. of something incoming. The Republican Convention has few RINOs this year, very few! That's the best news ever! More and more people are finally waking up to the real enemies:) They are living really hard lives right now and they know they don't have to, they know it's deliberate, they know it's cruel, and they know who's responsible. 

Patriots have finally been heard politically and the Revolution started a few days ago. 

It's a long progression and I don't want to go through it, I'm sure I was talking about it in this blog somewhere. I'm pretty consistent in my beliefs and when they change and evolve, I am sure I wrote that too, and this blog is over 20 years old and hopefully the culminating events of my political beliefs are on the horizon! A complete victory for my brand of conservative/libertarianism. 

(And yes, being a small-town taxi driver is pretty cool, I get to drive around town, listening to audibles (currently listening to the Convergence series by Craig Alanson, Ron Chernow's Grant and U.S. Grant's autobiography at the same time or chatting with the clients if they want, it's also an excellent fallback job if this teaching gig doesn't work out)

Vacation Time!

 Yesterday was a 1/3rd day really. Had to get some signatures, close my classrooms, get things squared away for the summer. While I have plans on creating a brand new classroom out of it and get new equipment and all. It's going to be amazing! It'll be a model program by the time I'm done! 

I've never had so much time off, this is like having a part time job with full time pay and benefits. Yes, I've got a meeting scheduled for Monday morning to get enrolled into two required classes so I can get a certification. I need to stay there five years to be vested in the pension. I need to get a certification in three. So...keep the good paying part time gig that I'm kinda allowed to create on my own or do something else. 

Monday morning is my first official day of vacation until early August. By June 1st I'll have four paychecks and five by June 20th. Crazy how the pay thing works but what it gives me is a ton of freedom. Yeah, I suck at budgeting but I am still a Spark driver and I could really do pretty well with three incomes. With it being option or whenever I want to, if I want to get something, pay something off, I can drive. Accomplish that goal, go home! This is a pretty nice place to be, it's a weird feeling. 

So Summer list of things to do. Raise twenty five thousand dollars to make a new classroom, new equipment, shop stock, and teach some skills that will let the kids make some extra money or a full time career if they put in the effort.  I mean what's the point of education if you can't apply it to making a living? See? I'm being all grumbly about going back to school for two classes but I know it's for the best because it'll directly effect my earning capacity right now. 

Second, maybe start learning Spanish while I'm driving. It would come in handy at school. But I really enjoy listening to Audible books, I am actually looking forward to that part of driving. I'm listening to two U.S. Grant biographies right now. First his personal memoirs, written while battling cancer and edited by Samuel Langhorn Clemens or Mark Twain. It's a masterpiece of literature. The other is Grant by Ron Chernow.

It paints a picture of a man that struggled with many things and was really pretty average throughout most of his life. He failed in many of his endeavors which he always hoped for a financial windfall so he could afford to move his wife and children to the west coast. 

What was to be one of the best events of his life that sat all of the other events in motion to happen that made him General U.S. Grant was disguised as one of the worst. I find myself identifying with him in many ways. He likely was one of the greatest presidents ever but had faults as many men do. He was the right man at the right time in history and our country was held together because of his actions. 

Yeah, I enjoy listening to novels and stuff while driving and this time there won't be any pressure on me to make a certain amout each day anymore. I can start driving and putting into my personal classroom fund for the overhaul and earn Play Money or Pay Things Off Fast Money, whatever I want...which will probably be Living on Money by the time late September rolls around. I know me. 

Coming Around to My Way of Thinking

 I think my daughters read my blog sometimes, I'm not sure. But I want to tell every one of you out there in Readerland (I always liked that old euphemism, or the like) that this is the exact same thing I would tell them in private as here and to you. This conversation between Dave Smith and Tucker Carlson articulates very clearly what my political beliefs have evolved to and as I've documented over the past however many years this blog has gone on now. 

I mentioned a feeling of something is coming. Something big but I couldn't put my finger on it but I was going to prepare for it. I'll have the freeze dryer within about six weeks now and I'll be able to prepare myself, friends, neighbors, and anyone that'll want or need help. Here is what is coming, the event or events that will make the citizens awake to the fact that every politician is corrupt. We are the pawns of the Uniparty, their personal tax generating machines and it's actually our system. 

We don't like how they are running our system anymore. So whatever event that is that makes citizens martyrs and patriots and decides that the governed is no longer consenting, that is what is coming. I don't know what it is, it could be tomorrow or twenty years from now. But what I know and am preparing for is to insulate as many people as possible from the DC madness. Being self reliant is excellent insulation. 

The more rural the better, the more survival skills the better. Have access to fresh water and a food supply, the rest is comfort. 

Now the conversation. I agree with a lot of it. I do point out that hindsight is really easy and this conversation takes out a lot of societal shifts of that time that lead to how we currently are now. Context is always important and there were a myriad of reasons for everything but the fact remains is simply this.

Don't rely on anyone else if possible, take care of those you can, do your best for everyone else. Be authentic, that's the shift people. We are seeing through the lies you are seeing all day long and disconnecting from that will be essential someday. 

I hope nothing ever happens and I find a way to enjoy a second retirement and so do my great great great grandkids. They get the fun stable childhood I had, people around the world can enjoy the same promised freedoms as our Constitution guarantees, and we all wake up. There's no one coming to our rescue if we fall. They will only dance on our graves. Yes I know this is kind of dark and I apologize but just have a plan. Please. 

Last Week

 It seems the past few years my life has revolved around some kind of countdown. From when Thing 2 was in Japan, and then Korea. The countdown to finish college and grad school. The big one which was the big retirement countdown! Now the last day of school in which the entire school year is a countdown to one thing or another be it Fall Break, Spring Break, or the last day of school.

Yeah, I'm 90% sure I'm going to try over the next 2-3 years and get a teaching certificate. I have to take two courses then pass an OSAT test on Art of all things. Like I know art....I know some kinds of art like painting things from jets to models I print and paint. That's not the type of art they want me to know about. They are talking more about the history of art, techniques, styles, etc. 

Yeah, all the stuff I don't know and most people don't. Which is why you go to college to learn this stuff. 

Some studying and I should be able to pass it, I tend to test pretty well. 

After school is out I won't have to go back until sometime in August. However, that's not the plan. The plan is to take everything in the lab that can be moved into the hall and thrown away or sold and get good equipment for resin printing. I've been excited about introducing a logical next step to 3D printing and that's jewelry making. I want the students to be able to make their own class rings or at least teach them the skills so they can do it on their own someday and make their own side money with them. 

I'm all about empowering the kids to make a living with the skills they can learn. Right now I'm tired. The other teachers told me that you'll be worn out by the end of the year and especially the last week. I didn't believe them, it's not been a physically demanding job but it is a job and it takes patience, attention, and lots of keeping track of things. 

Five Weeks Left

 I've never had a job where I get this much time off work. It's crazy! 

I even earned 2 flex days by going to this mandatory waste of time training a while back. I haven't taken a day off yet, there's no need. I got so much time off and I'm about to get about two and a half months off!

This job is really pretty good! My mentors tell me the first three years is the hardest while you get things figured out. I think I've got a good handle on it now, I try to keep my classes relaxed and student driven with my direction. That's the goal next year! 

I need between 12-15 Anycubic Photon Mono M5s Pro printers, PCs to design on, a couple of large wash stations, and we are rolling! I want to add a lost casting system to the advanced program and I want to make it for juniors and seniors only so they can make their own class rings and such if their family doesn't have the money for it. 

Then...well I can't imagine another high school doing that. I'm the first to tell people I got no clue how to teach BUT I am really good at making a living and relaying those skill to the students. I am dead set on teaching them how to take these very simple skills, add in some creativity, and how that translates into earning extra money for themselves and something that can be scaled to making a full scale living for their family. 

Outside of Vo-Tech courses, show me one that can do that in the public school system...

I have a program that can legitimately support itself and contribute financially to other programs in the school when it's fully implemented. No one likes the stupid chocolate fundraisers with unmotivated kids, parents that bring it to work, and all of that for less than 50% of what you sell. Forget that. I can do better and this summer I'm going to get this program built. 

I'm going to clean out the whole room, streamline it, organize it, and this program is going to soar next year!

I've Always Felt It

It's strange to feel too. The strange deja vu from time to time. The vivid dreams that fill my nights and give me endless amounts of insomnia. The feeling of something coming. Something in the future that isn't here yet but is unrelenting in its travel and destination. 

Perhaps it's an extension of 80's Cold War paranoia preparation culture but it's real. Not just for me either. I firmly believe that there is a great many people that feel the same, something is coming because our country and culture cannot survive living like this. 

Our corrupt politicians have bankrupted the country for personal gain. It's Super Bowl Sunday right now, the Chiefs and the Niners are going to kick off soon and the country will watch. This distraction will keep America entertained while the world burns. Normally I'd be watching right along and enjoying the event. 

I can't. I've got a purpose. I've got to prepare. I want you to prepare.

Here's how. 

Food preservation. We can't do much about gas, water, or electric but we can concentrate on food for survival. If you have a garden, you're ahead of the game. The past couple of years I've seen up close and personally how fragile our supply chain is. I've shopped or delivered over 2500 runs for Spark. The pandemic changed everything. Now just the hint of bad weather will fill the stores with shoppers trying to provide for their families because they are unprepared. Our food supply is perilous, don't bet your future on it.

I don't want that for my family or friends. I want us to be prepared. I want YOU to be prepared as well.

Learn about bushcraft. Learn basic mechanical skills. I don't expect you to rebuild a 350 but knowing you can will benefit you. Learn to shoot, learn to shoot accurately in any condition. Learn to handle a knife, an axe, anything you think may help you later on.

Buy a freeze dryer. You can buy freeze dried meals already but the cost of a new or used freeze dryer will pay for itself in a very short amount of time. There is plenty of price comparisons out there to judge for yourself. Get to know your neighbors, help them prepare too. Tell your friends, family, anyone you don't want to see starving in a few years. 

Food is sky high now, wait a couple more years when the climate change terrorists clamp a stranglehold on food production because of co2 or anything else they say will be a problem. If that living cadaver John Kerry gets his way or that idiot Greta that dropped out of school instead of actually learning science and stuff then they firmly believe that the planet is over populated. And guess what? You are not the elite they intend to protect and save. 

Good food will be expensive or scarce. If the climate crazies get their way, and they might, it could be a luxury eventually. Be at the mercy of events outside your control or prepare yourself. I live in a state that every 5-10 years we get a storm that will take our power out for a day or more from damage. I plan on going on several solo camping trips and a supply of freeze dried foods take up little space and have little weight. 

Start freeze drying soups, meats, vegetables, fruits. Learn about it, it's affordable now to get a freeze dryer in your home now. One company called Harvest Right. Look into them. YouTube is your friend for research on this. Figure out your own system to helping your family and friends. Maybe every couple of weeks full day of food prep with everyone together and then again for the storage preparation. It can be a fun event, you are investing in your future wellbeing. 

This isn't politics, this isn't liberal vs. conservative. More realistically this is the ruling class elites vs. you and your family.

What are you going to do?

For me and mine, I just told you.