One Wonders how safe our kids really are at school

I am talking about the incident today at Riverview High School where my son and Kat's sons attend. There was a report of a suspect with a gun on school premises.


SARASOTA - The Sarasota County Sheriff's Office is investigating an incident that occurred today at Riverview High School in regards to a report of an individual on campus armed with a handgun.
A student reported having a conversation with a male subject while on campus during which the subject displayed a handgun that was tucked in the subject's waistband. The school was put on lockdown at approximately 11:50 a.m. and a thorough search of the campus was conducted however the subject was not located. At approximately 1:10 p.m. the campus was put into limited lockdown.
The subject is described as a white male, 17-19 years old, approximately 6'0" and 180 lbs with brown hair and some facial hair. The subject had a silver stud tongue piercing and two large hollow black rings within his earlobes. The subject was wearing a silver skull ring on the middle finger of his left hand. The subject was dressed in a black t-shirt with white skulls and black cargo-styled pants.

Did they say a thorough search? Here's my son's response: No one in his class was searched just some security officer opened the door took a peek and left. Hmmm

When did the parents find out? Well first of all Kat left a msg on my cell phone telling me what she had heard from her son Sebastian. I called Kat back and told her that I would call Jeff to find out what was going on. I could barely hear Jeff because the reception at that high school is shit. But at least I hear him say he was ok. Riverview's principal released an automated message to call every one's home at 6:00 this evening and the message was a joke. Chris answered the phone and just shook his head and hung up. And then looked at me and said "We have officially been notified of the lock down". WTF people? Why weren't the parents notified immediately? You know how most parents found out? Their kids calling them from their cell phones. You want to know why there was a cluster fuck at the school today and why the police didn't seem to have a clue? Because they didn't. Kat told me that when she got their to get her sons it was a fucking madhouse. Visit Kat's site because she has way more details than I do and she is so much better than I am with details.

Woot! Show me the money... NOT

So.. I am getting a 50 cent raise effective this pay check that I will receive on Friday. And I will then receive another 50 cents starting January 1st. No retro like I was promised 15 months ago. Ok... I need to go calm down...later

And the illness has spread....

Guess what? Oh come on now really take a guess. The whole damn family with exception to Jeff because that kid seems to have an immune system that kicks all virus' asses has now gone through the gauntlet. Chris and I both stayed home from work yesterday because we both had gotten what our lovely Katie brought home.

I am over it people. It never fails, I always catch what she has. Ok... can't stay on too long... gotta go:(

It never fails...

someone always gets sick during the holidays. This year it happened to Katie.
We had a wonderful feast and all and she kept up with everyone else in over indulging but at about 5am Friday morning she came running into our room crying that her tummy hurt and lo and behold she threw up right in the middle of our room.
Although she had more than a mere tummy ache, she was raging with fever too. A dose of children's Motrin and some water with a new change of pajamas and she was back in dreamland.
Daddy got to stay home with her. Luckily for Daddy he wasn't scheduled to be at work yesterday. *Bastard*
The kids didn't have school yesterday anyway and If I did not go into work "on the busiest day of the year for plumbers" I would not have been paid for Thanksgiving. By the way.... it wasn't busy at all. DAMN!!!!
She has been feverish off and on all day today so hopefully she just has a 24 bug deal going on. I so hope no one else gets it because I am usually the last one and I normally get it 10 times worse than anyone else. I think I am going to stock up on Vitamin C and Cranberry juice now so I can prevent this thing getting to me.

I am Thankful

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

I hope each and every one you have found something to be thankful for. I am thankful for:

1. My Family - without their love and support I wouldn't be striving to be better myself.
2. My Friends
3. My Job - although at times I complain but I am still thankful that I have one:)

We watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, a tradition in our home. Chris fried TWO turkeys (his bosses son wanted fried turkey this year so Chris volunteered to show his son how to do it) all the sides you could want:

Mashed potatoes,stuffing, green bean casserole, yams, cranberries,Waldorf salad, olives, deviled eggs and home made bread. Of course there was pies. Three of them: Pumpkin, Apple and Blueberry

None of my family fell asleep after eating but all the grandparents went home tired and wanting naps:)

This needs some serious thought.

I mentioned in October that I wanted to approach my boss regarding a raise that was promised me. Well, it was too hard to pin him down long enough to honestly talk about it without being interrupted by several people. Yesterday, he approached me. Not to talk about the raise but to convince me to go back on their company insurance. I opted out this time last year because the provider switched our plans to an outrageous Health Savings Plan. That means I would have to pay $6,000.00 dollars to have coverage but I would also had to meet my $4000.00 deductible first before any benefits kicked in. I could in no way afford that type of plan.
Needless to say I found a better plan for me and my children on my own. I only pay $265.oo a month and my co-pay is $35.oo across the board except for emergency room which is $100.00.

They have switched providers and they need 10 people to be on the policy in order to avoid divulging medical history. Coincidently they would have had enough people if he had not had let a tech go yesterday. So this was his proposition. He would give me a $2.10 an hour raise which would be exactly enough to cover the cost of including my children on the plan. They would pay my premium. My boss looked it at that he was saving me the money I had been shelling out every month for my own. I had mentioned that I was not sure I was comfortable with an HMO and due to my daughters ear issues I would not think it would be beneficial for my family to switch. I also went on to say that although I understand their situation with the insurance but that I could still use the raise since It is owed to me and retro.

I am not getting retro but instead an extra weeks vacation and a $1.00 an hour increase. He did not commit to that review over a year ago and in fact he was not apart of it. The Ex-general manager made that deal. I am not exactly happy with the outcome although it is better than nothing. They decided to put the office manager on their insurance (company paid of course) even though she is already covered on her husbands insurance.

Nothing is written in stone. I did request that he personally put it in writing and allow me to review it before signing the agreement. Personally apart of me wants the $2.10 an hour raise and an extra weeks of paid vacation. What do you think?

Damn has it been that long...

Why don't you people email me to remind me that I haven't posted since Tuesday? Geez... I need reminders all the time. The week goes by so fast and before I know it I am starting a whole new week. Sorry it's been awhile. School has taken priority and by the way it's going I have to start planning my week in advance and I mean to the minute. Otherwise I should just crawl in a hole and cower till the earth explodes.