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Cziltang wanders the trackless wastes in search of truth, beauty and personal enlightenment. He had tried to be self-sufficient, growing his own ideas, but they withered and died in the great intellectual drought that gripped the land in his youth. One day, as he gazed at the parched landscape around him, he realized that somewhere there must be ideas growing. Somewhere, rational discourse must still survive. Since that day, he has searched for a mythical land of fields and forests of living ideas. Now and again he finds a thought or two in the rubble of an occasional deserted outpost of civilization. Its a hard way to live and its not much of a life, but that's just how it is, out here in the Ratlands |
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Another Silly Season
link Well the Kansas Legislature is back at it, hence the term "Silly Season." Unlike other places, our legislature is only in session from January through May or June. There is a limited amount of time and a certain premium on not wasting time. We currently have issues like whether or not to re-write the death penalty law that was recently ruled unconstitutional, how and where we are going to come up with another billion dollars for school financing, as recently court-ordered (for a bit of perspective the State budget was 4.5 billion dollars last year and 62% of that was for school financing), taxation, roads, social services, prison beds vs. community programs and half a dozen other issues that will directly affect my wallet. Of course, the legislature hasn't done anything about any of those things, but they have managed to discuss whether or not we should have a constitutional ban on gay marriage. Oh goody. My tax dollars at work. Actually I have a bit to say about several of these topics (image that: me with an opinion...) but I've spent the evening writing a rather long essay for my work web site and I'm just annoyed enough about it that I'm unable to start fresh from my happy place. (I can't believe I just wrote that. Time to quit before I embarrass myself further.) by CziltangPosted: Thursday, January 20 2005 09:26:22 PM
Anniversary
link As of today, I've been with my current organization for 19 years. Pretty good for a temporary job. I actually went to work at my current outfit on what I thought was a temporary basis. I had been working in private halfway houses for about 6 years and I really liked the small environment where everyone who worked there could be pretty well informed about all the clients in the house. The biggest I had worked for had 25 beds. When I came to work at my current outfit as a probation officer, I had no intention of staying for any length of time. I specifically remember talking to some of the staff one night and telling them that although I sort of liked the job, 35 clients (and a 54 bed capacity) was just too big for my taste. 19 years later I am an administrator and we just finished expanding to 140 beds. We have more clients in a year than I worked with in the first 6 years of my career. I can no longer keep up with every client, but I do manage to get to know most of the interesting ones (including the woman who stuffed herself in a clothes dryer over the weekend because she wanted to feel warm and cuddly). As long as I'm talking about work, I might as well get this off my chest. I get absolutely infuriated with the social service organizations in the community. The things that (don't) get done in the name of "helping people" are absolutely incomprehensible to me. For instance: We have a client who has been with us for about a year and a half. A product of bad genetics and worse socialization, he pretty much functions like a 6 year old in a 24 year old body. He has no family. He can't hold a job. He was getting a little bit of general assistance, but every time he got the money he spent it all on junk food at a local convenience store (usually all at once). His goal in life is to get a job at a fast food restaurant because he would get a discount on hamburgers. If anyone should qualify as disabled, this guy should. He is completely unable to function out in the real world. Unfortunately, he scored 72 on an IQ test the last time he was tested (the cut-off is 70) so he doesn't qualify for disability. Meanwhile, we have a new client who had some brain trauma about ten years ago. He was diagnosed a mentally retarded due to brain trauma. He hasn't worked a day in the last 10 years. At his last disability review hearing, the brain trauma part was dropped, so now he officially receives almost $1000 per month for being mentally retarded. Oh yeah, did I mention the part about how he is going to graduate with a bachelor's degree from a local university this spring? I don't know whether I am more infuriated that my tax dollars are going to support an allegedly disabled individual who is about ready to graduate from college, or that the institution where I earned my degree is going to give one to a mentally retarded guy. by CziltangPosted: Tuesday, January 18 2005 08:54:00 PM
The Smile of Providence
link I've spent most of this evening listening to Rat Jr's Delerium CD and tinkering with the WinAmp visualization plug-ins. I haven't done this for quite a while. It just wasn't practical on my old computer. As I write this I'm typing in a minimal Blog window, running the WinAmp in desktop mode all around the Blog window. Fascinating stuff. All I can say is it is a damn good thing I didn't have a computer, CD's and WinAmp when I was young and stupid and smoking non-tobacco. I would never have left the house. by CziltangPosted: Monday, January 17 2005 10:38:06 PM |
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