Wednesday, January 24, 2007

You Think The State Of The Union Speech Hurt, Well...

I have found that the best way to treat lingering lower back pain is to have some dental surgery. Get a root canal and you barely even notice how painful it is to get out of bed or bend down to pick up a dropped pencil. Not to mention the percocets.

Babble is playing (poorly) through a bit o' pain these days, spicing up the rare colder-than-normal last month with some jackhammering in my mouth and the intermittent feeling of a knife going in at the base of the spine.

Not that you'll hear me complaining or writing any blog entries about it. No sir-ree. I admit it, I have a pain threshold below "low" and only a smidge above "nonexistent". I am and will not be a good candidate for any brave patient awards during the remainder of my increasingly pain-filled life.

Not wishing to be construed as gender-bashing in any way, I am, in short, quite bitchy right now.

Not that you should care, and I apologize if you have happened across today's blog entry expecting, uh, anything...anything whatsoever beside me pointing out fascinating insights like "root canals start to hurt a few hours after you have one". I know...blog award material that.

Before closing this pathetic entry in order to head off to work and a chance to inflict my sparkling mood on the middle schoolers of America, I do have an education question of sorts. I received some information about tonight's APS School Board Forum, namely that the small uptown room it is to be held in is "sold out" as it were, and that I won't be able to get in the door. Is this true? And more importantly, does this provide me with the excuse to not attend the thing, and instead lie on the couch watching Top Chef while under the influence (totally prescribed, of course) of percocet?

Seriously, any info on tonight's Forum shindig would be most appreciated. I would call APS to get details, but gathering information via APS is not one of the district's strong suits. In fact, even visualizing a scenario in which one tries to get info by calling APS puts a big smile on my face. And it's hurts to smile this morning. Gotta stop smiling. No smiling today.

7 comments:

NB said...

I got an email from one of the candidates who told me that the room only holds 60 people (and claims that was intentional; can you guess which candidate that was?)
I plan on getting there early but 60 people is not a lot. I wonder what they WILL do once everyone shows up.
I guess I could call APS...or someone over at the board.
*sigh*
I hope you get to feelin' better or at the very least, have good drugs.
:)

NB said...

I just spoke with Joe Escobedo (community relations) and he said that seating is limited in the room but they will have 50-60 more seats available in chairs set up outside of the room. (I'm not sure about the logistics of that.) He said they should have room for up to 150+ or more.
The earliest you can get in is around 5-ish but most will begin arriving around 6:30. It will also be broadcast live...
There ya go.
word verification is sclnod.
There ya go; it's a sign. lol

Anonymous said...

The room was packed for the forum last night, and people were sitting in the hall. They even had a simultaneous Spanish translator! It was supposed to be broadcast on APS's radio station, KANW-FM 89.1. The event was very efficiently run, but there were too many questions submitted by the audience to cover them all. Fortunately, I found out that we will have another chance -- there is another one next Wednesday. I don't know if it is only for (Highland's) District 4. Here's the info:

Highland High School Calendar

SCHOOL BOARD CANDIDATES FORUM in LECTURE HALL January 31, 2007 6:30-8:30 [pm]

http://www.highlandhornets.com/

4700 Coal Avenue SE
Albuquerque, NM 87108
(505) 265-3711 (Phone)
(505) 348-8503 (Fax)

jscotkey said...

Thanks for the information natalie/michelle. As I needed one more night to recover, I couldn't make it to last night's forum. I'm glad there's another next week...I should feel like something closer to a human being by then.

NB said...

You can watch it from the comforts of your sofa and heating pad this Saturday, 4:00PM, channel 96. Be sure to take your vicodin or percocet. (lol, for more reasons than one.)
It went about how I thought it would. Cynthia Jones was a no-show-jones. MacQuigg was the misguided conspiracy theorist who would do better if he just latched onto a school reform platform and kept his revenge/anger out of it.
Lucero spoke to the camera like a seasoned pro and constantly ran out of time. Edwards, who struck me as an intelligent guy, needs someone to tell him to stop speaking in metaphors because he really does have some good things to say. Nunez and Esquivel struck me as the only two who would actually get how to work with a budget and they understand the Board's role better than any of them. I'd be hard-pressed to pick between these two but I think, ultimately, Esquivel gave a better presentation. Vanessa Alarid was honest, straight forward, and a little naive about the whole thing. She was refreshing but I'd be worried she'd be eaten alive by good intentions. I thought Sanchez should have had a better thought process and presentation but he's more hung up on his past than his future. De Baca was frighteningly ignorant of the issues and should just keep volunteering at Rio Grande. Griegos was thoughtful and I think she could hang in and take on issues through her community involvement platform.
There's my assessment and I'm stickin' to it. The most telling part of the whole thing was who took notes, prepared for the questions, and actually LISTENED to the questions posed.
Be glad you stayed home. I was throbbing a couple of times and I haven't had dental surgery or an aching back.
Take care, Scot, from top to bottom. :)

Anonymous said...

Dear Folks:

Your Mr. Metaphor candidate here...John Edward. Yes, I have been told that for years...but I try and paint a picture with words so that people who have been out the loop can maybe picture what the situation is like or could be.

Per the comment about business knowledge. I am the only person with and MBA (Honors Beta Gamma Sigma) and who has profitably run a business for over 10 years....that is important. I have a finance degree and a real estate degree. The budget is $1.1 billion and the real estate is multi billion. I have that expertise. I also have the expertise in benefits. This constitutes about 30% of the fully burdened cost of compensation. No one else has this experience or knowledge.

I hope this clears some confusion. I am sorry if I left an impression otherwise of not knowing thise important areas, which the board will oversee.

I hope that we can get everyone to value life-long learning...until we do many the problems we face will continue as symptoms of the core problem that....we all do not value education and life-long learning.

John Edward
Your Education Advocate
jbedward1@aol.com

Anonymous said...

Yikes.

I am sorry I sent an unproof read blog. This is my first time to your site. I rushed myself and did not need to.
This is not a good reflection. Again I am so sorry for not leading by example.
Below is the corrected version.

John
Your Education Advocate
jbedward1@aol.com
505-450-2666

Dear Folks:

Your Mr. Metaphor candidate here...John Edward. Yes, I have been told that for years...but I try and paint a picture with words so that people who have been out the loop can maybe picture what the situation is like or could be.

Per the comment about business knowledge, I am the only person with an MBA (Honors Beta Gamma Sigma) and who has profitably run a business for over 10 years....that is important. I have a finance degree and a real estate degree. The budget is $1.1 billion and the real estate is multi-billion. I have that expertise. I also have expertise in benefits. This constitutes about 30% of the fully burdened cost of compensation. No one else has this experience or knowledge.

I hope this clears some confusion. I am sorry if I left an impression otherwise of not knowing these important areas, which the board will oversee.

I hope that we can get everyone to value life-long learning...until we do many the problems we face will continue as symptoms of the core problem that....we all do not value education and life-long learning.

John Edward
Your Education Advocate
jbedward1@aol.com