Just Names on the Payroll

          I still like the feel of a book in my hands rather than having to constantly refer to the screen and "turn" the page by pressing next or arrow.  When the library had the book sale back in October and November, I found an accounting book that was in great condition - but it was from 1979.  I picked it up anyway. 

          Thus far I have taken two accounting classes and am now on my third and so far my outdated book has been compatible to my first two courses.  I obviously hadn't taken payroll or taxes into account.  Guess what my accounting focus is on for this class?

          The government laws are constantly changing.  This tax is taken out for this purpose, that tax for another.  We no longer have just FICA and SSN - now there is IRCA created in in 1986, FMLA created in 1993, PRWORA created in 1996, the list goes on and on.  I don't know that I'm expected to memorize every initial and reasons for the organization for this week - but I'm certain I'll need to understand them all before I get a job doing payroll.  DANG!

          I'm trying not to take these laws personally and actually have a better understanding of WHY I had taken that history class.  Our last discussion post was on the topic " Equality vs. Equity".  I wrote the following:

        "When I first saw the topic Equality vs. Equity, I was confused as I was looking at equity to mean: "the value of the shares issued by a company" rather than " the quality of being fair and impartial"  Sadly, it was the antonyms that further helped me to understand.

        "Several thoughts have entered my mind since Saturday when I started reviewing for this upcoming discussion, including topics such as the education system, the school's meal program, or a continuation of my "soapbox" from last week's discussion [a post about Political Freedom in which I questioned the words “All Men are Created Equal” written at the time of slavery - thus not applying to ALL men] , but I have since decided on a topic that I picked up from 60 Minutes last a night.

        "According to Community Tool Box, about 18% of the American population has some kind of disability.  In 1990 a law was passed which enforces businesses to comply with stipulations enforcing guidelines for wheelchair access (CTB, 2016)

        "The 60-minute feature took Anderson Cooper to different business locations that don't seem to meet the guidelines here. Many of these businesses were being sued because they were not actually up to code of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

        "For those with disabilities, I think that the act is more of equity than equality.  There are just some differences that will [never make us equal]. We need to embrace those differences and not discriminate or bully. I think equity is better than equality especially if we constantly fight in the name of "equality" if we are looking to be cookie cutter images of one another. I like what makes me unique.

        "We can share our talents and learn from one another.  Equity is a good thing - but can also be taken advantage of."

Bibliography

60 minutes (2016, December 4). What's a "drive-by lawsuit"? (A. Cooper, Interviewer)

Section 4. Ensuring Access for People with Disabilities. (2016). Retrieved from Community Tool Box: http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/implement/physical-social-environment/housing-accessibility-disabilities/main "

          I now have two chapters to read for my accounting class, and really am trying to read with an open mind.  This morning I believed I would be wading through a lot of jibberish that I wouldn't fully understand and would put me to sleep. By noon it seemed to be doing the opposite- stirring up emotions which I know I should not allow to rise to the surface, and yet they have.  Instead of taking a nap, I am riled. I am livid, even sad.  All these "governing rules" or stipulations is what has been flushing our economy down the toilet.  Well in part anyway.  Or at least that is my opinion.

         It has been suggested that employers use a payroll system – someone outside the company who specializes in cutting checks.  I think it would be a lot easier to work for one of those companies cutting paychecks for people that you don't know rather than follow all the "governing rules" on your employees'' paychecks knowing that skimming just one or two dollars from every tax or deduction it will take food off his table.  It would be much easier to do payroll when the names are just names and there is no personal attachment.

          Roland has always been able to separate personal from business.  I can’t even separate my class discussion or material without personality.  How the heck would I ever be able to do a job?  It’s funny how often I have stressed out over assignments or classes and have ended up doing well – as if all that emotion had been unnecessary and wasted.  I hope that is the case now.

        I’ve had an option of reviewing videos in addition to the manual of each course thus far.  This course doesn’t have any cool videos – or even lame ones for that matter.  I have no choice but resort to the book, the power point outline of the book and my instructor’s lecture – which is a bit more helpful than trying to analyze the text myself, but still . . . I want a video that will teach me and make me smile.  As of now, I’m really not doing a whole lot of smiling. 

Majestic Beauty

I LOVE the way the sun glistens through raindrops right after it rains.  I have tried several times to get pictures of what I see with my naked eyes - but it isn't always what the camera lens captures.

Just before the first meeting started for Church yesterday, I looked out the window and saw many drops hanging from a tree and though the branches are brown, they seemed a brilliant white as though frosted in snow.  The sun glistened over the tree and through the drops resembling so many interpretations of Lehi's tree. 

I tried to photoshop something similar to what I saw.  I failed.

I attended a Sunday School class and the instructor talked about his love for waterfalls.  They really are awesome.  Most all forms of water are:

Cable Cars and Thesauruses

Thesauras -  a book that lists words in groups of synonyms and related concepts. 

 synonyms: wordfinder, wordbook, synonym dictionary

          Of course, Jenna and I haven't been able to celebrate every "Every-day's-a-holiday" holiday.  We knew that before we had purchased the calendar.  Many holidays we won't be celebrating still.  Take "tempura day" for example.  I had to look it up as I didn't even know what that was.  Jenna was not all that happy to learn that seafood was involved.

          Monday was "hot and spicy day" and  I had jokingly asked my tomboy,  "How will you celebrate today?  Will you be posting a picture of yourself wearing something hot and spicy?"  That look of disgust on Jenna's face and her revolted reaction made me laugh.  How could I have even thought such a horrid thing?  Not a pretty picture. Not funny, MOM!

          Roland made a goulash that was perhaps a mild spicy.  It was definitely hot when he served it.  I thought it was good, but she refused to touch it - although her lack of desire to try the goulash did not give off the same reaction as wearing a hot & spicy outfit.  She is also grossed out when Roland and I kiss in front of her.

          Yesterday was cable car day.  I remember riding the cable car in San Francisco.  I'd ridden as a youth as well as an adult. 

The apartments in the background look similar to the ones where Grandma lived

 According to Wikipedia, the San Francisco cable car system is the world's last manually operated cable car system but this site lists Venice, Tampa, Las Vegas and Milan - which doesn't necessarily mean that they are the same type. 

          Cable car is known by other names such as trolley, tram and streetcar.  I don't know if I would have included tram except for the this video

 - cars hanging on a cable. 

          When Jenna returned home from school yesterday, I sat her down to watch this videos as well as the above

          She asked about the fares, which I was unable to answer yesterday, but did find this in my research this morning.  I also found this post from 2012;  and here's a fun one to watch dots on the map indicating the routes

          So we have at least two different types of cable cars.  I suspect the hanging cable is now the most popular though there was a time when the nation (or certain parts anyway) seemed lined with cable cars and trolleys.  I know they existed in downtown Salt Lake at the turn of the 20th century.  Salt Lake Tribune featured photo galleries (here and here ) on what used to be.  I had also expressed comments about the tracks in this post

no railroad ties, but some of downtown still has this snakey outlay of rails

          Here is just one shot of the tram seen in Portland. 

           I wanted to give credit to the photographer (as it wasn't me) but every time I clicked on the page or picture, I would get an error message.

          I have a VT companion who has ridden on one of the trams.  She was freaked.  I think it would be awesome to view Portland up from the air like that - but from my understanding, they are used for transportation from hospital and health centers - like extended elevators.  That was why she had ridden in it - to get from one building to another due to medical reasons.  I's called an aeriel tram (see here)  I don't think it's referred to as a cable car, but as you can see, it is on a cable.

          Today is Thesaurus Day - which "celebrates the birthday of Peter Mark Roget, author of the first modern Thesaurus.  He was born on 18 January 1799 in London, and studied medicine at Edinburgh University.  Roget retired from medicine in 1840, and spent the rest of his life on ‘Roget’s Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases’, a dictionary of synonyms".  This helped him with his depression.  I found this article as I was searching the definition mentioned at the beginning of this post as I did not accept Jenna's imitation of a "grammar dinosaur"

          Jenna hasn't ever been all that fond of poetry except for Mirror Mirror (here and here) and song lyrics mostly.  She doesn't care for her English class and though she was an eager learner while we were living in Kearns, she somehow has become dulled with the idea of being educated, thus the last two holiday "celebration" have not been greeted with great enthusiasm.

         

          There was a nearly overflowing waste basket under the sink and thus I went around the house and collected from every other waste basket or trash can and went outside to roll our can to the curb as today is garbage day.  When I returned to the house I told Jenna that it is garbage day aka trash day, waste day, collecting junk day . . .  ha ha ha.  I told her that we can celebrate Thesaurus Day by listing synonyms to different words we say - though she didn't seem impressed. 

          I looked up some other words for garbage:  debris, rubbish, dust, litter, residue, fragments, filth, shavings, odds and ends  . . .    I also found more words for cable car:   grip car, gondola, city conveyances, cable railway

          I'm going to continue and will bug Jenna in a similar manner to what I'm sure she was hoping for on "static electricity day" but just couldn't seem to generate enough friction to make it work.  
         When she rolls her eyes at me for laying on the synonyms as thick as I'm hoping to, I will tell her it's a metaphor for the static electricity that she'd been yearning for.  

         I, for one, am very grateful for the Thesaurus.  I use them more often than the dictionary.  I expect today will be fun.

Millsite Disc Golf Course and Surroundings

Disc Golf is a game in which a concave plastic disc is thrown into each of a series of metal baskets situated on an outdoor course, the object being to complete the course using the fewest possible throws.  Apparently, there is a Disc Golf Course in Myrtle Creek.  Jenna and I explored it on her day off as we grew weary of waiting on Fed Ex.  It was a beautiful day and we had to be outdoors.

the entrance to the golf course under the bridge

 

The sign (made from mill saw) appears to have recently been repainted.

I thought the entrance was too wet; Jenna's shoes seemed to work with the water better than mine did

she walked around and met me at the entrance

she was so excited by what she had discovered that she had to share

Jenna thought this was scary;  must have happened before the mill closed

Jenna is GREAT at taking selfies;  I don't take great selfies

notice umpqua bridge in the back

another side from when we had explored the railroad tracks and cave

Jenna has gone through stages of liking various things: Pokémon cards, jewelry, basketball, darts . . . they've all been phases - except her love for nature.  She has always had the passion for exploring and collecting rocks and or leaves - though she managed to walk away from yesterday's adventure without a souvenir. 

above the course

path back to the park

I enjoy watching Jenna get excited about simple things.  Watching a squirrel scurry from tree to tree and searching for the critter through her binoculars when it gets too far out of her regular vision. 

mill saws came in larger sizes.