What's Up With the Collier/Blakemans....

Here we are, singing our theme song again: Transition.

Seda's fantabulous city job is turning into a pumpkin. Due to budget cuts, Seda's job has officially been eliminated, leaving her to seek (with preference) another job under the city's umbrella.

She ran the options by me tonight. We nixed the 911 operator job, despite the fact that she is clearly qualified after parenting for a decade. There are a couple of jobs that look attractive, but will appear so to dozens of others who are hot on the search, as well. There is the "Park Specialist 3 -- Tree Maintenance and Planting" job which I told her she was not qualified for.

"What?" she retorted. "I worked for a nursery for a month once and... (pausing for my peals of laughter).. and I was a logger for a year!" Just the balance Eugene is looking for, dontcha' think?

And the one that she'll likely get on as: Wastewater Maintenance Mechanic. You got it -- a life in the sewer. Talk about your job going down the drain. The irony is that the pay is equal to the work she does in Plans Examining. She is rather irate about the fraction of an income that a clerical worker, traditionally a female occupation, pulls in by comparison, and she will be bucking for them at the next union meeting. Probably spoken from her new pedestal -- or should I say, "throne?"


Ben and I are exploring job possibilities in the North Pacific. A new highschool built in Kosrae (Micronesia) likely has need of a music teacher and program, and Ben is well-suited. I am prepared to return to the work force as a teacher to support our household income next year while offering the kids a fantastic learning experience (more "public school") on an island that has escaped the causeway of consumerism. The siren song of adventure lulls oh so sweetly....


Trinidad, meanwhile, is trying to break a world record. "Do you think I could hold 60 pounds of bricks hanging from a rope in my mouth?" he asks.

"I don't think so, but you could do a little less and set the record for 'The Most Weight Held By the Mouth of a Third Grader,'" says Sam. Photographs forthcoming on FaceBook.

Everything flowing along remarkably swift and easy, despite the forever newness of it all.