Metropolitan Rural

I was listening to KWMU a few minutes ago when I heard a news story about Missouri Speaker of the House Rod Jetton defending his recent comments about “Lazy Missourians and Mexicans“.  His quote from this story is below:

“You open any newspaper that you guys publish, and look, and you’ll see all kinds of classifieds for all kinds of jobs that people need filled, and they can’t get the workers for them…so I think there are some lazy Missourians in this state who really don’t want to work, and I think there’s a lot of hard-working Mexicans who would love to come up here and make a little money and support their families…and by golly, if we could find a way to trade them, I’d trade them in a heartbeat!”

How refreshing! So often you hear people talk about immigrants in a negative light.  It reminded me of this article from today over at Doug Duckworth’s blog Random Talk on Urban Affairs.  I whole heartedly agree with both of these men.  If able bodied people are willing to come to this country and put in an honest days work when some of our own people won’t, then let them come legally. 

Yesterday was a holiday where I work.  However, being an hourly contractor, I don’t normally get paid for those days and I had work to do.  I decided to go ahead and go in to get some stuff taken care of in a noiseless office.  I took the latest express bus I could for the morning just so I could sleep in a bit more.  I got to the office about 8:30 in the morning swiped my badge at the door and was greeted by a red light, a buzz and a locked door.  Wonderful.

Since there are no express buses that run out of the city in the morning, getting home was going to be more of a challenge.  Though it probably takes a bit longer than a couple of buses, I opted to walk over to the metrolink and take it down to Shrewsbury and grab a bus from there back home.  I was fortunate enough to arrive at the station just as the right train was stopping. 

At least it was a nice, sunny day out, even if it was a bit cold.  We made it as far as the Forest Park station and things were pretty uneventful.  Then, we headed underground to the Skinker stop.  As the train poked out from earth between the Skinker and Big Bend stops, we were suddenly surrounded by nothing but white.  One could hardly see the Washington University campus on the other side of Forest Park Parkway.  In the matter of 10 blocks or so from the Forest Park station to there we went from sunny, blue skies to white out.  It was truly amazing.

Of course, as quickly as the storm came in, it was gone again.  Only a dusting.  But what a surprise to run into that storm while underground! 

Yesterday was supposed to be another night for me to teach.  I prepared by bringing the text book, note book and my laptop computer with me to work in my backpack.  Of course, with the ice storm blowing in yesterday afternoon, class was canceled.

So, it was out to the bus stop with a heavy backpack to wait in the sleet and ice rather than a trek to the metrolink.  There I was waiting…. for 45 minutes!  Talk about running late.  When will spring be here?!

For years growing up I always wanted to be an architect. I LOVE houses. For the last several years I have considered getting my Real Estate License. I finally decided I want to do this.

Earlier this year I was beginning to meet and talk with Marti Frumhoff about how to make a transition from a full-time job into a career in real estate. She was very generous with her time and comments. We had actually planned on getting together just a few days after her untimely death. Since then, I’ve kind of put off thinking about it.

With the new year coming, I want to see about getting my license sometime next year. I’d like to start by just working part-time and getting my feet wet before I would consider a jump to full-time (which could be several years or never). That being said, I would love to find someone who is knowledgable in city real estate to help me get started.

So, if there is anyone out there like that, just leave a comment or drop me a line. My e-mail address should be in my profile.

I’ve been at my new job now for just over 3 months. I’m enjoying the different atmosphere and learning something new (always fun for me). I realized the other day there is something I’m missing…

MATH

Weird huh? I’ve been diagnosing numbers from production schedules, commodity prices, financial analysis and the like for 9 years now. This is the first job I’ve had that hasn’t required me to do math on a daily basis, and I miss it. I so enjoy the challenge of numbers. It makes me look forward to teaching my next Quantitative Analysis course starting next month.