Today there's a huge NCO meeting, and one of the things that is going to be brought up, is my infamous typo from this weekend. It's just a little bit amazing, you know.... I don't even know what to say about it, really.
Was I wrong? Yes. There is absolutely no denying that, and you won't hear it from me. Even so, I think we need a little perspective on this. For one, while I know as a former soldier that intention doesn't mean anything, that all that matters is what happened, it wasn't malicious.... even though that doesn't matter to anyone. On the subject of what happened, though, the incorrect information was up for a total of 40 minutes. I made it right. More importantly, let's think about what it was. I gave an incorrect date. The result of that would be a few soldiers in each unit thinking they could reenlist now, when in reality, they have to wait a few months. This is not a release of classified information, or even a violation of the often misunderstood OPSEC. Nobody is going to get hurt because of this. I didn't endanger anyone.
The other thing that occurs to me is how crazy it is that stuff like this goes on, and people still hold that all wives have exactly the same thing in front of them. Do you have any idea how many pieces of crap information, some of which was actually detrimental to people or units, I have seen and heard from other wives every single day? Yet ONE TIME I get a date wrong, our phones are blowing up with very senior personnel going nuts over it, and the brass calls nearly 500 people into a meeting over it. All wives have the same situation, though, right? I've always known that was BS, but today (and the weekend before it) proves it beyond a shadow of a doubt.
It also proves, once again, that someone is always watching. I was surprised in a way WHO was watching. I didn't really think we were THAT visible to those levels of leadership, but obviously we are. It also goes without saying, that this proves that what we do has a lot of impact on what happens with our husbands. Deny it all you want, but everything gets back.
I guess in a way, I just wish years and years of doing great counted for something. Instead, it's almost as if this one oversight, literally a typo, is indicative of the way I live my life. Anyone who really knows me knows that's not true, but that's the way I know it was portrayed in the meeting this morning. That's how it always goes with the Army. You do one thing that somebody latches onto, and all the good you did before that goes by the wayside, and everyone laughs about what an idiot you are. The Army, for all its custom and courtesy, is extremely cut throat all the way to the very end.
65 days until terminal leave. They can never make it easy. I just didn't think it would be through me that they'd make Thak's life hell.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Saturday, January 8, 2011
The Tea Party is scary. Admit it.
Republican friends, you guys need to own this one, and start to police up your own. Stop denying that the Tea Party is all that bad, and saying wishy washy bullshit like "all parties have their extremists". While it is true that there are extremists of every leaning, we all know that the Tea Party is the most pervasive in recent years. Trying to pass this stuff off as anything else is absolutely insane.
For one, I would think Republicans would be more pissed with these Tea Party clowns than anyone else. After all, they claim to be Republicans! If I were a Republican, that would really piss me off. I wouldn't want those people claiming to be like me. If you actually look at what the ideals of that party are supposed to be, I'd say a solid 75% of people who claim affiliation with it have no business doing that, but the Tea Party is in basically the top 1% of that. Why do you defend these whackos? They're dragging your party down. Oust them! Let them know they don't represent you! Let Sarah Palin know she's nuts for being involved with this thing, and at the same time, portraying herself as a Republican politician! That's what I'd do if I were a Republican.
However, I am not a Republican. I am a third party type.... and don't you know that makes me a little crazy by default. OK, not really, but most people don't really get it when someone refuses to file him/herself neatly into the two party dichotomy. I lean mostly Libertarian, and you know who else claimed to? Timothy McVeigh, that Unibomber guy whose name I never spell right, and the majority of crazy militia members. My whole thing is that when these people did (or do) something idiotic, violent, and disgraceful, I didn't (or don't) sit there and say, "Oh, well, there are extremists on every side of the political spectrum." No. I say, "Wow. That guy (or those guy) is (or are) nuts. I want you to know, that's NOT what Libertarians are like, and I hate when people like that use this party affiliation as an excuse for doing stuff that deprives others of liberty, thus flying in the face of every one of the most important ideals of Libertarianism." Why can't the Republicans do the same when these Tea Party clowns drag their name through the mud? Why can't they acknowledge that what Sarah Palin is doing is completely extreme, and has actually done them a great disservice?
Instead of saying stupid and mostly irrelevant things to those of us who see this for what it is (talking about how PETA blows up science labs and stuff, even though PETA claims no political affiliation), why not acknowledge the situation, and maybe try to fix it? Sure, one person can't fix it, and honestly, 100 people probably wouldn't fix it, but if people began to just not accept this Tea Party crap, and said, "Yeah, I know. I can't believe those idiots." when people mentioned it, they would actually bring a lot more credit to their party than they do when they more or less side with the Tea Party by making wishy washy statements and defending Sarah Palin.
Common sense. Get some.
For one, I would think Republicans would be more pissed with these Tea Party clowns than anyone else. After all, they claim to be Republicans! If I were a Republican, that would really piss me off. I wouldn't want those people claiming to be like me. If you actually look at what the ideals of that party are supposed to be, I'd say a solid 75% of people who claim affiliation with it have no business doing that, but the Tea Party is in basically the top 1% of that. Why do you defend these whackos? They're dragging your party down. Oust them! Let them know they don't represent you! Let Sarah Palin know she's nuts for being involved with this thing, and at the same time, portraying herself as a Republican politician! That's what I'd do if I were a Republican.
However, I am not a Republican. I am a third party type.... and don't you know that makes me a little crazy by default. OK, not really, but most people don't really get it when someone refuses to file him/herself neatly into the two party dichotomy. I lean mostly Libertarian, and you know who else claimed to? Timothy McVeigh, that Unibomber guy whose name I never spell right, and the majority of crazy militia members. My whole thing is that when these people did (or do) something idiotic, violent, and disgraceful, I didn't (or don't) sit there and say, "Oh, well, there are extremists on every side of the political spectrum." No. I say, "Wow. That guy (or those guy) is (or are) nuts. I want you to know, that's NOT what Libertarians are like, and I hate when people like that use this party affiliation as an excuse for doing stuff that deprives others of liberty, thus flying in the face of every one of the most important ideals of Libertarianism." Why can't the Republicans do the same when these Tea Party clowns drag their name through the mud? Why can't they acknowledge that what Sarah Palin is doing is completely extreme, and has actually done them a great disservice?
Instead of saying stupid and mostly irrelevant things to those of us who see this for what it is (talking about how PETA blows up science labs and stuff, even though PETA claims no political affiliation), why not acknowledge the situation, and maybe try to fix it? Sure, one person can't fix it, and honestly, 100 people probably wouldn't fix it, but if people began to just not accept this Tea Party crap, and said, "Yeah, I know. I can't believe those idiots." when people mentioned it, they would actually bring a lot more credit to their party than they do when they more or less side with the Tea Party by making wishy washy statements and defending Sarah Palin.
Common sense. Get some.
Is your mechanic ripping you off?
As the token mechanic's wife out of all the people I know, I get a ton of questions about whether some tech is trying to get more for a job than it's worth. People often are afraid of getting screwed over by mechanics. I think that sucks, but I can understand why they think that. I have seen it happen to friends before. (In that instance, she was quoted $500 for a major repair, and it turned out all her car needed was a water pump and a thermostat. They got those parts for under $30 and Thak did the job for a 12-pack and some sushi.) Even so, I have to say, the majority of mechanics are honest, and most, contrary to popular belief, do not prey on unsuspecting women who come in alone with their cars. A really easy way to reduce your odds of that is to demand that your car ONLY be worked on by ASE Certified technicians. They have to be honest, and bill only for jobs they have done and that actually needed to be done, or they will lose their licensing. Thak being ASE Certified, we have learned a lot about what that really means, and one of the most interesting things to me was this stipulation.
Now, here's something I hear a lot:
"Anna, I need to talk to Thak. Those idiots at [insert name of dealership here] quoted me X amount of money for Y repair! Can you believe these ripoff artists?!"
In at least 90% of cases, Thak can substantiate that the repair in question really does bill at that amount.
Here's the disconnect. In a lot of cars, particularly newer model cars, they have shoved so much stuff into the engines that it takes a lot of work just to get to the relatively minor part that may need replacement. Since this takes a long time, the labor on replacing a $20 part may bill at $170 if it's a two hour job. (That's for this city. Other cities have higher or lower average labor costs.) Is that a lot of money? Oh. My. God. Yes. Is the mechanic ripping you off, though? No, actually he's not. This problem, as much as it pains me to admit it, is the fault of the engineers. Engineers don't work on engines in the body of a car. They work on them on stands. Therefore, things have been designed in such a way that it is time consuming to work on in a real world environment, and that's where your high shop bills are coming from, not from a dishonest mechanic in the majority of cases.
None of this is to say you shouldn't ask Thak. I would rather 100 people ask Thak just to be sure they're not getting screwed by some shop, than for one person to really get had by some dishonest mechanic. Unfortunately, though, high labor charges are not the mark of a dishonest shop, nor even a prima donna mechanic who thinks he's worth more than he is. They are the result of the design of cars in recent years, and where stuff is located, plain and simple. If you want to reduce your repair bills, you can do that by learning to change your own oil, learning how to replace a battery on your own, or even using the auto craft shop on post for this. Even minor repairs like this will really cut down on your shop bills so that when you do need some part replaced that is harder to do, it'll be a little less painful.
Now, here's something I hear a lot:
"Anna, I need to talk to Thak. Those idiots at [insert name of dealership here] quoted me X amount of money for Y repair! Can you believe these ripoff artists?!"
In at least 90% of cases, Thak can substantiate that the repair in question really does bill at that amount.
Here's the disconnect. In a lot of cars, particularly newer model cars, they have shoved so much stuff into the engines that it takes a lot of work just to get to the relatively minor part that may need replacement. Since this takes a long time, the labor on replacing a $20 part may bill at $170 if it's a two hour job. (That's for this city. Other cities have higher or lower average labor costs.) Is that a lot of money? Oh. My. God. Yes. Is the mechanic ripping you off, though? No, actually he's not. This problem, as much as it pains me to admit it, is the fault of the engineers. Engineers don't work on engines in the body of a car. They work on them on stands. Therefore, things have been designed in such a way that it is time consuming to work on in a real world environment, and that's where your high shop bills are coming from, not from a dishonest mechanic in the majority of cases.
None of this is to say you shouldn't ask Thak. I would rather 100 people ask Thak just to be sure they're not getting screwed by some shop, than for one person to really get had by some dishonest mechanic. Unfortunately, though, high labor charges are not the mark of a dishonest shop, nor even a prima donna mechanic who thinks he's worth more than he is. They are the result of the design of cars in recent years, and where stuff is located, plain and simple. If you want to reduce your repair bills, you can do that by learning to change your own oil, learning how to replace a battery on your own, or even using the auto craft shop on post for this. Even minor repairs like this will really cut down on your shop bills so that when you do need some part replaced that is harder to do, it'll be a little less painful.
I guess it has to happen to everybody eventually.
This morning, on the Garrison Commander's Q&A discussion board, I saw a post about reenlistment. That being Thak's area, and for some strange reason, the area most fraught with misunderstanding, I jumped in with a few little insights. Then when Thak woke up, I asked him for some definite answers to things. The answer to the question was September. I heard that as December (Erin was playing her violin and Orren was banging a drum at this point. You may imagine how this happened.)
I thought nothing else of it, and we went to the store to pick up a few odds and ends that I needed to make lunch. As we were in the check-out, Thak's phone rang. It was his boss. She had gotten a call from the head of reenlistment for this whole post (a Sergeant Major, just in case you were curious), and the gist was, "What the hell did your wife just say??" She also said there's going to be a meeting on Monday morning about the Garrison Commander's page, and you KNOW this is going to be part of it. Ugh.... sucks to be me.
So I got home, and was going to make another post to clear up this misunderstanding, and I had a message from this Sergeant Major about the same exact thing. Nice. She wasn't mean or rude or anything. She was just doing her job. It was just crappy that it had to go like that. Anyhow, I wrote her back, and made another post to clarify the information. The incorrect information was up for a total of 40 minutes.
The reason all this sucks is because of the timing. I have NEVER made Thak look stupid. Thak has consistently gotten compliments on how professional his family is, and how we're great, and how I'm such an asset to him. Two months before he begins terminal leave, all that just came crashing down. I hope that enough people know that I am NOT someone who gives out bad information, and realize that a once a decade screw-up is only human. This is the Army we're talking about, though.
Hello coals.... meet ass.
I thought nothing else of it, and we went to the store to pick up a few odds and ends that I needed to make lunch. As we were in the check-out, Thak's phone rang. It was his boss. She had gotten a call from the head of reenlistment for this whole post (a Sergeant Major, just in case you were curious), and the gist was, "What the hell did your wife just say??" She also said there's going to be a meeting on Monday morning about the Garrison Commander's page, and you KNOW this is going to be part of it. Ugh.... sucks to be me.
So I got home, and was going to make another post to clear up this misunderstanding, and I had a message from this Sergeant Major about the same exact thing. Nice. She wasn't mean or rude or anything. She was just doing her job. It was just crappy that it had to go like that. Anyhow, I wrote her back, and made another post to clarify the information. The incorrect information was up for a total of 40 minutes.
The reason all this sucks is because of the timing. I have NEVER made Thak look stupid. Thak has consistently gotten compliments on how professional his family is, and how we're great, and how I'm such an asset to him. Two months before he begins terminal leave, all that just came crashing down. I hope that enough people know that I am NOT someone who gives out bad information, and realize that a once a decade screw-up is only human. This is the Army we're talking about, though.
Hello coals.... meet ass.
Wow! Keep me out of there!
A girl I know had her baby at the local military hospital not long ago. It was a typical hospital birth story.... induction for no good reason, things "got complicated" (aka, the baby wasn't ready to come out, so he wasn't going to), and it ended in a c-section, and the baby being shipped across town to the NICU, where he stayed for a week.
You're not even going to believe why they did this. He inhaled fluid, and they put him on oxygen as a precaution. (The mom said they didn't suction him deeply enough, but suctioning in the way they do in hospitals is actually very harmful, and has been linked to speech and language delays, so honestly, they didn't need to do it at all, deeply or not.) They then sent him to the NICU for no good reason, and didn't denote that she had been treated for Group B Strep. (SEVEN DOSES of IV antibiotics!! HOLY SHIT, is that even legal?!!) So they treated this perfectly healthy baby for Group B Strep, which was a week long course of IV antibiotics. By the mom's account, he was perfectly healthy, and it was all precautionary.
What a bunch of idiots. First of all, it's been well proven in our very own country that antibiotics during labor have no effect on the transmission of Group B Strep during delivery. Furthermore, this was a c-section, so the odds of transmission were literally zero. What's more, IF a baby is born with Group B Strep, it is EXTREMELY obvious very soon after birth.
All this makes it so apparent what a bullet we dodged with Orren's birth. If I'd resigned myself to a hospital birth, as most women do, and done what I did, laboring at home until the very end, having no time for antibiotics (Why do you think I labored at home until the very end, when it would be too late to receive antibiotics? It was a simple way of not consenting to an unnecessary treatment. Plus, I just liked being at home better than being at the birth center.) So basically, Orren was born with no antibiotics, to me, a Group B Strep carrier. When he was born, Nancy told us to just watch him really closely for any respiratory symptoms. When we went home a few hours after he was born, Jill told us that pretty much if Orren had been infected, we would have seen some sign of it by now. We still watched Orren like a hawk for his first 24 hours of life, but he never showed a single respiratory symptom. He was fine. He was NOT the one baby out of 4444 who would contract Group B Strep lung infection during his birth. Even though this was abundantly obvious to our midwives right from the start, had Orren entered this world in a hospital, he would have spent his first week of life in the NICU, hooked up to an IV full of unnecessary antibiotics.
File that under, "This is why we homebirth."
You're not even going to believe why they did this. He inhaled fluid, and they put him on oxygen as a precaution. (The mom said they didn't suction him deeply enough, but suctioning in the way they do in hospitals is actually very harmful, and has been linked to speech and language delays, so honestly, they didn't need to do it at all, deeply or not.) They then sent him to the NICU for no good reason, and didn't denote that she had been treated for Group B Strep. (SEVEN DOSES of IV antibiotics!! HOLY SHIT, is that even legal?!!) So they treated this perfectly healthy baby for Group B Strep, which was a week long course of IV antibiotics. By the mom's account, he was perfectly healthy, and it was all precautionary.
What a bunch of idiots. First of all, it's been well proven in our very own country that antibiotics during labor have no effect on the transmission of Group B Strep during delivery. Furthermore, this was a c-section, so the odds of transmission were literally zero. What's more, IF a baby is born with Group B Strep, it is EXTREMELY obvious very soon after birth.
All this makes it so apparent what a bullet we dodged with Orren's birth. If I'd resigned myself to a hospital birth, as most women do, and done what I did, laboring at home until the very end, having no time for antibiotics (Why do you think I labored at home until the very end, when it would be too late to receive antibiotics? It was a simple way of not consenting to an unnecessary treatment. Plus, I just liked being at home better than being at the birth center.) So basically, Orren was born with no antibiotics, to me, a Group B Strep carrier. When he was born, Nancy told us to just watch him really closely for any respiratory symptoms. When we went home a few hours after he was born, Jill told us that pretty much if Orren had been infected, we would have seen some sign of it by now. We still watched Orren like a hawk for his first 24 hours of life, but he never showed a single respiratory symptom. He was fine. He was NOT the one baby out of 4444 who would contract Group B Strep lung infection during his birth. Even though this was abundantly obvious to our midwives right from the start, had Orren entered this world in a hospital, he would have spent his first week of life in the NICU, hooked up to an IV full of unnecessary antibiotics.
File that under, "This is why we homebirth."
Friday, January 7, 2011
Booster Seats
This morning, I saw more completely heinous booster seat misuse than I have ever seen before. I'm not even going to touch the fact that I saw kids who could not have been much older (and were certainly no bigger) than Orren, in boosters. That's ridiculous enough to stand on its own. No, the other stuff is what we're going to talk about today.
First of all, let's understand what a booster seat is for. No, it doesn't have anything to do with being able to see out the window, nor does just putting your child's butt on one afford some magical shield of protection. What a booster does, plain and simple, is position the seatbelt (which is designed for adults) so that it fits a kid who is not large enough to fit it on their own yet.
Now, what does proper fit of the seatbelt mean? Well, the shoulder portion must, in fact, cross the center of the shoulder, not cut into the neck, or hit at bicep level, or anything else like that. Then the lap portion must sit on the tops of the thighs, not across the abdomen. If a seat accomplishes these two things, then the fit is good.
There is another less discussed, but still very important, feature of booster seats, and that is head support. A child will not get whiplash nearly as bad if their booster supports their head (meaning it comes up to AT LEAST the tips of their ears, preferably higher). This is particularly important if the car has no headrests.
One huge reason I REALLY hate 3-in-1 carseats is because they make the worst boosters ever, and parents are sold on this idea that this is the only carseat they will ever need, so they just make their kid keep riding in it until state law says they can be in nothing (in TX, that's 8) at which point they chuck it in favor of a seatbelt that doesn't fit the kid either. It's hard to say which is worse. This morning, I literally saw a kid Erin's size riding in one of those 3-in-1 seats as booster. It was awful. This kid literally had their entire head above the top of the shell, and the shoulder portion of the seatbelt was hitting right about mid-bicep. I didn't see the lap portion (We were behind them at a light) but I know from seeing this same death trap of a seat in friends' cars, that there's not a kid on the planet who actually has the lap belt positioned correctly by that thing. I will reiterate, there are no magical safety bubbles that appear around a kid just because their butt is touching a carseat or a booster. These things absolutely save lives, but you have to use them correctly.
I also really wish manufacturers would stop being so misleading. Carseats are such an important safety decision, and so many parents are so clueless and will just take what the manufacturer says and go with it. I've been there. Before Erin was born, I remember standing in the carseat aisle of Target, looking at everything they had, but beyond knowing that I wanted a convertible seat rather than an infant carrier style of seat (because I needed to get the most for my money) I didn't know how to make heads or tails of anything. Thank goodness they didn't have 3-in-1's back then, because I totally would have fallen for that line of crap. I honestly see those seats as a method of preying on poor families who are trying to make ends meet. They say they do so much, yet they do absolutely none of it worth a damn, and the top harness slot is unusable because it isn't reinforced. (Literally, if you read the manual, it will say that.) If you use the top slot, and get into a wreck, it will not hold, and your child will probably die. That is NOT obvious by looking at the seat, and since they don't attach the manual to the seat like higher-end brands do, most people have lost it by the time they get to the point that their kid would be big enough for that, so it happens all the time.
Another way I wish the manufacturers would get right is by (and I know I said I wasn't going to talk about this, but I have to go there just for a minute) NOT marketing boosters as appropriate from 3 years and 30 pounds. OK, so just out of curiosity one day, I put Erin's booster on its smallest settings and put Orren in it with the car parked. It fit him. Why the hell does anyone make a product that would make it feasible for an unknowing parent to put a child Orren's size in a booster? A child that size should still be in a harness!! Rear-facing, at that!! The reason people don't know that is because in the US, seats are marketed to the wrong audience. I have no idea why manufacturers do that. What does it matter to their bottom line if parents buy boosters when their kids are 3 or when they're 5 or 6? Either way, the same number of boosters are being bought.
Anyhow, the bottom line is, as always, carseats are devices that can help us to keep our kids safe. They are NOT magical safety bubbles that spring into action the minute a butt touches them. You have to use them correctly. When it comes to boosters, make sure the shoulder belt crosses the center of the shoulder (to accomplish this, the belt guide should be JUST above their shoulder), and the lap belt crosses the thighs. Also make sure the child's head is supported, and that the back of the booster is AT LEAST to the top of their ears.
A few good boosters:
Sunshine Kids Monterey
Britax Parkway
Clek Oobr
Graco Turbobooster
The First Years Compass
These range in price from $60-300, and they all position the belt well on most kids. Every kid deserves a good booster that will help them to be safe until they can pass the 5-step test, and use the seatbelt on its own.
First of all, let's understand what a booster seat is for. No, it doesn't have anything to do with being able to see out the window, nor does just putting your child's butt on one afford some magical shield of protection. What a booster does, plain and simple, is position the seatbelt (which is designed for adults) so that it fits a kid who is not large enough to fit it on their own yet.
Now, what does proper fit of the seatbelt mean? Well, the shoulder portion must, in fact, cross the center of the shoulder, not cut into the neck, or hit at bicep level, or anything else like that. Then the lap portion must sit on the tops of the thighs, not across the abdomen. If a seat accomplishes these two things, then the fit is good.
There is another less discussed, but still very important, feature of booster seats, and that is head support. A child will not get whiplash nearly as bad if their booster supports their head (meaning it comes up to AT LEAST the tips of their ears, preferably higher). This is particularly important if the car has no headrests.
One huge reason I REALLY hate 3-in-1 carseats is because they make the worst boosters ever, and parents are sold on this idea that this is the only carseat they will ever need, so they just make their kid keep riding in it until state law says they can be in nothing (in TX, that's 8) at which point they chuck it in favor of a seatbelt that doesn't fit the kid either. It's hard to say which is worse. This morning, I literally saw a kid Erin's size riding in one of those 3-in-1 seats as booster. It was awful. This kid literally had their entire head above the top of the shell, and the shoulder portion of the seatbelt was hitting right about mid-bicep. I didn't see the lap portion (We were behind them at a light) but I know from seeing this same death trap of a seat in friends' cars, that there's not a kid on the planet who actually has the lap belt positioned correctly by that thing. I will reiterate, there are no magical safety bubbles that appear around a kid just because their butt is touching a carseat or a booster. These things absolutely save lives, but you have to use them correctly.
I also really wish manufacturers would stop being so misleading. Carseats are such an important safety decision, and so many parents are so clueless and will just take what the manufacturer says and go with it. I've been there. Before Erin was born, I remember standing in the carseat aisle of Target, looking at everything they had, but beyond knowing that I wanted a convertible seat rather than an infant carrier style of seat (because I needed to get the most for my money) I didn't know how to make heads or tails of anything. Thank goodness they didn't have 3-in-1's back then, because I totally would have fallen for that line of crap. I honestly see those seats as a method of preying on poor families who are trying to make ends meet. They say they do so much, yet they do absolutely none of it worth a damn, and the top harness slot is unusable because it isn't reinforced. (Literally, if you read the manual, it will say that.) If you use the top slot, and get into a wreck, it will not hold, and your child will probably die. That is NOT obvious by looking at the seat, and since they don't attach the manual to the seat like higher-end brands do, most people have lost it by the time they get to the point that their kid would be big enough for that, so it happens all the time.
Another way I wish the manufacturers would get right is by (and I know I said I wasn't going to talk about this, but I have to go there just for a minute) NOT marketing boosters as appropriate from 3 years and 30 pounds. OK, so just out of curiosity one day, I put Erin's booster on its smallest settings and put Orren in it with the car parked. It fit him. Why the hell does anyone make a product that would make it feasible for an unknowing parent to put a child Orren's size in a booster? A child that size should still be in a harness!! Rear-facing, at that!! The reason people don't know that is because in the US, seats are marketed to the wrong audience. I have no idea why manufacturers do that. What does it matter to their bottom line if parents buy boosters when their kids are 3 or when they're 5 or 6? Either way, the same number of boosters are being bought.
Anyhow, the bottom line is, as always, carseats are devices that can help us to keep our kids safe. They are NOT magical safety bubbles that spring into action the minute a butt touches them. You have to use them correctly. When it comes to boosters, make sure the shoulder belt crosses the center of the shoulder (to accomplish this, the belt guide should be JUST above their shoulder), and the lap belt crosses the thighs. Also make sure the child's head is supported, and that the back of the booster is AT LEAST to the top of their ears.
A few good boosters:
Sunshine Kids Monterey
Britax Parkway
Clek Oobr
Graco Turbobooster
The First Years Compass
These range in price from $60-300, and they all position the belt well on most kids. Every kid deserves a good booster that will help them to be safe until they can pass the 5-step test, and use the seatbelt on its own.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
What ironic timing.
On our Garrison Commander's Q&A page, the topic has once again turned to the local job market. People are completely irate that they cannot find jobs here, but the more I look, the more I see that it is a lack of networking. Honestly, it's not even the language barrier. Thak was never asked if he speaks Spanish or not at any point within the hiring process. It did not matter. They loved his experience, and his references did right by him. Then upon sitting down with him, they found they really liked him, too, and that was all they needed to really be sure, and just take the plunge and hire him.
Thak is not better than other people. He'll tell you that. He's worked hard, and has gotten everything he has the right way. He's not a genius, and he's not rich. He's just a guy who works hard for what he wants, and eventually gets it more times than not. The one thing Thak has going for him that most of these other people do not have, is connections. As I said before, the first thing this service manager said to Thak was, "Your resume is very impressive." and the second thing was, "How do you know him?" (in regards to Thak's instructor, who is listed as a reference). As it happens, Thak's instructor is one of the best respected mechanics in town, and there's really not a shop in this part of the state that wouldn't give him a big fat pay raise to have him come work for them. The fact that he not only taught Thak, but thinks highly of him, and vouches for his work ethic, his ability to learn, and how good he is to work with, does a lot. In this town, it is who you know.
A lot of people think that's wrong. Just because Thak knows people, his job search lasts five days, while other people's job searches have lasted five years, and come up empty. I don't think it is wrong, though. It comes down to having some understanding of the local culture. Here, it is totally acceptable to use family connections to get where you're going. It is also EXPECTED that people will hook their friends up with stuff when they can. Consequently, just about every career field here is the same way. If you know somebody who's well connected, and well regarded, you get in. If you don't, then you don't get in. People don't know who you are if you don't have someone local to vouch for you, and if they don't know who you are, they're not going to hire you. It doesn't matter how good you look on paper. I guarantee Thak's awesome resume wouldn't have meant half what it does now, if he did not have the connections he has. It's ok. It's expected here. It's just the local way, and if you want to work in this area, you have to do it their way. The saying is, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." It applies here more than most places.
Honestly, we're really psyched about this next step. Everybody at school is really happy for Thak, and we are still in a little bit of disbelief about all this. I did feel strongly when he applied to BMW that this was the one, but I didn't say anything to him about that because I didn't want to be wrong, and if he got multiple offers (as he did) I wanted him to make his own decision without being swayed by anything. Even so, it is still very surreal that it is actually happening, and that he has actually been hired by a luxury shop. That is basically the holy grail for a mechanic, and it is very rare to get there right out of school, but Thak has done it. A lot of military people are not happy for us (all our civilian people are) but we now have some solid proof that the year and a half that we have spent so far, and the few more months we will still spend, sacrificing so much in the way of time, have been for something worthwhile, and that is amazing. It sounds so simple when we say it. He went to school, he made friends and got to know people, he learned a lot, he became a Master Technician (ok, two more exams for that one.... details....), and he got the job. It all sounds so simple when we put it that way... I guess it really is.
The moral of the story, I suppose, is to go get it if you want it, because it's there. Thak has proven that you don't have to know Spanish. All you have to know is the right people. Meeting people is easier than learning another language, right?
Thak is not better than other people. He'll tell you that. He's worked hard, and has gotten everything he has the right way. He's not a genius, and he's not rich. He's just a guy who works hard for what he wants, and eventually gets it more times than not. The one thing Thak has going for him that most of these other people do not have, is connections. As I said before, the first thing this service manager said to Thak was, "Your resume is very impressive." and the second thing was, "How do you know him?" (in regards to Thak's instructor, who is listed as a reference). As it happens, Thak's instructor is one of the best respected mechanics in town, and there's really not a shop in this part of the state that wouldn't give him a big fat pay raise to have him come work for them. The fact that he not only taught Thak, but thinks highly of him, and vouches for his work ethic, his ability to learn, and how good he is to work with, does a lot. In this town, it is who you know.
A lot of people think that's wrong. Just because Thak knows people, his job search lasts five days, while other people's job searches have lasted five years, and come up empty. I don't think it is wrong, though. It comes down to having some understanding of the local culture. Here, it is totally acceptable to use family connections to get where you're going. It is also EXPECTED that people will hook their friends up with stuff when they can. Consequently, just about every career field here is the same way. If you know somebody who's well connected, and well regarded, you get in. If you don't, then you don't get in. People don't know who you are if you don't have someone local to vouch for you, and if they don't know who you are, they're not going to hire you. It doesn't matter how good you look on paper. I guarantee Thak's awesome resume wouldn't have meant half what it does now, if he did not have the connections he has. It's ok. It's expected here. It's just the local way, and if you want to work in this area, you have to do it their way. The saying is, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." It applies here more than most places.
Honestly, we're really psyched about this next step. Everybody at school is really happy for Thak, and we are still in a little bit of disbelief about all this. I did feel strongly when he applied to BMW that this was the one, but I didn't say anything to him about that because I didn't want to be wrong, and if he got multiple offers (as he did) I wanted him to make his own decision without being swayed by anything. Even so, it is still very surreal that it is actually happening, and that he has actually been hired by a luxury shop. That is basically the holy grail for a mechanic, and it is very rare to get there right out of school, but Thak has done it. A lot of military people are not happy for us (all our civilian people are) but we now have some solid proof that the year and a half that we have spent so far, and the few more months we will still spend, sacrificing so much in the way of time, have been for something worthwhile, and that is amazing. It sounds so simple when we say it. He went to school, he made friends and got to know people, he learned a lot, he became a Master Technician (ok, two more exams for that one.... details....), and he got the job. It all sounds so simple when we put it that way... I guess it really is.
The moral of the story, I suppose, is to go get it if you want it, because it's there. Thak has proven that you don't have to know Spanish. All you have to know is the right people. Meeting people is easier than learning another language, right?
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