I have never been a big fan of college. I view my own four years of college drudgery as the single worst purchase of my life, which, if I had it to do over again, I would not. I spent several thousand dollars in order to be indoctrinated by a bunch of liberals for four years. I learned nothing that has served me well in the real world. But I was young and foolish.
Everything that has made me successful has been gained through hands on experience. I have never been asked to show a degree, or even what discipline my degree was in. I have never gotten a promotion due to a degree, I make exactly the same today, as I would had I not bothered to waste four years of my life in college. Now, today, when I am hiring employees, the last thing that I care about is a degree. Indeed I often look at a degree as a detraction, because it is an indication that the candidate has more debt, and will thus cost me more money.
Don’t misunderstand me. Education is critical. I hold education in very high regard. But education and college are not tied together with an inseparable bond. Indeed, their connection is very weak. One can excel in college, and come away with very little hands on knowledge. Likewise, one can avoid college all together, and and be brilliant. I personally love to read textbooks. I have several shelves full of old high school and college textbooks from courses that I have never taken. I read them, and learn the content, on my own, and for a lot less money.
A life which is not spent in a constant hunger for knowledge, and a constant pursuit of the next lesson, is a life that has been wasted.
All of this aside. None of it has anything to do with why I will not pay for my kids to go to college. College does have a place. Certain positions can only be acquired after the proper hoops have been jumped through. Indeed, I will likely encourage my children to obtain a degree. But on their own dime.
I don’t care if I have money coming out of my ears, nose and mouth. My children will pay for their own educations. Why? For the simple reason that it is apart of the journey that they must travel. Some of my kids will probably not need the degrees that they earn. They will have a natural ability to get high paying jobs, without ever being asked “do you have a degree”. Others will not have that knack, and will need the degree in order to find a comfortable middle income job that will provide honorable work, and a support for my grand kids.
In both cases, if I pay for it, they will not appreciate the journey. If like me, they feel that the four years were a total waste, then these feelings will be far stronger, if they then spend ten years climbing out of debt. If their degrees become the basis of all their future success in life, then they will feel more tenderly about their degree if they paid for it themselves.
Parents should feel not obligation whatsoever to pay for their children’s degrees. It is their journey. Let them have it. Don’t rob them of one of the biggest learning experiences that they will ever have. We are so eager as parents to step in, and provide every blessing and gift that we possibly can. Those are natural, and understandable emotions. But sometimes we rob our children of the opportunity to find things that are more important, in the process of making their lives as easy as we can.
September 5th, 2008
After Sarah Palin’s home run speech Wednesday night, pundits and talking heads have been spinning. Well, figuratively anyway. I have read numerous stories that suggest that while her energetic speech galvanized the GOP base, that this came at a cost. That cost being that the rest of America thought Sarah was mean, and too conservative.
Out of curiosity, I did a survey of my moderate and liberal friends and neighbors. In this very somewhat partially sorta scientific survey, it is quite evident that Sarah Palin dazzled everyone, not just Republicans. This is made further evident by the bounce that the McCain - Palin ticket has gotten in the polls. A bump that Obama did not get after his campaign descended from on high to grace the world with their convention.
Gee, do you think anyone is suggesting that McCain did not fully vet Palin now?
September 5th, 2008
I don’t know if it is the smell of roasting almonds, the sound of oinking hogs, the bucking bulls, or the dozens of microphone slinging salsa chromatic salesmen that make the Utah State Fair so much fun.
As a family, we talk about and look forward to the State Fair all year long, always attending on opening day. This is because opening day only costs $2 per person, under five is free. However, we had a 50% off coupon bringing our cost down to only $4.00. For $4.00 we spent the day meandering through the animals. Everything from cows, horses, and pigs, to rabbits, chickens, and guinea pigs.
We also visited the giant vegi building, where we noticed how small the pumpkins are this year. The largest pumpkin was about half as big as usual, thanks to a very cold year. Clearly the work of global warming.
We watched a live country band, a hypnotist, ate smoked beef for dinner, and then ended the night by watching a live PRC Rodeo. The kids got to see tractors, fire trucks, boats, snakes, tigers, lizards, sky divers, and clowns.
Anyone looking for the cheapest, and one of the funnest family dates should put next year’s opening day for the State Fair on their calendars. It will be open this year for another nine days, but will cost you more to get in.
Tip: The happenings books sold by your kids school has a 50% off coupon.
September 4th, 2008
By the time tested rules found deep within the book of feminism, Sarah Palin should be applauded as a superstar. She is successful, smashing through every and any resemblance of a glass ceiling, she is smart, funny, happy, well-spoken, and she did it all on her own. The fact that she did it on her own is by itself enough of a reason to admire her. Consider another successful woman by the name of Hillary Clinton. Feminists love her, and they should. Yet everything she has accomplished has been on the coattails of a man, her husband, President Bill Clinton.I would hate to be a feminist today. To wake up so conflicted. Do I like her? Do I support her? She is everything we claim to pursue in womanhood. Well, except for that one small thing… she is CONSERVATIVE…. yikes.Do you support the advancement of women, or don’t you? Are you a feminist, or just a liberal?In addition to being successful, Sarah Palin has a number of characteristics that the feminist movement has so often shunned. She is a good mother, she loves her husband, and is a kind wife, she is pro-life. She does not think that driving her children to hockey games is beneath her. You have to give John McCain credit. He knows how to pick them. I myself am a Mormon. Being a the bias human being that I am, I was rooting for Mitt Romney as the VP. However, now that it is all said and done, it is hard to imagine that anyone could have been better than Sarah Palin.
Not only is she all the things already mentioned, but to top it all off, she is more qualified than Barak Obama to be President. CBS ran a story this morning suggesting that while Sarah Palin is talented, she is not ready to be a heartbeat away from the presidency. If CBS statement is to be given any credibility, that a former mayor and governor is not ready to be President, then what does that say about Obama, who has no executive experience of any kind, at any point in his life?
Last night, we all sat, eager to meet the woman who will quite possibly be the first female to sit as Vice-President, and then possibly in 2016 the first female President. We were nervous. What will she sound like? How will she act. Today, those on the right are excited, and dare I say it, in love with Palin. Those on the left are scrambling to come up with a strategy to battle against such a capable and yet lovable leader.
Now on to the debates, where she faces an even tougher forum, to see if she can stand the test of time. It is one thing to hit a homer. Quite another to then become MVP at the end of the season.
September 4th, 2008
By coincidence, I ran in to someone the other day, who it turned out reads my blog. Thank you. I am humbled that anyone would read this drivel. He asked me why I never capitilize ‘d’ in the word democrat.
I was surprised that someone had picked up on this. Yes, it is intentional. I will capitalize it, when they do something that deserves a capital letter.
September 3rd, 2008
I love my wife, and am very proud of her. After 12 years without any practice in school, studying, etc, she is starting nursing school. That is not the only reason I love her, though my admiration of her desire to become self-reliant is a great.
I love her for a million other reasons. Too many to list. She is my soul-mate, and I am grateful that we met, fell in love, and were married. I am grateful that she is the mother of my children. I am grateful that I get to spend my life with her.
September 3rd, 2008
Wow!! Sarah Palin is a dream. Well spoken, tough, conservative, funny, likable, and not shrill. What a great move by John McCain.
September 3rd, 2008
For the past decade I have been using Ensim to maintain my companies servers. Ensim is a control panel that automates many common server tasks helping to reduce the amount of time that we spend using ssh.
Back then, there was not much difference between Ensim, and Cpanel. Both were very basic, and quite buggy.
In the last 12 months, our traffic has increased by 65%, requiring us to once again bring a new server online. Rather than go with Ensim as we have in the past, I decided to instead use Cpanel. I wish I had made the switch a long time ago.
Cpanel is light years ahead of Ensim. Everything is more intuitive, faster, and more stable. There are many fuctions that can be performed from Cpanel, which are simply not possible in Ensim. Anyone considering their options, should opt for Cpanel.
Examples:
- Update Hostname
As a new server admin, you might not realize that you need to update your hostname. Ensim does not give any hint that this is probably necessary. If you are savy enough to realize that your hostname needs to be set, you will have to login via ssh, and change the hostname record in multiple locations by hand.
In Cpanel, the system is designed to do a self-check. If the hostname is not set correctly you will be prompted with a warning. A dialog box then allows you to update the hostname with the click of a single button.
- Set Nameservers
Running your own nameservers is a pain in Ensim. Again, you have to login via ssh, and update the server by hand. You then have to enter A records in DNS Bind by hand.
In Cpanel, the nameservers are set for you the first time that you login.
- Install RPM, Apache Module, Update Apache Settings, Update PHP Settings, ect
In Ensim it is necessary to again login via ssh. You must have a pretty solid knowledge of ssh, so that you can run complex operations. Because of the complexity of the operations, it is easy to cause a catastrophic error that will put your server out of commission.
In Cpanel, all of these operations are automated, via the click of a button. Basic users can get in and adjust their server settings.
Bottom line, Cpanel is hands down the better option.
September 3rd, 2008
Joe Lieberman’s speech last night at the Republican National Convention was an interesting window into the soul of Mr. Lieberman. I do not agree with everything that he said, but I do agree with his heartfelt frustration at the ranker that is corrupting politics in Washington.
For the first few minutes of his speech, Joe Lieberman eloquently expressed how important it is that Americans look beyond the smallness of our differences, to get big things done.
Since the 2000 elections I, like many others, have watched Mr. Lieberman more closely. As I have observed him, I have come to the opinion that Joe Lieberman is an honorable man. Indeed, Lieberman is an old time democrat. Lieberman belongs to the party of Roosevelt, and JFK, while many of his peers belong to the party of Jesse Jackson, Nancy Pelosi, and Barak Obama.
If the democrat leadership were made up of honorable men like Lieberman, this country would be much better off. Likewise, all though I do not agree with all of his stances, McCain is also an honorable man.
September 3rd, 2008
Why is it that during the democrat National Convention, we were treated by the major networks to all the speeches that we cared to listen to, uninterupted. This week during the Republican National Convention, we are getting tidbits of speeches, constantly interrupted by talking heads. I finally had to turn my television to Fox News, because it is the only station that is actually showing the entire speeches.
Why do the major networks not want the American People to listen to conservative Americans talk about American values?
September 2nd, 2008
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