Long Weekend

[Capt Bob Johnson]

Long weekend ---- Good weather forecast ---- Gonna run some long trains!

Shipping Mama off to the beach tomorrow, & to her Mother's on Sunday, so days ought to be all to myself. Just get her her favorite recipe - OUT - for dinner Sat. night and I got it made![8D][:p][;)]

[ttrigg]

Good for you. I was just given my "to do's" for this weekend. So I have untill noon Sat to do trains. Building a few "new" businesses for Rosebud Falls

[Train 284]

I finished I bunch of track work today, and I hope to run train this weekend too!

[Anonymous]

No rest till Sunday, my daughter is graduating today[:D]

[Train 284]

Congrats to your daughter Matt!

[ttrigg]

Matt:

If that's High School, then congrats,
It it is college then congrats with a job well done.

[Anonymous]

If we could get some dry weather in England we might be able to run trains but as we have standing water over the track bed I do not think that is wise. Enjoy your long weekend

[Anonymous]

Well its freezing here, we got down to 16 deg C last night but the days are sunny and it gets up to about 23 during the day. It will be winter in three days but i don't think it can get much colder, than this.


rgds Ian

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Train 284

Congrats to your daughter Matt!

QUOTE: ttrigg Posted: Today, 14:16:50
Matt:

If that's High School, then congrats,
It it is college then congrats with a job well done.

Thanks Guys! High school 2 down 2 to go [:p]

[kimbrit]

Ian, I love your definition of cold!! Off to Spain tomorrow so a train or two is on the tracks today, quite a nice day in Blackpool but windy.
Kim

[Capt Bob Johnson]

Ian,
Better than 60 deg farenheit? Man, that's short sleeve weather round these parts Pilgrim! (Maybe a lightweight windbreaker if there's a good breeze blowin!)

Well, at least he's not having to contend with frost heave like we do! But then again, he misses out on the fun of using his snowplow car on the railroad whilst working on a hot toddy to get feeling back into his fingers!

[Capt Bob Johnson]

Yesterday went over to local garden center where our club has a temporary loop set up and ran for 2 1/2 hours, then came home and ran on my layout for a few more hours while I weeded and did some work around the back yard.

Today planning to go back to garden center after wife leaves to go to her mother's and run some more over there.

Monday, gonna have work crew (in form of 15 year old grandson who wnats date money) so will work on getting railroad up the mountain!

[Capt Bob Johnson]

Matt,
I hate to tell you this, old boy, but it ain't over! The expenses continue, It's just the requirements that change! Once you think you're done, along come the next generation and you spend it all over again just spoiling them so you can get them on a sugar high and hand them back to the parents!

Enjoy life, that's what it's all about!

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Capt Bob Johnson

Matt,
I hate to tell you this, old boy, but it ain't over! The expenses continue, It's just the requirements that change! Once you think you're done, along come the next generation and you spend it all over again just spoiling them so you can get them on a sugar high and hand them back to the parents!

Enjoy life, that's what it's all about!

I understand what your saying, the oldest has yet to leave. However I don't believe in paying for college or weddings. Things in life like these are appreciated more when accomplished by ones self. I support my girls in their decisions and offer advice and let them make their own mistakes. Experience in the best learning tool there is[;)]

[Capt Bob Johnson]

Matt,
The problem is that in today's world, a college degree is about the same as a high school diploma was in our day! The high school diploma today gets you the job that an 8th grade education did 40 - 50 years ago.

I know the old saying "He convinced against his will, is of the same opinion still!", but you might want to give that some consideration! Things do change, and we dinosaurs need to go with the flow or we will become extinct!

Here I am using a dern computer that I have difficulty understanding how it works. These kids just have faith that it will work and don't need to know how!

Look at coming from the age of railroad transportation to where we are now. We electronically order out model train stuff from East Jipippe, and 3 days later it's here in our homes! When we were kids we filled out an order form, waited a week for the mail to get it there, waited 3 or 4 days for it to be filled and documented and shipped, and then another week to ten days for it to get here! A 3 week process melted down to a 3 day procedure; What a change!

You know, there was an e-mail going the rounds a few months ago that listed the final exam for an 8th grade diploma some years ago. The subjects covered and the detail that they were covered in were far beyond what many high schools cover today! That's why Johnny can't read, make change, add, subtract, communicate, or even think today. No, we need all this fol-der-rol of Phys Ed, political correctness, and glitz; rather than teaching the kids facts and how to think for themselves! Many high school honor students don't even have the faintest idea of how our system of govenment works!

The amount of knowlege in today's world is multiplying faster than rabbits; and the requirements for a decent education are doing likewise. I think you should at least think about how far you should support your kid's educations.

The wedding costs I kinda agree with you, they have been blown all out of proportion to what they are all about!

[Anonymous]

Capt Bob, In theory yes, supported the oldest for the first year and she got two creditsfor the whole year[:0]. She went back to school locally on her dime and got more credits than she did on our dime. Once bitten twice shy.

Oh, and me and the Mrs. are still [paying on that first year![:(!]

[Capt Bob Johnson]

So, meet somewhere in the middle??? While I paid full boat for #1 son; #2 was a different problem. We made a deal, I only paid the school if he got grades of better than a C in any subject at the end of the school year! If he did better than a 3.0 GPA, I picked up his student loans for that session! It worked! I wound up gladly paying for his education, but he knew he had to toe the mark to get it to happen; therefore, it did happen!

[Capt Bob Johnson]

Temps over 90, no rain in 3 weeks; It's darn hot out!

Grandson & I decided to come into the A/C till it cooled down late afternoon!

[grandpopswalt]

The importance of education and the need to attend a good college is something you start working on while your child is still in kindergarten. There should be no question that it’s off to college right after high school, just as natural as breathing.

Bob’s absolutely right, a BS or BA is the minimum any student today should consider. The world has changed dramatically in the last 30 – 40 years. Today, that bachelor’s degree entitles you to a shot at an entry-level job at best. The rest of the world has recovered from the turbulence of the 40’s and 50’s and is now able to compete with us. This is especially true in the area of education. The other problem is that skilled labor jobs are not paying what they did only 15 years ago.

I asked both my boys to “buy in” to their college education by taking out some loans, not much, $3k - $4k per year. But it was a reminder that if they didn’t take their education seriously, it was also their own money they were wasting. It worked, they both graduated summa***laude and the eldest has gone on to get his master’s.

Walt

p.s.

The forum's editing software has a problem with the middle word in summa***laude but I hope you get the message.

p.p.s.
Let's try c,u,m, and see what happens.

[icepuck]

I paid for three years a collage myself. The selection of jobs for a three year degrea aren't any better than a high school diploma. I'm basicly doing the same thing my dad did thirty years ago and I making about one third the money he made. More education,less pay, humm go figure..
-dh

[Capt Bob Johnson]

Walt,
Suppose the editor of the software flunked Latin?

[Ray Dunakin]

Seems a waste, having to spend the time and money to get a college degree that'll only get you the same kind of job you used to be able to get with just a high school diploma. Why do employers these days require a degree for jobs where a degree really isn't necessary?

Anyway, back on topic... I spent most of the weekend working on my layout. Saturday, did a bit of digging, etc but mostly fussed with the track plan for the middle portion. Finally figured out a way to add a little more excitement to it... more about this later.

Sunday evening I picked up a large load of rocks from my "roadside quarry". I may have to find another source for rocks pretty soon. In the meantime I've got a pretty good stockpile to work from.

Today I picked up a couple sacks of concrete and some blocks, raw material for building the next set of tunnels. Dismantled a small section of rocks I'd built earlier to make way for the reconfigured track plan. Started building a new mountain.

I've also been working on a model of the old water tower out in the desert. The wooden components are finish. The concrete supports are also finished but need to be mounted to a square concrete base. The tank is 14' x 20', which means I'll need a 7" diameter tube. Fortunately I found a place online that sells aluminum tubing in that size, in custom lengths.

[Anonymous]

Bob you are lucky having a teenage grandson, mate i have two teenage granddaughters 15 and 17 and they are bad news and i will not have them back here until they go through a personality change.

I do have three younger granddaughters but i am not really expecting much help from them. However i do have six grandsons ranging from 12 down to 3 or so, something worthwhile will certainly come out of that.


Rgds Ian

[vsmith]

Matt congrats on the graduation.

College is important but chosing the right profession is also important, 10 years ago computers were the big thing, today many of those computer jobs are overseas. Its tough for kids today to figure out what to study, as they dont know where the job markets going to be when they graduate. I knew a guy once who was the son of a plumber, he was working as an engineer for the city, his dad still made more money than him!

I graduated right into the last big recession and had to wriggle thru some pretty tight spaces with a shifty boss, when we got payed, we had to RUN to the bank and cash it or lose out. Maybe thats why I'm a little paranoid about money today.

Good luck Matt, hope the ones in college arent just taking art classes!

[grandpopswalt]

Vic’s point is well taken. College isn’t for everyone. There’s no point in sending a youngster there if he or she doesn’t have a specific goal. But almost any post high school training will greatly improve their chances of getting a better job.

As for the young engineer earning less than his plumber dad, that scenario is unique (I assume that they both worked for the city). Municipal unions (and state) are the last strong hold of the labor movement. The father was probably grand fathered into a high hourly rate with great benefits. It’s almost certain that a new plumber would be paid considerably less. Even if the father was not a city employee he is probably unionized and thus has the benefit of seniority. And a plumber's job cannot be done by someone in a foriegn country for less than half of what it's worth .

So it's become very, very important to choose a field that cannot be off shored weather it requires a college degree or not.

Walt

[Anonymous]

The eldest 21 tried a year at school and majored in partying! Now she is a partime student with a full time job[:)]!

The recent graduate would like to do something with art Vic.