Category: Having My Say

Having My Say3 Comments

Freestyle School….

RJ Walters

As the new school year approaches, teachers have come to expect that many of their students will have forgotten some of what they learned earlier. It’s called summer learning loss, and some teachers believe it’s inevitable. Are they right?… The traditional educator’s remedy for summer learning loss is more of the same, more hours and more days of classes and, of course, summer school.  What if schools enlisted family members as partners to help teach the children? But suppose there is another solution.  That’s what’s happening here at Russell Byers Charter School in Philadelphia. For five weeks this summer, Sarah … Continue reading Freestyle School….

Having My Say3 Comments

Home Away From Home…

RJ Walters

We have a few very old maple trees on our property. The one shown here is pretty well hollowed out and that is where our cat Dexter likes to spend time. He climbs trees like a professional. This hole is about 15 feet off the ground which is no problem for him. Several times a year someone will stop and give us a quote to take down the tree but I always so “its time has not come yet”. I am old and not so pretty anymore but I don’t want someone to “take me down” so I treat this … Continue reading Home Away From Home…

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Falling By The Wayside…

RJ Walters

It seems that many of my blog friends are falling by the wayside lately. They are slowly disappearing from cyberspace. I used to read a dozen or so blog posts every day, now I read less than a handful. Some who seem to have maybe a thousand followers or more are calling it quits. I wonder what is happening? Many of these past blogging friends say it is just time to move on to other things. Some I imagine expected to make spending money from their writing and that just didn’t happen to any degree. Some maybe had grandiose thoughts … Continue reading Falling By The Wayside…

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To Face The Future…

RJ Walters

The future is a scary place for many of us. We primarily see things that are out to get us and hurt us. We cling to the past as the good old days. The thing about that is that the past was simply not the good old days as we remember them. We seem to have an abject fear of letting our children out of our view for fear that they will be abducted. But the fact it that these are safer times in that regard than they were twenty, thirty, or even forty years ago. We as a country … Continue reading To Face The Future…

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7 Out Of 10….

RJ Walters

Nearly all of 2014’s best-paying jobs require an advanced degree, according to a new ranking from the job portal Careercast.com. Seven of the 10 most lucrative positions are in the health-care industry. SOURCE: The 10 best-paying jobs of 2014 – Yahoo Finance. It is interesting to see that seven of the ten highest paying jobs are in our unsustainable healthcare sector. I doubt that this relation is coincidental. Note that the numbers above are the average. Many make much more than this. We seem to always knock the lawyers but they are pretty far down on the list. The guy … Continue reading 7 Out Of 10….

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I Can't Get No….

RJ Walters

I know the Rolling Stones song goes “I can’t get no satisfaction” but for purposes of this post I am going to change it a little. I have been fully retired for about eight years now and was semi-retired for six before that. One of the things that I have found the most difficult to keep a handle on in these retirement years is stimulation. In other words for it “I can’t get no stimulation.” and without stimulation my life sometimes seems to just be spinning in place. In the corporate world of the 1990s it was always about doing … Continue reading I Can't Get No….

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57 Varieties…

RJ Walters

Pittsburgh PA – H.J. Heinz Company Museum It is unclear just who invented ketchup but as usual an American perfected the process. As shown in picture taken of a mural at the museum H.J. Heinz was making it on a large scale.  Here is a little about it from Wikipedia: Tomato ketchup was sold locally by farmers. A man named Jonas Yerks (or Yerkes) is believed to have been the first man to make tomato ketchup a national phenomenon. By 1837, he had produced and distributed the condiment nationally. Shortly thereafter, other companies followed suit. F. & J. Heinz launched … Continue reading 57 Varieties…

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Before Becoming A Christian…

RJ Walters

1) Christ is perfect but “Christianity” is not. Don’t mistake Christian Culture as God, they aren’t the same thing. Churches, pastors, theologians, and other believers will inevitably fail you, but Jesus never will. 2) It’s OK to change your beliefs. You’ll never have Christianity fully figured out. You won’t have an answer for everything. Theology is a journey, a Pilgrim’s Progress. Life, relationships, and experiences form, shape, and change the way you see, experience, and understand God. The disciples didn’t understand God much of the time, and you probably won’t either. 3) Christianity Isn’t Easy. It doesn’t magically fix things, … Continue reading Before Becoming A Christian…

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Celebrating Native Americans….

RJ Walters

Another quick snapshot of my blog InSearchOfAmerica. Visit it by clicking on the mosaic map just to the right of this post. Rapid City, SD – A City of Sculptures I love all the sculptures in downtown Rapid City. Many celebrate our Native Americans. What could be more American than to celebrate the original inhabitants of this great country. Too bad it took us so many years to realize that….. Continue reading Celebrating Native Americans….