Man, It Looks Bad.....Really Bad....

 I've spent the last couple of days in a form of a cocoon, no news, no nothing, read some of Lord Byron's works. Then watched on YT " The Rest is History " 4 part show on Byron, and was reminded what a deviate he was. ( Hint, he had an affair with his half-sister.....and gender fluid women......So, this trans business is nothing new, go back and read what was going on in the Regency Era of England in the early 1800s when George III went mad and his son was appointed Prince Regent ( Later George IV) to run the monarchy..... When Byron was at Cambridge, he was not allowed a dog by the university in his rooms, so he got a bear.......I need to write a blog on Byron. ) 

But I digress.....

The economy is bad.....Really bad. 

Amazon, UPS, Target, Paramount, all with lay-offs in this week. 

Amazon itself laying off 30,000....

The Federal Government has laid-off 200,000-300,000 that we know of during the government shut-down. Things like keeping the airports open are now in jeopardy, air-traffic controllers are not showing up for work. The airport in Newark has been shutting down off and on for a week, Dallas airports the same, not enough workers to run the place. 

I'm not even going to talking about the 41 million Americans who receive SNAP Benefits and they not getting their assistance and what it might mean to the economy.   

Lumber is still stagnant.  I am telling you it isn't moving, so, America wide, people are not building houses. ( Yeah, some are being built in this area, but we are an anomaly. Still, people are not moving here from the rest of the state, much less country.)

The Federal Reserve cut rates , again,  but I am thinking,  too little too late. 

Inflation is horrid.  I'm just shocked at prices, especially the cost of pick-up trucks now. I'm driving what I got until the wheels come off. And the prices of beef. 

The Dallas Branch of the Federal Reserve has said that manufacturing in Texas is in a downturn....Why? People are not buying stuff. The old supply and demand no goods demand? No one makes said goods

The Dallas Fed said the following about Texas.  

- There’s a slowdown of commercial construction bid requests.

-  Customers are delaying projects to 2026, and requests for quotes have decreased.

- The service industry is down and are starting to lay-off workers. 

- Oil is stagnant and looking weak.

- The State Fair of Texas had 400,000 less visitors this year. ( Turkey legs were being sold for $25.) 

Finally-

After my blog on Christmas earlier this week, I had 5 separate people write and tell me, they are toning down Christmas this year, Mom and dad are giving each other maybe socks( No fooling, I seriously like getting socks,boxers, and Henley shirts, something I can really use) or something needed in the household and maybe the kids, grand-kids are getting a little something. But not as much as in the past. The finances just are not there. ( I wonder if closer to the holiday the grand-kids might actually get a little "extra?" Than what was first planned?)   

 

 

 

 

I Have a " Get Off My Yard" Moment.....And Christians, Don't Be Stupid.....And You XXXXXX Hoodie Wearers.....

 Got to watch live stream from Dublin, Ireland, not Dublin, Texas where they used to have the last real sugar Dr Pepper plant, until DP made them stop.....

And in what they would call the " High Street " over there, the business district if you would,  the Christmas Decorations were up.....

I get up this morning and check the KOGT website, and I notice an advertising banner on the site, it was for the Christmas " Holiday in the Park"event in West Orange. 

The event is to take place November 1.  

Basically 2 months before Christmas Day.  

And of course, the Hallmark industry has gone 3 TV channels of Christmas movies 24/7 until sometime until January.  

We've not even had Halloween yet and to be honest, I've not seen as much Halloween ads, people getting all excited about that "holiday." But then, more and more I am becoming a hermit. 

And I've never really celebrated Halloween.  

I don't know, not against Christmas, just not ready, and to be honest, there's nothing I want, I can't already go ahead and order from Walmart or Amazon and to be honest, I don't want or need anything.  

Every year I seem to think less and less about the holidays, perhaps because it was almost 90F on Monday. I know today we're supposed to cool off considerably this evening, but still it doesn't even "feel" Fall-ish. 

I know my wife's people are having Christmas sometime during the time between Christmas and New Year's. A combo of people out of town and people working Christmas at the plants. ( Good for them, make some big-time money) 

My people, who knows? Probably not Christmas Day.  

That said, not all excited about either. 

- Christians.....Don't Get all excited when you see the word " Xmas." 

For years, ignorant preachers  preached saying the "X" was taking Christ out of the holiday. 

In truth, the Greek letter "X" was a symbol for Christ and for years scribes just wrote " X" for Christ.....And what was the New Testament originally written in? Koine Greek.....Or the Greek spoken during Pauline Times. 

Preachers b*tch*ng about this tells me those who went to seminary didn't take a Greek class.  

Quit looking for problems where there are none. 

-  Hoodies

And I am among the legions who wear one.....I have 2 Lamar University and one Texas Tech....I have to close family members who or either grads of or are now at the University of Texas, I guess I need a grey one of those. 

Please, please, please......Change the oil in them every once in a while between now and when you stop wearing them in April of 2026. I already gave mine a little spin in the washer yesterday just to make them " fresh. "

Moms, get that teen's hoodie he wears 24/7 and wash it.....I know you'll be tempted to take it to a hazardous material dump, but a little Tide or whatever detergent in a washer does work wonders. 

 

 

 

More Reasons Why NOT to Teach at Any School in 2025....Be it Buna, Vidor, Silsbee, Beaumont, etc.....

 Again, you think I tease when I say this, but " No, Mr. Thomas could not teach in 2025-2026 school year." 

At any school district, and to be honest I could not teach at a private or parochial school. As I have said in the past, private, church schools have their own problems. 

Local schools are now requiring teachers to call home before you can even send a kid to the office.....Who has time for that? I mean seriously, do you let the kid be a little " thug" all day before you get a hold of the parent?  

Are administrators that lazy now they don't want to deal with what is traditionally part of the job?

I remember when smoking and dipping were a problem. I think one of the last persons I actually sent to the office was smoking. ( And I felt bad there, as I grew up with my high school having a smoke shack.)

That was 15--16 years before I retired. I figured I didn't want you out of my class because, well, it was harder on me to come up with something for you to do in SAC or Alternative Education, the Box or whatever you wanted to call it.  And I often had the person in charge of SAC send you to my class because, well, I wanted you to learn something and figured a class period out of the Box, well, it's good for your morale. 

Then there is the story coming from a district in which boys are caught in the bathroom vaping, and then, one blows the vape spray into the face of the teacher who caught them, the kids are sent to the office, and nothing is done because they "can't find the vape."  Apparently the word of the teacher means nothing now....

And I know there are bad teachers, but most teachers I know are not sending kids to the office on a whim. It's a pain in the ass to write up someone.  And the outcome for sending them is often disappointing. I'd rather take care of some student myself. 

Again, I ask, who are they going to get to do this job? 

 

Weekend Special.......Buna Football, Aliens? IS it AI? Gambling, Married?

 Buna football lost again....But Vidor and LCM the two other school football teams I follow won.....Vidor now won't go 0 forever this year. 

I am hearing rumbles about the football coaching......We'll leave it there. 

- Are you following the 3I/Atlas asteroid?  There are conspiracy folks all over the internet following it.....In the last 24-48 hours more astronomers are saying it is acting strange, and right now it is behind our Sun. 

Of course there are people saying that " It's Aliens!" And to make matter worse, NASA and JPL are quiet about the 3I/Atlas, which tells me, they don't know either. 

If it is aliens, not much we can do about it.

 But I doubt it is.... 

- The Old Grey Lady pull out some pomade, slicked back her hair and came up with this story about a "possible" detective in the well-dressed world of Conan Doyle's  Sherlock Holmes, or Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot.

It seems there is a concern about whether is is a well-dressed French Detective investigating the jewel heist at the Louvre in Paris.  

Or is this guy an AI Image? Do pay-attention to the French cops leaning against the car, French Police are, well, rough looking. 

The fedora does not match the outfit, the vest is button all the way up traditionally, the bottom button is undone, his watch is on his right hand, he could be left handed, but he carries his umbrella in his right, generally meaning he is right handed,  his tie-clip is too far up his tie and you generally do not need a clip with a vest, his face is almost perfect, and the French are notorious about being unshaven......Is is real? Is he AI? Is he even a detective? Or a passer-by? There are a lot of "fops" and "dandies" in Paris, and France in general.....

 

 - Don't be surprised when we wind up in some sort of war with Venezuela. The president has said a land war could happen.....Man, we don't need a land war in South America. As I write this the USS Gerald Ford Carrier Strike Group is headed towards Venezuela. The nations in South America generally hate us anyway, I hope we do not have another "Jungle" type war like Vietnam. 

- My late Father might have been right, pro-sports is rigged for gambling.....  And why I do not gamble. And it is going to get worse and everything is brought to you by Draft Kings, My BOOKIE, or BET USA, or some other sports gambling book. The pro leagues, sports networks are in bed with gambling. 

- Have you looked at this coming week's weather? The NWS is talking in the middle 40s at least one morning with highs in the 60s with 20mph North winds.....Gonna be Winna( In my best New Hampshire accent).... 

Cold enough to get married? 

Not quite, but getting close.... 

 

 

 

 

“One Good Schoolmaster is of More Use Than a Hundred Priests.” ( More Buna Teachers Leaving? I Get Messages)

 Thought I'd be a smart-a$$ this morning and quote Thomas Paine from "The Age of Reason. "

I actually was going to write a blog on why you should carry a revolver instead of a plastic gun....Reason one....." They look FIRE!" 

But, I digress.... 

After yesterday's blog, I received some backdoor messaging about Buna ISD teachers who are done....Just done....

And it's the same as the teachers from other districts, it's statewide, heck, nationwide, heck it is the same from what I read in the UK, and most of Western Europe.   

The workload, the administration, the testing, the parents.....

Money increase would be nice, but teachers know they are going to be in a Genteel Poverty if I can use a term you might see in a Jane Austen  or a Bronte Sister's novel. The " not making money" is especially true if you work in Buna ISD, never mind there is a enormous tax rate placed upon the patronage. Teaching wages is often the second salary in many families. 

Kids are a lesser part. Yeah, there are bad kids, but we generally can handle them, but now, they have no help. 

I know I didn't need help with discipline, but I know I had 12th graders and it is a different world than dealing with say, Fishmen.  

But as one person wrote me yesterday, " the kids are just different the last five years, they do not care, why bother?" 

Another wrote....." I was hanging on until retirement, but 8 years seems like an eternity. I'll be dead." 

And finally....." I feel like I am on a sinking ship."

I had someone this morning ask me " Who is leaving at Buna?" And I am very close to this person.......I can't name names. For this blog to work, I have to keep certain things " close to the vest." I'm sorry.... 

I seriously wonder who is going to do this job?  

  

 

Well Buna....I Lied....

 I did not intend to. I do need a break. 

But still stuff  just continues to happen.  

In the last 48 hours I have heard from 3 teachers, possibly a up to 5th just done with teaching...3 have turned in their resignation effective the Christmas break.  How many more do I not know about?

All in this area. 

All from this area. 

Just done. Mentally, physically, just done. 

All  with 12 to 20 years experience. 

What we used to call " old hands." People who know how to teach.  

In the past, these same teachers made it to the May/June end of school time period before they left teaching. Now.....Just done. They are done. 

I wonder how many won't make it back from the Thanksgiving holiday period. Enjoy the week off and decide, I cannot make it to the end of the semester, traditionally, Christmas.  

I know I had a hard time coming back my last year for Spring Break, I was battling a person in the front of the school at the time and almost told them a string of adjectives and walked....But I figured I owned it to the Class of 2011 to complete the year.  

Glad I did not quit....and in another way, I wish I would have cussed them out and walked. 

The STAAR Exam, the kids just talking back and nothing happening....

And two saying, at 2 separate districts that admins told them that the testing was a " game." 

And both got into teaching for something other than the exams.  

Every year when I talk about the start of school, someone teases, I am not sure they are teasing as generally, they have a kid in high school, saying, " Mr. Thomas, you should come back...."

Nope.....I'm done. In more ways than one.  

It's Time, Been Time Buna.....

 And I address Buna because the majority of readers of this blog are from Buna. Ot have some form of tie to Buna. 

I told you a few weeks ago that I was taking a break, a sabbatical if you will from the blog, and then I write 7 blogs in 8 days. 

I even write this past weekend over the upcoming election. Readership sucked at an all time low, which tell me how much people really care about their right to vote. 

The well, is dry. 

I need a break, you need a break from the blog. 

Readership has dropped like a rock. And that happens. I've been posting too much and the general subject is well, people are not wanting to read anymore and what I really want to write on, well, no one really gives a good damn.  

I know there is a core readership , and they are the ones who actually "like" the blog on Facebook helping the post's the algorithm. 

And some of you never like, hate, love whatever, and likes are how I get paid, not in physical money,( I make nothing for doing this) but a reason for me to write.  

There are so many people dependent upon the school districts in this state, I wonder if they fear what would happen if they went away. And are super critical because of that. ( Y'all should get my mail/messages, negativity wears on a soul)....( I saw someone all excited about the price of gas decreasing. And while I too am happy to pay less at the pump, I wonder how much our economy will be effected? How will jobs be effected in SETX? And these same people will be asking in a few months will be asking " What happened to our jobs and with the paying less in local taxes, what happens when the state does not have that oil money to support every government entity that they promised to support? We are talking mostly schools and jobs will be the first school expense to be cut.) 

I will talk about this later, probably much later the way things are going... 

-Secondly, I am not well, not dying or anything, but I am now feeling more and more my age. More and more  things are going wrong.  There are days I awake and wonder " Why?" I am in lots of pain. I take a lot of pills and potions, gummies and wonder " What are body part, organ am I destroying to try and exist one more day?

So, unless something dramatic occurs, will take a break. I need one. 

I am too the point if someone offered a decent amount, I'd think about selling rights to the blog. Just to shut me up.? 

I may revamp the blog. 

Who knows?