I want my 20% pay raise…

I think  I deserve it..

According to MN state rep Kurt Zellers, faculty have received pay raises of 20 – 30%..

For goodness sakes — what really chaps my ass about the argument from the Republicans that academics are overpaid and the cause of all the state’s budget woes is that when salaries were high around the state, we were told that the security of a state job is the trade-off we receive for lower wages.

By comparison, a Ph.D. in my system makes in the neighborhood of $40,000 to $55,000 — a freaking Ph.D — getting a Ph.D. requires many, many years of school…. Imagine telling a lawyer during the “good” economy that they should settle for $55,000 / year?  I think not.

Now, when times are tight, we’re overpaid?  I think not.  Folks who took advantage of the boom times are now out of work — guess who gambled and lost — if Zellers has his way, academics will have taken the sacrifice in pay TWICE….

Even if I’d had a 20% pay raise (which I haven’t… no raise in the last contract and only a marginal raise in the last one) — I’d still be way behind other professionals with similar educational backgrounds.

Or, maybe the state of Minnesota has made a mistake in my last few years of paychecks — I’ll take my back pay please — I can wait a paycheck or two while you calculate it…

Andy, would you like to go to Europe this summer?  I’m expecting a big check!!!

Patty Goes DSLR…

I tried out a big-girl camera today… and I think I’m in love.

After our adventure  yesterday we stayed up way, way, way too late — so we had a slow day today.  It was pretty, we went poking around some of the lakes local to Isabella and then took a look at the big lake — and were home in time for a simple supper — all in all, a really nice way to spend a day.

I’ll post some photos later.. for now I’m trying to learn shutter speeds, ISOs and apertures.  Once I get a chance to really look at them, along with the histograms — I’ll see if I can explain my mistakes… sounds like I need another category, “Andy teaches Patty about cameras”… hmmm…

Along the way we ran into a forest service person — who went to college where I had (suffered) many debate tournaments… she knew the debate coach…

Tomorrow is supposed to be another beautiful day, Thursday kinda cruddy — then Friday nice again.  We have some plans to see boats come into Silver Bay, some photos to organize, I have a couple of books to read — and, there’s always the fipod to keep us company.

I can’t think of a better way to spend the week between Spring and Summer… much better than the week (three years ago) that I found out I had cancer.

PS… secret message to Mom — some random dude fishing at 18 lake says hello and that he’ll be happy to see you… no, I don’t know who he is — but he’s among the folks who didn’t think you’d be back..