bathroom update

Months ago I blogged about a bathroom remodel which I was starting. The project is long since finished and I forgot to mention that.  It turned out pretty good.

I wish I had a "before" picture. Think ugly blue floor tile, dated wallpaper, and brown oak cabinets with a strong grain.

I replaced the tile floor with a travertine. Put subway tile on the wall.  Painted the cabinets and put in a new marble vanity top.  Also changed out the toilet.

Thoughts about the Badger state

The current dispute over public sector collective bargaining in Wisconsin has helped me forget that the Packers won the Super Bowl but a few short weeks ago. For that, I'm thankful.  I hate those Packers.

I don't know what the future holds for this Wisconsin issue, or whether it will transcend borders into other states. It raises some good questions, though.

I think most people understand that collective bargaining began in an era of horrible working conditions, where unions protected the safety and economic security of private sector employers whose singular focus on the bottom line was actually dangerous to employees.

Those days are long since passed.  And, I think this is reflected by the fact that private sector unionization has dropped dramatically over the past forty years.

With those thoughts it mind it is unclear to me why public sector unionization remains so prevalent.  From whom exactly are public sector unions protecting their membership?  From government, which would otherwise treat its employees unfairly? Really? 

The unionization issue is often framed as an issue of cost--i.e. the wages and benefits of employees represented by a union become unsustainable, especially in today's economy. 

I don't know if the cost issue is correct, or not. Even if correct, I place equal blame on those in management who agreed to unsustainable wage and benefits.

My opposition to public sector unionization, however, is not based on wages and benefits--it's based on the concepts of tenure and seniority. 

Most Americans work, and always have, in jobs where their success or failure is directly proportional to their effort and skill.  This is an intrinsically fair system which reflects the principles upon which our country was founded.

Can this capitalistic system create occasional results which seem unfair? Sure, it can.  But to me the far greater danger is the systemic malaise which can be caused by a system in which effort and skill are not the most important criterion to continued employment.

Watching the Wild

Some friends were kind enough to invite us to the Wild game last Sunday.  The varied reactions of my kids to the invitation was pretty interesting.

My youngest is a happy-go-lucky kid. Invite him to drive to Target and he's thrilled. So his immediate "yeah!" to the invitation was not a surprise.

My oldest doesn't reveal much so he can be hard to read. But, he seemed interested and actually had a nice time, so that was good.

Son number two initially demurred, claiming not to be much of a hockey fan.  "There will be food in the suite," I quietly said and his predictable reaction "Food?! Is this with the ****s?  They always have great seats!  Then I'm totally in." 

Son three loves sports. So I knew he'd say "yes" and that the Wild would be his favorite team, ever, by the time the game was over.

The boys had a great time at the game. And, I luckily escaped without having to buy too many souveneirs. That's always a bonus.

Valentine's day gets tricky

My two oldest boys are 14 and 11.  My 11 year old is slowly starting to indicate an interest in girls. My 14 year old is far less subtle-he's interested and isn't shy about saying so.

As a dad, this makes me kinda nervous.  I certainly don't want them to repeat the silly mistakes I made when I was their age.  And yet, I'm not entirely comfortable talking with them about it. 

On the Sunday before Valentine's day my hand was kinda forced. My oldest was pacing around and finally asked his mom to buy a box of chocolates which he wanted to give to a girl at school the next day.  Mom wasn't convinced it was a good idea; I wasn't either.  But, we certainly didn't want to discourage him.

I finally sat him down on the couch and tried to talk with him about it.  It was awkward.  He ultimately decided that the box of chocolates wasn't yet a good idea and we talked about other ways in which he could let the girl know that he liked her.

For a moment I felt like I had done my fatherly duty--passing on wisom to my oldest son. I encouraged him to talk to me any time that he needed advice about girls.  He nodded, and then asked me whether I had dated a lot of girls when I was his age. "No," I had to honestly admit, "I didn't."  "Well," my son says after a slight pause, "maybe your advice isn't so good, then." 

public sector compensation

The Strib has written a few stories now about public sector compensation and the efforts by the GOP majority in St. Paul to reduce or cap any increases.  One of the arguments leveled against these efforts is that the dollars involved in any such initiative are a drop in the bucket when compared to the state's budget deficit. 

This counter argument makes no sense to me and illustrates well the disconnect which those in the public sector unfortunately  have when in comes to compensation and benefits.

Public employees should be fairly paid for the important work which they do.  But, their compensation and benefits needs to reflect the realities of the private sector.

Two years ago, as the current recession was causing record lay-offs and salary freezes (or reductions) across Minnesota, I suggested to our then city manager that we needed to reflect that reality in the budget we were working on. I'll never forget his response--"why should our employees suffer because of what's going on in the private sector; the demand for our services hasn't changed..."  Slightly paraphrased given the passage of time, but that was the gist.

Ultimately, city headcount was reduced by 6 (out of 270 or so) and wages were frozen for one year.  Neither is immaterial, but both are quite modest when compared to the private sector.

I tend to agree, too, that the public pension should be a thing of the past.  In the private sector if you're lucky enough to save $800,000 in a 401k you can expect about $40,000 a year in retirement income, assuming safe investments.  Of course, most Americans don't save that much in a 401k. But, that same yearly income is far easier to come by for public employees. Should it be? Especially given today's long life expectancies, I think that's simply too generous.

the path of least resistance

They say that kids have their personalities well developed by the time they enter school. For the longest time I thought that was a bunch of baloney. I'm now starting to believe it. My two oldest are in 8th and 6th grade and I think their behavior patters are pretty well developed. They're both good kids, but predictible.

I still remember telling my 6th grader a few years ago that "the end" is not a sentence--yes, he had to write a paragraph for school and did the bare minimum.

Today, he's the first one home from school and one of his jobs is to shovel snow. I don't expect him to clear the driveway. But, if the plow has come by I expect him to clear the base of the driveway so that a car can make it in. And, we have just an inch or two of light fluffy snow, I expect him to clear that. 

It's been a snowy winter. And a winter full of excuses.  "I didn't notice that the plow came" lasted for a couple weeks. Now, his trick is to make a "path" for my car tires, figuring why shovel more than he absolutely has to in order for me to get my car in the driveway.  He actually measured the distance between my tires to make sure the "path" was the right width.  Ingenious, but lazy.