About three years ago I decided to make a complete career cahnge. I left an exciting career in graphic design and went back to school to get certified to teach. Why? I had always wanted to teach and at that time, only a few short years ago, the job market was wide open – especially in the field of education.

I am sure you can imagine what ahppened right around the time I was ready to look for work in the education field? Yep, the bottom dropped out of that particualr market. I am still struggling with getting off to the running start I envisioned for mysrelf. At my age, it feels quite odd to start over only to find out that the start is so sputtering.

I was talking to my step-mother today and she was stressing how most computer fields are still stable. She said that, of course, you need to make sure you get training in the specific fields that are still in demand. One of the upsides of getting training in most e-business skills is that a lot of the training can happen online.

One of the areas that is in hot demand is IT Security. As more and more people gravitate to doing more of their shopping, banking, and business online, hackers are ramping up their efforts to swoop in and find weak spots to hit for their own profit. The foil to that problem? Ethical Hacking and the need for Certified Ethical Hackers. An ethical hacker is essentially someone who knows haw to think and act like a hacker so that they can pinpoint the weaknesses and vulnerabilities in a system. They can use the same tools a malicious hacker uses in order to design a system that stays one step ahead of the malicious hacker and ensures the security of that system.

EC Council is on top of the tech careers that are still in demand. They offer certification in -Security Fundamentals, Ethical Hacking, Penetration Testing, Computer Forensics, Disaster Recovery, and Secure Programming. Their iClass program is not some shoddy, self-paced bundle of canned lectures. Rather, it is live and instructor-led – while still available from the comfort of your home or office via the internet.

I only mention this, because being in a relevant career field really appeals to me and I am willing to bet money that it matters to you as well. We are in tough economic times and we are all sitting helpless as we watch so many fields that always seems absolutely essential take massive downturns. I want to make sure I am doing something that people still want to pay me to do and IT Security appeals to me in a real and germane way.

I have been thinking lately that my daughter and I dine out too often for my budget. We eat at places that are reasonable and I’m not breaking the bank, but I had a food epiphany today.

My dad took me to a little place in Charles Town, WV today called John’s. It’s right up the road from the old Rainbow Room bar, where Patsy Cline used to perform. It’s unassuming to look at and advertises country cooking, but it is anything but. The menu is expansive and everything on it is high quality and absolutely amazing.

My epiphany is basically this – I have no business dining out at all unless the food I am paying for is at least as good as the food at John’s, and that is not something you are going to find all that often in the price range of John’s. Therefore, I really have no business spending my money of food that is only mediocre when I am really rather a good cook on my own.

John’s is no particular style. It’s just skillfully prepared food at about the same prices you might expect to pay at any given chain steakhouse. I had an almond crusted chicken tonight that actually had me scraping the pan-drippings off my platter. The crab cakes and breaded shrimp were better than any seafood I have had in all my years of living in Florida. My daughter had vegetable soup that was more like a stew and a meal unto itself. I could go on and on, because I shamelessly sampled from everyone’s meals to make sure I had a taste of everything. I kid you not, if you are within 50 miles of this place you need to take the time to give it a try.

I’m looking for a good link now, but they must not have a website. So, here is the information:

John’s My Pappy’s Place
U.S.340S (south of Charles Town)
Rippon, WV 25441
Map
304-725-4348

The last day of school for Gigi was Tuesday. My last day was yesterday. Some of the teachers went in today, but I was told I could stay home, which suits me fine while I sit and lick my wounds after the layoffs.

Anyway, Saturday Gigi and I are flying into Dulles. We are spending a week or so with my dad. He built a lovely home on the banks of the Shenandoah River and I can relax while Gigi runs wild and plays in the fields and in the water. We will probably take some time to go into DC, most likely so Gigi can see the National Zoo. I told her I would take her to where mommy went on field trips as a child and she is quite excited. We will also take time to drive out to see my grandmother. My daughter is fortunate to have a great grandparent alive and I feel bad that we did not get over to see her last summer. I had a set of great grandparents alive until I was about 13, and then another great grandmother who lived until I was 23. I was super fortunate and I want to make sure Gigi appreciates the time she has with Grandma Dot.

I know when we come back into town I have to wholesale resign a lot of my time for a job search, so I am determined to make the most of relaxing at the beginning of the summer break. I will be SO happy when I am finally at a place where I have a continuing contract with the school district so I can let down my guard just a bit.

A couple of years ago, sales jobs were a dime a dozen. Anyone could have snagged one, since the companies were desperate for people to come in and work insane hours for crappy commission pay.

Now I look in the want ads and see sales jobs where the employers can actually ask for previous sales training and experience, because the job market is so ghost town right now. People with tons of experience in much more skilled professions are thrilled to get sales jobs just so they can stay afloat in this economy.

Depressing, huh?

OK, here is where I admit, with much shame, that I have been watching the Bachelorette. I don’t like the Bachelor shows, but have liked the ones with the women making the decisions in the past. This batch of guys the Bachelorette has to choose from, though, is pathetic. Without a doubt, this is a sorry bunch of guys.

They are all shaved from chin to toe, bulked up muscles, frat-boy clothing, and lots of dim-witted bathroom humor. Even if a few of them are indeed intelligent, the producers sure are not going out of their way to highlight those particular characteristics.

My question is: do the producers have all the say in choosing the pool of men ore are the guys picked based on some sort of questionnaire Jillian filled out? I hope it’s not the latter, because then it just means the poor girl is simply getting a reality dose of her own yearnings. Yikes.

Last week Jillian and one of her men (who she ultimately ended up sending home – despite the fact that he seemed a lot more down to earth than most of the other guys) got to choose between a vintage car and a slick Ferrari. Jillians’s date chose the Ferrari and I had a flash image of Ferrari parts flying all over the highway as the two dolts took off at warp speed. Thankfully, all was safe.

I really want to stop watching the show, but then last week Jillian also kept psychopathic David around for another week of train wreck entertainment. I feel oddly compelled to tune and watch him drunkenly bandy around the house with his eyes popping out of his head as he makes violent threats about other contestants. I almost WANT to see the stronger bachelors tell him he is a nut job while the obviously wimpy bachelors buddy up to him and tell David they agree with his conspiracy-theory-esque rantings.

What a mess.

OK, so it’s not doom, really. However, Saturday I got the dreaded letter from the school district informing me that I have been terminated. On the bright side, it’s not due to my job performance. On the dark side, I am still trying to get used to working in a system where seniority is more important that job performance, effectiveness in the classroom, and talent.

My boss is livid. When someone like me is let go to make room for someone else in the district that lost their position and has more seniority, the school gets no say at all in who is placed with them. She told me that the last two people they have been assigned to them have been useless. They are essentially dead weight in the department. Those of us who she has interviewed and hand picked end up picking up the slack. It’s good to know I was appreciated.

I went through the tears and panic over the weekend. Today I have been able to let off some steam with my co-workers. I feel a lot more ready to face the months ahead now. I may very well be placed quickly in another position. Or, there might be an instructional position out there for me. That is what I really want anyway. Still, I wanted to be the one that decided I was leaving for another position. I did not want to be forced out by circumstances and the fact that I am just a name on the list to the people at County.

Pray for me.

We did not have much in the way of video games when I was a kid. We had arcade games, but you had to be at an actual arcade or maybe the local Pizza Hut to play them. My dad had Pong and my friend Kathleen had Intellevision. That was it. Other wise, we actually went outside and rode our bikes, built forts in the woods, made dams in the little creeks out by the park, roller-skated, and sat in the willow trees and read. That was how I and the other neighborhood kids kept ourselves occupied when I was young.,

Now, I have to battle my daughter to get her to play with something aside from online computer games and watching television. She loves her dolls and books, but not as much as she loves the fact that at her dad’s house he lets her play with his xbox 360.

How can I compete? I am after her all of the time to be active and run. She thinks my idea of fun is boring. Despite that, I am going to continue to keep on her about being outside and being active, because I want her to have effortless fitness. I want her to be able to see that with the right amount of physical activity she can eat a healthy amount of food and still look great. I want her to LIKE being active, derive joy from movement and activity. Why is that such a battle?

I have been able to get through every day of this past week without taking a single diet pill. I feel like it’s a start. I must mean I am finally learning to eat enough protein often enough during the day to not feel as many hunger pangs as I used to.

Still, my cravings for sweets and carbs are as yet an issue in my life. I am eating the sweetened ricotta I mentioned earlier, but I’d love a little chocolate one night. When I am working to maintain my weight, I find I actually can eat some candy and bread and pasta. When I am actively working to lose with, though, I need to absolutely cut out those foods.

So, I am still just down the 40 pounds I lost when I started the diet. I took off about two months, because I was just plain wearing of dieting, I maintained during that period and did not gain. Now, I need to start back up and make this diet work for me. I would like to lose another 40 before I take another maintenance break.

My sister got my daughter a Hannah Montana MP3 player for her birthday this year and I have been downloading songs I have on my computer to sd memory cards. It was such a time saver that I already had a little folder on my hard drive just for Gigi’s songs and now she can run around and listen to her music without having to ask me to play it on my PC for her.

It’s just an inexpensive MP3 player, but adding those Hannah Montana graphics to the gadget and packing it with girly colors and lots of pictures of Miley Cyrus makes it a product that is now irresistible to girls like my daughter. Clever marketing is such an amazing thing. I love the idea of being able to charge more for a low quality item simply because you have the licensing rights to a hot music artist, even though less flashy products might indeed be higher quality.

Wait, let me clear something up – I do not love having to be the one paying for those low quality flashy items. I just love the irony of marketing said items. The MP3 player we have is actually a piece of junk. It does not turn on consistently and it is hard to charge. However, that picture of Hannah Montana on the front means my daughter is willing to overlook all of the crappiness and focus on the cool factor.

No matter what sort of professional you need, you should always find someone who is a specialist in the field in question. If you have heart problems, you call a cardiologist. If you roof is leaker, you call someone who focuses on roof repair and roofing. If you want guitar lessons, you find someone who is aces at the guitar, rather than say the piano.

So, when my friend out in California was involved in an automobile accident that happened when he was riding his motorcycle and said he was just going to call his buddy down in Los Angeles who just started a practice in personal injury, I suggested he actually go the extra mile and look for an Oakland motorcycle accident lawyer. I felt that not only should he be working with someone right in his own town that is familiar with the judges and courts local to my friend, he should also work someone who is familiar with clients who have been in accidents while on their bikes.

Does my logic seem sound? I just think that with all the bad feeling other motorists seem to have toward motorcyclists, he should go with someone who can really navigate his situation.

I know that Florida is not the only place you have to be super careful about fleas and ticks if you have pets that go outdoors, but we sure do have to deal with it for more months out of the year than a lot of other locations.

I learned the hard way about being very careful with what I put on my pets to deter fleas and ticks. Although I never skipped a month, I did buy some off brand medications that may or may not have been up to par. Despite keeping a schedule on heartworm medication, my older Greyhound did end up with heartworms. Now, as old as she was and as mild as her symptoms were, there was no need to worry with painful or expensive treatments. She was diagnosed and the vet told me she would die of old age before she died of heartworm related complications.

When I buy Frontline and other pet medications now, I make sure I am getting them from a reputable dealer who is not apt to substitute out of date products or products made in dosages that are meant for countries other than the United States.

I was 23 when I finally got my ears pierced. I was just not interested before then and when my room-mate bought me a gorgeous pair of earrings for my 23rd birthday, I figured it was high time to get the holes to match the jewelry.

My daughter asked me if she could get her ears pierced back when he was about five-and-a-half. I sat her down and explained the process and what happens in the weeks and months following the piercing. She backed off.

This week she was sitting in the van with me, on the way home from school, and told me she had been thinking about the ear piercing and felt ready. She finally felt like the little bit it would hurt during the process was worth it. So, I called her father and got his opinion. He was all for it, and only asked that he be invited along. It was a little harder to work a trip to the mall into his work schedule, but we finally settled on an evening we both found workable.

She was excited right up to sitting in the chair. Then, she held the doll she had brought along, tensed up and cried softly. However, she did not flinch or back out. Sure, she cried when they inserted the earrings, especially when one of the girls had a problem getting the back onto her left ear. At one point she even gave off a little howl, but all in all she was brave.

A lot of my friends feel I allowed this at too young an age. Some of my other friends actually had their daughters’ ears pierced when they were infants. It is all a matter of opinion. I think if the child shows an interest and can take part in caring for the wounds as they heal, they are old enough. So far, Gigi has been better than me in remembering to clear her ears twice a day.

I’m a fan. With my low-carb diet, I feel like I am missing out on a lot of the desserts I really low. I have been using ricotta cheese, sweetened with Splenda or Truvia, to get my dessert fix, but the texture of the ricotta is not always as luxurious as I might like.

However, Sorrento Velvety Smooth Ricotta Cheese is amazing. It’s not any different than other ricotta cheeses when it comes down to substance, but the velvet texture makes it feel richer, more decadent. I still just sweeten it with Splenda and top it with a few fresh berries, and it’s more satisfying than almost anything else I am allowed on my diet.

The only downside is that I have been unable to find it anyplace other than Super Wal-Mart. It’s not available at Target, Publix, Albertsons or even the Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market. So, I buy four containers when I have the time to trek over to the Super Wal-Mart.

After a stressful day, it’s an emotional band-aid.

Even though the newest thrill ride at Sea World Orlando does not officially open to the public until May 22, I got to ride it today! Manta is on soft opening. That means they are up and running, but testing various aspects of the ride, like line timing and such.

I went to Sea World as a chaperone with some of the kids from my high school. It was mostly Biology and Marine Science students and this particular trip had an overload of people volunteer to chaperone initially. I’m not sure what happened, but about a week ago they ended up with too few chaperones. I was not even going to ask to go, but I’m thrilled it worked out. I’m not sure I will ever have another opportunity to go to Sea World for free. ?

Anyway, I’m sure you are much more interested to hear about Manta. It is amazing. I am a roller coaster fan and have never really played on anything quite like this. Besides that jolting second loop, the ride is smooth, freeing, and made me laugh with pure glee the entire time. I rode Manta with a couple of other teachers, one of which was dead set against going when we got to the park that morning. I think she just experienced so much enthusiasm throughout the course of the morning that she got all caught up and in the end she was the most excited person in our group.

I know Sea World is not known primarily for the thrill rides, but I think they made a brilliant move when they brought this one on board. It’s worth the entire price of admission. Well, that and those super cute puffins.

If you happen to have saved your Buy One Get One Free Schick Disposable Razor coupons from the April 5 Smart Source coupons insert, now is the time to use them. Publix has Schick Disposable Razors Quattro High Performance 3-packs or 3 or 4-packs for Buy One get one Free this week. Since you can legitimately combine the manufacturer’s B1G1 coupon with the store sale, you walk out just paying tax for two packs of razors.

Overall, you save $6.29 x 2 = $12.58

About a year ago, I noticed the prices for razors and replacement blades went way up. Turns out it was due to an increase in steel prices. Now, more than ever, free is a very good thing.