Not Enough Hours in the Week

Mondays are fourteen hours long, Tuesdays the same. Wednesdays are nice, only up at the school then hours then. Thursdays? Those are twelve hours, and Friday's have football games, so they're typically sixteen hours long. Then either rehearsals or contests on Saturdays. Which leaves me Wednesday evenings and Sundays to take care of all the extra stuff I need to get done.

Stuff like trying to find time to order my cap and gown. (I can't make it to the WT bookstore during the day, how am I supposed to manage?) I need to sit down and find time to order graduation announcements. I need to take my GRE in case I don't get hired on in Canyon, so I have a back up plan for the next year, i.e., graduate work at WT while I tech and teach lessons with the CHS Band. (Although hopefully, I'll just get a job. I'm working on the assumption that nothing will open up, however.)

I also would love to find time for extra sectionals with my drum line. I hate pulling them out of rehearsals to work on music, because then they're missing drill work which they really need. But what options are left to me? With the lessons I teach, classes I have, and set rehearsals I've already set up, the only time I can do outside of class sectionals is Tuesday or Wednesday nights at 7:00, or Sundays. That obviously wouldn't go over well for a variety of reasons. I'm willing to give up the time, but I don't want to ask that of my students, or their parents.

I wish I had time to sit down and figure out all this graduation/graduate work stuff. I think I finally have graduation set up and good to go, but I want to be taking grad school courses in the spring (unless my dream job opens up over Christmas...) and that's a whole other test and application that I haven't even started on.

Honestly, I'm just glad I managed to squeeze my music certification test in and pass it. Squeezed it in on a Sunday no less, I was lucky. Only Sunday testing option in the panhandle this semester. I think I was blessed that opportunity was available. Now I only need another few small miracles, and my life will be on it's ideal course.

Regardless, I need another weekday to fit everything in. One where the banks aren't closed, and the world doesn't shut down like on Sundays. Because Sunday afternoons are great for rest, but just don't cut it when trying to catch up on life.

Raised

On the evening of August 17, 2010, I was raised to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason. Boy, it's been a long time coming, but it made the anticipation worth it! Very excited that I am now wearing the ring that's been sitting on my desk for the past few weeks. Hopefully, sometime soonish, I would like to take a few pictures of myself dressed up in my apron, more for me than anything else; though if I do, I'll probably post a picture or two here as well.

Already have a couple of brothers dropping hints about the York Rite, which I am most certainly interested in since the brother who sponsored me is the Right Eminent Grand Commander of Texas. But as with all things in college, I think it will come down to time and [most importantly] money! Perhaps some of the brothers with real jobs will cut a deal with me, allowing me to pay them back over time... how far can you stretch the poor college student excuse in life? The Lord knows its still true in my case.

Angel of Light

As the sun sets
And cloud blankets Earth
I stand upon a mountain
Looking down upon
God's Creation

And like a sweetly singing angel
A voice, lucent in the dusk,
A song sings the wind,
Brushes the plains,
Kisses His Work
With gentle blessings.

And that Precious Gift,
Womb of our very civilization
Breathes deeply and sighs,
The sweet exhalation
Of God Himself.

Quote from Pike

Found this quote on another brothers blog. It's excerpted from Pike's morals and dogma, and I thought it was poetic.

"To make honor and duty the steady beacon-lights that shall guide your life-vessel over the stormy seas of time; to do that which it is right to do, not because it will ensure you success, or bring with it a reward, or gain the applause of men, or be “the best policy,” more prudent or more advisable; but because it is right, and therefore ought to be done; to war incessantly against error, intolerance, ignorance, and vice, and yet to pity those who err, to be tolerant even of intolerance, to teach the ignorant, and to labor to reclaim the vicious—these are some of the duties of a Mason."

Albert Pike

My Grandfather's Masonry

(Disclaimer: Picture is a random one off the internet - my grandfather's apron has yet to be found!)

One of, if not my first memories of Freemasonry is that of my mom finding my grandfather's apron when she was going through his belongings after he died. I didn't understand what Masonry was back then (I was very young, although sadly I don't remember the exact year), nor the symbolism of the white leather apron. She was somewhat surprised when she came across, as he was never particularly active in the lodge after he moved to Midland. (Which they did when she was very young.)

One of my other goals while visiting Midland was to find out what had happened to his apron. Though it's in her possession and not mind, I would very much appreciate it if I could have it, as it would mean a lot to me. I'd like to think that he would be pleased that I am a Mason, and if I could wear his apron it would (at least to me, ever the traditional sentimentalist) bring me a little bit closer to him. I never really had a chance to know him when he was living, and this is one connection I can have to that part of the family.

Anyway, I asked, and I was a bit disappointed. My mom wasn't entirely sure where his apron ended up. We searched a couple boxes of his old belongings that she had (which was cool in and of itself), but no avail. She said she would search another place or two for it when she had the chance. Not that there's any rush. I won't be a Master Mason for another two, maybe three months. Still... I hope the search turns out positive. I don't want to seem like I have a feeling of entitlement, but after my mom's dad, I'm the next, and to my knowledge, only Mason in the family. I'd like to see his apron at the very least, and glean from it what I can about his Masonic past and, in some way, my Masonic heritage.

I also asked about jewelry. He was, as a hobby during his working life, and as a job in his retirement, a jeweler. He made jewelry, both as a hobby and an income, and he was pretty darn good at it. Some of his faceted gems are still displayed at the Midland Gem and Mineral Society's show cases. He was a good Faceter.

That said, apparently he did not own a single piece of Masonic jewelry. Not one ring, not one pin, not even a pair of cufflinks. Which is incredibly ironic, I think. The one person who could have a ring exactly how he wanted it at an affordable price, yet he never did. It's something to think about, and I honestly am not sure what to make of it. It makes me wish I had known him better, that I might understand why he never wore any jewelry.

Anyway, all of this is on my mind as I go towards my Fellow Craft next week. Of course during band camp, but things would be too boring if they were easy.

May happy thought for this fall? Student teaching and more Masonry in my life, less school and school related worries. I think I'll be a much happier person this fall than I typically am.

A More Perfect Vision

So, during my stay in Midland this past week, one of my objectives was to go to the optometrist and have my vision checked out, both to renew my contact prescription and have new contacts ordered, and to obtain a written prescription to take to Wal-Mart so I can update the lenses on my glasses. I needed to do this because, since I typically only wear my glasses in the evening, I only have their prescription updated every two, three, sometimes four years. Needless to say, by the end of a cycle, they give me pretty bad headaches if I wear them for an extended period of time.

Now, as to why I had to do it with Wal-Mart, well, that's because of our glorious insurance program. (The insurance program that the state of Texas recommends for teachers, no less - I can't wait to see what the federal government will do.) Under this program, they will only pay for me to update my prescription once a year, and, once a year, I can update either my glasses, or my contacts. If I do both, my family has to pay for one. 

I suppose I do see the reasoning behind that. You only really need one or the other. Having the second as an option/backup is just convenience. Reasonable, I suppose.

Anyway, we apply the insurance towards the visit and my contacts (which saves an enormous amount of money) and decide to take my prescription to the Wal-Mart Vision Center, or whatever its called. It's where we always used to take me for my lenses when I was a kid, because it was always affordable. 

Well, apparently, there has been a massive lens shortage in the past few years that I'm unaware of that has inflated the price of lenses to ridiculous extremes. Having a new pair of lenses put in my old frame is going to cost $175.00. 

Granted, part of it is my fault. I'm so blind, they can't make plastic lenses for my prescription anymore. I have to go with one of the composite materials. Obviously, pricier than regular old plastic.

However, what doesn't make sense to me is the reason for such a high cost. Unlike every other practicing doctor in the world, the people who make lenses at Wal-Mart sit in a lab all day working on glasses. Perhaps the industry is simply more insane than I think, but it strikes me that they shouldn't have to pay malpractice insurance, since the can't, in any way I can fathom, do any egregious harm grinding lenses. Since malpractice insurance is one of, if not the primary, reason healthcare is as cost prohibitive as it is, and since it is in this situation not applicable, I mentally searched for another reason.

Well, what about high index polycarbonates? While the quality of the polycarbonate in these glasses is very high, I'm sure, polycarbonates in and of themselves aren't that expensive. A short list of things made of polycarbonates:

• sunglass lenses
• eyeglass lenses
• DVDs
• blue rays
• CDs
• drinking bottles/glasses
• MP3 player cases (high impact resistance)

Obviously, its a ubiquitous material. What makes the manufacturing argument even weaker is the obvious economies of scale. It doesn't take much poking around the internet to find the somewhat dubious statistic that 126 million Americans wear eyeglasses. Could find any reliable citations, but I'll accept this figure for now.

Assuming that approximately 1/3 of the US population does wear glasses, and regular plastic lenses can only be used up to a certain prescription, it would make sense that polycarbonate lenses are a relatively high, in demand item. Also, considering how much of the process is actually automated, and that optician certification is one to two years depending on the state, its not like you're paying for a neurosurgeons 9+ years of schooling, plus residency forever and a day, etc.

All these facts considered, lack of real liability, relative low cost of materials, short amount of training in terms of labor, the effect of economies of scale, and the high amount of automation used any more, I still wonder where the cost comes from. 

Considering that eyeglasses were credited with being invented in 1284, I think we should have found some way to perfect the technology by now. Perhaps even make it more affordable. Nearly 800 years after the fact, you'd think we would have perfected the technology. 

If nothing else, I now understand why the Lion's Club has eyeglasses drives so often!