The good and the bad

We had the opportunity to meet the executives of UMOS today. We learned about the history of the organization and some challenges. Very interesting stuff. It was followed by more training. Today we were joined by support staff, which made our group bigger. In addition, UW-Oshkosh is hosting some summer camps. The campus is flooded with high school kids. We did have the good fortune to find Uncalendars. I got hooked on them at UT-Austin.

 

Tomorrow, I officially interview for my job after a day of training. It's a formality of sorts, I'm practically in already due to the shortage of workers. In case anybody is interested, the Migrant Head Start program needs bus drivers and other personnel for the schools. If you don't mind relocating, there is work for you outside of Texas. This brings me to a related subject that popped up today.

 

While we were fighting to stay awake during the training, my wife wrote me a note asking if we could come to Wisconsin again next year. I'm all for it. I checked the weather last night. Back home, the temperature is up at 100 degrees. Yikes! We're cold most of the time up here. Of course, my answer is yes; we can come again next summer.

 

We then started talking about our choices over the past 11 years of our marriage. We are thinking that it's about time that we let go of our safety zone in the RGV. It's easy to blame the Rio Grande Valley and employers there for not providing a decent living for us. In my moments of frustration, I have begrudged the lack of good opportunities back home. The truth of the matter is, it's our own fault. Whenever unions and other pro-labor groups start bitching about jobs going overseas, they are being whiney-assed like me. There is plenty of work in America. The problem is that the people who complain, like me, don't want to make the effort to learn a new skill or to relocate to where there are good jobs. Of course, Democrats and other vultures are quick to blame big business for being cold and heartless, bordering treasonous. It's easy to find a scapegoat rather than take responsibility for the outcome of your life.

 

My wife and I have long known the disadvantage of living in the RGV: jobs pay less than their equivalents in other parts of the country. But, we chose to stay. We unrealistically expected good opportunities to come to us rather than us go to them. For a long time I accepted what I could get with the lie that if I could make it in the RGV, I could make it anywhere. I'm so foolish sometimes. I've decided to let go of the RGV crutch and to seek opportunity wherever it is. In the lottery of life, the rule is simple, you have to play to win.