Djcnor’s Weblog

Archive for the ‘education’ Category

Pay-rate Changes: Is this legal?

Posted by: djcnor on: May 12, 2009

I am deffinitely annoyed, and I mean annoyed in the British sense as in seriously ticked off.So I think I’m getting £20 per hour (because the agency told me so), then find out that includes my holiday pay (so I get paid nothing for any holidays I take), then find out I’m only getting 5/6 of that, then find out that my pay has been cut by 35% for subsequent days, then find out I’ve got to work longer hours for that lesser pay. Did I question it? WELL, YEAH!
And I just got their answer. You aren’t going to believe this?!?! They say everything up to the very last is a mistake and they’ll be adjusting my subsequent pay checks to take back the “extra” pay they gave me!

I’ve Got Talent! Who Knew?

Posted by: djcnor on: April 6, 2009

Walking into the room is an exercise in balance and precise footing. Accomplishing anything in the room, aside from weaving, is out of the question. Weaving is uncomfortable, and warping the loom, even for a belt-width warp, was a job for a contortionist, which at 58 I am not.

All I know is I’m 58 and still full to the brim with life and passion and an unwillingness to settle, and it’s driving me into poverty and I don’t know what to do about it, because I cannot help caring as much as I do. Do I just have to throw up my hands and go for it, just set myself to live however I have to in order to do it? Is there anyone else out there like me? Well, is there?

Printing Money vs. a Good Safety Net

Posted by: djcnor on: March 27, 2009

Programs such as the one described above maintain the skills of the workforce. Workers affected by the downturn don’t fall behind and have none of the kinds of resume/CV gaps that make finding new jobs harder. No one loses access to the level of healthcare coverage they had before. What’s more is it costs considerably less than the American version of stimulus.

Obama’s Press Conference

Posted by: djcnor on: March 25, 2009

Since I’m in the UK, I didn’t get to watch the press conference. However, the full transcript is available, so I’m reading it. It may take more than one post for my entire response.

Don’t Forget the Submarine

Posted by: djcnor on: March 20, 2009

There are some Americans who will be uncomfortable with a President who is clearly human, recognizes that there are areas in which he may actually fall below the average (which is really what that Special Olympics remark was all about), and is determined to do what he can to remain that way, but I’m not one of them. I also want to complement Michelle Obama on her efforts in that respect.

The Role Play

Posted by: djcnor on: March 17, 2009

just let me state my support for the idea of letting even illegal immigrants pay in state tuition at colleges.

Idea Parties Everywhere!

Posted by: djcnor on: March 6, 2009

Idea Parties Everywhere! My e-mail box and the sites that I visit regularly seem to be fermenting like crazy. I hardly know which to follow (when I should, of course, be locating open jobs and filling in applications and such). There’s not enough time in my days.

GoodTimePolitics Is a Coward

Posted by: djcnor on: March 4, 2009

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deborah-burger/ugly-health-care-waiting-_b_55749.html

which actually quotes the chief medical officer of Aetna insurance, speaking at an investor’s conference as saying:

The U.S. “healthcare system is not timely.”
Recent statistics from the Institution of Healthcare Improvement document “that people are waiting an average of about 70 days to see a provider.”
“In many circumstances people initially diagnosed with cancer are waiting over a month, which is intolerable.”
In his former stint as an administrator and head of a physicians’ organization he spent much of his time trying “to find appointments for people with doctors.”

Got My Answer to What’s Next, and I Liked It

Posted by: djcnor on: February 25, 2009

Today’s issues are more complicated and they demand a more educated populace. Obama intends to give us one, and that’s a good thing.



  • Steve Smoller: Yes, I agree with you 100% as we have discussed many times. Hope you can get the Norwich Council to "wake up and smell the coffee" regarding this vita
  • djcnor: It's good to know there are other folks out there like me. Heck, I'd practically stopped posting on this blog. Can;t do it all. Eventually, I'll resur
  • Michèle Ayres – van de Geest: Hi Donna, Just finished speaking with you and arranging to meet up - I am very excited! Then I was cruising through your blog and read this - the