A Day at Rabbit Hash, KY

Skipping rocks on the banks of the Ohio River...
Exploring the "ruins"...

A fun day with Grama, who came up for a week from Florida. The best comment she made was, "Wow I didn't know there was ANYTHING to see or do up here! (meaning Kentucky)!"

We also took her down to Ft. Boonesborough, one of our favorite regional attractions. We were fortunate enough to see the re-enactors in their full glory. The blacksmith was making a betty lamp, there was a hunter who had not only hunted and killed the deer, but also had tanned the hides and sewn up the outfit he was wearing. My son got a coonskin cap (fake of course) and now thinks he's Daniel Boone!

What's with the Credit Unions?

After living for basically the last 15 years in Florida, and using their lovely network of Credit Unions, I'm aghast at how provicial the Credit Union ATM system seems to be here. Fo far, I haven't encountered any that are linked.

This means that I am charged a service fee at any credit union's atm other than my own, which is not located in Northern KY and is a royal pain in my neck to drive all the way to just to get 20 bucks.

The only Credit Union that seems to be in the year 2007 is CHACO. Last time I checked, they participate in Credit Union 24. Too bad, because nobody else around here does! The good news I guess, is that if you bank with them, then when you're on vacation anywhere in FL, you can get money at any credit union ATM and not be charged.

Jim Huff Realty Inc. Complaint and Disadvantages

As most of you all know, we've been house-hunting. I took the advice of a good neighbor friend and decided to ask a realtor to show me houses.

Well I couldn't have made a worse decision when I chose a realtor from the Jim Huff Realty Inc. company.

I asked this Huff realtor to show me such and such houses on a Friday. This was on a Tuesday. She agreed. Then that night she called and wanted to know if me and my husband could come into her office "to look at some possible listings and for her to get to know us better" before she started showing us houses. After all, she said she didn't want to waste our time showing us houses we weren't interested in.

Well, I know my husband. There was no way he was going to sit down and talk to anyone. He's very much a do-er. So, I thought I would get this preliminary stuff out of the way on Wednesday while he was working, so I agreed to meet with her.

Come into my lair said the spider to the fly.

The bait...

I entered her office at Jim Huff Realty Inc. on Cavalier in Florence KY, and we spent about 45 minutes looking at various listings and discussing me and my husband's preferences, school districts, our price range, etc. as she had promised.

And now for the switch....

Out of nowhere and like a slap in my face she whips out this "exclusive realtor" work contract. Ya Allah! Walla! She actually had the nerve to say to me that it was actually a waste of her time to start showing me houses unless I first signed this exclusive buyer contract and promise that I would only work with her. This contract stated that if I were to buy a house in the next months, I will promise to only buy it with her and she will get the 3% commission!

I couldn't believe it! I hadn't even seen one house with this woman, I had absolutely no idea what kind of work she could do, and she was demanding my loyalty to her!

This is demoralizing, demeaning, and a complete waste of me and my family's limited precious time! What does this realtor think I am, an idiot? And who does she think she is, a lawyer or something?

Lawyers perform exclusive services, and they are highly trained professionals, that require dedicated legal contracts etc. Doctors for example are also highly trained advanced professional individuals that perform exclusive services. We have a family lawyer, a family doctor, even a family veterinarian.... but a realtor is not on the same level as a Doctor or a Lawyer. She is not a highly trained professional with an advanced professional degree. She is merely a SALESMAN, nothing more, nothing less. She is the same as a car salesman, a furniture salesman, or the guy down the street at Buddy's Carpet Barn who sells carpets.

My parents, friends, neighbors, and clergyperson all would call me an insane fool if I signed an agreement with the salesman at Buddy's Carpet Barn promising him I'd buy some carpet from him, when he hasn't even shown me one bit of merchandise or found the right carpet in my price range!!!!!! So why should I do the same with this Huff realtor?

We are actually almost a week behind in our house hunting because of her stunt.We are currently renting and will soon go into a month-to-month fee because we will be staying past our lease period. We need to expedite the house buying process, not have ridiculous antics like this from SELFISH REALTORS like those at Jim Huff Realty Inc.

The realtor who did this to me told me that this is company policy. That means there is a serious problem with customer service and in the company vision of management at Jim Huff Realty Inc. The only conclusion I am able to make by such a selfish company policy is that this company doesn't want to help a potential home buyer; they only want to make phat cash for themselves and the buyer. That makes Jim Huff Realty Inc. by their very nature PREDATORY REALTORS when it comes to how they interact with potential buyers of homes.

Shame shame shame on you, Jim Huff Realty, Inc.!

Only in Kentucky

This is an advertisement on the side of a building in Lexington, KY.

I say "Only in Kentucky" because Ohio would never legally allow this kind of advertisement!

Now THAT'S one small example of freedom of expression!

A trip to Boonesborough

My kids had great fun using the apple smasher (apparently one of the most important activities of the first white settlers west of the Appalachians was making cider and getting lit up)...

This was in the center of the fort, it was the powder keg/artillery.


Daniel Boone's fort is recreated in full, along with re-enactors, in the Fort Boonesborough State Park in Richmond, KY. It's about an hour's drive, give or take a little depending on what side of Cincinnati you are starting from.

It's $5/person (age 6 and up), and is well worth it. The re-enactors we saw were demonstrating how to cook on an open fire. Apparently there will be many many re-enactors after April 1 when the fort officially opens for the season. From the way the place is set up, it looks like there will be a Blacksmith, a basket weaver, someone carding wool and spinning it into thread (is there a name for that person?), a carpet weaver on a full loom, and much more.

For my husband and myself, the highlight of the place was in the authentic settler gift shop. They had hand-made period pieces such as wooden bowls and glasses, silverware made out of antlers, clothing from the period, flint stones with the iron for making a fire, and whatever that thing is called that they used to melt lead in and then pour it into molds for making bullets!

Driving fun

What is it with people almost coming to a complete stop in the middle of the lane of traffic that is going 50 mph whilst they are making a right-hand turn? I've never encountered so many people in one place who do this. Can anybody explain this to me?

Clearly this is a Cincinnati-area phenomenon.

Ok done ranting.

-Rockin' Hejabi

Teacher Personality Profiling

I am stunned to learn by first-hand experience that the local school districts in and around Cincinnati require teachers applying for a job to take a personality test!
This is a copy of an email I just received.

We would like to invite you to participate in the next phase of our application process for Sycamore Community Schools.
Please go to the following website and complete the online assessment:
https://gx.gallup.com/teacherinsight.gx

The district code for Sycamore Community Schools is 21214545

Thank you,
Carla Clark
HR
Sycamore Community Schools

The test took about 15 minutes to complete. It asked repeatedly questions that asked the teacher to rate statements about themself, such as "Teaching is the most important profession above all others," etc. It asked this question so many times that it gives me the impression that they only want teachers who actually think that teaching is the most important profession.

I have a real problem with this notion. Teaching is valuable, it's a necessary part of our society, but how can we say that *one profession is THE most important one of all? That's a really narrow-minded, I can-only-see-as-far-as-the-end-of-my-own-nose way to think. I am actually made ill by the thought that these school districts want Politbureau-minded teachers.

Teachers in my mind are valuable and important, because teachers are charged with the enormous task of teaching young minds how to think critically. Critical thinking skills are what (used to ) separate the West and the "first world" from the Third World.

I spent 2 years in Qatar, where the old, third-world way of teaching still operates. It's scary. Students are only taught by rote-memorization, and the entire region is stimied because there are entire cultures where the masses of people cannot think critically, they can only memorize and regurgitate and follow, not create and lead. They are historically ruled by Kings/Emirs, and lack Democracy.

What is happening to America when we are actually profiling teachers to be apparachiks of the State? It's one of the first steps towards Fascism, and that scares me to no end.

I also highly question the constitutionality of profiling a potential employee like this.

What are we coming to?