Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Coin Collection









As of today, I have finished my first Whitman Coin Folder: all 50 State Quarters from both the Philadelphia and Denver mints. According to my records, I began working on the collection July 2nd of last year, although I did take some time off of hunting for quarters at Northstar through the winter and early spring. Next I'll be working on all of the Quarters back to 1965, the first year they were minted without silver.

I've included a (poor) close-up photo of the Maryland state quarters.










Cheers!

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Happy 22nd Birthday Kim!

It was great to see you yesterday. I hope you have a wonderful birthday!

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Weird

Tomorrow is the last day of school with students.
There's no traveling east for graduations.
Weird....

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Paulding County CSEA

This is a difficult post to make so please bear with me.

Several weeks ago I had a meeting with the Paulding County Commissioners to report that the CSEA was about out of money. I have been reporting to them for at least the past 10 years that this was going to happen (and I had been joined in some of these meetings with State fiscal people who agreed and supported my conclusion). The Commissioners have always refused to put any county money into the program (I heard on more than one occasion that "The state requires us to have a CSEA but we aren't required to fund it").

At this meeting I was directed to prepare a plan to cut the agency budget so no county money was needed. I did this and reported back to them last Wednesday (May 6th). At both of these meetings it was suggested that maybe it was time for me to "fall on my sword".

Last Friday the Commissioners secretary called and told me that they wanted to met with me this past Monday to report on how my restructuring plan was going. Seemed like a strange request because the plan was only two days old. Anyway when I arrived this past Monday morning (at 8:30) I was informed that they had discussed the matter with the county prosecutor and it was agreed that he would now supervise the CSEA and that my services were no longer required as of the close of business that day. (I was obviously surprised that the prosecutor was doing this because he had told me, to my face, more than once, that he didn't want my job.) So I left their office, went back to the CSEA, told my employees, cleaned out my office and left. That afternoon I received a letter that I had been placed on administrative leave with pay. (I declined at the morning meeting to give them the letter that they wanted-my resignation. Today a letter was delievered to the house that I have been terminated. (I am writing this from Cleveland where I am attending the State Bar convention.)

So after 20 years I have been fired because they didn't like what I was telling them. This was quite an unexpected shock and surprise and is something that Randi and I are having trouble getting used to. However, we both believe that the Lord probably has other plans for me and we will wait-somewhat impatiently I am sure-after all I am a Jones'-to see what the future holds.

We will get though this-we have no intention of letting the powers that be beat us down. I will continue with my law practice and strongly believe that one day the Commissioners will realize that I was telling them the truth-only they didn't want to hear it and will never admit it to me.

I apologize for following Linda's great news with this-we appreciate your thoughts and support and will be in touch soon.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

We CAN make a difference!

So I thought I'd share some good news!

On May 7th, Gov. Martin O'Malley signed into law a bill that I have worked to get passed for the last two years!

In short, graduate students in Maryland who earn their doctoral degree in clinical psychology will no longer have to complete a post-doctoral year in order to become licensed psychologists. Instead, they can sit for licensure upon receipt of the doctorate.

This is really really(!) good news because it allows psychologists to start working a year sooner (i.e., paying taxes and paying back student loans) and to provide the mental health care that is so desperately needed in Maryland.

As the Advocacy Chair for the Maryland Psychological Association of Graduate Students (MPAGS) I have worked closely with the Maryland Psychological Association (MPA) for two years to get this passed. Together we organized legislative meetings with students, psychologists, and legislators to talk about the bill and it has all paid off!

I am soo excited about this! It feels so good to know that you CAN enact positive changes and legislators DO listen and want to help.

Just thought I'd share the good news! This is the perfect punctuation to the end of my term with MPAGS. :)

Sunday, May 10, 2009

A Salute

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY Cindy, Donna and Robin!!

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Swinefest 09


Hey everybody I dont know how many of you know but the University of Delaware had four cases of the world wide phenomenon known as the swine flu. I just wanted to let everyone know that I am fine and I think its all under control on campus. Unfortunately we still have classes this week but the campus has embraced their inner swine with events such as swinefest 09'.