… so Wednesday, I got my unemployment check and texted the Crack Whore to tell me the cost of Weed’s GED test and who to make the money order out to.

Weed had been in the store a few weeks ago lamenting the fact that his sleazy mother spent all the settlement money from her bogus lawsuit on all kinds of shit and didn’t set aside anything for his GED.

Now.. even though it isn’t her responsibility to come up with the money :: it’s his :: I would have still thought that she would have taken care of this since she’s always the one bragging about how she got him to get through the courses. But what do I know, right?

Anyway.. Weed had said that if he didn’t get to register for the December test, he’d have to wait until March. Neither Chief nor I want to see him lose his momentum :: he actually has been straightening out… a little :: so I told him when I got my next check I’d pay for the test.

She texts me back telling me that the fee is 75.00 and if I could have it by noon since he had to show his face in court and it would do him good to have the money order when he faced the judge .. since apparently, the GED was part of a court order. I don’t know if I necessarily believe that but that’s on them.

So fine.. I tell her that I’ll get it and will drop it off at her place. She tells me that Weed wanted to grab something to eat so she was taking him to the shop and I could meet them there.

Fine. Whatever.

But when I went to the bank, I noticed that not only did my unemployment come in.. but her child support payment had come through.

Now.. remember.. Bubba had lived with her for two week at the beginning of the month and I was mulling over the though of returning half of it to her.

Now.. I know y’all probably just sprayed whatever was in your mouth onto your computer after reading that and I apologize. Just send me an email and I’ll send you out some Lysol wipes to clean up the mess.

Just hear me out for a minute…

Regardless of my personal feelings for her .. and regardless of how she chooses to live her life.. having Bubba live with you for two weeks is a MASSIVE impact on your finances. Just on food alone. Even though she gets food stamps, it’s not like it’s an endless pool. Well, until the next month.. but again, that’s besides the point.

I also know that they have a court date coming up in January for child support and figured whatever trick she tried to pull out of her hat regarding the time Bubba spent living with her then a cashed check with ‘Child Support Refund For Bubba Staying There’ on the memo line would go far as to showing who was playing fair and who wasn’t.

See! I’m not ALL rainbows and kitten kisses here!

But even with all that.. it was still the right thing to do. And if there is one thing I will always do.. it’s the right thing. Even if I don’t want to.

So I got one of those “blank inside” cards and just wrote a note explaining what the check was for and why I was giving it to her.

When she opened it, she text me all defensive saying that she loves her sons and would never turn them away and I just squashed that like a bug and explained that it wasn’t a question of her loving :: cough cough :: her sons but THE RIGHT THING TO DO.

She either pulled or horns in or mainlined the “happy” smack because her tune changed and I was just THE. BEST. PERSON. IN. THE. WORLD. and how BLESSED. I. WAS. FOR. HELPING. HER. AND. WEED.

Whatever.

She did cash is like… right away but I expected that.

At any rate.. I didn’t tell Chief. I didn’t tell him because.. again.. I sometimes have my own agenda and when it comes out that I gave her the money back :: which it will :: my response is going to be that he doesn’t tell me everything when dealing with her so why should I..

It petty, I know.. but also a big bone of contention.. so maybe this will turn things around.

We’ll see

So I have read over many of the comments I have received on this blog since its inception. One area that has received most of the traffic has been the GED–people who are getting ready to take the test, scared to take the test, or eagerly anticipating the results of their test. Many individuals have already received their results, taken the test, or are scared to take their test–but, because of my negligence–they did not receive a response. To make up for this, I want to–at least briefly–address some basic concerns regarding the GED.

The GED is intended to be the same as a high school diploma. Many people with a GED may be embarrassed, because there certainly are people out there who do not believe it is as significant as a high school diploma. The standards for the test are usually set by a large groups of students who are soon to graduate; they are asked to take the test and the results are averaged, what is acceptable is determined, and then test-takers are compared to the previously set standards.

Some people are so scared they may be completely unwilling to begin the preparation to take the test, but I can say it really isn’t as bad as you may think. It’s not necessarily easy, but it isn’t all that hard. It does require substantial preparation: you have to know what to expect, because you will be expected to know. The test takes several hours to compete. The most successful students will spend many hours learning about the exam, what will be expected of them, and improving in areas needing improvement. This requires constant self-analysis, as well as practice test after practice test. It is best to overprepare, especially if you are nervous, because your nerves may come out during the test.

The good news about the GED is that you make an appointment to take the test–and that appointment will not be made until you are reasonably comfortable enough to take the test, so you should not allow your fears to interfere with your preparation. Once you have achieved a level of satisfactory preparation, it won’t be nearly as hard to make that jump to make the appointment and then all that’s left is taking the exam.

So I did a bad thing and completely abandoned this blog, and I honestly can’t state a single reason why. I enjoyed writing the posts, but I realize they are entirely too long. My big idea for my blog was that I would set the foundation over the first couple of weeks and later begin on the [i]actual[/i] blogging–the more convention, what the hell happened to me today kinda stuff. As that time approached, I realized how much my life sucked and how little I would be able to contribute, perhaps.

Only kidding. I highly doubt many previous readers are going to come running once they say this–that is, if they remember. I know some of the posts still receive some comments, although I have been negligent by never responding. :-/ I know there haven’t been all that many comments regarding the GED, but I’ve had some rather interesting feedback and realize that there are people who are still very anxious about taking the test. Perhaps I will be able to pick up where I left off and also help reduce some readers’ uncertainty regarding the test.

In other news, I am no longer 23. I am still in college but my GPA is no longer perfect, but it is not below 3.91. Other than that, not much else has changed. Probably not looking good for the blog.

From the transcript of my recent visit to the Temporary Employment Agency:

Temporary Employment Agency Guy (TEAGUE): Thanks for coming in Will. I have to tell you that I have less than twenty minutes to talk with you. We have to make this fast. Dia Schnellenberger is coming in for lunch at 12:00 and I can’t keep her waiting. You may have heard of her by her stage name, “Ice Water”
Will Cantrell (WC): The Rapper? Yesterday, on the phone, you said that you had a job for me…
TEAGUE: Ice-T and Ice Cube were already taken. Do you know that Fia’s a classically trained concert pianist? Surprised? So is everybody. The girl plays the piano beautifully, but she can make a lot more money as a rapper. She is about to blow up.
WC: About the job. I remember you saying something about a job in the media. I was laid–off a long time ago. It’s been a very long time between paychecks for me …I need a job…
TEAGUE: Don’t we all? Things are slow all over. Even for my hip-hop clients. For writers, like you…well you already how tough it is to find any kind of work…especially for somebody like you. Everybody is a writer, Will.
WC: So you like my resume? You like my work on the Internet? My writings?
TEAGUE: Will, we haven’t seen any of that. We like your screen name , JustPlainWill, and all of the potential that it carries for the agency…and for you too, of course. Oh, by the way, I need you to sign this Confidentiality Agreement. You’re going to hear some things today that you’ve probably already suspected. I just need for whatever your hear to remain here.
WC: Sort of like Vegas? Let me read the agreement. My screen name?
TEAGUE: There’s no time for you to read it. Gia is going to be here in just a bit and I ‘d like to get you all squared away before I have to meet with her. Here …sign right here. Just your initials will be fine. OK, Great. Now that you’ve signed the CA, we wanted to see if you might have any interest in being on a new television show. It’s a new Sunday morning news show very similar to the ones that are already on like Face the Music on CBS and Greet the Press on NBC and the show For the Weak on ABC. This one will be on Fox and it’s going to be called “Jumping to Conclusions”. Clever huh?
WC: What would I be doing on the show?
TEAGUE: Will you’ll be a pundit. You know one of those guys that sits around a table and talks about politics and economics and stuff along with three other people. Sometimes they even talk about baseball. The pay is good…$17.00 per hour plus you get to promote your own website and any books that you may have written in the past week. Your deal will be just like the guys already on. A couple of the TV pundits make more money selling T shirts and baseball caps over the web than they make from their networks. We envisioned you being “J.P. Will”, George Will’s long-lost brother. That came from your screen name of JustPlainWill. Do you own a bow tie?
WC: I don’t have any experience being a pundit. I mean, I need a job and all, but I don’t want to look foolish. And besides, its only one hour a week.
TEAGUE: Will, that’s one of the things that the job is all about. But, no worry, if you are concerned about looking foolish, we’ll send you to school. Pundit University…for a week. The school is over in Chevy Chase, right next to the Ajax School of Professional Wrestling. PU is in the same building, run by the same guys. I’ll cost you $300 to go but in a week’s time you’ll be saying things like “….the rate of the rate of the rate of the rate of unemployment fell three percentage points in the numbers that were released this past week. The end of the recession is in sight.” The folks at PU will also rehearse you in saying things like “…the administration is spending way too much money on these pork barrel projects” or “the Obama administration is spending too little money on pork barrel projects.” Just like the other pundits you will have absolutely no clue as to which one of these statements is correct. After a week at PU, you’ll just know that in all likelihood, one of the statements is. Mostly likely, anyway.
WC: But still its only seventeen dollars a week!
TEAGUE: Will this is how all of the pundits started out. If “Jumping to Conclusions” does well, they will be running it every night and then again in the middle of the night. That’s how these cable channels cope with having to fill all of the time with no real news. Now do you want to be considered for this gig or not? Trust me, if you don’t want it, there are plenty of other people who jump at the chance to do this.
WC: I just don’t have a lot of experience at punditry.
TEAGUE: Listen, no pundit had any experience. It’s better that way. George Will, Charles Krauthammer, Juan Williams, that chick from England, the bitter one from the Philippines…none of them had any experience before they were pundits. You ever sold used cars, Will? There’s one pundit whose on right TV right now…I can’t tell you which one because of confidentiality, but he was a used car salesman just a week before he was a pundit…and he’s been a successful pundit for years. Doesn’t know squat. But you don’t have to know squat to be a pundit. There’s another one who shall go unnamed, who had just gotten out of jail a month before he started Pundit University. There’s one woman who’s been retired for a while, but she was a hooker before becoming a pundit.
WC: You’re kidding me?!
TEAGUE: A “straight up ‘ho!’“ I kid you not, Cantrell. I think that she had just gotten her GED at the time. So you can see that you don’t have to exactly be Harvard educated or have hardly any education at all to be a pundit. Believe me, nobody ever checks the credentials of these folks. By the way, do you have a coat and tie?
WC: Yes I do, but…
TEAGUE: This is a good opportunity Will. Come to think of it, that’s all you need is a coat and a tie and a shirt of course. You won’t even have to wear pants if you don’t want to. There are
several of those the other talking heads on Greet the Press who I know for a fact are not
wearing pants since they are only shown from the waist up.
WC: Well can I be a liberal pundit…you know, one who defends the Obama Administration?
TEAGUE: Sure you can, Will. Sure you can. But I think that you’re making a big mistake. The pundits who make the most money are the conservatives, the neo-cons. It’s just easier. And you get to be belligerent and disrespectful to the administration and all. You get to get really upset on the air…roll around on the floor and have conniptions, even. It’s a lot more fun. Trust me, you should think about becoming a conservative pundit. You’re a black man and nobody really expects you people to be anything but liberals. You’ll be remembered Will. By everybody. I may even be able to bet you $21.00 per hour as a black conservative pundit. A black neo-con. The big thing among the conservatives is “socialism”. Saying that the President is a socialist. You know that most of those folks don’t really know a socialist is. I’ve had a couple of people tell me that being a socialist was hanging out with Paris Hilton.
WC: She’s a social-lite!
TEAGUE: That’s what I mean. That’s what most folks think that a socialist is…a socialite.
WC: If I become a liberal pundit that would mean that I’d get to hang out at the White House and phone conversations with people in the Administration.
TEAGUE: No. You most definitely would not. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. Most of the pundits don’t know ANYBODY in any administration. These liberal pundits have never even met the President. Most of them. The conservative pundits are even worse. Do you really think that even George Bush would have ANY of those folks over to dinner? He and Laura would have really had to count the silverware after any of those conservative pundits had shown up at a White House dinner.
WC: Then how do they know what to…

TEAGUE: They make it up mostly. Both sides.
WC: But my integrity is important to me.
TEAGUE: Will, I need to disabuse you of that notion. Dammit man, you’re old enough to know better… OK. OK. OK….let me calm down. Let me ask you a question, Cantrell. You know that in order to stay on the air, “Jumping to Conclusions” has to have good ratings? Let me ask you if you would willing to jump across the table and slap Charles Krauthammer? It would be good for ratings and I’m surprised that nobody has done it by now. God knows he needs slapping. Or he needs to get laid, but I wouldn’t ask you to do that.
WC: I need to think about all of this.
TEAGUE: Listen Cantrell, this is the opportunity of a lifetime. I can’t believe that you’re not begging me for this job. Do you know that you don’t have to have any qualifications to be a pundit. None. Not even a fishing license. Nobody checks your resume, your educational credentials. Nuttin’. You know what? You know what, Mister Cantrell? You’ve made me mad. You should be jumping’ at the chance to do this. You just don’t want it bad enough. All worried about your integrity and all. Integrity, my ass! Integrity. I tell you what…you just blew it, Cantrell. Get the hell out of my office. GET OUT. RIGHT NOW. Slia is on her way. Ice Water. Maybe I’ll just offer the job to her. It’s not much money, but it will be great exposure. Get out.  Just get the hell out of here. Now, before I call security!

Last week, I read an interesting report released by the Alliance for Excellent Education (The Alliance) that showed the Cleveland economy would grow significantly if the number of high school dropouts was cut in half. More than 8,000 students dropped out of the high school class of 2008 in Cleveland and the surrounding areas, according to the report.

The Alliance’s research shows that if just half of those students had graduated, on average, they would earn more than $52 million in additional income every year of their lives. In addition, in these areas, state and local tax revenues in an average year would jump by more than $8 million, according to the report. While Cleveland was the only city in Ohio the report included, it shows clearly the importance of graduating from high school or obtaining a GED.

The Alliance’s study also found that 61 percent of the additional high school graduates would continue their education with many earning a Ph.D. or other professional degree. From a national perspective, almost 600,000 students dropped out of the high school class of 2008 in the nation’s 50 largest cities and the surrounding areas. The Alliance’s research shows that if just half of those students had graduated, on average, they would have earned more than $4.1 billion in additional income every year. In addition, state and local tax revenues in an average year would jump by nearly $536 million.

I wonder how much impact a lower dropout rate in Summit County would affect the local economy? The 4,900 high schools located within the 50 cities that were included in the report have an average graduation rate of 69.8 percent, according to the report. Over 900 of these are considered “dropout factories,” that is, schools where fewer than 60 percent of freshman progress to their senior year on time.

For more information and specific numbers for each of the cities listed in the report, click here. In January, the Alliance will release additional economic and financial benefits of reducing dropout rates in these 50 cities, including additional spending and investment, job and economic growth, and home and auto sales.

The Alliance for Excellent Education is a Washington, D.C.-based policy, research and advocacy organization that works to make every child a high school graduate who is prepared for postsecondary education and success in life, according to the Alliance.

Documentaliste en CDD de 5 mois (du 01/02/2010 au 30/06/2010)

Le service public des allocations familiales est composé de la Caisse Nationale des Allocations Familiales (Cnaf) et de 123 Caisses d’Allocations Familiales (Caf). Il constitue la branche famille du régime général de la sécurité sociale. C’est un réseau de proximité piloté par la Cnaf, présent dans tous les départements français. La Caisse nationale des Allocations familiales (Cnaf) est un établissement public qui finance l’ensemble des régimes de prestations familiales. La Cnaf définit également la stratégie de la branche famille et les axes de sa politique d’action sociale.

Au total, ce sont un peu plus de 66 milliards d’euros de prestations et d’action sociale qui sont servis par les Caf à plus de 10 millions d’allocataires en Métropole et dans les Dom.

Le Service Documentation fait partie de la Direction des ressources humaines et des moyens de l’établissement public de la Cnaf et est composé de 8 agents.

Ses missions sont les suivantes :

- gestion d’un fonds documentaire d’ouvrages et de périodiques ;

- alimentation d’une base de données de références (circulaires internes, textes officiels, articles de périodiques, ouvrages et sites Internet) sous Flora (Ever team);

- gestion du thesaurus de la branche famille ;

- recherches documentaires à la demande des utilisateurs CNAF et CAF;

- réalisation d’un panorama de presse quotidien et de dossiers d’actualité ;

- réalisation d’une lettre d’actualité hebdomadaire signalant les nouvelles parutions sur le Web et indiquant leur lien hypertexte ;

- réalisation de bulletins de sommaires de revues et de listes des ouvrages nouvellement acquis au Service Documentation.

Missions du documentaliste :

Saisie de notices bibliographiques et GED sous Flora des procès verbaux des conseils d’administration des CAF et de la CNAF ; création des documents pdf à partir de documents électroniques de plusieurs formats ou de documents papier.

La personne retenue pourra également être amenée à participer à la production documentaire habituelle : saisie d’ouvrages, articles, rapports, constitution du panorama de presse.

Profil :

Formation de documentaliste (bac +2 minimum) avec connaissances ou expérience en catalogage, indexation ; pratique d’un SGBD avec GED, idéalement Flora ; aisance dans la manipulation de fichiers tous formats, notamment pdf.

Débutant ou expérimenté.

Rémunération Coefficient 250 = 2.000? bruts mensuels

Poste basé à Paris

Candidatures à envoyer sous la référence : ListADBS à recrutement@cnaf.fr

avant le 11 décembre 2009.

Entretiens jusqu’au 15 janvier 2010

Source : ADBS-Info

On November 20, 2009, at a Borders bookstore in Columbus, Ohio, Sarah Palin held a book signing event in support of “Going Rogue”. Palin’s supporters wanted her to run for the presidency, but they weren’t exactly sure what she’d do as president. Short on specifics, most of them were uncertain what her policy positions are. They just felt that they liked her. She’s “real”. And that the solution to all of our country’s problems—health care, energy, the deficit, unemployment, and the economy—was to cut taxes and lower spending, and Palin, they said, would solve them by doing just that.

Nu er tiden hvor alle skal hygge sig og vi skal have gode gaver og masser af god mad.

Vi nyder familien, venner og har det i det hele taget rigtigt godt.

Derfor vil det være en god i det at give en ged til nødhjælp.

Over the next ten years we will maintain the highest percentage of high school students in Minnesota going on to higher education (university, college, or technical college).

Humiliating story time! This is the story about a GED ceremony (lol), a drunk guy that tried to hit on me, a near death experience, Church and an ambulance.

My friend Ashley and I used to constantly attract weirdoes. We knew so many people from so many different backgrounds- most of them being borderline crazy. We used to go walking a lot, which is how we usually met these lunatics. We were incredibly stupid and invincible back then.

One day we were walking through her trailer park when a guy in a pick up truck approached us. He had to have been like 22-24 years old and we were 16. Now listen, there was absolutely nothing attractive or remotely appealing about this guy so I don’t even know how we ended up dealing with him. I think it may have had something to do with him having a car, we were famous for using people for rides back then. Well, the guy tried hitting on me. He had to have known it was a no go but he still pressed his luck, and for the sake of the story I will just say we used him for a ride. We had to. There was no other reason. But also, I never ever pretended to be interested in a guy if I honestly wasn’t feeling it- so no, I didn’t play on him liking me or anything, he was obviously just that dumb.

I am a middle school drop out. Yes. Middle school. Please don’t assume that means I am not intelligent, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Anyways, I had just received my GED and my parents insisted on throwing me a “graduation” (lmfao) at our church. Well, we didn’t want to ride with my parents because we smoked and they didn’t know about it- therefore we wanted to be able to smoke on the way to church (twisted, I know) and we also wanted to listen to music and blah blah blah. You get it. I had somewhat strict parents. We were liars. Mom, if you are reading this, I am so sorry but you have to know about 90% of the things that came out of our mouth were either highly exaggerated or outright lies. So I am sure we mentioned getting a ride with this guy, and I am sure we made up a crazy story about how we knew him. Possibly even told them it was my friend’s cousin or something. There was like no way they would be down with me riding out with a guy that I didn’t know, who happened to be between 5-7 years older than me, and also happened to be hitting on me. So, they agreed.

The guy comes and picks us up and makes up some excuse as to why he has to stop by his house first, which was across town. We were sooooo dumb and were all like, “Okay” (in dumb teenage girl voice). We get to his house and there are beer bottles EVERYWHERE. His house looked like a freaking Budweiser factory. He went in his room for maybe 10-15 minutes and by that time, we were freaking out. We just didn’t know what he was up to. So he comes staggering out the room and says he’s ready to roll. We get in his truck, which was not an extended cab or anything. I told Ashley there was no way in hell I was gonna sit next to him and give him the chance to put the moves on me. So she sat in the middle lol. He was driving like Evil fucking Knievel. It was so bad we actually feared for our lives. Ashley screamed at him to chill out that we were gonna get into an accident, and in his drunkest possible voice he turned to her (eyes off the road, naturally) and said, “That’s ok because if we crash then you’ll break my fall”. OMFG. Just get us there already lol.

We got there and immediately distanced ourselves from him. The thing is, my church was a small church, only about 30 people at best. So yeah, everyone knew he was with us- and he wreaked of beer. I went in the back to throw the robe and hat on (lmAo). I came back out and during the entire ceremony this guy was in the back of the church nodding off in the pews. Afterwards I sat back down and probably said a prayer that he didn’t pass out, not for his well being or anything (selfish, I know) but for the sake of my parent’s reputation. ONLY their daughter would bring an alcoholic to church- an alcoholic who got smashed immediately before service.

The preacher was getting really into the sermon (Southern Baptist) when I noticed his eyes kept gazing in the direction of the guy, whom I strategically sat in front of so I wouldn’t have to see him. I turned around and yep- he’s still nodding off. A few minutes go by and the preacher immediately stopped and said, “Can someone please check on that guy to see if he’s breathing” Oh yeah, you bet his ass seriously passed out. No- he didn’t fall asleep- he was pretty much unconscious. Half of the congregation was staring at him in disbelief while the other half was staring at my friend and I in disbelief.

They couldn’t wake him up. A deacon, the co-pastor, my uncle and my Dad had to carry him out of the church and call 911.

I always wish I had pictures of me in a cap and gown- but when I remember I am probably the only one in the church’s history to have a guest pass out from intoxication, I am relieved I don’t have to face that picture lol…..

(I just sent the following letter to reporter Meredith Kolodner in response to her article “Read It and Weep”.

Dear Ms. Kolodner:

As a mother, licensed attorney, and GED Plus literacy instructor, I want to thank the Daily News for calling attention to the abysmal state of New York’s GED preparation. The reasons for the shortcomings are many, and go far beyond a lack of coordination, but I will touch upon three of the most significant:

1. Dedicated and well-qualified teachers abound in my program: GED Plus. What is unfortunately lacking is the support, logistics, and infrastructure required for teachers to provide instruction to the students who truly need and want it. Our classes are frequently too large, especially considering that our students have reading levels ranging from pre-literate through eighth grade. Efforts to provide and dialogue about solutions are met with a “we know best” attitude from many top administrators, while supportive administrators must “behave” or be transferred. My own attempts to bring about much-needed and ongoing collaboration between administrators and those of us who are in the trenches have largely met with the silent treatment. There was, of course, the request nearly eighteen months ago from a top administrator to another to “take care of it” when I wrote to her with my and my colleagues’ concerns and suggestions. In administrator-ese, that’s “shut her up”.

2. A most pressing issue at many sites is the ridiculous hurdles teachers must jump through to get rid of highly disruptive students. The politically correct pedagogical cliches “all students can learn” and “inclusion is always better” have created a situation where emotionally challenged and learning-disabled students are expected to deal with the rigors of GED preparation without the benefit of special education services. In addition, there are rarely consequences for students who violate the Disciplinary Code. (Teachers are asked, for example, to call students’ parents or guardians — patently absurd when your students are aged 18 through 21, and often do not live at home. Besides, what kind of family support can educators realistically expect at this point in our students’ educational lives?)

3. There is no writing requirement in my program, which is another issue I have raised with administration. Most of our students cannot write effectively, and require a dedicated writing class. Our students fail because the administration is not working with teachers who know what our students need, as we are the ones spending the time with them in our classrooms. Until teachers are at the helm designing curricula, and until there is an atmosphere of trust and promotion of meaningful dialogue between administration and teachers, New York will continue to fail when it comes to GED pass rates.
Christine Faltz Grassman

Jeanette Aldridge and Staci Lehman, certified instructors, began holding GED classes at the Friends of Paint Lick building Monday, November 9. Four students were being tested in our upstairs classroom and another was receiving instruction in Math across the hall in the library.

This is wonderful. We are so thrilled to have classes once again in the building as this is “keeping the dream alive” of our founder, Dean Cornett, and the main reason that she received the Thousand Points of Light award from President Bush, Sr. as we mentioned in an earlier post.

Both Jeanette and Staci have many years of experience in the classroom. They are backed by Kentucky Adult Education and are from the Adult Learning Center in Lancaster where classes are held regularly. Jeanette taught GED classes for many years here in Paint Lick and is glad to be back. Having classes in this part of the county make them more readily available to students such as Louise seen with Staci and her daughters who came to enjoy the library as well.

Help us get the word out that new students can be enrolled at any time. All instruction is individual and unlike some other locations, there is instruction as well as tutoring.

Related post at Bluegrass Literacy

Bluegrass Literacy provides basic skills and ESOL classes for adults in central Kentucky.  They cooperate with local agencies to offer “just-show” classes where learners live and work.  They also offer special programs such as Scrabblethons, sewing projects, cooking classes, and puppetry.  You can volunteer to tutor or to work in one of the special programs.  Bluegrass Literacy will provide support to organizations that want to start their own on-site programs.  They have a wish list for in-kind donations.

Mais uma matéria muito interessante da PC World. Nela o autor sugere uma lista de dez softwares livres para gerenciamento do negócio, gerenciamento de conteúdo e fluxo de informações.

É bom lembrar que, por exemplo, um ERP é composto de aplicativos e bancos de dados. Quando a empresa investe num ERP comercial, ela necessita adequar a infraestrutura de TI adquirindo novos servidores, sistemas operacionais, gerenciadores de bancos de dados, os pacotes do ERP, as licenças de uso, horas de consultoria de implantação e treinamento. Com o software livre, as licenças de uso, os sistemas operacionais, os aplicativos e os bancos de dados podem ser abatidos do custo. Parte desse custo será direcionado para as horas de consultoria e treinamento. Entretanto, após esse investimento inicial, restará apenas as manutenções periódicas dos bancos de dados e do desenvolvimento de aplicativos customizados. As atualizações serão gratuitas e, você pode mudar de fornecedor quando quiser, se não estiver satisfeito com o seu.

Ao contrário de soluções proprietárias, se você mudar de fornecedor, terá de mudar todo o sistema, também.

Se você é empresário e está buscando uma solução efetiva sem obrigar sua empresa a depender de um único fornecedor nem de uma tecnologia, pesquise por empresas de suporte que façam a implantação de softwares de gestão em código aberto.

Leia a matéria em: http://pcworld.uol.com.br/dicas/2009/11/04/onze-softwares-gratuitos-para-cuidar-da-gestao-da-sua-empresa

On Monday, NPR reported on a study that was done regarding the military. The study determined that 75% of 17-24 year-old males were ineligible to serve in the United States military.  The top three reasons were:  no high school diploma or equivalency, presence of a criminal background, and physical inability, mainly being overweight. The study concluded the depleted crop of youth has caused a threat to national security. In response to the report, to combat the situation the government supposedly pledges something like $2.5 billion toward early childhood development programs and youth physical fitness intiatives. I found this incredibly interesting on many levels.

First, the notion of entrusting our military to teenagers is scary. I know the military relies on a rich combination of youth, naivete, testosterone and fear to mold young men and women into the fighting forces on which we rely. I was a teen once and there is no way I would give a gun or million-dollar equipment to these very young adults. I liken this incredible trust of teens to parents who allow girls to babysit. As a newbie parent, this one clearly flashes on my judgement-o-meter as ”insane”!

Boys grow up understanding that girls get opportunities to babysit for lucrative cash, usually starting in middle school and going through high school; although the sweet spot is probably between age 12 and 16, before they learn to drive. Most boys don’t give this a second thought because boys have no interest in caring for kids at that age, for any amount of money. Either way, I would never, ever entrust my children to a seventh-grader. They know less about kids than I do, and I only know 1) what my nascent instincts guide me to do, and 2) that I used to be one!

I wonder:  is this what will happen to me? Will I get too desperate for help, too busy that I lapse in judgement?  Is this what our country has done as they culled through the country’s manpower resources?  Let’s see:  ignorant of the world, no family, no money, young and looking for adventure, impressionable but no life skills—sure, let’s get as many of these guys as we can and they will become our armed forces.  You could do the same ten-second scan on 14-year old girls as babysitters and see the similarities.  I will trust the goverment and military’s method of madness on this one; they have been doing it for decades.  But the babysitters—no way.

Second, the 75% statistic is stunning and quite hard to believe.  Three-out-of-four men, in the physical primes of their lives, unfit for the military?!  At age 20, I could go on a five mile run, without stretching, and not be sore the next day. My standard day’s routine:  asleep by midnight, awake at 6am without an alarm clock. I could eat a pint of Ben and Jerry’s for a late night snack and never see the calories. I was indestructable. Now 34, those things are impossible. Tell me how only 25% can pass the military’s standards for enlistment.

Third, the notion that a slice of American youth can unknowingly cause a threat to national security is laughable. It is as if there are no able-bodied Americans left to choose from. I figure if 17-24 is slim pickings, the Fed can move on up the line to the next age bracket to staff up. Is this against the rules, is there a charter or bylaws that specify a particular ripeness of talent? If a 25-year old enlists, do they waitlist him or sneer at his lone wrinkle on his forehead, or frown upon possibly a single hair that, through the charcoal film on the windows at the local recruiting office in the strip mall, looks a little gray? I particularly enjoy the disinterest of the government toward health and food issues—childhood obesity, genetically-modified organisms, inhumane treatment and juiced (antibiotics, steroids, hormones) livestock—but once it affects military recruiting, it is a national security issue. That has a ring to it like Homeland Security or weapons of mass destruction or enemy combatant—it automatically triggers a bunch of cash registers and legal eagles in Washington, D.C. to attempt fix the problem.

Teachers always had an image problem: those who can’t do, teach. I always thought the military was right there, too. More than once I heard guidance counselors make allusions to‘well there’s always the military’. Growing up, the military was the dregs, for the drop-outs, those with no guidance or options. Obviously this has changed in a big way. Both of these stereotypes are false.

However, maybe it changed too sharply, too quickly and should not be so exacting. Basics of math and English, yes. With world class training by our armed forces leadership, why do you need a GED? The military’s challenge is marketing, not selection sets. The government could ramp up its ROTC programs in high schools and help get the word out about the military as an elite endeavor, one that you need a clean arrest record for. If kids are educated about the requirements, they might trigger interest and dedication early. I know the different military enlistment options and branches and career paths with different benefits and duty requirements always bewildered me.

ROTC could become more of a career option for high schooler who opt out of college, at least initially, and are not interested in vo-tech. They can start training, academically, earlier. The government could then hand-pick or recruit specific individuals, not just send a postcard when you complete your PSAT. Instead of focusing on generic requirements like a GED, ROTC could be geared more toward the specific needs of the military. Prospects could earn high school credit while taking parallel coursework more in line with defense training, like computer science, immersive language studies and specialized math or engineering classes.

I would like to know the definition of fit for service? Surely it is not the three prerequisites mentioned here. The military should be a little more selective in some cases, and a little more flexible in others. Let us have a properly-screened, trained and funded military, but let us not slide into shameful hyperbole to achieve it.

These are the BEST Facebook Status Updates for the week of Oct 24th -Oct 31st. Enjoy! Want to make the list? Well then, send me your updates. Don’t be tardy for the status party.

BEST OF:

1. (Name) ’s husband is cheating on me with an NSYNC poster and it’s tearing up my heart.

2. (Name) is wondering when it’s appropriate to tell someone their cleavage is distracting? Not because it’s particularly attractive, but because it’s like really long.

3. (Name) thinks Llamas make great friends and lovers.

4. (Name) if I put hand sanitizer on my eye balls will it protect me from the uggos?

5. (Name) took two girls home after the party last night! My mother-in-law and a woman who claimed to get my great-aunt, but I still spit some game.

6. (Name) thinks Laffy Taffys aren’t funny until somebody gets hurt.

7. (Name) lost my cell phone last night, but found it in my braces this morning.

8. (Name) DOES SO HAVE A GIRLFRIEND!  In Second Life. So suck on that haters!

9. (Name) eats because it’s easier than making friends.

10. (Name) was in love with a stripper until she saved up that money, quit and got herself her GED. I don’t like my ladies being able to read and stuff.

I’m sorry, but I’m not comprehending what you are saying…can you talk slower and with some lipstick on?

We’ve spent the last eight weeks taking a look at organizations through the eyes of their volunteers, staff, and clients. Each and every story has been a joy but also somewhat of a struggle to tell. Doing justice to the personality and passion of each person was a challenge and an investment, but that was the way we wanted our listeners to see these organizations — not through a mission statement or a standard commercial, but rather through an individual’s narrative.

There are many reasons Literacy Services of Wisconsin made sense as our final organization. For one, as I mentioned in our first post on Joanne and Linda, their work ties together a number of the volunteering/mentoring themes we’ve seen develop over the span of the campaign. Additionally, they are a perfect bridge to our Meet The Need campaign, where we highlight 50 non-profit organizations serving the needs of our community in 50 days.

Oftentimes, when we think of “basic needs,” three things come to mind: food, shelter, clothing. However, when we think about how deficiencies in basic needs arise, we’re immediately led to a whole network of other needs: education, employment, housing, community, and of course, literacy. Literacy Services gives adults a basic building block that they need to function productively in our society. Whether it be their ABE (Adult Basic Education), ESL (English as a Second Language), or GED (General Education Degree) program, the work Literacy Services does has a massive impact in the lives of their students.

Jessica Doyle visits Literacy Services of Wisconsin

In our first piece of extra audio, Joanne discusses how difficult life was before learning to read. Before you listen, take a moment and imagine the difficulties you’d face in life if you were not literate: 

The second piece of audio is also from my interview with Joanne and her tutor Linda. In my opinion, this piece of audio was one perhaps the most surprising of the entire campaign — Linda talks about Joanne voting in her first election for Barack Obama. Maybe it’s just me, but the story doesn’t quite go in the direction I expected it to:

This final piece of audio is taken from an interview I was unfortunately not able to get to last week. Melvin is a GED student who’s been coming to Literacy Services on and off for the past few years. Here, we get a feeling of his commitment to being a student and just how important a GED is to him:

For more information on Literacy Services of Wisconsin, visit their website. If you’re interested in volunteering of visiting Literacy Services, contact them here.

Produced by: Adam Carr

Where the heck to begin? This week thoroughly sucked. I don’t know why, but my omnipresent sense of humor is not working as well as it has in the past few years to get me through the madness at work these days. Before I throw out the latest incidents for your consideration, let me take the time to give some background:

After being accepted into the New York City Teaching Fellows (an organization which places men and women from other professions into a Master’s program in teaching and places them in at-risk schools), I began teaching within a program called New Beginnings. My students were thirteen- to eighteen-year-olds with every type of problem and situation you could think of or dream up. The program had a principal who visited the various New Beginnings sites once or twice a month at most, and the assistant principal was really in charge, as the one on site on a daily basis.
My AP was a former corrections officer, very tall and very laid back. This appointment was a nightmare for him, but he was a genuinely well-intentioned man who had a great deal of potential. My colleagues were fantastic: dedicated, full of humor, and we cared about one another. Our cooperation made it possible to get through a very grueling set of circumstances, including lockdowns, the need for police intervention, students threatening teachers, themselves, and fellow classmates, and so on and so forth. However, many of the New Beginnings sites were simply not in places where they could be run efficiently, and there were considerable clashes in philosophy and protocol between the DOE folks and the people running the community-based organizations (CBO’s) with which the program was affiliated. New Beginnings was not a well-run ship, and it sank.

I was nearly sent to teach at Rikers, which would have been fine with me, since at least I would have a captive audience and this time there would be a guard in the classroom, a perk which would have been appreciated at New Beginnings, if not a sound educational strategy. Instead, at the last minute, I was told to report to a program for pregnant and parenting teens, again ages thirteen to eighteen. We had some drama, but not nearly as much as New Beginnings. Once again, I noticed the serious shortcomings in organization, materials, and the site. In my second year, we had to leave the building suddenly due to no heat during a very cold January and high levels of carbon monoxide in the building. (In addition to staff and students, we had a nursery for students’ babies and toddlers.)
We moved mid-year to a former Catholic school building. Toward the end of the year, we learned that several programs within the Alternative High Schools and Programs were being “reorganized”. Many teachers were “excessed” and could not find jobs.
Some time in August, I received a letter indicating that I should come to an interview at the district office in Queens. I was given a scenario to read and consider and five minutes to formulate a response. I did my thing, and about a week later, was offered a position at my current site, where ESL and pre-GED students are prepared for the GED and beyond: college, various vocations, etc.

The central ideas and objectives of the program are sound and necessary: to provide ESL services and literacy instruction for students, career and college counselling, and social services for those who require them. Students are age eighteen to twenty-one (with an occasional seventeen-year-old) and for whatever reason wish to get their GED’s rather than complete high school. (We have many very recent immigrants who feel that they are too old for high school and want to get language skills before going further in their educations. These are by far our most dedicated and serious students, and the ones whose families take the most significant interest in their performance and behavior.)
We provide services for students who are virtually illiterate as well as students who are just about ready for the GED, but require some more assistance with reading, writing, math, or some combination thereof. This year, I have three classes of students whose reading scores range from 3.6 to 5.5 — those are grade levels. In order to take the GED, students must be operating at a ninth-grade level.
One of my classes is with me for three periods a day. The other two have me for one period a day, and they are with other teachers for the other part of the day. (This is called a cohort — I am responsible mostly for social studies and science instruction, another teacher for English, and another for math — but all three of us must be willing and able to handle all subjects.)
This “cohort” system is new, implemented, along with several other interesting ideas, by our new assistant principal. (This program, too, is run by assistant principals at various sites, while our overworked principal must go where he can when he can.)
I was very hopeful at the beginning of this year, thinking the insanity extant in the program — or at least at my site — would be whittled away with the help of close collaboration between and among the staff, students, and new administration. Despite a few very promising signs of progress (a planned Student Council, an energetic effort to plan activities and trips, an attempt to “spice up” the community aspect of our site) the main festering sore of ridiculous expectations and wrong-headed, potentially dangerous policies, still loom large.

When students exhibit problem behaviors, teachers are to follow a “ladder of referral,” which is as follows:
a. Speak with the student.
b. Call the student’s home.
c. Ask for parent or guardian to come in for a conference.
d. Seek help from the class guidance counselor.
e. Involve the dean.
f. Involve the assistant principal as a last resort.

This is perfectly reasonable, except for the following:
If you treat young adults like children, they will rise to the occasion and act like children. Our students are legal adults, most with jobs, some with children or children on the way, and many not living with parents or guardians. They are college-age, and as such, the very concept of calling their homes if they are late, absent, not participating, or worse is absurd. It is resented by all of them except those with a family culture that appreciates it. Also, if family involvement was not there for the students in elementary, middle, or high school, why should anyone expect it to be present now?
These kids are old enough to die as soldiers. They are old enough to vote. They are old enough to go to strip clubs. Give me a break.

Teachers spend a ridiculous amount of time addressing and documenting stupid regulations such as: no hats, do-rags, hoodies, cell phones, other electronics. There are no immediate consequences if the students ignore such requests — nine out of ten times no one is available to remove the student, and one must follow the “ladder of referral” anyway. A student may only be removed if he or she is disruptive enough to impede the delivery of instruction to the other students. Of course, teachers (including me) have recently found that even health and safety issues are not good enough reasons for immediate removal of students.
Last Friday, a student became belligerent when my para wanted to take his cell phone. He began cursing her out. We had already written up and talked with this student several times, and reported him. My para left the room in search of the dean, who was absent. The guidance counselors were in a meeting, as was the assistant principal. My para did convey our need to have the student removed, and the AP said she would come at the conclusion of her meeting.
Meanwhile, the student rose from his seat and literally slammed the door of the classroom open, and exited. When he returned, he did the same. (He had done something similar, again regarding his cell phone, the day before.)
We were told later by the AP that he would not be allowed to return to school until he brought a parent or guardian with him. She told this to me and to my para, and mentioned the incident to our staff meeting that afternoon.
Monday morning, the offending young man came into the classroom. I asked him if he had a note allowing him back in, and if he had brought someone with him to school. He said no. I reminded him of what the AP had said. He got up and left the room. My para followed, located the dean, and filled him in. the dean said, “Let him back in the class; I’ll pull him later.”
(The AP sent me an email a few moments later saying essentially the same thing, but I did not see it until later in the day.)
Meanwhile, the reappearance of this little shit raised the interest of my often adorable, but sometimes highly irritating, over-the-line Smart Mouth and Class Clown, who proceeded to recognize that if there were no consequences for a prick who curses out staff, he could use his comedic and distracting talents to his heart’s content. It did not seem to bother him that his classmates wanted to learn; he was having fun.
I wrote an email to the AP, stating that I was appalled that this message was being sent to the class, and to me and my para, and that we felt threatened not only by this student’s anger management issues, but by the message being sent to both him and the rest of the class.
She replied that they would reach out to his parents again later in the day, but that unless the student was so disruptive that instruction was impossible, he should remain in the class.
She also said that while she would never intentionally act to render a teacher appalled, she was far more concerned with protocol.

Fast-forward to yesterday. A student who has only been in my class for a week, who does absolutely nothing, despite being spoken to by me and another teacher in our cohort, started hocking phlegm into a bottle on his desk. The noises were as expected and disgusting, and he was seriously grossing out a few of the students. Finally, one of my most serious students rose and strolled over and tossed the bottle into the garbage, to the young man’s glee.
After lunch, this student upped the ante, and began hocking directly into my garbage pail. Again. And again. And again. I explained to him why he had to stop, suggested that he see a doctor about his need to do this, and told him to cease immediately. My para asked if he was listening to me when he did not reply. He responded, “Not really.”
I wrote an email to the AP, and my para wrote up a description for the dean. The AP responded a few minutes later with the phenomenal idea of following the ladder of referral (see above).
I was incensed. Here we were, swine flu spreading, the regular flu season about to begin, a building already unhealthy with air pollutants, the possibility of tuberculosis and who knows what else, and I was being asked to call home and ask for a conference??!! What exactly has to occur before the ladder of referral is deemed inappropriate? Does something have to be thrown at someone? Does a student have to pull down his or her pants and urinate or defecate in my pail? Does someone have to indulge in masturbation, or would a mass circle jerk warrant calls to everyone’s home after a chat with the onanists had failed to procure improved behavior?
Two young ladies from my class who were particularly nauseated by this young man went to complain to my AP, and were asked “Who sent you?” They were also told that “Ms. Grassman has to follow the process. A process is a process.” (One of the two young ladies came to tell me this, as she believed she had gotten me in trouble.)

This shit would not happen in college, nor at a place of employment without immediate and decisive action.(Oh, and by the way, out of the sixty or so students in all three classes, Parent Teacher Night and Parent Teacher Day rendered five visits from relatives — three from my main class, and two from one of my cohort teacher’s class.)
There are no consequences to speak of, no probationary period, no back-up for teachers at all. In fact, a colleague was left to fend for herself against a parolee student who was spewing nastiness at her and had done so to other students earlier — she had called for security, and the dean came in, attempted to appeal to the young man’s better nature, then when the thug would have none of it, the dean left the room for another ten minutes.
We had an incident a couple of weeks ago where a security guard was slashed by a student he was apprehending. We were told at that time that random scanning of students was being considered, yet nothing has come of it.
I and most colleagues suffer from daily headaches, serious allergies, and fatigue, and we are noticing a consistent problem with respiratory infections and headache complaints from our students, yet we are told it is because of high carbon dioxide levels, and it is suggested that we keep our windows open. Of course, the students sitting near the windows get cold, then close them.
We expend more time and energy on the students who do not try, who show no respect, and who do not show up than we do on the students who attend regularly, work their butts off, and show respect.(We are supposed to do “outreach,” and call each student’s home any day s/he is late, does not return after lunch, or is absent.) It is a backwards, assways cauldron of chaos, poor planning, and coddling. There is no writing component to our intake process, the program’s assessment tests, and/or criteria for moving students to “the next level”. In fact, the existing criteria are not consistent from semester to semester. Tests are scheduled, then do not happen. The same test (the Test of Adult Basic Education — TABE) is given every 100 hours of instruction until a student reaches a reading level of 7.0, then is considered ready for the GED prep class proper, regardless of writing skills or math abilities. They are ill-prepared for the test and they are absolutely unprepared for college or gainful employment. It is a crock of shit, but when I and others attempt to insist on collaboration, or insist that, as the ones in the trenches, things must be changed, we are met with the silent treatment at best and hostility at worst.
Last year, I started a dialogue with the superintendent, who insisted that she was open to such communication and collaboration. Once I started pointing out the problems with the program and requesting or suggesting specific solutions, she asked the program principal to “take care of it”. Just for purposes of full disclosure, our superintendent’s educational credentials are those of a drama instructor.
Well, this program is definitely drama — bad drama. Until someone starts listening to the teachers rather than those who deal with these students one at a time (when they deem it important enough to do so) or not at all, it will remain a slow-moving juggernaut of frustration, high failure rates, and a target for yet more ill-conceived, wrong-headed “reorganization”. The neediest students in the city will be the ones harmed most, and this will translate, in some cases sooner and in others later, to great costs for our society.

I’m always looking for ways to keep my lessons interesting for my students, which range in age from 18 to 62. Many have really excelled in essay writing since the class first started and when I came across the Bill of Rights Institute’s national Being An American Essay Contest this week, I got the idea of doing a similar essay contest like this in my class.

 The national contest asks students to share their thoughts on American citizenship by answering the question: “What civic value do you believe is most essential to being an American?”

The national contest is open to students: in grades 9-12 who are U.S. citizens or legal residents and are either attending public, private, religious or charter schools; being home-schooled; or participating in a GED or correspondence school program but are no older than 19 years of age.

Since a majority of my students are too old to participate in the national contest, I decided to do a class contest and modify some of the guidelines from the national contest to coincide with the lessons we are learning. Also, for students that were not born in the United States, I am modifying it for them.

What’s great about the national contest is that it provides supporting contest materials, including lesson plans meeting national academic standards at no cost to teachers who want to incorporate the essay topic into the classroom. I’ll be using those with some modification to help with my lessons. This contest has not only helped me be more creative with teaching writing and U.S. history, it has given the students a goal to achieve. We’ll be working on the essays for several weeks.

For anyone who is interested in getting more details about the national contest essay, click here. National contest entries are due by Dec. 1, 2009. Teachers much submit essays online at that Web site for a chance to win cash prizes and a trip to the nation’s capital (awarded both to teachers and their students).

I’ll keep you posted on how my class is doing on their essays.

-Kathleen Collins, pre-GED instructor

Hey All !

Na onda da SUSTENTABILIDADE, recebi um artigo interessante abordando o tema sob a ótica da Tecnologia da Informação. Bastante interessante, aborda itens como GED, Green IT, Virtualização, entre outros temas atuais no mundo tecnológico quando o assunto é sustentabilidade. Espero que leiam e comentem sobre as ações que sua empresa está tomando para se antecipar ao mercado com relação ao tema !

Enjoy

—————————————-

*Por Waldir Arevolo

Fonte: HDI Brasil

Há muito tempo ouvimos falar que as empresas devem adotar o modelo de TI Verde ou Green IT. E esse, sem dúvida, será tema frequente nos próximos anos, apesar de ações práticas ainda serem incomuns. O momento de instabilidade financeira, que teve início em outubro do último ano, trouxe uma abordagem diferente sobre o assunto e está exigindo melhor posicionamento de TI. Além dos fatores econômicos e tecnológicos, os novos modelos e serviços oferecidos pelo mercado, como virtualização e cloud computing, apontam para resultados ecologicamente mais eficazes além da necessária redução de custos.

Agora a economia aponta para o reaquecimento dos negócios e as novas mudanças estão “despertando” com mais frequência o conceito verde nas empresas. A área de Tecnologia, que era apontada como a principal vilã em consumo de energia, nesse momento é capaz de ajudar as companhias a buscarem sustentabilidade. O que muitas companhias ainda precisam descobrir é como aplicar as ferramentas existentes e tecnologias emergentes para a obtenção de benefícios quantitativos e qualitativos.

Imagine quando tínhamos em nossas casas aquela enorme pilha de fitas cassete ou mesmo aquelas estantes com dezenas de fitas de videocassete. Agora, compare tudo isso às dimensões de custo, tamanho e de armazenamento de um pen drive de 16 GB em que você pode carregar filmes,  todas as músicas que tinha naquele universo antigo e, ainda, ter espaço para carregar documentos e fotos. Enfim, um conglomerado de informações em uma peça com menos de cinco centímetros. Analogicamente, além das dimensões tradicionais já mencionadas, o momento e o mercado determinam a ênfase da dimensão “sustentabilidade”,  a qual as empresas têm o desafio de buscar e demonstrar.

Um exemplo prático disso é a tecnologia Voip, ou Voz sobre IP, que permite ligações por meio da internet e proporciona diminuição sensível nos gastos. O desafio está justamente em ir além de divulgar a redução dos custos conhecidos e promover os benefícios obtidos em outras dimensões, tais como o tempo, o deslocamento e o número de viagens realizadas com a aplicação da comunicação por áudio e vídeo através do IP.

Na mesma direção, a virtualização de servidores tem se mostrado grande parceira das empresas, não só pela redução de custos que é capaz de apresentar, mas também pelo fato de que, em momentos de contingência ela pode ser a garantia para respostas urgentes, como por exemplo, operações de backups. O fato é que o gerenciamento de um menor número de servidores possibilita que as empresas desempenhem suas atividades de maneira mais ágil, otimizando processos e melhorando o desempenho. Dessa forma, tornando a operação mais competitiva e os benefícios potencialmente mais “verdes”.

O que falar do GED então? O Gerenciamento Eletrônico de Documentos também se apresenta como forma de redução de custos, de tempo e de espaço, sendo forte aliada a dimensão sustentabilidade.  GED vai muito além de quantificar resultados com a digitalização de documentos e redução do número de cópias impressas  O modelo proporciona a captura, a organização e o armazenamento de documentos eletronicamente garantindo o acesso e, principalmente, a pesquisa dinâmica de  informações necessárias na hora exata em que os negócios demandam.

A recuperação de informações em tempo real se torna cada vez mais crítica e já é observada como fator competitivo por clientes e consumidores que valorizam as dimensões tempo e acuidade.

A redução de erros e otimização dos processos, possibilitando inclusive a recombinação de informações e o aumento do índice de inovação das empresas, são mais alguns exemplos dos benefícios que o GED pode trazer. Para empresas mais focadas em métricas, inclusive para a demonstração de sustentabilidade, se contabilizarmos  papéis e documentos fisicamente transportados por vias terrestres, por meio da aplicação do GED é possível evitar o deslocamento de pessoas, reduzir o consumo de combustível e principalmente minimizar o desgaste do meio ambiente. Quantas folhas são necessárias para imprimir o conteúdo que está naquele pen drive de 16 GB? É impossível contar.

Já existe uma simpatia estabelecida pelo conceito de sustentabilidade. É necessário agora que as empresas percebam que esse modelo não significa custos mais altos, pelo contrário. Mais uma vez, quem souber aplicar as tecnologias e os conceitos alinhados com  “verde”, poderá se diferenciar no mercado.

A tendência é que mais tecnologias e modelos de negócios, tais como cloud computing, virtualização e a própria gestão de documentos continuem a enfatizar resultados econômicos e quantificáveis para os negócios, entretanto, o maior desafio continuará a ser a demonstração dos consequências qualitativas e de sustentabilidade que o mercado consumidor valorizará cada vez mais nos próximos anos.

Organizando e racionalizando os processos, gerenciando as informações e inovando com novos produtos e serviços, as empresas certamente se tornarão mais resistentes e competitivas para vencer os desafios advindos das transformações econômicas. Buscar a evolução dos negócios dentro da própria transformação do mercado é uma das principais diretrizes para esse momento.

*Waldir Arevolo é consultor sênior da TGT Consult

Ontem terminei o curso de multiplicadores de Gestão Eletrônica de Documentos (GED) que está sendo implantado aqui na Assembleia de Goiás. O sistema é bem intuitivo e provalvemente deve melhor e muito o andamento dos processos na ALEGO.

Até o momento estão treinando 160 pessoas que serão multiplicadores de conhecimento e ajudarão a formular o fluxo dos processos que o DocFlow administrará. A grande dificuldade, no entanto, será acertar os modelos e criar a cultura de utilização do programa. Um processo lento e arduoso para garantir mais transparência ao poder legislativo.

O sistema foi criado pela dataeasy e será implantado gradualmente, começando a funcionar em 13 de novembro de 2009.

Qualquer dúvida sobre o sistema é só procurar o Walmir ou a Pollyana na Seção de Desenvolvimento.