Dear Mr. Gaudino,

As a CWU alumna, the wife of a CWU employee, and an Ellensburg citizen, I feel invested in preserving the quality and reputation of Central Washington University. For these reasons I have carefully followed the dialogue regarding your incentive bonus. You have heard our community's vehement expressions of dissatisfaction with your decision to accept your bonus. And why?

The underlying issue in this mess boils down to one word: Timing. If students attending your university weren't facing steep tuition increases, if your fellow employees' wages weren't frozen indefinitely, and if state funding hadn't been reduced, then perhaps you wouldn't be met with such opposition for accepting this bonus. But the fact is, even after considering these factors you still went ahead with accepting such an exorbitant amount of money. And THAT is what "we", the faculty, students, alumni, and community members are so outraged about.

I am well aware that incentive bonuses are given all the time to university presidents, and that your annual salary is actually more "modest" than some. But maybe you should have considered accepting your retention bonus when, and only when, your fellow employees' wages are unfrozen. Every American wants to make a better living for their families, no matter what tax bracket our income falls in.
Mr. Gaudino, again, I stress your fellow employees. Accepting that bonus was a figurative slap in your fellow employee's faces.  We, the employees of CWU and their families, feel betrayed by your poor example of leadership. Where is the honor in accepting a $500,000 bonus when my husband's wages have been frozen? No matter how hard he works at making YOUR university better, he can not be compensated accordingly. You say you need the money to support your two children and aging parents. To you I ask, is your $290K/year salary not enough to meet your family's needs?

I don't know how many social ladder rungs you had to climb to get to where you are today. Whether you arose like the phoenix from the ashes of poverty or worked hard in life to maintain the affluent lifestyle you've always known, it does not matter. A man with any integrity or genuine concern for this university would have turned down that bonus in a heartbeat. A true leader would have shown our university's students through his honorable example how to conduct themselves in the business world post-graduation.  Instead, the message you sent to your students is this:  Sometimes one must throw ethics aside to get ahead in life.

You are a U.S. Air Force veteran.  Certainly you know about honor and camaraderie.  Why not serve this university in the trenches of economic sacrifice alongside your fellow staff-members?

I want there to be an addendum to your present contract. Upon your five-year review, you should be held accountable for your service here at CWU. You should have to prove not only to the Board of Trustees but more importantly, to your students and faculty, why you deserve an enormous bonus just for doing your job. If and when this bonus is approved, there needs to be full disclosure of the allocation of funds used to finance your bonus.  You were quoted in the Daily Record saying, "the contract there is a provision that says this money throughout the five years will be unfunded and unsecured, which means that it's not coming out of any existing program allocation."  That is not acceptable!  If I managed our household's budget using the same spending model you and the BOT follow, we would be in debt! I never go to the store to make a purchase not knowing beforehand where that money is coming from.  And you should never have accepted a bonus not knowing beforehand who's pockets the money would come out of.

Good luck holding your head up high in this town for the next five years.  Everyone I know feels disgusted and betrayed by you.  The noble thing to do now would be to come forward, admit your error, and recant your bonus--at least until you prove to us that you can take the financial burden of receiving a college education off your students' backs and can lift your staff's wage freeze.

Jolie Ramsey
'08 graduate of CWU

this made me laugh

I am SO gonna frame this picture and hang it in my kids' rooms when they are teenagers.

Honey, did we pay our tithing this month?

It's a really good thing that we have fire insurance--both temporally and spiritually--because this last Sunday night, it sure came in handy...

Sunday was a long day.  We had our Primary program in church that morning.  I'm the Primary Chorister, so church seemed busier than usual. After church we came home, snarfed down some lunch, and I took what I felt was a well deserved nap.  ;-)

Later that afternoon I informed Josh that he was going to take the kids to the park so I could cook dinner in peace.  That's right.  Even though he's the newly commissioned Officer, I still give the orders around this house!  haha

As Kuzko would say, "Oh yeah! Things were going my way."  Josh followed his instructions and took the kids to the park.  I practiced my clarinet...then did a crossword puzzle....and then I got around to starting dinner.  I had all the ingredients laid out on the counter--opened.  I preheated the oven...
I went back to clarinet practicing for a minute when what to my wondering eyes should appear?  Why, some sparks and some flames coming from the oven so near!!
 

I very intelligently open the oven door with my bare hand only to be met by friendly flames and a shorting-out, sizzling element.  Ok, now's it's time to panic.   I rushed to grab the fire extinguisher and screamed like a crazy person for my bro-in-law, Nate, to help me.  (he lives with us)  I gave Nate the fire extinguisher and he put the fire out.  The oven's heating element was still sparking so Nate pulled the oven away from the wall and unplugged it. 

Phew.  A sigh of relief.  That's over.  But oh my word! Have you ever had to use a fire extinguisher before?  This was my first time and I guess unless you're the one who has to clean up the foamy/powdery mess afterwards, you don't realize just what a feat it is to clean up after using them! I wish I was able to take some pictures of the ginormous mess, or even of the sparks and flames.  Because there's no better time for a photo op than when your oven is on fire!!  But my kids were playing with my camera a few weeks ago and I haven't seen it since.  Grrrr. 

I had to throw out all the food that was opened on the counter and wipe down everything in the kitchen from the soffits on down to the floor.  That white powder stuff was everywhere!!  Of course, the alternative would have been a burned down kitchen, so I probably should've felt a bit more grateful as I cleaned my kitchen until 2 a.m. that night. 

That range was really old.  I had problems with the two big burners shorting out and not working, too.  Like while I was canning peaches last month and the stupid burner kept shutting off during processessing.  Our landlords were quick to order us a brand new range (yeah!) but Sears can't deliver it until October 3rd.  So until then I've been using the microwave, the crock pot, the griddle, and a plug-in single burner hot plate thingy my grandma gave me.  Maybe I should just stop using a range altogether because we've gotten along just fine without it this week, and best of all, there's been less dishes to wash!! Less big pots and pans = more space in the dishwasher! 

Officer Ramsey

About two years ago we decided that Josh should re-up with the Army Reserves because we needed some serious dough.  Moola.  Amigo money.  Let's just say that on Josh's salary right out of college we would have qualified for food stamps.  Ouch.  (Do you ever wonder why you went into debt to get a college education, only to get crap wages afterwards??  I have a bachelor's degree and you want to pay me what?!?!)  Sorry, tangental rant there.

Why did I emphasize two years ago??  Because the first recruiter we worked with to process Josh's paperwork was an r-tard and had no idea what he was doing.  He'd just forget about Josh's in-processing packet and when we'd call to check on his orders status he would: a) not return our phone call; b) give us the runaround about it taking longer than expected and he would get to it when he had time.  Uh huh.  Oh, ok.

Finally I said enough was enough.  I demanded that Josh request to work with a different recruiter.  They told us that this guy was the only recruiter in the state that in-processes Prior Service Direct Commissioned Officers, so we had to go through him.  Sigh.
(oh yeah, Josh joined the Army Reserves right out of high school and served for 8 years, so he's considered "Prior Service.")

Then we caught our break.  Recruiter R-Tard left the office and was replaced by a guy who actually does his job!  Within 4 weeks of this new guy working on Josh's paperwork, Josh is now a signed, sealed, delivered, and commissioned Officer in the U.S. Army Reserves.  Hurray!!

He was commissioned on Sept. 9th.  The kids and I went to watch the ceremony.  I jokingly told the kids that since dad is a soldier now they have to say "Yes Sir" whenever he asks them to do something.  Haha
Joanna actually said it a couple times later that day, but soon forgot after that.

We're not entirely sure what his job title will be yet, but he will be doing finance/admin type work for his unit.  And he'll drill at Ft. Lewis/McCord which will be nice since we have family that lives close to the base. 

Jayden turns 3

Happy Birthday Jayden!!