9.28.2002
Pictures are nice and all, but I just realized that it might help to have some text describing where these jeans come from. So here it is:
- Armani Exchange Low Rise Jean
Extra low rise jean is slim fitting through the thigh. Stonewashed, handbrushed, and tinted to give a worn appearance. Sizes: 28" - 38" waist regular/long
Style B6J67TR - 1010.10352.7067
$88.00 - Armani Exchange Low Rise Straight Leg Streaked Stretch 5-Pocket
Light stone washed low rise jean is streaked throughout with a two-tone treatment. Easy fit. Straight leg. Shown in indigo. Sizes: 28" - 36" regular 30" - 38" long
Style B6J65MO - 1010.10366.7650
$88.00 - Levi's Skinner™ Low Rise Boot Cut Jeans
• Low front & back rise
• Sexy fitting boot cut for men, fits close in the seat and thigh
• 19.75" leg opening
• 100% cotton - Levi's Low Rise Boot 527™ Jeans • Low cut for a confident look
• Slim fit, boot cut
• 18.5" leg opening
• 100% cotton - Levi's Low Rise Straight 529™ Jeans • Low cut for a confident look
• Loose fit, straight leg
• 19.5" leg opening
• 100% cotton
I just wrote and lost this long post about how cool Alltheweb.com is because it actually brings up this blog. The Blogger software seized up and destoryed the text of the post when I tried to publish it. :(
Today was a slow day. No school to teach, nothing big to do. I played a little soccer and slept. I think I'll go to bed early. I need to write some code. I have been meaning to code up a version of Pong forever and I have even designed C++ code to do it. I just can't bring myself to do it. I need to use my coding skills before I lose them and become irrelevant.
9.27.2002
Kausfiles points out some interesting welfare trends. That welfare rolls are still shrinking and poverty among black children is down, despte the recession.
Here Oliver Willis argues that Gore is not soft on Iraq but is arguing a point that is consistent with his past postions. I agree. Al Gore is still flat-out wrong. To all the people who claim a political motivation for Bush's stance on Iraq and suggest peaceful solutions for ousting Mr. Hussein, I ask if they have been paying attention for the past eleven years. We have attempted other solutions and in the current climate we simply can't wait for Hussein to fall over and die (the only reliable way of replacing dictators and strongmen) for us to replace him. My contention is that Saddam Hussein will kill many Americans sooner or later and we won't even know we have been hit. Michael Kinsley from Slate.com is wrong, Joe Klein from Slate.com is wrong, Al Gore is wrong, and Oliver Willis is wrong!
Florida State goes down for a second year in a row!
Let me take a moment to state my opinion that expecting a team of college kids to defeat every other group of college kids they meet is ridiculous. College football is the only sport that predicates ultimate victory on perfection. College football needs three things:
The majority of schools have no business fielding major college football teams. Football is an expensive, brutal sport that crowds out other sports and cause strife on campus. I love football, but football loses money for all but the biggest schools. I don't support football when it's not self-sustaining or near self-sustaining. Title IX is a good thing and women deserve to play sports just as much as men do, that is not the problem. The problem is that most schools cut men's programs to find money for women's programs because football is draining massive sums of money from their programs.
The bowl system in football is a laughable, inequitable, haphazard method of determining a champion. The only sure way for anyone to know who is truly the best is through a playoff system. Shorten the season, use the lower tier bowls to eliminate teams, and move up to another tier of bowls to decide who advances to the next round. Finish everything the week before the Super bowl. It can't be that difficult!
A problem in all major college sports and not just football is that athletes are under-compensated. Granted a college education in exchange for athletic talent is a fair trade, but these students often have basic financial needs that go unmet and coaches and alumni aren't allowed to help. Students are also forced to pay for tings like health insurance out of their own pockets and simultaneously not allowed to work to make money to pay for these things. Based on my personal experience with college athletics, as soon as I knew I could make anything more than $100,000 playing a sport I would leave school. The average starting salary in computer science is $40,000 and for other fields entry level positions often pay just $30,000 a year. Staying in school and taking the abuse simply makes no sense unless you come from a middle class or wealthy home, with parents that will support you should you be injured and need support to finish college. Schools just don't provide enough incentive to remain in school.
Let me take a moment to state my opinion that expecting a team of college kids to defeat every other group of college kids they meet is ridiculous. College football is the only sport that predicates ultimate victory on perfection. College football needs three things:
- A playoff system.
- Fewer teams.
- Better compensation for players.
The majority of schools have no business fielding major college football teams. Football is an expensive, brutal sport that crowds out other sports and cause strife on campus. I love football, but football loses money for all but the biggest schools. I don't support football when it's not self-sustaining or near self-sustaining. Title IX is a good thing and women deserve to play sports just as much as men do, that is not the problem. The problem is that most schools cut men's programs to find money for women's programs because football is draining massive sums of money from their programs.
The bowl system in football is a laughable, inequitable, haphazard method of determining a champion. The only sure way for anyone to know who is truly the best is through a playoff system. Shorten the season, use the lower tier bowls to eliminate teams, and move up to another tier of bowls to decide who advances to the next round. Finish everything the week before the Super bowl. It can't be that difficult!
A problem in all major college sports and not just football is that athletes are under-compensated. Granted a college education in exchange for athletic talent is a fair trade, but these students often have basic financial needs that go unmet and coaches and alumni aren't allowed to help. Students are also forced to pay for tings like health insurance out of their own pockets and simultaneously not allowed to work to make money to pay for these things. Based on my personal experience with college athletics, as soon as I knew I could make anything more than $100,000 playing a sport I would leave school. The average starting salary in computer science is $40,000 and for other fields entry level positions often pay just $30,000 a year. Staying in school and taking the abuse simply makes no sense unless you come from a middle class or wealthy home, with parents that will support you should you be injured and need support to finish college. Schools just don't provide enough incentive to remain in school.
9.26.2002
Lately in my young substitute teaching career, I have been attempting to find jobs closer to my home. Tomorrow, I teach at Bryan Adams High, a scant fifteen minutes from my house according to MapQuest. This has had the affect of exposing me to more diverse student bodies. Until Tuesday, every school I had taught at was predominantly black and hispanic. Woodrow Wilson today was mostly Hispanic, but I did teach a class that was mostly white children - a first for me. The diference is shocking. All the kids are fairly equal in intelligence. The environment in many of the poorer neighborhoods just isn't conducive to learning.
The first thing I would do, if I were in charge of administrating DISD is clean the schools. I understand that repairs and renovations could be expensive, but cleaning is imperative - it's a health issue. I'd say the most important duty of the school district is providing a clean and safe environment for learning. We don't need computers or technology or more testing. We don't even necessarily need better pay for teachers. Dallas schools need to keep teachers in the classroom everyday. My showing up in a class essentially means that students will learn nothing even in the best of circumstances. If paying teachers more will keep them in the classroom than we should pay them more. The one magic bullet to save Dallas schools that no one mentions is parental involvement. We could do without half of the gimmicks and new tests if parents would get involved. If a child fails it is usually his parents' fault for not asking about his progress and disciplining him. My prescription for fixing performance of the school district.
Any school district that could do all three would be the number one public school district in the nation. If any school district could just get parents involved the improvement would be astounding.
The first thing I would do, if I were in charge of administrating DISD is clean the schools. I understand that repairs and renovations could be expensive, but cleaning is imperative - it's a health issue. I'd say the most important duty of the school district is providing a clean and safe environment for learning. We don't need computers or technology or more testing. We don't even necessarily need better pay for teachers. Dallas schools need to keep teachers in the classroom everyday. My showing up in a class essentially means that students will learn nothing even in the best of circumstances. If paying teachers more will keep them in the classroom than we should pay them more. The one magic bullet to save Dallas schools that no one mentions is parental involvement. We could do without half of the gimmicks and new tests if parents would get involved. If a child fails it is usually his parents' fault for not asking about his progress and disciplining him. My prescription for fixing performance of the school district.
- Clean the schools.
- Reduce teacher absenteeism.
- Have a massive campaign to get parents involved in the schools.
Any school district that could do all three would be the number one public school district in the nation. If any school district could just get parents involved the improvement would be astounding.
This is very lame I know, but on SaveKaryn.com there is a hilarious bit about selling people on eBay. Semi-direct link to it here.
Rangers play the spoiler again! Man! I love this. We can't get into the playoffs but we can make life difficult for everybody else in the West. Link from Msnbc.
All these links have me thinking, unless I fnd a way to really spread out and make my links really special, my links will be just a record of my web browsing - an online history file. Maybe I should post links to porno web sites? Nahh...
All these links have me thinking, unless I fnd a way to really spread out and make my links really special, my links will be just a record of my web browsing - an online history file. Maybe I should post links to porno web sites? Nahh...
Selig's daughter is out as president of the Brewers. Is anybody surprised? The Texas connection here is that Doug Melvin, architect of the Rangers' roster disasters before John Hart got here and really screwed things up, is the new General Manager. Great man for the job! Link from Msnbc.
Randy Moss isn't going to jail! Well not right away. At one time I was very sad that the Cowboys didn't draft him, as I am sure Jerry Jones was. Now I am not so sure. Link from Msnbc.
Realtors want to avoid the fate of travel agents. I stole this link from Shacknews. The original article from USA Today is here.
I just love how the Texas Rangers have assumed the role of spoiler in the American League West. I just stepped over to catch a little of the game and Mike Young just walked to force in a run witht eh bases loaded and Rafael Palmerio - one of three future Hall of Famers on the roster - coming to bat. Isn't it scary when the worst team in a division has talent?
9.25.2002
Blogging from Woodrow Wilson High. I really love the architecture of the campus. Red brick with white interlocking bricks at the corner and semi-gothic embellishments at the doorways and roof. The campus is old and very classy. Newer campuses in Dallas are ugly and soulless. I think the reason for the dramatic diference in architecture is age of the school and location. Lakewood, the neighborhood Woodrow Wilson is in, is a historic Dallas neighborhood (I know because all the street signs say so) and Woodrow Wilson is an older campus.
I am teaching World History in room 314 for Mr. Kirkpatrick. The class is predominantly hispanic, like the rest of the school, with a couple of black and white kids tossed into the mix. I parked in the student parking by mistake, and only realized it when I saw students getting out fo their cars next to me.
Nothing very interesting to tell yet today, and it doesn't appear that I'll have much opportunity for interaction with the students as the lesson plan dictates that most of the class period will be consumed by a test. I am going to go chill in the lounge now.
I am teaching World History in room 314 for Mr. Kirkpatrick. The class is predominantly hispanic, like the rest of the school, with a couple of black and white kids tossed into the mix. I parked in the student parking by mistake, and only realized it when I saw students getting out fo their cars next to me.
Nothing very interesting to tell yet today, and it doesn't appear that I'll have much opportunity for interaction with the students as the lesson plan dictates that most of the class period will be consumed by a test. I am going to go chill in the lounge now.
Another Bush appointee in trouble. You know the problem with my links is that most of the come from Slate.com, or Shacknews.com. Maybe readers should just bookmark salte and the shack and bypassme altogether? Nahh...
I just emailed the link to this blog to a friend moe liberal than I. I just wanted to say that I am not as right wing as I may sound at times... don't hate me! I did link Robert Wright's articles, and he's as liberal as one could care to get as far as I am concerned.
By the way, the thing that upset me most about the bus ride, is that I saw this cute Spanish chick and didn't have the courage to meet her. :( A burly Mexican laborer did however, to my dismay. I joked with them briefly while sitting next to Shannon on the way to Bryan. They were eating tacos, and I asked them, "Te gusta la comida?" The man answered, "No gusto." I replied with "Da me la comida." Of course the next thing I said was: "Como se dice 'joke'?"
Now that I have updated the world on the useless details of my life I'll return to google-pleasing links like this one and this one. Both are highly recommended. Que Sera Sera is a blogger featured link, and I linked Sourmash not only because of Bob's open letter to blogdom, but also because something morbid in me really enjoys watching somebody else wallow in depression.
Whew, this is the first post in three days! I have a lot of catching up to do.
Friday, I left for Bryan, Texas at the same time my parents were leaving for Kansas City, Missouri. I was riding the train downtown from my house and I had exactly two minutes to pack and getto the train station. I strode in greeted my mother, threw clothes in a bag, and strode out. (Note the use of the word strode. When I am in hurry I stride, rather than walk. I look like a man on a mission.) arrived at the train station with time to spare, which shocked me, and boarded the train. I promise that from now on, any time I wish to go downtown I shall ride the train. The train moves slowly but cuts such a direct path to all the major nerve centers in Dallas between my house in Lake Highlands and downtown Dallas that driving by car seems a little silly considering the cost in stress, gas, parking, and time. I arrived downtown less than a block away from the Greyhound station and had enough time before boarding my bus to stop at McDonalds to eat a heart disease burger. (YUM!)
The bus ride to Bryan was a disaster. Two bolts sheared off the bus before we arrived in Waco, Texas (Home of the Branch Davidians!). A bunch of college students (what a carefree designation, what I wouldn't give to be designated as such again) boarded the bus and sat with us for the next four hours at the bus station. I met a friendly girl from UT (University of Texas) named Shannon, whom I bought carrot cake for at a Dino's Diner in downtown Waco. Like all the girls I meet, she had a boyfriend. Which isn't her fault, she was nice enough. When we finally did get to Bryan she rushed off to ride into College Station with her friends without saying goodbye, probably so she could be present to kiss her boyfriend at the Aggies' traditional Midnight yell. Which was quite remarkable when you think about it - she made a nine to ten hour nookie run, or well it is possible it was chaste - with just the one kiss.
My friend picked me up in Bryan and we hung out for the next day, and he drove me back to Dallas Saturday night. I missed the performance by Martin Short and Tim Curry, but then who is Martin Short? I am fairly certain he is short, and I can name one movie (Innerspace) that he appeared in. Maybe I didn'tmis all that much.
Monday, I substituted for Bob Burns, at Florence Middle School in his science class. The students were relatively well behaved. The computer was borked though so no updates from school on Monday. Nothing especially remarkable happened that I can remember.
Today something remarkable happened today though. I taught a class with more than one white child in it. I realized it, after the fifth period. It wasn't a predominantly white class - I don't think that is possible in Dallas. Instead the kids were a charming rainbow of skin colors and nationalities. The class looked as if someone had interrupted a Benneton ad mid-shoot. The kids also thought I looked like the comedian Godfrey from the 7-Up commericals. Upon reflection, I realized I did - white shirt, tie, and blue green vest. (Godfrey must be a handsome brother!) Once again the children were amazed at my capcity for remembering their names - they told me that even the regular teachers needed two weeks to learn all the names. After school, the Nigerian teacher the next door down, whom all the kids feared and hated, gave me a short lesson on Nigerian geography. I gave him my business card. I consider us even.
Friday, I left for Bryan, Texas at the same time my parents were leaving for Kansas City, Missouri. I was riding the train downtown from my house and I had exactly two minutes to pack and getto the train station. I strode in greeted my mother, threw clothes in a bag, and strode out. (Note the use of the word strode. When I am in hurry I stride, rather than walk. I look like a man on a mission.) arrived at the train station with time to spare, which shocked me, and boarded the train. I promise that from now on, any time I wish to go downtown I shall ride the train. The train moves slowly but cuts such a direct path to all the major nerve centers in Dallas between my house in Lake Highlands and downtown Dallas that driving by car seems a little silly considering the cost in stress, gas, parking, and time. I arrived downtown less than a block away from the Greyhound station and had enough time before boarding my bus to stop at McDonalds to eat a heart disease burger. (YUM!)
The bus ride to Bryan was a disaster. Two bolts sheared off the bus before we arrived in Waco, Texas (Home of the Branch Davidians!). A bunch of college students (what a carefree designation, what I wouldn't give to be designated as such again) boarded the bus and sat with us for the next four hours at the bus station. I met a friendly girl from UT (University of Texas) named Shannon, whom I bought carrot cake for at a Dino's Diner in downtown Waco. Like all the girls I meet, she had a boyfriend. Which isn't her fault, she was nice enough. When we finally did get to Bryan she rushed off to ride into College Station with her friends without saying goodbye, probably so she could be present to kiss her boyfriend at the Aggies' traditional Midnight yell. Which was quite remarkable when you think about it - she made a nine to ten hour nookie run, or well it is possible it was chaste - with just the one kiss.
My friend picked me up in Bryan and we hung out for the next day, and he drove me back to Dallas Saturday night. I missed the performance by Martin Short and Tim Curry, but then who is Martin Short? I am fairly certain he is short, and I can name one movie (Innerspace) that he appeared in. Maybe I didn'tmis all that much.
Monday, I substituted for Bob Burns, at Florence Middle School in his science class. The students were relatively well behaved. The computer was borked though so no updates from school on Monday. Nothing especially remarkable happened that I can remember.
Today something remarkable happened today though. I taught a class with more than one white child in it. I realized it, after the fifth period. It wasn't a predominantly white class - I don't think that is possible in Dallas. Instead the kids were a charming rainbow of skin colors and nationalities. The class looked as if someone had interrupted a Benneton ad mid-shoot. The kids also thought I looked like the comedian Godfrey from the 7-Up commericals. Upon reflection, I realized I did - white shirt, tie, and blue green vest. (Godfrey must be a handsome brother!) Once again the children were amazed at my capcity for remembering their names - they told me that even the regular teachers needed two weeks to learn all the names. After school, the Nigerian teacher the next door down, whom all the kids feared and hated, gave me a short lesson on Nigerian geography. I gave him my business card. I consider us even.
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