KSD screws up agian.

The Kent School District, in their infinite stupidity, have come out with ideas on how to save the nearly 6 million dollars that they need to stay afloat. Among these ideas are to eliminate music programs, Golf, Judo, full time tech specialists, labor workers, assistant principals at both the Middle School and High School level, and clerical positions across the district. All in all, there are 44 different things to cut or eliminate to save a total of 5 plus million dollars out of the 6 million they need. Now, I'm very great full to the KSD for providing me with a good education and a diploma, not to mention some fantastic memories, but this is just stupid. I remember at Kentlake HS in 2008-2009, they were forced to eliminate 6 teachers in order to save money which we already had. None of the students liked it, none of the staff liked it, but all 6 teachers were let go in order to save money the district already had, to pay the admins. Now, if they are able willing to cut teacher's positions to save their own salaries, then have the nerve to eliminate Music programs and popular sports programs to supposedly save money, what will be cut next? The para-educators who do just as much work as the teachers for far less money? The art classes that make certain days in school worth attending? The football programs?

This is a prime example of a failure or corruption at the top, which trickles its way down through the rest of the administration to the point where the students are suffering. Cutting music and sports? That is seriously stupid. These kids need the creative outlet in order to be good students. It isn't all test scores people. The things they are proposing to cut are vital to the students future, not to mention the livelihood of all people filling the positions they are threatening. Here's a thought, how much money would we save by cutting administration salaries by 15%? 1 million dollars? 2? 3? Maybe even the whole 6 million that they need. Just sayin.

Here are the results of a public poll to see what the community thought the district should cut.

http://www.kent.k12.wa.us/ksd/it/budget/deploy/documents/survey_results.pdf

Skullcandy Ink'd

Skullcandy.com

Okay, I have had these for four days now and I think that these are the best headphones I have ever owned. The sound quality is amazing and they actually have bass! It makes listening to Queen worth while again. As I'm sure with any in-ear headphones, it takes a couple of days for your ears to get used to the feeling, but everything is working out well. They look really cool wrapped around my Sansa Fuze and the speaker themselves actually look like speakers, not little fuzzy lint. It comes with three sizes of rubber tips for your ears, and even the smallest cancel noise better than I've had with other headphones. The skull is a little weird to look at, but it is a small price to pay for such quality. Speaking of price, they retail at $19.99, but you can get them for $10 at Best Buy when they have them on sale. The range on these things is amazing, and the gold plated connector ensures the best quality from the player to you ears. Overall, these have to be the second best investment I've made this year and have a life expectancy of 3-6 YEARS! Skullcandy make both earbuds and regular headphones that are second only to Bose I think. Brian's rating 4.5/5.






Edit: Well, they lasted to June 18, 2010. That is pretty disappointing considering the hype. The left speaker blew so now I can only hear out of the right side. Maybe I used them too much and I probably shouldn't have wrapped them up as much but I'm still kind of disappointed. Mom's crapped out too, same problem. I plan on getting some more as soon as I can get my hand's on another $20.

Mariner's Home Opener

Well, baseball has come back to the Northwest, with an unfortunate loss to Oakland. There are some serious offensive and pitching problems this year. However, I had a great time at the game. Randy Johnson, THE BIG UNIT, threw out the first pitch, and then Mariners legends Edgar Martinez, Dan Wilson, Johnson, Jay Buhner, and Ken Griffey Jr all posed for a photo. I got some cool pictures and I had a great time. Dad even got me a commemorative pin! I hope to see some better stuff from the team in the next few weeks.

Here are my photos.

Adobe Photoshop CS5

photographyblog.com


I just got done watching the live premier of this at Adobe.com and it looks amazing. This is the newest in the line of Adobe's line of photo editing, manipulating, and sharing software. As of now, it is the best ever. Aside from its new features, CS5 also has the latest version of the Flash Consul which has the ability to put code into a Flash movie or application so it will work across all platforms including Desktop, Laptop, Netbook, Tablet and Slate, and Mobile Device operations. This ensures that you can reach over 300 Million Flash users worldwide. No doubt that this will cause an evolution in the digital design world, but with prices ranging from $699 to $1899 for the whole program, and $199 to $599 for the upgrade, it will take a while for CS5 to live up to its potential.

First Pitch Strikes

d.umn.edu

WTF MARINERS??? At least swing at the pitches that are right over the plate, don't just let it sail by and expect a better pitch later. The pitchers KNOW you won't swing at it, so why shouldn't they just throw an easy fastball up the middle and get an easy strike? SWING THE BAT AND GET YOUR @$$ ON BASE. Then maybe we can have more than one 1 plus hit inning and actually win a game. If you are going to play small ball, you have to produce some hits.