One person who shouldn’t be allowed to sing

Paralyze – Tila Tequila

work it out! *long awaited update* and a little bit more

So i think its been a few months or so since i posted that i would start working out more aggressively. I’d like to say that I’ve stuck with it pretty well. I’ve had a few lapses; a few run of days here and there but mostly because of holidays and unavoidable circumstances. But overall its gone well. I’ve had a good mix of cardio and lifting. I don’t think I’ll ever get my elusive 150 lbs mark but in retrospect i think it was a little bold as well foolish since I’d probably be too bulky at 150. I think its made me feel a lot better and I’d like to think its kept me feeling healthy and cold/flu free. I’ll be lookin like this in no time:

 

ME

 

 

Speaking of health and wellness, I’m officially addicted to coffee and don’t know whether i should be scared of it some how harming me or embracing it and its caffeine goodness. I honestly can’t go without my morning cup of coffee (or 6 or 7. . .). I would much rather down energy drinks but coffee is much more cost effective (who can afford $2 a can a day??) 

Anyways, off the subject I’ve been on the hunt hardcore as of late for a job and i think its finally starting to pay off. I’ve gotten 3 calls alone in the past week and had 2 interviews as well. Hopefully i can impress someone soon or I’m going to be looking for a part time job that pays minimum wage and I’ll be hating my life. grand. But i don’t think its going to come down to that. but cheers to all

People’s misconceptions about education

There are many misconceptions people have about our countries education system, and I wanted give a glimpse into a teachers day since both of my parents are public school teachers. Hopefully this upcoming stimulus package will help out the teachers in this country.

Many people think teachers have it easy. I mean come on, most teachers only have to teach for 9 months out of the year and then they get a whole 3 months to relax. I’m sure there are many people who wish they had that work schedule. But what people don’t know is what goes on in a typical school day and that even though the kids don’t have to come to school over the summer break, teachers have workshops and have to prepare to leave the classroom as well as prepare for the kids to return in the fall. 

What could be so hard about sitting in a classroom teaching children 5 days a week? Well for one thing you’re not just teaching, you’re in charge of crowd control. You have kids bouncing off the balls, talking, yelling, screaming, running, etc and in between all the chaos you’re supposed to be teaching and improving their test scores. I also think a majority of the teachers work much longer hours then 40 a week. I know for sure my mother works almost 50 hrs a week if not more. Then the fact that shes pulled out of the classrooms for meetings and expected to be getting kids up to speed, since much of the time she is behind because of the new curriculum that is piled on her constantly. Then comes summer. It takes her almost a week after the kids leave to clean up, do grades, and get out of the classroom. Then, some years they both teach summer school, which i know a lot of people take advantage of to make a little extra money. Then a few weeks before school starts, they’re preparing to go back into the classroom, whether it be writing out lesson plans, to going to workshops, etc. So its definitely not a full 3 months off. 

People need to understand that education is an important and integral part to how society functions and not look at it short-sided. You’re teaching the future of tomorrow, and if they’re not given the best education possible, tomorrow not look so bright. One program I’d like to touch on is the No-Child-Left-Behind intuitive. This in short what a government program that would hold schools accountable for improving their students test scores. Now in essence the broad premise is very understandable, but I think the actual mechanics are impossible. First off, you’re comparing classes of the previous year, so you’re comparing this years 5th grade scores to last years 5th grade scores. This makes no sense, its like comparing apples to oranges. Instead of comparing student A to student A you’re comparing student A to Student B and so on. Secondly, you have this tracking system that compares how well schools are doing on how much they improve (or in some cases decreasing) that  puts already excellent scoring rated schools into schools deficient schools. So for example say you have a school that already has high scores, say one year its a  98% passing rate, and the next year its a 96%. Well the system sees this as lowered passing rate and deems it deficient. How can a school improve when its already performing at very high level?

Many people think of education as a business and don’t think you can really do that. My father has a good analogy for the whole situation.

You have a factory that produces widgets. You want to produce high quality widgets. But in this factory you have no control over what the raw materials are like when they come in. You have no control over how the factory is run, and the additional materials and machines needed to produce high quality widgets. There are lots of extra “stuff” that you have to do that doesn’t pertain to your job function, just to keep the factory running semi properly. And lastly you’re expected to produce not only good widgets every year but better ones every year. 

I thought this sounded perfect. I hope this gives you a little glimpse into the world of teaching and how much is expected of teachers when they’re not given a whole lot to work with. I think teachers deserve a lot more credit then people give them and should bad mouth one when gets a little bump in pay for doing a little more, because in the grand scheme of things when you get a teachers avg salary per hour, it doesn’t come out to a whole heck of a lot.

4 days away from the end

Well its official. I have four days until I go home and leave college behind, at least for the time being. Its almost sureal to know that I’m finished with college. The culmination of 17 and half years of my life having been devoted to school and getting an education. Its hard to explain what i feel. Everyone asks if i’m happy to be done, and my response is yes. I’m done with the tests and homework. Now on to finding a job and trying to figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life. I almost wish that I could go back to the 6th grade, when times were so easy and i had nothing to worry about, instead of having bills to pay and a job to go to everyday. But i guess we’ll see. Looking forward to christmas, since it’ll be the first time time i’m going to be home with the girlfriend in 4 years. Happy holidays to all.

4 weeks down

Well 4 weeks down of school . . . I dont know if i should be happy and overjoyed about that or if i should start getting depressed. I’ve said over and over that I cant wait to be done with school and that I want to get out to the “real world”. But looking back, college has been awesome and I don’t want to start my 730-4 schedule for 50 weeks a year for the rest of my life. I guess i should be glad i took an extra semester to finish school. I just don’t know if i’m ready to take on the responisblity of being a completley independent person haha. Wow. 

On another note, i finally found a job for the semester and though it doesn’t pay the best (nothing does in this damn town), it might help me in my career path. Its a position Academic Support and Student Life department, i’m going to be a technology assistant. I’ll be troubleshooting computers, fixing network and printer issues, replacing computer hardware etc. Overall, sounds like it might be kind of fun. It’ll be nice not to be sitting at home all the time, since my schedule is by far the easiest I’ve had my entire college career, and even though i enjoy the free time to workout and get all of my school work done, it can get a little boring at times. 

Anyways, i’ve been sick for the last week or so and for the past couple days i’ve been coughing non-stop. Its been crazy, i dont think i’ve ever coughed this much in my life. I’ve actually taken cough medicine, can’t remember the last time i’ve done that, since for some reason i have this thing against taking any sort of mediciaton or drugs. But i kind of want to see a movie this weekend or next.

 

Miracle at St Anna and Eagle Eye both came out yesterday and look pretty good. Even though tickets at the movie theater are ridiculous, its hard to see shell out $10 for a ticket when that could go towards something a little more worth while.

the sprint diamond is here

Well its been a long time comin. But the diamond for Sprint is finally out for order online right now, as far as i know. I went to the store up here in Duluth, MN and they still didn’t have it in stock so i couldn’t play with it. But I’m sure it’ll be in soon. Here’s the hands on from Engadget

yet another school year. . .FOREVER. . .probably not

We’ll i officially started my 1st week back to school today. LAST SEMESTER BABY! I have to say i was kind of nervous since the 1st class i had today was with a professor that really doesn’t like me. In fact he wanted me out of his class since last semester when i had him for 2 classes. He told me i should figure out another way to fulfill the class requirement. Well 4 months later, and a lot of emails and calls i’m still in his class. Its a long drawn out story but the professor and I just dont really get along. I don’t know what it is. He is Korean and maybe i’m not living up to his standards of what a good little Korean student should be like, i really have no idea though. Its really frustrating, since i’ve never had any problems with a teacher or professor ever before and so this whole situation has been crazy. But, we barely made any eye contact and he didnt say anything to me after class so i guess no run in’s is a good thing. My second class, which is a web design class i think is going to be really fun. I’m not really on the creative side, but i think this class is going to force me to be a little at least. Those are the two class i will be taking at school and then i have two online psych classes, which are almost no brainers. My 13 credits this semester is going to push me to the limits!

Plus, this thursday class was cancelled due to the professor being a douche-bag. No i don’t really know why, but its all good. So basically my weekend started tonight at 830 when i got out of class. Gives me time to reflect on life . .. and what not.

I think i’m going to look for a job tomorrow, probably apply everywhere and not find a damn thing. Usually how it works in Duluth, apply, apply apply and not get anything, or else a really shitty job, the one you didnt really want but just applied for the sake of applying. I also think i see if i can have the cable people come out and hook us up; as of right now we’re tv’less and it sucks coming down for breakfast and just sittin, chillin out and not being able to turn on the tv to watch some sportscenter or some random commercial you can laugh about for a minute. I know its a convenience you can live without, but when its only 5 bucks a person why not get it? Anyways the living situation was kind of harry towards the end of the summer because i didnt find a place to live. So i was scramblin around, and finally decided to live with one of my roomates from last year, sharing a room. Kind of sucks not having your own living space, but i figure its for 4 months and no lease, i can deal.

But thats all i have to report about as of now. I’m sure i’ll have plenty of free time to update so peace.