iamshack

So some crazy woman from Oregon driving with a 3 year old in tow drove on to the sidewalk of the Strip near Flamingo, which is one of the busier areas. The blood results are not yet in but she showed signs of severe impairment. Killed 1 and injured 36. Woman Drives into Crowd on Las Vegas Strip

QUOTE (Jake @ Dec 16, 2015 -> 12:49 PM) I was raised in a situation in which there were three choices at the pre-HS level: 1. public schools, one for each set of grades 2. local Catholic public school, had 25 students per class (this was the limit, after that you are on a wait list; several cohorts never had anyone enter or leave over the K-8th grade term). I just checked the tuition. If you are have an "active family," then it costs $2400 for the first student, $1900 for the second, and $1400 for each other one per year. Active families must be members of the church, attend nearly all masses, and go to a few other religious functions. If family is non-active, price is $3000/$2500/$2000. You can get a one-time 10% tuition credit if you "recruit" another family. 3. local non-denominational Christian school located 3-5 miles from most people, located in the country. Had about 2-8 students per grade, I don't know much else about it. This is $3400/student, no special discounts. $200 book fee, $300 optional yearly bus fee each way. $80 fee if you want your child to be served lunch at school, which is not required. Once you reach high school, the local public school is the only option. There is a lab school and a Catholic school 35-40 miles away (this school costs somewhere between $15,000-$20,000 per year to attend, depending on a few variables). From what I understand, the HS I attended is poorly rated and was under the gun from NCLB laws for failing to meet standards. 5-year graduation rates around 70%, free/reduced lunch eligibility applied to half of the 800-900 students. Student:faculty ratio and faculty turnover rates were/are below state standards. However, this is the only high school I experienced! While I loved to gripe about local politics and how this or that teacher was a total dunce, I can't complain much about the education I received. I had involved parents and a comfortable home life. I had admissions to the elitest of the elite colleges thanks great standardized test scores. I was able to do well at a college that was very demanding because I was apparently well-enough prepared from the variety of people and institutions that helped to prepare me. There are two reasons that I hope to put my kids in public schools, whenever it comes time for me to have kids (so take what I say with an appropriate grain of salt). I have to manage my own risks, but my overriding preference except in the case that there is something truly terrible or unsafe about the public option is to get my kids into public. One thing is that I think it's important socially to be around the typical hodgepodge of kids you see in a HS. You might get taken up in the wrong crowd, but that's part of my responsibility as a parent to have my kid prepared for that. I feel like it was highly beneficial to me to be at a school and treated equally to people who were in some cases far better off than I was and in many other cases kids who were really struggling in various ways or by some other measure were very different from me. The other reason I want my kids to go to public schools regards my sense of civic duty. Again, I am no martyr and have no skin in the game at this point, but the school system gets a little better when I put my great kid into it. And I know that when my kid is in the school, I'm not going to let certain problems go unnoticed. Generally speaking, my sense of the abundant research on education is that a great school can break cyclical poverty and improve the lives of children at risk. But for those who have the parents/resources/talent package, the quality of the school doesn't play a very big role in their future outcomes. Only anecdotally, more or less. Great post, Jake. I tend to agree with you. I don't think a great school can hurt a student with an already great home life/involved parents, etc, but the return on your investment isn't as great either. Although we all know there are certain advantages of attending certain schools that go well beyond your own performance or what you learned there.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 16, 2015 -> 11:59 AM) The "defense" point isn't a "wouldn't want him", argument, it's just "is he going to be as good as the language people are using would suggest". Some of that is also me wondering whether I understand the defensive stats enough, because Bryant being right next to Frazier seems to make no sense to me if Bryant is a guy who should be moved away from 3b and Frazier is "Well above average". The "wouldn't want him" part comes from me continuing to think this team is no where near as good as they want to believe they are. I dunno...baseball is a strange game. I enjoy the different methods of projecting/evaluating a team, whether it be WAR or other advanced statistical metrics. But in the end, there is a lot of psychology that comes into place over a 162 game season that simply cannot be quantified or measured. The 2015 team is not as bad as the record would suggest. If you use the record as your baseline from which to project, yeah, there is virtually nothing they can do to become "contenders" in 2016 or 2017. It's just too big of a leap to turnover over the course of 1 or 2 offseasons. And yet, these kind of leaps in actual performance are made fairly frequently in reality. I'm not saying I think they are "there" yet, but if they were to acquire another OF bat such as Cespedes or Upton, I really do think they might have something there. A lot of things could come together with Eaton/Abreu/Frazier/Cespedes or Upton/Cabrera/LaRoche in a bounce back year with a rotation of Sale/Quintana/Rodon/Danks/Johnson and the pen we have. Get that team on a bit of a roll with a bit of confidence and I guarantee you they could outperform any projections fairly easily. I actually agree with a lot of what you have been posting recently. I think we have similar thoughts on our coaching staff, the general state of the organization, thoughts on how to improve, etc. That being said, what the FO has done thus far this offseason is not only admirable, but pretty unbelievable, to be honest. I think what we are seeing is a combination of Kenny's acquisition strategy and Hahn's negotiating skills. I will admit this deal will be a bit less exciting without another fairly significant acquisition, given the window we are looking at, but I will wait and see what else these two can pull of.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Dec 16, 2015 -> 06:15 AM) The large benefit to having one state budget for all schools is that (like Indiana) your property taxes go way down and sometimes are even capped. This is what gets a lot of these bills passed. However, i think what cannot be ignored is that many people are ok with having to pay outrageous property tax for the benefit of having great schools. Illinois is trying to find that balance between the amount that should go in the bucket while allowing local districts to tax their residents more for better quality education. Most likely thats why the formula they use for disbursement is so difficult to understand. And you run into all kinds of problems like you have mentioned...people like yourself may have just purchased there solely for, or largely in part, due to the outstanding school district. While the property taxes can always be changed, the property values are also an indicator of the school district, not simply the property taxes. It is also obviously not an equitable solution to significantly impact the property values of the folks who have lived there for many years. I'm not sure how you make any kind of a radical departure without significantly harming property values in certain districts.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Dec 15, 2015 -> 09:25 AM) Do you all have mella roos out their or is that mainly a California thing? I guess it could fall into this to some extent as it pays for all the new development plus the school / infrastructure. Gets the tax rate in new developments in California up from the 1.05% base tax to 1.5% or higher. The bonds are usually paid off over 30-40 years and now they are creating some which don't expire. Never heard of that, but it sure sounds similar.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Dec 15, 2015 -> 08:58 AM) What is a SID / LID? Special Improvement District/Local Improvement District A SID or LID is placed on a property when the city/county installs streets, fire hydrants, sewer plumbing and street lighting in an undeveloped portion of land that a developer is building on. The costs associated with installing these features is placed upon the home builder/developer. The developer can choose to pay the loan/bond back or they can relay the cost on to the home buyer by one of two ways: if the builder chooses to pay back the funds immediately, they tack the cost onto the price tags of all the homes in the development. If the builder chooses not to add the costs of Special or Local Improvements, the costs get placed onto the buyer by way of SID or LID that is generally a few thousand dollars per home, paid twice a year, amortized over 10-20 years.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 15, 2015 -> 08:39 AM) 1. It's a lot more than 10k a year for a good private school. 2. While those schools are both excellent, there are public schools just as good. In which case, unless you are particular to the religious aspect (which is fine), why spend that money? 3. Latin is taught in lots of high schools, public and private. I took 2 years of it in a public high school, which also offered something like 6 other languages. And just to add to what Rock was saying, there is a bubble aspect to be careful of. And that goes for even some public schools, by the way. It is key for my wife and I to not just keep our kids spending all their time on the North Shore, but to get out and experience the world and the city, to get involved in other communities, etc. The more people see the rest of the world instead of just their little enclave, the less people are capable of bigotry, in my experience. Great post, and some good advice. Going to be some tough decisions in the next few years...

QUOTE (greg775 @ Dec 14, 2015 -> 08:24 PM) The way I see it if you can afford it you have to send your kid to private schools. For instance I went to Brother Rice two years and Benet Academy two years. Aside from Rice being all boys, what a great place to be. Great great teachers; hard as hell classes. I actually had to take Latin there and learned Latin for gosh sake. If you want to be a doctor ... what better place for Biology, Physics, Algebra, all those classes. One place that might be better? Benet. What a tremendous school. Great teachers; very difficult coursework (until senior year which was easy like most senior year). Both schools stressed COLLEGE and college prep work. Parents have to have their eye on best preparing their kids for college. The best places IMO have to be private schools. Pay that $10,000 a year tuition baby. It's worth it. (Just my take). As far as Vegas talk ... if u are gonna live in Sin City (yes it's Sin City) then at least move to the BEST school district. Give your kids a chance to not fall into oblivion (drug wise and academic wise). Hah. Well, I live in an interesting area. Lots of old money. This is where the folks who made Vegas famous once lived. Large lots, lots of privacy, no HOAs, mature trees, grass, etc. Entirely different than anything else in Vegas. You wouldn't even know you were in Vegas, except for that the Strip and the downtown are only 5 minutes away. Additionally, it is located in the middle of the Vegas Valley, and so you're never too far from anything. Really an awesome place to live. And my property taxes are a whopping $1500/yr. The woman I bought this house from is Phyllis McGuire. She is also my neighbor. Google her. Anyways, yeah, for whatever reason, as this is an older area, and there certainly are some shady areas to the north of us, the school district is not good. Everyone in this particular neighborhood/area sends their kids to private schools. The area we would look at is where the new money is. Newer homes, all kinds of crazy development, so every store, restaurant, amenity is nearby. It isn't close to the Strip or Downtown area, but it isn't too far either. Maybe 25 minutes away. Property taxes are much closer to Chicago's. $8-9k year, and then all kinds of other bs as well. HOA's, SIDs and LIDs. Homes are going to be $800k at minimum, with most of them closer to double that. While I am on a pretty good career arc right now, not sure I won't just pay the $10-12k per year for school.

QUOTE (farmteam @ Dec 14, 2015 -> 07:42 PM) I had to the exact same experience. I graduated from New Trier. Couldn't ask for a better education or better opportunities. Indiana was a breeze compared to it. But you could tell a lot of people at IU were struggling, even ones who were valedictorians. You could really tell it in their writing, some was just awful. You guys always kicked our asses in golf.

But there are several ways to achieve profitability - this is just one of them. They could also go the Astros route/KC route. Or they could go the Marlins route. And to be honest, from a cost-benefit perspective, that is clearly the safer way to go about it, because revenue sharing pretty much guarantees them a profit no matter what they put on the field.

QUOTE (TheFutureIsNear @ Dec 14, 2015 -> 12:50 PM) This is my top answer right now. They might want a little more for Dickerson since he's younger, but Blackmon should definitely be a target for us. Left handed, should be above average in LF defensively, good speed, has shown good OBP skills, and is still arbitration eligible until '18. If the Rockies would take something like Montas, Engel, + a C level pitching prospect (Leyer?) I would definitely do it. I know they are coveting young power arms and would like to unload an OF so it all much a lot of sense to me. Blackmon had a hell of a season last year. Not sure he will come as cheaply as some of you might think...

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Dec 14, 2015 -> 08:35 AM) The pressure around here to send your kids to Fenwick is hilarious. If they only saw my tax bill and why I wouldnt ever spend that much more money. Hah, I am actually a Fenwick grad I didn't care much for my experience there. I don't speak to anyone I went to high school with. In fact, my 20 year reunion was a few months ago, and while it was nice to see what some of those guys were doing these days via Facebook, I was not in the least tempted to go. That being said, I had to attend a wedding in Ohio that weekend anyways, so it wasn't even a decision I had to make. However, I firmly believe the education I received there was invaluable. I really learned to communicate well there. The biggest takeaways were the english and writing classes. While I really honed those skills in law school at Depaul, I'm not sure how well I would have done in law school (or even gotten in) if not for the foundation set at Fenwick.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Dec 14, 2015 -> 08:25 AM) So shack, our close to 2.5 year old started at a montesorri school when she got around 20 months (in what I think most schools call a "Toddler" program). Prior to that she was watched by a combination of my mom and mother/father in-law and once we had our 2nd, we knew it was time to send our little one to school (otherwise too much to ask for our parents). We had already been researching schools and found one in our area that we liked a ton. The difference in cost in our area was very minimal so no matter the school/daycare (full day), you were looking at somewhere between $1000 - 1500 / month. We went to quite a few and than picked the one we ultimately felt most comfortable with (helped that we knew some people who had used the school). Combination of recommendations and our gut feel were helpful and we also did a once a week mommy / daddy & me class at the facility, which firmed our thoughts. The big goal for us was obviously a combination of alleviating the parents, but also it was for our daughter. We wanted her to benefit from the social interactions she didn't get as much of staying at home and also just the overall enrichment in terms of activities (while we would try we couldn't make our house be like a school...just harder and grandparents don't want to be the disciplinarians either so while they were watching, we had to deal with the inconsistent discipline which would be frustrating. Since our daughter as started, the only real downside I can see (other than the cost) is the colds that come with it (But it strengthen's the immune system). She has a ton of fun and is excited every morning for school. She's also became far more independent and self confident. All that said, the cost is absurd and it took me a long time to get comfortable with it (afterall, it was more than my tuition and cost of books for a semester at college when I started college), but at the end of the day, we couldn't be happier with our decision. We love her teacher and the assistant teachers and we've gotten a little parent / kid group together for other activities as well (which was nice since most of our friends haven't had kids yet..at least the ones that live around us). Now our daughter gets the involvement from us (and we are super involved), plus time with her grandparents (goes their when school ends so she can play with her cousin and see her lil brother who gets watched). I'm just not looking forward to when our son starts in a bit and we are doubling down on those payments. The whole sibling 10% off discount isn't super helpful, haha. Oh and one of the reasons we went with the 5 day vs. the 3 day is we read and talked to people and kind of determined that ultimately the more consistent the routine for the young child the better. Given our daughter, I think if we had done a 3 day program, she'd still be adjusting (she was super clingy to her mom and especially me). On the grand scheme of things though, I think the key is parental invovlement and early education. Ultimately as long as they are in a "safe" place and get parental involvement and access to learning, that is huge. It is also important that they are encouraged to do/try to do things on their own (they quickly become little people and as they learn to do things on their own and you see how proud they are and confident, you can't help but smile). Thanks Jason, that is very helpful. The cost is indeed ridiculous. It's going to make me think about just moving to a different part of town and taking advantage of the public schools, as much as that will be a difficult decision to make.

QUOTE (LDF @ Dec 14, 2015 -> 08:15 AM) i am all for the private, religious kind of school, b/c of the quality of the school, class and most importantly the social interactions of the children. i told my cuz of my ideas with a reminder to emphasize on religious freedom for children. i point blank stated the social interaction. that is soooo much needed in an important part of children growing up. The religious part of this equation I could live without. I don't believe there is a pre-requisite to have religion involved in any way in a quality education. Are there overlapping values that both share? Of course.

Thanks for everyone for the replies. Vegas is interesting. The school system in general is not particularly good. There are certainly some standout private schools, and there are some good public schools, but that is more the exception than the rule. Most of Las Vegas has very low property taxes, so the school system is just not funded well. Vegas residents are so accustomed to the Gaming industry subsidizing every facet of life that it's almost like an addiction one must ween them off of. There are some new areas which have very good school districts, due to much higher property taxes. My wife and I have been researching the cost of private preschools. They generally range from about $400/month to $1500/month. Some are half-day programs, some are full-day. Some are 2-3 days a week, some are 5 days a week. Our son spends his days with my wife's parents and her brother. They spoil him rotten. So I am not too concerned about him not getting the kind of socialization or attention he needs at this age (6 months). I'm really wondering if we would get a large benefit for shelling out for some fancy preschool when my guess is he is getting quite a bit of this with his grandparents already. At this point, I am leaning towards maybe 3 days a week in the half-day program, which at one of the schools we are looking at, is about $420/mo. Then we can evaluate from there. Of course, this is all still 2.5 years away, but I want to be prepared. The other option is to move to one of the few areas of Las Vegas I mentioned above with better school districts. This would come at a high price, but might be a better investment overall. I guess that is a decision we may have to make further on down the road.

Been researching this lately, now that I have a child and I know there are not good public schools in our district. We've started looking at private preschools, and while I understand they can sort of double as day care, but holy cow! Just was wondering what peoples' thoughts and experiences have been, whether it is worth it to invest a lot in this part of a child's education, etc.

QUOTE (Baron @ Dec 11, 2015 -> 11:31 AM) I love when people throw the 4 times number out there without context. If Adam Eaton hit the open market today you think he would be signing for a reasonable deal after what Heyward just signed for? No. Heyward hit the market at 26(1 day younger than Rizzo btw). That almost never happens. It's a fairly poor comparison and done without thinking about the situation both are in. In addition to your comment about context, there is a law of diminishing returns in play here where you simply pay in a disproportional way for the elite versus the good or even great. It's not a linear comparison.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 10, 2015 -> 10:32 AM) Did you ask him to crash into a wall for you so you could take a picture? No, but I did congratulate him on the new position. He looked at me like "what kind of nerd are you that you know that."

So my wife and I decided against the Mercedes, and so yesterday I went into the dealership to get our down payment back. While I was waiting in the finance office, another guy comes in, and the woman working says "what is the last name"? "R-o-w-a-n-d." I turn around and sure as s***, there is Aaron. Pretty funny.

QUOTE (Frank_Thomas35 @ Dec 9, 2015 -> 06:33 PM) I can't help but think of the scene in bad boys anytime I heard Lawries name. Ahh yes! Been thinking of that all day!

Not a huge fan of this unless it's Avi and a pitcher going to Oakland...really would rather not part with Engel unless it's something a bit more substantial.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 7, 2015 -> 11:19 AM) Whelp, the wife and I are expecting baby boy #2 in June. The house is about to get more crazy. Congrats Jenks!

So I posted yesterday morning that my wife and I had leased a new Mercedes c300 on Saturday...only then to delete it because I started having some buyer's remorse...I'm on the fence in regards to whether to go with the c300 or the c450 AMG. Saturday evening we just put a down payment on the c300, but didn't actually sign everything or take delivery of the vehicle, so we can still back out. I just wonder if it makes any sense to really splurge on the nicer model considering it will be a low-mileage daily driver...but then again, I have this personal problem of always wanting the best I can afford..(or justify to myself, anyways)... I think I may just hold off and slug in to work in dog-smelling pilot while I figure this out... Anyone else looking to buy a car during these year-end sales events? And is this really a good time to buy a car?

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Dec 4, 2015 -> 10:47 PM) While I do agree with you about prospects missing all the time, they still hold significant value to clubs because of how huge of dividends they can pay if they DO hit. Trading for top prospects is high risk/high reward. It's like saying there is no value in being given $100,000 worth of lottery tickets because the chances of winning the lottery are so slim anyway. Fair point...but this is slightly different. In order to move Sale, you are not just looking at lottery tickets, but lottery tickets that at this time, appear to have a much better chance to hit at this time. Pederson or Urias are like lottery tickets where the first 4 elements of the jackpot have been scratched off, and just the last element remains, still unscratched. At that point, the fanbase is aware and excited about this - they are eagerly awaiting that final element to be scratched off. While teams obviously recognize the value these "lottery tickets" hold, it is easier for them to trade them away when less of that potential has been revealed. Even if the correct move from an economic standpoint would be to move any prospects, regardless of their potential for a cost-controlled ace such as Chris Sale, teams like Boston or Arizona may still be more likely to hand over the long-term contract to Price and Greinke because of the pull created by those first four elements of the lottery ticket matching the jackpot. That makes trading Sale even more difficult.

Very well written, Brian!