Texsox

I believe the freedom of speech amendment is the least understood part of the Constitution.

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I do think of Balta most mornings as I am using my "Exxon Valdez" of coffee makers.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ May 29, 2014 -> 09:53 AM) does not compute I rarely french press anymore, I am very happy with my Keurig. I still pull out the french press, grind my own beans, and enjoy a cup from time to time, but the Keurig is a great substitute for weekdays when I'm heading to work.

I'm lucky enough to wander around the country each summer and sampling local food. drink, and literature is my favorite. Ten years ago asking for a local beer would result in blank looks, now most clerks and bar tenders will know of several and can discuss the differences. And I drink one cup of coffee, with 1% milk and no sugar every day.

QUOTE (danman31 @ May 28, 2014 -> 12:29 AM) He's not an asshole, he's a teenager. This is what a significant number of them do. Perhaps. And I hope so. But he is also on a national team, and the son of the men's coach. And do you really believe dad's comment? It seems most plausible to me that the kid was reflecting how the household feels.

Here where AC is everything and heating is an afterthought, many two story homes have two units. Managed carefully, I'm told, you will save on your electric costs. I would size the unit for what you have and worry about the upgrade later. A few things could happen, you never add on, either because you have sold the house, are renting it as investment property, etc. The next thing is in ten years you do build the addition and the technology has improved to the point where your ROI of a newer, bigger unit will be short instead of relying on the health of an older unit.

Oops, I know I keep adding, but tenure does not typically follow K-12 teachers from job to job. You could be in a district for 20 years but once you switch districts you are probationary for another 3-5 years.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ May 25, 2014 -> 01:35 PM) Wonder how many of those are gang related. 80%? 90%? Why does that matter?

A surprising move. I'm not going to make a bold statement why it may have happened. On the surface I do like the idea of beginning today to make a serious and concerted effort for 2018. So many things may have occured in the background. Demands for guaranteed playing time? Reduced practice time? BTW, Kilnsmann's kid is a class A asshole. If you mised his tweet before his account was deleted

You keep playing a few more seasons for the White Sox?

No one should blame the team if the make whatever move that removes him from the roster, either a trade or not signing him for next year. If he continues like he has been this year for another season or two a few Sox fans will scream we should have kept him, but based on his total history here, let's move on. I wish him the best. I'm almost a little pissed he's playing well. I believe he has been trying his entire time here but guys who have great last seasons on a contract . . . well.

This may not be another reason, we are busy building our scope and sequence, curriculum, and lesson plans for next year. We all have the same start point and the same end point (usually a state mandated test tied to specific objectives). If you test my students in January on poetry they will be way ahead of the curve, I use poetry a lot early in the year. If you test my students on elements of Utopian literature in January, they will be far behind, I start The Giver and the lessons in February. Should I be fired because they are failing Utopian or given a raise because they are so far ahead in poetry? Until all the factors are in at the end of the school year, I'm not certain you can judge a teacher based on learning outcomes. Again, the usual stuff like gross insubordination, drunkenness, violence, getting arrested for a DUI, porn, pot, or any of those types of things would have us out the door regardless if it was a third year teacher without tenure or a fifth year teacher with tenure.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ May 23, 2014 -> 09:23 AM) Um, how about a day at a time like the vast majority of the population? Why do teachers get some special treatment just because they're teachers? I could walk into work tomorrow and they could say see you later, regardless of how long i've been there. We can be fired any day and for probably the same reasons as you might. Theft, violence, drunk on the job, being late, too many absences, etc as long as it is under specific policies and procedures. Part of the reasoning is the abuses that have occurred with political hirings. A new school board is elected and they begin firing teachers to clear room for their friends, supporters, and relatives. It's the same kind of trouble that happened under the old patronage system. If your candidate was elected you got that nice new job in streets and sans and your opponent's friends, supporters, and relatives were fired. Another reason is we are not allowed to quit mid year while under contract. Of course you could just refuse to honor your contract but you will never work in education again. I began working in education after 25 years in sales and marketing. I understand the public's desire to improve education and most of the teachers I work with are passionate about improving it as well. If there were easy answers they would have been implemented. You don't get a cow fat by weighing it and you don't teach kids by testing them. But the testing gives you reasonable objective data. But even then there is an inherit problem in comparing student performance between teachers. Just like baseball managers the manager of the year doesn't always win the WS. Great teachers in a school of poor children without parent support will have lower test scores than the worlds worst teacher in a district where parent's attended college and are involved with their child's education. Any system that begins ranking teachers based on their students will cause the best teachers to go find the districts with the best students. That may be a good thing overall for society, but it might not be. Are there teachers that shouldn't be teaching? Of course. But there are also a lot of great teachers in difficult, challenging situations.

It should be mentioned that number of years until you are no longer a probationary employee is measured in years not months. In most companies you are a probationary employee for three months or so. With teaching it is 3-5 years. We just now started signing contracts for next year. How many other people are effectively hired for only one year at a time?

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ May 21, 2014 -> 08:53 PM) He's laughing all the way to the bank. Or crying into his glove.

Looking ahead, which seems really, really silly, his career could follow Frank's, plenty of time as a DH. There are a couple on the roster that will be coming off in the next year or two. The length of his career will be something to watch. Switching early to DH might mean a season or two more at peak offensive production, and the decline may be a season or two longer. But total, is anyone predicting more than 10 years? Maybe 12 -14. That doesn't seem long.

QUOTE (jamesdiego @ May 16, 2014 -> 02:20 PM) The only baseball league I'd want to see Bush in charge of, is a commissioner of a prison baseball league ....running it for his fellow convicts This would fit better in the 'Buster forum. I think if we are discussing Bush as commissioner it is fair to discuss how being an ex-President will help or hurt, but commenting on his career and legacy as President will lead us down a long and unproductive path that will see the thread closed. Again, I'm not saying that this discussion should be on Soxtalk, but it would fit better in the filibuster sub forum.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 16, 2014 -> 09:13 AM) Not originally, but that is a different story. Great point. Sox fans all know why a commissioner was named. There wasn't one until 1920 and he created the position. Landis kept baseball from integrating and I believe blocked Veeck from buying a team after Landis learned Veeck intended to integrate the players. The next guy (?) was more of a player's commissioner. Worked to make contracts fairer, etc. I don't remember any of the guys in the middle. And wasn't it Kuhn who was commish when the 81 strike and was regarded as an owner's commish. It seems like we've had commissioners who travel the spectrum from player to owner. I wonder where Bush would fit into the range. It seems obvious at first he would be an owner's commish, but he does have the resume strength to be independent. He has experience being the main guy. I'd like to see someone who would be independent, but that seems really improbable. I doubt his supporters would claim he was tarnishing the office of president by working for a paycheck after leaving office, and Dems shouldn't really care. There has been a Dem president or two who tarnished it while in office. I hope I didn't make a buster worthy post, but one concern will be he was a president and the connection seems important to his fit as baseball commissioner.

I didn't realize that Jerry and Bob Nutting are an item? Picky teacher thing, there should be a comma after Reinsdorf I wouldn't mind seeing Bush as MLB Commissioner. We have a few younger presidents now and post president careers will be interesting for a while.

It's only a matter of time before he gets a national cover.

Routine manager stuff. Seems like it's about the right time for the excitement of the season to wear off and everyone start thinking of the looooooong summer ahead. Of all the sports it seems like baseball has the worst grind. I know the NBA and NHL have to bad, but baseball is just so long.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 8, 2014 -> 10:20 AM) I've got pics from the SkyDeck on my FB page. I also did the CN tower in TOR on my honeymoon. They have a glass ring that runs through the floor where you can see all of the way to the ground from like 1300 feet up. Also road the roller coaster on top of the Statosphere in Vegas. I love heights. So do I, I love looking *up* at them.

We all should be skeptical, but in reviewing how long it takes to look through all the video tape of the Malaysa jet that is missing, I am skeptical, but can understand something coming up years later.

I believe the Mother's Day attendance and our member list show that not a lot of women are huge baseball fans. Brunch, gatherings at home with all the kids seem like a more likely scenario. Female fanatics like Steff are rare. Now Father's Day treating dad to a baseball game seems much, much more likely.