Random Thoughts

• Having a random thoughts entry is an exercise in lazy writing.  Rather than coming up with some sort of coherent theme with which to write by, all I have to do is simply create some commentary on something that comes to my head.
• For some reason, I really wanted to post this xanga entry.  I could probably write tons of pages about the recent Dodger playoffs, but I'll spare you, the reader, from too extensive of an analysis.  That said, I must talk Dodgers and I must talk baseball.  To not do so would be repressing my random thoughts.
  
• I watched Mike Scioscia pull John Lackey in the 7th inning, 2 outs and the bases loaded.  I read Lackey's lips and I completely agreed with him.  Wrong call, Sosh.
• And yet, Torre made much more questionable decisions that cost the Dodgers.  His decision to let Wolf hit for himself in Game 4 in the top of the 6th inning was absolutely unjustifiable.  This was the perfect spot for Thome.  I was ready to put on my White Sox Thome jersey that I got on clearance during the Chicago portion of my All-You-Can-Fly JetBlue period.  12 flights. Long Beach to San Jose. San Jose to Long Beach. Long Beach to Chicago. Chicago to Long Beach.  Long Beach to Boston.  Boston to Baltimore.  Washington, D.C. to New York.  New York to Long Beach.  Long Beach to San Francisco.  San Francisco to Long Beach.  Long Beach to San Jose.  San Jose to Long Beach.
• Susan was probably a little tired from all the flying.  She only took 9 flights herself, but that's still a lot.  In fact, she's sleeping right next to me on the couch she got on Craigslist because she's so tired.  Unrelated, but she's still averse to the idea of flying anytime soon.  We are going to Houston in two weeks though for Al's wedding.  But, that's it.  For now.
• With all the flying that I've done, it's imperative to have someone who is able to take you and pick you up from the airport.  Preferably, it'd have to be someone who a) lives close to Long Beach, b) doesn't mind driving, c) reliable, d) was your best man, and e) is Filipino.
• We've indirectly compensated Leo by providing him with mass quantities of meat.  For NLDS Game 1, we fed him some chadol.  For NLDS Game 2, it was kalbi.  And for NLCS Game 4, it was OmahaSteak burgers and hot dogs.  And, when I saw we, I mean Susan, of course.
• That's it for now.  It's nearing midnight and it's time for this 30 year old, married man to turn in for the night.
  

Interesting take on Humes' School of Dreams (not my review)

Simplistic and intellectually unchallenging book, September 2, 2003

By	Hail to Whitney High

And for this same reason, it's silly of the author, Edward Humes, to posit that the critics of public schools have it all wrong because WHS is proof of a public school that succeeds. You see, underlying his narrative is his thesis that WHS is proof that an under-funded, under-staffed public school with lousy facilities can nevertheless succeed. His proofs, of course, are the dazzling statistics WHS produces in terms of SAT scores, standardized tests, etc.

This is rather simplistic because anyone with common sense would attribute the school's academic prowess to its self-selective and highly unusual demographic composition. I would give Humes more credit if he had the guts to admit the following: that the teachers don't really matter at WHS. Indeed, some of us would even assert that WHS students excel in spite of poor teachers. But this is a harsh thing to say and Humes has neither the insight nor the guts (nor the ability) to present it.

As WHS alumni know, the self-motivated kids at WHS exceed not because of standards imposed by their teachers, but because of standards imposed by their peers/predecessors/parents. Of course, there are notable exceptions. But Humes (largely) ignores the most exceptional WHS teachers (and there are only a handful). Instead, he wastes time describing the current principal as being a huge factor of WHS's success. Really? The truth is, any WHS principal has the easiest public school job in America. Just sit back, ride the students' coattails and take credit for their achievements. This is what all the previous principals did, all of whom enjoyed terms where WHS was the #1 school in CA, and none of whom were responsible for it.

To Mr. Humes credit, he does devote some attention to Mr. B, the U.S. history teacher, who is indeed one of WHS's few faculty gems. But this kind of treatment is sparse. How could there be no mention of the fabulous Mr. S, another history teacher and one of WHS's noteworthy faculty members?

If Mr. Humes were intellectually critical and honest, he would also give us vignettes of some of the really lousy faculty members at WHS. It seemed like as a courtesy he just ignored those facets of the faculty completely.

Another weakness of his book is that he focuses on one school year: 2001-02. I understand why he does that in terms of having a coherent narrative, but by focusing on just one year, and skipping over WHS's history (he devotes a few superficial pages to it but nothing substantive), he fails to raise and explore these issues:

How has the parental/peer pressure to succeed academically affected alumni later on in their lives?

How do WHS students perform in college, where success comes more from creative and original thought as opposed to rote memorization?

Have WHS alumni over the past 20 or 30 years done anything remarkable or exceptional? Or have we just churned out a number of doctors, lawyers, and businessmen who have taken a safe, pre-packaged road to success?

These are difficult questions, and Humes has no position, no ability, no insight, and no way to answer these. So he eschewed the more complex issues and wrote an easy book filled with easy answers. I don't blame him for this. Neither do I commend him for it.

Finally, Humes has this obsession with taking cheap shots at the Bush family that manifests itself throughout the book. It's seriously annoying and his obsessiveness makes him an even less credible author.

The Curious Case of Bernie Madoff

Random Thoughts Entry

• For some unknown reason, my xanga entries don't link to my Facebook notes any more, so I've ceased from writing xanga entries and have opted to directly write my journals on Facebook notes.  This xanga entry is for the xangaites out there.  There are three people that come to mind that are active xangaers yet refuse to join the Facebook Revolution.  I have one friend who refuses to join any social networking site on principle alone because he thinks that it's a pseudo-social world and would prefer to get to know people on a more genuine level.
• Ever since I've gotten my Blackberry (crackberry), there have been days in which I haven't used my laptop computer at home since all my facebook messages, e-mails, g-chat and text messages are centralized onto one device.  Brilliant.  I suppose laptops and blackberrys are somewhat substitutable.  How will President Obama live without his blackberry?  The Economist has tried to get a little cute with this Obama blackberry issue by including a "From Obama's Blackberry" section in its magazine.
  
• We are living in a very technologically connected world. I really wonder what 5 years of technology will bring to society.  Will we live in a "Minority Report" type of society?
• Today, Vishal Mangalwadi gave a sermon at church and talked about the persecution that Christians in India face today.
• I watched Slumdog Millionaire today. Great movie. I'm really bad at reviewing movies.  I just say whether they were great, good, pretty good, alright or sucked. 
  
• I went through this whole ordeal of going through a trial by written declaration, plead not guilty to a speeding ticket that I deserved in hopes that it would get dismissed on account of a cop not showing up.  While my whole ploy somewhat failed but succeeded in landing me at least a chance at 12-hour traffic school, I'm glad to have gone through this whole process.  I've garnered some information that I heretofore had not known.
• At the same time, my traffic school instructor, Mr. Traffic, said something that kind of stood out.  Our character is showed in how we drive when no one's (ie. cops) looking.  It's a spin on the concept that our true character is revealed by what we do when no one's looking.  As far as driving's concerned, I've been a bit more conscientious in the past day or so as far as doing my best to obey the rules of the road.  I actually have been stopping at stop signs for 3 seconds before making a turn, stopping at red lights COMPLETELY before making the right turn and waiting for pedestrians to cross completely (or at least hit the island in the middle) before turning.  Still, I've been very cognizant of the many rules of the road that I simply have not been following.
• While I've been good about driving 65 mph on the freeway thus far in my brief freeway stints since traffic school, it's a tough thing to actually do.  It's simply so easy to go "the flow of traffic," rather than let others pass you.
• As a Christian, I can apply my traffic school lesson by "going against the grain."
• However, if I apply that Christianic concept to how I actually drive (ie. driving against the flow of traffic), I'll be dead.
  

Results from LAHS Student (and Faculty) Mock Election

 I’ve attached the full result from the mock election below, but here are some highlights:

• 57.9% of the student body participated in the election (1262 students), with a whopping 70% participation rate for the Senior Class
• 68.7% of the votes went for Obama, 21.7% McCain; and 7.9% McKinney
• ALL of the propositions except Prop 4 (Parental Notification for Abortion) and Prop 8 (Same-Sex Marriage) passed
• For the staffulty vote, the Obama/McCain split was similar (64.1% Obama to 28.2% McCain and a 5.1% Ron Paul)
• NONE of the propositions except Prop 2 (Farm Animals) passed amongst the staffulty vote.  Apparently, teachers are pro-chicken, but anti-everything else.
  
• Here are the state-wide results. - If you discount the "McKinney effect," students at Los Altos voted very similarly to the rest of the students in California.
  

Results from the Mock Student (and Staffulty) Election - 10/29/08

Student Results: 1262 Ballots

Voter Stats:

9^th – 331/618 = 54%, 159 males, 172 females

10^th – 303/553 = 55%, 142 males, 161 females

11^th – 293/528 = 55%, 147 males, 146 females

12^th – 335/478 = 70%, 170 males, 165 females

Total =  1262/2177 = 57.9%

Staffulty Vote: 39 Ballots