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In The Great White North

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Posts posted by In The Great White North

    gift for a sports coach

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    Gift card, although I certainly never got one from individuals.  Usually a card signed by everyone and a $25 gift card  (ie.  from the whole team)

     

    ETA - I'd definitely prefer a coffee place or restaurant gift card than a sports store 

    Stanford FA, merit vs need aid, end of (calling it) merit aid etc

    in The College Board

    Posted

    It's all smoke and mirrors.  If the FAFSA is involved, it is need based aid.  Period.  All the other info (grades, test scores, etc) just help the college select which of the "needy" they are going to give it to.  Calling funding for the gap between the EFC and actual costs merit aid is: 

     

    1.  proof positive that their EFC is a pipe dream

    2.  another attempt to make students/families feel good (similar to grade inflation, everyone gets a trophy sports, etc.)

     

    True merit aid is based on merit and nothing else.  (ie. you do not have to fill out the FAFSA at all)  I am not aware of very much true merit aid remaining in the American college system.

    • Like 2

    Have you ever used a house sitter???

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    We tried it with a young couple, whose parents dh knew from work.  Although they claimed to be good with large dogs, and were fine with him when they visited, we found out later the wife was actually afraid of dogs and had been bitten as a child.  About three weeks into it, they called and said the dog had bitten her and we ended up having to have a different friend pick him up and take him to the kennel anyway (for two months!)

     

    Needless to say, we never tried that again.

    Lifeguarding. A vent.

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

     

     

    I find it interesting that many parks prohibit male customers from wearing men's racing suits (Speedos) at the park and yet, in the picture that I linked, those bikini bottoms had no more coverage than a speedo.

     

    Really?  I've never seen this.

     

    I just checked the nearest Six Flags and it doesn't mention Speedos.

     

    "Swimsuits are only allowed in Six Flags Hurricane Harbor, and must be appropriate for a family environment."

    Lifeguarding. A vent.

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

     

    The facility probably switched to two pieces a few years ago. They probably took a poll of female staff and found a preference for two piece. At facilities where both ône and two pieces are permitted the majority of female staff wear two pieces. If I were managing such a facility, I'd order one suit that fit industry standard and was preferred by the majority of staff I'd had previously. 

    The racing brief for men is not something that could be seen as an industry standard, so saying if females wear a two piece then males must wear a brief does not work. 

     

     

    Not around here.  I've seen one (and only one) lifeguard wearing a bikini (yes, those two piece red suits are bikinis).  The rest wear one piece.

     

    If you're looking for a world-wide industry standard, yes the Speedo is that standard for guys, even old guys. The US is the only place Speedos are not.

     

    • Like 2

    NYT - The Real Reason College Tuition Costs So Much

    in The College Board

    Posted

     

     

    I'm curious about the once upon a time when people could supposedly pay for it with a summer job.  That was not my father's experience.  He was born in 53. 

     

    What one could earn with a summer job varies a lot, depending on the jobs available, which  in turn depends on the local employment rate.  When I was in high school, college kids from U of M got "real" jobs from April to September (yes, they ended in April).  By real, I mean something that paid slightly higher than minimum wage and offered 50-60 hours per week.  That doesn't happen today.

     

    Minimum wage was $3.35  x 60 hrs per week x 16 weeks = $3216

     

    From this chart:

    https://www.law.umich.edu/historyandtraditions/students/Documents/Law_School_Tuition_History.pdf

     

    U of M Law School Tuition in 1980 was $1004/semester

     

    So, if you lived at home, it was definitely doable,  if you  lived at school it would be a stretch (but doable with a part time job during the year)

     

    The last year they give data for is 2009, when tuition was $41K, which definitely could not be earned in a summer.

     

     

     

    • Like 1

    Would this bother you? Would you say something?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    It is very irritating, very common and virtually unpreventable.  Once you send something out, it can be forwarded or saved by others.  It remains on the server indefinitely (well, apparently not the Clintons servers, but everyone else's). Your email provider saves it and can be forced to produce it.  It is no longer private and I've yet to hear of a court case where the expectation of privacy was respected.  It just isn't there.  If you put it online, you might as well out it on a billboard.

     

    It would be nice if your "friends" respected your wishes in this regard, but is hardly a guarantee (if it even crosses their mind).

     

    To limit the ill effects,  you have a few options:

     

    1.)  Don't put personal info on group emails.

    2.)  Don't reply to group emails at all.  

    3.)  Start a new email to answer an email instead of clicking "Reply", or worse "Reply all".  (The recipient can only forward the last email this way.) Do this with individual emails as well as group emails.

     

    Note that this will only LIMIT the ease with which your info can be disseminated, it is still not safe.  If you REALLY want to keep your info off other peoples emails, you have to stay off the Internet.

    • Like 7

    Older kids, younger siblings, shared rooms and sleep

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

     

    She is a night owl and craves interaction. What opportunities does she have to satisfy this need to socialize in the evening?

    I am looking at my own kids, and none of them would have gone to bed at 10pm at 16 or wanted to spend the evening quietly reading. They are doing things in the evening with friends, either in person or via the internet.

     

    Please note that I am not saying what she does to her siblings is OK. I am just wondering whether the expectation for her to behave contrary to her rhythm exacerbates the issue, and whether part of the problem could be resolved if she had a chance to get it out of her system.

    Does she have any activities or the opportunity to socialize with friends in the evenings? Because I imagine it would be much more satisfying to hang out with friends instead of pestering one's siblings.

     

     

    She needs to get it out of her system BEFORE she enters the room with sleeping siblings.  At 17, she's old enough to figure this out.  

     

    If her local friends aren't up that late, sign her up for an online course with a mandatory chat room.  There'll be people from all over the country and surely someone who wants to chat at 11pm.  And, she can do it in the bonus room, not the bedroom.

    • Like 3

    Don't take the SAT in Spring '16?

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

     

     

    Isn't it likely that the same schools now requiring ACT with writing will also require the newly-optional SAT writing section, even if they ultimately ignore it?  I'm happy for it to be ignored, but students shooting for certain schools will need to at least sit for it anyway, I'd think?

     

     

    I'm unaware of any schools that REQUIRE the ACT (as opposed to the SAT) but many schools require the writing part, then don't use it.

    Older kids, younger siblings, shared rooms and sleep

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

     

     

    I've thought about sending the younger kids in to play in her room early in the morning when they wake up...

     

     

    This. Older sisters make great trampolines.   I'd be tempted to get up at 0430 and crank the Ride of the Valkyries.  (In fact, I have two whole cassettes of what the upperclassmen called " Motivation Music"  from Beast. :sneaky2: )  Then vacuum.  

     

    If she doesn't see the light (and my dc wouldn't have), you need a better carrot.  Maybe tie it to driving privileges:  if you want to drive tomorrow, don't wake anyone up after 9pm.

    • Like 8

    Don't take the SAT in Spring '16?

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    Comparing this change and the AP Bio revision a few years ago:  

     

    1.  They have been testing out the SAT questions for years.  Every test has a "test" section, that doesn't count towards your score.  Usually, the test takers can't tell which section it is but the last few my dc have taken all had one section they felt was "weird".  So the questions have been vetted, to a degree, but there can be no assuming that the College Board didn't like the "weird"questions and keep them.

     

    2.  They changed the curve on the AP Bio test, lowering the 5 of test takers getting a 5 from around 20% to around 5%.  I have not heard that they are planning a similar curve for the new SAT.  I have also not heard that they are not.  (No one knew ahead of the AP Bio results coming out either.

     

    With all the hoopla about the new SAT, I think it is fair to assume that many students will opt for the ACT next year, especially student who don't have has much confidence in their ability to ace any test.  This leaves a higher percentage of test takers in the 700-800 range, which, when put on a curve, results in many of them receiving lower scores than if they had taken the test this June.  This skewing of the curve will effect test scores for a year or two.

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