All righty, then.

I have two stories formatted, printed, and in addressed envelopes, preparatory to being sent out tomorrow. The Abducted!Werewolf is going on its maiden voyage to F&SF, and the BeagleFic is heading out to Analog.

I have written absolutely nothing today, although I did format the BeagleFic properly with real headers rather than the ones I did by hand back when I didn't know how to do them. This...may be remedied after I finish this entry. After all, it's a Dare to Be Bad challenge, right?

Television tonight was awesome, and the previews for next week's Journeyman set off my MomDar like whoa. AUGH. Why you gotta do this to me, show? And I'm just loving Chuck. Ohyespleasegivememoreofthis. And if we could have Adam Baldwin handcuffed shirtless to the bed next time, that'd be peachy. *nods firmly*

There was a hell of an ugly wreck outside our backyard early this morning. From the looks of it, a Contour or something like it was turning left into the apartment complex, and a GMC SUV just plowed into him from the rear and shoved him up the street a good fifty feet or so. Da Boy woke me up for that (after four hours of sleep, yay)...and even though I went back to bed after the excitement was over, this may explain why I've been so very tired all day.

Da Boy was getting ready to put his bike back in the shed in the backyard this evening, when he glanced outside and said "There's a cougar in the yard!"

Now...we don't live in an area where we actually have cougars. They come down from the foothills and invade Sandy sometimes, but they don't get this far west. So, I looked, and it turned out that the neighbor's yellow Labrador Retriever had decided to jump over the five-foot-tall brick wall and play with our dog.

I don't actually have a problem with that. As long as they're happy and don't hurt each other, have at it, pups. Party on. Da Boy was kind of freaked though. He really thought a cougar was going to eat the PupperNutter.

Tomorrow I have to get ready to go to the last race of the season up in Boise, the Halloween Classic. Looking at the weather, this may be a disaster in the making, with showers forecast all week. Sunday is looking good, but...I guess we'll see. The entry fee is paid, and it's as much a social thing as anything else.

Getting ready entails packing, and buying my own Halloween costume for this shindig. I've decided to go with this one. Why, yes, that's a fake arm holding the basket, and the snake is a puppet. OF COURSE it is. This is, after all, me we're talking about here, right? Da Boy is going as a motocross driver, and the Hubby...isn't dressing. We didn't put a theme together this year, so he decided he didn't want to. Maybe next year...

Boy, that was random. Anyway, if you don't see me post for the rest of the week, it's because I'm in Boise at the race. Wish us luck. :)

All righty, then.

I have two stories formatted, printed, and in addressed envelopes, preparatory to being sent out tomorrow. The Abducted!Werewolf is going on its maiden voyage to F&SF, and the BeagleFic is heading out to Analog.

I have written absolutely nothing today, although I did format the BeagleFic properly with real headers rather than the ones I did by hand back when I didn't know how to do them. This...may be remedied after I finish this entry. After all, it's a Dare to Be Bad challenge, right?

Television tonight was awesome, and the previews for next week's Journeyman set off my MomDar like whoa. AUGH. Why you gotta do this to me, show? And I'm just loving Chuck. Ohyespleasegivememoreofthis. And if we could have Adam Baldwin handcuffed shirtless to the bed next time, that'd be peachy. *nods firmly*

There was a hell of an ugly wreck outside our backyard early this morning. From the looks of it, a Contour or something like it was turning left into the apartment complex, and a GMC SUV just plowed into him from the rear and shoved him up the street a good fifty feet or so. Da Boy woke me up for that (after four hours of sleep, yay)...and even though I went back to bed after the excitement was over, this may explain why I've been so very tired all day.

Da Boy was getting ready to put his bike back in the shed in the backyard this evening, when he glanced outside and said "There's a cougar in the yard!"

Now...we don't live in an area where we actually have cougars. They come down from the foothills and invade Sandy sometimes, but they don't get this far west. So, I looked, and it turned out that the neighbor's yellow Labrador Retriever had decided to jump over the five-foot-tall brick wall and play with our dog.

I don't actually have a problem with that. As long as they're happy and don't hurt each other, have at it, pups. Party on. Da Boy was kind of freaked though. He really thought a cougar was going to eat the PupperNutter.

Tomorrow I have to get ready to go to the last race of the season up in Boise, the Halloween Classic. Looking at the weather, this may be a disaster in the making, with showers forecast all week. Sunday is looking good, but...I guess we'll see. The entry fee is paid, and it's as much a social thing as anything else.

Getting ready entails packing, and buying my own Halloween costume for this shindig. I've decided to go with this one. Why, yes, that's a fake arm holding the basket, and the snake is a puppet. OF COURSE it is. This is, after all, me we're talking about here, right? Da Boy is going as a motocross driver, and the Hubby...isn't dressing. We didn't put a theme together this year, so he decided he didn't want to. Maybe next year...

Boy, that was random. Anyway, if you don't see me post for the rest of the week, it's because I'm in Boise at the race. Wish us luck. :)

Doing the math...

So, the school voucher issue is heating up here in good old Utah, with the election being three weeks away. So I decided to get my calculator out and do some theoretical figuring.

I based it on a beginning class size of 30 kids, which was not out of the realm of possibility when I was growing up. I don't remember anyone bitching about class size back then either.

Apparently we spend $7,000 per student, per year, here. That comes to $210,000 per classroom.

Now, say 5 kids leave, and they're on the poorer end of the spectrum, so they get all $3,000 they're entitled to under the proposed voucher program (the actual amount is $500 - $3,000, so I'm being generous here). They take $15,000 out of the classroom, leaving it with 25 kids and $195,000, because that extra $4,000 per kid gets plowed back into the classroom.

Which now comes to $7,800 per pupil in that same classroom.

So...we've reduced class size, and increased the amount we're spending per kid. All without increasing the amount we're actually spending.

Seriously, someone explain to me how this is a bad thing?

Doing the math...

So, the school voucher issue is heating up here in good old Utah, with the election being three weeks away. So I decided to get my calculator out and do some theoretical figuring.

I based it on a beginning class size of 30 kids, which was not out of the realm of possibility when I was growing up. I don't remember anyone bitching about class size back then either.

Apparently we spend $7,000 per student, per year, here. That comes to $210,000 per classroom.

Now, say 5 kids leave, and they're on the poorer end of the spectrum, so they get all $3,000 they're entitled to under the proposed voucher program (the actual amount is $500 - $3,000, so I'm being generous here). They take $15,000 out of the classroom, leaving it with 25 kids and $195,000, because that extra $4,000 per kid gets plowed back into the classroom.

Which now comes to $7,800 per pupil in that same classroom.

So...we've reduced class size, and increased the amount we're spending per kid. All without increasing the amount we're actually spending.

Seriously, someone explain to me how this is a bad thing?

I think I'm packed for the Boise trip...

Or as packed as I'm going to get, anyway. I'm only bringing three books to read (A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold, Path of Fate by difrancis, and Empire of Ivory by naominovik), so maybe if I run out of reading material it'll push me to write?

That's my theory, and I'm sticking with it.

The weather looks horrendous, but hopefully we'll get to race in between rain showers. I just hope it'll be nice for trick or treating Saturday night, because this will be Da Boy's first ever trick or treat...thing. Yes, we've deprived him all his life.

I shipped off two stories today. Wish me luck.

And we won't have internet access (I don't think) at the track, so I'll be offline until Sunday night or Monday.

I think I'm packed for the Boise trip...

Or as packed as I'm going to get, anyway. I'm only bringing three books to read (A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold, Path of Fate by difrancis, and Empire of Ivory by naominovik), so maybe if I run out of reading material it'll push me to write?

That's my theory, and I'm sticking with it.

The weather looks horrendous, but hopefully we'll get to race in between rain showers. I just hope it'll be nice for trick or treating Saturday night, because this will be Da Boy's first ever trick or treat...thing. Yes, we've deprived him all his life.

I shipped off two stories today. Wish me luck.

And we won't have internet access (I don't think) at the track, so I'll be offline until Sunday night or Monday.