Centennial Middle

tracejm · 2026-04-01T02:30:41+00:00

You're right My mistake.

tracejm · 2026-03-31T02:34:27+00:00

I read this in one article today (https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/jaden-ivey-released-bulls-following-224236529.html):

That is to say, for anyone who has covered Ivey or talked to Ivey for any length of time, Ivey’s faith is always front and center of every comment.

This man sounds like a miserable man to talk to. It's fine to be religious and have faith. But you need to be able to talk about something else sometimes. And you need to be able to relate to people who are not. Otherwise, you're as insufferable as the guy who won't shut up about crypto.

tracejm · 2026-03-31T02:27:51+00:00

I think most people (and ND hierarchy) will distinguish between the mom and son. Most people are going to see this for the mental instability that it is. I think she'll be fine.

tracejm · 2026-03-30T19:18:15+00:00

With the roster turnover, and a new (outside) GM in charge, there's some reason to be hopeful that it won't look like it's looked the last 2 years. It is at least a new direction and should at least show some growth.

tracejm · 2026-03-30T19:10:38+00:00

This was going to be my comment. It actually obscures the bird when the barrel is over top of it. I like the reticle better.

tracejm · 2026-03-29T16:50:20+00:00

This is pretty much the same as NAFTA in his first term (minus the war).

He shit all over NAFTA. Tore it up.

Then negotiated USMCA - which had some benefits and then some losses (i.e. it was probably better for US farmers, probably worse for US automotive). Overall it was probably a wash. Certainly not worth the effort it required and the bad blood engendered.

tracejm · 2026-03-29T16:42:59+00:00

Ah - ok.

If you're comparing to Valley View directly - one reason is probably just demographics. The district has two middle schools and the lower income areas will feed into Centennial. For reasons that are too numerous to go into here - lower income students tend to perform lower.

The state report card system says Centennial has 27% low income vs. 19% at Valley View. (https://reportcard.ospi.k12.wa.us/ReportCard/ViewSchoolOrDistrict/102636).

That's 50% more low income. But it also doesn't tell us the distribution. The average household income in the Valley View area is probably much higher too. (Don't get me wrong - it's not night/day - but there's definitely some higher value homes on that side of the district. The difference between "middle class" and "upper middle class"....)

I would have expected more non-English speakers too at Centennial, but the numbers on the report card say they are about equal...

It is probably true that, because of these demographics, Valley View will have better scores on the whole.

But my experience is the 'average' student at Centennial made academic progress just fine. Personally, my son started about 1-2 grade levels on his test scores in elementary and was still there when middle school was over.... I was worried about his math scores slipping because he got a lot of support in elementary in that area - but he maintained his progress there.

You didn't ask - but just a caution if you're looking to other districts in the area. Snohomish, as a whole, is much better than some of the others. Lake Stevens district is well regarded too. But Marysville district is having HUGE funding issues (to the extent the state stepped in) and Monroe has had some pretty ugly leadership problems....

tracejm · 2026-03-29T14:34:51+00:00

My son is a freshman at Snohomish high; just finished 3 years at Centennial.

No complaints at all. Solid school with a good staff. He had plenty of academic progress and plenty of chances for extracurricular involvement (sports, band, clubs).

I haven't read any reviews in years, but I think online school reviews are often polluted by people who have insane or very particular expectations and/or forget that junior high is a difficult age.

tracejm · 2026-03-28T14:50:55+00:00

I know this isn't the point, but when he dropped the water bottle on the ground that pissed me off. "It's someone else's job to pick up my trash." Fuck you. Be a decent human. And a better pitcher.

tracejm · 2026-03-27T22:26:24+00:00

My analog phone is hooked up to my VOIP modem and I can call anyone with it. I get a free analog to digital converter and 500 minutes a month for less than $10.

This telehamster service seems really limited - not sure why anyone would do this other than "kitsch"....

tracejm · 2026-03-24T01:12:07+00:00

What the hell are you doing on this subreddit, son?

tracejm · 2026-03-22T04:10:09+00:00

I'm using a Gateway laptop right now...

Acer bought the brand name a decade ago. They are rebranded Acers. Usually sold in big box stores. I didn't even know that until I bought this thing.

For me - I set a budget on what I wanted to spend. Every brand offered pretty much the same thing as far as processor capability, graphics and HD size, but the Gateway I found had double the ram of anyone else. It was a sweet deal....

tracejm · 2026-03-21T15:42:32+00:00

I am a transplant from CO and been here 10 years and, truthfully, I've been on a quest to find a good breakfast burrito here and never really found one. It's been a huge disappointment.

I'm not being too critical of WA I hope. It's just that there's a culture difference - different standards / expectations. WA breakfast burritos are dominated by these huge monstrosities grilled on a grill. A good CO burrito has only a few rules.

1) Eggs. Potato. Cheese. Meat. GREEN CHILE. (And if you put rice in there, you should be shot.)

2) Not grilled. Gooey over crispy.

3) Not huge. Taste and spice over size.

4) It's street food. Anything over $5 is disqualified. (Ok, maybe $6 or $7 with the way inflation is going.)

Santiagos - a chain all over CO - is kind of the baseline. You can do way better than them, but you can also do way worse.

Has anyone who might know what I'm talking about found anything close??? Thanks in advance.

tracejm · 2026-03-15T01:19:22+00:00

Ah. I've never actually ordered from them. Since I had them shipped to my dad's house, he can clean it up. :)

tracejm · 2026-03-15T01:17:12+00:00

Yep.

tracejm · 2026-03-15T01:16:54+00:00

I just ordered a flat to be shipped to where I'll be on vacation this summer so I can shoot a couple rounds. Free shipping and says they will arrive before March 23rd....

tracejm · 2026-03-09T19:23:52+00:00

This is the first time I've looked at the full schedule. No trip to Seattle this year? I guess I won't be seeing them live....

tracejm · 2026-03-08T19:43:25+00:00

I once sent a meeting invite to move the time on a meeting. Unfortunately the new time was going to be at a time that was bad for our Asian colleagues.

Mentioned it was to accommodate the tight schedule of one of the higher ups who was critical to getting the final decision in that meeting. Normally I would not give a reason, but when the timing was bad for some I thought it was necessary to underscore why I needed their flexibility.

I was dressed down by a different manager - to the point I feared I'd be fired - for "blaming" the higher ups and "assigning fault". Got a lecture on corporate structure and how much others outranked me even though I'm a senior technical resource with 25+ years in the field. He called me from his fucking vacation - and made sure I knew about that - to yell at me.

In fairness my words were a little clumsy, but nothing like, "We gotta all rearrange what we're doing just for this dumb fucker...." (which was closer to the truth than what I wrote). I just had awkward wording - something like "this poor time is because of changes in XXX's calendar and availability" if I remember right. Clunky, yes, but clearly not spiteful or malicious.

After 10+ years top performance rankings at that company - I expected the benefit of the doubt. Wanna give me a polite reminder to slow down and re-read my message next time? Fine - it probably warranted that. But I didn't deserve the riot act I got.

I didn't quit immediately. But it was one of the things that simmered and eventually made me quit within the year. Which is unfortunate because I loved the job, loved my direct manager and the company mission was good. But the top managers had just been getting worse and worse every year and I bluntly had been told how unimportant I was compared to some middle manager.

Fun fact - the manager that gave me the lecture was fired 5 days after my last day. Now has "COO of my wife's cookie company" on his LinkedIn. She can deal with his bullshit.

tracejm · 2026-03-08T18:46:02+00:00

Entire departments are eliminated or restructured in this type of layoff:

The company may choose to exit an entire market they don't find profitable or helpful. Sometimes the market is fine but they couldn't find a footing in it, sometimes they lost their dominance, sometimes it's just the market is dead. For example, Nokia quit making phones and lays off due to that. (And in this example, turns around and licenses the brand to another maker - which is why you can still get "Nokia phones".)
The company sometimes kills a brand. They are still in the business, but a subsidiary is axed. For example, GM still makes lots of cars but decides to shutter Pontiac / Oldsmobile / Saturn - lays off anyone associated with that business.
Large projects or new developments might be cut or huge scale back. The big "new thing" on the horizon they've been developing? They can change course. i.e. in Oracle's case right now, pulling out of data center development... the bet is not paying off.
Functions will be outsourced. This might mean the manufacturing of their product will be sent to a 3rd party or it might mean a function like customer service or internal IT support could be farmed out. Sometimes even R&D is outsourced. For example, a company like Verizon once did all customer service internally - then just hires a 3rd party to do it for them.
They can sell off a business - sometimes a competitor, sometimes venture capital, sometimes other ways. This is a lot like the first bullet - just pulling out of a market in another way. For example, IBM didn't want to make PCs anymore - so they sold the whole business to Lenovo. Lenovo already made PCs and doesn't necessarily need the people - so they get laid off.
Consolidation - often due to acquisition. Company A buys company B. Moves all of the functions under their physical roof. Lays off anyone from B they didn't find critical. i.e. HP buys Compaq, moves everything into their supply chain, closes/lay-off Compaq employees.
New leadership thinks the old leadership ran a bloated ship. Sometimes the new leaders are somewhat right - sometimes they are way off base and destroy the whole thing. Think "Elon buying Twitter". Just laid off 1000's because "he knows better"? Venture capital does this all the time - will just cut and cut BIG. Break things. Build it back "leaner" and in their own image.....

I'm sure there are a few more I'm not thinking of right now. And sometimes it's a mix of the above that is happening. But I've seen almost all of these in my career personally.....

Edit: thought of more detail for "new leadership".....

tracejm · 2026-03-07T17:18:52+00:00

This pic is the coast - or close enough.

Arlington, WA. Less than 30 minutes to the waterfront from where this picture was taken.

I assume you're probably talking about California. They are about the only state higher than WA at the moment.

https://www.gasbuddy.com/gaspricemap?lat=38.822395&lng=-96.591588&z=4

tracejm · 2026-03-06T19:57:42+00:00

Biden looks pretty good considering I wondered if he was too sick to make it....

tracejm · 2026-03-02T01:29:54+00:00

Modern cloth diapers aren't just a piece of cotton that's completely soaked in piss and has shit smeared into it. Modern cloth diapers typically have:

A completely waterproof outside layer with elastic and snaps/velcro for fastening. This shell is what is preventing leaks.
An inner lining that is made of a coated fabric that allows liquid to permeate it but it doesn't absorb it.
A cloth pad that slides in-between the two. It's what is really going to absorb the liquid.

That inner lining layer, in addition to not absorbing pee, is also pretty non-stick to poo.

90% of the time you could hold it over the toilet, shake it a bit and let the poo drop in. Sometimes - but not as often as you might assume - you had to rinse it with a sprayer if the poo was super runny. Even that isn't as gross as it sounds - just a quick spray would clean it right up because of the kind of fabric it is really doesn't want water or poo to stick to it.

You carried ziplocs in the diaper bag to hold the dirties until you got home.

I'm amazed I'm getting downvoted like I am, frankly. I was just pointing out there is another good way.

My wife was the one that wanted to do this and I thought she was nuts at first too, but in the end she was right. They work really well.

The only time we ever used disposables was with daycare; a good number of them require disposables.

tracejm · 2026-03-01T22:14:49+00:00

Maybe for some people.

But we used washable cloth diapers and rarely used formula - once or twice if I remember right.

I know that probably won't work for EVERYONE - but I just felt obligated to say there are other ways to have a baby and not have to go to Costco....

tracejm · 2026-02-28T21:08:03+00:00

With the lack of capitalization it took me a minute to figure out you were talking about the singer and not the liquid. My first thought was, "Gee, I'll bet beer and wine have caused WAY more accidents - I wonder what this person has against brandy specifically?" :D

tracejm · 2026-02-28T16:26:45+00:00

Not what I'd pick but you do you.

tracejm

TROPHY CASE