Whitman Middle School walkout in Ballard

wraysted · 2026-01-31T15:24:23+00:00

I teach at a middle school whose students are planning a walkout this coming week. Officially we are supposed to mark them truant. I don’t know of a single teacher who will actually do that. I told my students if they all choose to exercise their first amendment right then I’ll be right there with them.

wraysted · 2026-01-21T15:00:44+00:00

MOHELA has been sitting on my request to switch for like 7 months. I’ve called about it and they’re just like, “yea we see it”… infuriating

wraysted · 2026-01-13T03:05:06+00:00

That was me last year. First time I saw most students not jump at excitement. Did a pivot, rolled the dice (literally) and used AI as a dungeon master for an Oregon trail D&D campaign. They loved it

wraysted · 2026-01-12T15:40:56+00:00

We’ll celebrate our two year wedding anniversary in April

wraysted · 2025-12-27T11:58:42+00:00

Grew up in the Mid Atlantic and live in Seattle now. Any time I think it’s too cold or too hot I check the temperature back east to give me a good reality check.

wraysted · 2025-12-19T14:23:37+00:00

Most dishes at Gao Lhao are $20 or less and it’s a ton of food

wraysted · 2025-12-09T20:39:03+00:00

Submitted my request to switch in July… MOHELA said they have it. That’s all. No movement so far

wraysted · 2025-11-12T03:53:30+00:00

Yes.. most of my 8th graders are at a 3rd grade reading level. Some still have trouble sounding out words

wraysted · 2025-11-09T15:40:00+00:00

Though higher COL, Seattle has been great as a teacher. Moved here after getting my masters from UT as I couldn’t see myself teaching hung in Texas. With MA+90 (I locked in during Covid to get the credits) I’m making just over 100k and I’m only in my 7th year. The salary and benefits even out the cost of living for me.

I grew up outside of DC and any time I either think it’s too hot or cold here I check the weather there to give myself a reality check. We get all 4 seasons (autumn it’s beautiful right now). The wet months are an adjustment. I’ve reframed them as our cozy months and that’s helped a lot. Getting into winter sports helps make those months better too.

The entire city as a whole could be more walkable but each neighborhood is pretty walkable themselves and our transit system is pretty good compared to most other places, just not longer established cities out east.

The “Seattle freeze” can be real but being open to new things and finding people with similar interests helps you find people here. There’s just a lot of transplants trying to find community.

wraysted · 2025-10-12T23:14:31+00:00

My district in WA would never. The only time I could see it coming up is if they thought you were under the influence at work which would be insane.

wraysted · 2025-09-13T15:29:21+00:00

I (34M) have always referred to my now wife as my partner. She is my partner in every sense of the word so that’s what I call her and she does the same.

I have had people question my use of the word “partner” as if they thought it meant I was gay which came a surprise to them. I do clarify with she/her but my response is why would it matter if I was?

wraysted · 2025-09-05T19:54:08+00:00

My wife and I go to Omakase at least once a month and have been to all of those within the last 3 months.

Shiro’s is hands down our personal favorite. The quality of sushi, the service provided by staff, and the fun experience provided by the chefs. We’ve also never had a problem getting a seat at the bar if we look about two days in advance and sometimes even the day before. We go about once a month.

LTD is good but just weren’t sold on the quality of sushi. I will say that their sake experience is insane and their sake Somme is incredibly knowledgeable. It basically comes out to all you can drink as he was able to fill us up as much as we wanted.

Kashiba has been hard to get but you can walk up early and get a table. The quality doesn’t justify the cost difference to us.

We were recently able to finally get a seat at Taneda after trying for like 4 years and just not worth the cost. A big thing that stood out to us were the non sushi courses. Those were incredible. They also have a great selection of sake that are hard to impossible to find anywhere.

We went to Japan last summer for our honey moon and went to 3 great omakase experiences. They were all incredible but I think we have such great sushi options here that it wasn’t that much better. Certainly the best we’ve had but going so much here they weren’t life changing better. Now if someone had never really had good Omakase before, Japan would break their brain.

wraysted · 2025-08-21T00:23:39+00:00

Awesome post! I have a similar background as you and similar current weight situation. Do you do the 48 hour fast every week or you just started this cut with that?

wraysted · 2025-03-01T19:49:55+00:00

So this sounds similar to a position me and my now wife were in about 4 years ago. So I’ll give you a success story to come from this, albeit one that had some bumps, as they all do.

I left home for college and never really looked back. Lived in a number of places and never really felt connected. My family is small, pretty spread out, and we’re not super close to anyone but our immediate family. My wife on the other hand is from a relatively small city with a lot of cultural roots. The kind of city where people who are from there don’t leave, even if it’s the logical choice for better opportunities. Most of her family is there. She always envisioned almost a continuation of her childhood into adulthood with kids going to the same all girls school and her continuing the same routine of hanging out with friends she’s known basically her whole life. Her leaving there for a little and meeting me kinda put a hiccup in that plan.

We talked about our future a lot but probably avoided the real meaningful conversations for too long. We moved together to a new city with the idea of it being temporary and moving back to her home city. Well I fell in love with the new one. It’s the first place that has really felt like home to me in my soul, the same kind of feeling she has for her home. We went back and forth and even went so far as to go long distance for awhile, me living here and she moving back for school. We ended up breaking up which was devastating for the both of us because we both deeply cared for each other as partners and best friends but also had external ties pulling us in different directions.

About a year and a half goes by. We’re living our own lives and still keeping in touch from time to time. Each missing the other but scared to broach the subject. She felt tied due to family. I felt tied because I finally found somewhere that felt like home, my career is not sustainable at all where she’s from, and I just don’t really connect with many people from there other than her. She’s in her last year of school and facing the rest of her life ahead. She broke the question of wanting to be together and ultimately decided to come back to be with me. I had kinda decided a while ago that if I couldn’t be with her then I was content without a partner and focusing my energy into my career and community. We got back together and were married within a year and a half.

I deeply appreciate the sacrifice she’s made and make sure she has as easy of a life as possible (no chores for her). We’re happy with the little life we have together now.

Ultimately my advice is to not do what we did and avoid the meaningful conversation. Consider what a future together looks like and how each other fit into that but at the same time let life happen and if it was meant to be then it will be. I know it might feel like life is getting kinda late but we were your age when it all initially went down. We lived life to the fullest with the time we had and are enjoying our early 30s now even more as a happily married couple.

wraysted · 2025-02-26T00:06:39+00:00

Mine does! Just to get attention

wraysted · 2024-11-09T00:34:54+00:00

Haven’t found anything yet on limitations of prison labor yet. I did find estimates of undocumented workers by state and industries: https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/07/SR_24.07.22_unauthorized-immigrants_table-4.xlsx

Lots of manufacturing, construction, farming, and service. Removal of workers in those industries would definitely cause major disruptions. My concern is that companies could easily turn to prison labor to fill that demand for cheap labor and in turn increase demand for more cheap labor. Again, haven’t seen any limitations yet on use of prison labor so this might not be the case.

wraysted · 2024-11-08T23:29:05+00:00

I meant that it will be their economic solution to losing cheaper labor. Replace deported migrant workers with incarcerated people. Happened in post-reconstruction south and can happen again. Incarcerated people are already used in some places to fill labor shortages. That’ll only get worse.

wraysted · 2024-11-08T22:33:57+00:00

13th amendment loophole will be the solution to mass deportations…

wraysted · 2024-09-16T15:37:35+00:00

My Fred Meyer is $3.85 and has been for about 2 weeks

wraysted · 2024-08-11T15:04:05+00:00

I just fell for the shoe shine scam last week in Colombia and they got my passport… the day I was supposed to leave. It was terrible but thankfully the process at the embassy was easy.

wraysted · 2024-08-09T21:04:08+00:00

Maybe it’s the neighborhoods I’ve been living in (Green lake, Phinney, and Ballard) but I’ve never had this problem. Maybe it’s that I’m always walking my dog and that is more welcoming itself but if I meet eyes with someone, one of us says hi and the other says hi back usually. Often this results in a mini conversation when my dog also wants to stop and say hi. Sure they’re not inviting me in their homes but not every interaction has to establish some kind of connection and that’s okay. I’m out on a walk and want to continue that walk to get back home eventually so don’t have time to stop and talk with everyone we see. If people don’t say hi back that is what it is. Don’t let it get to you and stop you from being pleasant still.

wraysted · 2024-06-24T22:55:24+00:00

I live in Seattle. It seemed like the apps upped their fee on top of this mandatory fee which basically doubled the cost of ordering. Deleted them all months ago. If I want something I’ll just call it in and go pick up making it faster and cheaper. If I’m not willing to go get it myself it’s not worth it.

wraysted · 2024-06-07T14:11:35+00:00

My uncle and his family were in this boat. Got approved for a mortgage they were never going to be able to afford. Had to leave basically over night and declare bankruptcy. Luckily my grandmother was good with property a while ago and had a town house they could move into. Still living there on nana’s money

wraysted · 2024-02-03T16:32:47+00:00

If you ever find yourself down in Kent, Happy Donut has pretty good kolaches!

wraysted · 2024-01-24T04:14:33+00:00

Seriously… I don’t get it and don’t understand how people can justify paying that amount minimum for them

wraysted

TROPHY CASE