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InFocus today raises questions about scheduling (March 18, 2004)

I was watching today’s infocus. Yes, I completely agree that being a second semester senior girl is awesome! I also go to starbucks, shop during my preps, and have started working on my tan. But, can you really only have three classes and still be considered a student? I thought you had to at least be enrolled in five classes! Also, don’t thier colleges care that they dropped a lot of classes second semester? I have two preps, which is nice, but if I could I would definitely have more!! Does anyone know if you can have more than that and still be a student?

–Maggie Krummel

Durham’s political views reflect his favorite joke (March 18, 2004)

My favorite joke shows one of my political belifes. Here is the joke.

Three Texas plastic surgeons were playing golf together and discussing surgeries they had performed. One of them said, "I’m the best plastic surgeon in Texas. A concert pianist lost 7 fingers in an accident, I reattached them, and 8 months later he performed a private concert for the Queen of England."

One of the others said, "That’s nothing. A young man lost both arms
and legs in an accident, I reattached them, and 2 years later he won a gold medal in 5 field events in the Olympics."

The third surgeon said, "You guys are amateurs. Several years ago a
cowboy who was high on cocaine and alcohol rode a horse head-on into a train traveling 80 miles an hour. All I had left to work with was the horse’s butt and a cowboy hat. Now he’s president of the United States."

This joke is not only hilarious but it shows what I honestly think about our current president, George W. Bush. I just hope he dosen’t get re-elecfted in November, and if he does I hope he can do reconstructive plastic surgery of his own on his political ideas, views, and foreign policy issues.

–Drew Durham

Maggie’s dad injured while skiing (March 18, 2004)

I just read Peter’s blog, and actually my parents went skiing at Heavenly too this past weekend. My dad was at the bottom of the slope waiting for my mom, and an out of control snowboarder hit my dad and another guy. My dad had to get 15 stitches right above his eyebrow, and he has some other cuts on his nose. AND the guy who hit him was an employee of Heavenly!! Isn’t that horrible? So ya, they probablly didn’t have as good a weekend as Peter! But at least my dad looks badass!

–Maggie Krummel

Summer is coming (March 17, 2004)

I can’t believe this weather!!! Two weeks ago it was low 60’s and today the high is 86 degrees. This weekend I went to Lake Tahoe at Heavenly. I have never been so hot before while I was completely surrounded by snow. Instead of bundling up in many layers like I usually do when I go skiing, I just wore a T-shirt for the whole day. Everyone should go outside and enjoy the beautiful weather. Go swimming, play a sport, or even go skiing at Tahoe while there is still snow left.

–Peter Lenke

Gotta love the sophomores (March 15, 2004)

Thanks sophomores! Because of you, the rest of the school gets to have an entire morning to do anything! Tonight I’m going out to celebrate my friend’s birthday, and tomorrow I plan on enjoying this beautiful weather and hitting the beach! On another note, I completely agree with Sam. It’s not fair for you to have to pay for two people when you don’t have a date. It isn’t fair! The school shouldn’t penalize those who want to just go by themselves.

–Maggie Krummel

The best tongue-twisters ever! (March 15, 2004)

Today in class we discussed and tried out the best tongue-twisters ever. My number one is: Red, Leather, Yellow, Leather. Try to say this five times fast…if you can do it, please come to room 213 and prove it to the class during 5th period. In second place is: Toy boat, say this four times fast. Third: Sally sells sea-shells by the sea shore. Again, say this 3 times fast. Fourth: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. And finally, How much wood would a wood-chuck chuck if a wood-chuck could chuck wood.

–Amanda Dotson

Prom ticket sales are discriminatory (March 13, 2004)

I severely dislike that those without dates are discriminated against due to the flat Prom ticket price. Basically, those who are without a date pay the same as a couple, who have two wallets to pay with. I
am not sure that I will be able to find a date, which means that if I want to go to prom, I will have to spend twice on the ticket what a couple has to spend. I understand that the Prom is supposed to be a date dance, which is cool and I respect that, but why does Prom have to charge more money for those without dates?

–Sam Badger

Ring tones…what a fun way to waste your money (March 10, 2004)

Ok, so I was surfing the web yesterday while I was supposed to be doing my homework and I came across my favorite cell phone ring tone downloading website. I downloaded five ring tones and spent $6.25!! Does anybody else think that ring tones are the biggest waste of money ever? I DO! Yet, I’ve spent over 40 dollars on ring tones already and own at least 38 of them. I don’t know why I keep wasting my money on these things! I don’t even use all of them as my actual ring when I get a call. I spend a lot of my time listening to my tones instead of the radio, which in turn pisses off all my friends. Don’t waste your money on ring tones!! So fun, but so expensive.

–Greg Walder

Democrat vice president (March 10, 2004)

Now that John Kerry has been chosen as the Democratic nominee for president he must choose a running mate for Vice President. I was thinking about the recent election of Arnold Schwarzenegger as Governor of California and thought of a couple of different celebrities to match the Republicans. First off I think a good pick might be Peter Jackson (director of The Lord of the Rings trilogy) because anything he is nominated for he wins. However Jackson’s easygoing attitude may not be right for the job. On top of that, the democrats need someone who can match Bush’s keen intellect. Because of this I conclude that the obvious pick would be Jessica Simpson. If you have any ideas on who should be the democrat VP and why be sure to send it to our staff.

–Kevin McCoy

Britney’s concert rocked! (March 10, 2004)

So last night I went to the Britney Spears’ concert in Oakland. It was so much fun!! Not only is she such a good performer, the costumes and special effect were awesome! She sang all her best songs, mostly from her new album "In the Zone" but also some from older albums too. As always, you can expect controversy from Britney. You can imagine the dances and costumes that would accompany two of her new songs, "Touch of My Hand" and "Breathe on me." It was quite racy!! But, I mean how could you go to her concert and not expect it? She did talk briefly about her recent wedding and annulment. She said that her life has been a roller coaster lately, with ups and downs, but it’s the experiences that make life. All of her experiences have made her who she is today, so she regrets nothing. I feel so sorry for her. Everyone does stupid things, and we just happen to hear about her mistakes!! But then again, she does make millions of dollars!!

–Maggie Krummel

Is our intelligence service really this shady? (March 10, 2004)

From the sound of things, our (in)famous intelligence service has been causing more trouble in the third world. It appears that a group of westerners have been caught in Zimbabwe plotting malicious acts in other nations. According to Zimbabwean officials, various American, British, and Spanish secret service groups were more or less plotting to overthrow the leadership of the small, oil-rich African country called Equitorial Guinea. According to CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/africa/03/10/zimbabwe.plane/index.html), the leadership caste of Equatorial Guinea is corrupt and does not share the wealth properly, but is that a good reason to risk putting our nation, already embroiled in controversy over Iraq, into more trouble over an oil rich country?
If Mugabe (admittedly not the most reliable source) is correct, then our country is committing its intelligence efforts into another poorly planned overthrow attempt, which will do nothing more than ruin our reputation. And why choose another oil-rich nation? I find this personally suspicious.

–Sam Badger

Tissues equal silly extra credit points in my eyes (March 8, 2004)

I disagree with you Maggie. I think it is a joke that teachers would actually give extra credit for bringing in tissues! I mean, I’m not going to lie, I have used this extra credit ploy once in my four years at Paly, but even then it didnt’t change my grade whatsoever. I know that schools are in a major budget crisis right now, but come on, this is pathetic. What ever happened to plain old hard work to get an A in your classes? Another issue that comes to my mind about goofy student policies are the kids that get paid for getting A’s and B’s. I don’t know about you guys, but aren’t you kind of expected to do well on your own…I mean, do you really need to scam your parents out of any more money than you already do? Pretty soon kids are going to want to get paid or get extra credit for merely coming to class.

–Amanda Dotson

Tissues for credit a good idea (March 8, 2004)

In the San Jose Mercury News today there was a story about kids bringing in tissues for extra credit. Buzz Bartlett, president of the Council for Basic Education, a Washington, D.C.- based non-profit organization said, "It’s absurd." It sends the message that "grades are not a reflection of the quality of your schoolwork." That is absolutely ridiculous. Kids are only trying to do their part in the budget crisis, and teachers are rewarding them for doing that. It’s not impacting their grades enough to make a difference, and it helps all of the class. It isn’t undermining the grading system, because it can’t drastically change the student’s grade. Kids should be rewarded for helping out their schools in the time of need.

–Maggie Krummel

Paly schedule adds unneeded stress (Feb. 25, 2004)

I don’t understand why Paly’s schedule should be any different from Gunn’s. Both high schools are in the same district and we should have the same class schedules. Gunn students only have 5 classes a day because of a block period scheduling every day of the week. Although each class period is longer at Gunn, students only have to do homework and prepare for their 5 classes each night. At Paly there is only block scheduling on Wednesday and Thursday. On Monday, Tuesday, and Friday, Paly students have seven classes everyday which adds stress since they must do homework for seven classes instead of five like Gunn students. For some reason on this side of town, the Paly administration wants us to have to work harder and be more stressed out than the Gunn students.

The administration has made recent changes in the schedule so that Paly students get out of school about 45 minutes earlier on Thursdays. They think that this is helpful for athletes, but what they didn’t consider is that they took away our Thursday late start. First semester, Paly students went to school at 8:45, which was 55 minutes later than the normal start. Because of this, first semester, Thursday was my favorite day of the week… For once I was able to catch up on lost sleep and I didn’t fall asleep in my first period class. In addition, athletes need more sleep, more so than anything else. I want to get our late start on Thursday back!

The Paly administration needs to form Paly’s schedule around the students’ needs. The students are the ones trying to learn and changing the schedule would be an easy way to help this happen.

–Peter Lenke

Rain at Paly frustrates students (Feb. 25, 2004)

The rainy days are sometimes the most frustrating. Our campus becomes a lake and everyone has to waddle through the puddles. The administration places pallets around campus to try to "help" avoid getting wet from waddling through the puddles, but they don’t really help. Personally, I’m kind of scared to walk on those. They look so unstable and I’m afraid that if I walk across them, they’re going to break and I’m going to fall and make a fool of myself. There isn’t a lot of overhang either that shields from the rain. And for the overhang that’s there it’s impossible to try and walk under because hoards of freshman and sophomores huddle around. It’s impossible to even pass by. If they would just move a little to side, maybe it wouldn’t be so difficult to avoid getting wet.

As I made my way across campus, trying to get to the crosswalk so that I could go to Town and Country, the weather had cleared up. I was a little happy, because I knew that I wouldn’t have to deal with the pounding of the rain. As I stood waiting for the light to turn, a car zoomed past right through a large puddle, splattering not only me, but others as well with dirty water. Can you believe it? The other cars were nice enough to swerve around the puddle. This one car was extremely inconsiderate, and whoever the driver was, you suck.

–Huda Shaikh

Just wait Thomas, just wait (Feb. 25, 2004)

That is exactly what I said too. From what I can tell after having a semester of 5th period with you, there is no doubt in my mind that you have a great work ethic. You are always on top of your editing skills and you control the classroom with a great attitude and level of professionalism. I always hear you complaining about how much homework you had the night before and if you told me you do your homework every night I would not be surprised. However, I can guarantee you that for the week or so after you receive your acceptance letters from top-notch universities across the nation you will definitely slack off a little bit. I’m not gonna lie, I slacked off way too much once I found out I got into college in December, but I have slowly worked my way back up to doing my homework every could nights and I expect to start doing more every day from here on out. But to say that you, “… will still work as hard as I have up until this point…” seems a little bit unrealistic to me. If I had to guess, I would say that you are going to get in Early Decision somewhere and for the first month after your acceptance you will slack off somewhat, but by second semester you will be working hard again and back to your normal self.

On another side note regarding your bird incident, one time I opened a can of green beans and there was a red grasshopper cut exactly the shape of the beans floating on top!

–Amanda Dotson