Ditto the recommendations for the Bainbridge Island ferry and Third Place Books! But from Columbia City, it should be much easier to hit up the Seward Park location of Third Place Books. And speaking of that, check out Seward Park, which has gorgeous views of Mt. Rainier (on a clear day) and Lake Washington. In Columbia City, Marination is a popular restaurant.
Seattle is very much a city of neighborhoods, so if you're taking light rail, you can consider exploring Capitol Hill (lots of restaurants, bars, nightlight) or the U District (UW campus is gorgeous). Also lots of thrift stores and bookstores in both neighborhoods. Also, head to the International District for amazing food.
Late to this discussion, but it really comes down to priorities. My sister and I both moved back to our hometown area. She wanted a house that met specific size/layout requirements, and ended up a 45-minute drive outside the big city. I wanted walkability so we rent a townhouse. Buying in my neighborhood was not in the budget, but because of our location, we drive maaaybe 2,000 miles a year with a hybrid vehicle. My sister fills up her cars weekly.
Yeah, it stinks that we aren't getting the benefits of home ownership, but the tradeoff is totally worth it for us.
Seconding the point that most college admissions is not super duper selective. Here's a Pew report from 2019 (shockingly, that's 5 years ago now, but the data is still accurate): A majority of U.S. colleges admit most students who apply
The Ivies and similarly elite schools might admit less than 1 in 10 applicants, but a majority of schools admit way more. It's a great idea to check the acceptance rate at schools when helping your kid put together a list of where to apply. Only applying to highly selective colleges can really mess with your head about what's "normal" or "required" for college admissions.
My kids take the bus and we all love it. Lots of kids at our stop and on the route, a super cool bus driver (my 2nd grader named a stuffed animal after the bus driver), and it's so convenient. I'll be sad when they head to middle school and we no longer qualify for a bus.
How many non-physician employees drive to Location B on average each day? You're there M-Th, and the other M-Th employee takes the bus, but how many other people are sharing those 2-3 parking passes? And what's the current system for distributing parking passes?
Currently no one uses them besides the physicians. They go unused. Not counting the physicians there are anywhere from 3 to 7 of us here on any given day (and one of those employees takes the bus).
This is straight-up ridiculous, and I can see why you're irritated! Instead of asking for a pass for yourself, I'd raise the issue of creating a distribution system for at least the 2 unused parking passes, whether it's first-come, first-served or some kind of rotation. There's no reason to let great parking spaces sit unused!
How many non-physician employees drive to Location B on average each day? You're there M-Th, and the other M-Th employee takes the bus, but how many other people are sharing those 2-3 parking passes? And what's the current system for distributing parking passes?
I can't BELIEVE we endured fucking DeSantis in our state for a whole year. Put up with his smarmy ass face plastered everywhere. Had to listen to our governor's baby voice on commercials etc just to have him drop out 6 days after the caucus. I am actually offended lol. All of this was for absolutely nothing. What a waste. How embarrassing for him.
I still can’t figure out why he dropped out so fast. Did Trump bribe him? Did he run out of money? Don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled that he won’t be our president, but it just seems odd.
DeSantis was polling in the single digits in New Hampshire. I'm guessing his advisors told him that he had zero shot of winning the nomination and was about to embarrass himself and potentially destroy his political future. And he endorsed Trump because he's a weasel with no backbone.
I've had Paragard and Mirena. Got the Paragard removed early because of super heavy periods. I'm now on my fourth Mirena. Very, very happy with it, even though I now have period spotting for 5-ish days when I had no periods with Mirena when I was in my 30s.
Also, most colleges that have changed their policies are test-optional. How is that an "attack" on the SAT? The disadvantaged students with stellar test scores can still submit their test scores when applying to Ivy League schools. So who does a test-optional policy hurt?
Sorry to double quote you-- The article is saying that by standardized tests being labelled as "racially biased" in public discourse (particularly by liberal-leaning media) that it's an "attack" that is not backed by the research. That results in fewer students taking the tests which may ultimately come back to hurt them as disadvantaged students could find that their test scores are the thing that get them into the top colleges.
I hear that, but I don't think the article proves that standardized tests aren't biased. (But maybe I'm the liberal media, too?) It's a very selective use of data. And if we want to focus on the most selective schools, it's a bigger problem that disadvantaged students don't apply in the first place because of sticker shock.
Over-relying on any one metric is obviously not ideal for higher ed or applicants. The SAT and ACT (and other standardized tests) market themselves as the best predictor of success (and test makers reverse-engineer their tests with that in mind because it's good for business). But building an entire industry around making college applicants take more and more tests is not great, IMO. It adds another hoop that students need to jump through, and that alone makes higher ed less accessible.
Also, glw, I'm curious to hear more about the Comprehensive Learner Record systems you mentioned. The SAT is popular because it's an effective way to sort students. Before the SAT (like very early 20th century) most colleges had their own entrance exams. And a LOT fewer applicants. So is there a better option than the SAT/ACT for students and colleges?
Here's my problem: you can't criticize a "misguided attack on the SAT" by only using data from the most selective colleges in the country. Maybe test scores are a better predictor of college GPA at Brown, but maybe not at large public universities. I'd love to see data from the UC schools, which do not allow applicants to submit test scores.
Love how CEP'ers always come with the sources! I was actually thinking about the data in a couple years, when the UC schools will be able to research the impact of banning standardized test scores in admissions on the outcomes for graduates at UC schools.
Here's my problem: you can't criticize a "misguided attack on the SAT" by only using data from the most selective colleges in the country. Maybe test scores are a better predictor of college GPA at Brown, but maybe not at large public universities. I'd love to see data from the UC schools, which do not allow applicants to submit test scores.
Also, most colleges that have changed their policies are test-optional. How is that an "attack" on the SAT? The disadvantaged students with stellar test scores can still submit their test scores when applying to Ivy League schools. So who does a test-optional policy hurt?
And what about the time, effort, stress, and money that standardized tests require? Some students absolutely have more resources to devote to test prep, which is ignored in the article.
I'm not a huge fan of standardized tests and I think test-optional is better than test required.
I'm bad at responding to playdate requests – the logistics, hosting, is it drop off, all that just feels overwhelming. Also, it sounds like you reached out twice in December, which is a super busy time for a lot of people.
I wouldn't give up, but maybe change your strategy. I like the suggestion to plan something in advance with a clear time. Suggesting a playground meetup worked well for us at the K-2 age. Or if you're open to a drop off at your house, be really clear about the logistics.
Also, this post reminded me to respond to DD2's BFF's mom, who asked if we could do a winter break playdate, but between camps, family plans, and illnesses I never reached out. So thanks for the reminder!
So Mitch Daniels, former Republican governor of Indiana, wants to complain about how the government is dysfunctional and deficits are too high, but the only politician he blames in the Op-Ed is Barack Obama? Something isn't right here.
Ha ha, it IS me! Thanks to everyone for the tags, lol. I saw this on the app but the preview text only said "RANCH" so I figured it wasn't about me. 😜
Also, plug for my sister, who has published way more books than me under her pen name Emma Prince. (hers are spicy and mine are not, and she's sold about 100x more books than me as her full-time job!) And fun fact, both our pen names are family names. Prince is our paternal grandmother's maiden name, and both Emma and Sylvia are on our maternal family tree. See, we really do like history!
Hey! I felt very silly not being able to think of any of your "names." Tried just scrolling my kindle library till i found you, but there are entirely too many books in there.
My sister and I were talking about self-publishing vs trad-pub, etc etc when I was at her house for belated xmas and I was trying to dig up an old book drop day thread of yours where I asked a million questions. I have now found it. LOL
She has a small rejection collection for a few of her novel efforts and we always talk about writing something more "fun" together. With all that free time she has. (full time job, 3 kids, other hobbies, etc) We have this conversation roughly once a year. we mad-libbed an outline together over dessert - we'll see if she hyperfocuses her way through an initial couple of chapters or not.
How's the Kindle unlimited treating you? I own most of your books already but seeing that I can KU the rest is tempting. Is there a significant difference for you?
Oooh, I've always wanted to write something with my sister! But it might be the end of us, because she meticulously plots out everything in multi-page documents and I wing it.
KU is pretty good for the Prince sisters. It's the majority of my sister's income and often a good chunk of my KDP revenue. Since KU pays per page, it's sometimes a little less than the royalty from a book sale (although for a really long book, KU might be more). I make around $2 per book sale, and a little less for a full KU read. I'm very close to 2 million page reads on KU, which is kind of amazing!
I've scaled back my fiction writing because my full-time job (freelance writer) is a lot more profitable. But thank you, all of GBCN, for years of support!
I am having a moment. Who's the poster who writes historical fiction romance, has them linked in her signature. I cannot think of her name, screen or pen, and I have over 600 books on my Kindle so can't hers them to show them to my sister. Halp my sad brain.
Ha ha, it IS me! Thanks to everyone for the tags, lol. I saw this on the app but the preview text only said "RANCH" so I figured it wasn't about me. 😜
Also, plug for my sister, who has published way more books than me under her pen name Emma Prince. (hers are spicy and mine are not, and she's sold about 100x more books than me as her full-time job!) And fun fact, both our pen names are family names. Prince is our paternal grandmother's maiden name, and both Emma and Sylvia are on our maternal family tree. See, we really do like history!
Thank goodness there were no gay books at the underage drinking party where adults assaulted multiple teenagers! Those young people could have really been hurt.
Vicky, I am so glad you're alive. That is A LOT. But you almost certainly saved your life by moving back to NYC. What a heroic thing to do in the middle of extremely shitty life circumstances.
Absolutely love my Paperwhite and read every day! Definitely check out Libby for library books; it links to your local library and works seamlessly for me.
And Bernadine , do you know what time periods your grandmother prefers? Historical romance readers often stick with particular subgenres like Regency, Scottish, medieval, etc. Although Regency doesn't tend to be very light. My sister writes medieval Scottish historical romances as Emma Prince. And her favorite author is Lisa Kleypas, if that helps!
It's understandable that you're frustrated, but unreasonable to be angry at the boarding place. You made a decision to ask for a credit, and now you're making a decision not to use their services.
Maybe ask if you can get a gift card or transfer the credit, and see if you can sell it to someone who uses the boarding place.
Sending more socially distanced hugs, sparkythelawyer and circa1978. We're mostly recovered (Day 6-8 for everyone in our family of four) with minor congestion/cough/fatigue for the adults. And I'm really glad the adults got Paxlovid because it made a big difference.
Yep, our dog loved her crate and ended up sleeping in it overnight with the door open. We kept the crate in our bedroom and really never closed the door after she was a puppy, so it was more like a den.
We’ve used this before! We’re a bit limited with our options because we’re vegetarian, but we got a fantastic surprise bag from our local chocolate store. 😍
When I left higher ed, I looked into high school teaching. It was not a good fit for two reasons: first, I would have needed 1-2 years of classes to meet my state's licensure requirements, even with a Ph.D. and 10+ years of college-level teaching experience. And second, I would not be able to function teaching 5+ classes a day. That's too draining for this introvert who had to expend a lot of energy to stand in front of a classroom.
If you're looking for alternative ways to make money without the shitty adjunct pay, teaching would not be the easiest path. Fields like art/art history/social studies are very competitive because it's such a common career path for majors in those areas.
I ended up jumping into freelance writing, because as an academic, writing fast was always my strength. It's been a surprisingly lucrative and good fit. And I agree with wildrice to think about what you like about teaching. If it's interacting with students, there's lots of opportunities in student advising/student services. At a lot of colleges, big departments have their own advisor, so someone with an art history background could be perfect as the art school advisor, for example.
We were in this same situation a couple months ago, though with slightly younger kids. DD1 had a falling out with her BFF after the BFF was mean to her, so instead of inviting the whole class or all the girls in class to DD1's 9th birthday party, we did a much smaller group. Even after DD1 went to BFF's party a few months earlier. So in your situation, I'd go with a smaller group and not invite the BFF.