Taft High/ Boys Volleyball

For LAUSD, this is the first week of after school practice and in all honesty I didn't want to practice. I love my guys team, i think they are talented and great students in and out of the classroom. One story that opened my eyes this week were the incidents that occured at Taft High School this week. My team is very close to the Taft team, infact we saw them every week for a winter league and developed great relationships with all the team members. I'm saddened by the fact that a colleague of mine can't coach the sport that he loves. Read the reports and say what you want, but I talked to the volleyball coach this week and he reported everything promptly and in a timely manner. We'll see what happens.

- no more facebook

budget

Well, karen and i are tracking our money a little more to see where we're mostly spending our money. I think when times are good financially we tend to lose track of where a lot of our money goes resulting in a lot of waste. Anyway, i read an article on the LAUSD superintendent being released from his duties. The article mentioned that LAUSD has a $8.6 billion budget annually and the threat of a $600 million cut is expected within the next two years.

Now people focus on the cuts rather than how much we have left. Even with this massive cut, we as a district have $8 billion to spend on everything! To put $8 billion in perspective- thats 8,000 million

If every worker in the district received an average annual salary of $60,000 and there are 34,000 employees within the district- that costs $2.04 billion in salaries-

that is only a quarter of the budget and I wonder where the other $6 billion dollars is being spent.

$1 billion to plant management/ facilities

$1 billion to technology/materials/books

$1 billion for other overhead costs

Within that budget, you still have 3 billion dollars to spend. My point is, we as a district are wasting a lot of money. These cuts should not warrant layoffs, but better accountability and spending.

Just my two cents- i'm not getting laid off or anything

City Section

Palisades 3, Van Nuys 0: If there's such a thing as a straight-set heartbreaker, surely Van Nuys suffered one Tuesday.

Leading the defending City champion Dolphins 22-18 in a pivotal second game, the Wolves let the game and the momentum slip away as they were defeated 25-13, 26-24, 25-14 in the section semifinals at Palisades High.

"I think that game was just a little too much to come back from," said coach Dave Chae, who led Van Nuys to its first City semifinal since 2002. "We had a great year, the girls used chemistry to get to this point, but it wasn't enough."

It nearly was.

The Wolves held game point at 24-23 in the second game before costly errors allowed Palisades to take the next three points.

Clearly deflated just as they were making headway, Van Nuys was never again a factor in the match.

Laura Goldsmith powered the Dolphins with 18 kills, and a strong service allowed the team to record 12 aces on the night.

Alyssa Woodberry had nine kills and Lynsey Taub added eight for the Wolves (16-1), who entered the match undefeated in best-of-five contests.

Van Nuys looked shaky early with service mistakes and missed assignments, but found its rhythm at the end of the opening game.

Palisades (16-1) will be seeking its second straight city title when it faces Granada Hills on Saturday.

- Jahmal Corner

I guess a lot of people are getting riled up for tomorrow's election. I know there are a lot of important issues on the ballot, but in the end, I really hate elections.

Reason 1

Commercials- we are engulfed with commercials left and right, and I'm tired of listening to them on a hourly, minute to minute basis.

Reason 2

To whoever studies or knows politics, does anybody in the general public, or even in the media know EVERYTHING that is going on? You can say this or that about a person, but even if you read a biography of that person, do you really know the issues? How can anyone in the general public know the corruption and scandal that is going on within the US government?

Reason 3

It's a time of year when NO ONE admits that they are wrong. Everybody is stubborn and set in their opinion, and you agree to disagree.

In the end, what will this election do?

Updated: 4:43 p.m. EDT

Spain's Olympic basketball team posed for an advertisement prior to the Games which appears to show all its players slanting their eyes, a move that could offend its Olympic hosts in Beijing. The ads, for a Spanish courier company, appeared in the Spanish-language newspaper La Marca

I find this kind of funny. Ofcourse, this isn't the wisest way to advertise, but i guess it gets the attention of people.