Posts Tagged ‘question’
Where is the accountability?
You know, I seriously hate being negative on here. I really do. However, some thing just tick me off to no end, so you all have to hear about them. 
If you are a regular reader here, you know about my struggle with the public school and that we are considering sending her to private school. Click here to read all about it.
Now, my taxes pay their salaries and getting someone to talk to me is like pulling teeth. Then they don’t really answer what I ask either. However, my favorite has to be the Chicago Tribune article I read this week that the schools districts are telling parents to ignore the state test scores since they were graded differently this year. However, at the state level, they are saying the grading is comparable to years past. So who is right? Who needs to recheck their job descriptions and find out that they have no right to tell the parents anything?
Seriously, where is the accountability? I hear over and over that public schools are better since they are accountable. Really? They won’t talk to parents, they lie about test scores, etc. Where is the accountability?
Here is what I have learned from the private school. They are very transparent. They don’t baby any parents. The principal even said at the open house that if 90% of the parents can do it right, they all should be able to and that they don’t put up with that crap. Every time I have called and talked to them, they have answered every single one of my questions. They told me the class size this year for every single grade (K-8). The people answering the phone were extremely knowledgeable. There has only been one question they didn’t know the answer to and she gave me the number of the person who would (and that person did!). I can come in anytime and tour the school, and their test scores are an open book that can also be looked at any time I want. Granted, I have to pay to get this type of service but don’t I pay the public schools too?
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Vlane & My Prius Poll
As most of you know, Bill and I have been looking for a vehicle that gets better gas mileage. Our Jeep Liberty, well, it stinks on gas mileage. We are averaging around 20 mpg, and Bill drives a minimum of 70 miles a day. Needless to say, with gas prices as high as they are, Bill alone spends over $500 a month in just gas for his car. I recently came across a site that I could have used before we put out name on the waiting list for a Prius. vLane allows you to research and compare vehicles with just a few clicks. You are able to even research different options on the vehicle that you want. If that isn’t enough, you can run a poll like the one below.
Powered by vLane.com See more | Create your own!
Now, since we are on a waiting list for a Prius, I thought I’d ask everyone their opinion on getting extra options on our Prius. If you have a question you’d like other opinion on like my Prius question, you can create your own poll. It can be listed only on their site, or you can even embed it on your blog like I have done. You can also search for a vehicle based on total price, monthly price, fuel type, fuel economy, performance, and manufacturers. You can also see (by stars and reviews) what other reviewers of the site think of each vehicle. If you can’t find your dream vehicle on vLane, I would be seriously surprised.
Let me know if you make any of your own polls, so I can go vote for you (either on your blog or vLane)! Also, don’t forgot to vote on my poll!
Izeafest – Day 2
We learned on Day 1 that we had to get there bright and early to make sure that we got a plugin for our laptops. Without that, day one didn’t have a lot of blogging or twittering going on. Well, at least not from me. Day 2 started with a keynote speech from Merlin Mann. I have to say that it was one of the best keynote speeches I have ever heard. His speech was about “don’t be a dick”. Everything he said was true. He even asked the audience to disagree with what he said, but no one did, because he was right.
The next panel was Social Network and included Michael Brito, Sean Bonner, Etan Horowitz, and Lena West. This was another panel that really wasted my time. First, we had Lena West stating that she was too busy to actually do it herself. My first question was then why are you on this panel? Then she managed to offend half the room (google: Lena West and mommybloggers to find out why. Trust me, there was no
airbrush do over. The more she tried to explain herself, the worse it got). They pretty much said to use Twitter and Facebook. Umm, yeah, knew that already. Now, tell me how to use them to help me, because I really don’t get Facebook at all. There are also dozens of social networking sites out there — and nobody even mentioned them.
Next, there was Loren Feldman. I love Loren Feldman. He speaks his mind, and he makes awesome videos! It was almost breathtaking to hear what equipment he uses. We learned that you don’t have to spend thousands of dollars to do good videos on your blog.
Next, we had the plug-in panel with Loren Baker, Jonathan Dingman, and Erik Hersman. This was definitely cool, because I learned I am using a lot of the wordpress plugins that I should be!
Last, there was the Blog Design Makeover Panel with Scott Allen,Matt Blancarte, and Christopher Schmitt. My only complaint with this is that they were very rushed. Also, the designs were nice, but way out of the price range of us normal bloggers.
In a nutshell, that was the conference. I have one more post about the IzeaHunt that we did, and that will pretty much summarize the conference. Would I go again? I’ll be honest — I don’t know. It is a lot of money. Did I learn things? Yes. However, does any of it help me to monetize? Not really. I really thing they need to have breakout sessions, and you can pick and choose what sessions to go to. That way, you can reach the middle ground bloggers and the beginning bloggers. What I found lacking was that none of the big name big money bloggers really told us how to get from middle group to up on top. Telling me what you are doing now really doesn’t help me all that much.
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5 Days Left 