david-s.net - David Schlosnagle's Words, Photos, and Links

Despite any rumors you may have heard or the fact I haven’t updated this site in exactly one year, I am still alive.

So what have I been doing for the past year? One word, work. In the past year, I’ve been doing a whole lot of hard work, something Hillary Clinton seems to think young people are unable to accomplish. From the NY Times:

She said that “young people today think work is a four-letter word” and “think they’re entitled to go right to the top with $50,000 or $75,000 jobs when they have not done anything to earn their way up.”

For other responses to her comments, see Time Magazine and the NY Post.

Did I miss the transition where Democrats became the crotchety old man yelling at the kids to turn the music down, while Republicans decided they were going to run free with the nation’s credit card?

Despite what the politicians say, all of that hard work has paid off. I’m buying a townhouse with Ms. No Name. It has two bedrooms, two and a half baths, fireplace, and two level deck. I posted a few pictures from the home inspection.

We close on June 30, so if anyone wants to help us move July 1-9, let me know and I will provide food and beer. I’m excited to finally have a place of our own, and we’ll be able to let Super Dog roam free.

During our research, I ran across a number of interesting sites:

• Zillow - shows estimated house prices and comparables
• Housing Tracker - shows inventory and price changes in the Washington metro area
• Fairfax county real estate tax records - shows assessed values, tax info, and previous sales
• Fairfax Neighborhood Profile - various stats vs. national averages

That’s what I’d like to know. According to the IRS’s “Where’s My Refund?”:

Your tax refund is scheduled to be mailed on April 29, 2005. If you do not receive the refund by May 27, 2005, please contact us again. We are unable to take any action until then.

Can someone explain exactly how they can schedule a date to mail my refund over a week in advance, but not send it out until then? If it’s already been processed, shouldn’t the Treasury cut a check and give me my money back? It only seems fair that since they’ve been collecting interest on it since I earned it, that I should get it back once I’ve told them how much they’ve overcharged me.

I’m not a fan of the whole politically correct movement, but this CNN story about the red ink teachers use to correct papers being “stressful”.

Karwoski’s teachers grade papers by giving examples of better answers for those students who make mistakes. But that approach meant the kids often found their work covered in red, the color that teachers long have used to grade work.

Parents objected.

Maybe I’m blowing this out of proportion, but I think this signifies a much bigger problem with students and parents today, no one wants to take responsibility for their errors and take the opportunity to learn from them. Instead, they’d much rather complain about having their feelings hurt because they didn’t study. Now parents won’t have to worry about being offended when signing their kids’ failed tests with a big red F, instead it will be sparkly purple with little hearts and stars showing that even though your child showed up to class, they couldn’t answer more than ~70% correct. That will definitely encourage them. (Oh, and if I had never learned from my mistakes, I would have spelled that definately, which of course is WRONG!!!) If teachers are taking their time to give examples of the correct answer(s), use the occasion to better yourself/child and be glad you live in a school district where the teachers are, what’s the word for it, teaching! Why don’t you take the time to sit down with your child and help them out with their homework instead of going to complain to the school board.

Hell, I sound like a bitter old man, and I’ve only been out of school for 11 months, or maybe it was the way I was raised. Thanks Mom and Dad.

I’m not an Eminem fan, but his new “Mosh” video/animation has a message I definitely agree with. T-minus 5 days til the end of the world.

If you have a chance, Tivo, record, or watch one of the replays of the September 29th Daily Show if you can. I have to say that it was one of the funniest ones I’ve seen. Not only does Jon refute the claim by O’Reilly that 87% of the Daily Show audience are intoxicated stoned slackers. (Yes, I know O’Reilly was joking, but I don’t know if I’d argue with Stewart’s counter that most O’Reilly viewers are hopped up on crystal meth).

In other news, Comedy Central busts out a survey from the University of Pennsylvania showing who are the smartest late night viewers. You can take the quiz yourself and see where you fall. My results are below :)

You got 6 out of 6 correct on your first attempt. Excellent work! But when do you sleep? Check your score against these averages:

• “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart viewers - 3.59 correct
• “The Tonight Show” with Jay Leno viewers - 2.95 correct
• “Late Show” with David Letterman viewers - 2.91 correct
• No late-night comedy viewing - 2.62 correct