Moving Hosts
Hey all -
I’ll be moving hosts in the next couple of days, so this post will serve as bookmark whether the domain has propagated over to the new site or not. This way, I’ll know it has not if I still see this post on the front page! 
Türkiye Timez
Welp, it’s been a fun two weeks here in Turkey so far – making the family rounds and visiting the southern Mediterranean coast. So far, I’ve been in and around Ankara having visited Anıtkabir (Atatürk’s resting place), the shops in and around Ulus, the villages (more like cities now!) of Ayaş and Baypazarı outside of town, and seeing many people that I have not seen for the five years since I’ve been here. We’re getting around mostly by taxi and bus, and it seems to be working out so far.
Just starting to get busy?
Welp, the quarter’s over halfway done and the real work seems to be just beginning. After this weekend, I’m gonna have to hightail my research into aconitase, the fun-loving bioinorganic molecule that loves to use its Fe4S4 cluster to facilitate a stereo-specific reaction mechanism instead of just serving as an electron mover.
Not to mention that Folklife is tomorrow! I think I’ll be leaving home with Amanda’s group of friend (see my events on Facebook for that info), but if you’re down there, definitely give me a call and we can go jump in the fountain together. 
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Site Redesign!
Hey all -
I’m in the middle of redesigning the site, hopefully to give it a better look than it looked like before! I hope to use this to keep old friends and teachers up to date on what’s happening in my life and to touch base with other people interested in public transit, chemistry, and quantum computation.
Hopefully by the beginning of May this will be up and rolling; for now, it’s time to edit those darn Wordpress templates.
Alpertopia is open!
Hello everyone, I’m happy to say that this blog has been something that I’ve wanted to open for a long time, the main structure is pretty much done, but certain aesthetic features will be changed and added in the near future. Welcome to Alpertopia.
The main impetus for this blog is to join the Seattle transit/transportation blogging community, but this will definitely have a personal shift of goings-on in my life and the communities around me. Look for specific sections to come soon.
I wanted to discuss the Shoreline School District just north of Seattle. Currently, the teachers’ unions SEA and SESPA are negotiating a pay increase relative to the increase of the cost of living in the greater Seattle area. They’re asking for a 4.3% increase in all areas of spending, synchronous with the state’s cost of living adjustment (COLA), currently staged at 3.9%. After lackluster funding over the last couple of years and the numerous layoffs of teachers for budgeting reasons, the union is asking for 4.3% in all areas, 0.4% more than that mandated by law. More detail can be found here.
The total cost to the school district is $1.4 million dollars. Through government mandated expenditures, $1.04 million can be covered by state money. The school district is hesitant to pay the remaining $429,000 to meet the terms set forward by the union (SEA seems to be pushing it more). The school district is currently in the red $1.7 million dollars even after a $149.5 million dollar grant was approved last year for facilities improvements. The school board plans to alleviate this discrepancy by removing several school programs, including, but not limited to, reduced bus routes/stops, elimination of all sports “C” teams, and elimination of the school’s traffic safety program. Additionally, the school district has saved (just) $1.4 million in closing two elementary schools (one of which I attended), and $4.7 million in pay cuts to all employees.
The $149.5 million dollar grant is specifically stipulated by law to only apply to program and facilities improvements, and the school district claims it cannot use those funds for primary purposes such as employee payroll. The refinishing of Shoreline stadium’s track and field as well as Shorecrest High School’s retrofitting of its field to astroturf was paid for by this grant.
It’s difficult to find discussion about this, but it’s frankly very appalling that our teachers have to fight over half a million dollars when we approved an eighth of a billion dollars to the very same school district. Some linking to other discussions would be awesome.
Have a safe Labor Day weekend!
