K-12 Can't be Trusted

My mom has been unjustly dealt with. As wonderful as she is, she doesn't often stand up for herself, so I'm going to make her voice heard for her. On a blog...that no one reads....

So let's start off with the beginning. Around the time my two younger sisters were entering Jr. High, they went from public school to online school through K-12. Why? Because no one in my family has had a good experience with Jr. High. The kids at that age (in general) tend to be jerks.

K-12 worked out well for a while. For a while the system was good. But at some point, my mom said that "things changed," and the system didn't work as well. I don't know all the details, given that I don't live with my family, but I know the end results. K-12's records were getting messed up. They reported my oldest sister as being older than she really was, and thus in a higher grade. They sent her books for a grade she wasn't in. My youngest sister took a test, but was later told that she never took it. She took it again, and again told she never took it. My mom sat down with her to take the test, now for a third time, and ensured that everything was done properly. K-12 once again said she never took it. At the end of that semester, K-12 reported that my youngest sister hardly did any work, something like only 5%.

Deciding they had enough, my mom went through the process of getting the girls out of K-12 and back into public school. Because K-12 reported such low attendance, and thus truant, my mom had to go through "a lovely meeting," where several people from the public school tried cracking down on my mom and youngest sister. They want to say she's a terrible mom? Fine, who cares about your opinion. You want to explain how it's important to attend school? Fine, even though we're already very well aware how important an education is. But what I can't stand for is that they gave her an ultimatum: my youngest sister has to attend school every day, or my mom goes to court. Given the humble nature of my mom, she accepted the terms.

But come on! One day? One small day and my mom goes to court? My mom has driven me and my three brothers to school, and she's driven my two sisters to school when they were in public school. You think she won't do it again?

The thing that makes this even more difficult is that my youngest sister has trouble sleeping. There are days where she will go through the whole night without sleeping. It's not that she chooses to stay up, it's that she physically can't fall asleep. I don't know if she has insomnia, or if it has something to do with her ADHD, or if it's a mental thing, but she simply has trouble getting to sleep. This means that if she finally falls to sleep only an hour before school, my mom will have no choice but to drag my sleeping sister to school and drop her off, only partially awake. "Do you give her a bedtime?" one of the people from school asked. My mom said that their comments showed that they simply do not understand her situation, despite her explanations. Yes, there are drugs out there that might help her sleep, but it's also highly possible to become dependent on them, and that's not something my mom wants to do to her.

My mom is a wonderful person who, in my opinion, has done as good a job as anyone could in raising us. Better than most people, in fact. She doesn't deserve this kind of treatment, or threat of legal consequences. I'm not here to only defend my mom, but also to raise a warning and complaint against K-12. Something, whether personnel, technology, or communication, have incorrectly recorded and handled information. And because of it has gotten my family into trouble. If anyone else has had this same problem I would love to hear from you.

Don't use K-12. They might report your kids truant.

Clean DBZ Abridged

I like Dragon Ball Z. I like DBZA. I don't like foul language or crude jokes. I've remedied this issue.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_hZdqEBZ1U&list=PLAA008EEFB73FA9A8&feature=mh_lolz

I Published an Android App!

I've made my first published Android! It's called Watch Paint Dry, and...well, that's pretty much it. You choose a color and watch it dry. Yes, it's a silly little thing, and in now way a serious app. But hey, it's still cool! It's free and small, so if you have access to the Android market then go and download it!

 


For those interested, I'm working on a much more-serious-of-an-attempt-and-far-better-quality-game which will be coming (hopefully) soon.

UPDATE: Here's a promotional video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCLminnkUU0

ASU Food Adventure: Slices

Slices is also right next to classes, and they have a lot of different kinds of pizza you can order by the slice. I tried the Pesto Chicken pizza, and for $3 it's not bad. Had some nice pesto flavor but I would have liked more in it.

Was it good? Yeah.
Will I go there again? They did have a Barbeque Chicken pizza....


UPDATE: Later that day my class group got a pizza to eat. It was the strangest pizza I ever ate: Chicken Caesar Salad pizza. It tasted pretty much like it sounds. It's good, but the texture of lettuce and pizza crust doesn't go well together.

ASU Food Adventure: Grilled Ave - Teriyaki House

Grilled Ave - Teriyaki House is a small restaurant that opened up, which is also on my route to class. They have egg rolls on the menu, and I really like egg rolls so I gave them a try. Turned out it was a lie; they're actually spring rolls. Sure, it's more authentic, but I still prefer egg rolls. They were all right though.

Was it good? For spring rolls, yeah.
Will I go there again? They did have some nice looking tariyaki bowls....

ASU Food Adventure: Five Guys

So yeah, I know, Five Guys is hardly unique to the area, but I've never been there before, and that's what my posts are about.

I had heard some people say that Five Guys is similar to In-N-Out, and even though I knew it couldn't beat In-N-Out I wanted to give it a try anyways. As a tangent, my family and I REALLY like In-N-Out, perhaps because we were born and raised in California but have since moved away. I mean, when my family brought me down here from Colorado, three of my siblings came with me just so they could get In-N-Out.

Okay, so back to Five Guys. Yeah, tasting like In-N-Out is a bunch of baloney. In fact it's quite the opposite; that hamburger was so boring I'm never going there again. It was just...so plain. On the other hand, that was probably the first time where I got more fries than hamburger. I thought spending more than $2 was expensive, but not when I found out how much they gave me! I didn't even eat it all in one sitting. Finally someone who sales fries at a fair price (I'm looking at YOU, Doghouse!).

ASU Food Adventure: Return to Phoenician Cafe

So the Phoenician Cafe has this big sign outside that says "Student special: hamburger and fries $3.99." Sounds like a good deal, and I see that sign every time I go to class, so I gave it a try. The hamburger had a lot of different spices in it, though I still don't know what they are. It was definitely different from what you usually find, and it was pretty good. The fries were boring though, so I'm glad they provided some ketchup. The amount of food you get isn't a whole lot, but surprisingly I came away full.

Was it good? Yes.
Will I go there again? Perhaps so.