For us though, that just means more hoops to jump through to keep the kids occupied while we work.
27 thoughts on “March 25, 2024: Spring Break!”
It's our spring break as well. I'm extremely glad the peperoncino is happy to go to the school's child care program for the first 3 days this week, so that leaves us with just a sullen teenager to manage during the day. (We're headed to southern MN at the end of the week. Speaking of which . . . the plan is to pass through Winona on the way down. Any citizens have recommendations for a good lunch spot?)
No spring break in our district. I guess we're getting Thursday/Friday and next Monday off, but I believe Thursday was a built-in snow day, so it's really just Good Friday/Easter Monday.
I was talking with a teacher from another district in MN recently. He indicated their district has done away with spring breaks too, because they did a trial period where they counted student absences, and they found more absences when there was spring break - it seemed families would still just do their vacations whenever it suited them, instead of planning around spring break.
He also had some thoughts on the 4 day school week. I think he probably convinced me, though I acknowledge that might be especially tough at the younger ages.
Also if you have kids at different schools with different Spring Break days, I know some parents who just split the difference. My wife was a teacher and one year when the oldest was in high school and the youngest in middle school, we had 3 different spring breaks, all lined up one week after the other.
I never had a spring break growing up as a kid in Minnesota. In Seattle, on top of having a spring break, there is a mid-winter break in February. It sure makes me feel like heading out to the lawn...
My St. Cloud State Huskies ended their season Saturday with a loss to Denver in the NCHC semifinals. They completely fell apart down the stretch, losing four in a row to end the year. They rebounded a bit in the first conference tournament round, taking two of three from Western Michigan. They were on the cusp (tied for 14th place with 2 other teams) and basically needed to win the tournament to make the Frozen Four. Interesting side note, I flew into Salt Lake City last Tuesday and while waiting for my bag at the carousel I saw a SCSU hockey equipment bag making the rounds. The bag said #4, so that would have been Dylan Anhorn, who is from Calgary. Also, folks in Salt Lake are very excited about their lady Utes team.
I'm sorry, while I agree the Ohtani gambling scandal could be a huge, I'm not sure the owner of the... checks notes.... Houston Astros is the best messenger to talk about scandals in MLB. But that's just me I guess.
I believe it was a letter the Yankees received about sign stealing sometime around 2017. I'm sure the Houston Astros owner has zero conflicts of interest in asking about this.
The Dodgers were seized from Frank McCourt. However:
After much legal wrangling between McCourt's lawyers and MLB lawyers in bankruptcy court, he reached a deal with the league to put the team up for sale.
The NBA owners were able to force Sterling to sell the Clippers, but you're right to ask the question. It's possible that MLB would not have been able to force a sale.
I also lend some credence to the idea that there were multiple other teams doing this to some degree or another. Given how outrageous it seems from the outside, there wasn't as much righteous indignation from as many other people within baseball as I would have expected, so who knows. Maybe MLB just wanted it to go away as fast as possible and the trick was to hand out the lightest possible penalties to keep the Astros and Crane from going scorched earth on the league, but doing something to make it look to the public like the league actually cares about enforcing the rules.
All that said, I wish Crane and the Astros nothing but the worst.
After Ohtani's press conference today, I feel like this take from Crane is even worse. Owners should be held to a high standard regarding PR and he's speaking way ahead of anything that's been ascertained by an investigation.
If Ohtani's side of the story is right, then he was basically just defrauded by someone close to him, and it's not even a baseball scandal, let alone on any list of the top worst scandals in baseball. Given how much money KG had stolen from him from his financial advisors, and other stories like that, it doesn't seem like such a stretch that Ippei just stole money from Ohtani.
Three different stories with drastic changes in the narrative over the course of a week seems very suspicious to me. Just as likely, Ohtani likes to gamble and had his translator place bets for him. Not sure if William of Occam would favor one explanation over the other, though.
Normally our school district has spring break this week but not this year. They instead opted to align it with the once a lifetime schooltime opportunity of watching the eclipse. The kids will get Friday off and Eid al-Fitr, a day normally in the same week off and one the district observes, instead appears on eclipse week.
It's our spring break as well. I'm extremely glad the peperoncino is happy to go to the school's child care program for the first 3 days this week, so that leaves us with just a sullen teenager to manage during the day. (We're headed to southern MN at the end of the week. Speaking of which . . . the plan is to pass through Winona on the way down. Any citizens have recommendations for a good lunch spot?)
No spring break in our district. I guess we're getting Thursday/Friday and next Monday off, but I believe Thursday was a built-in snow day, so it's really just Good Friday/Easter Monday.
I was talking with a teacher from another district in MN recently. He indicated their district has done away with spring breaks too, because they did a trial period where they counted student absences, and they found more absences when there was spring break - it seemed families would still just do their vacations whenever it suited them, instead of planning around spring break.
He also had some thoughts on the 4 day school week. I think he probably convinced me, though I acknowledge that might be especially tough at the younger ages.
Last year, we scheduled our spring break trip within the dates given.
This year, the girls are going to miss an extra day or two. But it's real hard to reschedule an eclipse.
Also if you have kids at different schools with different Spring Break days, I know some parents who just split the difference. My wife was a teacher and one year when the oldest was in high school and the youngest in middle school, we had 3 different spring breaks, all lined up one week after the other.
We did that last year. Wednesday to Wednesday
I never had a spring break growing up as a kid in Minnesota. In Seattle, on top of having a spring break, there is a mid-winter break in February. It sure makes me feel like heading out to the lawn...
Texas A&M pulled off one miracle last night. They needed two, however.
My St. Cloud State Huskies ended their season Saturday with a loss to Denver in the NCHC semifinals. They completely fell apart down the stretch, losing four in a row to end the year. They rebounded a bit in the first conference tournament round, taking two of three from Western Michigan. They were on the cusp (tied for 14th place with 2 other teams) and basically needed to win the tournament to make the Frozen Four. Interesting side note, I flew into Salt Lake City last Tuesday and while waiting for my bag at the carousel I saw a SCSU hockey equipment bag making the rounds. The bag said #4, so that would have been Dylan Anhorn, who is from Calgary. Also, folks in Salt Lake are very excited about their lady Utes team.
Jim Crane, moralist.
Do I need to google "Yankees Letter."
I'm sorry, while I agree the Ohtani gambling scandal could be a huge, I'm not sure the owner of the... checks notes.... Houston Astros is the best messenger to talk about scandals in MLB. But that's just me I guess.
I think that's what the "moralist" appositive was about.
Also, he must not have Google because that Yankees letter was published in 2022 by ESPN and others.
I believe it was a letter the Yankees received about sign stealing sometime around 2017. I'm sure the Houston Astros owner has zero conflicts of interest in asking about this.
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/33810814/mlb-letter-new-york-yankees-detailed-illicit-use-technology-prior-2017-sign-stealing-edict-sources-say
Pete Rose' ranking in baseball takes another hit.
The best punishment for the sign-stealing BS would have been to force Jim Crane to sell the team. That guy can take a hike.
Raising the question, is that possible? I don't know enough about ownership rules to know, honestly.
The Dodgers were seized from Frank McCourt. However:
I think the answer is effectively no.
The NBA owners were able to force Sterling to sell the Clippers, but you're right to ask the question. It's possible that MLB would not have been able to force a sale.
I also lend some credence to the idea that there were multiple other teams doing this to some degree or another. Given how outrageous it seems from the outside, there wasn't as much righteous indignation from as many other people within baseball as I would have expected, so who knows. Maybe MLB just wanted it to go away as fast as possible and the trick was to hand out the lightest possible penalties to keep the Astros and Crane from going scorched earth on the league, but doing something to make it look to the public like the league actually cares about enforcing the rules.
All that said, I wish Crane and the Astros nothing but the worst.
In terms of fines, it was the maximum allowed.
After Ohtani's press conference today, I feel like this take from Crane is even worse. Owners should be held to a high standard regarding PR and he's speaking way ahead of anything that's been ascertained by an investigation.
If Ohtani's side of the story is right, then he was basically just defrauded by someone close to him, and it's not even a baseball scandal, let alone on any list of the top worst scandals in baseball. Given how much money KG had stolen from him from his financial advisors, and other stories like that, it doesn't seem like such a stretch that Ippei just stole money from Ohtani.
Three different stories with drastic changes in the narrative over the course of a week seems very suspicious to me. Just as likely, Ohtani likes to gamble and had his translator place bets for him. Not sure if William of Occam would favor one explanation over the other, though.
Sharper minds than ours will get to the bottom of it, and richer ones will dampen the $$ impact.
Normally our school district has spring break this week but not this year. They instead opted to align it with the once a
lifetimeschooltime opportunity of watching the eclipse. The kids will get Friday off and Eid al-Fitr, a day normally in the same week off and one the district observes, instead appears on eclipse week.Our spring break was always timed to coincide with the State B basketball tournament.
These days, that would make too much sense to be anything other than an accident.