Alabama sailors still missing!

        A huge sailboat race took place this past weekend with over 100 boats trying their luck. This means that over 200 people were involved in this race starting in Mobile Bay, Alabama, and ending at Dauphin Island. Crazy winds started to blow and a severe thunderstorm watch was in effect at about 1:30. Many people in charge of their boats were able to safely get back to shore, but several boats capsized as well. Two people are confirmed as dead and four are still missing. The Coast Guard is and has been searching for these people.
        I remember Saturday mornings waking up early to go to the lake and watch my dad race sailboats. It was a great time and an awesome atmosphere. I would sail with him pretty often and was getting to the age where I would be able to crew for him in races and try my own hand at a skill he was very good at. Unfortunately, we sold the sailboat and I had a very short racing career. These experiences make me feel for the people in this tragedy because I have capsized on a boat and it is not fun at all to scramble to tip the boat back to normal position and frigidly climb back in to sail to shore. I can only imagine what it is like to be out there for three days now, assuming they are alive.

The Story

Hey Maryland, maybe not?!?

In December, two children (ages 6 and 10) were walking home from a park when they were stopped by police because there was no adult with them. Danielle and Alexander Meitiv, the children s' parents, were not criminally charged, but accused of "child neglect" by Maryland's Child Protective Services. The Meitiv parents were then threatened with the possibility of their children to be put into foster homes if they did not agree to a safety plan. In their home of Silver Spring, Maryland, anyone under 18 and not supervised is considered a neglected child. The Meitiv's will appeal the action being taken against them as they hold on to the belief that it is there decision as parents whether their kids are ready to be alone or not. 

The Meitiv kids were even dressed for the weather!

In my experience as a child, my parents gave me much more freedom than just walking home from the park. I walked home from school every day for nine years without a second thought. My sister is six years older than me so I was fairly young when we stopped getting summer nannies-- we never had one in the school year. We would walk close to a mile for ice cream or just to be outside and it seems ridiculous not to be able to do that. I never expected my parents to come along every time me and my friends played pickup soccer as 9 year olds or throughout my childhood. In fact, it would be weird and annoying to have them around. I understand Child Protective Services trying to do their job, but this is clearly a step too far if a kid can't play outside. 

  

The story!

Dare to Zlatan

Zlatan Ibrahimovic, star forward on the team Paris Saint German, has been suspended for four games because of a verbal abuse incident involving a referee after a loss. He used many profane words and Ligue 1 decided it was unacceptable, no matter how talented the striker is. He will now have to sit for four games as his team is in an effort to win Ligue 1, currently in 2nd place.

This may be the stupidest thing someone in Zlatan's situation could have done. This is insanely poor timing with the fact that the season is coming to a close and that he has been on absolute fire recently, scoring 10 goals in his last 11 games. Zlatan often is upset with referees as many players are but show some self control for goodness sake. It was a selfish and shameful move but that being said the video of him berating this referee is humorous. It is clearly a profanity heavy rant even though most is not in  English and if anything positive, it shows that Ibrahimovic at least cares about winning. 

The video

The article

Zappos says no boss is boss

      The company Zappos is getting rid of bosses: no job titles, no managers. This business model is called holacracy and is certainly revolutionary. As of April 30, all managers will be folded into what are called “circles" for self-governing. These managers will be allowed to keep their salaries through 2015, but after that basically every employee is on level ground. Zappos realizes this is a drastic change and not everyone will be on board so they have an escape route in some sense. The company is offering employees who disagree with this business model up to potentially three months of continued pay or severance. This can be seen as generous but is really s say to weed out the people who do not believe in this new image.

      I think this is a poor idea. If everybody is equal and in nice little circles, who hires and fires people? Who oversees performance and calls somebody out when they are not doing a good job. Also, it is easier to trust someone in a position of authority to make a decision than to make it by committee. Making a decision with multiple people is always harder than with one person because there is more than one perspective. That could ultimately be a good thing but it would be much less efficient. Asking people who have worked hard to get themselves into a managerial position to take a demotion is not right either. If I worked my way through the ranks and paid my dues I would certainly be peeved to share the same title (no title) as someone fresh out of college. All in all I think it is a nice idea in theory and I hope it works well for Zappos but let's just say that is not where I am looking for a job.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-leadership/wp/2015/03/31/zappos-to-employees-get-behind-our-no-bosses-approach-or-leave-with-severance/

All about meh

This is some background information on me. I go to Prep as a sophomore and I have two older sisters and a mom and dad.  I participate in some stuff at Prep. I played basketball freshman and sophomore year but I'm done with that junk and am not going to play next year. Now it's soccer season which I will do all four years because it is the world's game and better than the other sports. I have a dog jack who's a bit of a freak and excitable but he's the greatest. I like me some music and am jazzed about all the bands coming to Omaha this summer. Modest Mouse, Cage the Elephant, Kid Cudi and more are coming to music festivals like No Coast, MAHA, and Grassroots.