TheTastyGreek

Prithee, English... Tend to thine own fields. Rejoice, for our leaders have cast aside these wicked, sinful, shiny bonnets, and in the season ahead can instead play in a more Godly straw hat of plain humility.

Some guy that used to work here. I think he's Amish now. Can't use the internet or anything.

Oh, @Christopher Walker... The magic has been inside your heart this whole time!

Texas Government Code Title 10, Subtitle D, Chapter 2175, Subchapter A. 7200+ words of fun, sexy rules and regulations governing surplus and salvage property for State purchasing and services agencies. Public schools get a lot of latitude on exactly what methods they want to use to dispense with this sort of surplus property, but they do have a lot of parameters structuring how and why they can work within those options. Feel free to read through it if you really want to... I'd hate to spoil the plot twists and shocking character reveals contained therein. UNT system doesn't seem to have their guidelines public like the UT system does. You can read some of their governing restrictions and guidelines in the equally scintillating Rule #80201 of the University of Texas System Rules and Regulations of the Board of Regents. Think of it as an equally erotic ~1500 word sequel to the 7200+ word General Code. There's also stuff out there for State Parks & Wildlife, various municipalities... You can look up a lot of regulations on the topic if encumbrances and bailments go hand-in-hand with tumescence in your sick, twisted world. Basically, it looks like everything gets disposed in either direct public sale, or online public auction. UNT system regulations aren't public, at least not anywhere I can find them, but you can deduce from our Public Surplus setup through the Property Management department that everything is done through public sale, with two required parameters guiding offering and sale of property: 1) Fixed price 2) First come, first served That seems to be how we Get Rid Of Stuff as a University without discriminating or showing favoritism or whatever else you need to do to legally Get Rid Of Stuff as a public agency owner Of Stuff. Some places that have a lot more one-off items of high dollar value (construction equipment, police and fire vehicles, etc.) do more with online auctions. But we don't seem to have that for the UNT system, presumably because it isn't a great system for getting rid of $5 surplus desks and mildly to moderately stained brown padded lobby chairs for $10. Processing, posting, photographing, managing, and shipping/delivering the sort of stuff we do in UNT surplus isn't well suited to online auction on the hopes that an auctioned "Bag of Various Seasonal Decorations" might go for 75 cents instead of 50 cents through direct sale. Even if we did have an online sale system, and the department decided to use it instead of using this event as an attendance and excitement driver for athletics events, you'd just end up having to outbid people in a best-price auction, and people would be pissed off about why come this cost so much, and why come we doesn't git first dibs as donors, etcetera etcetera etcetera. So, if you're unhappy with how this system works, make sure you don't hop on the phone with your MGC representative or whatever poor intern renews your tickets. While I'm sure they'll love hearing about belt onions and the like, even Wren Baker has no real discretion on process and legal requirements on how this all gets done. If you're unhappy with public sale options for chrome helmets, you need to talk to your state legislators. Find your state congressman and senator, and make sure you tell them exactly what you want changed and why. Make a convincing enough case, and they'll be able to take it up first thing in the morning on Tuesday, January 12th, 2021 when the state legislature reconvenes. Then, once that law is changed, speak directly to whatever Regent or Regents you know best... Maybe a child's godparent or a trusted spiritual advisor that also happens to be on the UNT system BOR. They'll need to shepherd the necessary changes through the Board of Regents process to rework our institutional rules governing distribution of surplus property to the public. Then, take your lobbying efforts to whoever happens to be the Director of Property Management at the UNT home campus in Denton in (presumably) May or June of 2021. Be clear, be humble, be a passionate orator and advocate of your position. Make sure they know WHY they need to change their departmental systems and processes to suit your shiny helmet needs. And, of course, make sure that they know you've already handled lobbying both at the state legislative level, AND the UNT system institutional compliance policy/rule level. That way, they know they're actually able to do shiny helmet sales in the way you feel would be most appropriate. Or, alternate option, just do what @Silent Eagle did when I bought him surplus jerseys, and just ask someone on GMG to help you out because you're out of town. I can think of at least 5 or 6 people that have bought and shipped stuff for strangers here on GMG, and presumably someone with a kind heart will be at this sale and will pick up an item or two for you.

Who the hell are these people to think they can tell me about US college decades ago vs. now? Someone alert me when we find an Australian teenager: The only expert authority I care to hear from on the topic.

How would you rank your awareness and understanding of contemporary Texas university students and their financial/administrative academic challenges vs. (just hypothetically speaking) a random vacationing teenager from the southern hemisphere? Asking for an acquaintance.

When you factor in the exchange rate... A year at the University of Melbourne studying pre-med to be a doctor is cheaper than a year at a DCCCD school pursuing an associate's degree in anything if you're living at home for both. I picked Melbourne because the 5 seconds I spent googling this said it was the best public school in the country. I have no idea if it's abnormally cheap or expensive. It doesn't much matter to me... I got out of school right before tuition deregulation, and I got out debt-free. But I don't understand why it's impossible to acknowledge that the people who started this year have a much rougher and untenable financial forecast than even the people who started school 10 years ago, and that even those students 10 years ago had it a lot harder financially than myself or anyone else that went to UNT pre-2003. It's not a moral failing, it's math.

Building on this... DCCCD public estimate for the annual cost to a student that lives in the district and chooses to live at home with their parents is $10,565. That goes up by about 15% if you live out of district with your parents. Best case (in-district), that comes out to about 1,460 hours of work at minimum wage, assuming every cent of your earnings goes to education costs (and not social security or other taxes of any kind). That's just over 28 hours per week. So, the same level of work, self-discipline, and financial restraint could carry you far enough to earn a 4 year university degree from UNT back in the 80s, but caps out at a community college 2 year degree today. Even without stopping to consider your professional job prospects without a 4 year degree these days, that's already a pretty significant change in circumstances.

Still, I'm outraged.

https://meangreensports.com/news/2016/2/9/North_Texas_Adds_Transfer_Ryan_Woolridge_For_2016_17.aspx Hooray for the transfer system! What a wise, savvy young man! https://www.dentonrc.com/sports/breaking-news-ryan-woolridge-to-transfer-from-unt/article_b11cba1f-d99f-5f95-a353-c9e66331fa1e.html F--- YOU!!! You're dead to us! You were never any good anyway, and you'll suck wherever you go assuming you don't get hurt walking through the door!

Pessimist.

Hey, if we're quoting Matthew... I'm not sure what parts and pieces Coach Scott offended himself through, but I hope there are enough left over to function on the sideline. If not, then... Step aside Zombie Landry, we're reanimating Coach Origen?

Throw in a sushi dinner, and I think I know just the guy you want leading this program.

Paging @ihopehe... Eager to see what 80's pop you have for this hypothetical.

Thoughts and prayers.