February 20, 2013

 I forgot a few things yesterday. As I suspected. The first is my massive gas card bill. I always have a couple weeks before they are do so I usually take a week before getting around to paying it. Well, I guess my last bill arrived later that normal and I ended up not paying it until the day it was due. I'm not sure but I'm assuming they count the day it arrives, not the day it was postmarked. My latest bill arrived and it felt really soon considering I just paid the old one last week, and it was padded with $27 in fees along with the amount of the last bill plus this bill. I'm going to wait a little bit and see if they will send an adjusted bill but if not I might end up paying the whole thing a let them refund me a hundred bucks.

So that bill sucked but I ended up getting to park in the parking garage last night for free. I ended up in a long line to get out and when I got up to the front I put my ticket in but it popped right back out. There was a guy standing there and he grabbed my ticket and said he would have to let me out. He went up and did something to the gate thing and raised it up. I hesitated for a second expecting him to come back and let me pay but he didn't so I slowly drove out, looking around, expecting something bad to happen. But it didn't. And I saved a few bucks.

The last thing from yesterday. A middle school choir came and sang at an assembly. I think it is a bit cruel to make pubescent kids sing in a choir. Especially the boys. The boys were all awful. But that isn't the point. The point is there was a girl in the front row, that at least from my seat in the very back of the gym, looked incredibly like a middle school version of my ex-girlfriend. I have never actually seen pictures of my ex in middle school but I'm guessing here. Several weeks ago a new second grader started and she reminds me a lot of a second grade version of my ex. I feel like I am being haunted by the ghosts of ex-girlfriend past. It is creepy.

Now onto today. I finished all the individual schedules for the paras and resource teachers and whoever else is sitting with a kid during assessments. I got them all passed out with the help of one of the newest paras who was a student teacher last semester. She was able to tell me who some of the other paras are, who I know but didn't know their first names. I got all but one passed out and I think that one has the wrong name. I think the principal accidentally wrote down the name of the student instead of the para. I'll have to figure that out later.

This morning I read with kindergarteners. One of them is my favorite to read with because she has a really high reading level and she does all the voices. More and more frequently it seems she hasn't been reading at home and she doesn't really need to, at least like most of the kids need to, but she really likes reading. This is evident when she doesn't get to finish the book during the reading time and asks to take the book home so she can see how it ends. I think it is awesome that she has that level of interest in the books but it is also sad that she isn't getting the chance to read at home. Her mom might even be an English teacher, which makes it even more sad. Today's book involved a magician and one of the tricks was cutting a lady in half. She asked me if he really cut her in half and I was so tempted to tell her how it is done but I don't really want to ruin magic for a five year old so I just told her that it was an illusion and a magician can never reveal his secrets.

I continued trying to help one of the first grade teachers set up the tablet she got her husband for Christmas. It has been a struggle. Today I learned that you can change a Hotmail password through Gmail. This was not what I intended to do but we managed to get it switched back. Last time I left her with the task of setting up a Gmail account. She wrote down the address and the password but when I tried logging in today both were wrong. I ended up figuring out the Gmail address she created and then reset the password to the one she thought it was. Each time I had to check the username or password to see if it would let me sign into the table I had to go across the hall to the workroom (where they have a wireless router even though no one needs a wireless router in the workroom and it would come in handy every day in the lab). This ended up taking all of her half-hour lab time and it was still setting stuff up when she had to leave so I don't know if it actually worked. My fingers are crossed.

I ended up getting a lot of exercise today, including my exercise before work. At work I went all over the school passing out the assessment schedules. Then I ended up on the third floor and the second floor looking at computer issues in the afternoon. I could use the cardio of going up to the third floor every day but I don't think my knees would be up for it. Or my lungs.

Halfway through the day they canceled school for tomorrow. We are projected to get anywhere from six to twenty-four inches of snow starting tomorrow morning. The teachers got their wish. I am looking forward to it but I'm hoping we don't get a ridiculous amount because I don't want to miss Friday as well. We just had a three day week last week and another one will really kill my next paycheck. I'm not sure what I will end up doing with my day but it probably one involved Black Ops 2 because my wrist is bothering me again. I can't remember the last time it hurt but this time is definitely related to the insane amount of time I put into Black Ops 2 in the past couple of weeks. My wrist brace has disappeared but I need to track that down. I probably won't be able to work on my blanket either. This all means tomorrow is probably going to be really boring.

Tonight was Chipotle night and I ended up getting a bowl for dinner and a burrito for tomorrow. That is how I prepare for a potential snow storm. The bowl was really good but I think it would have been better without the cheese and sour cream. And if I hadn't eaten the entire thing in one sitting.

Now I am going to go to bed. I have been tired for awhile now and I don't plan on setting my alarm but it would be nice to wake up at a decent time so I can experience more of my snow day.