September 30, 2013

I meant to mail my friend's letter this morning but I remembered right after I passed both mailboxes on the way to work. And I am doing better at getting to work close to eight o'clock so I didn't want to ruin that and kept on going to work.

I spent my morning downloaded MAP reports and then printing all of them off. The process went a lot faster than last year because I recently learned that the printer can do the duplex thing. Last year I would have to print off the one student report, load it in the bypass tray, and hope no one else decided to print before I could walk back to my computer and print the other student report. It was a bit of a process. Knowing about the duplex option sped everything up and made it less of a chore.

I got to help out with second grade reading centers this morning, for the first time since MAP testing started. I was in the listening group but we still don't have the headphone hookup thing for the CD player so they can't really listen to anything, so I just had them go around and each read a page in the story. The story today was about not giving up. It had a little girl playing soccer, quitting when she wasn't winning, wanting to play the next day but others not wanting her because she was a quitter, and then learning to be a better loser and winner and not quitting. That is a poor summation but you get the point. The main character was named Mia and it turned out that the story was written by Mia Hamm. The kids had no idea who Mia Hamm was but I thought that was kind of cool. After they read the story they were supposed to fill out a sheet about the characters, the setting, and then write a summary of what happened in the story. Some of the kids finished that pretty fast so on the back I asked them to tell me what happened after the story. Some of the kids got it and others didn't. One girl was incredibly confused because the story ended, so nothing else could happen. I tried to explain imagination and pretend to her. We ended up running out of time before I got to see what she could come up with.

Most of the rest of my day was spent working on my MAP spreadsheets. And figuring out a printer and email thing for one of the resource teachers. It was a productive/slow/fast kind of day. After work I stopped by the post office to mail my friend's letter and then headed back across town to get my haircut. It was weeks overdue and I feel much better about finally getting it cut.

While I was at work today the city got around to replacing the curb next to the driveway by the mailbox. They've been working on the nearby streets for months and recently started on curbs. And I figured it would be limited to that, but when I got home they had torn up and put new concrete down in front of the entire driveway. It would have been nice if they had redone the entire driveway because it is kind of falling apart but whatever. As long as a neighbor doesn't back into my car while I'm parked in the street for the next day or two then I'll be happy.

For dinner I had my fried rice and it still doesn't really taste like fried rice but it tastes alright. After dinner I caught up with my DVR and then watched YouTube videos. It is one of those nights where I have been ready for bed since four o'clock. So I have been useless. Kind of like every night but I'm using the tired thing as my excuse tonight.

September 29, 2013

I had a pretty slow day. I watched several YouTube videos but spent most of my day trying to catch up on DVR stuff. I made it through The Big Bang Theory. Not a bad effort. I also hauled one load in Euro Truck Simulator 2 and it went horribly. There was recently an update to the game and I don't know if they tweaked the truck physics or if I'm just really out of practice because I flipped the truck once and ran into a bunch of guardrails trying not to flip my truck. I made 20,000 euros for the trip and it cost me 23,000 euros to repair my truck. So that sucked.

This afternoon I went to the store to get eggs. An older man was also getting eggs and he commented on how the price of a certain brand of eggs was really going up. I agreed but I had no idea what he was talking about. Then he mentioned something about how cows weren't legal in town but you could have chickens. It was an interesting egg shopping experience.

The eggs were for fried rice. Which I attempted to make. I changed the recipe a bit, excluding some vegetables but adding in sugar snap peas, broccoli, and corn. The rice cooked well in my rice cooker, and the vegetables did well in the pan, then I added them all together. It was still going well at this point and then I scooched it to the side of the pan and added the egg. That is when it went south. The recipe said to cook it on low heat for three or four minutes, stirring it constantly until the egg was cooked. I assume they were going for a scrambled egg thing because that is what I was going for. But it wasn't happening. It took way longer to cook and I had to turn the heat up quite a bit. And in the end you really couldn't tell there were eggs involved, which is a shame because that is my favorite part of fried rice. I also think I needed to add more soy sauce maybe because even though it kind of looked like fried rice, it mostly tasted like rice with vegetables and fake chicken in it. Not necessarily a bad thing but not worth the hour or so I put into making it. In the future I think I would do everything the same but I would scramble the eggs in a separate pan and then mix them in so I didn't miss out on the egg experience. Hopefully whatever recipe I pick next will go over a little better.

Tonight I watched more TV, did my laundry, and finished my friend's letter. I usually put rubber stamps on the envelope but this time it will be a naked envelope because the box with my stamps in it is currently at the bottom of a precarious stack of other things.

September 28, 2013

This morning I went to the frame shop to figure out the frame for my sister's cross stitch. I felt way more confident there than I do with the people at Hobby Lobby. The lady was helping another couple when I came in but she gave me a stack of purple mats to look through while I waited. I originally thought I wanted a double mat but I found a velvety one that went really well with the color of thread I used and nothing else really went with it. So I decided to just go with the one mat. When I was helped by another lady we briefly thought about a little silver mat and it actually looked pretty good with the purple thread and the purple mat but then moved on from that idea which saved me some money and I think it was a good choice.

Then I needed to pick out a frame and, being a frame shop, they had a ridiculous selection. They had four or five giant rotating rectangles that were covered in frame samples. The rectangle things were covered in carpet and the frame samples had velcro on the back so they could stick to the rectangle things. I was thinking either black or a dark wood and we looked at those along with silver and gold and everything else. I lost count. I eventually decided I wanted to go for a more classic look and ended up going with a dark frame that had curly flourishes on it that were a little lighter and matches the flourishes on the letters in the cross stitch. I think it is going to look really good when it is all put together. And it better for $275. Good grief. But I see it as something that is going to be around for many many years so that expense will be spread out and really not be a thing after awhile. And it is going to look incredible. Hopefully. The only downside is that it won't be ready for two-weeks, so I really missed my sister's birthday, but I think she will forgive the belatedness of the gift when she sees it.

When I got home from that I had lunch and watched some YouTube videos before taking a nap. And sometime after that it was time for my sister's birthday dinner. She decided on a Chinese buffet but a different one from the one we usually go to for birthdays. The other one is usually almost completely empty and the same can be said for the items on their buffet. The one we went to tonight is bigger and actually populated by patrons. And I'd say it is family run like the other one because I think the girl running the register was probably in middle school. On the buffet I got the rice noodles because that is one of my favorite Chinese foods, and I also got vegetable lo mein, a little macaroni and cheese because I wanted to live on the edge, green beans, and a donut. I would have gotten some rice but I couldn't find it. Which is kind of strange. I'm assuming it was somewhere obvious and I just completely missed it.

After dinner we came back to the house and my mom gave my sister her presents and I gave her my card with stickers and told her that she'd have to wait two weeks for her present but it might be worth the wait. Then we headed over to my grandma's for cake and ice cream. And before we got into that I hung up her fall wreath for her. I didn't have the ice cream but the cake was good. When we were done eating and talking we went into the living room so she could show us a short DVD about the St. Croix River because her sister (so my great aunt?) had recently gone on a kayak trip on the river and gave my grandma the DVD about the history of it. Some of the editing on the DVD looked like a bad PowerPoint presentation but it reminded me of the informational DVDs we used to watch in school or that the History Channel would show when they actually showed history stuff. And I like that kind of stuff. It made me want to go canoeing again, which is something I haven't done since high school. The St. Croix River looked a lot more scenic than the murky Kansas River. After the DVD we sat around and talked for awhile longer before finally calling it a night around 9:30PM

Somehow it is already pretty close to 11:30PM and I think I am going to call it a night. Tonight kind of felt like it should have been Sunday, and it wasn't, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do with myself tomorrow. Probably nothing. I broke out Euro Truck Simulator 2 for the first time in awhile today, taking my big pink truck on a drive across Europe, only nearly tipping it twice. I was a little out of practice. So maybe I'll try that again tomorrow. Or another video game. Or maybe I'll do something actually productive. Yeah.

September 27, 2013

I got to sleep in this morning and then eventually went to Walgreen's with my mom to get a flu shot. Last year was the first year I had one in I don't know how long. I rarely get sick enough to go to the doctor but starting a job at an elementary school, surrounded by a bunch of kids who cough and sneeze on everything, made a flu shot seem like a good idea. So I got one last year and managed to escape the flu. Fingers crossed I have the same fate this year.

When I got home I had lunch and then started on the mounting project for my sister's cross stitch. That is a process. I started with measuring out and cutting the foam board to the size I wanted, based on the measurements I had taken of my cross stitch. That was actually the easiest part of the process but I had a little scare in the middle when my sister stopped by to drop off one of her dogs. I was cutting the foam board on the kitchen counter when she walked in and I was very grateful that I didn't have the cross stitch laying out. Then I cut out a couple pieces of batting and pinned those to the foam board. And finally I pinned the cross stitch to the foam board. It actually all sounds really easy when I write it out like that but it all took at least a few hours, maybe more. The hardest part was trying to center the cross stitch on the foam board and I got pretty close but it is still off. And the space on the sides is bigger than the space on the top and bottom which is annoying because I thought I measured it out so that it would be the same all the way around. Oh well. My main concern in the centering thing and I am going to see if they can make the frame a little big and offset the cross stitch enough so that it looks centered with the mat and the frame. That's my plan anyway. I'm going to take it to the frame shop tomorrow morning and hope that works out because I am kind of over Hobby Lobby, at least when it comes to mats, and I would eventually like to have my other cross stitch stuff framed. Because they will have to custom make the frame it will probably take them awhile, which means it won't be ready by the end of the day, so it will become a belated birthday present, but it will be a badass belated birthday present. And to hold her over I got her a really strange birthday card with colorful alien-looking things on it and it comes with stickers. She likes stickers.

And that was pretty much my day off from school. It was actually fairly productive.

For lunch I had the usual thing but I also steamed broccoli and sugar snap peas. And did the same for dinner to accompany the second half of my Chipotle burrito. I can see the steamed vegetable thing getting old but for the moment I am enjoying it. I also want to try Brussels sprouts again. Maybe when I make it through the broccoli. We're doing something for dinner tomorrow night for my sister's birthday but on Sunday maybe I want to try making fried rice. I bought the rice, sliced carrots, and peas the other day and need to check that I have all the other stuff. I am most excited about the eggs. The scrambled egg is my favorite part of fried rice. Although if we end up ordering Chinese food or going to a Chinese buffet for dinner, I will probably hold off on making fried rice.

Next week is a good week for video games. On Tuesday a giant update is coming out for Terraria. For a long time the game was kind of seen as dead-in-the-water because I guess the studio that developed it broke apart or moved onto other things. But then at least some of them got back together and now a big update it coming out that has hundreds of new items and features added to the game. It will be like a whole new game. Or a significantly updated version of the original game. You pick. But I'm looking forward to it.

Also on Tuesday, the Battlefield 4 beta for Premium members. At least I think so. At the very least the open beta starts next Friday. So I think I will be able to play it on Xbox on Tuesday and then hopefully get to try it out on PC on Friday. My wrists and forearms are probably going to hate me but I am looking forward to jumping in and hopefully finding the same level of fun I experienced with Battlefield 3. Especially in the first hundred hours I put into it.

Tonight at work I spent the vast majority of my time reading. I also spent a little bit of time writing in Morse Code and with my left hand. At different times. It wasn't a very exciting night. As my nights at the theater tend to be. Or tend to not be? Prisoners once again starts at 10:40PM this week which means for the last hour of work all I am doing is waiting for that movie to drop. That is way more annoying that waiting on multiple movies. The only positive is that people actually went to it so I wasn't stuck their waiting on one or two people.

September 26, 2013

On the keyboard, the semi-colon and the apostrophe should be switched. I use the apostrophe way more often than I use the semi-colon. And I don't think I'm alone in that. But my pinky is left having to do a little sidestep every time I want to use a contraction.

Today was the last MAP test. And it really put up a fight. They came in at ten o'clock, tested until noon, had a lunch break, and then the five who didn't finish came back around 12:45PM to finish, with the last one leaving at 1:45PM, just in time for the kindergarten classes. It was a long way to spend a day. I wrote a bunch more in Morse Code during the first leg of the test and then switched to writing normally but with my left hand. I am really out of practice with that and would like to get back into it. But now that MAP testing is over I probably won't. And I'll probably forget Morse Code again.

When I wasn't watching kids test, and there weren't classes in the lab, I worked on my spreadsheets. I discovered that all of the lexile ranges that I wrote down immediately after a test are slightly off from the “official” lexile ranges listed on the reports. I didn't notice anything like that last year but I guess there is a chance I was completely off. I'm hoping that isn't a thing now. My guess is that they decided to adjust the scale recently and it didn't get updated in time so the test shows one thing but the official reports show another. The good thing is that all the other scores match up, like the RIT and the individual subject scores. Next week I'll start printing out reports for all the kids for their teachers, who will then give them to parents at conference time. At least I think that is what they do with them.

After school I had some cauliflower and sugar snap peas for a snack and sometime later had dinner. I confused the lady at Chipotle yesterday and ended up with a burrito that was not double-wrapped. A single-wrapped Chipotle burrito is worthless. It had no structural integrity, part of the tortilla got really hard when I reheated it while other parts got really weak, and I was spilling rice all over the place. And the burrito ended up really small, which made the half I ate look pretty sad. I supplemented it with chips and steamed broccoli and sugar snap peas.

Then I went and had a forty-five minute visit with the new volunteer kid and had a blackberry cherry limeade and fries for dessert. It turned out to be a pretty good visit. He had court today, which I didn't attend because my supervisor said I didn't need to, and he learned from his probation officer that the drinking issue he had a couple weeks ago is going to count as a warning. That is good because he really doesn't need to be in anymore trouble. He is also going to a computer camp this weekend I think and got his laptop and printer today. All for free which is pretty cool. All you need to do is have a horrible family life and end up in foster care and then maybe you too could get a free laptop. While we at our fries and drank our drinks at Sonic we talked about music, computer camp, school, college, careers goals, and other random things. It was a good visit. And the weather was really nice today so I drove most of the way there and back with my windows down and the sunroof open because I recently remembered I had one.

I spent the rest of my night watching YouTube videos and not doing a lot, other than paying my gas bill. And now it is way past my bedtime because I don't have to wake up early for work tomorrow. But it still sucks because I woke up early this morning and I am tired as hell now. So I am going to go to bed.

September 25, 2013

This morning I had kids in the lab finishing their MAP tests from yesterday. Their teacher didn't want anyone to start on their Math test (which is on the schedule for tomorrow) so that should be interesting with the kids who take a long time to test. And fingers crossed no one is absent. I think it was the first testing round last year where everyone scheduled their tests in the first two weeks and then the third week was used for make-ups. I liked that because we got through the tests faster and there was plenty of wiggle room with absent kids. It is weird being in charge of the lab and all the testing stuff because I think it is ridiculous that they have to test so often; more time should be spent teaching. And on the other hand, I am trying to wrangle all the testing stuff and it annoys me when teachers stop their kids because they have art or music or something else on their schedule. Like I have nothing better to do than watch a handful of kids when they come back to finish. But I think art and music are important. There is an internal struggle between my professional self and my personal self. Oh well. Yesterday I spent the testing time re-learning Morse Code and this morning I spent the testing time writing in Morse Code. It's coming back to me.

In the afternoon we had an assembly for the character trait of the month, respect. Kids from each class get nominated by their teacher and then get to go up for a certificate and a pencil. One staff member also gets nominated and I really hope I never get picked. I like helping people but I have no interest in going up in front of the school to be recognized for helping people. I think I'm safe because I generally help other adults outside of the lab and the adults are nominated by the student council, not other adults. So I should be good. And I'm not being egotistical by insinuating I'm even in the running. I'm just commenting on the fact that I don't want to be in the running. I just want to sit in the back of the gym and enjoy other people being recognized for being responsible citizens.

I went up to the third floor three times today. Twice to put Reading Counts on the fourth grade laptops and the third time to help the gifted teacher with her laptops. I wasn't entirely sure what was wrong with them but I messed with them and didn't really have to do much and she seemed satisfied with the result. So that's a win for me.

After work I went to Hobby Lobby to get a couple plastic grid things that people use to make coasters and whatever else. I had an idea for a 3D flower. Then I went to Jimmy John's and Chipotle. Jimmy John's was good and my Chipotle burrito looked kind of puny so I'll have that to look forward to tomorrow. I think next week I might go back to just getting a burrito for myself and forgetting about the sandwich. It has kind of lost it's novelty again and there really isn't much you can work with when it comes to the veggie sandwich at Jimmy John's.

I spent the rest of my night watching YouTube videos and working on the 3D flower thing. It looks like it did in my head, and it kind of worked out, but I'm not too sure about it. I only did the outline for it, just to see if it would work, so I might need to take it apart and fill in the front and back and sides with color and see how that looks. I also think I need a curved needle to make the process faster. I originally wanted to make many of them but it is a fairly time consuming process so I don't think I will be mass producing them any time soon.

September 24, 2013

 It is now ten o'clock and I want to sleep so this will not be a long entry.

There was more MAP testing today and the one fifth grader who has had to come down several times to work on her tests finally finished both of them today. I think they both ended up taking her about two hours each, which is well above average, but her scores were good so whatever works I guess. At one point during her reading test she was sitting on the ground, looking up at the computer screen. Yeah.

I decided to be productive during the MAP testing today so I relearned Morse Code. It is much easier the second time around. I didn't really remember more than a few letters but it came back pretty quickly. We'll have to see how long I retain it this time. I want to actually realize the craft project I kind of started the first time I learned Morse Code.

After school I went and got batting for my cross stitch and tonight I had my mom iron it. It still looks kind of wrinkly, which is annoying because it wasn't wrinkly before I washed it, but I think those will go away when I stretch it over the foam board to mount it. Hopefully anyway. I want to do that tomorrow but my sister will be around for Chipotle night so I don't know. It definitely isn't going to be done by her birthday. I kind of screwed that up. But our craft projects tend to be delayed gifts so I don't think she'll hold it against me.

I forgot all about it, and so did my supervisor, but apparently there is a court hearing on Thursday for my volunteer thing, so I spent my night writing my report for it. It really isn't that exciting considering nothing is really going on with the case. Though the new volunteer kid did pick a perfect time to get caught drinking, right before he is already scheduled to go to court. I think it is just a review hearing and I doubt I need to be there but I am going to see if the principal can find someone to cover for me on Thursday. The hearings are usually pretty quick (it takes longer waiting for them to start) and I should be back before testing starts, but the sixth graders will probably come in early because there are a few of them that are really slow test takers. Several of them only got halfway done today and on Thursday they won't have the luxury of taking two days to finish their Math test.

September 23, 2013

I actually made it to school closer to eight o'clock this morning, like I wanted to. Since the beginning of the school year I have been leaving my house at eight o'clock, or later, because I don't really need to be there that early, but that adds up to over an hour every week, which adds up to however much lost income over the course of the year. So my goal is to start getting there closer to eight o'clock, which is when I'm supposed to get there anyway. I'll probably screw up tomorrow but today was a start.

I didn't have any scheduled MAP tests today but I did have a few different sessions. One first thing in the morning, another mid-morning, and one in the afternoon. During one of them I accidentally loaded a Reading test instead of a Math test and I didn't catch it until the girl was almost done. But I got lucky in two ways. First, it was a first grader and they take two shorter tests instead of one big test (although they end up answering seventy-two questions, almost twenty or thirty more than the older grades, the tests are easier), so she didn't take too long and I was able to have her take the test she was supposed to take. Second, she scored almost twenty points higher on the Reading test the second time around than she did the first time, and that score seemed more accurate than the first score because she is a pretty bright kid. So we're having the first score deleted and we're going with the new score. Happy accidents.

The rest of my time at school was spent working on my spreadsheets, fixing a few laptop issues for students, and solving a couple computer issues for one of the resource teachers. The day actually went by pretty fast, ignoring all the time I spent watching kids take tests.

After school I didn't do much and then I made dinner. I reheated the pasta I had last night and made roasted Brussels sprouts. I have wanted to try them forever and I finally made them. I rinsed them, cut them in half, and then threw them in a bag with olive oil, garlic powder, a little bit of salt, and lemon pepper. Then I laid them out on a pan and put them in the oven at 400 degrees for thirty minutes. I followed the instructions a little too closely though, and probably should have pulled them out some time before thirty minutes, because they turned out a little mushy. And I could have gone with less seasoning. But they turned out pretty good. I'd like to try it again sometime. They reminded me of a mix between broccoli stalks and asparagus. I don't know if that sounds appealing but I thought it was decent.

After dinner I got around to watching my sister's cross stitch. I took way too long getting around to that and will probably miss her birthday, but I'm finally making the effort to get it ready. Tomorrow I will be able to iron it. I also want to stop by Hobby Lobby after work tomorrow and see about possible mounting materials. I've got quarter-inch foam core board but that seems too thick. I don't know. I also want to see if they have batting material because I think the cross stitch might look better with it. So that's the goal for tomorrow. Maybe even attempt to mount it.

The rest of my night was spent watching a couple episodes of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, part of a GTA 5 livestream, and almost finished watching the first episode of Sleepy Hollow. I am intrigued.

September 22, 2013

My morning wasn't too exciting. One might say it was a typical Sunday. I played more Battlefield 3 and enjoyed myself, except for the game of Rush where I blew up two M-COMS, including the one that got my team out of the first area on Metro, and we were on our way to the last two M-COMS when the game froze. I don't know why but in really long games there is always the risk of the game freezing. It kind of sucks. But, it is still a fun game. And one of my favorite parts is the sound. Sound-whoring used to be a big deal in CoD games because you could tell where the bad guys were by the sound of their footsteps. That really isn't a thing in Black Ops 2 but the sound design is really good in Battlefield 3. I was able to kill a guy in Gun Master because I heard him loading his shotgun on the other side of the wall. The one flaw in the sound is that on muli-level maps it is hard to tell if you're hearing someone on your floor or the floor above you. Hopefully that will be better in the new game.

I didn't accomplish a lot today but this afternoon I eventually got around to going shopping. I went to Target because I needed some things, including stuff to make food. And with some of those ingredients I made a pretty simple, but good dinner tonight. Penne pasta with artichoke hearts in a tomato sauce and steamed broccoli. Yum. If I make it again I would probably make the sauce because for the first time in years I bought it in a jar, and the jar was cool, but I'm not a big fan of jarred sauce. It's always too sweet. Or something. I also bought brussel sprouts because I have wanted to try them for awhile now and have yet to get around to it. I found a recipe to saute them but that involved actual garlic, which I didn't buy, so instead I am going to try roasting them, because they look really good roasted. I just hope they taste good. Everyone in my family who has had brussel sprouts basically think they are the worst thing ever, and I generally trust their opinion, but I keep telling myself they just haven't had them made the right way. Hopefully. I'll find out soon enough. Maybe tomorrow.

After dinner I made more tortilla chips and did my laundry. I also watched most of the Emmy's, ignoring the things I perceived to be the boring bits. I also might not see the end, depending on whether or not it runs long because I will be going to bed at ten o'clock. I am looking forward to the last week of MAP testing, and a shortened week thanks to not having school on Friday for some reason. I am not looking forward to going another week without a haircut. I really should start cutting my own hair. That would save me twenty bucks every few weeks and I wouldn't have to rely one someone else's schedule to get my haircut. I'll think about it. Until I forget.

September 21, 2013

I kind of got to sleep in this morning but not really because I only ended up getting about seven hours of sleep. Which didn't feel like it was nearly enough. Not surprisingly, I didn't really do much with my day. I watched some YouTube videos and played a little bit of Black Ops 2 and Battlefield 3. I only played Black Ops 2 because they are having a double XP weekend and that always means 24/7 Nuketown. I managed to level up two or three times but I was still unable to get the last Bloodthirsty medal that I need to get gold camo on whatever shotgun I'm currently working on. I got close several times but either lost it because I got outplayed or because of lag. I'm not very good but the majority of the time it was lag. Overall it seemed better than the last time I played but it still sucks shooting dudes point-blank and then getting turned on like I hadn't obviously shot first.

As for Battlefield 3, the beta for Battlefield 4 opens up for premium members on the October 1st. I do own the game now on both Xbox and PC but my premium membership is for Xbox so that is what will unlock on the October 1st. I think a few days later I'll be able to try it out on PC but I'm not sure. I have put way more hours into the Xbox version, it isn't really comparable, so I am more comfortable with a controller, but it looks better on PC and I like the accuracy of a mouse. Even if it feels better pulling a controller trigger and navigating with joysticks. I still haven't decided if I want to get the new game considering how infrequently I play FPS games at the moment, but if I do get it I need to decide whether to get it on Xbox or PC. I played the beta for Battlefield 3 on both which lead me to choose the Xbox because I was still pretty new to FPS games on the PC and it just worked out better on the Xbox. I plan on doing the same thing this time around and I would prefer to get the game on PC, if it still run decently on my computer. I would prefer this because my Xbox is really old. I still have an original black Elite one and who knows how long it will actually hold out. They have a "deal" where you can buy the game on 360 and upgrade to the new Xbox version for $10 if you end up getting the new Xbox. And I think all your progress and stuff gets transferred. Maybe. But I pretty much fully submerged in the realm of PC gaming and, at least at the moment, I have no plans to buy the new Xbox. Or the new Playstation. Unless some amazing game comes out and it is actually exclusive to one of those consoles. Most games these days eventually come out on PC, if not simultaneously released on all platforms, and they usually look way better on PC. And most don't take very long to go on sale. Xbox games take forever to drop in price and by the time they drop a little I can get them for $5 or $10 on PC. In terms of Battlefield 3 on PC, my main gripe is that it takes forever to join a game. I like the server setup better on Xbox but maybe it'll be better with Battlefield 4.

Another downside to my old Xbox right now is Grand Theft Auto 5. After beating Saints Row 4 I am in the mood for an open world game but currently Grand Theft Auto is only on consoles and there hasn't been any mention of a PC release. And I would prefer to have it on PC because of the modding community on PC. I dabbled into that a little bit with the last GTA game but I also didn't play that game more than once or twice. So if I really want the GTA experience I could go back to that game, or any of the other ones because I have all of them on PC, but I'm apparently not that desperate. I have also been wanting to play Fallout: New Vegas for awhile now but have yet to get around to it. Open world games are such a daunting commitment.

Back to Battlefield 3 for a second. I played Air Superiority and Gun Master today. I really like any game where I get to fly airplanes but Air Superiority has taught me I am awful at dogfighting. And it is killing my K/D. I have probably been shot down over a hundred times, maybe a lot more, and I think I could count all my kills on two hands. And most of those kills were because the pilot I clipped once or twice ran into the ground or some other object and I got credit for the kill. I have only gotten one or two kills with the cannons or missiles. I try all the evasive tactics I know but I can never seem to get away from guys on my tail. But when I'm chasing dudes they disappear like ghosts. I did much better with Gun Master, going positive in every game but the one I joined where half the players were already halfway through the guns. I like Battlefield 3 because it takes awhile to kill guys. And likewise, it takes awhile to be killed. Most of the time anyway. It feels like you're actually doing something when killing guys, or that you have a chance when guys start shooting you. Unlike CoD games where you tend to be killed before you even realize you're being shot.

At work tonight I continued reading The Shadow Of The Wind but I also started to re-read On Killing: The Psychological Cost Of Learning To Kill In War And Society by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman. I read it awhile ago and found it really interesting but have forgotten most of the details so I decided to read it again. I'll include some quotes at the end of this entry. Near the end of the night I watched the last half hour of Riddick. Yikes. I can't really say anything about the plot because I had no idea what was going on, but it seemed like the script was written by a child. It was pretty awful. Like a made-for-TV or straight-to-DVD movie with a slightly better budget. And then I got to go home thirty minutes early. It was still after one o'clock in the morning but better than almost two o'clock in the morning.

"Gunpowder's superior noise, its superior posturing ability, made it ascendant on the battlefield. The longbow would still have been in the Napoleonic Wars if the raw mathematics of killing effectiveness was all that mattered, since both the longbow's firing rate and its accuracy were much greater than that of a smoothbore musket. But a frightened man, thinking with his midbrain and going "ploink, ploink, ploink" with a bow, doesn't stand a chance against an equally frightened man going "BANG! BANG!" with a musket." (On Killing, p. 9)

"[A]fter the Battle of Gettysburg, 27,574 muskets were recovered from the battlefield. Of these, nearly 90 percent (twenty-four thousand) were loaded. Twelve thousand of these loaded muskets were found to be loaded more than once, and six thousand of the multiply loaded weapons had from three to ten rounds loaded in the barrel. One weapon had been loaded twenty-three times." (On Killing, p. 23)

"During World War II more than 800,000 men were classified 4-F (unfit for military service) due to psychiatric reasons. Despite this effort to weed out those mentally and emotionally unfit for combat, America's armed forces lost an additional 504,000 men from the fighting effort because of psychiatric collapse - enough to man fifty divisions! At one point in World War II, psychiatric casualties were being discharged from the U.S. Army faster than new recruits were being drafted in." (On Killing, p. 43)

"Swank and Marchand's much-cited World War II study determined that after sixty days of continuous combat, 98 percent of all surviving soldiers will have become psychiatric casualties of one kind or another. Swank and Marchand also found a common trait among the 2 percent who are able to endure sustained combat: a predisposition toward "aggressive psychopathic personalities."" (On Killing, p. 43)

September 20, 2013

"Not evil," Fermin objected. "Moronic, which isn't quite the same thing. Evil presupposes a moral decision, intention, and some forethought. A moron or a lout, however, doesn't stop to think or reason. He acts on instinct, like a stable animal, convinced that he's doing good, that he's always right, and sanctimoniously proud to go around fucking up, if you'll excuse the French, anyone he perceives to be different from himself, be it because of skin color, creed, language, nationality, or, as in the case of Don Federico, his leisure habits. What the world needs is more thoroughly evil people and fewer borderline pigheads." (The Shadow of the Wind, p.155)

There was only one MAP test today, so that was nice. And all the kids wanting to finish tests came in during that test so it wasn't strung out throughout the day. It gave me time to finish typing in all the guardians into my student directory, which kind of got put on the back burner when MAP testing started. Now I'll need to design the report I want to print out the phone directory, which I can foresee being kind of a pain but maybe not. After that the only thing left will be updating the student pictures when we get those in, and making little design tweaks.

This afternoon we had our evacuation drill. This would be used in the event of a natural disaster or a disgruntled person or a school shooting or any number of other things that would require us to get all the kids out of the building and two a safe place. Which is a gym a couple blocks away. I ran into the librarian earlier in the day and she asked if I had a job yet. I did not. Last year I just walked with my mom and the kindergarteners. This year I got to drive over with the librarian and a few other people and I think I'll be in charge or door duty. Today I just held the door open for the kids when they got there, but in an actual emergency I think I'll be by one of the doors directing parents to the front entrance where they will be escorted somewhere else until things settle down and kids can start being released to them. At least I think that is what I'll be doing. It still isn't that clear but fingers crossed I'll respond admirably in an emergency situation. So I almost have a job this year.

Tonight at work the main event was the power blinking off for a second, which knocked all the projectors off. In theory when this happens the movies are supposed to automatically pause, but I think I have only seen that happen once or twice. So we have to go around and manually pause them and rewind them a little bit. This is tedious but it is way better than dealing with twelve brain-wraps. Two of the movies required a little more work. On one, the touchscreen on the projector wouldn't reconnect, which made the projector useless because there was no way to turn on the bulb, and even if we could it still wouldn't play the movie because of the whole connection issue. The managers were going to write it off but I restarted everything a couple times and got it working. On the other movie, the Doremi died, which is basically the computer where the movie is stored and has the touchscreen that allows you to load movies and all that stuff. The power button wasn't working but I unplugged it for a little bit and plugged it back in and voila. Then I had to do some math and make my best guess at how far it was into the movie and fast forward to that point. But fast forwarding sucks because the button only causes the movie to jump ahead about a minute or two. So I had to click it a whole bunch of times to get it up around a little after an hour into the movie. And apparently my mental math was good and I nailed the timing.

I also fixed the two new movies we got this week because whoever built them kind of screwed up. One had stuff in the wrong order and had the wrong starting cue so it was starting as Scope instead of Flat. The other was a 3D movie that wasn't saved as a 3D movie, had a regular starting cue instead of a 3D starting cue, and stuff may have been out of order as well. I discovered there was an issue with the 3D movie when I walked by as it started and it was pink and green. A clear sign when something in 3D is being played in 2D.

Despite all the work I was having to do at work I also read a bunch from my book and watched significant chunks of The Family and We're The Millers. I like the idea of The Family but from the parts I saw I think it could have been executed better. My main dislike was the writing was kind of weak at times. The editing also seemed to be a bit disjointed and the pacing of it felt off. But maybe it is better when watched straight through, like it is supposed to be watched. I only caught the last forty-five minutes or hour of We're The Millers, but I thought it was pretty good. We've had it for awhile now but I didn't realize it was rated-R. I caught on pretty quick with the liberal use 'fuck'. I'm a fan of Jason Sudekis from SNL and the movie or two that I've seen him in, and I hope he can continue getting decent work. I really like his comedy but he is one I'd like to see doing some serious roles. I can see him being able to pull that off like Will Ferrell and Adam Sandler. More like Ferrell though because Sandler is kind of awkward-serious (which he pulls of) but I think Sudekis could go full on serious.

And now I am waiting for Prisoners to get out. It's nearly three hours long with all the trailers and of course we had to have a show at 10:40PM. The long ones always start last. Partly because they are long but also partly because too much time is scheduled in between shows. But who am I. Just the guy stuck here until almost two in the morning because they decided they don't need to cut hours anymore. Six o'clock in the morning seems so long ago.

September 19, 2013

More MAP testing today. Two back-to-back in the morning. Also some regular classes throughout the day. Having two tests in the morning really does make the day go by faster. It is really slow standing there and watching kids test but before you know it, it's lunch time. During lunch and for a little while after I finally looked through the small vegetarian cookbook my grandma gave me and wrote down the recipes that looked good, or interesting, and wrote down what I would need to buy to actually make them. I plan on going shopping either Saturday or Sunday. Hopefully.

My one really productive thing today, other than updating my MAP spreadsheet, was putting Reading Counts on all the third grade laptops near the end of the day. Pretty much right as the kids were walking outside at the end of the day a downpour started outside. It was kind of funny to watch through the window, especially with all the parents standing around out front waiting for their kids. I was glad to be inside, working on computers.

On my way back to the lab to get my stuff I stopped and talked to one of the second grade teachers who was going around the other second grade teachers room and replacing all the meal worms on the kids' desks that were either dead or not very active. It was a glimpse behind the curtain and I asked her if she was trying to destroy my childhood. The main thing I remember from meal worms in school was setting the beetles free and then the older kids going out at recess and stomping on all of them. I was pretty upset by that.

I scheduled a haircut today but it isn't until the thirtieth. I've needed a haircut for over a week probably and ten more days is going to be rough. I've already had to do a little trimming myself. I wouldn't mind trying out longer hair if I wasn't losing my hair, but I am, so it looks better when it is shorter.

I had a thirty minute visit with the new volunteer kid tonight. We went to the convenience store like last time so he could get Cheetos and Mountain Dew and then we went and talked in the park. He told me that he got drunk last weekend, got caught, told his probation officer, and has court next week. But he kept trying to make it less of a big deal because he was honest about the whole thing. Yeah, being honest about underage drinking while on probation is way better than not underage drinking in the first place. You just need to be honest about your stupidity and everything is cool. It's pretty frustrating. He said he did it because he wanted to but I would imagine it had more to do with the people he was hanging out with, because he's a smart kid, but I can see him being easily influenced by kids he wants to be friends with. I would like to hope this is a one time thing and that he can avoid these situations in the future because he is smart enough to actually do things with his life. I don't want to see him surround himself with poor influences and just spiral out of control. I want a case with a little kid who's an idiot because he's a little kid, not because he's a teenager.

September 18, 2013

I went to bed at ten o'clock last night and when I woke up around midnight to go to the bathroom my knee was perfectly fine. As if nothing had happened. So I can avoid surgery for at least a little bit longer. My theory is that my knee relaxed enough in my sleep for the cartilage chunk to slip out from between the joint. Sounds plausible anyway. I took one of my knee braces to work and left my crutches in the car just in case.

At work we had more MAP testing and that is pretty much what my day revolved around. There were two tests back-to-back in the morning and then one kid came in the afternoon to finish a test. In my downtime I worked on my spreadsheet. Exciting times. I also managed to solve the gradebook issue that one of the teachers was having. I couldn't get it back to how he had it but I got all the columns back and he didn't mind the change.

After work I went and got Jimmy John's and Chipotle and eventually ate dinner. Going with the sandwich from Jimmy John's and saving the Chipotle burrito for tomorrow and the next day. And the rest of my night was spent doing not a lot, other than making some more tortilla chips. I'm just tired. I want to sleep.

September 17, 2013

I keep forgetting to write about things. Yesterday I got the magazine FLEX in the mail. I did not sign up for it but it kind of looks like I have a subscription now. And it is the grossest magazine I have ever seen. It is all about becoming way too muscular, with the help of twenty different types of protein powders. It is just gross. And people do that to themselves on purpose.

Today at work there were MAP tests and a lot of kids finishing MAP tests. There were two tests on the schedule and then two separate fifth grade groups that came in during the afternoon to finish tests. It felt like all I did today was watch kids take tests. Which is pretty much what I did.

After school I planned on stopping to schedule a haircut but I completely forgot about it. So some other time then. For dinner I had an unhealthy microwave meal but I also steamed some broccoli. Delicious broccoli.

When I went to stand up from the table I apparently did it wrong because I instantly felt a sharp pain in my right knee and I couldn't straighten it out fully or bend it any farther than it was without more pain. The incident that was the catalyst for my left knee surgery was getting on my knees to look for my ring that I had dropped underneath my dresser. This action pushed one of the loose pieces of cartilage in my knee to get pushed back between the joint and it got stuck there for months. I was able to bend it a little bit but it was impossible for me to straighten it, so I walked on my toe for months before finally breaking down and getting surgery. And this time all I did was stand up. For the past several days the loose bit of cartilage in my right knee has been moving around a lot and now it feels like it has gotten pinched inside the joint. I really should have gotten my right knee fixed sooner. I put the left one off for over a decade I think and it has been over a decade now with the right knee. I would say this is the push I need to get the surgery but it won't be unless it doesn't come unstuck. I am hoping it resolves itself in my sleep but that hope didn't work out for my left knee so I'm not holding my breath.

I had to use my crutches to get back to my room and spent some time with my heating pad on my knee, trying to loosen it up, but that didn't work. My knee is a little more bearable though. If I walk slowly and don't twist, and ignore the sharp pain, I can kind of walk with one crutch. So there's that. My main concern is getting around the lab on crutches if that turns out to be a thing. That isn't going to work out too well. Fingers crossed for a miracle in the middle of the night.

September 16, 2013

I forgot to mention a little family dinner last night. We decided on Taco Bell because it is on this side of town. I can't remember the last time I've actually eaten Taco Bell. Many years at the least. I got a veggie cantina bowl and it was pretty good. Tasted like I remember Taco Bell tasting like years ago. Which doesn't really say much for all the marketing they put into the cantina bowl. Although they know people want something new but they don't want it to taste that new.

Today there was more MAP testing. Same old boring MAP testing. And nothing really to write about. In the afternoon I went and messed around with one of the teacher's gradebooks in Infinite Campus. His Social Studies page was missing the overall percentage column that was present in all his other subjects. I know nothing about the Infinite Campus gradebook but I said I'd take a look at it. And an hour went by. I didn't necessarily hurt things but in the course of messing with things the percentage column disappeared from his Math page. So... yeah. I am taking it as a sign that it is something that can be fixed, because I can obviously cause the percentage thing to disappear, which means it can be brought back. Somehow. I just need to figure that bit out. I've been doing a lot of reading on the internet and most of the possible fixes I have found are for older versions of Infinite Campus and they don't quite match up. But I'm going to keep looking. And messing. Worst Case scenario, I can create a new Social Studies and Math page and input all the grades again.

After school I went home to get the mat for my dad's picture and went back to Hobby Lobby to have them fix it. Once again I got behind a woman that was still in the decision making phase of her framing project. So I waited. And waited some more. At least this time there was the excuse that there was only one person working in the framing section. I probably ended up waiting about thirty minutes before the guy could help me. The mat does look better but it is still slightly off. I wouldn't say it is more than a millimeter but I can still see it. But it's close enough I think, if you're not staring at it too hard.

Tonight the dogs nearly got into a fight again thanks to the UPS man. Alfie now apparently thinks she can take Tanner, instead of cowering off like she did before she drew blood on him last time, so that is an issue. Tanner can't fight but he's bigger than Alfie and she would have gotten her butt kicked last time if I hadn't had Tanner pinned against the couch. The main issue seems to be when the doorbell is rung. So I disconnected that tonight in the hopes that it will prevent fights in the future. I just hope the UPS man doesn't knock on the door after not hearing the doorbell. If that's the case we might have to put a sign up.

For dinner tonight I had fake hamburgers and steamed broccoli. I want to eat healthier and I am starting by cutting back on chips, because those were becoming a staple for almost every meal. Last night I made more tortilla chips, which I eat for lunch along with some baked Cheez-Its. And I want to incorporate more vegetables into my diet, considering the whole vegetarian thing, so I broke out my rice cooker that has a vegetable steamer on top and steamed some broccoli tonight with a little bit of lemon pepper. Yum. I also have some cauliflower and I was never a fan of it steamed but I wonder if my attitude would be different now as an adult. But I'll probably end up baking it like I did the last time.

After dinner I finished watching Long Way Round and started watching Long Way Down. And as I write this I am listening to Willis Earl Beal on Spotify. They mentioned him on NPR today and I liked the clip they played so I decided to check him out. He has a really old sounding voice, kind of like old blues, and I like it.

My goals for tomorrow are to survive MAP testing, figure out that gradebook thing, and have more vegetables for dinner. I keep my goals lofty.

September 15, 2013

Not a lot going on today. A typical Sunday. And I feel like I say that every Sunday. Which makes it typical, I guess. Anyway, I watched a YouTube video or two but I spent most of the day watching Netflix. I started with a documentary about surfing, which basically told the history of surfing, starting at the beginning, and then focusing on the different innovations in surfboard design. I have always thought it would be fun to surf but I have also always thought it wasn't for me. Maybe boogie boarding?

The next documentary I watched was on wingsuits. It started with the history of man wanting to fly and then the innovations that lead to the wingsuit and then the advancements that have been made. It would be amazing to try out proximity flying, where you see how close you can get to the surface of a cliff or the ground. I am also not dumb enough to try it. And you do have to be dumb to try it. But it would be amazing if you survived.

The rest of the day was spent watching Long Way Round, a mini-series Ewan McGregor and his friend travel around the world on motorcycles. Again, it is something that looks like it would be one hell of a thing to try but something I would never try. Maybe on a much smaller scale. I still have a couple episodes to go and then I want to watch Long Way Down, a mini-series where they travel from North Scotland to South Africa on motorcycles.

And soon I will be going to bed, and waking up to the start of another week of MAP testing. It's going to be loads of fun and I can't wait.

September 14, 2013

Today I didn't really sleep in and I didn't really do anything worthwhile after waking up. I had the rest of my Panera baguette for breakfast, having had the first part of it yesterday. I'm a big fan of their baguettes but I haven't had one in over five years. I like slowing peeling away and eating the hard outer crust before eating the soft bread on the inside. I should probably add the eating of a Panera baguette into my routine. At least once a month.

The rest of my morning I pretty much just watched YouTube videos. And then I got ready and went over to my dad's for my grandma's belated family birthday lunch. My aunt and uncle came into town, my grandma's sister, my dad's cousin, and my other uncle (my dad's brother) surprised her by driving in from Colorado. Lunch was good but probably not as good as the lunch we had a couple weeks ago. I had a cheese sandwich, fruit, coleslaw, corn on the cob that my sister brined and then grilled, and some potato soup. And for dessert we had a caramel apple cake that my aunt made, which was really good. There were apple slices on the top that I ate separately because they were good on their own but I didn't like them on the cake, and the cake was dense, kind of like a cinnamon cake, with melted caramel on it. Delicious. After lunch I ended up out on the porch sitting in a pretty comfortable chair, just lounging with my eyes closed. The weather was pretty nice and every now and then there was a nice breeze. It was nice just sitting there and relaxing.

Tonight at work I almost finished my friend's letter and knocked out about a hundred pages in my book. Not a very exciting night. But it did last two hours longer than it should have because I was working with the two least experienced managers and they apparently didn't get the memo that we're cutting hours. So not only was I there for two extra hours, all of the concessionists were still there when I left. They should have been gone an hour after we closed, at the latest. And if they do get stuck there until after I leave, it shouldn't be the entire concessionist crew, maybe just one or two people. But whatever, all managers have to learn at some point. And I wouldn't have minded staying the extra two hours if I didn't have a headache, which I did, so it kind of sucked.

September 13, 2013

Yesterday I forgot to mention I found my last bill from T-Mobile. They mailed it and I'm pretty sure it arrived after it was due, and even when it did arrive I didn't pay any attention to it because it was dressed up like a promotional thing, not a bill. But I discovered it yesterday and saw that it was six days overdue. And then I got a call from T-Mobile, or a robot on T-Mobile's behalf, giving me a number to call but no explanation as to why I should call the number. So I called the number and it ended up being customer service. If I hadn't already left T-Mobile I probably would have left after this call.

I talked to “Mike” and it sounded like it only started to learn English last week. And I mean no offense by that because I can only speak one language so I envy anyone who can even kind of speak a second language. But combining broken English with an incredibly thick accent makes for a poor customer service representative. And on top of that, it sounded like he was using the headset that came with with Xbox360, so the microphone quality was very crackly and it must have been practically inside his mouth because when he wasn't speaking all I could hear was his loud breathing.

All of this combined to make me less than secure in my feelings about the legitimacy of the phone call. And he had no reason why I was calling and couldn't understand my explanation for why I thought I was calling. I think he ended up asking if I wanted to pay my bill and then asked for my credit card number. At which point I said I would just send a check because I didn't feel comfortable telling him my credit card number. So I mailed that off today and I will have to keep my eyes open for the bill with the overdue charge. And hopefully pay it on time so I can be done with T-Mobile.

Today there were three MAP tests and they went without incident. So it was really boring. I got to go to reading centers with second grade today for the first time this week. I had one good group and then one not so good group but it was a nice change from being stuck in the computer lab watching kids take tests. Other than that, I fixed a few laptop issues (and got paid in two peanut butter cups for one of them, which I accepted even though I'm still not eating candy), working on my spreadsheet, added my shortcut thing to the two computers that were fixed yesterday, and that was pretty much it.

Tonight at work I started reading The Shadow Of The Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon and worked on my letter to my friend. I didn't make it that far into the book, under fifty pages I think, but I am liking it so far. I am also thinking of relearning Morse Code because I was looking through so of the old art I did with it and I still think there is a lot of potential there. We'll see.

September 12, 2013

It is 9:30PM at the moment, which is late for me now, especially for a weekday, so this entry will probably be a bit short because my mind is wandering to my pillows.

There were only three MAP tests today, instead of four, but it really felt like I was testing all day. The first two were back-to-back and that was rough. And right after the second test one of the sixth grade classes came in to work on their stories, which meant they logged out of several computers, making more work for me later on. They also jammed the printer several times. The fifth graders kind of annoyed me last year and they still kind of annoy me as sixth graders. It's almost to the point where I'm going to start kicking them out of the lab. Maybe after a warning.

When the sixth graders left I had lunch and then set up for the next MAP test. And right after that test I went down to the gym for the lock-down assembly, where the cops tell you what to do in the event of a school shooting or other bad things in a school. Then we all broke off to practice. Last year I ended up in the library closet with fifth graders and the library aide, who kept saying 'you killed us' every time the fifth graders made a noise. This year I was again in the library closet but there weren't any kids, just the librarian and the library aide. When the lock-down was over I looked over some of the trouble tickets with the librarian. I went and fixed the receptionist's ticket by having her use a different browser for the program she was using, which left us with only three open tickets I think. The two computers in the lab were fixed today. It took less than five minutes for each computer, and it seems like something computer aides or lead techs could be doing, saving us time and the tech guys, but whatever.

After work I went and picked up my mat from Hobby Lobby. It will probably be the last mat I get from at. Certainly my last double mat because the inner one is crooked. And the annoying thing is that it looks like it was cut correctly but they glued it on crooked to the front mat. And it is pretty obvious, at least to me, and hopefully to someone making double mats, so I kind feel like it was just laziness on the part of whoever did it. I'm still going to give it to my dad but tell him if he finds it too annoying then I'll have another one made. Not by Hobby Lobby.

Tonight I didn't have a visit with the new volunteer kid because my grandma invited my mom and I over for birthday cake, because today was my grandma's 90^th birthday. She made lemon cake and chocolate cupcakes and both were delicious. My sister and her husband met us over there and we sat around for almost two hours before calling it a night. On Saturday we are having a lunch at my dad's to celebrate her birthday. I am looking forward to the food.

September 11, 2013

Today was picture day so I practiced my smile this morning. And then all that practice went out the window when I sat down and was rushed through the picture taking process. When I was sitting there my smile felt weird so I might be using last years picture for the yearbook.

Thanks to picture day, we didn't have any safety drills today, so no MAP tests were interrupted. Two classes tested today and near the end of the day a group came in to either finish tests or make up missed tests. So there were really three tests today. And that will be good practice for the four scheduled for tomorrow. It is all still incredibly boring. Watching kids take tests has to be on par with watching paint dry. It would be a little better if I had a bar stool or something to sit on but I don't. And even if I did I would probably just complain about my butt falling asleep.

Other than testing, I helped one of the receptions with a problem with the program she uses to order things, I unbuttoned and then rebuttoned a kid's pants so he could go to the bathroom because his pants were too small and the button was coming loose, I downloaded some vowel pictures for a resource teacher, and I worked on my MAP spreadsheet. It was kind of a full day. And it was an early-release day, so it felt like Friday all day, because that is when we had early-release days last year.

When I got off work I went home and got the picture I am framing for my dad for a belated birthday present. Then I went across town to Hobby Lobby to get a mat for it. Or almost get a mat for it. There was a lady ahead of me, being helped by a guy and he got someone else to help me. We got it all figured out but then he said that the lady was ahead of me so my mat probably wouldn't be ready until tomorrow. Even though there were four dudes working back there and the lady ahead of me was still in the decision making process. But whatever. I got a call around 7:15PM tonight saying my mat was done so I am going to pick it up tomorrow. I find it hard to believe they worked on cutting my mat for five hours but whatever.

On my way home I mailed a bill and picked up dinner so I wouldn't have to drive back across town. At Chipotle the girl at the register asked if she knew me. I said it probably felt that way because I was there every week and I she has helped me before. She said I looked like someone she would see in the math and physics building on campus. So I guess I look like a smart nerd. Not really an insult.

When I got home I cleaned out the inside of my computer tower and took out one of the noisy fans on the side panel. I want to replace both fans on the panel with one big one but it only has the holes for two 120mm fans or one 170mm fan. And 170mm fans don't seem to be very popular. So for the time being I'm just going to live with one fan on the side panel and think about replacing both later on. I still have plenty of fans and liquid cooling so I'll be good.

Tonight I didn't do much. I played a little Cube World and Saints Row 4 while watching a few episodes of Duck Dynasty and then stuff on Netflix. I watched the first episode of Supernatural and wanted to watch more but none of the other episodes would show up. So I moved onto a Dead Space animated movie, which was strange because I've never played any of the games, and because it was strange. Now I'm watching a show on the Terracotta Warriors. History is fascinating.

September 10, 2013

It was such a non-event that I forgot to mention I had another kidney stone yesterday. If I hadn't been paying attention I wouldn't even have known I had it. It is the second one I've had without any overt signs before coming out and it is by far the smallest one I've had. Maybe an eighth or a tenth of the size of my biggest one. I would totally be cool with kidney stones if they were all like that.

Today there were three MAP tests and I was reminded of how exhausting it can be to stand there and then write down scores as kids finish. I would much prefer taking the test and then getting to read a book or color or put my head down on the desk. Sometimes it sucks being an adult.

During the last test of the day we had a fire drill. This happened to be the same class that was interrupted my the tornado drill earlier in the week. They made the fire drill more authentic today by putting smoke around the building to force classes to use alternate exits. Good idea in theory but they put it downstairs by the computer lab, nowhere near an outside door, so it just kind of hung there. Smelling like smoke. And the alarm started going off again right as we got inside and I would hope that was the alarm reacting to all the smoke still hanging around the building.

The best part of testing was a first grader asking me a question about synonyms. He asked me “What are cinnamons?” It was pretty great. I reminded me of a kid last year asking me about similes. I can't actually remember that one and don't feel like looking it up, but I remember it being pretty funny.

It is now about 7:45PM and I am counting down the time until ten o'clock so I can go to bed. I just want to sleep. I am passing the time by watching YouTube videos and I'm considering playing a video game. But I spend more time considering than I ever do playing, so my hopes aren't high.

Tomorrow is picture day and I have a mosquito bite on my forehead and I need a haircut. So that will be fun. At least I don't have to pay for the pictures. I am more looking forward to picture day so I can update my student directory with new pictures when they come back to us. There are also a couple MAP tests to look forward to. But it is an early release day so maybe I'll get a nap in after school.

September 9, 2013

We had the first MAP test this morning and it went pretty smoothly. Minus the break in the middle of it for the tornado drill. That was pretty inconvenient. The test is a little different this year and it seems like there is a lot more reading on the reading test. Go figure. A lot of the kids were taking the whole time, more than last year, and I think they were confused by the long reading passages which had multiple questions. But they only showed one question at a time and it seemed like some of the kids didn't realize it was the same passage and they were reading it more than once. That would definitely add some extra time to the test.

I didn't have lunch duty today because of testing. I could have gone after the first test but I would have had to leave early to set up for the second test and then wouldn't have been able to actually eat lunch until after two o'clock. So instead I opted to eat lunch after the first test. I still could have made it to a little bit of lunch duty before setting up for the next test but it would have been kind of pointless. And then the teacher for the second test forgot about the test so they showed up fifteen minutes late. That would have given me enough time to help out in the lunchroom but I was unable to foresee the future.

The second test also went well, and it wasn't interrupted by a tornado drill. The teacher forgot to add one of her kid's to the seating chart so she logged him in and a little while later a para came in and noticed that he was taking the Reading test, not the Math test. So we got that switched and the teacher thanked the para because she said she probably would have ripped the kid a new one for taking the wrong test and not saying anything. And she would have. It was funny when the teacher went to fix it because the kid said he thought something was wrong because there seemed to be a lot of vocabulary. And no math.

The only afternoon class I had canceled because the student teacher was being observed while she taught a lesson. So I spent the rest of my afternoon inputting the test scores I had into my spreadsheet. And then I messed around a lot with the format of my spreadsheet. I'm still figuring out Excel 2010 and I'm trying to make the spreadsheet look a little better. At the moment I am annoyed that I am setting my spreadsheet to fit the page when I print, with tiny margins, but it isn't filling the entire page. I might have to give up on that.

Tonight I watched some YouTube videos and then started to play The Walking Dead video game. I am really liking it so far. The visual style is cool and the voice acting is not terrible. Most of it anyway. My only problem with the game is that it gives me too many choices. I don't know how much these choices affect the ending, or how many different outcomes there really are, but I already feel like I'm missing out and I haven't gotten to a point where my choices have had a major impact. It would be cool if after beating the game you could go back and see what would have happened if you made different choices, without having to play through the whole game again. Because I know that won't happen.

Tomorrow I have more testing to look forward to. And some sort of safety drill that will be interfering with at least one of those tests. Gotta love MAP testing combined with safety week. And Picture Day on Wednesday. I feel like the people in charge of scheduling things forgot we have an entire school year to spread all this crap out. We didn't need to do it all in the same week. But life goes on. As long as I get to bed by ten o'clock. So I'm going to go do that.

September 8, 2013

If you have two Olympic-sized swimming pools and put a tablespoon of sugar into one of them, a dog would be able to detect the difference. Fun fact.

Today was a typical laid back Sunday. Kind of like all the others. I watched The Secret Of Nimh this morning and it was... interesting. Definitely an eighties cartoon, so I liked the animation style, but it was a very loose interpretation of the book. I would like to see a more faithful adaptation. At least one that doesn't involve the use of magic. The best part of the movie was Jeremy the crow, voiced by Dom DeLuise. Giving Jeremy a slightly bigger part and making him the comic relief was the one change from the book that I approved of.

I really wanted to played some video games today, and I came close to playing The Walking Dead, but ended up just playing Saints Row 4 for a little bit. I made a bunch of money, finished a few more challenges and realized there are some I will probably never get, and I found the coolest car in the game. The Relic. It is parked by the airport and I have never seen it driving around the streets so it makes me wonder if there are other cars out there that are “secrets” and only parked in one place. I had to delete a car from my garage but it was worth it. It has the option to have a giant exposed engine that shoots fire when you hit the boost. Totally badass.

Tonight I watched a couple comedy specials on Netflix, did my laundry, and added more music to the USB thumb drive I keep in my car. Kill The Noise and Royal Teeth. Good stuff. So I'm getting my money out of Netflix and I am undermining the money I spent on XM radio in my car. Even if I did get it at a considerable discount. But I can take a break from it every now and then. If I'm in the mood for either of those when I'm in my car.

And now it is getting ever closer to my bedtime. And it is feeling like it. I am looking forward to a fun-filled week of MAP testing, safety drills, and picture day. It'll be a long week. But I think Wednesday is early-release, so there's that. I preferred when they were on Friday like last year but apparently parents complained or something because they thought teachers just wanted an early start to their weekend. Nice parents.

September 7, 2013

I slept in until around sometime this morning and that was nice. And then proceeded to not really do much with my day. Just the same old thing, watching YouTube videos and clicking around the internet. I came across a post somewhere about five abandoned wastelands and the writing was pretty good. One of the places on the list was a huge pile of lumber in Sweden. All these trees, over two and a half billion cubic feet worth, were taken out by a cyclone, adding up to almost $3 billion worth of lumber, and the government collected it all and stacked it into a massive pile. Anyway, the writing:

“In 2005, Cyclone Gudrun nuzzled its way into Europe and snuggled up with Sweden and Denmark. Hey, if you're going to anthropomorphize a disaster, you might as well make it adorable, right? Unfortunately, Gudrun didn't know its own strength and ended up cuddling the roofs off of buildings, Eskimo kissing a few vehicles into oblivion, and generally spooning the holy shit out of half a continent.”

Tonight at work I wrote more of my friend's letter, finished reading Mrs. Frisby And The Rats Of Nimh, and read some short stories. I discovered earlier today that there are two sequels to The Rats Of Nimh, written by the daughter of the original author. So I need to read those now. There is also an animated movie adaptation from the eighties, and it is on Netflix, so I think I will watch that tomorrow. I need to watch Netflix more and at least get my moneys worth out of it.

September 6, 2013

This morning I decided not to exercise. I figure Friday is a good day for a day off seeing as how I work at the school and then end the day at the theater. I don't know that I will feel any less tired being up four hours past my bedtime but I figured it couldn't hurt. And a day off is a good thing. I'll be back in the mix tomorrow. And I did end up doing some push-ups to feel a little less guilty, so I'm not a complete slacker.

Throughout my day at work I spent a lot of time getting ready for MAP testing next week. I made the lab schedules for the next three weeks and updated/printed out the sheets I use to write down scores on when kids finish the test. The test is different this year and it looked like there might only be four scores for the first and second graders, instead of six, but I kept six columns on my sheet just in case.

In second grade reading groups this morning my first group worked on the unscrambling sentences worksheet with the robots on it and my second group had to pick a picture of an animal or other random things out of a basket and then write about it. That was like pulling teeth. I thought kids were supposed to be bursting at the seems with imagination. Is technology robbing them of this. Most of the kids picked animals they knew nothing about and then whined that they couldn't write anything about the animal because they didn't know anything. I told them to use their imagination and make stuff up. Tell me a story about what the animal does all day. Or make them into a character in a cartoon or their favorite show. I just wanted them to tell me facts if they knew any and if not, just make it all up. None of the kids really got it. They just got. I think if I was working with one or two kids I could probably jump-start their thinking but with six or seven kids it wasn't happening. I would try and talk to one or two and the others would get off topic and start messing around. Creative writing and BSing papers were two of my favorite things in school, I would have loved to be given the chance to just make up a whole life story for some random animal I knew nothing about.

The funniest part of reading groups was when my first group was working on the creative writing part on the robot worksheet, having to pretend they found a secret door in their house and writing about what was on the other side of it. One boy decided on the other side of his door was going to be a Dick's Sporting Goods made of pizza with golf balls made out of meatballs. When the boy across from him found out he practically showed "I LOVE DICKS!" in a completely excited way. It was funny.

In the lunchroom today it was pretty much the same old thing. One first grader dropped almost all of her crackers on the floor and started balling. I told her she was going to be alright and that life would go on and other stuff, none of which helped. She eventually stopped crying and I went back over and asked her if she had survived the cracker debacle. She nodded and then asked me what a debacle is. I tried to explain it to her and maybe she'll remember. A first grader walking around saying 'debacle' would be pretty great.

The most hilarious moment at lunch was completely unintentional on the part of the first grader but that usually makes things ten times funnier. There was a little first grade boy sitting at the end of a table with a whole bunch of chatty girls. At one point they were really going at it, I think talking about boys, and when I walked by they all started saying it wasn't for me to hear and basically told me to keep walking. In that cacophony of noise the little boy turned around and looked up with the most pleading eyes I have ever seen and said "help me". I couldn't help but start laughing because it was a perfect comedic moment for a boy surrounded by annoying girls. And then he held up his milk because he needed help getting it open. So I started laughing at my misinterpretation of his statement.

Right after the lunchroom I had about twenty minutes for my own lunch before one of the first grade classes came into the lab. They had a day off so they just played games on Cool Math. I think I have only seen one class ever do the actual math games on that site but whatever. There is one first grader who is really quiet and doesn't really use her words and she is awful at games. I keep trying to find easy ones for her but nothing seems easy enough. Her reading isn't the best so she can't read the instructions, and she doesn't have enough experience with games to have any sort of instinct or ability to know the general idea of what she should be doing. She just get frustrated and makes sounds and raises her hand. At first I would help her but that just meant I was the one playing the game because after showing her what to do and walking away, her hand would be up by the time I turned around and she would need help. I'm beginning to think everything on Cool Math is beyond her and I need to look elsewhere, like maybe ABCya or something.

Later on in the afternoon a para brought in a group of second graders and she had them looking up houses. They are working on a million dollar project, where they have to buy a house for $300,000 or less, put $75,000 away for college, buy a car, make a charitable donation, and buy stuff for there house, getting as close to a million dollars as possible. Then they will put it all together in a presentation for their class. It sounds like a cool idea and I had finished all my MAP testing stuff so I stood back with them while they looked at houses. That is actually pretty fun and it made me wish I had $300,000 to spend on a house. All but one of the kids were going for big, practically new houses. The one kid didn't really want to spend money and was drawn to all the small houses that were only just breaking $150,000 on the high end. So finally the para adjusted the search to start at $200,000 because she is wanting them to get as close to $300,000 for a house as possible. The kid ended up going with a house built in 1933 that looked like a major fixer-upper. It was an interesting decision making process to watch.

I fixed one of the pencil sharpeners in the workroom today. The other is completely dead and the other one has been kind of broken since last year. In order to get it to work you have to squeeze it. I noticed today while I was squeezing it and sharpening pencils for MAP testing, that the little cup for the shavings was flush with the top on one side but stuck out a little bit on the other. I took the cup out and started messing with the sharpener and found out that the front top piece was slightly rotated and popped out on one side. So I rotated it back and popped it back into place. After doing this the cup for the shavings was flush on both sides and I didn't have to squeeze the sharpener anymore. I probably should have taken the time to look at it last year but the other sharpener was working then so it wasn't a big deal. Better late than never.

Before heading home after work I stopped and got an oil change. I hit 3,000 miles yesterday on the way to visit the new volunteer kid and was up to 3,021 when I pulled in to get my oil changed. At some point I should go out to the dealer maybe and get a full checkup but the oil change will hold me over for awhile. And I didn't have to schedule an appointment. I got there a minute or two before the next person so I got in and out in about ten minutes.

Tonight at the theater I typed up most this entry, got a start on my next letter to my friend, and nearly finished Mrs. Frisby And The Rats Of Nimh. I actually would have finished it but I got to go home at eleven o'clock instead of one o'clock. I can't really complain about that. And now it is almost midnight so I am going to go to bed. It is way past my bedtime.