I had a very productive day today. And tiring. State Assessments
start next week so this was kind of my last day to put the testing
software on the 4th, 5th, and 6th grade laptop carts. I went around
to check with each teacher beforehand and got a rough idea of when I
could come back and not interrupt their class. I started with the
fifth grade cart and right off the bat I thought I was screwed. To
install the software for all users on a computer, I have to copy a
folder to the desktop and then run a .bat file from that folder as an
administrator. I had four laptops ready to go and as I tried to run
the file on the first computer, nothing happened. Other than an
error. I thought maybe it was the computer so I tried another
computer and got the same thing. I thought maybe something had
happened to my copy of the folder so I got on the Global drive where
I had originally copied it from but couldn't find the folder
anywhere. So I did a little more thinking and decided to look at the
.bat file and see if I could get any hints from there. And I did.
The code in the .bat file referenced the folder on the Global drive,
and considering that folder was missing, it was causing an error. So
I copied my folder to the Global drive, and after trying once again
to run the file from the desktop, all was well. I'm sure I'm the
last one still installing the software but even so, I kind of just
saved the whole district a lot of grief by putting that folder back
where it should be.
The sixth grade cart went off without a hitch but the fourth grade
cart lead me on a scavenger hunt for the key to unlock the cart. I
started on the third floor in the fourth grade room, then went down
to the first floor to check with the librarian because she was the
last one to see the key. From her I learned it was with the fifth
grade cart, which is right next door to the fourth grade room, so I
went back up, got the key, and started my work. This one took me a
little longer because along with the testing software I also added on
the fourth grade printer to all the laptops. I could do that at the
same time that the testing software was installing so my stay wasn't
extended too long. I also became the keeper of the laptop cart key
because the librarian thought that was a good idea. I kind of get
why we have a key but I haven't known a cart to ever be locked (until
today) and I'm not sure what good it will do for me to have the key.
That's just one more thing I have to carry around with me. What
would be more useful is a key to the computer lab so I can unlock the
one door of the double door setup that frequently remains locked.
The tiring part of all that running around was the fact that one cart
was on the second floor and two were on the third floor. I lost
track of how many times I went up and down but I think I was on the
third floor at least five times today. My right knee is still
bothering me and all the stairs didn't help.
When I wasn't all over the place I scanned more sixth grade pictures
and messed around with adding the kids' names to the slides. Because
I'm wanting to use a wood background I thought it would be cool to
make it look like the names were carved or burned into the wood.
That ended up being a tad more challenging than I would have liked.
And in the end I am a little worried that the names will be too dark
to see when the slideshow is played in a fairly bright gym. My next
idea is to do a nameplate of some sort.
After work I did some laundry, had dinner, and then headed to the
theater. I spent my night reading, knitting, and watching all but
the first twenty or thirty minutes of Sabotage. Wow. What an
awful movie. Even with the expectations that come with an Arnold
Schwarzenegger movie it was bad. I couldn't help but think it had to
have been written primarily by a twelve year old. They probably had
to pay some to take the writing credit. Or maybe the lost a bet.
There is a car chase near the end of the movie and in the last
showing a patron shouted out that it should have happened forty
minutes earlier. The movie is basically just a whole bunch of
horribly written dialog that wants to sound smart and pretend an
elaborate plot is being developed, with a small amount of action
every half hour or so. It was just terrible.
I didn't get off work until two o'clock but thankfully we don't open
until noon tomorrow. That is way better than last week.
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