September 30, 2014

My throat didn't feel any worse this morning so that is good. It didn't feel any better though either. I made doctors appointment for tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully all goes well. I usually just ignore sore throats but this time my throat looked weird so I figured better safe than sorry.

Today was fairly uneventful at work. I finished up the worksheet for the second grade teacher and she really liked it so that was a success. I think it turned out better than the original. I also gave two of the bingo cards that I didn't have enough pictures for to the resource teacher and she eventually got back to me with some more pictures to add. I might be able to finish those up tomorrow. Maybe.

I helped out with literacy centers for both kindergarten classes this morning. I only signed on for one but the other kindergarten class had a parent cancel and I didn't have anything going on so I helped out there, too. I did the listening center where the kids listen to a story and then draw a picture based on the story. Today they had to draw a picture of themselves and then a picture of a teacher. One of the kids said he was going to draw one of me and I was really impressed. Like really impressed. Normally the pictures I kind of awful because they're kindergarteners and you can't tell who the picture is supposed to be. In this case, it was immediately obvious that it was me. I should have kept it for when he grows up and becomes a famous artist.

Before lunch the sixth grade teachers sent some kids down to the lab because the laptops were acting up. It started with one girl coming up to me and saying the teacher had “sent the two of us down because we couldn't use the laptops.” I asked “The two of you?” because she was alone. When she responded “Yeah” I put on my serious/concerned face and asked “Is the other person invisible.” She thought that was pretty funny.

After work I went to a test coordinator meeting with the principal to go over the state assessment. Due to the complete disaster that was state assessments last year, they decided to actually try and prepare this year. It all starts at the end of October when all the schools in the distract have a fake test day to simulate the real stress load on the testing servers. This way, they will have time to fix things if things break. Which I'm assuming will happen. The bad thing is that at least a few classes of kids will have to take a fake test. A completely pointless test. It would be nice if we could just log onto the testing server on a bunch of computers and let them talk to each other for awhile instead of making the kids actually go through a forty-five minute test. Who needs to learn when you can help the state fix their broken test.

After the meeting I went to the old house and booked my hotel room for the weekend. I thought I went down the weekend after this one but I was wrong. I should just schedule all of my rooms now but I don't want to be that prepared. I hope my throat is feeling better by then.

I once again didn't accomplish any school things. I need to work on that. For this week in my research class we only need to watch the video and read the chapter because we'll have a real life discussion this weekend. I probably won't participate because I'm generally not one to speak up, but there is a chance. This all means that I need to read the chapter and watch the video before Friday. That should be doable. I also still need to finish my first reflection because I think, technically, we're onto the fourth entry already. It's getting a bit out of hand.

It is about 9:30PM but I think I'm going to finish this up and then go home and go to bed. Maybe take some medicine for my throat and my headache. I took some last night before bed but I don't think it helped. But I am thinking positive thoughts. Which might be contributing to my current headache.

September 29, 2014

Last night I didn't sleep very well and I blame it on not being sufficiently tired when I went to bed. I woke up several times throughout the night. The first time I woke up I was convinced it was close to six o'clock and that my alarm was about to go off. It wasn't much later than two o'clock.

This morning brought the official end to the first round of MAP testing after I printed off the last set of reports for the sixth grade teacher. I still need to update my spreadsheets with the percentiles for the sixth grade but after that I'll be all caught up. Thank goodness.

This morning I went down and helped with second grade reading centers for the first time this year. It looks like I'll be doing it on Monday and Friday. I also believe I'll be helping with literacy centers in kindergarten on Tuesday and Thursday. Second grade centers went well. I don't know if they will always go well but it was a good first impression. The best part was when one kid kept talking to the girl next to him when they were supposed to be reading quietly. His friend kept saying “shhh” but when that didn't work he finally asked “Do we need to switch seats?” His friend thought about it for a second and then they switched seats. It was quiet after that. And it was really funny.

One of the first grade classes came to the lab today and they are still taking forever to get logged in. At least the back row where I always am. It is rough. The teacher gets the first two rows logged in but I think she is doing it for them most of the time, which I am not doing. I'm telling the back row what to type but I'm not doing it for them. Or maybe the teacher isn't doing it for them and it is just a coincidence that the kids that don't quite get computers all ended up in the back row. Who knows. They'll probably get the hang of it by Christmas and then forget it all over break.

In other productive news, I continued work on the bingo game. I finished digitally cutting out all the pieces but there aren't enough to fill out the board on the last two games. The resource teacher was gone today so tomorrow I'm going to ask her if she wants to pick out some more words or if she wants me to double up on some of them.

I also started recreating a worksheet for one of the second grade teachers. She's been using the worksheet for several years now and it was originally on colored paper. Every year that she copies it the page gets darker and darker so the kids are having trouble reading it and the teacher is having trouble reading what the kids are writing. So she asked for me to make a new one, which I did. I technically finished but now I am adding some numbered lines to it as a bit of guidance for the kids.

I also edited a flier for one of the resource teachers. Or I guess now she is more of a Boys & Girls Club person. Either way, she had a flier and wanted me to make some changes to it. It was kind of a pain because it was made in Word and every time I tried to adjust something, everything else on the page shifted. I came very close to just recreating the whole thing in Publisher but I eventually managed. The teacher brought me a big box of Cheez-Its earlier in the day as a 'thank you' for setting up her computer last week. That was pretty nice of her.

Instead of going to the old house after work I went to the new house so I could work on school stuff and not be distracted by the internet. Instead I was distracted by the dogs being annoying. And maybe an episode of Chips. Tanner and Beau almost got into it over dinner and afterward spent at least five minutes circling each other in slow-mo. Eventually Beau got tired and sat down and Tanner just stood there and stared at him.

After dinner I went over to the old house and have since accomplished nothing. I'm a bit disappointed in myself. Currently the left side of my throat hurts. I am hoping that it is just a passing thing and that I won't wake up in the morning feeling awful and being unable to swallow. That would suck.

I feel like there is more I wanted to write about but at the moment it is escaping me so I am going to call it good. This was a decent entry. Decent enough.

September 28, 2014

In an unsurprising twist, I didn't even attempt to do anything school related today. I slept in, started/played/beat Portal, laid in bed and listened to NPR, and eventually went to dinner for my sister's birthday. I had forgotten how short Portal is. I didn't keep track of how long it took me but I flew through it. It helps that I have beaten it at least once before. It is kind of like riding a bike. Next I need to play Portal 2 again because I remember that one being longer, probably harder, and a lot funnier thanks to the voice acting talents of Stephen Merchant. I would have played it today but I was listening to stuff on the radio and would have had to choose one over the other.

Before dinner I read a few chapters in a book for fun. And then we went to dinner. My sister picked a Mexican restaurant and I got what I usually get at a Mexican restaurant: something with beans in it, something with cheese in it, and then a side of rice and beans. It always tastes the same and it is never exciting, but it is pretty good. After dinner we went back to the house for cake and ice cream, followed by presents. The stuff I ordered for my sister won't be here until Tuesday so they will be a belated, Chipotle night present on Wednesday.

And that was my exciting, lazy Sunday. I spent so much time lying around in bed that I will probably be up reading more in my book for fun. Or maybe I could start reading the textbook stuff for the coming week. But I probably won't. I don't want to ruin my school-free day.

September 27, 2014

I fixed my whistling toilet last night. I read about it a little and saw that a common cause was a bad seal on the little plunger thing in the tank. There is an actual name for that thing but I'm going to go with little plunger thing. When I got back to the new house I took the lid off the toilet tank and water went everywhere because there was a whole bunch of condensation inside the tank. I guess the water is really cold and the tank is well sealed or something. After I cleaned up all the water I flushed the toilet to see if I could locate the whistle. Previously, every time I flushed the toilet there was a kind of deep, short whistle sound that I thought was happening in the wall. When I flushed the toilet with the tank lid off, there wasn't a whistle. My guess is the tank lid fits so well that it allowed pressure to build up inside the tank. Or maybe the seal was off just enough to cause a whistling noise when air was pulled into the tank every time I flushed. I don't know. I'm not a plumber. But, my toilet doesn't whistle anymore.

I slept in this morning and that was nice. It also felt a bit like Sunday because I didn't work yesterday. After exercising I listening to shows on NPR and wrote my discussion post for my research class. Then, I ate lunch. I thought about having leftover spaghetti, which I made last night for dinner, but instead I just went with a normal lunch.

After lunch I buckled down and made real progress on my reflective journal for my other class. It doesn't necessarily feel like my greatest work but I'm actually writing, which is a good start because I'm pretty far behind. I made it about halfway through the first entry today and if all goes well, I should be able to finish it up tomorrow and send it off to my professor so he can read it over, critique it, and put me on the right path. That is the goal anyway.

I played a little Fable: The Lost Chapters this afternoon. It was probably one of my favorite Xbox games. Easily in my top three. At one point I bought The Lost Chapters and ended up breaking the game by exploiting a glitch to make a bunch of money, and lost my save data before I ever made it to the extra bits added by The Lost Chapters. This time it would be nice to make it all the way through. I played a little yesterday and ended up having to replay most of the beginning Guild stuff over again because I stopped in the middle of it and it didn't save. Today I finished that up and beat the first quest after leaving the Guild, so hopefully that will save.

Tonight I went over to my dad's house for my sister's birthday dinner. Her actual birthday is tomorrow. I ate way too much food. Way too much. I had a veggie burger, big baked potato, pasta salad, coleslaw, an ear of corn, a piece of peanut butter chocolate cake, and some tutti frutti ice cream. It was all delicious and way too much. Tomorrow I believe we are having another birthday dinner with my mom and hopefully not as much food is involved.

September 26, 2014

This morning I woke up a six o'clock like I do every day during the week but I actually got out of bed, rather than just laying there and listening to the radio for awhile. I made it to the dentist's office slightly early which is pretty good because I wasn't quite sure how long it would actually take me to drive there from the new house.

I didn't have to wait too long before getting called back and the appointment went well. The actual cleaning part went really fast and it didn't hurt at all. I told the lady cleaning my teeth that apparently they weren't lying about that whole flossing thing. I floss pretty much every day and it turns out it hasn't been a waste of time. I knew it had been a little while since my last visit but it had actually been almost five years. That is kind of ridiculous. But, despite that long absence, the lady cleaning my teeth and the dentist both said my teeth looked better than most people that come in every six months. So that's pretty cool. I had already scheduled an appointment in six months, and then the dentist told me that I could probably go a year and be fine, but I kept my appointment because I want to be more responsible about my teeth. And act like more of an adult. And I'm already paying for the visits through insurance so I might as well take advantage of that.

It was a little bit after 7:30AM so I went over to the old house for a bit before heading down to the courthouse, where the DMV is now located, to change my address. I got right in, only waited a few seconds, but was then reminded that I needed a piece of mail to prove that I actually did live at my new address. So I left, went back to the new house to get some mail, and then went back to the courthouse. This time I had to wait about a minute before being helped. I didn't really want to pay twelve bucks to get a new license made so I just had them give me a piece of paper that I will now carry around with me for the next year and a half or so. I don't know that yellow receipt paper lasts that long but we'll just hope I don't need to prove my address in a driving situation between now and my renewal date. From the DMV I walked across the hall and updated my voter registration with my new address and found out where my new voting place is. I liked the people at my old place so hopefully they are just as friendly at the new place.

On my way home I went to Target to buy things. My main goal was a squeegee for my shower. There was one for six or seven bucks and then there was the Target brand for two bucks. I went for two bucks. I also bought food stuff. I looked at DVDs because I want to get more seasons of Big Bang Theory and Modern Family but now that I got the digital antennae my mom is watching that more than DVDs and I don't really watch much TV as it is and was really only watching the DVDs during dinner. And Target didn't have them at a competitive price so I wasn't compelled to buy anything.

I was really not productive at all with the rest of my day. I had such a strong start but then it all went downhill. I finished reading the research chapter for this week and then watched the lecture video. I fully planned to write my discussion post for this week but then forgot my textbook when I came over to the new house. I could have written something just about the video and then saved the textbook stuff for tomorrow but I used my forgetful mind as an excuse not to do anything. Unsurprisingly, I made no progress on my reflective journal. I start looking at the assignment and it just becomes overwhelming. It is becoming a problem.

So tomorrow my goal once again is to write my first reflective journal entry. I for sure need to write my discussion post for my research class but that will be fairly easy. That doesn't mean I won't drag it out all day and use it as an excuse for not writing my reflective journal, but it should be fairly easy.

September 25, 2014

The sixth graders managed to finish their MAP tests today. They came in for about an hour first thing in the morning and the ones who didn't finish came back after the evacuation drill and finished. All of my worry was for naught. Although it was still well placed because things could have gone bad.

Speaking of the evacuation drill, we had that this morning. My first year I walked with all the kids but last year I rode with the librarian and some other people down to the building where we evacuate to. I did the same this year. I don't really serve much purpose there. I helped the music teacher move a table out into the lobby and then I handed rosters to the librarian as classes walked up so she could ask the teachers if they had all their kids. Then I helped the music teacher put the table back where we got it. Such a vital role.

In the afternoon we had our lock down drill and I wandered down to the library slightly beforehand because that is where I have gone the past two years. The first year I was locked in a closet with a group of fifth graders and the library aide. That didn't go well. Last year I think it was just the librarian, the library aide, and myself in the closet. This year there was a second grade class in the library and they did a really good job. Not a single peep. A group went in the closet, some went under a desk, and I sat with a couple against the wall that the door is on. Had someone gotten in the library, we would have been screwed. It took the cop and the principal awhile to find the other two groups. After they found us they asked if there was anyone else in the library and I responded with “I'm not a snitch.” It was kind of funny. I learned later that one of the kindergarten teachers put a sign on his door that said something about the room was under quarantine due to a smallpox outbreak. He said he could tell when the principal and cop made it to his room because he could here both of them start laughing when they saw the sign.

In the event of a real lock down, I would be kind of screwed if I was in the lab. Especially if I had a class. And even more so if I was alone with that class, which I frequently am, because I don't have a key. Speaking of, I was locked out again this morning. But back to the lock down, I wouldn't be able to lock the lab so I would need to run next door to the music room if they hadn't already locked the door, which they probably already would have. My other option would be the two bathrooms down the hall. And hope that the cause of the lock down isn't nearby because it is kind of an exposed route. I need to talk to the principal about it and see what her thoughts are.

When there wasn't a safety drill or MAP testing, I had a few classes in the lab and I worked on other things. I finished up editing pictures for the kindergarten teacher, I printed off MAP scores for one of the teachers and the Boys & Girls Club / math enrichment teacher, I worked on my spreadsheets, and I continued working on the bingo game. I have finished completely finished two sets of boards, I finished cutting out the pictures for the third set of boards today, and after I get those made I will only have one set left. I'm getting there.

I didn't have a visit with the new volunteer kid tonight. I texted him yesterday because I couldn't remember if we were going to try and hang out last night or tonight. He said tonight. But when I texted him today I never hear back from him. So that's great. I'm saving on gas money but I also kind of look like a delinquent volunteer because we've only had one visit in two months or so. It is hard trying to find time in a seventeen year old's school and work schedule.

I kind of used my time productively and read half of the next research chapter. I called it good after that because it was putting me to sleep. And then did nothing with the rest of my night. Nothing of consequence anyway.

Tomorrow morning I have to wake up early for a dentist appoint. Then I want to go to the DMV and get a new license with my new address on it. And then my goal is to write my first reflection journal so I can send that to my professor and get feedback on it so I can jump into the next two entries with a little less fear and uncertainty. I also heard back from both of the university librarians so I need to read over those, see if I have any follow-up questions, and maybe start thinking about writing my paper based on those interviews. I haven't decided who's interview I'm going to use yet. If I think I can work both in I might email the professor and see if that is something I would be allowed to do. Tomorrow has the potential to be a really productive day. I really hope I can get that reflective journal done. I need to pull the trigger on that already. Take the leap and go for it.

September 24, 2014

Today was a really quiet day. My first class went on a field trip today so they obviously didn't come down to the lab. My second class never showed up because they had a substitute and the teacher accidentally wrote down that the class was supposed to have PE. When it turned out they did, the substitute got flustered and just took the class out for recess instead. I had my next two classes but then I was done for the day. And besides not having classes in the lab, there weren't any classes in the music room next door until late this afternoon and half of the classes in the building had various field trips today so there wasn't a lot of traffic outside the lab. Time just seemed to kind of float on by.

I spent most of my day finishing up the magnifying sheets for the resource teacher. I can't remember how many I made but I think it was around twelve or fourteen. There was a lot of getting close to my screen to adjust things and then staring really closely at the printed pages to make sure everything was correct. Size three font is incredibly tiny. The original one that I was copying the idea from had size four font, which maybe I should have gone with, but three was the smallest size that was still easily legible. With a magnifying glass at least. Which the kids will have. I probably should have borrowed one from the resource teacher. She wasn't around when I finished so I just left the finished sheets on her desk, but I need to stop by in the morning to see if she's happy with everything.

I also added printers and pinned stuff to the taskbar for one of the paras who now works for Boys & Girls Club but still works out of the resource room, although she moved to the second room in the resource room. I don't know, it's strange, but she got a new laptop and she's been having me do stuff to it so it is easier to use and makes more sense to her.

Near the end of the day I started working on editing the pictures I took of one of the kindergarten classes yesterday. I did the same thing last year and the teacher uses their portraits for various things. Sometime soon we should be getting in the school pictures so I can make sub charts again but the kindergarten teacher wants the pictures for literacy centers which start next week, so I'm getting these ready until the official ones come in. I made it about halfway so I should be able to finish up tomorrow unless the sixth graders take all day to test. Which might happen.

I wanted the sixth graders to come in this morning and I emailed the principal about it yesterday but she didn't actually see the email until ten minutes before school was out this afternoon. So tomorrow could possibly be a rather long day of watching kids test. Some of them have so far to go. Part of me kind of hopes one or two are absent just to show that not testing until the final few days doesn't give you enough wiggle room for absent kids or ones that take forever to test. I think there was at least one test last year where I blocked off the last day to force teachers to sign up earlier to give us that buffer. The principal mentioned doing that again for the next test. It's kind of like giving me a month to do something. It may only take me an hour or two to do that something but I'm going to drag it out that whole month. There are some teachers that will use all the allotted time you give them, including the last day. And there are some kids that will take several hours to take a test if you don't give them a time limit. Thankfully most of those kids get a decent enough score that it kind of makes up for the fact they took so long. But sometimes it is only a few points above a kid that took the test in well under an hour. At some point it just isn't worth spending an extra two or three or four hours to get an extra couple of points.

After work I picked up dinner and then stopped by the old house for awhile before heading back to the new house for Chipotle night. We talked about our days a little bit but most of the conversation was about grandma stuff and how crazy that whole situation is.

Near the end of dinner the UPS guy showed up. I was hoping UPS would come around earlier at the new house but it was nearly seven o'clock when he came tonight. I'm hoping he just got confused by the address since it is a brand new house. We'll see the next few times I order something. Anyway, the UPS guy delivered the digital antenna I bought. I wasn't expecting miracles and that is a good thing. There were a couple channels that almost came in, a FOX channel that was watchable but the aspect ratio kept changing and there was a lot of interference, and there was one good channel. And it was the channel that the guide I found online said would be the weakest. Weird. I'm a little annoyed that PBS won't even kind of come in. But I don't really watch much TV anymore so I don't really care. I just want the internet. My sister spotted cable flags up at the top of the cul-de-sac so that seems to be a good sign. The original estimate was the middle of September, which didn't happen, so maybe sometime next month. I would be okay with that.

Tonight I came over to the old house to write this and watch the latest episode of Doctor Who. When my mom canceled the cable over here they said she had ten days but they apparently took the all of the channels away almost immediately because Doctor Who didn't record last Saturday. Thankfully I can watch it online. I liked this latest episode. No one died, at least not any of the characters they spent time introducing, which is unique for series eight so far.

Now I am going to go to bed because I have a headache and I think a major contributor is the fact that I spent most of my day intently staring at a computer screen. And my glasses still kind of bother me. So that combination is a killer. Sleep will be nice.

September 23, 2014

I'll start with something that I keep forgetting to mention. The other day at my grandma's house we were all standing around the kitchen so my dad could bring us up to date. That ended up being fairly pointless because there wasn't much to tell. But, at one point my dad said “Now, if there's anything I'm supposed to get and you're interested in it, we can negotiate. You just have to be nice to me for a week and you can have it.” While my dad was saying this my brother was off in the living room doing whatever but after my dad says the negotiating bit my brother chimes in with “Well, I'm not getting shit.” It was probably the funniest thing my brother has ever said.

Last night when I got home I could hear a cricket inside the house. I knew it was inside the house because it got louder when I entered the house and shut the door, and it continued to get louder the farther I made it downstairs. I then noticed two dark spots on the carpet about halfway down the hallway. I put my stuff down, grabbed a cup, and turned on the lights. And there were in fact two crickets just hanging out in the hallway. I actually saw one of them shaking or vibrating its legs to make the cricket sound. I don't know that I've ever seen that in real life so that was pretty cool. I don't know the mating habits of crickets but in my mind they just got done doing the deed because they both seemed a bit lethargic. Only after I put the cup over one of them did it start to jump around a little. But the other one, which was less than six inches away, just sat there while I caught the first one, so I slowly slid the cup over and caught that one under the cup, too. Then I slid something under the cup so I could pick it up and go outside. I walked to the edge of the patio and then chucked the crickets as far as I could into the yard. I didn't want them getting back inside the house or creeping up right next to the house under my window. Crickets don't create a sound that is known for lulling people to sleep.

This morning the sixth graders took their second MAP test and more of them finished than I was expecting. Including the girl who took several hours to finish one of her tests last year, which included falling asleep and sitting on the floor. I teacher is gone this week so I sent an email to the principal about trying to have the kids come in tomorrow to work on the tests they haven't finished so we aren't leaving it until the last day. But I never heard back so I guess we're just going to cross our fingers. I think at least one kid didn't make it halfway through either test, a couple others probably didn't make it halfway through the Reading test and one of those kids was absent today so he'll also have to take the Math test. If they don't end up coming in tomorrow I am foreseeing a very long day of testing on Thursday. I can't wait.

After the sixth graders test one of the first grade classes came in so they could finish up their tests. More than half of the kids needed to finish at least one part of a test, some of them two parts, but everyone managed to finish. Minus the kid who is apparently gone all week. He only managed to finish the first part of each test so he won't actually be getting a full score on either test. Oh well. He'll have two more chances to take MAP tests this year.

In my downtime today when I wasn't working on my spreadsheet, I continued work on the bingo game for one of the resource teachers. I also started on working on another game for her. Half of the page has a picture on it with really tiny words on it, an the other side of the page has spaces to fill in the words that the kids find (words with long e, bossy r, oi & oy, and whatever else). This is a game because the kids get to use a magnifying glass to find the words. It's actually a pretty cool idea. Today I had time to make the sheets for each set of words and get the picture in. Now I just need to go through and put the tiny words on the pictures. I'm using clip art animals and stuff but I'm also making at least one extra one with a TARDIS and maybe a couple with a jigsaw puzzle and a maze. I might be able to finish tomorrow but the bingo game is still going to be awhile.

I heard back from the university librarian today. He said because he is an assistant dean most of his days are filled with meetings and other administrative stuff so he wanted to know if I wanted him to get me in touch with a librarian who actually works with patrons. I said I would because that would give me a better sense of what my first job after school might be like, but I still wanted to interview him to get the administrator perspective as well. I've never really been interested in being the boss and dealing with all of the office politics. That is where the money is in most jobs but it doesn't seem to be my thing. But, I would like to see what drew him to that position. Maybe I'll find out that it is actually an interesting job. I want to be a librarian so I can be a librarian and help people, not be a boss, but maybe being a boss is fun, too. So, now I have sent him the interview questions and I am waiting to hear back from the other librarian to see if he wants to schedule an in-person interview or if it would be more convenient for me to email him the questions. I am shocked at how on schedule I am with this. The paper I have to write isn't even due until October sixth.

After work and for the rest of the night, I accomplished nothing. Not even a little something. I have yet to write my reflective journal and that is really going to bite me. I need to knock one out so the professor can read it and steer me in the right direction, and the longer I wait the more obvious it is going to be that I am way behind with my entries. We have Friday off from work and I don't get to sleep in because I scheduled a dentist appointment for seven o'clock because a month or two ago when I scheduled it I wasn't aware of the school schedule. So, that would give me all day to knock out at least one of my entries. I'm going to have to re-read the chapters for a third or fourth time but it will be worth it if I can just get that first entry done. He gave us a long list of sentence starters and I think I'm just going to pick one at random to get a paragraph going. That sounds like a good plan. I just need to do it.

Now it is nearly ten o'clock and I am going to head back to the new house. Last night I went to bed way too late. Tonight I will do better. I also want to read a little. Something not behind the cover a textbook.

September 22, 2014

It is late and today wasn't too eventful so hopefully this will be short.

I was locked out of the lab again this morning. I guess that's just a thing now. A very annoying thing.

The sixth graders had their MAP test this morning. They had a substitute who cut them off at an hour and fifteen minutes and a lot of them had yet to finish. At least one of them wasn't even halfway. Tomorrow they will be taking their second test. Hopefully they aren't cut off so soon. Thursday is the last day for testing and the teacher scheduled a make-up/finish time for that day but there are some kids who are going to need to come in on Wednesday and probably for a marathon session on Thursday. The sixth grade teacher put off at least one or two of his tests until the last day of the testing window last year and got lucky that no one was sick. He's got some really slow test takers this year so we may be pushing it.

The rest of the day was fairly normal with classes in the lab and working on the bingo game for the resource teacher in my downtime. If there was anything worth mentioning it isn't coming to mind now.

Tonight I went over to my grandma's to hang out with my sister and dad while my dad worked on my grandma's car to make sure it will run when she comes back into town. A little while after I showed up my brother stopped by with his plumber friend to fix the kitchen sink faucet. Both the car and the faucet are now good to go. My dad, sister, and I took the car for a spin around town, with me behind the wheel, to make sure the car was actually going to continue being good to go. We drove all over the place for about a half an hour before returning to the house so I could come write this.

And now I have done that so I am going to go back to the new house so I can go to bed. Six o'clock is going to come way too early.

September 21, 2014

I slept in late and then spent the rest of my morning and a portion of my afternoon writing the annotations for my bibliographies. I hated summarizing and writing abstracts in college and my feelings have not changed. I'm not a fan. But I got the job done and I think it turned out well. Hopefully I wasn't completely wrong. I just submitted it and now I'm feeling a bit anxious. School is real.

Tonight I went over to my grandma's house for another family meeting. My grandma and aunt were in town this weekend and my grandma's sister and her daughter came over. We weren't really invited. They went through a stuff and took some things. This bothered my sister because they were going through kitchen stuff and it was supposed to be my aunt taking stuff and then my sister. Things are still so up in the air though. There is an attempt at a game plan but everyone just seems to be winging it. Or flip flopping to use a political term, because why not. I just want it to all be settled so we can go back to the new normal. It would be nice if the family up here, the one that spent the most time with my grandma and has done the most for her, could at least feel a little more in the loop. It feels like everyone is kind of picking over stuff and then whatever they don't want is going to go into the auction. Like we don't exist. I made a joke tonight that they can take what they want and we'll just show up at the auction and buy what we want. I obviously want my grandma to have all the stuff she wants because it is all her stuff. But if there is stuff that someone in the family wants and it ends up in an auction because we are kind of being forgotten in the stress of everything, I'll be a little annoyed and disappointed.

My dad said they would be coming up again sometime soon to look at Christmas stuff. That makes me a tad nervous because back when we were told to go through and take whatever we wanted in the house, I went through the Christmas stuff and pulled out all the Santas that my grandma and grandpa made. I put them in bags but ended up bringing them back when the rules changed and we weren't supposed to take anything. They were on the kitchen table and on one of the visits it was decided that whatever was on the table could be taken. So my sister brought me the Santas. And now I have all of them and I'm thinking that maybe I should have only taken a few that I wanted. When I originally pulled them all out it was mostly out of fear that they were going to be sold in the auction because that was back when whatever wasn't taken was going to be sold. Now it is kind of back to that but not quite as severe. Sort of. Anyway, it will probably become fairly obvious that all the painted Santas are gone and that will be awkward. But whatever, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

Regardless of what happens, my grandma sold the house this weekend, so time is getting short. Things are going to start happening at an accelerated place whether people want them to or not.

I feel like a lot of that stuff was a bit rambly but I'm not going to read back over it because it is after ten o'clock and I need to get back to the new house so I can go to bed. This coming week will see the end of MAP testing until Winter and will also hopefully see me writing my reflective journal over the readings for one of my classes. I heard back from the middle school librarian I emailed and found out she has a degree in elementary education with a certification or something as a librarian, so she won't work for the interview. But she did recommend a high school librarian so I will try them maybe if I don't hear back from the university librarian. Or if I don't try the other university librarian that I talked to a few years ago. I'm going to stop typing now because time is still passing.

September 20, 2014

I wrote the following paragraph on my laptop Thursday night when I got back to the new house but forgot to put it in my Friday entry. So here it is:

On my way home Thursday night I witnessed a bit of a domestic dispute. As I came up to the street I needed to turn onto I saw a truck on that street, stopped at the light. I had to slow down quite a bit for the turn and as I went by the truck I saw a lot of movement in the cab of the truck, which had the lights on, possibly due to the passenger door being opened. I kept going up the road but at a creep and when I looked in my rear view mirror the passenger door opened up completely and a girl got out. As soon as the light turned green, she ran across the street and was slowly followed by the truck. I was very tempted to turn around but it was all happening along a busy road and now under the bright lights of a car dealership. I feel my decision not to get involved was a wise one. It was much too late for me to try to figure out the situation going on between two people that probably hadn't been sober for several hours. Plus, all the traffic on the road and the relative closeness of the police station. Hopefully all turns out well.

Today I got to sleep in a little bit. I kept waking up but just laid there until I fell asleep again. I called it quits around 8:45 but it was still nice.

I had a big school day. I read both chapters in my research book and wrote my discussion post, which I posted tonight when I came over to the old house. I also spent quite awhile tracking down a vague memory of studies about giving incentives to study participants and how it can affect their performance, because someone mentioned something in their post about incentives. I ended up finding similar studies and the theories the studies were either based on or helped develop (Overjustification Effect, Self Determination Theory, and Cognitive Evaluation Theory). I think the study I was remembering involved two groups of people doing really menial tasks, like moving blocks from one spot to another over and over again. One group was paid at the end and the other was not. And the group that wasn't paid ended up having a higher level of satisfaction because they had to come up with some sort of internal justification for doing such menial work. While the group that got paid had lower satisfaction because the amount they got paid wasn't enough to justify what they had spent their time doing. Or I could be completely wrong. I don't know.

I emailed the two librarians that the school librarian told me about so hopefully at least one of them will get back to me and I can send them the interview questions.

I didn't get around to emailing my partner because by the time I remembered, I couldn't get into my work email account, which has all the librarian responses I got from the public libraries I emailed, so I'll need to email her tomorrow. I also didn't get around to writing my annotations for my bibliography because I went in a bit deep to looking up the Psychology stuff on incentives. So I will need to do that tomorrow. I think my plan will be to write both annotations while I'm still at the old house so I don't have to worry about getting distracted by the internet.

Today I got tired of looking up the definition of words on my phone, mainly because I'm tired of using data on my phone. So today I broke out my big dictionary and thesaurus. Both of which were on the bottom of my giant stack of books and were a pain to get out. But I managed it and today I probably used my dictionary more than I have since I bought it.

September 19, 2014

I started my workday once again locked out of the lab. It was more annoying after I went and got a key and got into the lab, only to find out one of the math enrichment teachers was in the office on the other side of the lab. She had to use her key to get into the lab but didn't unlock either door after she got in. Nice. I want to ask the principal if maybe we can get a fake rock to put outside of the lab and hide a key in it. This year I think I've already been locked out more than I was in the previous two years combined. It's getting old.

There weren't any scheduled MAP tests today but I did have a few second graders finish tests during the regular lab time and a fourth grader come in on his own. I used that time to stand in the back of the lab and read one of the articles about library design for my assignment. I wasn't able to finish it because it is kind of long but it did save me some time and made the testing go by a little faster.

I updated my testing spreadsheets a little bit but spent most of my day working on the bingo thing for the resource teacher. She came down to the lab to tell me she liked the test one and then told me what she wanted the final boards to look like. It's a bit of a process going through and cutting out each picture in Gimp and saving them without a background so I don't have to worry about them messing with the borders I made. But, MAP testing is almost over so I'll need projects to fill all my free time, so tedious is good.

At the end of the day I went and talked to the school librarian to see if she knew who I could email for my interview assignment. She gave me the name of a middle school librarian and one that works at the university library. I plan on emailing both of them and if I get lucky enough to get responses from both, I'll use whichever one gives me the best answers. I'm interested in what both of them have to say so hopefully they both respond.

After work I stopped by the old house before going to the new house for dinner. While I ate I watched a few episode of Big Bang Theory. In the episode from the first season when Leonard's mom visits, she mentions my grandpa's theory when she is talking to Penny. I don't think I ever noticed that before, so that is pretty cool.

I spent the rest of my night here, at the old house. I finished reading the library design articles and wrote the bibliographies for them. That just leaves the annotations for each, which will be the hard part. I'm not a fan of summarizing things. Writing abstracts back in college was the worst and this is kind of the same thing. But hopefully it will be easier. I'll probably end up having to reread the articles at least once before I can write anything coherent.

Tomorrow my plan is to finish reading the two chapters for this week's research discussion and rewatch the video lecture. And then write my discussion post. If I end up being really productive there is a chance I can also write my annotations tomorrow but I'm not very confident that will happen. The plan is to save the annotations for Sunday. One thing that I have completely neglected is the reflective journal. It is going to become very obvious that I am way behind when I send the first one to the professor for him to look over. Maybe I should include the annotations tomorrow and work on the reflective journal tomorrow. I should be on my third one and I haven't even written the first.

September 18, 2014

This morning when I got to work I was locked out of the computer lab so I had to turn around and walk back to the office, which I had just left, and borrow a key to get in. After going around and turning on each computer and then logging into all of them, I noticed that it was kind of hot. Yesterday afternoon the maintenance guys were working on the system for the whole building and it left the lab freezing. And this morning it was the opposite. I went over to check and it was turned off and I couldn't turn it on, but the vents were kind of leaking hot air. I went up to ask the office lady if they were still working on the system because the lab was hot and the thermostat wasn't working. She said she thought they were so went back to the lab.

I set up all the tests for the first class and still had some time so I printed off the bingo game thing I was working on for one of the resource teachers and took it up to her. She liked it and mentioned something about cutting out the pictures she wanted to put on the grid and then copy it. I suggested having myself just do it on the computer so she could have better looking color copies. So that has become my next project.

I also had time to stop by the sixth grade teachers room because he sent me an email saying his laptop was experiencing a trust relationship issue. I showed him how to fill out the trouble ticket for it and then headed back to the lab.

It was getting hotter so I propped the doors open with a couple reams of paper. The first class came in to take there test and the teacher noticed the heat but the kids didn't. I assume their tiny bodies are better equipped to handle the heat. Or at least be less susceptible to noticing it inside because they spend all there time running around at recess. I don't know. Moving on. Shortly after the test started the music teacher came over to see how hot it was. She said she was concerned because it was the first time she had seen me without my hoodie on. She brought over her two doorstops so we could get the doors open wider and also brought in two big box fans. At this point the custodian stopped in and felt the heat and a little while later the principle took one step in, said “oh, yeah” and turned around. I think she and the custodian both called the maintenance guys and not too long after the vents opened up and cool air started coming out. By the end of the first test it was feeling almost back to normal but I ended up leaving the doors open and the fans going through the second test.

The rest of my day was pretty boring. I worked on the bingo thing and left an example for the resource teacher. I'll have to stop up there tomorrow and get her thoughts. I spent the rest of my time working on my MAP spreadsheets. I copied my spreadsheet from last year and just cut out all the names and test scores and retyped the classes. With differing class sizes I ended up deleting rows here or adding them in there which screwed up my equations. This means I am having to go through and manually edit each equations to include the missing rows or erase the reference errors I'm getting for rows that were deleted. It is kind of a pain.

After work I went over to the old house. I didn't really accomplish much but I did watch about thirty seconds of a video on how to change the light socket in a lamp. The switch on one at the new house broke so I took it apart and struggled with it last night but couldn't get the socket apart. I looked up a video today and right off the bat the dude said the socket was just crimped together so you just had to wiggle it a little. Wiring a lamp is super basic so I stopped the video there. I took the socket off of a lamp in the basement of the old house and when I got to the new house I took the broken lamp apart again. This time it was a little easier because I also learned how to take the lampshade off without having to unscrew anything. It was still a struggle getting the socket apart but knowing that it wasn't fastened in somewhere and that I just needed to wiggle and tug gave me the confidence I needed to pull pretty hard on it. And it eventually popped apart. I was then able to take it off and swap it out with the one I had brought with me. When I got it all back together the switch clicked nicely and the light came on. Hooray.

I went and saw the new volunteer kid tonight. It was the first time in over a month since we've had a visit. I can't even remember the last one. When I got there he had just gotten the keys to a new car. Or at least a new-to-him car. And it was apparently his second car. He only just got the first car but then the car he actually wanted turned up so he got it. He ended up driving us to Sonic which was weird. It was also weird sitting in the passenger seat and having him order. I think he was fifteen when I first got the case, maybe, and he's obviously older now, about to graduate high school, but he still seems too young to be driving. I feel the same way about my brother and he's eighteen and in college. After we got our drinks we headed back and I ended up standing around while he vacuumed out the car and then talked to some guy who he knew somehow. With all the standing around it ended up being an hour and fifteen minute visit. Other than getting the car he said his life was pretty much the same, just school and working a lot, but I think he's looking into getting a new job. I also learned that his sister smokes, and she's maybe fourteen or fifteen, I think. Way too young to be smoking, although no one should be smoking to begin with, regardless of their age.

My trip is shorter from the new house, somewhere just under forty miles, round trip, instead of around forty-five miles. I also get there in eighteen minutes, which is also an improvement. One to be expected considering my drive is slightly shorter.

When I got back I came to the old house and read one of my articles that I will need to make an annotated bibliography for. My goal is to read the second article tomorrow and then at least get the bibliography part done for both. On Saturday I will finish reading the chapters for my other class, rewatch the lecture video, and write my discussion post. Then on Sunday I can write the annotation part of the bibliographies. Probably after rereading the articles. Hopefully that all goes smoothly because it is due on Monday. I also need to track down the email address of the librarian I spoke with a couple years ago and see if I can send her my interview questions. Or just talk to the librarian at school and have her refer someone. And compile the information I learned from the public libraries about newspapers and email my partner. I need to get more of this stuff checked off my list.

September 17, 2014

This morning was picture day. I doubled checked my pictures from the last two years to make sure I didn't wear the same shirt. When I got to school I walked in the building, dropped my stuff off in the library, and then walked back out to my car because I had forgotten my ID badge. Then I walked back into the school, clocked in, and went back to the library to get my picture taken. This year they took the pictures while we were standing up, which threw me off because they normally have us sit down. I think I was too concerned about that to focus on my smile and I once again went very robotic with it. She showed me what it looked like and I didn't really look at it. Fingers crossed I don't look too goofy. If I do, I'll just put last years picture in the yearbook.

The nurse was there after I got my picture taken and she went for the mullet of dressing up. She had on a very nice top and then scrubs for pants. She was trying to get an opinion on her hair and everyone was in their own conversations with other people so she finally turned to me, exasperated, and asked if everything was working as she motioned in the general vicinity of her head. It was pretty funny.

After pictures I went down to help one of the third grade teachers fill out a trouble ticket for the laptop cart in her room. The same one where I was having to take the battery out of most of them for thirty seconds and then put it back in before it would recognize that there was actually a battery present and turn on. She said she tried to figure out the ticket thing early and couldn't but she did manage to fill out a ticket for the broken screen in her window, which she has been dealing with for at least a few years. She was able to do this because when you first log into the trouble ticket page it puts you in the maintenance trouble ticket tab. You then have to click over to the IT trouble ticket tab. This makes no sense because I'm sure the IT tab is way more popular. Anyway, once I pointed the teacher to the correct tab she was pretty much able to handle things.

There were two MAP tests this morning. The first was a second grade class. After one kid had finished the second and last part of his test I asked him if he wanted to take another one, he said didn't. I responded with “Don't you like taking tests?” And he came back with “Heavens no.” Hearing anyone say “Heavens no” is pretty great but a second grader saying it is the best.

During the second test I had to run up and take some pictures for one of the resource teachers. She needed pictures of her working with kids. I don't know why she needed them but I took a bunch. They were supposed to pretend like I wasn't there taking pictures but one of the kids kept looking up and smiling at me. It was funny and weird.

Shortly after I returned to the test one of the kids caught a case of the giggles. He was writing something for school and apparently thought of something funny and started to laugh. Just a short little laugh before he cut it off. But then it kept happening and it was obvious that he couldn't stop it. After several times the teacher asked him if he was okay or if he needed to go out in the hall. He giggled again and then held up his hands and said “Okay. Okay. I'm fine now.” But a little bit latter he giggled again and the teacher told him to go out in the hall until he could stop. Several minutes after his return there was a very truncated giggle and one of his classmates saved him by saying “bless you”. And then several minutes after that he made another noise, which could have been a giggle but before anyone could say anything he announced that it was just a sneeze. Testing is boring as hell and this made it interesting so I didn't have a problem with it.

The last time I can remember get wrapped up in the infectious giggle thing is way back in college when I went to watch some people (maybe grad students) give presentations over the studies they had done. It was in a fairly small room, there were probably less than fifty people in the room, and I was there with my group from class. I can't remember what started it but one of the girls in my group started laughing and that got the other one going. Eventually we were all laughing. Or trying not to laugh because these people were trying to present their studies. I can't remember but I think one or both of the girls had to excuse themselves for awhile. It has been awhile since I've had a good laugh, let alone an infectious one. I need to hang out with more people.

This afternoon we didn't have any MAP testing but there was a practice ACT test in the lab. I was in the middle of eating my lunch when they came to set things up and I ended up having to stop and help them several times. But everything got sorted out and when it was time for the test everything worked, which hasn't been the case in other schools. One four or five kids were taking the test and one of them was kind of being an ass so the lady administering the test reminded him that it was completely voluntary (their parents had signed them up) and he didn't have to take it if he didn't want to. He said he didn't so she said “Okay, I'll take you back up to class and then call your parents and tell them you didn't want to take the test.” He immediately changed his mind and sat down.

The rest of my afternoon was uneventful. I worked on a project for one of the resource teachers and messed with my MAP spreadsheets. After school I went to Chipotle and Jimmy Johns. On my way to the old house I stopped at one of my banks to do several things. I needed to deposit a check, withdraw money, change my address, and set up online banking. I then went over to my other bank to deposit the money I had just withdrawn and then headed to the old house. I didn't really accomplish much before heading to the new house for dinner.

My sister was a little late because she had been dealing with a plumbing issue at my grandma's house with my dad and brother. But when she showed up we had dinner and talked about all the random things. The conversation lasted until almost eight o'clock because I didn't have a visit with the new volunteer kid tonight. He said he actually had tomorrow night off from work so we are going to attempt a visit if we both manage to remember.

After dinner I met my sister over at my grandma's house so I could help her get the cedar chest out of the house. My grandpa wanted her to have it and we all wanted to get it out before it accidentally ended up somewhere else. We also got the chalkboard that used to be in the garage of my grandparents' old house and my sister and I played with it a lot when we were kids. I also grabbed the board that has the train tracks attached to it.

Then I headed to the old house. I was feeling a little overwhelmed by the annotated bibliography assignment because I mistakenly thought I needed to write one for nine articles. Upon closer inspection I saw that I had nine topics to choose from but only needed to write two annotated bibliographies. That is still a little scary but way more doable. I wanted to go with game-based learning but the article selection was pretty poor. I also probably wasn't searching quite right. Instead, I think I am going with library design. I found two full articles which I think I'll print off tomorrow at work and read through. I also need to finish reading the chapters for my research class this week, re-watch the video, and write my discussion post. He threw in some extra questions we need to answer this week so that is kind of annoying. It shouldn't be too hard though, if I can just finish the chapters. I also need to figure out the librarian interview. I need to email the librarian I talked to a few years ago when I first thought about going to grad school, and see if she'd be interested in answering the questions. If not, I'll ask the librarian at school if she has any suggestions. I would interview her but I think it might be frowned on to interview a coworker. I heard back from the last library I emailed about newspaper subscriptions so I need to compile all those answers and email my partner and see if we can figure out our main goal for the project and how we're going to write things up. Maybe I can do that tomorrow at work. I can't remember what the testing schedule is like.

At the moment it is after eleven o'clock and I need to stop writing so I can go back to the new house and go to bed. It will be so nice when we get the internet over there. It doesn't seem like it will be happening any time soon but I am holding out hope.

September 16, 2014

Today there was only one MAP test but by the afternoon I was kind of wishing there were more. The test was this morning and it went well. One or two kids went faster than they should have, and one girl mysteriously started feeling ill shortly into her test. So it was pretty much a second grade test.

This afternoon I attempted to teach the kindergarteners how to use Odyssey by walking them through the first lesson, which is by far the most boring and hardest for the kids to get through. The plan was for me to go through it on the projector and have them follow along with me. For the first class this worked relatively well for maybe the first half of it. That is when I slowly but surely managed to lose almost all of them. Ten minutes into it the kid sitting next to me looked over and asked me why I was playing little kid games. I just looked back dumbstruck for a second and then said “Because I'm teaching you how to do this. That is what I have been doing for the past ten minutes.” He just said “Oh” and went back to randomly clicking. In the most of them made it through and some of them made it onto the next couple of activities. One kid completely lost it, he had tears and snot all over the place because he got off track and closed the program a couple of times.

The second class held on with me for about as long it took me to show them where their names were at on the home screen. Then the snowball started rolling downhill and gathering speed. Once again there was a kid who completely lost it because he got behind and then closed the program several times and then couldn't handle life. You would have thought his dog died and not that he couldn't click on four highlighted objects on a page. There is a kid that just moved here from Japan last week and he nailed it, while all these other kids were completely bewildered. In the second class I ended up running through the first assignment for five or six of the kids who managed to not figure it out in the thirty minutes they were in the lab.

The plan was well intentioned but I don't even think the first graders could have followed along. Probably not even second graders. Despite that, I think it was worthwhile for at least some of the kids who will at least now have a better idea of what the hell they need to be doing in Odyssey. Hopefully.

Today I became aware of the fact that I have a discussion post due by Sunday, an annotated bibliography due on Monday, an interview with a librarian due in three week, which I think is right after our face-to-face for my other class. And I'm still working on the group assignment. I heard back from one of the other libraries I emailed today and it was good information but complicated my though process a bit. Anyway, my belated awareness of all this made me realize I really need a better system for keeping track of due dates and things. And by 'better' I mean 'a' system. Winging it isn't working for me.

After school I went to the old house to watch the video lecture for this week and then after dinner I came back to work on stuff. I was going to look into the annotated bibliography but ended up writing my application letter for the trip to Scotland this summer. Being a new student I am near the bottom of the heap, just above people who have already been on a trip, and on top of that the odds aren't great because only about ten or twelve people go on each trip which is a small percentage of students enrolled in the program. I would really like to go because I've always wanted to go to Scotland. But a part of me also hopes I don't get picked because I would miss the last week of school. I imagine the odds are good I'll be making another slideshow for the sixth graders, so I would need to bump the due date up for that. And make sure I had all the final MAP stuff done. The end of school is kind of fun and it would be a shame to miss out. But Scotland would be super cool. Sometime in the next year or two they are planning on going to Ireland, so if I don't get Scotland I'll try for that because I also really want to go to Ireland, probably more than I want to go to Scotland. They talked about trying to have trips that fit in better with school schedules because they know a lot of people in the program work in schools, but that is not the case with Scotland. Either way, I'll know in the next ten days if I'm going or not.

I just got off with my friend, who I haven't talked to in awhile. We talked about weird recipes, misguided hiking trips of his youth, parking, and my mom's new house, which is in the same general area of town as his dad's house. But now I am going to finish this up and then head back to the new house so I can go to bed. Tomorrow is picture day so I need to get my beauty sleep. My friend joked that I was probably a few hours too late and I countered with probably a few years. Hopefully it isn't obvious at eight o'clock in the morning when I'm having my picture taken.

September 15, 2014

Today was fairly uneventful. This morning there were two MAP tests and both went off without a hitch. There was a first grade and a second grade class and only a couple kids raced through the test. Everyone got scores though. This afternoon I had to test a fourth grader and a fifth grader out in the hall with laptops because one of the math enrichment teachers had the sixth grade class in the lab. Something I didn't realize when I agreed to having the kids come down. Normally it wouldn't be a problem but there are exactly enough computers in the lab for the massive sixth grade class this year and they were all here today. But it worked out alright in the end. I also had most of the first graders finish up their tests from last week during their lab time this afternoon.

While I was out in the hall with the kids testing I wrote some notes on the case study group project for one of my classes. At the end of the day I had a few minutes so I emailed “Ask a Librarian” on the local public library's website, basically asking how newspaper subscriptions work at a public library. Right after school I went and got a haircut and when I stopped by the old house to grab my Microsoft Office CDs, the librarian had already emailed me back. Her email was very informative and kind of solidified my idea that in the case, our solution should be to keep the most read newspaper. The local library does a cost per use thing twice a year by having people mark down every time they read a paper, which means the more people who read a paper, the less it costs the library. So not only are more people getting the benefit of the paper, the library is getting more out of their money. She suggested I contact some larger libraries to see how they do things, which I plan on looking into tomorrow.

After dinner I installed Microsoft Office on my laptop so I can work on Publisher and PowerPoint stuff for the group project, and I started reading the chapters for this weeks research discussion. Then I came over to the old house to watch some YouTube videos and look things up on the internet. And now, I'm going to go back to the new house and probably read some more before going to bed. Exciting stuff.

September 14, 2014

I slept in pretty late this morning and it was great. Very much needed.

Around one o'clock I went to meet my brother for lunch. We were going to go to a new Asian place but he found out they were closed today so we decided to go to Chipotle. I got there first and the line was past the door and we would have been spending his entire lunch break waiting in line, so we decided to walk over to Jimmy Johns. We talked about his new job, which he seems to be liking but it is his first day, and we talked about school. He is taking seventeen credit hours plus eight hours of firefighting stuff, so that is way too much. I'm good with just the six I'm taking. We probably spent most of the time talking about video games, which is pretty much par for the course because we normally only talk about video games. But it was a good lunch. I don't ever really hang out with my brother and that should change.

After lunch I went over to the old house and spent the rest of my afternoon watching YouTube videos and clicking around the internet. I looked a little bit at school stuff but really I just wanted a day off from that. I miss having constant access to the internet but it is beneficial to my textbook reading. The internet is nice but it is incredibly distracting.

I went home for dinner and watched the original pilot episode of Seinfeld. It is surprising how similar it was to what the show ended up being. So often the pilot looks like an entirely different show but they managed to maintain the same feel with this one. After dinner my mom and I went to put gas in the pickup before returning it to her friend. Then I did some laundry and crocheted a little bit before heading back to the old house to write this and watch some more YouTube videos. I made it below 450 videos on my Watch Later list but it will easily go over 500 as the week progresses. I will never catch up.

I am also currently downloading Portal and Portal 2 to my laptop because earlier today I had the urge to play them. My choice was solidified when I turned on the college radio station and there was a video game music show on that was playing a song from Portal. So now I am waiting for those to finish downloading before I head back to the new house.

This coming week, more MAP testing. No thank you. I also need to work on grad school stuff, hopefully finalize stuff for the small group project and get a start on that. My fingers are crossed for a productive week.

September 13, 2014

Last night after finishing my entry I ended up not looking at case studies or reading a paper. My friend out in California called on his way home from a movie and we ended up talking for forty-five minutes. It was a good talk. We covered movies, politics, Teddy Roosevelt and William Allen White, war, school funding, and other things. Definitely a good talk but it left no time for school stuff. I was kind of okay with that.

I am aware of waking up several times throughout the night but only briefly and other than that I slept pretty well. I brought my small fan that I turn on now at night when I'm at home for the noise so that helped things considerably. It was way too quiet without it so there is no way I would have slept at all if I hadn't brought it.

This morning I got up with my alarm, got ready, and went over to the restaurant attached to the hotel for breakfast. My free meal actually included any breakfast meal or any two sides. I cheese omelet didn't sound appealing or a vegetable omelet that included onions and mushrooms, so I went with sides. A biscuit and a bowl of fruit. Kind of sad, I know. The waitress ended up bringing me two bowls of fruit because she said they looked way too small. This was true and they only contained watermelon and cantaloupe. I really don't like cantaloupe but I ate it. I should have gone with two biscuits because the one I had was really good. While I ate I also read over the case studies for class. So I made up for not doing it last night.

I got to class around 8:30AM and the professor ended up parking next to me so I got to say good morning. So he was at least aware of my existence. When I got up to the room there was still a half hour until class started so I read most of the paper the professor wrote.

We broke into groups for our small group project that will be presented during our next face-to-face weekend. They were supposed to be groups of three but I ended up in a group of two. I'm not entirely confident in my partner, the lady I met last night, but hopefully that will change. We had to sign up for a case study, we got a library needing to weed their newspaper subscriptions. We have to pick out what the dilemma is, write a newsletter/newspaper with different articles acting like different people talking about the issue, and then make a PowerPoint that will cover what we think the solution should be. The writing will be easy enough once we can fully settle on what our dilemma is and what our solution is going to be. We came up with some ideas but I want to think about it some more before making a final decision.

The guy in charge of the international trips, I think the associate dean, came and talked to us about the trips. I want to say he is originally from Ireland but I could be wrong about that. He was pretty funny and also very informative. As far as the trips go, we only have to pay for food, everything else is covered. We technically pay for the plane ticket but we get reimbursed for it, sometimes even before we buy it. The first trip we would be eligible for is Scotland next summer and Serbia and South Africa in the Fall. There is an 'S' theme there. I'm definitely interested in Scotland but not so much the other two. Next year the tentative trips include: Ireland, Northern Ireland, London, Prague, DC, and a roadtrip to several Presidential libraries. We have to apply by Wednesday for this years trips and I might go ahead and do that. We are supposed to put down first, second, and third choices but for this year it would really only be Scotland for me. Next year though they all sound interesting. I always wanted to study abroad in college and never got around to it. This would be more like the trip I took after high school, just ten days, but focused in one area (for the most part) and getting to see old libraries and archives and talk to the librarians and archivists. Very interesting.

For lunch the professor gave us an hour and a half because there was a big street thing nearby where they blocked off a big street for several blocks and there were booths selling stuff and barbecue and fancy cars and music. The professor wanted to give us time to check it out. I didn't want to trust my chances with vegetarian friendly street food so I first stopped at Subway to get a sandwich. Then after eating I walked over to the street to see the sights. I ended up walking about six blocks (and there were still at least two or three blocks beyond that, before turning around and heading back. On my way back I ended up passing the professor and we exchanged some brief words about the weather. This morning it had been around 36 degrees but by this afternoon it had turned into a really nice day.

This afternoon we did the case study stuff, talked about other things, and a woman came and talked to us about using the library databases remotely. It all looked vaguely familiar to the instruction I had in college. The best part was how excited this lady was about databases and searching for stuff. She kind of reminded me of Professor Trelawney, the Divination teacher in Harry Potter. And that is kind of weird because I don't really remember the characteristics of that character, but it popped into my head so I'm going with it.

At the end of class we answered a couple surveys and then went out to stand on the steps as a group and get our picture taken. Then we parted ways. I headed over to Spangles for dinner before heading home. I ended up going back home the way I ended to go last time. There was a point where the road made a ninety-degree turn and you're supposed to go on side road that continues straight instead of staying on the road that is turning. I did that last time and ended up just fine but it added several miles to my trip. This time I went straight and it was an interesting ride. The pavement was alright but the road an undulated or wobbly that it felt like I was on a roller coaster because I kept getting knocked from side to side. But I made it back to town in well under an hour and a half so I will have to try it again. Maybe not when the weather is bad but I'm okay with fair weather.

When I got home I read the chapter for my research class and then came over to the old house to post my response for the week. I also replied to a couple of other people's posts, just in case we need to do that to get full participation points. We had to on the first discussion but it hasn't been mentioned since.

And it is now almost 12:45AM and I am incredibly tired. It kind of sucks that I need to drive all the way back to the new house to go to bed. But I must. Tomorrow I'm going to have lunch with my brother. He still doesn't know when his lunch time is but I am hoping to sleep in so hopefully it isn't too early because I'll probably still be asleep.

September 12, 2014

This morning I woke up at six o'clock. That is what I did for most of last year but then switched to 6:30AM when I lost interest in exercise. By the end of the year it got ever closer to seven o'clock. This year I attempted six o'clock a few times but then settled on 6:30AM. Fascinating stuff. Anyway, I got up early today so I could stop by the mechanic before work to have them look at my tire. Which they did. It was misting outside while the guy looked at it, so that was annoying, but he said the gash in my tire appeared to be mostly cosmetic damage. I guess it is located on the thickest part of the tire and there isn't any sign of bubbling, which would indicate a cut deep enough to compromise the integrity of the tire. He told me to keep an eye out for bubbling but as long as that wasn't happening I should be fine.

That was relatively good news. Good because I haven't been driving on a dangerous tire and I don't need to immediately drop money on replacing it. At some point I will probably replace it, just for my own peace of mind. Then I could maybe keep the tire as a spare, since my car doesn't have one. Despite the news, I still swapped cars with my mom because I didn't want to risk it on the small, winding highways for my trip this weekend.

There was a test first thing this morning and it went pretty well. One of the kids in the class is the one I had to send to the office last year during a test because he became incredibly uncooperative and started clicking random answers and attempted to leave. He is still an awful test taker. Today he would spend at least five minutes on a question, sometimes much more, and after finally picking an answer, would immediately make an exasperated sound and huff in dismay at the first glimpse of the next question. More often than not without even really looking at the question. It was super annoying. I felt bad for the kid next to him, who happens to be the smartest kid in the class. He's in fourth grade now but when he was in second grade the teacher joked that he didn't think the seating chart in the room was working so she told him to do it and he came up with a better one. So this kid, who actually makes an effort of these stupid tests, is elbow-to-elbow with the kid who is constantly moving around and making noise and being distracting. And he still somehow manages to get the highest score in the class. I'm impressed.

After that test I had the second grade classes in the lab. By the end of the second class I was able to finish cutting out my vowel slider things I made for one of the resource teachers. I am happy with how they turned out. Slightly impressed. More so or in a different way than other people might be when they see them because I know how much time I put in to actually measuring everything and making sure it all worked out.

This afternoon there was another test. It went smoothly, no overly annoying kids, and all but one kid managed to finish. I wasn't surprised by this because she was a slow test taker last year as well. That seems to be a fairly persistent trait. If a kid is a slow test taker, they're a slow test taker. I should probably warn teachers about these kids in advance, and the ones who test in the lab but should probably be locked in a room by themselves.

The last class of the day was out of the lab a little while before three o'clock, and after shutting down all of the computers and printing off some stuff for this weekend, I was out of there by 3:15PM. I normally don't adjust another person's drivers seat but my mom is quite a bit shorter than me and there was no way I was going to drive for an hour and a half completely squished behind the wheel. So I adjusted that. But I left everything else the way it is. And, if I forget to move the seat back, or don't even attempt it because I have no idea where it started, my mom won't have to worry about hitting her knee on the steering wheel like I did after she moved my seat forward and forgot to move it back.

My mom didn't have much gas so I filled it up and then headed home to pick up the stuff I packed for this weekend. I didn't bring it with me to school because there was the chance that I would have to leave my car at the mechanic and I didn't want to have to drag it all out. I also wanted to make a sandwich for dinner and grab some snacks.

I was on the road at 4:06PM and the drive went well. I didn't miss the tricky turn like last time when I briefly attempted to turn the wrong way on a one-way off-ramp. In fact, I didn't make a single wrong turn the in the entire trip. I referenced my printed directions several times, just in case, but it was almost as if I knew where I was going.

On the final stretch the speed limit was 65MPH but the line of at least sixteen cars that I was in the middle of only occasionally hit 50MPH, most likely by accident, and spent most of the time around 40MPH. When we eventually got to a widened area with a passing lane, we all sailed by the really old dude in the white suburban who had been leading the parade. Problem solved. Or not. Apparently the Wal-Mart semi next in line wanted to keep the thrills going and he eventually slowed back down to the same speed. It sucked, not helped by the fact that I really had to pee.

I pulled into town at exactly 5:30PM and my first stop was a gas station to use the restroom before heading on to the university library. I parked and ate my sandwich before heading inside around 5:45PM. I thought that would be pretty early but all but a few people were already there. That was unexpected. I ended up take a seat in the back, which I had no problem with because I like the back. A lady sat next to me who moved from Colorado (maybe to go to this school) after thirteen years of being a hairdresser. I'm really impressed with the ability to cut hair, honestly. It seems like someone that should be really simple but it's really not. It's kind of like musicians, they make it look easy.

As for the class itself, it went well. The professor seems like a pretty cool guy and he cracked a lot of jokes which is always nice. I printed off all the slides and stuff before leaving work today and then he proceeded to hand out pretty much everything I had printed off. Whoops. I like being prepared, though, and my printouts were better because they left me room to take notes.

In the second part of the night we broke into small groups to discuss different topics. I actually contributed to the conversation in our small group, although I started to feel a little lost near the end. I didn't chime in during the larger group discussion. To me, joining a conversation feels like double dutch, trying to find the right moment to jump in. I am getting better at doing it in one-on-one conversations and even small groups, but I'm not quite there with large groups yet. Hopefully I still manage to get some participation points out of this weekend.

At the end of the night I managed to find my hotel without a problem, minus a small error in the Google directions. They told me the hotel would be on the left, but there was no place to actually turn left, unless I wanted to drive over the small mound that was a median. I ended up having to drive down to the next intersection and then go through a parking lot to get back on the highway and get to the hotel. But I got there.

I ended up having to wait awhile because there was a chatty guy in front of me. I learned that he is from Alaska and works on a yacht. He doesn't use social media because he “multi-dates” and that wouldn't turn out well. He is here for a birthday/reunion and he brought twenty pounds of salmon and that much or more of lobster. He's got a twenty-six year old daughter and six year old granddaughter. And he uses face-time tech support a lot on the yacht. He also gave wise words of advice to the girl behind the counter who was in training while going to school full time. Those words were basically if you're going through life and everything is easy then you're coasting downhill.

I also learned from the yacht guy that the group of older gentlemen sitting off a ways in the lobby were there for their 50^th class reunion. I really wanted to go over and ask to just sit in on their conversation. I like grandfatherly types. I didn't catch a lot of what they were say but I did overhear one of them say: “The instructor advised me to drop the course after my highest score on anything was a negative twenty.” Hilarious.

My room is alright. Not almost a hundred dollars worth of alright but it's alright. I really just want to go to bed but tomorrow we have to sign up for our small groups that will cover a case study from one of our books. He told us what cases we have to choose from and I want to look them over and maybe pick out some that I would like to do. I probably won't get to sign up until after most everyone else because I'm slow like that, but we'll see. I just hope I don't get stuck with the one about porn in the library.

The professor also gave us a paper he wrote and said we don't have to read it as homework but we could discuss it briefly tomorrow if we wanted to. So I'm going to try and read that. I read the first couple of pages when I got into the room but stopped to write this. It is about his belief that we will never become a completely digital society, which is an interesting topic. But I am also tired. I've got thirty minutes to meet my goal of getting to bed by midnight.

Tomorrow I think I want to wake up around 6:30AM so I can get ready and walk over and check out the free breakfast. I get to order one item for free off the guest menu at the restaurant. Hopefully that item is an actual meal, not just a side of beans or an egg or something. We'll see. I kind of like that it isn't a buffet-type thing where all the good stuff is gone by the time you get there.

Class starts tomorrow at nine o'clock but our adviser (who remembered my name) said she would be there by 8:30AM, so I might try to be there around that time since fifteen minutes early is apparently not that early. I thought class went until six o'clock tomorrow but it is actually five o'clock, which was a pleasant surprise. Although, the class tonight made me wish I was actually in a “normal” class again, not one that is mostly online, because I like the classroom setting. But, the professor believes that the mostly online model with a couple face-to-face meetings is a better system for learning because we have to become self-guided learners. Or something like that.

I've been tired since I started driving down here today, so I'm going to call this good and see if I can look over some case studies and maybe read a paper before going to bed.