January 6, 2015

I haven't had to write it yet but it still feels pretty weird typing '2015'. That sounds much more futuristic than 2014.

A good chunk of my day was spent updating things with new student information. I think there were four or five new kids that the office lady sent out information on today and I went through and edited my score sheets, spreadsheets, and seating charts for MAP and got them into classes in Type To Learn and Compass Learning. And there are supposedly more new kids that aren't officially enrolled yet. It is kind of annoying when you can name all the kids in the school and then some leave and new ones show up. It's a bit taxing on the memory.

This morning sixth grade came to the lab to type and after that I went down to help with kindergarten literacy centers. This afternoon we took a large step with kindergarten and had them log into Compass Learning all by themselves. Mostly. I logged into the computer and brought up the Compass Learning page, but it was the kids' responsibility to type in their lunch number for the username and password. This endeavor would have been impossible if the password was still ridiculously long but most of the kids can handle a five-digit lunch number. Minus one girl in the first class crying (because she cries about everything) it went pretty smoothly. And it should only get better.

My main challenge for the day was figuring out the pull-down projection screen in the music room. There was a substitute in there and the new student intern in one of the third grade classes came over to ask if I could help getting the movie working. That was the easy part because all I had to do was turn on the projector and hit the power button on the DVD player. An issue arose when the DVD player remote wasn't responding to my button presses. I ended up taking the batteries out of the projector remote and got that sorted out. But we needed the projector remote to adjust the volume so I ended up having to go to the office to get new batteries. Before I left the kids want the screen pulled down, instead of watching the movie on the whiteboard, so I pulled it down. But it wouldn't stay down. And it also wouldn't go all the way back up. I lost track of how many times I pulled it down without success. I was about to call for volunteers to sit under the screen and hold it down for the rest of the class so they wouldn't have to watch it half on the screen and half on the board, but on what felt like was going to be my final attempt, I managed to get it to stay down. Which lead to loud cheers and applause from the class. It would be nice if audiences would react that way at the movie theater when I fix a movie.

I wrote my final monthly report for the new volunteer kid today. The case is officially over. There is a chance it could be my last monthly report ever. I was asked if I wanted to take a break or be put back on the available list and I opted to take a break. With two jobs and my second semester of grad school starting soon I wouldn't really have the free time to put in a reasonable effort on a new case. Maybe after it settled down into weekly visits but the beginning of the case involves a significant time commitment, reading over the case and going around to meet all the people involved with the case. It really wouldn't be fair to the kid I got with my attention so divided. So I'm going to take a little break.

After work a text message was sent out saying that school was canceled tomorrow due to the cold weather. It is supposed to be in the single-digits all day with a decent amount of wind. At first it always seems weird to cancel because of cold temperatures because we live in a modern world where school is taught inside in temperature controlled environments. The problem is that a lot of kids walk to school or have to stand outside and wait for the bus. Those kids would free to death. So I get the day off work tomorrow. I'm okay with that.

On my way home I stopped by the grocery store to get 7-UP and crackers for my mom because she started feeling sick. Later in the night she felt better but it's always good to be prepared. I'm not feeling particularly well but I think a lot of that is just the idea that so many kids and adults at work aren't feeling well and that I'm bound to catch something. I'm also still worried about my right kidney. Not that they'll be able to do anything about it but I've got my six-month checkup with my urologist tomorrow. That being six months since the lithotripsy operation. I'll be interested to see how my levels are looking but I'm not expecting any earth-shattering news. It'll just be the same old stuff most likely. I wouldn't be surprised if I were advised to start taking a supplement to increase my citric acid levels because that was the ultimate goal over the last six months and I was definitely not consistent with that. We'll see what the doctor has to say tomorrow.

Tonight I made tater tots to go along with my leftover pasta and while those were cooking I unloaded my car. Today I mostly grabbed books from the old house. One box ended up being an odd assortment of books to keep and books to give away, so that was some extra weight I could have avoided but no sense in worrying about it now. I piled it all up on the kitchen table because my left hand and arm are feeling weak with all of the moving of heavy things. I'll drag it all downstairs tomorrow.

After dinner I spent my night watching DVRed stuff and playing Fantasy Life. Among other things, I watched Hot Fuzz and It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. Both really funny movies. And the latter is packed with so many familiar and funny actors. I don't know their status of celebrity at the time of making the movie but it seems surpising that they were all able to participate in the movie.

Now I'm going to go to bed because it is really late and it is becoming harder for me to keep my eyes open. I am really looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow morning. I'm considering setting my alarm just so I can turn it off and go back to sleep. I also don't want to start that habit so I probably won't engage in that activity, but I'll almost certainly wake up more than once and then roll over and go back to sleep.