March 6, 2015

 We're gonna make this quick because I'm exhausted.

It is almost as if my workday. It went by so fast, and it ended a half an hour early because I had to go home and get my stuff for the weekend. The principal printed out all the state assessment test tickets last night so I spent my day cutting and organizing them. They print out nine per sheet and they were better organized than they were last year but still required a bit of work after they were first cut apart. Last year they came on the sheet in alphabetical order by grade, which sucked because kids generally don't test as a grade, they test in their classes. This year we got them by grade, test subject, and then alphabetical by teacher, which was so much nicer. I still needed to separate the teachers in some cases when they shared a page but my major effort came in separating the tickets by test session.

When that initial bit of organizing was done I went back through and separated out the kids with accommodations from the Reading test because that is what we're starting with next week. I wanted to get that out of the way in case I got sidetracked by something else. I finished that with plenty of time left so I went back and was able to separate out the accommodation kids for each test, which means each session for each test. It was ridiculous but I managed to get it done shortly before I planned on leaving for the day. Next week in between tests I'll work on going back and organizing the tickets for each class based on the seating chart for that class, that way I can have everything set up before the classes get to the lab. It is incredibly tedious to organize them in that way but it makes the setup later on a lot easier.

I was a little late leaving work because as I was about to shutdown the social worker came in and asked if I could get the videos of the basketball game off her iPad. That game being the kids against the teachers and staff. I skipped it to work on tickets, which kind of sucks because it was kind of entertaining last year. Anyway, she gave me the iPad and came back with a cord for it so I plugged it in and started copying all the files to the faculty drive. I had to leave it in the middle but the nurse said she would get the iPad and shutdown my computer when everything was done transferring.

I forgot that this morning, before I started with the tickets, I got “fixed” on of the kindergarten teacher's computers. When he wants to switch from his elmo projector thing to projecting his computer desktop, he's been having to get down on the ground and switch the cords under his desk. The cord he needed was actually already plugged into the elmo it just needed to be plugged into the splitter that was already plugged into the computer. He assumed the splitter didn't work because the last time he tried it nothing happened. I showed him how to spring up the monitor options, detect new monitors, and switch if they are extended or duplicated. It was exactly what he wanted it to be and I'm glad it worked out so easily.

Every time I say I want to make these entries quick I jinx myself. Now twenty-five minutes later.

I left work and went home to pack and make my dinner. Then I hit the road. It felt like an extra long trip because I was already tired before I even hit the highway. Not a good start. I had to do a lot of singing and head-bobbing to my music to keep myself focused.

I almost had a clear shot again on the last stretch of highway but I had to stop at the gas station to use the restroom. When I got back on the road I was sandwiched between trucks. And unfortunately there were two trucks in front of me. There is only one small section where the road widens to add a passing lane, and it seems like an incredibly small section. Well, whenever there are two trucks, inevitably the one in the back thinks he needs to be in front so he proceeds to use the entire length of the passing lane section to pass the truck in front of him. Leaving no time for any of the cars that are actually driving the speed limit the whole time, not just on the downhill parts of the highway, to get around the truck that was formerly in the back. The only time trucks seem to drive the speed limit is when there is a passing lane. It sucks. And then immediately after the passing lane they slow back down and you're still stuck behind a truck.

Class tonight was interesting. We talked a lot about metadata. At this point I feel fairly comfortable with the idea. At least the basics of it. Based on the class discussions we had tonight I think that puts me in a better place than several people in the class. I'm certainly not any better at deciphering the material, especially the books which I'm not a fan of, but I got lucky with some of my past experiences with technology things like databases and programming, and that gives me at least a frame of context when thinking about metadata. I'm by no means to the point of completely understanding everything that is involved with metadata, but I'm at least getting the basic concept, which I would say is a good start. I can only get better.

I'm now in the hotel room and I don't think they understand what 'non-adjoining' room means. This room and the one before both had a door leading to the next room. Oh well. Once again I seem to be doing alright because there aren't any loud people and my room has the train pictures again.

Now I'm going to bed. I've got a headache and I'm really tired. Sleeping in on Sunday is going to be amazing.