March 1, 2016

 I had one class first thing this morning and then the rest of the morning until noon was spent testing. It was a long morning. Sixth grade came in to finish and all but three did. Those three overlapped with third grade who came in for their Math test and one of them went until noon and didn't quite finish.

After lunch I made a short note for the librarian to send home for Read Across America. I also edited baby pictures until my mom popped her head in to ask if I was going to the assembly. The office lady who sends out the morning message wasn't here today and I had forgotten all about the assembly. Which means I set up for kindergarten coming to the lab for no reason. Thankfully I only had to log into a few computers because I had already done that earlier in the day for testing. I just lost time setting all the index cards out with their names and numbers. Not a big deal.

On the way to the gym I ran into the principal and asked if she had a chance to reactive the tickets for the kids who didn't finish testing in the morning. She hadn't but she decided to pull two of the sixth graders out of the assembly so they could finish. So I watched them test for the first part of the assembly, which was a joy.

The assembly was to bounce out bullying, with an obvious basketball theme. I think kindergarten and first grade ran basketball relays and second through sixth grade got to plays short games with the high school basketball players who came. There was only one casualty when one of the sixth graders sitting along the wall caught a ball with his forehead. He's a big kid but he immediately started crying, which I probably would have done, but he also started screaming a little bit, which seemed overkill. He came back a little while later with an ice pack and a few minutes after that he got up and joined the game. To go along with the theme, he bounced back quickly.

In the middle of the assembly a couple tech guys showed up so I went down with them and the librarian to look at the third grade projector. Turns out their was a little message talking about replacing the lamp, which I hadn't seen. The main issue appears to be that when I replaced the bulb last year I didn't reset the hours on the bulb. Which makes sense because at the movie theater we had to keep track of the hours on each projector bulb. That would explain the blinking indicator light and also the fact that the projector still worked fine. So the tech guys had us go into the menu and reset the lamp hours and all was good. The overhead projector still didn't work, and they mentioned all the troubleshooting they did, which was the same things I had done yesterday. Then the librarian had a thought and hit the reset button on the side of it. Voila. She had messed with it yesterday and hadn't thought about that button. I think at some point in the past few years I also knew about the reset button but had obviously forgotten all about it. The tech guys also didn't know about it so we all learned something today.

I ended the day editing pictures. After clocking out I stopped in the conference room because one of the SPED teachers had a bunch of canvases and paint set up. The goal was for all the teachers and staff (minus the paras) to add their thumb or finger prints to each canvas to create a dandelion. One for each para because next week is para appreciation week. They weren't turning out how the SPED teacher wanted and I think that was mainly because she was trying to scale them down from the original picture she saw. They were kind of looking like something a little kid would bring home from art class. But I guess that is kind of fitting considering we work at an elementary school.

When I had added my painted finger to the mix, I headed down to the public library. I was early so I finished the song I was listening to and then I went in and used the restroom. I didn't really have to use the restroom but I noticed while sitting in my car that I had somehow gotten paint on my other hand, which I had missed when cleaning the paint off my finger. So I went to the restroom to wash my hands.

That still left me about five minutes early which isn't too bad. I went to the checkout desk and told the girl I was there to meet so-and-so for a meeting and she called her up to let her know I was there. She was tall. I must have lived a very sheltered life before I started working at the school because I didn't realize how many tall women there are. There are a few tall teachers at school and then several girls in Boys & Girls Club who are tall, one or two several inches taller than me. I would say the lady at the library was at least an inch or two taller than me. It's interesting.

Anyway, we went upstairs to talk and I think when it came up that I have lived here forever she mentioned that her husband was from here, which was the perfect opportunity to ask who her husband was because I recognized her last name and it's not a common name. Turns out she is married to a guy I was in Scouts with, along with his brother. And his dad was our scoutmaster. After she learned that she jokingly said I was hired. Small world, though.

We talked about several different things and it looks like based on my Marketing degree she was interested in getting me involved with some of the marketing things that she does. Some of that is delivering fliers to places, which doesn't sound great, but I might also help with putting together the newsletter, and whatever else she can think of, and that sounds interesting. Much better than just shelving books. She said that I'm the first volunteer she's had so she apologized if she wasn't sounding very confident about what all I would be doing. I said I wouldn't have known either way so she told me to forget what she had just said.

After our talk she walked me back downstairs and it came up that I hadn't had a library card in awhile so I went to set that up, which worked out because while I was trying to get that sorted the lady I talked to called up to see what she needed to do to get me started as a volunteer. Turns out I needed to sign some paperwork so they could do the background check. So I put my conversation with the girl at the desk about getting a library card on hold and went back upstairs to sign papers. Then I came back down, registered online at a computer near the checkout desk for a library card, and then went back to the girl so she could complete the process. I needed proof of residence or whatever it's called but she was able to use an Amazon delivery email I showed her on my phone so I didn't have to come back with a bill. And now I have a library card. Again. I had one as a kid and then maybe in high school I signed up for a new one, and now I am up to date again.

As for the volunteer thing, as long as my background check goes well and gets done in a timely fashion, I should be able to start next Monday. I put down three possible days on my application but we're going to start with just one day a week and see how things go. That sounds good to me.

When I got home I didn't do anything but after dinner I read my final article for the week. Tomorrow I need to start doing research for my group project for this week and research for the paper I have to write in my other class. Research and writing should fill the rest of my week. And hopefully I won't put it off until the weekend. I think the group thing is due Saturday, so putting that off wouldn't be a good idea.

I just got off the phone with my friend in California, who I haven't heard from in awhile because he's been busy traveling for work. He tooted his own horn a bit and said he got the best year-end review in his group of fifty-nine other guys, which he said is a big deal because he'll never be compared against such a large group again and it will be really good for his career, whether in the NAVY or afterward. So that's pretty cool. Tooting of ones own horn perfectly acceptable.

Now I'm going to go to bed because it is midnight and tomorrow is picture day. I don't have to get my individual picture taken but at eight o'clock we do the staff picture, which means I need to be there by eight o'clock. I usually don't leave the house until 8:10AM so that won't work out. I think it was last year when I came in right as they were about to take it so I almost missed it. I would like to avoid that this year. Hopefully six hours of sleep treats me well.