March 5, 2013

 Today there were three state assessments and all of them went smoothly. They are incredibly boring. For MAP testing there isn't much build up but during the tests I have to record scores and after tests I have to input those scores into a spreadsheet. For the state assessments there was a lot of work figuring out individual placements, coming up with schedules, cutting out test tickets, and making seating charts, but there isn't really anything for me to do during the assessment. I just stand there for an hour or however long it takes the kids to take the test and cross my fingers that nothing goes wrong. Very boring.

In my downtime today I took a look at the Spring sign-up sheet for MAP testing which I made back at the beginning of the year. It turns out the last week of the state assessment is also the first week of the next round of MAP testing. Due to the assessments the only times available that week for MAP tests will be Monday morning and then Friday. There is way too much testing in schools these days. When can teachers teach if their kids are always taking tests to find out what they know, which can't be much if there isn't any time to teach them in between tests? I'm glad I'm not a teacher because I think it would be rather frustrating.

My mom's flowers ended up being delivered when she was in the lab with her kindergarten class and I was the one to tell her she had a delivery. I felt kind of bad because I am sure part of her thought/hoped it was from the jackass that was her boyfriend. When she left, the kindergarten teacher said it had better be flowers from the jackass and I said it was actually flowers from me, which she thought was incredibly nice of me. My mom was gone for quite awhile and when she came back it looked like her eyes were a little watery and she thanked me for the flowers. She ended up going to look at them and ran into two of the ladies she occasionally goes out with so they all went to see what she had gotten and I think they ended up talking for a bit. I do still feel kind of bad for probably getting her hopes up but I think maybe she appreciated the gesture.

Tonight I had my phone of for a bit and ended up getting a call from my friend, who had apparently been trying to get ahold of me. We ended up having a fairly long conversation and it was good to hear from him. After that I wrote my court report for my volunteer thing. I also need to write my monthly report but I need a break so I am going to write that tomorrow. Gives me something to look forward to, other than Chipotle.

Shortly I will be going over to the theater to get a bag of popcorn. One of the teachers asked if I could get one for the student council as a backup to their popcorn maker which they plan on using for the talent show. Not as a talent, but to make people popcorn. I am hoping they don't actually plan on selling the theater popcorn, which I just thought of, because that would be wrong. Not illegal probably but definitely not appropriate. And would probably get me in trouble for being a supplier. So fingers crossed on that. Anyway, I have to wait until the theater closes, which is after my bedtime, and that sucks. I'm already tired. I am also not entirely sure if the trash bag will fit in my car. When I had my SUV it wasn't a problem but now I have a car. I think if I push my passenger seat forward it should fit in the back as long as it isn't a really big bag. I also need to dig out some blankets because oily popcorn would not be good for my seats.

So now I am going to bide my time before I can go get popcorn and then come back and go to bed. I want to go to bed.

March 4, 2013

 My mom and her jerk of a boyfriend broke up. I am sad for her but as stated earlier, he was a jerk. An immature asshole. I planned on stopping by the flower shop this morning and having some flowers delivered to work but the flower shop didn't open earlier enough. So I stopped by there after work and I'm having them delivered tomorrow. I asked the lady if she could do funny but I didn't really have a concept for that so we went with fun instead, that being represented by bright colors. I'm interested to see how it turns out. I included the note “I am sorry your boyfriend was an idiot. But hey, flowers!”. So it will at least be slightly amusing.

This morning we had the first state assessment and it actually went pretty well. I think one of the kids testing individually, outside the lab, had a problem with her password and couldn't get logged in, but in the lab we didn't have any problems. My main concern was that the tests would take five or ten minutes to load because that is what happened when teachers tried to take practice tests. There were a few that took more than a minute or two but for the most part it went smoothly. Fingers crossed the rest will go the same way.

I had that assessment first thing so the rest of the day was pretty much the same. Not a very exciting day, really. I would go into random details but I'm working with a bit of a headache right now and I kind of just want to go to bed so I'll leave it at that.

After work, I went to Hobby Lobby to check on yarn and buy a picture frame. The buying of a picture frame was a success. I needed one that had room between the back and the glass and I found one. The yarn, not so much. It looks like they have the two different blues I am using on the blanket but the maroon and gold and still MIA. I need to check online.

Tonight I pretty much just watched YouTube videos. I need to write my monthly report and a court report for my volunteer thing but as mentioned before, I have a headache, so I'll try and get that done tomorrow. Now I think I am going to take an Ibuprofen or two and go to bed.

March 3, 2013

 My day ended up being way more productive than I originally planned, although that didn't start until after lunch. My morning involved a lot of TV watching random computer things. After lunch I went to the library book sale with my mom and sister. I ended up only getting four books. There were so many people in such a small space and a lot of them had boxes which made moving around that much harder. There was also a lady in a wheelchair and another woman with a stroller. I really don't need anymore books considering the number I haven't gotten around to reading yet, but I can't resist a library book sale.

Right as I walked in the door after the book sale the phone started ringing. My dad and brother were building some rope makers and needed to make a groove in the base boards and wanted to know if I could use my router to make the grooves. It would be easier than digging out the table saw and setting up the dado blade. He also needed to borrow the bench he let me borrow awhile ago. My only plans for the afternoon involved video games so I said I was in. He came and picked me up so I didn't have to worry about getting the bench and router into my car and we headed over to his house.

I helped hold the long board as he cut it down to length for six rope machines and then we set about cutting the grooves. The grooves needed to be just shy of an inch and I was using a quarter-inch bit. The first one took forever because we clamped a guide piece to the board and had to adjust that every time, trying to make sure it stayed straight. If we had kept going like that we would probably still be working on it. For the next five I came up with the solution of clamping the guide piece to a stack of wood on either side of the board. The stacks were just higher than the board so that the board could slide freely underneath. This way we could clamp the board down, make the first pass with the router, unclamp and move the board a bit, clamp and make the next pass. For the most part it worked out pretty well, at least much better than the first one we did. After that we quickly cut out all the other pieces needed for the rope machines and then cleaned everything up. It actually turned into about a five hour endeavor but the time went by really quickly, it was nice to hang out with my dad and brother for a bit, and it was fun working with wood again. I have been thinking about finally getting around to making my desk over Spring Break. We'll see if I'm still into that idea when the time comes but I hope I am.

When I got home I had dinner, did my laundry, and watched TV. But now I am going to go to bed. I'm exhausted and I could have easily gone to bed an hour ago.

March 2, 2013

I want to like someone again. I have a couple crushes at the moment but they aren't realistic or with girls I know enough to actually like. I miss having someone to like.

I didn't have a lot going on today. Yesterday I got Sniper Elite: V2 because it was seventy-five percent off and I have been wanting to get it for quite awhile. I remember really liking the first game on the original Xbox but when I tried to play it recently it felt terribly clunky. I played through the first level of the new game today and thankfully it controls a lot better than the original. I was a bit clumsy with it and had to turn down my mouse sensitivity because every time I tried to slightly turn I would end up doing a 180 degree turn. I seem to be on a third-person game kick recently with Hitman: Absolution, Max Payne 3, and now Sniper Elite: V2, and they all have slightly different controls which creates a bit of a problem trying to switch between them. They are all fun to play though so I would like to find the time and interest to actually finish all of them. I also still want to finish Borderlands 2. That game is so much fun when it isn't being grindy.

Tonight at work I started reading a new book, started watching Grosse Pointe Blank, and added a bit to my blanket. I really should have been counting rows because I am fairly certain some color stripes have nine rows and others have eight. I have learned you can't really count on the yarn to be accurately labeled when it comes to length. Tonight I nearly finished what I believe to be the ninth row of gold yarn but ran out of yarn. I have plenty left over from previous skeins but it is a tad annoying. And looking at the blanket, it looks like maybe the most recent stripe of light blue has only eight rows. I don't know. I'm hoping that if/when I finish it I won't focus too much on certain stripes possibly being one row thinner. I am about to start the last skein I have and I am hoping that Hobby Lobby will have restocked their yarn selection the next time I go in. I have yet to actually check online to see if they have it there. It would look weird having half a blanket with a repeating pattern of stripes and then the second half being whatever yarn I can get my hands on.

I think tomorrow I might be going to the library book sale with my mom and sister. It feels like they just had one although it has probably been at least six months. I don't need anymore books and I definitely don't have room for more books, but it is really hard to pass up inexpensive books. I love books. It's a deep, obsessive love.

March 1, 2013

Earlier this week one of the kindergarten teachers found his missing tarantula. Unbeknownst to anyone, he had lost it in his room three weeks ago. He hadn't told anyone, including the kids, because he thought they probably would react very well. I would say that was a good thought. He ended up finding it behind the shoe crab cage, who the hell knows what it has been eating the past few weeks.

Today I finalized my state assessment seating charts and got them to the teachers. Good riddance.

In kindergarten literacy centers today my group did the same matching games I did earlier in the week. There really isn't enough there to keep the kids interested for thirty minutes so I had to keep coming up with stuff to keep the, focused. After a few games, my winning idea today was to have the kids split up into teams with each person flipping over one card. We made its through two games and I don't know how long it would have kept them engaged but we made it through the thirty minutes.

My second grade literacy group wasn't nearly as successful. They were all wound up and didn't really listen to anything I said. It was incredibly frustrating and I ended up sending them back to their room a few minutes early because I got tired of dealing with it. That kind of crap is above my pay grade.

This afternoon I had a good conversation with one of the first grade teachers that lasted an extra fifteen minutes because she was enjoying the break from her day and the kids were enjoying their computer games and were actually being really well behaved.

After that I went and updated the assessment software on the principal's laptop because she was trying to test a kid and the auto-updater kept failing. Them I went out to the preschool trailer to help with their computer. They recently got one and have been trying for a few days to get it hooked up and connected to the internet. I went out a few days ago and their main problem was they had a phone cord plugged in instead of an ethernet cable. The only one we had was too short to reach the wall outlet so they had to wait until today when the kids were gone so they could rearrange the room. There really wasn't a problem today, I think they just entered their login information wrong because when I came out and tried I got right in. The longest part of the process was having to go back into the lab to get the link for adding printers. On my final trip back to the building I decided not to ask one of the preschool ladies to come unlock the door so I walked around to the front of the school so I could get some fresh air. This trip took me by one of the kindergarten rooms where I was apparently a big hit because the teacher told me later that when I walked by several of the kids started shouting my name and pointing.

At work tonight I finished reading Looking For Alaska by John Green. It really is a downer of a book near the middle. Nothing like almost the entirety of The Fault In Our Stars, but still a downer. The ending is good, however, which makes me almost forget how sad it made me. I also watching Nothing To Lose for the first time in years because I needed to laugh, and I started thinking about my next letter to my friend. I am attempting to put into words my reasons behind turning off my phone but I don't fully understand it yet so it is hard to explain. Maybe soon.

February 28, 2013

 My major accomplishment for the day was finishing all of the seating charts for the upcoming state assessment. I might make a few minor changes tomorrow but then I can print them out and give them to the teachers so they can make sure I didn't put any kids near each other that shouldn't be near each other.

When I wasn't working on that, I read with kindergarteners, had my second grade literacy group, updated assessment software on laptops, edited and printed out bookmark things for one of the cooks, and had a few classes in the lab. This afternoon the high school jazz band came and performed. They had some good musicians but their guitar plays left a bit to be desired. It made me realize I probably could have played guitar in the jazz band in high school. It wouldn't have hurt to have one extracurricular activity.

Yesterday during kindergarten literacy centers, three of the four kids in my group were pulled out to have their hearing checked. My group was playing a matching game and it is not much of a game when there is only one kid playing. He was also really good at matching games. We went through both sets of cards a few times but still had time left so I started making him match two pairs of cards before he could take them out of play. He got pretty good at that, too.

Tonight I had the second half of my Chipotle burrito for dinner and it was nearly as good as the first half. Then, some time later, I went and saw the new volunteer kid. It ended up being an hour-long visit and most of that time was spent filling out the form for his class ring. It doesn't seem likely that he will actually get one because I don't know how he will pay for it, but he did have a lot of fun looking through the catalog and filling out the form.

And once again, it is time for me to go to bed.

February 27, 2013

 We got about an inch or two of snow last night but luckily it wasn't a problem cleaning it off my car this morning. It was a tad bit icy so I dug out my old hiking boots which I don't think I have worn since high school. They may actually be the same boots I've had since middle school and wore to Philmont but I can't remember that far back and my dad has all the pictures. And it isn't really that important. The point is that I didn't have to worry about slipping on the snow and ice, which is a constant fear with Chucks, or worry about getting my feet wet. That's my story.

At work I finally started working on my seating charts for the state assessment. It is as much a pain in the butt as I thought it would be. I have to make them for third through sixth grade, two different charts for each except for fourth which needs three. Not fun. I'm getting there though. Slowly. Along the same lines, I started upgrading the testing software on the second and third grade laptops. Those are going to be the go-to laptops for the kids testing outside of the lab. The upgrading involves deleting the old version and installing the new one, which actually doesn't take very long, but I'm doing it on over twenty laptops and finding the time between classes and working on the seating charts is a bit hard. Much like the seating charts, though, I'm getting there.

We had another character assembly today. Each month there is a different character trait and teacher nominate the students they think exemplify those traits. Or more accurately, the kids that haven't gotten an award yet because everyone gets an award. Anyway, each month a staff member is nominated by the students as the staff member of the month. This month the sixth grade teacher was nominated. The reasons given for her nomination included her love of shoes and fashion and other crap. As the resource teacher pointed out, none of the reasons given for her nomination had anything to do with her being a good teacher or staff member.

Tonight was Chipotle night and it was delicious. I can't remember the last time it was that good. Hopefully day two will be just as good. The rest of my night was spent with random internet stuff and continuing my Psych marathon. I have made it to the second disc of the sixth season. I am on track to finish it up by this weekend so I can watch the season seven premiere. I'm looking forward to that and it is difficult not watching it right now. Instead, I think I will go to bed. Sleeping is nice.