The good outweighed the bad, but the bad is soooo annoying

Day one is over and done with.  I think it was a pretty successful day, especially considering we didn't even have doors on the building last week.  Most of the ceilings had ceiling panels, I didn't see any exposed wires, and I had a functioning door.  Perhaps the best part is that it was 90 degrees out today and the AC in my room was functioning and comfortable, even with a southern exposure window.  The walls reach the ceiling and I am not at the top of a stairwell anymore.  All of that stuff is good.

However, there is no power to the outlets in the front of the room, so I can't really run my computer.  Granted, it's not going to be that useful until they put the data drops in so we have internet access and my Eno board and projector are installed.  The exposed concrete floor is a lovely shade of grey (I like spelling that color with an 'e' rather than an 'a').  I also like the fine, powdery dust that coats everything, regardless of how often you wipe surfaces off.

Honestly, though, as annoying as all of those little things are, it was a good start to what I hope will be a great year.  Now I just need to figure out what I'm actually teaching tomorrow.  Can't play name games and logic puzzles for the next 179 days.

My daughter has successfully completed three days at kindergarten.  Day one there was no fear getting on the bus.  She has a favorite person to sit with on the bus.  I hope for his sake he enjoys the company, because subtlety does not work on her and it's close to an hour long bus ride in the morning.

Can't open the school cause it's got no doors

After a long summer of watching weekly photo updates of the renovations taking place in my school, I was informed that our rooms would be open for us starting today.  This is the actual quote from the email, "On Friday, August 20^th you can get into your classrooms to begin preparing for the 2010 – 2011 school year."  If you read that, you might think, as I did, that everything was ready to go.  I can work on setting up the room.  I can get stuff up on the walls.  I can organize my desk and storage areas.  In other words, I headed to school ready to get some work done considering that classes start in about a week - August 30.  As I enter the middle school's temporary office location in the high school, the assistant principal looks at me and says with a slight chuckle, "You might be able to do some work in your room, I think you have floors."  Long story short, my room is basically finished.  It's painted, the flooring is down, and storage is in place.  It's just missing minor things like my Eno board (IWB), whiteboard, or even the chalkboard I tried to save from being tossed out.  Some lights were on, but there are no light switches.  I have a lot of desks and such in my room, but I noticed that they were all labeled from other teachers' classrooms.  Suffice to say, I didn't get any work done.


But my classroom is in better shape than other parts.  I have flooring, other rooms just have concrete.  I have a door, the school has large pieces of wood in the entry way.  The doors are supposed to come on Friday, and they are supposed to open to students the following Monday.  I can't believe how many changes have happened to the structure of the school, and I'm excited to have walls that reach the ceiling, a door, and windows, but I can't say that I'm all that confident that the school will actually be able to open in time.  Once it's ready to go, I think that these changes are going to have far reaching benefits to the school, both academic and in the general atmosphere.  My main concern for now, however, is how I'm going to teach without any writing surfaces on my walls.  Should be interesting.

I thought butchers ground meat

Tomorrow is my daughter's 5th birthday, next week she starts kindergarten, and I asked her what she wanted to eat for her birthday.  She chose tortellini, which involves making the pasta fresh and hand folding each tortellino (4 semesters of Italian taught me that tortellini is the plural and saying tortellinis is wrong).  I use the same recipe my grandma used and passed along through my mom and probably originated at least with my great grandma from Bologna and it's always been my favorite food.  I've made it three times now.  The first time turned out decently, but I couldn't get ground veal at the grocery store, so I used their meatball mix which included beef, pork, and veal.  It wasn't quite tender enough.  Last time I bought a piece of veal and ground it up myself in the food processor.  This worked well, except the gristle didn't grind well and left chunks that I incompletely picked out of the mixture as I was folding.  (There was also the side issue of drying them in the oven so the cats wouldn't eat them and forgetting they were there when I heated up the oven for something else.  Baked pasta that has not been boiled yet is disgusting and no amount of sauce or cheese can save it.)  On Monday I went to get ingredients and they had ground veal, but not pork.  I asked the butcher if they had ground pork and she responded that they were out but a truck was coming in on Tuesday.  At this point, many responses flew through my head, all with the common idea that "you are a butcher," "you cut meat for a living," and "don't you have some sort of meat grinder back there?"  Then my thoughts turned to why they had to wait for a truck to bring in ground pork.  With all of that big equipment back there, you have to do more than use the big heated plastic wrap dispenser.  I eventually asked if they could grind some and was met with the reply of, "I guess, but you'll have to wait for it.  How much do you need."  The words themselves weren't so bad, but the total lack of initiative or desire for customer service was.  I asked for my half pound and saw that it was only $1.50/pound.  I don't think they gave me the best quality ground pork; we'll see.  Since I moved here, I've tried avoiding this grocery store because there always seems to be a general atmosphere of inconvenience exuding from the employees whenever they are asked for something.  I refuse to use the deli because they are outright hostile and nobody wants hostility mixed in with their cold cuts.  But this latest episode just confirms my idea that there is something wrong with that store.  Even though it was recently renovated, the only real improvement was the addition of buying beer in six-packs (this state has the weirdest liquor laws).  I'm sticking with Giant.

VH1's Top 100 One Hit Wonders From the 80's

I have to take issue with the final five.

5. Tainted Love
4. 867-5309/Jenny
3. Take On Me
2. I Ran
1. Come On Eileen

I am ok with four of those songs being in the top five, but to say that Come On Eileen is the best one hit wonder from the 80's is going to far. I personally feel that it is overrated and shouldn't be in the top 10. I'll give it top 20, but no better. There I said it. I am not a fan of Come On Eileen. As for the rest, I agree with their presence in the top 5, but the order is wrong. Here is how I would order them.

4. 867-5309/Jenny
3. I Ran
2. Take On Me
1. Tainted Love

Tell me what you think. I agree with this top 5 more than I usually do with the VH1 countdowns (I can't stop watching them, especially when they deal with the 80's). Which song would you put in the #5 slot?

As for the rest of the list, Midnight Oil was not a 1 hit wonder and doesn't belong. There are a few notable songs that were ranked way too low such as: Boom Boom Boom Let's Go Back To My Room - #89, Major Tom - #68, You Spin Me Round (Like A Record) - #19. Those three are all easily top 20 and You Spin Me Round should be at least top 10 if not in that #5 spot.

Those are the ones that stick out the most. Of course I'd put Relax, Whip It, Safety Dance, and a few others higher, but they are close enough. Check out the list, what glaring errors do you see?

Dell Rant

For the first 3 weeks of June, I was without my own computer. I had been using my school laptop, but they needed it for summer maintenance and I couldn't go back to my Windows '98 machine. A quick daily check on my wife's computer was the extent of my usage. For the past week, I have been spoiling myself with my new computer. The problem is, I have been completely unproductive because I have not had any Office applications to use. As I went to use Office 2010 for the first time, I was asked for my product key. After much searching, the key I entered would not work. Upon closer examination, and a bit of humiliation, I realized I was entering the Windows 7 product key.

I sent Dell an email explaining that I did not receive the product key with the computer. The auto-response email stated that they would get back to me within 6 hours. The next day I decided to call Dell. After explaining my situation, I was told that I needed to get the card with the product key on it and enter that. I repeated that I received no such item with my shipments. Anyone who knows me knows that when it comes to technology and its documentation, I don't throw anything away. Finally, the person I was speaking with said that they would send out a copy of Office with a new product key and it should arrive by Tuesday (the day was Monday).

Tuesday came by - nothing. Wednesday came and I got a response to my email saying that I did not need a product key to use the Starter Edition. Thursday came with nothing in the mail, so I responded to the email stating that I purchased, was billed for, and paid for the Home and Student edition and that I was getting a bit cranky. Later that day, I got a response stating that I need to go into the shipping boxes and retrieve the product key. Needless to say (though I'll say it anyway), I was getting a wee might irritated. I checked every box and piece of paper again and then responded that, as I said in the telephone conversation, I never received that card. At that point, I asked that I either get a product key by the end of the week or have my money refunded. I got a response this morning (Friday) saying that they don't send out physical copies, but that a new product key would arrive in 1-3 days.

Arg. At least I have a pretty monitor.

Her first roller coaster

Took the kids and grandparents to Knoebel's yesterday. It was the best day I have ever been there. The forecast called for tortuous heat and humidity, but it turned out to be decent with a good breeze. Being a Wednesday there were virtually no lines for the rides. The girl was very excited because she finally got on the Ferris Wheel. I took the boy on the spiral slide, but I think they remodeled it. It was always a tight fit, but I think they made it a little bit narrower. I'm not sure what that design decision was supposed to do, but what it actually did was create some great, squeaking sounds as we went down and gave me a nice, bright red splotch on my thigh. Had it been on my fingers, I think the fingerprints would have melted.

I think the highlight of the day was the girl's first real roller coaster ride. She passed the 42 inch mark and I got her all hyped up about going on the Phoenix. Before we got going, I put my arm around her. It was a good thing I did. I forgot how much you rise out of the seat and it felt like I was holding her in the car at times. About half way through, she was quietly sobbing, but pulled it together by the time the cars came to a stop. As we were walking away, I asked her how she liked it. This is basically what she said:

"I started to cry a little bit because it was so bumpy and if you weren't holding on to me I would have gone up into the air. I liked it and want to go on it again...someday."

That was possibly one of the most complete answers I will get from her about anything ever. She did, however, tell me that night that it was her favorite ride of the year.

Disconnected to reality

Tomorrow starts the last week of school. Our school has started major renovations (I'll be surprised if they are finished come the beginning of the next year) before the year even ended. Tomorrow is supposed to be field day. The weather forecast calls for an 80% chance of rain. If it rains, I don't know what we will do for the day. They surprised me on Friday while I was at a workshop. I returned to my room to find everything gone, including the bag I brought with me in the morning. I had to climb over stacks of desks and cabinets to retrieve my personal belongings and papers that I would need for the next week. Anyone know an anti-rain dance?

The end of the school year also calls for a return my school laptop for summer maintenance. I don't have my own computer, unless I want to go back to my windows 98 machine that I thought I'd retired this past summer. My only connection to the outside world (ignoring actual, physical interaction of course) will be taken away from me for at least 3 weeks. I got the go ahead from my wife to buy a new computer, but as much as I like that idea, the actual process terrifies me. I want to keep the cost down, but I get so bogged down with the details about which processor to choose and how much RAM I should get that I find it almost impossible to choose. I've gone through most of the plausible permutations the Dell website and my paralysis by analysis is making me consider going to a store like Best Buy and picking one that they have already built. This would be so much easier if I were rich. Donations anyone?