Once again I'm blogging at work. Why, you ask? Because I have little to no spare time thanks to the death trap house which I'm convinced is trying to kill me. Evidenced by the sliver I got today that was the size of a small Eastern European country. Do any of you know of any wood borne diseases I should be worried about?
The other item on my ever growing To Do list is to finish my first ever novel! Yes, you heard right. No more of this historical nonfiction nonsense. I'm finally turning my hand to gratuitous abandoned building ghosty foolishness. And I LIKE IT!
A Prisoner in the Asylum, the first book in what I hope will become a series, is about a quarter of the way done and for once, it seems the idea is sticking and I'm managing to keep the story flowing. However, I'm the only one reading it so it could very likely be a bunch of crap but hey, A for effort, yeah?
I must go teach! My poor creative writing deprived students need me!
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Monday, February 20, 2012
Home Improvement Hell
See, I'm slacking already and not writing regularly. That's what happens when the only spare time you have is spent cleaning sawdust and joint compound out of all of hur crevices. However, I am indeed still alive and still writing, though right now I'm sitting on a ladder watching the Prince put up electrical boxes. Altogether not too exciting!
Friday, January 20, 2012
Today's Rant
Fellow educators, there's something I need to get off my chest and I would like your opinions. As most of you know last year I worked at a small Catholic school. Catholic schools are private institutions that do not offer special education services, though I had a number of students who were obviously struggling. As their teacher I stayed after school every day except Friday and helped them best I could because it was part of my job. By the end of the school year I knew I wouldn't be returning to the Catholic school so I sent notes home with a few students, offering to tutor them over the summer and prepare them for 6th grade.
When the school year started, I heard rumblings from my students that teachers were making comments in front of others about them being tutored by a former teacher. Some students went so far as to say that these teachers were essentially bullying them about having me as a tutor. That was bad enough- but then I find out that these teachers are now being allowed to charge their own current students $25 an hour for extra help.
Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but is this not a conflict of interest? Isn't extra help part of your job as an educator? And how is it that the principal can justify asking these parents for even more money so that their students can have what should be available to them regardless? I also have to wonder what's going on in the classroom that the students aren't learning in an effective manor. Case in point, a math test was scheduled for today and the students were so shaky on the information that 23 out of 27 students had to stay after for extra help the night before the test. Shouldn't that be a red flag for any teacher that perhaps their teaching methods aren't reaching their students? Instead this same teacher poked fun at one of my tutoring students saying, "Shouldn't you understand this material? I thought you had a tutor?"
When the school year started, I heard rumblings from my students that teachers were making comments in front of others about them being tutored by a former teacher. Some students went so far as to say that these teachers were essentially bullying them about having me as a tutor. That was bad enough- but then I find out that these teachers are now being allowed to charge their own current students $25 an hour for extra help.
Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but is this not a conflict of interest? Isn't extra help part of your job as an educator? And how is it that the principal can justify asking these parents for even more money so that their students can have what should be available to them regardless? I also have to wonder what's going on in the classroom that the students aren't learning in an effective manor. Case in point, a math test was scheduled for today and the students were so shaky on the information that 23 out of 27 students had to stay after for extra help the night before the test. Shouldn't that be a red flag for any teacher that perhaps their teaching methods aren't reaching their students? Instead this same teacher poked fun at one of my tutoring students saying, "Shouldn't you understand this material? I thought you had a tutor?"
Monday, January 16, 2012
Creepy...
For the last 10 minutes that I have been sitting waiting for my mother, the radio has said simply, "Look". I watch too many horror films.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Dear Home Depot
Dear Home Depot-
Your lack of customer service makes me want to punch a kitten. In the face. Twice.
The saga of renovating a home is never ending. Every time you think you've got something done, something else goes to hell. For instance, we purchased a new bathroom vanity from HD. And the reason we needed a new vanity is because I decided to remove the wallpaper in the bathroom. Yeah, you heard me. I started peeling the wallpaper and somehow hit the lightswitch. The switch arced, popped, and blew a fuse. I asked the Prince (who happens to be incredibly handy) to fix the switch. While he was working on that, I decided to pull the fake wood paneling off the wall. One good yank and I managed to hit the sprayer on the sink and break it which meant the hose dropped down into the vanity and started to leak. The Prince abandoned the lightswitch to investigate the leak only to find that the bottom of the vanity had rotted out and was coated in black mold. Needless to say he solved that problem with a Sawzall and we removed the old vanity piece by moldy piece and headed out to buy a new one. We spent a good hour in the store trying to pick one out, then another hour trying to find someone to get it down from the top most shelf (of course). Eventually a child about the age of 12 came down the aisle with a large, wheeled ladder and a plan to slide the 37" vanity combo down the railings of the stair thing. Brilliant idea. Solid. Thankfully he realized he couldn't do this on his own. So he got another 12 year old to "spot him" so he could slide the vanity down. It took about 10 minutes to convince these brain trusts that this was most likely a BAD IDEA and they should get someone with a lift to come get it so it didn't end up smashed to smithereens. After waiting another hour for someone with a forklift license, as well as someone with a license to operate those little flag thingies, we finally got our vanity.
The next morning we opened the box...and the top was smashed to smithereens. Thanks HD.
Your lack of customer service makes me want to punch a kitten. In the face. Twice.
The saga of renovating a home is never ending. Every time you think you've got something done, something else goes to hell. For instance, we purchased a new bathroom vanity from HD. And the reason we needed a new vanity is because I decided to remove the wallpaper in the bathroom. Yeah, you heard me. I started peeling the wallpaper and somehow hit the lightswitch. The switch arced, popped, and blew a fuse. I asked the Prince (who happens to be incredibly handy) to fix the switch. While he was working on that, I decided to pull the fake wood paneling off the wall. One good yank and I managed to hit the sprayer on the sink and break it which meant the hose dropped down into the vanity and started to leak. The Prince abandoned the lightswitch to investigate the leak only to find that the bottom of the vanity had rotted out and was coated in black mold. Needless to say he solved that problem with a Sawzall and we removed the old vanity piece by moldy piece and headed out to buy a new one. We spent a good hour in the store trying to pick one out, then another hour trying to find someone to get it down from the top most shelf (of course). Eventually a child about the age of 12 came down the aisle with a large, wheeled ladder and a plan to slide the 37" vanity combo down the railings of the stair thing. Brilliant idea. Solid. Thankfully he realized he couldn't do this on his own. So he got another 12 year old to "spot him" so he could slide the vanity down. It took about 10 minutes to convince these brain trusts that this was most likely a BAD IDEA and they should get someone with a lift to come get it so it didn't end up smashed to smithereens. After waiting another hour for someone with a forklift license, as well as someone with a license to operate those little flag thingies, we finally got our vanity.
The next morning we opened the box...and the top was smashed to smithereens. Thanks HD.
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