Wednesday, October 10, 2007

It May Be A Short Work Week For The Sheep...

But it is still Wednesday. (even though it feels like Tuesday and, in some ways Friday) Let's hit it with the WNBPs!

*Long weekends are nice. Short work weeks are confusing. Also nice...but confusing.

*Thanks to all for your input on my "Why is cleaning so temporary????" dilemma. I am beyond devastated to learn that there is no escaping the fact that I am going to have to do more of this activity. You were able to come up with every shortcut in the free world that might fool me into thinking that I am not cleaning. And I really, really appreciated the effort.


*But it is still cleaning. And it is not fair. I already did it. I shouldn't have to do it again. I shall now proceed to pout.


*I think you might be surprised by how long I can hold a good pout. I believe that my record still stands in twenty four of the U.S. states and one Canadian province.


*I'll be pouting from home tomorrow. I have some changes coming up in my caseload at school that will require my presence. So I changed my doctor's appointment to tomorrow to keep me from having to be away from my classroom at an awkward time. This was responsible of me.

*But, I feel just a wee bit guilty for taking a day off on what is already a short week.


*For the record, I will get over this when I am settling in for a second cup of coffee tomorrow morning.



*I took my truck in to be serviced on Saturday. Routine sorts of stuff and things I should have done a while ago. But I was busy attending to the valve that exploded (literally) and which proceeded to suck up most of my spare dollars. There was still one repair pending: the rear wiper. A motor needed to be ordered. I paid for that motor and agreed to return the next weekend.



*Today I had to call the dealership and question whether they had, in fact, fixed the rear wiper for which I was planning that return visit. For reasons known only to itself, the wiper is suddenly working.



*The dealership assures me that they did not fix it. And that, contrary to what I might have observed, it is still not working.



*For future reference saying things like, "Well then this is just further evidence that my truck is actually possessed. I will be contacting an exorcist at the earliest opportunity and urge you to light a candle. You worked on Beelzebub's Weekend Vehicle and have been touched by the evil..." does nothing to improve your reputation at the dealership. Nothing whatsoever.



*I thought it was funny...



*On the way to work this morning, I passed a semi that was on fire. Real, actual fire. Someone was passing me and I had to drive right next to the flames. If I'd had a passenger, they could have stuck a stick out of the window and roasted marshmallows.



*But, I didn't have a passenger. Nor marshmallows, for that matter. So I didn't get to try it.



*I think that the experience of the flickering flames lapping at its paint job made my possessed truck feel right at home. I like to do nice things for my possessed possessions when I can.



*My school, like most, does its share of Safety Drills. We have fire drills, evacuation drills, and "code" drills where we practice how to hide in the face of danger. Every once in a while, a local police officer comes into the building in plain clothes to see if the staff will identify him as a "stranger" and escort him to the office. We do it all. And, for the most part, I take it pretty seriously. But, I have to admit, after the umpty-bazillionth time my class is interrupted by a shrieking bell or the need to herd the students into a corner not visible from the door, I get a bit irked. I question whether this is really educational on any level. It gets old...



*But, on a day where two little words (Code Blue) save a life or two, I suddenly get a bit more insight into the matter. I'll probably never have to evacuate to the middle school down the street. I hope that I don't need to keep twenty or so children from being visible or wonder if the kid that went to the bathroom knows to just stay there and hide.



*However, if I'm the one to whom you are going to entrust your children every day, I'd better be ready just in case. The worst can happen. But, I'm on it. To the best of my ability, I'm on it.



*My thoughts are with the staff, students and families in Cleveland. To say, "it could have been worse" seems callous. So I won't go there. But, I am so very relieved to know that so many were able to go home tonight.



SA

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Were you a little nervouse driving that close to the flames?

Anonymous said...

I hadn't heard the news tonight; how awful!

yarnslinger said...

I hope you never have to experience a code blue. WTF is happening in this world where babies are killing each other???

Donna Lee said...

It breaks my heart to hear about a crisis at another school. Where is this coming from? I hated the drills, too, but damn, better to be prepared. Remember being in grade school when we had nuclear drills and had to go into the hallway and put our coats over our heads? What did they think our coats were made of that they would protect us from nuclear fallout?

catsmum said...

So who's a happy little Ravelry-er? Ravelry-ite?
'Bout bloody time !
If you thought blogging and blog reading ate up time,prepare to be blown away by the amount of time you can loose on ravelry.

Rabbitch said...

I wonder why they chose to use "Code Blue". In medical vernacular, that means a cardiac arrest. I would never think twice to be concerned, unless it was me who was having it, of course. A Code Blue is something people are supposed to run ~to~, to assist, not ~from~.

Scary.

sheep#100 said...

Why have metal detectors and safety policies if you are not going to use them anyway?

Anne P said...

Are you a Lewis Black fan? Have you heard his schtick on being trained as a kid to prepare for "The Bomb"? That is worth a listen, given your current training schedule for the wee ones.

The Kelly Green Rogue said...

fingers crossed that you never have to hear the words "code blue" on your speakers.

debsnm said...

Every single time I see one of those headlines, I come one step closer to locking the kidlet in her room for the rest of eternity. As a parent, please let me express my appreciation that you are there for our kids - it's a horrible world in which to teach these days, and I think you do a wonderful job. Take a day off from cleaning, will ya?

Knitting Linguist said...

I'm with Rabbitch -- the code blue thing is weird (honestly, if I heard "code blue" I'd grab the paddles and run towards the chaos; clearly not the preferred strategy in this case). You know, I think I find these drills much scarier than the nuclear drills I grew up with -- those were just for the sake of feeling like we were doing something about a catastrophe we wouldn't be able to avoid if it came. With these, there is the possibility that hiding from a gunman might save a life. Scary. As a mom, it's good to know that teachers are thinking about this, but it just seems so WRONG!

I'm sorry you didn't have marshmallows; is this "when life gives you car fires, make s'mores"? :)

Kris said...

I was struck by the recent school shootings, particularly as it came on the heals of a shooting locally in which a 20 yo police officer killed 6 people, wounded one and killed himself because of an issue with a girlfriend. Most of the people were still in high school in a town of just 2000 people.

Anonymous said...

Possessed trucks (or computers, or cats, or lace knitting), OK, but the kids today who are so possessed by hate, or insecurity, or whatever it may be -- as others have said, heartbreaking. It would be nice if more of your time could be spent on teaching instead of preparing for this kind of thing.

Anonymous said...

I'm not gonna go near that Code Blue thing either. Too sad.

#1 son's E2 teacher (classroom with 4th, 5th, & 6th graders in a Montessori school) was a genius. When the school had a bomb scare and all the other classes were being bored and fooling around outside waiting for the all clear -- which took a loooong time -- she corraled her 25 or so kids and marched them to a nearby McDonald's, where they enjoyed a free snack meal. She told me she has learned over the years that if she says any or all of the magic words "kids" or "Minneapolis Public Schools" she can wrangle anything for free.

You might want to keep that in mind next time you have a safety drill :) (But substitute your local school name; I doubt "Minneapolis" cuts much ice in Maine.)