Cause and Effect.

Today was the first day of the DC-CAS for our students.  This is how I feel right now:

I'm just so exhausted after so many months of non-stop prepping and planning.  Last night, I woke up at 3:40am and couldn't go back to sleep because my mind was running a mile a minute.  (Incidentally, there was a pretty awesome storm that hit around 4:30 that kept me company.)  Now is the time for us to see the fruits of our labor...but unfortunately, the actual results don't come out until sometime in July.  

Hopefully, I'll be able to get some sleep before then...

This Too Shall Pass.

This blog has been pitiful!  Life has been busy lately...and to be honest, I have been going through some kind of semi-dark times.  Generally-speaking, I'm so blessed in life that when I say "dark times" I am still extremely lucky, happy, and well (so no reason to worry).  I guess it has just been a regular feeling of overwhelmed-ness (not a word?  I'm making it one) and exhaustion.  

This too shall pass.

Of course, the tragic events in Japan really do put things into perspective and jolted me out of my "funk".  Despite all of the destruction from the earthquake, tsunami, and aftershocks, people have been incredibly resilient and it truly does inspire me.  My friends and family are safe and sound and have amazingly been able to stay connected to the world via the interwebs.  There is just so much to be grateful for that I take for granted all of the time.  And there is so much to do with that gratefulness...like donate!

Okay, PSA over.

One of the things that is most challenging about having a blog (aside from posting in it regularly, evidently) is deciding what to put in and what to leave out.  I know that may be difficult to believe that I actually think about what I blog about considering my last few posts included a car commercial and some kind of rodent juggling rocks, but I do think about it for the most part.

Sometimes it feels so superficial to chatter away happily when there are truly sad and important things going on -- not necessarily in my life, but in the lives of loved ones and around the world.  But then I think about why I started this blog: to have some way to revisit and remember stuff that happened to me and as a way to keep in touch with friends.  SO...I will do a better job!  I must!  

While I can't promise a post each day, I will try to get at least five in a week for the next month or so.  It is the busiest time of the school year for me -- we're gearing up for the state tests soon, planning for next year, and dealing with the exhaustion that comes with this point of the school year -- but future me would want to have record of this crazy-busy time as well. 

Please pardon this stream-of-consciousness post.  In summary, more regular (and occasionally questionably entertaining?) posts from me starting now.

Coming Out of My Posting Snoma.

It's been a hot minute since I've posted. Snowpocalypse/Snoverkill ended up creating a Snowcation that lasted an entire week. That's right...schools were closed for the ENTIRE WEEK. That snow dance was potent stuff.

Despite having that time off of work, things were busy around here -- the impending return to work kept me on my toes...bracing myself for the backlog of paperwork that would follow. Things are still crazy at work, but I thought I would check back briefly.

Despite the fact that the snow is melting away nicely (although we are supposed to get a little more tonight), I am going to write about the biggest drawback to snow in D.C. That is the parking situation. Normally, I never have any problem parking in front of my house...it's perfect really. However, when you dump 30" of snow on a city that normally gets a quarter of that in a winter people and snow plows don't know what to do with themselves. Cars and streets can be shoveled out, but at the expense of any other car-less spot. The result is HUGE piles of snow on the side of a street where a car would normally park. Those huge piles then ice over and become solid blocks of ice. Since we only had four cars parked on our side of the street the night of the storms...there were only four parkable spots on our street. SAD TIMES.

Needless to say, I saw many scenes out of Lord of the Flies play out on our block. People putting trash cans in the spaces they meticulously carved out for their cars while they went to get groceries, only to fight with someone when they came back and found their cans tossed onto a pile and another car in that space. I even got yelled at for putting my trash cans out to be collected because someone assumed I was trying to save a spot. It was not pretty for a while. Fortunately for me, I had a nice stockpile of parking karma and always managed to find a space when I needed one. But...umm...I haven't been to the "real" grocery store since before the storm. Thank goodness for our produce delivery! And the convenience store on our corner!

Fascinating, I know.

Anyway, something that is fascinating (to me at least) is this! It's Jamie! Looking kind of bored! On TV!

Okay, so it's C-SPAN which probably doesn't count...but it's fun anyway. He has been working hard on the Toyota recall stuff and has been educating me on all the precautions I should take for my Prius. The good news is that most of it doesn't apply to me since I have an "older" model.

I'll be honest...after watching the first few minutes of that...I'm happy with my job that is chock full of surprises and adventure.

Snowmageddon.

Okay. I won't spend too much more heartache on this, but after celebrating the fact that our school finally decide to depart from DCPS (which never closes)...DCPS does the unthinkable and decides to close early tomorrow. DCPS! Early dismissal!!

Of course now that we are not tied to DCPS and their inclement weather closing policy we will be open for regular school hours tomorrow. Dagnabbit!

snOMG!

Remember that little pseudo-blizzard we had on Jamie's birthday? Apparently, it's twin storm is hitting DC tomorrow. The weather service is predicted 18 to 24 inches of snow! IN D.C.!!! Of course, we couldn't have a storm disrupt the regular school day, so it's predicted to hit at the most annoying time of the day: late enough that they wouldn't close schools, but early enough to make it really difficult to leave. Well, shoot.

This is the second weekend in a row that we have had significant snow on the weekend. The dinky little snow event that we had on Tuesday night didn't cut it. I excused Snowpocalypse '09 because I figured it was some freak event -- it was officially the 7th biggest snow storm DC has ever had (it hasn't been added to the list yet, but it was officially counted as 16.4") since those little American meteorologists began recording such things -- and it was so beautiful that I couldn't get mad at it for missing the school week by a few hours. But for it to happen twice in two months? That's just Mother Nature being spiteful.

I WANT MY SNOW DAY! It's time for the annual (or maybe biannual) snow dance...

Sick Day.

It felt like I had been hit by a truck. I woke up yesterday morning with a mildly sore throat, and I downed an Airborne hoping that it would go away. By 11am I felt like death...after being hit by that truck. I had the works: chills, headache, so many aches, etc. While I have been sick many times before -- I work at an elementary school, after all -- I had no memory of anything hitting me so suddenly or intensely. I wanted to turn off my lights, crawl under my desk, and disappear.

By the time I got home I had a raging fever, crawled onto the couch and tossed and turned for a good long while before I got the not-so-bright idea to take a bath to warm up. I vaguely remember Jamie coming home and speaking a whole lot of words to me. I definitely remember waking up various times with all of the blankets in our house on top of me. That's pretty much it.

I woke up for good around 10am this morning -- I had emailed my request for sick leave around 5am -- and felt that my fever was starting to break. I'm back down to 99 and my body doesn't feel like it hates me anymore. When Jamie called to check in with me this morning, he told me that last night I was complaining about the "sandy pancakes" (what was actually chicken soup) that he was feeding me and that I thought I was on the beach. Just thinking about happier times, I guess...

Next time, I might request that Jamie videotape me when I go into my crazy, fever-induced ramblings. Or maybe not.

A Whole Lotta Nothing...Plus Some Mushiness.

I think it's slightly funny that Jamie was the one who got a Snow Day after the storm rather than me...In the end, I got to spend my first day of break with Jamie at home. And actually Scott who came over to our place for a quiet place to study. While I adore my husband and brother-in-law, they were seriously cramping my vegging plans.

No matter, I would vegetate properly on my second day of break by sleeping in, etc. Unfortunately, I woke up at 7am and figured it'd be best not to waste my day. Also, I needed to get myself to Urgent Care and no time like the present. Given my previous experience with Urgent Care, I was not looking forward to it.

This time I went to Minute Clinic. Hooray for Minute Clinic! I was seriously seeing a nurse practitioner within a minute. Minute Clinic saved my second day of break because afterwards I was able to get back home and do my jog and then catch up on my vegging.

Today is Jamie and my dating anniversary. After spending eleven years with the guy I can safely say that he is still the best, most wonderful, human being.

Love Tap.

What's the etiquette when it comes to parking love taps? You know, when a car gently taps another car when it's parallel parking.

This morning, when I was leaving for work, a car pulled up and began to parallel park into the spot directly in front of mine. Since I didn't want to pass behind his car while he was parking, I waited for him to park. Despite the good 3 feet on either side of his car he kept reversing far beyond what was necessary...I watched with growing alarm as he kept inching ever so much closer. Closer. CLOSER. Until TAP -- my car lurches and he finishes parking his car.

I'm guessing that he understood that it was not cool -- I gathered that based on the fact that he leaned over to the passenger seat to "get something" and continued to "get something" (and hide his face) until I had driven by.

When I was relaying this to a friend today, she told me that love taps were not at all taboo. In fact, she proudly stated that she always gives love taps and will usually tap both cars on either side of her every time she parallel parked. WHAT???? Excuse me, WHAT???? Please tell me that my friend is just wrong.

I feel so violated on behalf of my car just thinking that it may have been getting tapped without my knowledge...

Day 2; Post 2: So Much for Schadenfreude.

Today on my way home from work, there was a car following closely behind me. Very, very closely. So closely, in fact, that I could not see his headlights behind me -- I'm talking a foot or less was between our moving vehicles.

Having not driven far from work, and it not being the best of neighborhoods, my first thought was that this guy was going to ram my car and then rob me. I could not think of any reason that this car would be tailgating me. There were other lanes where he could go around me and I had not cut him off to make him mad.

Fearing the worst, I made a few turns (he continued to follow behind me). At one point, he had to pause to let a jaywalker by, and I gained a good 1/2 block or so on him. At this point I started to change lanes to make a left turn. That's when he floored it and quickly closed the gap between us.

I was about 2/3 of the way into the lane when he decided to try and squeeze past me -- unfortunately for him, 1/3 of the lane was not enough for his car to pass by me without jumping onto the curb of the grassy median. By the time I swerved to get out of his way, his tire had exploded on the curb and his car spun out.

The sense of poetic justice was fleeting and was quickly replaced by guilt. Despite the fact that I did not hit his car, nor was his reckless driving and tire exploding any fault of mine, it crossed my mind to stop and help. Then I remembered where I was (and when...it was pretty dark) and all my initial fears came flooding back. So I drove on and let him deal with his flat tire on his own -- after all, I would be of very little use to him.

Thing is, I can't shake the feeling like I should have done more. Or more, that I shouldn't have jumped to the conclusion that I did -- that he was up to no good. So, guy who drives too closely to me, wherever you are: I hope that your tire got fixed and that you got wherever you were going in time. I also hope you learned to drive in a way that didn't make you a big jerk.

Short-Lived (OR, The One With the Cherryblossoms)

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I finished up my Saturday duties two weekends ago.  In other words, this past weekend was the first time in a long while when I was able to sleep in on a Saturday.  In effect, I had two whole days to recharge my battery from the week rather than the usual one day.  

This was glorious.  I woke up on Saturday feeling refreshed and ready to take on the world.  Or, at least host a couple dozen friends at a BBQ.  Sunday was similarly grand.

The problem didn't come until Sunday night.  When I got into bed with a full battery...and proceeded to toss and turn for near FIVE hours.  Granted, for some of those hours I was in a state of miserable half-sleep.  In the end, according to my sleep monitor, I had logged in a whopping total of 2 hours and 22 minutes of sleep for the night.  Grand. 

So much for recharging the battery.

Another thing that was short-lived, but wonderful nonetheless were the cherryblossoms in D.C.  Sure, these are a few weeks too late, but like I said: I'm catching up.  One day, way back in early April, Jamie and a couple of our friends got up bright and early to take pictures of the blossoms without the crowds.  It should be noted that the reason that I did not go wasn't because it was too early.  No, dear reader, it was because that would make me LATE for work.  On a Saturday.  But, at least I got to enjoy the pictures that Jamie took...(and now you do too!)

Not to Complain But...

...you know what sucks??

Being at work on a Friday at 10:30pm...when you got to work at 6:30am...and having to come back nine hours later...on a SATURDAY.

Also, not having eaten dinner. AND, missing an Ice Cream party with the husband and friends because of being stuck. at work. at 10:30. on a Friday.

I had to say it.

The Bad Kind of Geek.

In the time since my last post, my computer died and we have bought a replacement. Not only that, but we bought a Mac replacement. I hadn't been having so much luck with the PCs and Jamie and I finally made the switch. Ironically, I still spend most of my time on the PC side of my new Mac since all of my old programs are not Mac-friendly. The greatest thing, though, is that there is a PC side of my new Mac. I can actually boot up in either operating system and it runs both of them super-fast.

It kind of makes me regret not having made the switch earlier.

To tell the truth, we had actually already ordered the new computer before the old one died. I dutifully went to Costco and purchased a big hard drive to back up all of my digital pictures and any important files for the switch. I am not kidding when I say that I was just about to plug in said hard drive when the blue screen of death came up and I never saw my computer desktop again. I am convinced my computer wanted to screw me over just one more time.

So long pictures.

As I don't care for the computer anymore I would be perfectly fine just recycling it if not for those pictures. So I took it to Geek Squad. I had heard good things about the service and I tend to enjoy Geeks. Unfortunately, they apparently are not actual geeks and do not know how to fix my computer. What they do know is how to charge me a ridiculous amount of money to "diagnose" my computer. The result of the diagnosis? "It's broken. $200, please."

After having the computer for over a week, they let me know it's ready. I head over, wait in line for a couple hours only to have them tell me I need to bring in the Restore CD so they can Reinstall everything. Naturally, I was upset that they did not give this information to me over the phone so I could have brought the CD with me and not had to wait two hours for nothing.

As I am quite the geek myself and am perfectly capable of erasing the hard drive, I opted to just forgo all that and have them just back up the folders with all of my picture. This, they say they can accomplish "in a few hours". Since I did not have hours at the time I leave it there with the intent on picking it up when they call me. I had to call them a week later to inquire on it. They inform me that they are working on it now and that I'll be able to pick it up that night when they call. They do not call.

Finally, today, they do call. Not to tell me that my computer is backed up, but that they need me to purchase a hard drive so they can start the back-up. I dutifully take a hard drive there, wait in line, and he tells me to shop around for one hour and the computer should be ready. When I return an hour and half later, they backup will now take THIRTY FIVE HOURS.

If my stupid, crap computer is not backed up on my FIFTH and FINAL trip to Geek Squad -- so help me -- the air will be filled with the sound of breaking eyeglasses and snapping suspenders.

Another interesting note: the Geek Squad website option that would allow me to check the status of my repair has been out of order. Also, the link they sent me for a customer satisfaction survey doesn't work either. Touche, "geeks".

To the Bone.

Let me begin by saying I love my new school. It is a positive environment for our students, and I believe that we will really be able to make a difference in the lives of all of the young girls and boys that walk through our halls.

But...dammit do my feet hurt. Never in my life have I worked as hard as I have been working for the past week. And sadly, I have to report that I feel like a first-year teacher all over again -- a feeling that I had never intended to revisit. There is something to be said for building something like this from the ground up.

I get to school at 6:30 in the morning and usually leave well past 6:30pm. My first few days/nights I definitely didn't get out of the building during the single-digit hours going home only to sleep for a measly few hours.

I have always felt that the Teacher Union in Baltimore City was the reason for many of the public school system's problems. Despite being a paying member of said Union, I rarely agreed with their practices and felt a great sense of freedom when I resigned from Baltimore City Public Schools and stopped being a member of the Teacher's Union.

I no longer am a member of a Teacher's Union...and as much as I regret to admit it...I think that they may have had a point. A teensy-itsy-bitsy point. Like having a period for lunch is good. Also, having a time to pee during the day is also good. Oh, and being able to sit down for a little while is also good. As it is, I am with my kids every single minute of the day. I am with them for breakfast. I am with them for lunch, recess and until they get picked up at (sometimes) 5pm. I take them to the bathroom twice and I look longingly at the toilets knowing full well, that I will not be going to the bathroom for several more hours.

As soon as the last child leaves, I am overwhelmed by the simultaneous urge to eat something and to use the restroom and I have to decide which is more important. I left my lunch at home once, and didn't even know I had left it at home until I got home and saw it sitting on the kitchen counter. I don't even know why I make a lunch anymore, as I usually just recycle the same sandwich from day to day.

I love my school. But I also love my feet. I must find the most comfortable shoes on the planet and somehow make them cute enough to be business casual.

Okay. I'm done with the rant. And if anyone from school is reading this: please don't fire me. I really am committed to our kids and to our school. Honest.

Back to Reality.

Jamie and I got back from our honeymoon late last night. Of course, because Jamie and I are unable to travel alone together without problems, we had delays. For a while I was worried we would miss our connection because of the delays and because we had to go through customs before making the switch. Thankfully, Canadian airports are much more efficiently run than airports in the U.S...Miami. We and our luggage made it passed customs and then we ran through the airport to get to the gate on time. Of course, our second flight was also delayed. But we're back! The kitties meowed their welcome and just kept on meowing.

So, on the flight back from Canada, I learned something awesome. Actually, it's probably not awesome to most people, but dammit it is for me. Months and months ago this video came out:

Of course, I am a dork and watched the crucial parts of cuteness over and over again. What I found out yesterday was that those little celebrity otters were the otters we saw in Vancouver.



Very cool.

In not so cool news, my car got effin' keyed again. This time someone scratched a not-so-nice word in big letters on the hood. Boo. Let's hope that the DC Metropolitan Police are more helpful than Baltimore School Police -- although they won't even come to see the car. I just have to wait for them to get back to me in order to file a report. This does not bode well...

Underwhelmed.

It was a gorgeous day yesterday as I walked back from a friend's house. Consequently, I was smiling happily at everyone I passed. Including a guy talking on his cellphone. In response to my smile he immediately asked for my number -- mid-conversation, mind you. No "hello", no idle chat about the weather, it was "can I get your number?"

Whatever happened to the chase? Whatever happened to wooing people with your charms? What was he expecting would happen? I remember when men would at least create some fake story about how they just moved to town to take care of their sick mother and didn't know anybody yet and would you mind showing me some of the city if you had time?

In other news: Jamie is taking the BAR right now! Scary! Send him smart vibes...

Scary Lady.

There are many things I could blog about. We finally got our digital negatives from the wedding and with it many fun pictures. We also are also 1 week from Jamie's BAR exam. Oh, and let's not forget that we embark from our much-awaited honeymoon very soon.

But what is pulling me out of blogging hibernation is a rant. A very passionate rant.

So, as a teacher on her summer break, I am enjoying a lot of relaxation time in my home. Time is spent cooking, watching television shows about cooking, perusing the internet and very occasionally doing some work. This is important only because these are all activities that I have been doing downstairs in our living/dining room.

Today I was doing my work when I notice that the UPS guy has left a package slip on our door. This is weird because he never knocked, nor rang the doorbell. Also, because I have been downstairs all day had he knocked quietly or rang and ditched, I would have noticed him right away. The package slip is extremely cryptic and says only: "Left at Bell" and a 3-digit number. I immediately got Jamie to take a 5-minute break from the studying to go to the corresponding address (which, incidentally wasn't even a neighbor -- it was down and across the street) in case the 3-digit number was supposed to be an address.

Fortunately, Jamie went and not me, because I would not have been as kind. Apparently, some lady down our street got the UPS guy to leave all of the packages for her "neighbors" at her house. I guess this is her sad way of getting people to come to her house and to meet them. Um. This should be illegal.

To make it even more creepy, she proceeds to tell Jamie that she does not approve that our rental unit downstairs has a Certificate of Occupancy since it doesn't have two points of egress. I'm sorry, lady, but the building inspector thought it was just fine and gave us the CofO. Then adding that if we were good people we would put in an additional exit. Why on earth you know all of our business and about our building permits is beyond me.

Oh, and she doesn't like that we keep our BACK GATE LOCKED and that we shouldn't keep our BACK GATE LOCKED because it's a fire hazard.

Crazy lady, don't tell me not to lock my gate. I will lock my gate and my door to keep creepy people like you, out. Also, don't go through the walkway behind my house and check to see if my gate is locked. I will set up a booby-trap (or at least coat the handle with honey and ants) if I find out you're lurking behind my house again. It is only a fire hazard for people who are walking in the 3 feet of space behind my house that is the walkway which should not include you.

Jamie thinks this is kind of cute and charming. I think she's nuts. She's nuts, right?? Or am I paranoid?

Okay, I'm off to write an angry letter to UPS for leaving our package with a total stranger before even attempting to deliver it to us...

The Nightmare Continues.

Just when I thought that I was done with it, I got a bill for $254 from Dell. That is the cost of the memory chip that they sent to me. The refurbished memory chip...the one sent to replace the memory chip that was stolen from me by a Dell technician.

There are no words.

Computer Geek.

It is freaking hot over here.

So those of you who speak to me semi-annually know that I have been having "computer issues" since May when I destroyed my laptop. Anyway, I have been having enormous customer service problems with Dell and let's just say that it has been a big ol' slab of hell (which rhymes with DELL).

The latest incident occured today when the Dell technician made his SECOND trip to fix my new desktop (which turned out to be a lemon). Despite assurances that we would have a different technician, the same guy came to try again. While he was working I noticed that they had only shipped one new memory card even though I had two memory cards. When I mentioned this to him he got very defensive, telling me that he was just installing what they gave him.

He could not leave fast enough once he had put the computer back together again -- getting all huffy when I asked him to stay while I rebooted the computer and tested it with a program. He was in such a hurry that he left his car keys. Within minutes of him leaving I realized that my computer was now short 1GB of RAM. It had started out with 2GB and now had 1GB.

The asshat had stolen a memory card.

Unfortunately, he won't even be fired since he told us (pre-discovery) that he was quitting his job and getting a new one. All I have to say is Asshat better stay away from me.

Out of the Ashes

A couple weeks ago I absolutely destroyed my computer in a spectacular display of sparks and smoke. I spilled tea and it actually blew up. In the split second it took me to recover from my dumbass-ed-ness and shock, I watched as my computer froze, the blue screen of doom flashed across the screen, and made a feeble pop sound as it shut down...FOREVER.

Many dollars (and no blog-posting) later, I got my computer back only to find that it was still broken. Needless to say, I spent too many hours on the phone with support last night. Nothing has been resolved as my call was lost as it was being "transferred" (read: they were tired of listening to me) and I wasn't in the mood to sit listening to more hold music.

If you know me at all, it will make perfect sense to you that my response to my stupidity would be to buy myself a new computer. So that's what I did. Ladies and gentlemen: I am writing this post from a computer that I purchased with my own money. Granted, it's about $1300 cheaper than the computer I destroyed (a graduation present -- only two years old!) but to me, it's awesome anyway because I bought it using the money I earned edumacating kids.

If they ever do fix my computer, I'll be able to give it back to my benefactor since he's been on the market for a new computer since 1999.

You should also know that I am drinking tea while I type this. But there is a lid on the mug...I'm back!

FYI.

I just listened to my downstairs neighbor (aka: SNORLAX) have a very long argument with someone over the phone. It went through phases like: "weepy", "angry", "shouty", and "cussy". It ended with him enraged and screaming into the phone that he was going to "kill you, you mothafucka!" because "I'm tired of your fuckin' shit!" and peeling out of the parking lot and bottoming out over the speed bump. I tell you this, in case the police need to know the exact time that all these events took place.

I kind of miss those screaming kids that used to be my neighbors now. ("I LOVE NOISE! I LOVE NOISE!"

P.S. mmmmmmm...pineapple.