Flitting

Went to Cambridge to see mom today - she was doing well - up and walking (with a walker) and all that fun stuff. Not liking her room-mates much - one whiner, one that hasn't mastered the use of the call buzzer....she'll be glad to get home, I'm sure.

Saw both kids - Tamara met me at Yorkdale and came along; Jess had placement, so couldn't, but we picked her up afterwards, and went out for dinner. Went to Red Lobster and watched Jess put away an entire meal, extra buns, AND an add on order of crab legs and THEN a huge slab of very chocolate cake and icecream. Don't have a clue where she put it all!

Saw M & the stringbean too ... hung out there for a bit so that Andy could use my car to go get some groceries. Was nice to get the chance to visit - I don't see enough of them.

Dropped the kids off - J to scrounge books for her placement, and Tamara at Yorkdale - felt bad that she had to take the bus both ways but I just couldn't manage the extra 2 hours that detouring would add.

got home to discover that ~someone~ had downloaded a ton of poker games and spyware on my computer... not a huge deal ... I did a system restore and set it back to yesterday ...but very annoying. Passive aggressive statement re: taking a day 'off' to spend it with my family, I suspect..... damned rude, if you ask me!

finished getting test ready for tomorrow.

Answered stupid student emails about the test tomorrow.

D. is still very ill... did talk a bit today - which was an improvement - but not well enough to get her up all day again, and totally out of it and running a fever again tonight. Going to call her doctor tomorrow - hopefully can work something out re: at least getting a urine sample checked without taking her in (although collecting one should be a real treat!)

Anyway, I'm off to bed - tomorrow will be another long day .... 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. - plus, of course, the drive at both ends of that.

2 down...

1 to go .... and B still not feeling well, so got an hour and a bit off between classes which was MUCH appreciated.... don't think I would have been much use to my students this evening otherwise....I'm wiped... but the rest helped.

Tonight we're covering email, and MS Word...and if they are doing ok, possibly might get into a bit of excel as well... not so much so that they LEARN much of it tonight but so that next week they'll have a bit of a jump start on it.... will see how it goes.

Got an email confirming my next few courses are going to run... at this point I was kind of hoping they wouldn't, but oh well... the money will be helpful.... just have to get a LOT of reading and rough drafts of papers going starting this week so that I won't be totally swamped.

Gotta go.... they're probably all up there already

Just Babbling

Have been working on my novel today .... sounds pretentious, doesn't it? LOL Oh well... it will, I hope, someday be a novel.... seems like every time I go back to it I find more stuff that needs changing. Somewhere along the way I changed the name of the male cyw (who I have made deliberately subordinate to the female - the influence of having taken Womens Studies, perhaps?) ... anyway, when I read through it again today I noticed that I missed a spot - or 10. NOW he's Joe all the way through... glad I didn't send it out like that! Spent some time updating my character outlines and so on ... which was worthwhile... have never really used character outlines and so on .... i.e. made notes to keep everybody straight... sure a lot easier to work from that way though.

Anyway, was making great progress, but then I coughed. And fainted. cough syncope ... the bain of my existance, at least today. If it was only the once, would be no big deal, but I am having a very bad day... angina, multiple incidents of coughing = waking up lying on the floor...and now, no doubt because of it, I have a wicked, wicked headache...

Took my meds, and tried to go back to writing but I can't concentrate, and can't seem to stay conscious long enough to accomplish anything worthwhile... good thing I've done my reading for next week! Well, most of it... have read everything required for my classes ... just haven't yet got to the 2 books on which I am signed up to lead seminars.. one of them I can't find, and the other, while I have it, I haven't started reading it. Will get to it ....eventually.

Got D. up... too late, now I have to change her bed before I can put her back into it. I knew I should have done it earlier! But I felt like crap and she is sick and so was sleeping and not at all interested in doing the rise & shine thing... Oh well... now she's up and I'm leaving her in her wheelchair because she's still wobbly and so'm I ... the transfers I've already done - bed to wc to toilet and back into the wc were enough to wipe me out completely...damn... there I go again.

This sucks! And it's going to suck even more if I'm not better by tomorrow. I am not looking forward to driving if I can't stop fainting! Nor to 9 hours of class :( Have to go though.... I have a quiz worth 10% of my final mark... and of course, I'm teaching in the evening. Will see how I feel though.. B. would likely let me make up the quiz ... and it's not that big a deal if I cancel a class...we just tack it on at the end... Might be the smarter thing to do ...

Another Week survived...

and this one went much better than last.... of course, having B. cancel 3 of my 5 classes didnt hurt... no class = no new homework or reading. I did read ahead anyway though ... but also got some work done on my YA novel.

Was pretty funny this morning ... could have had my free breakfast at East End - if only I had remembered that it was my birthday! It didn't even cross my mind until Tamara sent me a text message wishing me a happy birthday on my cell phone. Jess had better get cracking... haven't heard from her yet! Oh there she is, on msn ....and she even remembered to say Happy Bday without being told....well, not by me anyway LOL

Having king crab for dinner when R. gets home from work.... I love crab!

A Very Long Day

The weather - and of course, the roads - are lousy today. Took me almost 2x as long as usual to drive in to the college - only to find that my prof - who comes by GO from TO didn't bother to make the trip at all. Would it have killed him to have posted an announcement to that effect on Blackboard (our online course system) so that I might have known not to bother? I did check for one before I left.

Now I'm in Barrie and both my classes have been cancelled (both with him) .... and I can't turn around and just go home because Im teaching this evening (assuming they don't at some point cancel those - unlikely, as the weather seems to be clearing now; no sign of freezing rain). It's 12:35 now - 6 and a half hours to go :(

Oh well.... got my laptop (and converter so that I can plug it in while I'm in the car) and lots of my textbooks and so on.... can always go to East End or whatever.... think that's where I'm going to head now, actually - too damn cold to sit here for too long right now.

Winter 07 Week 1

So... survived the first week of the new semester. It was not particularly fun - problems with j's OSAP (still waiting to hear about T's), HR at the college and so on made for more stress than I needed.... they - HR, that is - say that they overpaid me last summer and I should have noticed it (by checking my pay stubs - which might actually be so, except that they SUCK at getting my pay stubs to me - they send them wherever strikes their fancy any given week, and I've long since given up on tracking the stupid things down) - they had no hesitation whatsoever about just not paying me until the entire amount is paid back.

The information I was given at first was rather incomplete - they said it was 96 hours, but the person who got the lovely job of telling me about it was not told which job, when, or anything else that mattered. I asked to speak to HR directly and was told no, she was to handle it - she went back and got the information, and also arranged for a more reasonable repayment scheme.

Turns out it was ~only~ 48 hours, not 96, and it was for the lowest paying job... so one hour of my current salary = almost 5 of those hours... so not nearly as big a problem as first told to me.... and, because I made a fuss, they have reluctantly agreed to take it out over 4 pay periods rather than just leaving me with no income at all until - aren't they generous? They asked that I sign a paper agreeing to this - and left it unopened with a front line coworker, which was, I thought, very poor form - my salary, past or present, and the details of the repayment plan being none of anyone's business! ...but anyway, it is worked out, and without either the kid or I having to drop out of school for the semester, which was my first thought as a possible ~result~

Actually, in one way, the whole exercise in frustration turned out to be a positive thing.... I was reminded once again how very very lucky I am... stopped into the store on my way home - stressed out, upset and all.... and even though business @ the store is so bad now, and we haven't found anything that works yet, R's response to my suggestion that I drop out and try to get my money back so that I can use it to support the kid(s) is to tell me to stop being an idiot.... both J and I are going to school, and of course we will manage it, of course we will support her. As far as he's concerned school is the most important thing.... if I want to quit work, even, and focus on school (and thereby not have to deal with the sorts of BS and stress they cause me, that's fine by him - but as long as I want to go to school, we - he - will make that happen).

Have I mentioned that I am very very lucky? And very spoiled, also?

Anyway, got it sorted out - and then, when I got home on Friday, in my email I found an ~invitation~ to participate in a survey of how well HR is doing their job! LMAO Excellent timing, don't you think? Too funny!

School itself was okay.... was feeling totally overwhelmed on Monday - 6 hours of one prof is exhausting, especially when both courses are Part 2, and I didn't take Part 1 of either. And then to go teach for 3 hours (no break in between) is a bit much ....especially given that it was snowy and blowy and the drive home SUCKED .... AND Tuesday morning I have 6 hours straight, again with no break.... so driving home at 10 p.m. knowing that in a very few hours I'm going to have to turn around and drive right back .... yucky! But by Tuesday at 2 p.m. the bulk of my classes are done ... 4/5, anyway.... and I have Wednesday's off, at least for now... I am teaching some one day courses on Wednesdays, but those don't start for a few weeks...and in the meantime I get to be the Grandma and watch the kidlet on Wednesdays :) Not every week... it will likely work out to every other (which is good; can use the days off for writing essays).

On Thursdays I teach 2 classes, and Fridays I teach one, then go to my 5th university class, in Canadian Literature, whih I really enjoy. The prof for that one is excellent, and I'm learning a lot from her - not so much about CanLit, necessarily, but about writing. She is an excellent editor, and willing to spend extra time on proofreading essays and so on ... I've asked her to be my supervisor for my 4th year independent study paper because I learn so much from working with her - well that, and because I really really like the work of Margaret Laurence, and want to focus on it for my paper. I much prefer CanLit to 17th & 18th century ~stuff~!

Had fun with my classes - the ones I teach - I think they went very well. Rather than work directly from out textbook - we start the course with 3 weeks of PowerPoint .... I had them create a PowerPoint about themselves. Things they like, things they dislike, what they want to be when they grow up, a joke... that sort of thing. We cover off the stuff that's in the first few chapters of the book.... working with design templates, images, and master slides and so on ... but we have fun doing it. And it helps me to learn their names - the more I learn about each of them as individuals, the easier it is. I always preferred the teachers who bothered to learn people's names, so I try to make a point of doing it myself with each new class.... the All About Me powerpoints work very well (and, because I had them submit them, and posted them on Blackboard, the online course system we use, it gives me a way to refresh my memory too!)
Next week will be soon enough to start getting into the actual textbook!

Anyway.... a very busy week... but I've got almost all my reading done for next week - oh! and I didn't tell you my discovery that is going to take some of the stress off re: those courses in which I've jumped into Part 2 without taking Part 1 .... when I got home on Tuesday I happened to pick up the textbook that the prof of those courses (and of one of my Tuesday classes as well) wrote - guess what is all covered - in very readable fashion - in his book? All the works that he refers to - the ones they studied in Part 1 - and how they fit into things. So now I've read almost the whole textbook and I think I'm pretty much up to speed - and I know it's there, so if I need to refer to it, I have it.

Got to go ... D is still lying in bed, but she's awake and ready to be got up for breakfast - she's very talkative today... just told me that if I need her she'll be at Valerie's LOL

Have I bitten off more than I can chew?

Right now it feels like it. New semester started today, and my schedule is (already!!) feeling more than a little overwhelming. I'm wiped - and then some ....2 3 hour classes with the same prof, a 10 minute break, and then I teach for 3 hours... and then the 1 hour drive home. And tomorrow, my first class is at 8 a.m. ....and I have 2 (again 3 hours each) back to back ... then errands for hubby's store, run home and fix two computers .... and be home to take care of my MIL by 5.... then Wed. is off... but got my 6 month old grandson for the day ... then teaching 2 on Thurs. And Friday is split...teach in the a.m., CanLit in the p.m.

Oh, and one of my former bosses left a message today - wants me to call her asap (if it's a job offer ACK!) ... and I picked up some more database work, and and and and .... did I mention I have about 50 textbooks for this semester - and every class has at least one, usually 2, papers that must be written?

AND I have a novel to finish and a bunch of short stories on the back burner and - oh, and I've been asked to give another reading, and there's this one day workshop and .... oh yeah, and kid wants to know when I'm going to deliver her left behind Christmas prezzies and put up her shelves and and and ....

YIKES! what have I done????

Let the Games Begin....

New semester starts tomorrow... been getting ~ready~ ... more or less, all day .... put a bunch of my books away in boxes so that I could clear some room or my textbooks for the coming semester. Updated my Palm, charged everything up (laptop, cell phone, Palm - I am SUCH a geek!) ...and packed my napsack .... all set I think...although to be honest my schedule is scaring me right now!

Felt overwhelmed last semester with Mondays and Thursdays clear... this time round I only have Wednesdays ...and as much as I'm looking forward to having Hunter on Wednesdays ... I don't seem to have much time built in for doing homework, reading, or for my non-school stuff writing. Just have to stay on top of everything, I guess!

We shall see.

It Works!

Got it to work ...and without resorting to violence :)

A thoroughly frustrating day!

It has been a very very long and annoying day.

Can't find my power cord for my laptop - I always keep it in my knapsack with the computer, so no idea how they got separated... suppose it could be worse - could have cord but no laptop! But anyway, incredibly frustrating... have looked everywhere and then some, and so has Ross... but no joy.

Called Staples - where I bought the laptop and they would happily sell me one for the low low price of $120... I think not! Toshiba website was horribly annoying so finally gave up trying to order through there and called them instead - would it kill them to post the 1-800 number on the website? Apparently! Had to call Markham number and listen to stOOpid recording twice to get the number - couldn't get it first time through; wasn't expecting it so wasn't ready with a pen. Anyway, when I finally waded through oceans of ~press one for English, etc etc crap~ got to a real live person (WHY OH WHY did I have to tell them English more than once? makes no sense!) ... he was very helpful and is shipping one out to me tomorrow .... should only take "a day or two" ... I hope hope hope he was telling the truth.

So anyway ... laptop is useless until the cord gets here, so my very wonderful husband said that I could have my birthday present early "Go into Staples and buy your keyboard" .... thought being that once I have keyboard could use lifedrive for working on my stories etc when I'm not at my desk... great idea but!

Went to Staples and 2 keyboards to choose from - one made by Belkin, $20 less than the one made by Palm but doesn't say Lifedrive in the list of models supported... buddy who is supposedly to offer customer service shrugs and says that he dunno... but why not take it and if it doesn't work, bring it back within 30 days for full refund. No, see, I am teaching tonight, which means that I am going to Barrie, and I want to be able to go to East End and work for a bit before class... that's kind of the whole point to the whole go buy the keyboard 2 weeks early thing.

Besides, when you figure that it costs at least $12/hour to have D. covered off for me to run stupid trips to see stupid people - made sense to me to pay the extra money and get a Palm brand keyboard that says right on it that it works with the LifeDrive.

Ask me if it worked?


ANYWAY! So I go to Shopper's Drug Mart to pick up D.'s prescription for her nitro patch and again they're giving me only one month's worth. All of her other meds, they give me all of what the doc prescribed at once - so only pay the $6 and whatever cents the one time. But for some reason, these ones, they have decided, we should pay that $6+ for each month. Twit at the counter shrugs and says that's the way it is, so I ask to speak to someone else, who also says that's the way the prescription was entered in the computer; nothing they can do. GRRRRRRRRRRRR! We'll see about that - will call doc's office tomorrow and get a Rx for 4 months worth and stand there and demand they fill it.

So then I come back home to muck about with the LifeDrive and keyboard. No joy. It just plain old wont work. Instructions say to go to Apps, Keyboard - but not a flipping word about what to do when Keyboard does not appear under apps... and usually I can google a solution to whatever, but coming up with NOT A DAMN THING THAT HELPS and I'm running late and have to leave and - did I mention I have a nasty cold? Tamara's fault! - so finally I give up and head to Barrie.

I go to East End and they're out of newspapers and I have no computer and so I write the 'old fashioned way' - not a story...a journal entry about children who shoot themselves in the foot? feet? so that they don't graduate when they're supposed to and what the hell did I do that not just 1 but both seem determined to have holey feet - with a pen and paper for the very short time I have left before class. Head over to the college early and lo and behold, the doors are locked! Well, now! I feel welcome - wonder how the 10 people who are signed up for a very beginners computer course are going to feel?

I call security and nicely ask for someone to come and unlock the front door to the building and am told that there is no need; the back door is open and there are no classes this week anyway. I inform the man that there is in fact a class, and it is of new-to-the-college students and I would very much appreciate it if he would please come and unlock a door for us. He wants to argue ... silly silly man. Fortunately, he did not show up himself, but rather sent someone else ...who not only opened the door, but also asked if I needed the door to the classroom opened as well...I didn't, it was open ... but it was nice of him to check.

So then my students showed up and as happens quite often, were unable to log into the computers - someone had, once again, neglected to make sure that their accounts were activated...something I complain about regularly but oh well... it is a new semester, after all. No big deal ...I call the support desk and ask that he either fix the accounts or give me guest logins for them. How many do you need, he asks. I tell him, and he goes away for a bit and then comes back and says that he is unable to provide me with guest logins unless we all truck over to his desk with photo ids. Excuse me? I think NOT! I suggest that perhaps he is mistaken, as this is a frequent occurence and I have not once had an issue with getting training accounts (although I hate having my students in them as it causes all sorts of grief with saving files and so on but that is another rant!) He goes away for another 5 minutes or so and my class is getting restless and I am getting very CRANKY ...finally he comes back on the phone and insists again that there is nothing he can do and... I hang up!

I ended up logging them into my personal accounts - I have 2, one staff and one student.... but what a pain in the arse! By the time we got all that sorted out, it was 7:20 *SIGH* I am not putting up with this sort of crap all semester - have about had it with this game. From now on am going to request training accounts be set up prior to the start of each course.... enough already... it gets things off on a very negative footing... makes the college - and me - look bad and I am so very tired of it.

So ANYWAY... then I drove home and mucked about with LifeDrive some more... still haven't got it working... and to make me even more ~happy~ I did a hard refresh of the life drive ... and then realized that the disk to reinstall the software for the whole thing is - yup - in the laptop! Which I can not open because it has no power and there is likely a way to force the drive open but honestly, tonight I am so tired and so cranky that I think perhaps that forcing it right at the moment would be a bad idea!