May 23, 2011
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1 Sharks!
2 OMG.
3 How on Earth...
4 On behalf of all Sharks' fans, I will say no more. I will say simply that we're still in it, and let's get behind these guys. It's pretty easy to see a game get lost because of an inability to score on power plays (which they have consistently been able to do all through the playoffs), or to have momentary lapses (which they have consistently done all through the playoffs), but yesterday it ALL simply worked against them.
5 Sometimes our teams just have a day that doesn't go their way and that DOES for the other team. Sometimes the other team plays well. Vancouver killed almost ten minutes of penalties the same as we killed the entire second part of the second period penalties the game before.
6 Happens. Yes, the pressure is on, but the pressure of losing AFTER getting a three game advantage AND at home is also on a team whose goalie has a history of getting shaken up in playoffs.
7 So don't throw away the hope nor the support. The Sharks came back when they needed to all year, and THAT is the team that needs to show up for the next three games.
8 Hope this helps.
9 So yeah, GO SHARKS!
10 Moving on, Part the First: It's tough to be a sports' fan when there are playoffs and craziness going on the same week as finals. Any college student will tellya that.
11 And any teacher or professor who is an avid sports' fan.
12 So this is the beginning of our last "week", which is actually three minimum days.
13 Moving on, Part the Second: So here's an update: I headed off a lot of challenges on Friday when I sneaked into the English office and successfully scanned all my benchmark tests. That machine and those sorts of tests tend to have huge issues and usually take much longer than most people realize. I figured a LOT of teachers would put that stuff off 'til Monday, and figured that Friday is a getaway day, and that most teachers would procrastinate. I guessed correctly.
14 So I walked in, and lo! The person from the district who repairs the machine was wrestling around with it because someone had changed the calibration settings.
15 I just sat patiently at the plate and waited 'til she was done fixing it, and then stepped right in and got my work done in about a half hour. Last year it took me about a billion hours, because SOMEONE had changed the calibrartion settings. But I digress...
16 Last night I checked my emails and saw that a bunch of teachers had HUGE issues dealing with the machine, and that some suggested changing the settings, and all sorts of other things.
17 I smiled, 'cuz I headed it off, and instead of it becoming a HUGE headache for me, I took the time Friday to finish the job and walked out a happy man.
18 So today I still have a TON of work to get done, but THAT was the number one worry I had on Friday. Why? Someone had changed all of the settings last year, and that stuff wound up taking me ridiculous hours, keeping me at the school until two days after graduation.
19 It's a longer story than that, because when I was Activities guy, one of the same people who it turns out probably messed with the machine wanted me to allow every teacher in the school access to the tech booth in the Theatre!
20 I gave a HUGE, "NO!" and that person bugged me about it for two years. My thoughts were that if everybody has access to something that needs experience and technical expertise, it will break down every couple of days due to hurried people, or to people who will leave a "problem" for someone else to solve.
21 In our daily jobs, many of us work with copy machines. This is akin to the sort of thing that happens when someone gets a paper jammed, and then leaves the stuff for someone else to figure out, with red and green lights blinking on and off incessantly on their departure.
22 So I limited the knowledge of the light and soundboard to individuals who had clearly worked with them in the past.
23 The result? Amount of times we needed to send out for repair to the light and soundboard: 0. Amount of times I had the performing arts department mad at me about people who messed with light and soundboard settings: 0.
24 Small victory, I suppose. I had huge battles with that person on that issue, and my reasoning was sound as a guy who has done tech for years. Keep the room locked, and nobody "calibrates" settings. And in general, most people would rather have someone who knows what they're doing in there doing it for them.
25 So I now go into the week with a pretty nice advantage. And email sent from said person said yesterday that " the settings were now "fixed". I still have a TON of stuff to get done before I check out for the year, but whatever that person did to the machine isn't going to affect me this year. Getting those tests done loomed pretty large to me, as I had visions of once again being the only teacher in school still fighting and battling that stupid machine when everybody else has taken off to Europe, or to the Far East, or even to lovely Pinole, California.
26 In my case, Mars.
27 So I guess that's about it on a dizzy Monday. As I said, I'm still going to barely make it out of there by Wednesday, and I'm pretty sure I'll spend most of Thursday finishing up, but my hope is to be done and home by Wednesday at 6 p.m.
28 And then it will amazingly be time for the 2010-11 school year to come to a close, and for me to put the DN to bed for the summertime.
29 Oh, I'll probably send some form of the DN out there, but this is usually the time each year that all operations shut down, and I focus on all things home.
30 And with a wedding coming up this summer, I'm tanned, rested, and ready.
31 Sadly though, it isn't nearly as fun as in past years because colleagues are getting pink slips and some young, incredible teachers and some veteran and young staff still may not have jobs next year, despite recent optimism. And some amazingly great staff members retire this week as well, so it's all bittersweet.
32 So the mal-functioning of machines is just a small part of it. I'll be spending time at the doctors this summer being sure that my health stays, well, healthy. I had a bit of a scare a few weeks ago, but right now things seem fine.
33 I simply need to slide through the next coupla days and then it will hopefully be smooth sailing 'til we start all over again in mid-August.
34 That's it for today.
35 Have a wonderful Monday.
36 Fly low.
37 Peace.
~H~
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