misery in the forecast

I'm sure it's hot where you are too, but I really can't believe how hot it is here. This makes me want to go visit Antarctica or at least play in a sprinkler! At least I'll be inside at work. Our grounds crew is about to go on strike!

the EARLY bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese

My job description is changing a little this year. Not only will I keep my same responsibilities, I will also be teaching a computer class at 6:50 in the morning! Jaclyn can attest that this will be no small feat. I can tell the staff here have their doubts about me interacting with other human beings before 8:00a, because I'm pretty bad then. I keep telling them that when I did student teaching, I was at school every day by 6:30a, so I can do this!

The class is split into two sections, which are then split into different units. First semester is IC3 (Internet and Computing Core Certification). It's split into three sections (don't have to be a rocket surgeon to figure that one out!): Computing Fundamentals, Key Applications, and Living Online.

During the first semester, I'll be working on getting my own certification in the content I'm teaching second semester! Microsoft Office Specialist is a series of certifications based on performance in Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Access, and Project. The goal is that I'll become a Master Instructor and rule the world (insert evil laugh).

There are 10 kids in the class, all seniors. They get credit from SAU for their computer general ed. requirement. You'll have to stay posted to see how this all goes. Who knows, I might be a morning person by the end of this year . . . or not.

back from the EDGE

If you teach in the Southern Union, you understand the title of this blog. I just got back late this morning from ICC. I can't even describe to you how much I do not want to sit and listen to anyone else talk. That's all we did for the entire time at the camp. No entertainment, no mingling time, no free time, no fun. And let's just say that I don't ever want to go to Hawaii now either.

Anyway, I had a good first part of the weekend visiting Ryan. We spent most of the time looking at possible apartments for him for this year, but did go boating Friday afternoon, and shopping Sunday. We spent most of Sabbath inside because it was so HOT. If only I had known what hot really was . . .

This past weekend was Tennessee's tax holiday for back-to-school shopping, so we hit the stores Sunday to see if anything we wanted fell in that category. I bought a new bathing suit at Belk and got some CDs and books from McKay's.




Laura Ashlock lead out in song service in the mornings. She's teaching at Madison Campus Elem. this year.






And this is the extent of what we did all day . . . sit. Conrad Gill came and talked to the secondary teachers about what they're doing to implement programs that support EDGE.



Highland staff after leaving the Hawaii nightmare. I'm pretty sure everyone else was jealous of us because we had more fun than they did. People kept coming and telling us (but mostly Becky) to keep it down.


I stayed in 8C, the 3rd building up in this picture. The "cabins" are pretty nice, but I did have to sleep on a tiny plastic mattress. I slept ok though, but will be very glad to be back in my own bed tonight!


View of the cafe from up by the cabins. All of the people who had laptops with wireless would congregate in the hallway outside of the cafeteria to get Internet access. They looked kinda like homeless people with laptops, all strewn about on the floor.

changes

You'll have to look closely at these pictures to see the evolution of my office. I'm really supposed to be packing for my weekend in Collegedale and for Sunday through Wednesday's teachers' convention at Indian Creek. Instead, I got preoccupied. Anyone who knows me well knows that I clean rooms by rearranging my furniture. It's the only way to get things really clean. For instance, I vacuumed every part of the floor in this room tonight. I think that's an accomplishment.

Early October 2006 - The original state of my office (after unpacking). I like the red color, but wished they had spent more than 10 minutes slapping it on the walls. It also shows lots of scuffs and imperfections that could be hidden better.

Late October 2006 - I got curtains! There wasn't really any other change besides the curtains.

August 2007 - Voila! I moved my desk to the wall opposite the door and got all of my scrapbooking/craft junk out of your first line of site when you walk in the room. I still need something better than a rubber band (!) to hold back the curtains.

I put all of my scrapbooking and craft junk together on the small wall between the door and closet. That way it can be messy and you don't see it unless you're in the room. I also need somewhere better for my coolers, but I'm afraid to put them in the creepy basement! They can live below that table for now.

Another tidbit - if you know me, you know I lost 3 softball bats in the middle of my room when I was younger. I didn't find anything interesting today, except $10 in rolled coins. Take that to the bank!