Day two of testing was more or less uneventful. The computer I imaged last night was up and running, much to my relief. The principals invited my group to eat lunch with them, where Beacon Printing was grilling burgers and hot dogs. They also gave me an awesome RTIC stainless steel cup with a cyclone etched into the side. Class act.

After school, I stopped in the hallway to talk to one of the teachers and was blown away when he told me that evolution wasn’t even being mentioned in school here. I remember going through high school when my science teacher, Amy Smith, prefaced the lesson on natural selection with how she knew it was a bummer, but she had to cover the material, so just hang on for the ride. I didn’t like that comment then, and based on what I’ve read this evening, it may have even been unconstitutional. I absolutely hate that I am constantly surrounded by what I perceive to be ignorance for the sake of faith. I’ve known enough religious people that weren’t blinded by the idea that their beliefs weren’t necessarily to be taken literally, that I have a reasonable expectation for people to have some sense, but things like this really irritate me. How are we supposed to grow as a civilization with this bible belt strangling the critical thinking out of us? It’s completely insane. I feel like I’m taking crazy pills.

Imagine there’s no Yoo-hoo…

Today starts the first day of year-end testing with the ACT Aspire. I keep hearing from teachers about how frustrating it is that they’re forced to teach the test rather than teach the kids how to think and learn. They say their pay is based on the test grades, so that’s all anyone focuses on any more. I completely understand the desire to hold educators accountable, and in a lot of ways we completely fail to do that.

Every day I deal with someone that wants all of these neat, expensive toys, but doesn’t take the time to utilize them to even half their potential. Every day I deal with someone that refuses to try and troubleshoot using even the most basic steps before sending the work off to someone else. Every day I deal with someone that doesn’t even consider the inconsiderate nature of their wastefulness.

I try to play the devil’s advocate. It’s a job like any other, and you can burn out pretty easily. The defeatist attitude is incredibly infectious, and sometimes it feels like you have to play the part to fit in with everyone else. As a newcomer, most of the advice I received was that I shouldn’t care too much or work too hard because it wouldn’t pay off. How can someone be so discouraged by the thought that their ability to educate effectively has been castrated, and then turn around and be so unwilling to think critically themselves?

This morning, one of my computer lab teachers was worried she had lost a bunch of passwords she needed for testing. She let out a frustrated yelp just as I was walking in the door behind her. I’ve only ever seen dogs so excited to see me. I looked at the problem, explained to her what to do, and calmed her desperate need to keep clicking the same icon repeatedly as it was taking its time to launch the program. She asked if I ever got frazzled, and my response was simply that the job didn’t pay well enough for me to get frazzled. While true, I probably really owe my calm demeanor to my own defeatist attitude that nothing matters. It’s turtles all the way down, but it sure is peaceful.

After work, I went home to get my replacement video card that had been delivered. EVGA “upgraded” me from my GTX 580 to a GTX 960. While marginally “better,” I don’t feel great about going from a top-shelf card to a budget card. It seems to run everything pretty well, but I just don’t like the huge step down in series in spite of the step up in year model.

I kept having to go back by the school to try and finish imaging a computer from another lab. Between trips, I stopped by my parents’ for dinner because Mom wanted to try cooking lobster tails. They were pretty good, but really salty. I stopped by work again, and the computer still hadn’t finished by around 9, so I gave up and headed home to bed.

Upside: Nielsen sent me 30 bucks.

Did a load of laundry. Watched a thing on Netflix. I didn’t love it, but I was committed.

My parents called me over for dinner. Nothing special there tonight. Just cleanup.
Jesica called and texted. Had a rough weekend. Went to visit. Tried to help.

More laundry. Then sleep.

So many wrongs or rights…

Sometimes the blog post is just a formality.

Jesica said she was down with an allergy to something today, and I hadn’t heard an affirmation from anyone else on MOOvie Night.

Starcraft, dishes, and Louis C.K. during late evening thunderstorms.

Talkin’ bout cold, cold beer.

Being around school brings back yearly milestones, which makes time seem to go by faster. Being around the technology shows the incredible waste, not just in the equipment, but also in potential. I’m fortunate in being the dumb new guy that gets to learn all of these new things, but I’m still reminded of how slowly I’m progressing at this point in my life.

The morning flew by as I visited my campuses. Lunch was split parties again because most of the people I work with only eat out at a small handful of places in town, and several of them have a hard-no they will refuse to patronize. I can’t even imagine having such a narrow set of choices. I have to have variety, and I can find something to eat at just about any place I’ve ever been. Dale and Ryan wanted Zaxby’s, making it the third day in a row for fried chicken. I drove the others to Dixie and had their promo barbecue, which was pretty decent.

I stayed at work super late to reimage a computer that had a failed hard drive so I wouldn’t have to deal with it first thing on Monday during testing. I stopped by my parents to help set up their Google Home and have dinner, then went back to the junior high to finish setting up the computer. At least at the junior high, the assigned seating is encouraging.

Afterwards, it was solo Overwatch until sleep.

Another week, down the drain.

Have you ever had a day that simply overwhelmed you with unexpected events?

As the morning started out, I was surprised by the apparent lack of trouble after such a big storm yesterday. It was nice not to have to run all over the place right out of the gate, but I really expected to be needed at least a little bit!

I went by Hardee’s for lunch by myself, since Dale and Ryan went to Popeye’s again. I wanted to try out their Baby Back Rib Thickburger. When it finally arrived after an extended wait, the burger patty seemed about half the size it should have been. They offered to just give me another patty, but it took them long enough to make it that I had to make a third trip to the counter just to get it. I’ve never had just stellar service at the Hardee’s on this side of town, but it’s just so damned close.

To illustrate the difference in the quarter-pound patty I was mistakenly given and the third-pound patty I paid for, I present to you, Exhibit A.

Notice the generous half inch or more that the new patty extends past the original one they served me. I ate it as shown in spite of my better judgment. I knew it wasn’t going to be a light lunch at Hardee’s, but I didn’t expect another quarter pound of meat.

The afternoon was spent taking inventory on computers in preparation for replacing the teacher computers from 2009. At one point, I stumbled upon a student-help collection of books, including topics such as the death of a parent, having a physically disabled sibling, understanding sex, and being Vietnamese!

After work, I came home to a baby bird sitting on my front porch. I immediately envisioned nursing it back to health and having a pet wild bird, but I spotted the nest under my covered porch and decided instead to return it. I grabbed a ladder from next door and carefully peered over the edge of the nest only to find it completely empty, but still somehow chirpy! After chirping at it myself and getting a response back, I discovered two more baby birds in my garden below! One of them was in the garden, surrounded by ants. The other was in the grass of my yard. With a total of three baby birds, I fashioned a shelf below the nest, and returned them to their rightful home.

Around 8 o’clock, I had plans to meet Jae for a drink and to catch up. I met him at Buffalo Wild Wings where we regaled each other with the goings-on of our lives. At some point he recognized a girl seated behind me, and asked our waitress for her name. It was none other than Kelli Henderson, a lovely girl I graduated with, and who even featured on my old website! I had seen Kelli around town a few times before, but neither of us ever stopped to say, “hello,” which is a great shame. After high school, that whole group of friends just kind of fell apart, and some of them even scoffed at me in passing, so I just left it at that. I wasn’t a popular child, and I always fancied Nikki Holbrook was the only one that felt sorry enough for me to actually invite me around. I see Sarah Hindsman on occasion, and she usually at least smiles in my direction, but has never said more than about half a dozen words to me. Not one of the others from that group ever acknowledges me. I actually see one of Sarah’s daughters in the halls of the junior high just about every day, but Sarah and I only ever see each other in passing. To have Kelli come over to our table was such an exciting moment, and what a coincidence that we should finally talk to one another again after all these years at the same moment I’ve resurrected a website from the same time period 17 years ago! The three of us chatted away for hours until she had to leave and left Jae and me to ourselves.

When I got home, I checked for an Amazon Prime package that was scheduled but didn’t arrive. More importantly, though, I took a peek into the nest and found that Mamma had made her way back to her chicks. The family’s back together, and it looks like everything’s coming up roses.

Today was eventful. Not long into the morning, we had a tornado warning and rushed everyone to the saferoom. After everyone got settled in, the power went out, and I thought it would be great to get a chant going. My March of the Winkies from The Wizard of Oz didn’t catch on, but someone started a stomp-stomp-clap that got shut down really quickly by the usual buzzkills.

This lasted until lunch, which was when I found that most of the city was without power. Fortunately, my neighborhood wasn’t hit too badly, but several trees and power/utility lines were down around town, including several traffic lights.

After work, Jesica and I went to Stoby’s for dinner, where Kristie the waitress got to choose my meal for the second time. The first was the ultimate double bacon cheeseburger, but this time I convinced her to go off-menu with me, and I got a Philly cheesesteak quesadilla that was great. I love when I get a server that has fun with it, and I usually get to try new things this way.

After dinner, we went back to Jesica’s apartment and watched The Spiderwick Chronicles, which has been on my movie list for a long time. It was nice to finally get to check that one off. I enjoyed it. We were meant to get cream slushes from Sonic, but we had both forgotten by the time I went home, so I guess that will be an adventure for another day.

This one is different ’cause he’s lonely.

I spent most of today working in Google Sheets. While not super productive as far as job requirements go, I enjoy it because it feels like I’m creating a puzzle that will be super useful to me later on. I’m currently taking inventory of all the computers on my campus and matching them up with expectations I have based on district policies or conventions. It’s nice because I get to spend a lot of time in the puzzle, but I also have to physically move around the building in order to collect my data, which keeps things from getting too dull.

After work, I cleaned up a few leftover spring rolls at my parents’ house, then came home and played some Overwatch with Aaron and Johnny. I’ve had worse days.

Kelsey’s birthday was today, but she had to cancel her weekend plans after driving into a ditch, so I decided to have MOOvie night on Saturday.

Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

I always love getting together with work people for things like potlucks. I guess a more true statement would be that I just like getting together with people, but when you do it at work they can’t get away, so they’re stuck with me.

I prepped the caramelized onion and broccoli last night, so this morning I got up early enough to finish the rice and cheese for my casserole. It turned out pretty good, but I always forget that I end up shorter on broccoli than I’d like. Mental note to use like 3/4 a bag of broccoli to one can of cream of mushroom soup and half a block of Velveeta.

After work, I went to my parents’ house for phở. I guess you could say that today was a good day for food.

After dinner, I washed the bike and didn’t want to park it wet, so I rode around a bit and ended up stopping by AT&T to visit. I hadn’t intended to stay too long, but then closed the place down like I usually do, and Kevin and I chatted in the parking lot for a while as we’re wont to do.

She had it comin!