The Week from Hell
Emily mentioned that I never write about work. So here was work this week. I think this has been one of the longest weeks of my life. First of all, Monday. This was the press release...
**Important Announcement**
A few minutes prior to dismissal time today (Monday, April 23, 2007) at ______ Elementary, two kindergarten students told Principal ____ that they saw a man with a weapon run into the woods. Principal ____ put the building into lock-down and the police were notified. The district then followed police procedure and, as the person may have run into the woods which could effect the athletic fields at __________, __________ and the high school, those fields were cleared, the students were brought into those buildings and they were also placed under lock-down. The police did a thorough search of the area, determined that everything was clear, and the students were allowed back on the fields and the _______ students were dismissed 15 minutes late.
I wish it really were that simple. The stress during that was amazing. And it wasn't 15 minutes late...it was 45. Try sitting in a small office with freaked out parents and everyone locked up on the floors and no one knowing what really is going on. Then add state and local police running around and parents banging on outside doors to get inside. Then add news coverage. It was too much. I hope to never have to do it again. The rest of the week was filled with a knockoff Tiger Championship ring scam (one of my students) another student stabbing a classmate with a pencil and getting 5 day suspension, diarrhea, late buses, screaming parents and kids all worked up and rain! Oh and by the way, the district expects the building to be completely emptied on the last day of school. Yep, move everything out of your room while you still have students. I mean everything. They are painting and carpeting the entire building as well as a few other improvements over the summer. AHHHH... Then today, one of the teachers who is 20 weeks pregnant was not feeling "right" and we had to call 911 for the second time in one week to get an ambulance to take her to the hospital. So these kids who are on edge anyway get to see a teacher wheeled out on a stretcher, with monitors, to an ambulance. I think I need therapy.
Let me remind you that I work in a small town, white bread, everyone knows everyone, elementary school. Not some big, inner city, rough area. We need some time off to recover.
I love water!
Last weekend I had the wonderful opportunity to go kayaking! Yes it was wonderful. My cousin Krista was coming up to hang out for the weekend and we had planned to go for a bike ride on Saturday. When she talked to her sister who lives about half way between Krista and I she mentioned kayaking. She said that Krista and I could borrow her and her husband's kayaks and go out on their lake. I think that people have assumptions about what is called the west. Krista assumed that I was an expert kayaker because I grew up out west among "all that outdoors stuff". Ha ha ha! Me and what water!? See Michigan has this thing that you aren't farther than 5 miles to a body of water. There is water everywhere. In Montana I think that you are lucky to find 5 miles of water in the whole state! And it is a big state! But kayaking was a lot of fun. You are low enough to the water that you can go through all of these culvers that connect to other lakes. I think we ended up going through 4 lakes before we were totally exhausted. One thing to note is the scary swans and jumping fish. The swans can be very mean especially now that they are guarding their nests. One lake had these jumping fish that fly out of the water high enough to land in a boat. One jumped right next to Krista and it was pretty funny to hear the scream! Anyway, I am happy to add kayaking to my list of new activities that I love!
Summer job
I need a summer job. I know what I want but I am afraid that I am not very hire-able because my time frame is short. See we aren't out of school until mid-June and I have to go back sometime in August. Also we are trying to plan a family trip sometime in July. We'll see how that goes! Plus I have to go out west to move my stuff back here and out of my parents house. I know what I want to do. Simple, dirty, manual labor. Yeah I would like to be outside. Weeding or digging or planting grass or painting or something. I really don't care what I do. I want to work hard for a few weeks so that I can earn some money to move my crap from MT to MI. So if you know anyone looking for a short-term, cheap, willing migrant worker...let me know! : )
stupid details
So I screwed up. I had to book a hotel room for Thursday night to stay in since I was flying out of SLC early on Friday morning. Of course I waited until the last minute to do it and I was searching several sights to find the best rate. I know that I put in the right night when I first started looking. But I must have not changed the date when I used another sight because I booked the room for that night. Yeah I booked a room for Wednesday night because that was the day that I was looking. See what happens when you wait until the last minute!! And of course I didn't read my confirmation email and I didn't even look at the address so that we would know where the hotel was when we got to SLC. Fortunately, SLC is pretty easy to get around and we didn't have any trouble finding the hotel. The trouble started when I found out that I didn't have a room. At midnight. Ahh sometimes my lack of detail with-it-ness is frustrating. Stupid, stupid, stupid. All in all, I had to pay for the room twice. Let me tell you, the 4 hours of sleep weren't worth that price! Good thing we got a cute picture out of it.
I was curious
I have been playing some disc golf the last 2 weekends. There is a course that is out in the woods and is very pretty. It has lots of water and trees. I actually lost my (brand new and very pretty) disc in the water and my friend fell in the swamp trying to get it out for me. But that is another story. From the beginning I was really curious to how it would feel to be hit with a disc. They are so heavy! Not curious anymore because I caught one in the back of my head! Yeah it hurts. I was just walking along and all of a sudden I was knocked forward, my vision blurred, and I had no idea what happened. Yep one hit me. And we were only maybe 15 feet away at the time. Full throwing force right into the back of my head. Everyone thought it hit a tree from the sound. THUNK! All day today I have had trouble moving my head. It hit me on the base of my skull kinda on my neck. Ohhh buddy. Painkillers and old lady icey hot. So let me squash any curiousity you may have had. It hurts to get hit by a disc.
