Fun Friday, Busy Weekend

Friday was a very good day of school.

First off, I had 8th grade music ensemble in the morning. Last year, this was something I would have dreaded, but I really like my 8th grade band students this morning. They are a fun, enthusiastic group. The only bad thing about the period was the 2nd fire drill of the week, which, for some reason, at my school, takes 15 minutes!

I only had two classes, a 5th grade and an 8th grade. The 5th grade was okay... a little chatty though. The 8th grade was very hyper and chatty, but pretty good for an 8th grade class. This is a pretty good group of kids, who I seem to have a good rapport with. They are just very talkative. I think at this point, the best thing to do with this particular class is work with what I've got. They are still participating, just noisily. Despite the noise, I had fun with this group. That's the first time in a while I've said that about an 8th grade class.

Right after this class, I sat down to check my e-mail, when Arthur, one of the computer support guys stopped by my room. I figured he was going to talk to me about having the yearbook software installed on the computers. Turns out, he told me that the ActivBoard was in, and I could go and get it from the computer lab.

So, I went to the lab with him, got it, installed the ActivStudio software on my computer, and played with it. It is really cool! It is basically a white board that hooks to my laptop. You project whatever is on your computer screen on to it, and then you can digitally "write" and create presentations on the board. There is software that comes with it for doing presentations, which I will use sometimes. The best thing is that the board simply interfaces through the mouse. That means, whatever movements you make on the board can work in any program, just like a mouse. I was running Finale, and entering notes from the board. I think I could do some cool lessons with this with music composition.

The good thing about Day 6 is, after those two classes, I am pretty much done. I have some lessons in the afternoon. However, they are 8th grade lessons, and 8th graders never seem to show up for them. I don't know why--when I was in 8th grade, I would've taken any excuse to get out of class. I am not going to make a big deal out of it, though. I didn't have these kids from the start, so I never really got do doing sequential stuff with them in lessons. None of them have a lesson book or anything like that. We basically just go over band music, which is pretty much redundant to what we do in rehearsals and music ensemble. I mean, every bit of practice helps, but in this case, it isn't completely necessary.

Well, all this free time meant lots of time to play with the ActivBoard. I also took a look at two trumpets that new students brought in, and I got my band schedule for next week posted.

When I got home from school, I started making the shopping list. Meggie had a growth scan at the hospital. I usually go to these, but the latest appointment they have is at 3:30, and there is no way I can make that. I am not really happy with the antenatal testing part of the hospital. They have terrible hours, and kinda gave Meg and attitude when she pointed out how difficult it is for someone who works to schedule things. I guess they figure that health comes first, but when you are trying to bank sick days for post labor, you don't want to waste anything. I can understand taking off work if you have a one-time procedure, like a surgery or something. But Meg needs to go to these things every 3 weeks, and then more frequently later. That will be several sick days used up.

I was further annoyed to find that Meg, after trying to leave the parking lot, had to go all the way back into the hospital to get a parking token. We've been there at least 4 times now, and the gate always lifted when we left the parking lot. Now, apparently you need a token. What is the point of the token anyway?!? Are people really going to abuse the hospital's parking lot?!? I think it is ridiculous that they even have the gates. What is the point!! And everyone (including someone who pulled up behind her and had to back up to let her out) gave her attitude because there is a sign that says you needed a token. We never needed one before! I am glad I wasn't there, because I would've been angry. I usually try to keep my cool and avoid confrontation, but between the crazy scheduling expectations, and the parking situation, I would have lost it. I am sometimes just completely disgusted at the health care system. Between the terrible hours, health insurance, prescription drug prices, and red tape, it is amazing that anyone ever gets help. I find it unbelievable that people who are in the business of healing and curing can make it so difficult. Something needs fixed. And that problem is not with the people who do the healing either. Doctors, nurses, technicians, etc., are generally very friendly, caring, and helpful people. However, call your insurance company or have to deal with a rude receptionist, and suddenly things are quite as helpful. I can't offer a good solution, because I don't completely understand the health care system, but there must be an easier way.

Anyway, despite my annoyance with the hospital, and health care in general, the appointment went well. Baby D is healthy, and growing at the correct rate. Below is an ultrasound of her face. The two dark circles in the top center are her eyes. Kinda creepy looking actually, since all you can really make out is a skull. The first picture is the original ultrasound. The 2nd picture I annotated using ActivStudio. The yellow highlighted areas are her eyes, pink=nose, blue=teeth, green=hands. You can read more about Baby D in an update on her blog.




So, while Meggie and Baby D were getting scanned, I was making the list. The whole Sam's Club experiment definitely isn't going to start working this month. We are going to be well over our limit. But, we ended up buying things we needed this month, that we won't need again for several months, so after a while, we should start to see results.

Meggie got home from school, we made salmon on the grill for dinner, and then went to my parents to drop off some folding chairs for the shower on Sunday. The original plan was to just drop them off, and then go shopping. Well, we ended up hanging around my parents for a while, and by the time we left, we were both too sleepy to go shopping. My parents living room was pretty much ripped apart. They are going all-out on getting ready for the shower. This included a fresh coat of paint in the living room, sanding and repainting the trim, and installing quarter-round. I think this is probably the first time a power-sander was involved in preparing for a shower!

When we finally got home, we pretty much headed straight to bed.

Saturday, September 23

I woke up early this morning, with that awesome feeling you get when you think it is a school morning, and then you suddenly remember it's the weekend. I then went back to sleep, and a combination of Max and the alarm clock woke me up at 9 or so.

I got up, got showered, and made breakfast for us. We then went to Sam's and Wal-Mart for our grocery shopping, came home, had lunch, and then got to work. Cait, meg's mom, and meg's grandmom were all coming today, and we really weren't sure when, and the house desperately needed cleaned. I did the floors, and Meggie straightened. Cait arrived soon after lunch, and offered to help clean by dusting. We also got word that Mom and Grandmom wouldn't be arriving till 5 or so.

After doing the floors, I blew all of the leaves off of the front lawn. Then, Max and I took the last swim of the summer. This was more out of necessity. The pool steps have to come out of the pool when you winterize it. You aren't supposed to winterize the pool till it is cooler out. Well, in mid-October when I go to close the pool, I guarantee that I am not going to want to get in it, and this is the only way to get the steps out.

So, I took Max into the pool, played with him a while, vacuumed (clogging the hose/filter several times with the nine-trillion acorns in the pool), and then removed the steps. It was kinda sad, because we really had a lot of fun with the pool, and it is weird to think that we won't be going in again until next spring. I'm sure Max is even more disappointed. The vacuuming got the filter dirty, so I also had to backwash too. I finished all of this right around five, and then got a shower. While I was in the shower, Grandmom and Mom got here.

Grandmom took us all out to Peter's, where Mom had the servers (and the entire restaraunt) sing to me. Very embarrassing, but I appreciate the effort. Grandmom wanted us to splurge a little, since she was treating, so I got the tortellini alfredo, and I have some leftovers now for tomorrow.

After dinner, we all came back to our house, and we gave Grandmom a tour of the nursery. Cait is staying the night here, and Grandmom and Mom are staying in a hotel up in Mt. Laurel on 73. So, I gave them directions, and they went on there way.

I got my weekend's worth of school work done--band update letters and a calendar for October. I did money stuff, and am currently blogging. Man, this is a long post.

I am sure to have another post tomorrow night on the shower tomorrow. Until then...