May first, May Day, m'aidez...
A couple of things touched off that "I need help" feeling, today. We had a hastily scheduled, overly long, and completely disorganized staff meeting to announce all the organizational changes that are in store for next year. I'm skeptical but trying not to be negative, and my biggest concern is the re-institution of the "cool kids' club" atmosphere that used to reign when the incoming principal last worked on our campus. At any rate, it would've been helpful if the information had been presented with some context. Instead I have the impression that someone was hurling blobs of jello at me, expecting me to catch it and somehow assemble it into something coherent and attractive. I mean, jello can be delicious, but it requires some effort to make it so.
Just now, though, I fell for a pop-up's message that my "codecs are out of date!" I've been having trouble with certain websites hanging and I thought, oh, that must be it, and without another thought, I clicked on the install button.
Then I spent the next 45 minutes uninstalling the eight programs that were installed on my laptop, and disabling the AOL toolbar.
Then my Adobe Flash player actually crashed, so I uninstalled that, and I'm working up my nerve to re-install it.
I'm just glad that I was able to figure out how to scrub all that junk off the laptop relatively painlessly, once I used Task Manager to stop the processes. Honestly, I'm afraid to move to Windows 8 because I think there are more layers between the user and the operating system, and it will be harder for me to fix a problem like this, which wasn't a virus or an attack, just a whole bunch of stuff piggybacking its way in because I clicked on the link to install "updated codecs." Man, am I stupid. But also, relieved.
J's photo
Had a great talk with my sister J yesterday, who reports that the bulbs I planted in Mom's backyard last summer came up and bloomed! They're daffodils. I had no idea, I thought they were irises. I'm not even a tiny bit sad I won't get to see them ever blooming, it's enough to know they are there. The occasional photo will be OK -- my sister is using one as her facebook banner photo. Early reports on the rose bushes is that they are not all dead. I'm looking forward to seeing them.
19 more days of school, but my students checked out after the AIMS tests were complete, two weeks ago, now. Can't have that, so I'm holding them strictly in check, or at least trying to. I'm hoping that if I drill my rules into the 7th graders now, there's a slim chance they'll remember them next year when they get back. Hope springs eternal.
