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November 7, 2007
Meltdown
It has been a rough week. My assistant came back today but the
bookkeeper is out with a torn ligament in her knee so she got stuck up
in the office all day. I found out when she came over the loudspeaker
and announced that the media center would be closed during my classes.
Just rolled with it.
My classes were over at about 10:30 and one of the teachers came down to let me know that there was a problem with our reading software. The good news was that the problem can be fixed, just some corrupt records in the database and I have a utility that can fix it. The bad news is that the entire school has to get out of the program before I can run the utility.
You think this would be easy but it never is. I usually wait until the end of the day and have the office announce that everyone has to get out off of the network and shut down the computers. Now, that is a bit of overkill but if I don't do that, there will inevitably be at least one teacher that thinks that minimizing the program (or shutting off the monitor) means it is closed.
I emailed the teachers to let them know that we would be shutting down at the end of the day and then the office to ask them to announce at 2 and then again at 2:45 so I could start the utility at 3. 2 came and went, then 2:15, then 2:30 ... I called the office to ask them to announce. Finally, about 2:40, they announced that there was a jewelery party in the media center and a 3rd - 5th grade team meeting in the Conference room.
I called them back to remind them about my announcement and finally, about 2:50, they announced it. At 3, I tied to launch the program. No dice, someone was still in. I went through the building, room by room, checking each computer. After finding 3 still in the program and shutting them down, I tried to launch again ... no luck. Back to the classrooms, to the other building, every computer I could think of. By this time, it's close to 3:45 and I'm frustrated beyond belief. Finally, in a second grade class, I found the computer ... monitor off, frozen in the program. The class had a substitute and I should have double checked after her.
Feeling stupid, I went back to the media center to get the utility running. Walking by the jewelery 'party', I hear someone exclaim that the tap on the punch jug had fallen off and it was starting to overflow onto the rug. My new rug. Someone laughed while someone else tried to fix it and all I can hear is something splashing and I want to cry.
Stepping into my office, I shut the door and click the icon. The utility runs no problem. I feel like crying. After a while, I do.
Tomorrow is another day. Assemblies in the morning (I get to call the kids up that passed their reading goals) and flu shot in the afternoon. I will most likely feel like crying tomorrow too.
My classes were over at about 10:30 and one of the teachers came down to let me know that there was a problem with our reading software. The good news was that the problem can be fixed, just some corrupt records in the database and I have a utility that can fix it. The bad news is that the entire school has to get out of the program before I can run the utility.
You think this would be easy but it never is. I usually wait until the end of the day and have the office announce that everyone has to get out off of the network and shut down the computers. Now, that is a bit of overkill but if I don't do that, there will inevitably be at least one teacher that thinks that minimizing the program (or shutting off the monitor) means it is closed.
I emailed the teachers to let them know that we would be shutting down at the end of the day and then the office to ask them to announce at 2 and then again at 2:45 so I could start the utility at 3. 2 came and went, then 2:15, then 2:30 ... I called the office to ask them to announce. Finally, about 2:40, they announced that there was a jewelery party in the media center and a 3rd - 5th grade team meeting in the Conference room.
I called them back to remind them about my announcement and finally, about 2:50, they announced it. At 3, I tied to launch the program. No dice, someone was still in. I went through the building, room by room, checking each computer. After finding 3 still in the program and shutting them down, I tried to launch again ... no luck. Back to the classrooms, to the other building, every computer I could think of. By this time, it's close to 3:45 and I'm frustrated beyond belief. Finally, in a second grade class, I found the computer ... monitor off, frozen in the program. The class had a substitute and I should have double checked after her.
Feeling stupid, I went back to the media center to get the utility running. Walking by the jewelery 'party', I hear someone exclaim that the tap on the punch jug had fallen off and it was starting to overflow onto the rug. My new rug. Someone laughed while someone else tried to fix it and all I can hear is something splashing and I want to cry.
Stepping into my office, I shut the door and click the icon. The utility runs no problem. I feel like crying. After a while, I do.
Tomorrow is another day. Assemblies in the morning (I get to call the kids up that passed their reading goals) and flu shot in the afternoon. I will most likely feel like crying tomorrow too.
