Category Archives: jobstuff

Big day!

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We are closing on the town house today! Well, technically, Rand is closing on the town house today. 😉

We’ll pick up the keys tomorrow and begin the process of moving in. Movers are coming to move our furniture and boxes and boxes of books next week.

This is so exciting!!!

I have two more trips to make out to the college to give back portfolios and turn in my grades. One class is completely done. The other class is almost done. I will most certainly be finished with my grades by this evening. Whew!

Today, I had to enter interim grades for the middle school students. It wasn’t difficult, but it’s always a challenge learning new programs. Thankfully, there’s always someone around I can ask for help!

I’ve seen several English jobs posted for next year, and I’ve been applying for them…keep your fingers crossed for me! There’s actually a job at the school where I’m working now, but I’m not certified. (It’s a 6th grade position, and I do not have the grade 5-6 extension. If only I had known how frequently that would come up…)

Okay, I should get back to work…happy hump day!

Work work work

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Today and tomorrow are my last college classes for the semester. I still need to grade a bunch of stuff and meet with students briefly next week to give them back their work and discuss their final grades with them. Then I turn in the grades, and I’m done!

I just found out that I will not be teaching a summer session this year. I was only available for one class–an evening class during the first session–and they weren’t able to give me that class. I couldn’t take any day classes, obviously, because of my current long-term job, and I couldn’t do session II because of the wedding/honeymoon.

Time-wise, I’m fine with that. Financially, though…this is going to make things tricky for me for July and August. I’m pretty sure that the part time work I’ve been doing for the past two summers is not available this year, but I’m going to check to make sure.

So if anyone knows of anything, please give me a holler. I don’t think I can bear to do the temp agency thing again.

Other than that, I’m consumed with moving tasks and wedding tasks. Soon, I will be able to breathe again…

A little bit of this, a little bit of that

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Whenever I start writing “a little bit of…” I always start singing “Mambo #5” in my head. Is it wrong for me to kind of like that song? 😉

Ahem. Anyway, it’s been a busy week. Grading? Almost done…yeah, yeah, I’ve got class in an hour and a half. What’s your point? I’ve ventured out of the apartment to grade papers a couple of times this week. Yesterday, I walked down the street to Starbucks and got myself a sugar-free cinnamon dolce latte, sat with my shiny new iPod (which I did find a wee bit of time to play with this week–more on that later) and graded papers. It was most productive.

While I was at Starbucks, a random guy came up to me to tell me that he liked my hair!

“I love girls with short hair,” he said, “and I just had to tell you that yours is adorable.”

Aww. *Blush*

He also said that he noticed I had a ring and figured I was engaged. “Yeah,” I said. “I am.”

“That figures,” he said. Then he told me to have a great day, and left. I feel for the guy…I’ve totally been there…but random compliments are never a bad thing!

Today, I spent some time grading at Caffe Aroma before meeting Rand for lunch. We went to Tru Teas on Elmwood, which is a really cute place. I’d love to go there for high tea sometime! (I’ve been to high tea exactly once–in Scotland) I had the ginger carrot soup and an order of hummus with flatbread. Yummy!

Today, I had my manicure and pedicure. While I was having my toes done, I spent some time rereading The House on Mango Street, which I’m going to start teaching next week. I have, so far, made zero progress on preparing lessons.

And, I think I can talk about this now publicly…Rand and I are going to be closing on a town house in approximately a month. Can we talk about how crazy I’m going to be for the next couple of months? Teaching? Moving? Planning a wedding? Ack! Good thing I’ve got yoga to keep me somewhat grounded and sane. (Being back in class this week was awesome, and I SO needed it.)

Okay, I have to run. These last few papers aren’t gonna grade themselves…

Lazy weekends and deadlines

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So, I’m in the middle of writing my article for Toasted Cheese which needs to be ready to go up on the site, oh, Tuesday. Procrastination is bad. 😉

The weekend has been lazy and generally relaxing. This is a good thing. Rand and I talked about going out to a movie, but didn’t see anything that we wanted to go out for. We want to see Forgetting Sarah Marshall, but that isn’t out until next week. Ah well.

We found ourselves in possession of a wee bit of extra disposable cash, so we went out to eat several times this weekend. Yesterday, we went to May Jen, and I had the yumtastic ginger garlic chicken. And we have leftovers, which will probably be eaten tonight. Mmmm…leftovers.

We’re in the process of decluttering, and took a couple of boxes of CDs and DVDs to trade in. We spent way too much time doing that today! While we were in F.Y.E., I asked a salesperson what music was playing. It turned out to be a new release called Unfold by Marie Digby, which I just decided I need to buy on iTunes. (only 6.99, and I still had some credit left from a gift certificate Samantha gave me for Christmas. Yay, me!)

Rand bought the full Northern Exposure box set with his credit. We also traded in a bunch of CDs at Record Theater and bought a few new things with the credit (and we still have a bunch of credit left). Sadly, we have a small selection of stuff nobody wanted. Sniff.

I still have some photos from Rand’s birthday that I have yet to post…I treated him to dinner at Marinaccio’s, a place neither of us had ever been. We both enjoyed our meals very much. More on that soon. Besides the dinner, I (with contributions from both our parents) bought Rand a new iPod…he wanted one with more space. So guess who else gets a new (slightly used) iPod? 😉 Of course, now I have to go through the process of getting what I want onto the iPod. Oh, the trials.

I also have some photos of my pretty, shiny new earrings that people who follow me on twitter heard about yesterday. They will be posted soon.

Oh, and that long-term sub job I mentioned at the beginning of last week? I got it. Since it’s a shorter period of time than my other job (and in a different district), there are no benefits…but it is steady work, great experience, and a wee bit more money than I’d be making as just a day-to-day sub. I went in on Friday to shadow the teacher I’m filling in for and meet the kids and my soon-to-be coworkers. It seems like it’s going to be great, and I’m very happy to have the experience. This week is spring break, so I’ll be starting a week from tomorrow. 😀

More? I’m sure there is, but I should probably get back to work…hope you’re having an excellent weekend!

Weird day

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So I got up to go to work this morning, went to the room of the teacher I was supposed to be subbing for, and she was there. This doesn’t always indicate that the teacher is *there*, though–there are lots of situations where the teacher is actually in the building but not in the classroom. So I said, “Am I in for you today?” And she looked at me like I was high.

So back to the office I went…where there was another sub in the same situation. Some calling around confirmed that there were several teachers who were supposed to be at a conference today, but it was canceled, or the district decided not to send them, or something. Three of the subs were notified, but the two of us got lost in the shuffle.

They called around to see if anyone was short subs, and the answer was no. Bottom line? Because it was a district mistake, I get paid for half a day and I got to go home. I’ll take it. 😉

And so I went shopping…check the wedding blog later for some of the things I bought!

Thursday Thoughts

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Tomorrow is my last day of full-time teaching in the job I started at the beginning of the year. It’s a very, very strange feeling. I only see three of my five classes tomorrow, and I’m letting them all have “parties” for me during the last part of class. (Party will probably mean cupcakes/brownies/cookies and some sort of game…)

I have *a lot* to do…the marking period ends tomorrow, so I want to try and have grades done (including comments for report cards) for Monday. I still have a small pile of research paper rough drafts to grade, too. Fortunately, I have two planning periods and a study hall tomorrow. I’ve been chipping away at getting my stuff out of the classroom for the past week. I still have a small box of things that will have to go home with me tomorrow.

It’s going to be very strange on Monday when I don’t go to work (or if I do go to work, it’ll be going to sub for someone else…).

I’m guessing it’ll be equally strange for the teacher who’s coming back. That would be incredibly difficult, and I suppose I’d rather be in my position than in hers. (Except for the fact that if I was in her position, I’d have health care and be on a tenure track…ah, one day…)

At any rate…tomorrow will be a weird (and probably a little sad) day for me.

Various and sundry

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I am Miss Crabby-Pants today. Watch out…

*Last night, Samantha hosted a little get-together in honor of Rand and his promotion to the directorship of the D’Youville College library. Yay! Many good friends were in attendance (including Jen and Mark and Thomas), and some others couldn’t make it, but sent their congratulations. It was a lovely evening, filled with food, drink, and good conversation. I took a few (but not many) photos, which I will post later…

*On Friday, I got the *official* word (meaning I signed paperwork) that my long-term placement has been extended to the end of January. Woohoo! A little more $$, and a little more time to figure out what happens next…

*I decided that there is no bloody way my schedule would allow for NaNoWriMo this year, so I signed up for NaBloPoMo instead. (I’m “eringoblog”) I’m pledging to post every day in the month of November. I’m thinking I might give myself some sort of schedule or posting challenge to make it more interesting for myself.

*Eden‘s all famous again. Last week, she was interviewed for a story in the Washington Post. But that’s not all! On Monday, a crew for Good Morning America is coming to her house to interview her for a segment. oooooh…

I’m certain there was more, but I’m tired and cranky and I have grading to do. Later!

School daze

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So I spent a good chunk of yesterday in my classroom. I can’t say I accomplished much, but I was in my classroom. 😉

As I believe I’ve mentioned before, the school where I’m going to be working is undergoing extensive renovations. The bulk of the work was supposed to be finished by the end of summer…and, well…

When I arrived yesterday all of the stuff (desk, computer, shelves, etc.) was in the middle of the room. New student desks and chairs were in big cardboard boxes. I was going to move the textbooks over to one of the new countertops, but then I realized that the counter wasn’t actually attached to the wall yet. I wandered about the school for a little bit, picking up a massive pile of mail (mostly book order sheets), student agendas and a desk calendar. I met with my co-teacher, who will be with me for two of the five classes I’m teaching, and planned out the activities for next week. (That, at least, makes me feel a little bit better!)

After lunch, I began opening the cardboard boxes the teacher had packed up at the end of last year and tried to get some of it put away. Everyone’s kind of in the same boat–unpacking boxes–but I’m in the unique position of unpacking someone else’s boxes. I couldn’t really do anything with the desk since there were still things unfinished, and the phone and computer hadn’t been installed yet. The school will be open today, so I may head over there this afternoon to see how things look.

Possibly the worst thing about it is that everything is still covered with a layer of construction dust and grime.  I picked up some Clorox wipes yesterday to try and get some spaces clean enough that I felt comfortable putting things on them.
I just got my schedule yesterday, and I don’t have class lists yet.  I can log on to the computer (well, whenever it gets hooked up), but I don’t yet have access to email or other necessary classroom applications. Those things won’t be dealt with until, uh, Tuesday morning.

Isn’t this fun? 😉

Ack!

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Starting tomorrow, I’m a busy, busy girl…new teacher orientation tomorrow, followed by two days of inservice. Friday off, Monday holiday. Tuesday inservice. Wednesday…school starts!

Holy crap. 😉

I saw my mom on Saturday. She and her friend came up for the day, and we did a bit of dress shopping (no buying, just looking!). We stopped in at the shop where Rand bought my ring and talked to the ladies there. I wanted to let them know how happy (and surprised!) I was. (It’s Sarah’s Vintage and Estate Jewelry on Main Street in Williamsville.  They’re awesome.) Then we had dinner at Brennan’s. I had a Clancy. Yum!

We saw Rand’s parents on Sunday, which was also very nice. 🙂

Today, I met up with Susan for lunch. I hadn’t seen her in quite a while, so that was fun!

And that’s about all my excitement for the moment…I’m guessing posting will be light over the next couple of days.

Random thoughts for a Wednesday

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  • If you could direct some good vibes/positive energy in Rand’s general direction today, we’d appreciate it. Thanks! 🙂
  • For the past few weeks, Tuesday has become cheesy TV night at our place. America’s Got Talent, Beauty and the Geek, The Singing Bee. Last night, I was disappointed because the Singing Bee was on *after* the TWO HOUR finale of America’s Got Talent. I thought American Idol had the market cornered on milking an episode…anyway. I was rooting for Cas Haley, so bummer. (we’ve only caught about the last 4 episodes…) I found the “audition all stars” bit funny, especially the pogo stick guy, for some reason.
  • Beauty and the Geek amuses me. Of the girls, Jennylee seems to be the least vapid and most sincere. Cecile seems like someone I would never, ever want to know in real life. Ugh. I’m not sure if I have a favorite of the guys that are left…I think they’re all cute. 🙂
  • And The Singing Bee–what great fun! I ended up recording the 1-hour episode last night for later viewing. (as it turns out, I could have stayed up and watched it. I had trouble falling asleep.)
  • I have to go get a physical for work later this morning. Whee! Any teachers out there, feel free to send any advice my way. I’m a bit nervous about the beginning of school!
  • I have about a week’s worth of grading to do in the next, oh, day and a half. Lucky me.