Back in September, I wrote about joining the Scientific American Book Club. I got my introductory package and paid for it (cancelled check and all) and have even started reading the books (well, one of the five at least). And I waited for the other order that I placed that day to be shipped. It never was.

So I e-mail the company asking about it. And they tell me that maybe my account information wasn’t pushed to their website. Um, well then PUSH it there, morons, I think. But no, they can’t seem to do this. Instead, they want me to e-mail them my e-mail address and password AND the answer to my “hint” question. WHAT? Nearly every online company that one deals with says NEVER send your password through e-mail. And that they’ll NEVER ask for it by mail. Boy that gives ME a lot of confidence in this company.

Oh yeah, and if I’m interested in receiving that order, I need to e-mail them all of the relevant info- including my address. Sheesh! Talk about an incompetent company. I would think that, before you become an online business, you figure out how to make all this shit work before you go live. I’m really rather peeved with them. Perhaps it would be best if they just cancelled my club membership. (Not that they will – I mean, they’ll want my money, no question about that.)

The good news is that they do NOT have my credit card number. And you know, I’m certainly never gonna trust them with it!

One of the perks of being a tech is getting to go to vendor conventions and get lots of little free pens & things. Sure, you learn stuff and do some networking, but the REAL reason to go to places like ITEC is for the swag. Let’s see what all Trina got from her trip today…

• An Emergency Action Wheel (card “dial an emergency” thingy that says what to do for a number of eventualities.)
• Business Lollypop (like a business card, only it’s really a lollypop! Way cool. And cherry flavored!)
• CD business to business phone directory.
• Mouse-shaped highlighters (the two highlighers, yellow & pink, are the “buttons” on the mouse)
• Pad o’ post-it notes w/ “Excellence in Computing” on ’em
• Salary Guide from one company so we can prove to the administrators that they’re getting us CHEAP
• Cute mini-mousepad
• Pad o’ paper from RoadRunner Business Class
• 1 pencil, 3 pens, and a yellow highlighter
• A gel pad thingy for keeping stuff on your dashboard (like cell phones)
• A “Magic Eight Ball” water bottle (with answers like “operator error” and “ask your server”)
  
• Business card magnet
• And best of all – the prize of the day, a little stuffed white tiger – yay!

When dad and I go to the SOITA Conference in December, we’ll only get an hour in the vendor hall (they don’t have vendors on the day the tech coordinators are present – very dumb idea, IOHO – but this year we get an hour, at least), so it was nice to get to an ITEC to chat with vendors. We got some ideas and some contacts and if we get some money, we may yet contact some of these vendors. But in the meantime, I can enjoy my SWAG!

Gakked from carmen_lj.

Ten years ago, I: (age 23)
1. Was in my second year of teaching.
2. Was *not* a computer geek.
3. Had yet to get onto the Internet (apart from a little dabbling at uni).

Five years ago, I: (age 28)
1. Had been to England – more than once!
2. Owned my own home. 🙂
3. Didn’t have a cat, yet. *sniff*

One year ago, I: (age 32)
1. Went to MN for Thanksgiving with my folks (to hang with Amy & Rachel)
2. Started my LiveJournal.
3. Had recently seen Sylv in Noises Off.

So far this year, I: (age 33)
1. Was the toast-giver at my sister’s wedding.
2. Saw Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann at the same con.
3. Celebrated my birthday and the New Year at Disney World.

Yesterday, I:
1. Ordered a Chipotle burrito from the band director (for supper tonight).
2. Fixed the CCC lab simply by going to the third floor.
3. Played some Diablo II.

Today, I:
1. Forgot to bring home my Chipotle burrito for supper tonight (will try again tomorrow).
2. Went to the staff meeting.
3. Played some Diablo II.

Tomorrow, I will:
1. Hopefully have a Chipotle burrito for supper.
2. Go to ITEC with dad in the afternoon.
3. Apologize to some students who wanted to film in the lab tomorrow after school, but can’t because I’m going to ITEC in the afternoon.

In one year, I will: (age 34)
1. Be a licensed Ohio teacher, instead of a certificated Ohio teacher. (Doncha hate it when they change the rules of the game during play?)
2. Possibly have seen Sylv on stage in Arsenic & Old Lace.
3. Have been to Tuscany. 🙂

In five years, I will: (age 38)
1. Be teaching and teching still.
2. Have a cool finished basement with pool table and everything! (Yeah, dream on!)
3. Have a new car that’s better than today’s hybrids.

I think for us older fogies doing the meme, they should have a “Twenty years ago, I:” section. I was 13 at the time and hadn’t even seen this Sylvester McCoy dude. I was a big-time Tomorrow People fan who was missing the show terribly. And I lived at home with my folks & sister. Exciting, eh? 🙂

Happy Birthday, sumik!

Happy Birthday tomorrow, swiftangel!

May you have wonderful joy-filled days! (And don’t do anything I wouldn’t do! Or should that be don’t do anything I *would* do?)

Thanks to all the comments for yesterday’s post, I’ve been given a number of suggestions for a second Protest CD. Thankfully Rhapsody has all but the Timbuk3 songs, so I can give ’em a listen. (There is a Timbuk3 CD on Rhapsody – if I find the music works for me, I’ll seek out the CDs with the relevant songs.)

elsaf corrected me on my comments regarding the song “I Ain’t Afraid.” The song was written prior to the events of 9/11 but was later dedicated to it. Both Elsa and judiang created their own protest song lists here and here respectively. Check ’em out, then go and write your own. 🙂

Mom was pleased with having her own “Anti-Bush CD” as I called it. She says she will be able to play it for some of her co-workers, but alas, not all of them. 🙂 She hasn’t gotten to listen to it yet – we went off to renew our Sam’s Club membership and waste some money on 24-packs of toilet paper. (Actually, mom did buy the 24 pack. I stuck with just getting some DVD cases and some Fox River sox – yay! Oh yeah, and a huge bag of Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips – perfect for making my bittersweet chocolate ice cream!)

Even before the election was over and done with, I had in my brain the idea to make a CD for mom which includes some of my favorite irreligious, pro-LGBT, anti-war music. Today I think I’ve finally gotten it sorted out. It’s a bit of a progression. It starts out with a beautiful Christian song “Down to the River to Pray” from O Brother Where Art Thou. It’s mom’s favorite, and mine, from that movie. The second song, however, REALLY illustrates what the remainder of the CD will be like. Here’s the song list and my reasons for their existance on the CD.

1. “Down to the River to Pray” by Allison Krauss [I remember church as a kid – wonderful music, plenty of reverence, and not nearly the doubt that was to come.]
2. “Mississippi Squirrel Revival” by Ray Stevens [I’ve been to churches like the one in this song. Thankfully they were only for a visit or two.]
3. “Look! No Strings” by Chumbawamba [“Have your fun whilst you’re alive. You won’t get nothin’ when you die. Have a good time all the time, because you won’t get nothing when you die.” My current philosophy.]
4. “Imortal Invisible” by Neil Innes [A message from God about our behavior here on Earth? Perhaps…]
5. “All Things Dull and Ugly” by Monty Python [Just for a good chuckle.]
6. “It’s a Sin” by The Pet Shop Boys [Of course, as doubt expands in your mind, you’re reminded by others that it’s a sin to doubt!]
7. “Hell” by The Squirrel Nut Zippers [And we all know where sin leads…]
8. “Losing My Religion” by R.E.M. [So why not go that last step?]
9. “Johnny and Betty” by Meryn Cadell [Switching gears for a bit, here’s a tale of a young couple. Who have just come out of the closet.]
10. “In Denial” by The Pet Shop Boys [For many people coming out, there is a time when they’re in denial. But you can get over that denial…]
11. “Homophobia” by Chumbawamba [Coming out, however, has its consequences, and homophobia is one of the worst to deal with.]
12. “What About Love” by Heart [So yeah, what about love? Isn’t that the important thing? Is that what Christianity is supposed to teach us about?]
13. “We Are Not Going Away” by Kindling [“God blesses His children who stand up and say, ‘We are not going away!'” The Mennonite LGBT version of “We Shall Overcome”? Could be…]
14. “No Matter Who You Vote For, the Government Always Gets In” by The Bonzo Dog Band [Election time has come and gone, but once again, we’ve got politicians in office. *sigh*]
15. “Mommy and Daddy” by The Monkees [And one thing that politicians are good at is lying to us.]
16. “Jacob’s Ladder (Not in my Name)” by Chumbawamba [Bush Jr. and co. managed to turn 9/11 into a rallying cry for war – against another country entirely… “In the name of the Father, maybe,/but not in my name!” Download this free song for your own collection.]
17. “I Ain’t Afraid (English Edit)” by The Klezmatics [Written as a response to 9/11: “I ain’t afraid of your Yahweh/I ain’t afraid of your Allah/I ain’t afraid of your Jesus/I’m afraid of what you do/In the name of your god.”]
18. “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” by Peter, Paul, and Mary [Every war protest CD needs this song. Well, maybe not, but this one has it!]
19. “Games without Frontiers” by Peter Gabriel [“If looks could kill, they probably will/In games without frontiers-war without tears”]
20. “Zor and Zam” by The Monkees [“They gave a war and nobody came.” If only, if only…]
21. “Hanging on the Old Barbed Wire” by Chumbawamba [A tribute to the poor soldiers who have to fight in the war – this is a protest song from WWI.]
22. “Livin’ La Vida Loca” by Ricky Martin [Well, we’ve got four more years (at least) to deal with this. Livin’ the crazy life. At least we’ve still got our music!]

In other news, capriuni has written a quiz/meme.

Nothing a computer tech likes more than getting responsibility for even more technology – like, say, the school copiers. Yup, we’ve got a copier in the school that’s networked. It hasn’t been a problem so far, since it was just the Board Office that had access to one. Well, they’ve upgraded to a full color copier/scanner/fax thingummy from some copier company I’ve never heard of (starts with a G). Today their tech and I worked on getting it onto the network and he showed me how to scan, fax, e-mail, etc through this copier. And you know what? It’s pretty cool, so far.

What will be more interesting is with the soon-to-be-new copier in the high school. Our principal wants it to be networked too, so that teachers can send print jobs from their room to it. The secretaries aren’t as thrilled with this idea because the copier will inevitably jam and they’ll have to be the ones to unjam it. What’s more, there’s no network drop in the room. So dad and I get to figure out a way to put a drop in there. (The folks who designed the extension where the HS is put the drop in the teachers lounge and not in the teacher work room. Um, how stupid is THAT?)

Hopefully, once we get that new copier in, it’ll prove to be as tech friendly as the color copier is seeming to be (knock wood).

In less geeky news, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to ladyslvr for Saturday! May you have a fab-o birthday!

Parent/Teacher Conferences. A task that nearly every teacher has to live through. You teach all day, then wait around all evening for parents to show up so you can talk to them. Being the chemistry/physics teacher, I don’t get a lot of requests for conferences. I only asked for 1 student’s parents to confer with this time, though they apparently declined. And I had one group conference last week with a student (and her parents) I was going to be having soon. So I usually find other useful things to work on – like finishing up a classroom that should have been done this summer.

Normally during these evening (long long evenings, might I add) conferences, the high school principal organizes some sort of food. It’s best when we get pizza. Last week we got cold meat sandwiches. Not ideal, but good enough to get you through the evening. Tonight? Nada. The elementary had a snack carry-in. Folks brought in cookies and crackers and cheeseballs and things. (I had a couple of no-bake cookies while I was up working on that classroom – yum!) But we high school folks had nada. Tsk tsk – points off from our new principal’s overall score! What’s worse is that, since I felt deprived of sustenance, I got this overwhelming urge to eat McDonald’s when I was done for the night. Eep!

So yeah, I went to Macca’s after work and stumbled home to find a cat who missed me. (And wanted my french fries, damn cat.) But I’m hoping that the next time we have to be at the school until 6:30pm, we’re actually fed something!

gregmce posted a Photo Challenge that his friend todc created last Friday. It intrigued me, so I thought I’d give it a go as well. Here’s the challenge:

The requested photos are:

1. A view from a window: Show me what you see.
2. A reflection.
3. Some item you wore today.
4. Show me: Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue

View from my dining room window. That tree is on my parent’s property. I have mentioned they were my neighbors, yes?

Reflection on a clean room… OK, so when I was taking the picture, I was thinking “reflection” in physics terms, hence the mirror. When I did go to the original LJ post, I discovered it was meant to be something like a self-reflection. Still, I wanted to show off the artwork that I’d recently hung. Perhaps I can think of it as a reflection on hanging up artwork… (Note the cat… where he’d come from? Notice I didn’t fix his eyes – there’s reflection there as well. Heh.)

My Goofy watch! This was a Christmas present from Amy from many years ago. I still wear it and it still goes backwards. Thanks, sissy!

As I was thinking about this challenge, I realized that my three recently hung portraits over my bed would take care of 3 of the 4. So I hunted around and managed to find the fourth object to add to my photo. Something Old: [far left] photo of Peter Falk from The Cheap Detective. Something New: [far right] Ink drawing of Sylvester McCoy by dark_pheonix – see, I told you it was a great piece of art! Something borrowed: [bottom right] foot stool that I borrowed from my folks years ago and still use. It does *not* sit on my bed’s headboard usually. That was just for this photo. (Leo loves to play with it, actually.) Something blue: [center] Another great Christmas present from my sister. Eric Idle performed in Minneapolis shortly before my folks and I went there for Thanksgiving last year. Amy, ahem, rescued the poster from a cafe/restaurant she saw it at and had it framed. And gave it to me for Christmas last year. I love my sissy. 🙂

There was one photo I took yesterday that I forgot to post. I know, I know, pet-owner syndrome here… But this’ll be the last Leo pic for awhile. (Gotta get back to proper Sylv-gushing or computer bitching or I’ll get out of practice.)

Leo loves drinking straight from the tap! So I will turn the water on to a trickle and he’ll jump up and drink. Being the himbo that he is, he’ll often forget how he successfully did it the last time, and come up with some other method for drinking without getting too wet. Sometimes he’ll hop up on the sink and mew until I turn the water on. He’s got me well trained, that’s for sure!