School has been insane this year. It’s amazing what losing one Guidance Tech, three teachers’ aides, and one Special Ed teacher will do to muck up the day-to-day workings of the school. I have found that I’ve had more “other duties as assigned” than ever before. (I made a list of some of the more unexpected and amusing tasks, but I don’t have them on me right now. Besides, the year isn’t over!)

I actually finished an art journal. My pal the art teacher is most pleased with it and wants me to blog about it. I will… Just not today.

I’m not going to be less busy before the year is over! The end of the year is always hectic, and this year will not be an exception. I have to finish inventory, make awards, take part in awards ceremonies, etc. Then, after the teachers have gone home, I need to close up shop in the labs.

Little Grump graduates high school this year. Over the next few weeks, there are quite a few events, including prom and the graduation ceremony. Little Grump has never been one to do anything easily, so of course, we need to MAKE her corsage and her date’s boutonniere for the prom. (He has allergies, and she wants to make sure that the flowers don’t make him sneeze all night long.) I’m not sure, but I think I’ve been committed to work the after-prom. (Dear God… Don’t make me do anything that requires deep knee bends or being on my feet all night long!) We also have visitors coming into town, so the house needs cleaned and the yard needs spruced up.

I also have some baby gifts to finish. I have one shower on Wednesday, and another sometime later in the summer. Plus I have one for my friend Taya, who has already delivered her blessed bundle of joy. (Fortunately, she’s a knitter and not likely to be offended if she gets an awesome knitted baby sweater when her baby is 9 months rather than now!) I’m rushing trying to get something special finished for Little Grump’s favorite teacher for the past four years. Oh, and crazy person that I am, I signed up for a “Once Upon a Time” swap in the Rebecca Danger group on Ravelry. (I have a great idea, but oy! What was I thinking?) Finally, I want to finish the pink cably blanket from Hell of happiness in time to submit it to the State Fair in July.

I’m exhausted just thinking about it!

Well… Happy day…something happened.

In preparation for an amigurumi class that I am going to take in a couple weekends I figured that I would crochet a project to make sure that I actually remembered how to crochet. I looked around and found a couple projects that I wanted to make and purchased the patterns electronically. When I received the files in email, I was excited… Until I looked at them.

The designer had “watermarked” every page of the pattern with my full name and address diagonally across the center of the whole page! I have seen patterns where the designer adds an inconspicuous line at the bottom with the name of the purchaser, but never anything like this.

I left neutral feedback for one of the patterns with the objection to having the distraction in the middle of the pattern. When printed, it likely doesn’t matter much, but I never print my patterns anymore, (All hail the mighty iPad!)

The designer says that I am being unreasonable and that all of the successful designers are adding this “transparent” watermark to “prevent theft”.

I will allow that I may have limited knowledge, but I’ve never seen this. Anyone else?

I went in to school yesterday morning, but I was home by noon. So I was free to relax and do what I wanted, which was to sit in front of the TV and not move for a few hours. That may not sound exciting to the average person, but to someone who saw very little relaxation for a week, it was just the ticket!

I also knitted a bit, something that I hadn’t felt like doing much over the past week.

This morning, Little Grump and I got up and went to breakfast at the Corner Bakery. (It was great!) Then we went to see “The Three Musketeers”. (That was wonderful too!) Then we went to Pinkberry’s so that Little Grump could try their peanut butter and jelly yogurt.

It was such a joy to have the day with Little Grump. It was even more of a joy to see the way our relationship is changing. She talked about ideas that she has for art projects. We talked about how today’s fashions for men would be greatly improved by leather pants, awesome leather boots, and an occasional feathered cap. We lamented that quite a few kids will think that will actually believe that there were airships in “The Three Musketeers”.

We’ve always had a good relationship, but this was just so nice!

Then we came home. I knitted for a while more.

I also cleaned a little, which was badly needed. In the process, I found a bag of gummy bears that must have been on the end table for a very long time. Because they were well past their shelf life, I got to play and take pictures of them.

You needed more color, right?

Unfortunately, with privacy issues, I can’t really share too much from them.

I do finally have a rather anonymous shot. It’s from a number that the kids did for the Pinwheels for Peace tribute.

Too tired? Why am I tired?

We cleared all of the equipment out of the second computer lab at the school today. It left a sight no one will see in that room for about 5 or so more years. (The body on the table is Little Grump! She was as exhausted as I was! She said that next time, she’ll be out of college with a paying job so she will hire someone else to help me!)

How much of an effort was it?

Let’s do a little math enrichment…

Each eMac weights 50 pounds or so. There were 29 in the lab.

Many of those eMacs took the place of ancient iMacs (the old “blueberry” style) in classrooms. Each iMac weighs about 35 pounds. We removed about 25 iMacs from classrooms and put eMacs in their places.

Because of legal issues, I couldn’t risk allowing anyone who doesn’t work for the district to lift one of the computers. Imagine what would happen if someone had back issues or dropped a Mac on their toe! I’m covered by workers’ comp. Others aren’t. So while my Computer Club kids and my daughter (mercifully, amazingly, awesomely, thankfully) took care of unplugging computers, winding cables and cords, crawling under tables, dusting surfaces, etc., I was the one who had to lift each and every computer.

So now we get to do the math…

29 eMacs * 50 pounds / eMac + 25 iMacs * 35 pounds / iMac = 2,305 pounds worth of computers.

In addition, I replaced one dead eMac in one of the classrooms, so add another eMac lifted.

Altogether, I lifted 2,355 pounds worth of computers today.

I am TIRED!

I’ve spent the evening pondering the identity of the person who invented the heating bad. Whoever it was should be sainted!

Today was too good a day for that!

Little Grump has been taking an AP Art class this year. Her focus is on birds. Lately, she has been looking out into our (mostly empty) backyard and trying to get pictures to keep as inspiration pieces, but her efforts have been mostly fruitless.

Today was such a nice day, so we decided to take our cameras out in search of some feathered friends. We found quite a few and a few turtles too. I’m not sure how well her pictures turned out, but I unloaded mine tonight. I’m pleased with my shots, though finding just a few to share was a difficult task.

After taking pictures of the birds, we went to a frozen yogurt place and had a good time choosing odd yogurt flavors and toppings. I was surprised that she went directly for the mochi toppings! Who would have thought it from my daughter, Miss Picky Pants?

Little Grump has worked her way up to second chair!

I remember those early days of personal computers and read quite a bit about the rivalry between Apple and Microsoft. I went through college and went into software development. Microsoft (or Microsloth, as we liked to call it) was king in the defense industry. I didn’t love Microsoft, but I thought of Apple products as a joke.

It wasn’t until about ten years ago that I was forced to face demon Apple computers. I was hired as a campus tech in a school that used predominantly Apple computers. I remember my first day that I met the district coordinator for tech help. After trying (unsuccessfully) for ten minutes to figure how the @#$@%%@~~~!!!! adapter for the MacBook together, I muttered that I hated Macs! Before the end of the day, every tech in the district (and many principals as well) had heard about the horrible person who was hired for my position.

As time went on, I learned to use Macs and learned that there is elegance to the system that I hadn’t known before. I learned how much easier they were to fix operating system problems than Windows computers. I appreciated not having to deal with virus issues. I learned how to make a Mac run like a Windows computer too.

Plus, Macs had a bit of the “In your face, Microsoft!” attitude that I appreciated. I mean, Apple was on the ropes, and they came back with products that were visually appealing and easy to use. Watching Apple change from the wimpy kid on the techno-playground to the powerhouse that it is has become gives everyone a reason to believe that hard work and thinking outside the box pays off.

Even though I never met Steve Jobs, I am greatly saddened by his passing. His ideas have been used to inspire development in so many areas. Windows wouldn’t be Windows had it not been for the original Mac OS (no matter how much Bill Gates may protest to the contrary). Those sleek Android phones wouldn’t be around had the original iPhone not blown everyone’s socks off. We would likely still be listening to music on CD players had Jobs and his crew not developed the iPod and iTunes (which inspired other companies to create similar products). Some call him the Edison of our day. I think it’s a fair comparison.

So tonight I’ll sign off by saying, “So long, Steve Jobs. Farewell, and thanks for all the toys! You will be missed!”

Whoops! I forgot all about the fiber therapy group.

Silly me!