Wednesday, August 26, 2009

First Day of School

The first day of school was a delight. I found that my new parking space was in a surprisingly close proximity to the building where I worked! With all the construction there were terrible rumors that we would all be shunted out to the hinterlands and of course we believed all the rumors. But frankly, I thought, that is not a battle I am going to fight. I didn't make a peep when lower division kicked us to the fence several years ago in an effort to get their people closer to their lower division building. There are just some battles that you know are not going to win. That was one. Well, actually, I did peep quite a bit. I just peeped to myself and to my friends sotto voce and stomped around on occasion.

But back to the first day. It went very well. There was the madness. People rushing around. Children crying, missing classes. Schedules were read wrong. Some parents actually sent their children to school without a book back, without sharpened pencils, without their schedules. These weren't high school kids, this one in particular was a 6th grader. That wasn't a bright spot on the day. Poor little guy. But other than that child's really stressful day, which the warm and fuzzy middle division took care of, my day was a relative oasis of calm.

So yea!

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Stress Times Ten

Well, I did ask for it. I did ask for a puppy to raise for the Southeastern Guide Dogs for the Blind. I did ask to teach a class on interviewing WWII vets and filming those interviews and turning them into a documentary to be turned into an end of the year premier event. Go Web 2.0 and new technology! I did ask to continue all my current job responsibilities and library director and department chair, and lead the book club, advisory, sponsor four clubs, be on the board of a professional organization and be the technology director. I did offer to write an article for a library journal. I did offer to do a one unit challenge with two colleagues on the media and new technology and its affect on the 24 hour news cycle.

I did ask for it. So I shouldn't be surprised that I am a bit stressed by it all. School starts today.