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11-25-09

Just watched Pride and Predudice. I downloaded it from Amazon for $9. It was a very touching movie about a middle class family back in 1820 with 6 daughters. They are in danger of losing their home. The daughters are slowly married off, with the prettiest one waiting until the end of the movie. It's a Cindarella story at heart. I'm not sure who came first, Jane Austin, or Cindarella. The one who marries Elizabeth is so rich he has a room full of sculptures, and one of them is a bust of him. The acting is wonderful.

I was desperate for some veg time. I've worked 3 weekends in a row catching up with this horrible workload. First it was the abominable schedule, then it was updating my lesson plans for CS4, and then it was grading...and then making more handouts for a class that has 15 days, instead of 11.

I had to write an entire new lesson from scratch, starting at 10PM the night before it was due. They usually take about an hour a page, but I whipped it out in 3 hours, and the students loved it. I taught them how to make an xml slideshow in Dreamweaver that plays in Flash. I also showed them how to record an action in Photoshop that exports files from a digital camera. It was an awesome lesson, but I don't think they even really had time to absorb it. They were sort of stunned. But they all got it to work, so far just with my images.

As usual when I work this hard I start hankering for some toys. My mind is so predictable that way. When I work really hard, I get frustrated with my boring life and begin looking around for toys to play with. It doesn't help that it's winter and I can't climb.

Yesterday I ordered a $100 headlamp, the best one rei sells. It's true that it would be handy to have another good light for night bike riding. I'm getting fat again (168lbs) and I like to keep my good headlamp in my rock pack. Clint stole my other good one, so I was sort of one short. Now I can keep this new one in the truck ready for bike rides. It's very bright, and should help keep me safe as I work off this fat.

My 11 year old wenger watch wore out another battery. It almost didn't start. The watch repairwoman said that at first it wouldn't run, even with the new battery. She said she thought it might have died, but then it started ticking. I've sort of lost confidence in it, though it's running fine now and will likely go another 5 years.

I'm feeling sort of stupid about this, but I ordered a new watch, the famous orange monster from Seiko. I did a lot of research. It is a self winding dive watch, also known as an automatic. The movement of your body winds it, there is no battery. No one carries it, and Fred Meyer says it is out of production, so Princetonwatches.com must have had a stock of them left over.

Craig got ripped off the day after he got back from the east coast. They got his wheels, his $1500 stereo and his harness and shoes. He had no insurance. I feel sorry for the poor guy. He is a hard working young man and it sucks that he has such bad luck. It makes me realize how lucky we have been all these years. I do take precautions, but I've parked in many less than optimal situations. I suspect it is just a matter of time. Unlike Craig though, I do have insurance. I've never needed it, but it is there for emergencies.

Today it was slow so I converted a dreamweaver tables site to CSS. I was thinking about making it a lesson, but my tired brain is telling me it's too difficult. Maybe my advanced class could do it...Bruce teaches a lesson on that, but I could teach it too...it would be a great exercise. I love how my interfaces look, i just have to make it less buggy. I also need to install ie6 in an xppro virtual window. I wonder what is the minimum space you need to do that?

It's raining cats and dogs outside. All I've had today to eat is 10 walnuts and 3 fingers worth of chicken breast. I think it must be flooding somewhere, that is some very steady rain. We hope to climb at vantage, but wonder if the forecast is changing. Time for a brandy and off to bed, thanksgiving tomorrow.

11-14-09

It is a cold and gray Saturday morning, snowing in the mountains. Our truck is in the shop with a starting problem. It cranked fine, but wouldn't fire, sort of like it wasn't getting a spark or fuel. 12 hours laters same thing, though eventually it fired up and I drove it to the mechanics. Clint came over last night after swing shift and picked up his 4 new blizzak snow tires for his new Subaru Impreza. They looked like very impressive snow tires. I wish I had chosen nursing when I went back to school in 99. But working swing though 4 years of college would have been bad news. Just one year of it brought on Menieres disease.

I finally got the schedule figured out. Last night I had to synchronize my spreadsheet with my bosses spread sheet and fill out official change order forms for every little change, like what room a class was taught in, or what day. Here is a compilation of the form. http://www.websterart.com/html/schedule_winter_2010.pdf

I have the usual lesson plan (or two) to review and rewrite this weekend plus about 40 projects to grade. I've put off rewriting my dreamweaver lessons for several generations of the software but this version is so different I decided to bite the bullet. Another reason is I have a full class of 40 students this quarter and 40 confused students is too many. It's time to re-write.

I worked all last weekend, and Veterans day on Wednesday, plus many late nights working on the schedule. So yes, I'm busy, overworked and kind of frustrated by the whole business. But there is no way out but through it, and at least I have a job.

11-11-09

I've been completely, totally buried in lesson plans and learning how to schedule at work. Janet is retiring, and now that I'm tenure track, I have to take on more responsibility. Our program ran like a well oiled machine with Janet at the helm for 22 years. But now she is leaving, probably because she is frustrated at the state budget situation and the closing of video and 3d.

So I took on the schedule for next quarter, which was in chaos. No one seemed willing to do her job, so I took it on and figured it out, or some of it. I've never had to deal with a complex matrix in an excell spreadsheet. The complicating factors are 6 instructors, about 50 students in various education tracks, 3 classrooms, 16 courses (pshop 1, Ill 2, ill 1, etc.) and two quarters, plus long range planning out to next school year. I thought it was completely impossible when i started, but i may have figured it out...after a week of trying. Still don't know yet. The deans secretary is furious at us for being so disorganized because it makes more work for her, and makes our department look disorganized...which we are.

When someone with 22 years leaves a managerial position, chaos is to be expected. My dean has been very understanding. His last comment to me was: "in a few years, people will be looking at you and saying, how does he do it?"

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this email is for Paul Bailey, the American rock climber at your hospital who had a head injury accident.

Hey Paul,
I've been following your progress on the blog they set up for you. Sounds like you might be able to hear now? We are all pulling for you at the gym here in Tacoma. You have a lot of friends out here, and if positive vibrations work at all...well, we are sending them your way.

I've decided not to go to jtree this year. I had so much fun last year hanging out with you and bear...it doesn't seem right to go and have fun when you can't be there too.

Also, my wife wants me to stay home and take her skiing, instead of disappearing for 3 weeks. A funny thing happened at the gym yesterday. Do you remember Fletch? He is the old bald guy my age who leads 5.12 with Christine. He is a psychiatrist. Really nice guy. Fletch was talking with Lisa Garnett. Lisa went with me and Christine to yosemite this fall. Wish you could have gone on that trip instead of to Australia.

Anyway, Fletch was talking to Lisa about a climbing trip to Canada. Lisa's regular partner Kyle walked up. Lisa (38) has been training Kyle (24) to climb, they were partners in Yosemite. Kyle is a funny guy (a fireman), great sense of humor.

Fletch says, "Hi Kyle, Lisa and I were just talking about a trip to Canada"

Kyle: "What this I hear? You mean you'd like to go to Canada with me and MY partner Lisa?

Fletch: " Well, no, but we'd love to have you join us in Canada"

Kyle to Lisa: "Hey, I thought WE were going to Canada"

Lisa: "Well, yes, we are, but Fletch and I were just talking, you know...a climbing trip?"

It was pretty funny. Lisa isn't romantically involved with either guy. Kyle is far too young for her, and Fletch is married. Anyway, Kyle and Fletch started wrestling over Lisa's attentions. It was like two bull elks in rutting season.

They both had wrestled in high school, so they were very good. Looked totally professional. They were flying all over the gym floor out by the lead cave. Everyone was stupefied watching these two grown men roll around the floor for at least 5 minutes, it just went on and on, neither one willing to quit. Fletch is over 6 feet tall (but he is 54 years old) while Kyle is only 5 feet 7, but both are very muscular. Wish you could have been there.

Oh, Christine is 5 months pregnant now, but she is still climbing better than me, on a top rope.

Miss ya buddy, come out and see us some time.

Mark Webster
Pictures of Lisa and Kyle here:
http://www.websterart.com/html/yosemite9-09.html

Pictures of Fletch and Christine here:
http://www.websterart.com/html/tieton5-08.html

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11-4-09

Clint brought his kayaks back last night from his apartment to store in our garage for the winter. Almost immediately after he sat down at the dinner table Lisa came out of the computer room where she had been studying nursing on TCC's online angel class. Clint has only been a full time ER room nurse for a year, but she looks up to him as a source of information, especially now that she works in the same ER room as a nurse tech one day a week.

Clint was wearing his official looking hoody with the Tacoma General Hospital logo, "RN" outlined in gold threads. He looked very much the professional out on the town. Lisa began asking him questions about all the stuff she has been learning on the job. Clint doesn't work with her directly, but his girlfriend does, and he knows all of her trainers.

She was asking questions about the procedures she has been taught, and whether this way or that way was the correct way, since her trainers have been giving her different views. Sue and I were completely shoved to the side as spectators as our two highly educated children talked shop. IV's, catheters, blood draws, head wounds, swine flue, computer procedures....they covered it all.

Lisa was so earnest in her questions, and Clint was the relaxed master, offering information to his little sister, telling her not to worry, that she was doing fine. I was so proud of my kids, who would have thought that they would have turned out so well?

The whole time they were talking I was hacking into my handkerchief. I have a cold that is bordering on bronkitis, with some lingering pain in my joints that may or may not be flue related. I heard Lisa mention the 'shortness of breath' issue one of her patients had, and I said, "Hey, I have shortness of breath!".

They both looked at me like I was an idiot and continued talking shop. I'm thinking, jeez, I have two nurses in my house, I'm hacking like I have tuberculosis and all they can do is talk shop. I was thinking they would offer to listen to my chest, maybe I could get a free diagnosis of pneumonia, they had more important stuff to talk about.

As he left I was sitting on the couch, reading a book and hacking into my sleeve. "You're a piss poor excuse for a nurse," I joked. "I could be dying here, right in front of your eyes!"

"You'll be fine," he said.

"I haven't even told you about my hemmorhoids, you wanna' examine those for me?"

"I'm going say those are probably fine too."

"And you call yourself a nurse, hmf!"

I guess he was probably right. I managed to sleep without taking any drugs, first time in 5 days. I still woke up coughing numerous times, and got kicked out of bed onto the couch. I slept so hard once that when I woke up coughing, I couldn't remember where I was. Still coughing today, but at least I feel like a got a little sleep.

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