Day 9 - LA County Dept. of Health MANDATES indoor masking and OUTDOOR masking at large events

The window washer came today…

8/24/21. Tuesday.

6:30 –7:30 -  The window washer is coming at 8:30 and I still need to move my plants in the backyard away from the windows.  Downstairs and I say good morning to the dog, but she is so out of it she barely moves. I sit next to her and rub her tummy until she finally rolls over and jumps off the couch. We go outside; the dog is too tired to grab her toy. I immediately start moving my plants while she goes potty.  Two of the “plants” are potted trees and moving them takes some time.

Finally finished and the dog and I return inside: gross, sliced American cheese for her and coffee for me.

7:30-8:30 – Upstairs and I take a quick shower. Lotion. Covid-19 uniform. Light make-up. I have time to eat two Cowboy cookies. I put one Hepa Air Purifier downstairs and one upstairs.

8:30-12:30 – The window washer arrives, masked, and starts with the interior windows first.  I put the dog outside and L. and I rotate from room to room depending on where the window washer is at. He actually jumps out of my bathroom window, onto the roof, so he can clean my skylights.  When I exclaim, “That’s so dangerous!”, he says, “That’s the job” and smiles. L. and I mask the entire time he’s here; so does he.

I continue moving from room to room and work on blog posts. When I’m finished, I upload my posts to the site. Since I’m holding L. captive – she can’t get ready because the window washer is all over the place – I make L. watch an 11-minute documentary “short” that I showed to Specialty Class 1A yesterday to get her opinion. Then she makes me watch the Action Park “short” that we’ve both seen, like, 10 times. It never gets old, though. I check my personal email.

12:30-1:30 – The window washer is done and the windows are clean and look amazing.  I pull the blinds up downstairs and open a few windows to let in some fresh air. The screens and the tracks are spotless. I love it.

I read Bus 57.

1:30-3:30 – I’m running on just 3 hours of sleep so I take a nap.

3:30-5:00 – I check emails at both Colleges and respond to students.  There is another email rant from the instructors at College No. 2 and everyone and their mother jumped on the thread. Apparently, if we’re going to believe what the teachers are saying in the thread, students have stopped showing up for their face-to-face classes opting, instead, to attend class online. What a surprise.

I’m sure those students who actually wanted a face-to-face connection realized that they are reporting to a brick-and-mortar classroom only to log onto Zoom with the rest of the online students.  If the class is going to be delivered via Zoom, why report to the classroom? The Face-to-Face students aren’t benefiting from the hybrid model because it’s impossible for the instructors to simultaneously engage the INCLASS students when they’re busy teaching the ONLINE students. The hybrid model is such a disaster.

One teacher complains that she drove all the way from Barstow simply to sit in an empty classroom and teach the entire class via Zoom; none of her Face-to-Face students showed up.  I actually laughed out loud when I read this. She makes the point that she could have taught the class from the comfort of her own home.

A Do-Gooder responds to the thread saying, “My students are clamoring to get into MY Face-to-Face class.  They’d rather be Face-to-Face then Zoom.” F—k you. I’m immediately suspicious and later discover that the Do-Gooder teaches math.

Students can learn math via Zoom so what gives? I bet you anything the instructor has an accent and the students can’t understand what he’s saying. Since Math is a Core Class that every student has to take, the students’ only alternative, if they’re unable to understand the instructor, would be to request Face-to-Face and hope for the best. Dropping the class is not an option as Math and English Core Classes fill up so quickly. If a student is finally enrolled in a math class, it’s a given that the class was full and the student couldn’t get in at least twice previously.

5:00 –5:20 -  I have a phone call scheduled with an OSD student. When I asked if she could provide me with a list of agenda items so I could be fully prepared for the call, she actually emailed me a short list of talking points.  Usually requesting the agenda items shuts a student down because they don’t really know what they want to discuss and the student ends up saying, “Never mind.” OR I’m actually able to answer their questions via email when they send their dumb agenda items.  You know that meme going around about meetings? “That could have been an email.” Well, it’s true. There is just no reason to request a Zoom meeting when an email will suffice.

This student emails me her list, but still wants the phone call so I oblige.  She’s a slow-talker, too, and it takes forever for her to get to the point BUT, at least she knows that she’s mentally challenged and has taken advantage of OSD resources.

Get this:  Her main complaint is the 3-week block of time that the students have off in November. She asks me, “How do you expect me to learn during that 3-week period?” Who! Cares!  Not my problem. This class meets on a Thursday and in an unprecedented turn of events, College No. 1 is recognizing Veterans Day; then, I’m taking the following Thursday off [It’s pre-approved as I already put in for it and I’m allowed to request a “Personal Day” off], and the Thursday after that is Thanksgiving. When we return, I’m administering the Final. 

It’s like I’m off the entire month of November [at least for my Thursday class] and I’m still getting paid!!  I can’t believe my good fortune. But, the student is upset and wants to know if I will assign homework.  On a state-recognized holiday?  I don’t think so. I point out that there are 4 Inquizitive assignments due on the day we return and this seems to placate her somewhat.

5:20-6:15 – I conclude the call and finish responding to a few more emails.

6:15-7:00 – I take the dog for a walk.

7:00 – 8:45 – I sweep the yard and move ALL of my plants back to their rightful spots. Then, I water my plants.

8:45-9:45 – I have the best meal: the sloppy joe rice bowl mixture that I prepared a few days ago; a salad; and watermelon.

9:45-2:00 a.m. – I record two AUDIO Syllabi – one for the high school SYNCHRONOUS class and one for the online ASYNCHRONOUS class, both of which are at College No. 2. I make a few changes to the Syllabi Word documents because I discover some errors while I’m recording.

I review the due dates in the Canvas shell for the ASYNCHRONOUS online class and prepare a Welcome email for the students. I press “Publish” and this class is now live!  I follow up with the Welcome email blast. Fall Semester 2021, at College No. 2, officially begins on Saturday.

2:00-3:30 – Kitchen duty and I prepare turkey burgers.  I stir carrots, zuchinni, parsley, and Worcestershire into the ground turkey and then press the mixture into a hamburger mold. Makes 6.

I have some cashews and two Cowboy cookies while I’m working.

3:30-4:00 – I do a 15-minute Insanity-Cardio Abs workout.

4:00-5:00 – Nighttime routine. Bed.