Day 14-all CA students must be vaccinated
No Wi-Fi…yet another issue I have to deal with…
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The following is a verbatim statement from College No. 2 regarding how a Covid case is reported on campus:
“College No. 2 received a confirmed report on [10/14/21], that an individual had tested positive for Covid-19, the disease caused by the 2019 novel coronavirus. To protect patient privacy, the individual’s information is considered confidential and will not be disclosed.”
“The individual tested positive on [10/10/21], and was last on campus on [10/9/21]. This individual has not identified any close contacts while on campus and is observing the minimum 10-day isolation at home. The affected individual checked in at the kiosk near the Construction Technology building and tested at the [Main Street] Boulevard Module (MSBM 136). The individual then went to the [Industry Technology Education Center] building room 201. Facilities has been notified and the affected areas will be disinfected and sanitized as required.”
“It is important to know that transmission more commonly occurs via sustained face-to-face contact and through respiratory droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes. Surface transmission is less common.”
“The entire College No. 2 community sends this individual sincere wishes for a quick recovery. As always, all College No. 2 students and employees are asked to follow the directions given by public health and elected officials during this outbreak. This includes obeying the Health Officers most recent orders from LA County and the State of California.”
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Now for College No. 1:
“10 new cases for the week ending [10/15/21]”
“The total number encompasses students, staff, construction workers, and vendors. It reflects people who were on campus that tested positive within 14 days of their positive test or from when their symptoms began. This is not an indication of a person being exposed on campus.”
That’s it.
10/14/21. Thursday
9:30-10:00 - My late class is tonight which means I get to sleep in today. Awake and I go downstairs to say good morning to the animal. She’s awake and running around…I think she’s already been outside, but I keep the routine going. As you know, I start my morning the same way, every day. It’s like Groundhog Day around here. The dog and I sit on the couch together and I rub her tummy until she jumps off the couch and grabs her ball. We head outside and while I wait for her to go potty, I see that my plants are in desperate need of water! Several of them are wilting! I can’t believe I let this go for as long as I have.
10:00-10:45 – I clean the downstairs bathroom and toilet because if I don’t do it right now I’ll continue to put it off.
10:45-11:30 – I read Digital Minimalism.
11:30–12:00 - L. is finally awake so I ask if she can splice-and-dice the Chapter 9 Audio lecture for my Core Class. She asks me to check back with her in 30 minutes. Continue reading Digital Minimalism.
12:00-1:00 – L. edits the lecture and then airdrops it into three Canvas shells. While I’m holding L. “captive”, we have a quick meet-and-confer about a few agenda items, namely the fact that I am unable to access WiFi 5G in this house- I have access to 2G (slower), but not 5G, and it went out about 4 months ago. I’m not tech savvy so I rely heavily on L.’s knowledge and expertise when it comes to these issues, but the few times I’ve questioned her about it [over the past 3 months], she has blown me off and responded with what I now know were lies, just because she couldn’t be bothered to have a quick conversation with me about this problem.
For example, when I tried to access 5G on my Ipad three months ago, I received an error message instructing me to log in with my password. L. gave me the password, but I still wasn’t able to log in. L. said that meant there was a problem with my device because she was, in fact, able to access 5G on all of her devices. I was largely placated by this because it meant 5G was actually working in the house…I just couldn’t access it on my Ipad.
Two more weeks of being unable to access 5G on my Ipad became irritating. I asked L., again, about this problem and she then explained that the Spectrum representative who was here 18 months ago to fix a different problem, reset the password and nobody knows the new password. This didn’t make sense to me and I asked L., “Well, why were we able to access 5G until 4 months ago if he reset the password 18 months ago?” She replied that we were automatically logged into 5G and didn’t need to enter our password. Then, a glitch of some sort occurred and now we need to enter our password to have access again, but nobody knows the password. “How do we obtain the reset password?”, I ask. L. says she doesn’t know. Hmmm.
L. replies breezily to all of my questions, while constantly in motion, either coming or going from/to one activity or another. She simply can’t be bothered to sit down with me and have a discussion about an issue that I’m starting to think might be important.
I ask L. if this is something I need to call Spectrum about, but she says no, not to worry, because we have access to 2G. However, I’m paying for 5G and my $80 monthly bill reflects this. I have no cable, no TV channels…I only have Internet service and a modem and yet I’m paying $80 a month for a service I’m not receiving. 2G seems slower to me, but L. says 2G isn’t slower, it’s just ‘different.’
A couple more weeks goes by and, strangely, when I try to log onto Netflix, an error message occurs that says I can’t access Netflix without my 5G password, which I don’t have. So, I’ve reached critical mass now because, on occasion, I like to watch Netflix. Unplugging my system seems to work and my Netflix access returns, but the movies keep buffering and crashing, probably due to the inferior 2G. In other words, this is a work-around, but not a good one. HOWEVER, at least L. has 5G for her devices…
Today, I ask L. how she is able to access 5G when she, like me, does not know the password. Why [and how] does she automatically connect to 5G? Maybe I can follow her lead? At which point, L. informs me that she has NOT had access to 5G for the past 4 months, same as me. Although L. doesn’t say it, the implication is clear…she didn’t want to take 10 minutes out of her busy schedule to discuss this stupid issue with me and continually gaslighted me about the 5G access for approximately 4 months.
I am deeply hurt by this…but say nothing.
L. and I coordinate schedules for the coming weeks. I buy Nights of the Jack tickets for a jack-o-lantern display in Calabasas that promises to be amazing for this Sunday and L. proposes that we go to the Melting Pot for dinner before the event. She books the Melting Pot reservation on Open Table. We also discuss the Lightscape tickets I purchased involving a huge Xmas display at The Arboretum in November. L. is available and I tell her to save the date on her calendar where she logs all of her activities. I take this opportunity to ask L. how Otis is going and she briefs me on college life.
1:00-2:00 – I made a spinach salad a few days ago, so I have that for lunch and watch an episode of Maid.
2:00-3:00 – Shower. Lotion. Make-up. I change into a wrap-dress and heels for college.
3:00-3:45 – I check Canvas and ensure that course content is ready and then respond to a few emails from students who will not be attending the F2F section tonight.
4:00-4:45 – I water my plants.
5:00-5:30 – I prepare my lunch bag – hummus, carrots, celery, and tortilla chips – and add the chicken and honey carrots dish I made a few days ago. I load all of my supplies in the car and leave for College No. 1.
5:30-7:00 – Driving. At this time of the day, traffic is horrible. I listen to the Political Gabfest.
7:00-10:00 – Class is somewhat labor intensive tonight…a 90-minute lecture, followed by a 25-minute documentary. It is during this documentary, after notifying those students who are getting a D or F in the class that the deadline to withdraw with a “W” is fast approaching and they have one week to make a decision, that the shit storm starts.
Without exception, those students who are getting Ds or Fs in the class are the same students who didn’t bother to complete their weekly Inquizitive assignments [multiple choice software that I’ve discussed previously in this blog]. What did you think would happen when you received 0 after 0 after 0 on your assignments? Lest you think the students were blindsided by this email, please understand that I’ve been sending email blast reminders to the students regarding their Inquizitives since the first week of school. Students who repeatedly ignored their assignments also received emails from me, informing them that their grade would be severely impacted.
10:00-10:30 – During this time period, I respond to students who are shocked!...shocked!...that they are getting a D or F in the class. What did you think would happen when you ‘gaffed’ these assignments? A few students approach me after class and say, “Uh…I really messed up and I should have done the Inquizitives…can I do them now?” Two of them are football players. Yes, you are correct. You really messed up. Can you do them now, you ask? No. In life there are deadlines and at this point in the semester, you have missed 10 of them. Now you’re getting an F. Godspeed.
As I write the above, I feel like I’ve written the exact same post concerning the exact same issue many months ago…
A handful of students insist that they’ve been submitting their Inquizitive assignments the entire time, but their scores were not recording in the online gradebook. Interesting…you’re just now telling me about a possible glitch that you’ve been experiencing for 10 weeks? Funny how a tech-support issue arises the very day you’re notified that you’re getting a D or F in the class.
10:30-11:30 – I’m finally leaving this hell hole.
Driving. I eat the leftovers from my lunch bag on the way home. I listen to Citations Needed.
11:30-12:30 – At home and I bring in all of my bags, put everything away, and start kitchen duty. L. is at Crispy Crème with N. and I’m looking forward to having a glazed donut after tonight’s f—kd up class.
-L. returns having NOT gone to Crispy Crème. She reports that she and N. were too broke and went for boba instead. I’m probably better-served for it.
12:30-2:00 – Gardening. This is the only time I will do it…otherwise, there is too much going on and I’ll put it off. I sweep the patio, clean the beds, and trim dead leaves from several of my plants. I’m a gardener who talks to my plants…yes, I’m one of those bat-shit crazy, old ladies…and I apologize for neglecting everyone [my plants]. I listen to Spooked, Full Body Chills, and Radio Rental.
2:00-4:00 – I go to work. I report to my home office and spend the next two hours researching and writing detailed emails to the D/F students who continue to email me, asserting that they can’t possibly have a D/F in the class!! What is going on?, they cry!!! For several of the students, I provide a week-by-week assessment wherein I clearly spell out that they have a F in the class because on such-and-such date, you received an F on the Chapter 1 Inquizitive, a 2 out of 10 on the Video Quiz, another F on the Chapter 8 Inquizitive, a 60% on the Midterm. I use simple addition to demonstrate how and why they have a 44% overall, currently.
I never hear from these students again. Spoiler Alert: They will all withdraw by the deadline and the herd will be officially thinned…
I have to admit, this is one of my favorite activities…
Two students insist they’ve been religiously submitting their Inquizitives and there must be some mistake! [more handwringing]. They email me screenshots of their completed tests. I know they’re lying because the software is just too good, BUT I submit Work Order tickets to the publisher’s Help Desk and cc the students on the tickets.
Spoiler Alert: IT Support for my publisher is amazing. Within 24 hours, the Help Desk will report that one student completed his Inquizitives several months after the due date, like last week. He showed me screenshots of his completed Inquizitives, but the score is still 0 because the assignments are upwards of 8 weeks late - the student left that important detail out. The second student kept submitting her Inquizitive tests after having only completed 10 questions, when the minimum number of questions the student MUST answer is 20. This rule is reflected in the Syllabus, in large RED font, AND in the AUDIO Syllabus, both of which were emailed to the students, individually, one week before the semester began. Both Syllabi are also posted on Canvas.
Don’t con a con…
-I check L.’s Addendum to her gift list and see that I missed a gift. I order the Victoria Secret underwear she requested in addition to the 5 other things I’ve already purchased. When will it end?
4:30-5:00 – I have class tomorrow morning, so I make sure the Midterm is ready for my highschoolers.
5:00-6:00 – Nighttime routine. Bed. I set my alarm for 7:30, unfortunately.