Day 26-Monkey pox is the new pandemic

My class schedule is a MESS…

A new “Bivalent” vaccine is on the horizon. 

Dr. Dean Bloomberg, Professor of Medicine and Chief of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at UC Davis Hospital, says the new Bivalent vaccine combines BA5 with a second Covid strain [but which strain? Nobody knows…] and early studies show [what studies? The studies done on mice?] that a Bivalent vaccine combining strains from the Alpha and Beta variants [Alpha-Beta?  Isn’t that a grocery store? Were these even variants?  It’s been so long, I don’t even recall. Why is big Pharma spending time and money examining three-year-old, Covid strains for a NEW vaccine?] showed enhanced protection from the current BA5 strain [you mean it worked on the mice?]

The Bivalent is coming soon to a pharmacy near you…can’t wait.

8/29/22. Monday

All of my classes are “live” for the first time this week and things went off the rails immediately. I checked my previous blog posts and it’s unclear exactly what my weekly shift entails. So, here it is (for the rest of the semester):

Monday - 3:00-4:25 pm - Online - “Einstein” high school students [Dual Enrollment at College No. 2]

Wednesday - 8:00-9:30 am - F2F - Catholic high school in Gardena [Dual Enrollment at College No. 2]

Wednesday - 3:00-4:25 pm - Online - “Einstein” high school students [Dual Enrollment at College No. 2]

Thursday - 7:00-10:00 pm - F2F - Core Class at College No. 1

Friday - 8:00-9:30 am - F2F - Catholic high school in Gardena [Dual Enrollment at College No. 2]

**Specialty Class 1A - College No. 1 - is fully online and the students go at their own pace. Course content posts every Monday morning and is due the following Sunday. All course content entries must be transcribed to accommodate ONE student - that crazy OSD bitch.

***Note the turnaround time between Thursday and Friday. Every Thursday, my class ends at 10:00 and I arrive home at 11:00 pm. It takes about 90 minutes to get everything ready for the next day and perform my nighttime routine [12:30 am]. THEN, I’m up at 5:00 am so I can leave the house at 6:00 am so I can make it to Gardena by 8:00 am so I can teach ONE 90-minute Catholic high school class.

***Note the back-to-back teaching times on Wednesdays. I teach at the Catholic high school from 8:00-9:30 am and I arrive home around 11:00 am. THEN, I’m online from 3:00-4:25 pm with my “Einstein” high school students.

***Note that Tuesday is my only day off.

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L. never bothered to introduce me to Collin Two-Hatchet. When I asked her why, she said they “couldn’t fit it in” - I was disappointed. L. and Collin check out of their hotel, then she drops him off at the airport for his 9:00 am flight home, to Kansas. L. then reports directly to Otis. I haven’t seen, or heard from L., in several days, but I checked the Find Friends app that L. installed on my phone to make sure she was still alive. They did a lot of traveling…the Huntington…somewhere in Pasadena…West Hollywood…I have no idea what they did.

9:30-10:00-The dog starts licking my hands, so I take her outside to go potty. Cheese for her.

10:00-11:00-Kitchen duty and I make my coffee. Then, I break down yesterday’s lemon chicken into separate Pyrex containers and make labels that say “Eat with rice and veges” as a reminder to me when I eventually eat these meals. I bought a mini-watermelon a few days ago so I break it down. There’s a few items in the fridge that I planned to eat but just didn’t have the time, so I pack them in Pyrex and freeze. Basically, I clean out the refrigerator in preparation for the week.

11:00-1:45- bullet journal. Today is the first day of my Synchronous, online “Einstein” high school class. It starts at 3:00, but I want to be online by 2:00. I really need to take a shower - if I don’t take one now, I won’t be able to take a shower until AFTER 4:25 pm.

1:45-2:30-I create an artificially shortened time frame and quickly jump in the shower.

2:30-5:00-I’m online by 2:30 and I create an email group chat by individually loading the email addresses for the EIGHT!!! students registered in this class. I’m using old-school email because my high school kids still don’t have access to Canvas, due to College No. 2’s delayed inputting for high school students. Although I already sent today’s course content to the students last night, I re-send because this is the time that we are all online together.

At 3:00 sharp, I email the students another brief “Welcome” email and explain the format for the first day of class. I instruct the students to start listening to the Audio SYLLABUS.

Although my “Einstein” high school students don’t have access to Canvas, I actually finished updating the entire Canvas shell last night, to include grouping and dividing ALL course content under Monday and Wednesday headings. It’s a great feeling having this Canvas shell under my belt!!! The only task left is to update the 3-date series for EVERY quiz. This will take some time BUT the actual shell is done.

3:00-4:25 - Although I ask the students to confirm that they’ve received my email, only two of the eight do so. This is a concern.

-I check email at College No. 2 and see that the “Einstein” high school liaison (Monique) sent me an email informing me and Dual Enrollment that three students dropped the class!!! Oh-no!! Monique says that more and more high school students are looking for Asynchronous (go at your own pace) classes so they have time for extra curriculars, like yearbook or sports.

There are only five students left in this class!!! I know this high school will NOT run a Synchronous online class with just five students. I signed my contract a few hours ago and I’m acutely aware of the financial hit I’ll take if this class doesn’t run - it’s a $5000 loss.

In a flurry of emails to all parties I profess to hate to see these students leave and offer to convert the class to ASYNCHRONOUS within the next 48 hours. My Dean weighs in on this email thread and, shockingly, at College No. 2, is able to make an immediate, executive decision to convert to a fully online class, with no set dates or times for attendance. This kind of snap decision would never have occurred at College No. 1.

Everyone thanks me for being flexible [insert smile emoji here]

All of the work I’ve done, creating a Canvas shell for a Synchronous, online, Monday/Wednesday class, from 3:00-4:25, was for nothing, including the introductory video I made yesterday where I inform the students that we’ll be meeting every Monday and Wednesday. The Canvas shell now has to be scrubbed; the Syllabus redone. I keep telling myself that it’s for the greater good, that I’'ll be $5000 richer by the end of the semester, but the truth of the matter is there’s no guarantee that the class will run even after I do a shit-ton of work to convert the class to Asynchronous (fully online). FIVE students?

Also, I overextended myself by committing to a class conversion in just 48 hours.. Who am I kidding? I checked my prior posts and it took 13.5 hours to design this class. How on earth am I going to redo everything by Wed? Answer: I’m not.

Devastated, I log off from College No. 2 and report to College No. 1.

No. 1 is asking for our Spring 2023 Schedule Preference forms, so I submit my “preferences” now. This time, I request - make that “demand” - only fully online classes. None of this “One F2F class for every online class” s—t!! If Admin doesn’t assign me ANY classes next semester because I limited my availability by only requesting ONLINE classes, so be it - they can go to hell.

-I have a sliver of time available so, as a Marriott member, I check the database for potential hotels near the Integratron, in conjunction with my ticket. I’m starting to rethink this entire mini-vacay. A lone female, traveling alone in the desert, in a car with 200,000 miles? I definitely have to rent a car, which I hadn’t planned on doing.

5:00-6:00-I have some of my squash lasagna and read War Torn, a book that B. lent me.

7:00-11:00-B. Is coming for patio coffee tomorrow so I sweep the backyard; clean out the red rock beds; spray down the AstroTurf; trim back leaves and branches; and clean out the pots. Then, I wash the table and the tray mats and water all of my plants.

11:00-11:30 - L. returns from Otis, her first day of school for the Fall semester. She is scheduled to work at The Club at 4:00 am tomorrow and goes straight to bed. L. said she had fun with Colin Two-Hatchet while he was here. She kindly puts air in my tires so I can get a bike ride in tomorrow.

11:30-12:10-Kitchen duty and I pack my lunch bag with snacks that I can easily remove for my bike ride. I ready my coffee and check email at College No. 1 before going to bed.

12:15-1:00-Nighttime routine. Sunless tanning. I lay my biking clothes out for tomorrow. Bed