Day 30 - LA County Dept. of Health mandates indoor masking

Computer is still dead…

8/15/21. Sunday

8:00 -9:00 – I’m up early today because “Guy” is coming over between 10:00 and 11:00 to… well, I don’t know what he’s going to do, actually.  Load the data from my old computer onto my new computer? I have no idea. Also, B. and “Gustavo” are coming to pick up my last garage shelving unit.

I go downstairs to say good morning to the animal and she’s still asleep on the couch.  It’s the standard drill – I rub her tummy three times, but she wants me to rub her tummy longer so I sit on the couch and pet her for a few more minutes.  What a diva!  She finally grabs her toy and we go outside.  I water a few of my potted plants while she does her business. Return inside and I make coffee for me; gross, American cheese slices for her.

Kitchen duty and I go about tidying the house because “Guy” and B. are coming over shortly.  I sweep the downstairs and put the couch pillows out [we can’t keep pillows on the couch for any great length of time or the dog will destroy them – we’ve already gone through 2 sets], but most importantly, I need to unpack my computer. If Guy wasn’t coming, I’d leave my computer IN the box because I’m too intimidated, BUT he’s stopping by between 10:00 and 11:00 so I really should take it out and display it on my desk.  If he’s going to be in my office for any length of time, I need to clean that, too.  It’s not bad, necessarily, but there is dust on the desk where the old computer used to sit, and the shelves are dusty.

I clean everything, take the computer out of the box, and display it on my desk.  Picture a white, fairly large, sleek monitor.  It looks good on my desk…you know…professional, like… Unfortunately, it’s just a prop because I have no idea how to use it.  I leave all the cords in the small box that they came in and walk away.

9:00-10:00 – Shower. Lotion. Covid-19 uniform. Light make-up. I listen to The Daily.

10:00 – 11:00 - B. and Gus arrive and take the shelving unit. B. leaves for Starbucks and will return for “patio coffee.” While he’s gone, Guy arrives.  I want L. with me during all of these interactions because I don’t know what’s going on and I have difficulty articulating my computer questions or even understanding what Guy is saying.  By that I mean, Guy is white and has no accent…I simply don’t know what he’s taking about. Plus, L. and Guy have been texting back and forth over the past couple days about what this process involves.  I don’t know what’s going on and I prefer it that way.

So, apparently, Guy is going to take my computer to his house! On blind faith, I give a man I just met my brand new $1300 computer…now he has both. Guy says he’ll “have it done” by Tuesday.  Have what done, exactly? Transferring the data?  I thought he was going to do that today…[sad face emoji]. B. arrives as this exchange is occurring and walks Guy to his car, talking and getting to know him. Guy leaves, B. returns to the house, and we go out to the backyard for “patio coffee.”

11:00-1:00 – B. and I drink coffee and talk politics outside, until 12:00, when it gets too hot weather-wise. We take it inside, to my room, for the next hour.  I have a few apples slices with almond butter.

L. leaves for work.

1:00 – 2:00 – B. leaves and I have a small piece of the pizza L. ordered on Friday and read Bus 57.

2:00-3:30 – The first day of school is tomorrow so I check course content on my Netbook [for those who don’t know, this device is sooo old they don’t make them anymore.  It’s not a laptop…it’s roughly the size of an Ipad mini. The only tasks I can do on this thing are 1) edit Word documents; and 2) log into Canvas. It takes 15/20 minutes to get online and loading one website takes an additional 15 minutes. My ex bought the Netbook for me around 2007 and in that time, the port for the charger collapsed twice and my ex had to crack open the computer and solder the components together both times.  This device is on it’s last legs, too] and make sure everything is ready.  Audio lecture-Chapter 1 needs to be edited at the front end so I’ll have L. do that when she returns from work. I add a few things to the Discussion Board in the Canvas shell.

 I’m nervous about tomorrow… I’ve never taught a hybrid class before…no one has, except the summer session professors.  I don’t see how ONE instructor can teach 20 students in the classroom and 20 students online, simultaneously. This is not an effective way to convey content, but at least I have a plan that I shared with the students, via email, a week in advance.  I’m going to lecture and teach my face-to-face students, business as usual, while deploying my pre-recorded lectures [“the poli-sci podcast”] and accompanying Google slides to my online students at the same time. I’m NOT doing Zoom. How do you Zoom when you have 20 students INSIDE your classroom? It doesn’t make sense, but that’s what all the other instructors are doing. I’m lecturing from a script so the pre-recorded lectures AND my face-to-face lectures are identical, give or take.

Thankfully, the Inquizitive issue for my Thursday Core Class has been resolved.  The Norton publisher liaison loaded the Inquizitives from the correct edition into my Canvas shell so all I need to do is input the correct due dates, which I do.

I think I’m ready for the first day of school tomorrow…

On top of everything, let’s not forget the fear of getting sick. I don’t want to experience a break-through infection, nor do I want to bring the virus home and infect L. Additionally, College No. 1 does not have a vaccine mandate, so we have no way of knowing who’s vaccinated. The college is in a red district [white males don’t vax…that should be a bumper sticker] although almost all of my students are POC.  But, there is a significant amount of vaccine hesitancy among POC, too, so maybe they’re also not vaxxed.

The college does have a mask mandate, however, so while on campus, everyone has to mask.  Admin sent the teachers a list of instructions on how to handle students who don’t mask, ending with “Call Security” as the final instruction, at the bottom of the list…so, the college is taking masking seriously.  In reality, with Delta wreaking havoc on our community, we shouldn’t even be in the classroom. This was a bad call made by the President of the school, who also implemented the hybrid notice with a 2-week notice to the Summer session instructors. He’s retiring at the end of the year [of course], but he’s there just long enough to wreak havoc for the rest of us.

 College No. 2 cares about their staff and students – every class is STILL online.

3:30-5:30 – Blog posts.

6:00-8:00 – I’m so exhausted and I know this will mess up my bedtime, but I take a nap.

8:00-8:30 – I take the dog for a walk and listen to a new podcast called Citations Needed, specifically the episode entitled “The Summer of Anti-BLM Backlash and How Concepts of ‘Crime’ were Shaped by the Propertied Class.”

8:30-9:00 – I have to use B.’s computer to print out the attendance and syllabi for tomorrow and he is back from a family function so I drive to B’s house.

9:00-10:30- I print out the attendance, syllabi, and scan the grades for my summer session class to my thumb drive so I can email them to Admissions and Records at College No. 2. Midway through, B.’s printer stops working.  He trouble shoots the issue and after about 15 minutes, it starts working again. I finish everything and drive home.

10:30-11:30 – Kitchen duty. I also do food prep and prepare a giant lunch bag for tomorrow. I listen to Southern Fried Crime.

11:30 – 12:45 – I read a Money Diary, then do a 40-minute Insanity – Cardio Recovery workout.

12:45-1:30 – I take a shower and wash and condition my hair and listen to be Wealthy and Smart; then

1:30-2:30 – I braid my hair and listen to What a Day.

2:30-3:30 – Nighttime routine. Bed.