Week 8 Blog

Top of the morning to you!

I figure I start with a festive greeting since we are officially in St. Patrick's Day season!

It is Tuesday March 12, 2024, and we are in week eight of our class.  I worked on my class for seven or eight hours yesterday, and hopefully I can put in another eight today! I'm officially on Catch-Up mode!

I took Sunday off and didn't look at a tv, computer, or phone!  I absolutely love technology fasts... but they are even more rewarding now because I'm spending so much time behind a computer or phone. Luckly, I have an old-fashioned book for this class, so I get some screen relief every day I read! Pretty much the only reading I do these days. Because I did a technology fast on Sunday, I wasn't able to watch the Iowa womans basketball team make history. Luckily, I was able to see some highlights on Monday. What a cool story what Caitlen Clark has done last couple years, truly amazing! I also heard Oppenheimer movie did great at the Oscars, so maybe I'll try to watch that movie this week before classes resume Monday.

I went to Chicago on Saturday to work security at a restaurant/bar that hosts a "trolly-pub-crawl" with six other establishments. It is most certainly the biggest and busiest day for the bars involved, but also it is the most hectic.  I haven't worked in the "bouncer" field for many years, but my recent financial situation left me with little options.  The pub crawl gets underway around noon, and then every 20 minutes or so, a trolly pulls up and around 30-40 people dressed in green get off, screaming, yelling, drinking, and looking for the restrooms.  Unfortunately, only 20ish people get on the trolly to head for the next stop, so the place quickly was packed by 1pm and never slowed down. The madness continued until about eight, so you can imagine the things that went on (I can probably write a book). I drove home on Sunday and wanted nothing to do with people or technology!  The restaurant/bar I worked at usually has 20-30 patrons a night.  On Saturday, there were anywhere from 75-200 people in and around the establishment.  At one point, I had to stop letting people in because there was absolutely no room to fit another person in the place.  The quiet bar that usually has one bartender, had five that never stopped running to fill requests.  They ended up selling out of beer, food, cups, food, and many other things. The bar usually closes at 2am, but they had last call around 10pm.  I loved it because I ended up staying longer than expected, and the owner was so appreciative of my help, he gave me a bonus! I've also been Uber driving a couple hours a day (when I don't have other things going on) and I could probably write another book about all the interesting people, and fascinating things I see and hear.

So far, my spring break has consisted of working, cooking, cleaning, driving, and attending more doctor appointments. As of Friday morning, my right hand has been officially asleep.  Sometime in early February, my arm has been going in and out of being numb. At first, I was really scared it might be a stroke or a heart attack, but many doctors have said its most likely a pinched nerve. So, what am I doing about it? I'm getting my second MRI tomorrow morning & I'm scheduled to see a 3rd doctor on March 18th.  I went yesterday to have a blood test because the MRI taking place tomorrow involves a dye that gets injected before the scan. I am really hopeful I can get some relief and some answers soon! Sitting and typing and sleeping are the two positions that make my hand go completely numb. I have yet to find a position that is comfortable.

I re-did my portfolio/website this morning also because somehow, I lost two or three different edits, and had some issues finding the newest version. I also didn't bring my work computer home, and I was not having the correct permissions. I know, I sound like a broken record; I'm still getting to know technology and the multiple Gmail sign-ins I have.  I'm calling the new one 3.0 and hopefully it's my last version that I can just keep updating.  I'm still struggling with what I should do regarding my classroom content vs my personal learning content.  I need to take 6 more education classes in the next 15 months, so I am now leaning towards a personal portfolio. 

I find it interesting that business and industry use mostly Microsoft tools and systems while education (at least k-12) use Google products.  I have 3 school Gmail accounts, 2 personal and one specifically for my phone. At some point I should probably consolidate but I'm really not that comfortable deleting anything and I can't even find time to keep up with all the emails. Thanks for reading, I plan to put a photo below.