What to do today?

Yay, I have the day off!  It was nice to sleep in this morning, but of course I was awake at 7:15.  Why is it that during the week, waking up by 7:15 is difficult and I feel exhausted, but on the day I don’t have to get up at that time that I feel fully rested? 

So my plans for today are to get some house cleaning done.  My aunt and uncle are coming here on the 18th so I need to get ready for that.  Felix has made a mess of things.  He destroys feathered cat toys and leaves a mess all over the house. 

Work was exhausting this week.  The library was closed because of testing in the lab, but I still had a lot to do.  I had to do a lot of work prepping for the UIL academic contests of which I am coordinator.  Every day at lunch I lugged six Scrabble boards, racks, and tiles into the cafeteria so my students could play Scrabble.  This was the last week of our fundraiser so they needed to get as many points as possible.  On Thursday, I had to clean out my conference room that had been filled with equipment to be discarded.  I haven’t had time this year to deal with that so I that’s what I did all day yesterday. 

I finally got Matt to upgrade his cell phone.  His old phone frustrated a lot of people because he didn’t know how to check his voicemail and he let the message box get too full where nobody could leave a message.  He also wouldn’t text with it.  For his birthday, I gave him my old iPhone with a new case and put him on my cell phone plan.  Now he’s using the phone more and he has even texted me back!  I think he does like  using it. 

Well, I guess I think about cleaning soon.  Right now the tv is beckoning me. 

Exhausted

Having the time change (which I hate by the way) before spring break is horrible.  During the break I stay up late and sleep late ALL week.  When Monday comes it is a terrible shock to my system.  Monday wasn’t too bad, but Tuesday was just horrible.  I’m starting to get to bed earlier this week, but it’s still hard.  Right now I just want to take a nap but I can’t.  I have to leave in about 20 minutes to meet Matt for dinner and then go to Scrabble practice.  It has been an exhausting week.  Monday night I had orchestra rehearsal.  Tuesday night was band rehearsal.  After school on Wednesday I presented a session on my Scrabble club from 4:00 to 6:00.  At the end of the meeting I got a call from someone in San Antonio asking if I had two dogs named Max and Mollie.  I said yes and she said that they were out roaming on one of the roads by the missions that is about a mile from my house.  She offered to take them back to my neighborhood.  I thanked her and sent Matt over there right away.  She dropped them off at my neighbor’s and Matt got them back inside.  I thought Matt might have left the gate open after mowing the yard yesterday, but he said he didn’t.  The only thing we could figure out is that Felix taught them to go under the fence in a spot that wasn’t well blocked off.  So last night we went and bought more cinder blocks to cover the areas where that they could potentially free themselves again. 

Yesterday was also a big day for change as well.  For Matt’s birthday I gave him my old iPhone 3G with the promise of adding him to my phone plan and paying the first month’s bill and the activation fee.  (This is in addition to the other presents I gave him and buying him dinner.)  So yesterday we went to the AT&T store to make the change.  It turns out to add him on my plan, we both have to have phone numbers in the same area code.  So I decided to actually “commit” to San Antonio and changed to the 210 area code.  Matt had to change his number as well since we couldn’t get his account information to transfer his current number.  So we both have new phone numbers and he now has an iPhone which he has promised to carry with him from now on.  We’ll see how it goes.  So if you know me in real life or have my old number, contact me via email and I’ll give you the new number (Andrew, Carol, and anyone else I have forgotten that reads this blog.) 

An uneventful spring break

It’s not a bad thing to have an uneventful spring break.  I’ve really been rather lazy.  The time change is going to hurt come Monday.  I’ve been staying up late and sleeping late since Sunday.  Saturday I had to get up early to go to a Scrabble tournament.  It was ok but I’m still kicking myself for making a huge mistake where I didn’t play a word for fear that a second word I would have made would have been challenged and I wasn’t sure it was a valid word.  It turns out the word was good and if I had played it, I would have won the game and probably placed 2nd or 3rd in the tournament.  Oh well.  (And yes, Andrew, you do need to learn to play Scrabble!  We should play online sometime!)

As far as the break goes – I’ve slept, read, watched tv, surfed the web, and worked on a jigsaw puzzle.  Josh and I did get out on Monday.  I bought him a book for the GRE since he is going to be taking it on Thursday.  I thought about getting dressed and out today, but I haven’t done that yet.  I do have to get out tomorrow.  I’m going to a party of sorts with some co-workers and need to make some kind of treat to take.  I was thinking about making Stromboli, but not sure yet. 

I finished reading the Harry Potter series (again) and read another series as well.  I started keeping tracks of books read using Good Reads and set a goal to read 50 books this year.  Not counting the Harry Potter books, I’ve read 13 books so far this year which means I’m ahead of schedule.  Granted, many of the them are YA novels, but that’s part of my job.  Well, I think I’m going to find something to snack on.  Matt will grill tonight, but that means we won’t eat until around 8:00 and I’m hungry now. 

Well, I feel stupid

I took my phone to the Apple store to see why the sound wasn’t working with headphones and it turns out that the volume was down.  But I “thought” I tried turning the volume up when it didn’t work – and when I unplugged the phones, it played loud from the phone itself.  I don’t know what the deal was, but I guess it wasn’t really broke. 

So I went to play Scrabble tonight and I still feel stupid.  I got beat twice and drew horribly.  I also missed a very obvious bingo spot which is what caused me to lose the 2nd game.  It wasn’t very much fun to play tonight and now I have to play in a tournament this weekend.  Ugh. 

So now I’m sitting at home with a very large glass of wine and am going to bed very soon.  I’m going to read a book and try not to think about anything else.

Always an excuse

So my exercise routine is lacking a lot lately.  But I always have an excuse!  Let’s see – Monday – I was just tired and if I skipped, I’d just have to make sure I did it on Tuesday.  Tuesday I wasn’t feeling well.  I had a long day at school, training after school, then a band board meeting, and I skipped out on band because I didn’t feel good.  That was my excuse yesterday.  So today the problem is that my phone isn’t working with headphones and I can’t walk without music.  I did order a tv, but my wall mount hasn’t arrived yet.  So I’m not going to exercise again tonight.  I know I should but it’s horrible enough without entertainment.  Have I mentioned how much I hate exercising? 

My library is like a refrigerator.  The temperature hovers between 60 and 62 degrees.  I was freezing by the time I left school today.  It’s hard to get stuff done when you’re cold and can’t concentrate.  I worked on some website stuff today.  I shared a logo idea with my principal and she loved it.  Only two more days until spring break.  I need to start doing some cleaning and organizing the library so it’s not such a mess when I get back. 

Well since I didn’t exercise, I did make an effort to do some cleaning this evening.  I vacuumed the feathers and mess left by the new kitty and loaded the dishwasher.  Matt finally finished the 5th Harry Potter book.  I have to read a book that I’m offering my students to read during the library club meeting tomorrow. 

I’m waiting for Matt to get here with dinner.  I love Matt very much, but our dining times don’t always mesh well.  I’m used to eating supper fairly early and he’s ok with waiting a while.  So while I wait I snack which isn’t good.  It’s frustrating when he wants to go out on the weekends and we can’t get seated any place decent because it’s so late when we get there.  He surprised me last Saturday by getting here early and we finally got to eat at Pappasito’s with only a 15 minute wait.  Usually when we go, the wait is an hour and half and we choose to leave.  I think I’m going to go have a pickle.  And maybe a slice of cheese. 

Computer Dreams on Hold for Now

Thanks for chiming in Andrew – I figured that post would get a comment from you!  I will check out newegg, but I think I’ll have to wait a bit to consider a new computer.  Josh called today and needs money to apply to one more college.  He’s been rejected by three, but he has one he hasn’t heard from yet and then has this other one he plans to apply to.  Of course it isn’t cheap.  Just to apply is $100.  On top of that he needs money to get home this weekend and then more to go to SXSW in Austin during spring break.  I just bought a small tv to put in front of my treadmill and am waiting for the wall mount I ordered from Amazon to come in.  I also ordered the complete series of Columbo.  I saw it at Best Buy this weekend and almost bought it, but then discovered I could get it for a LOT less through Amazon.  The same thing was true of the wall mount I ordered.   The one in the store was $59.  I ordered a generic version with good reviews online for only $14.  I did shop for tv’s online, but the best deal was the one I ended up getting at Best Buy. 

In the meantime, I’m perfectly happy having updated versions of Photoshop and InDesign.  I’ve been designing flyers for our upcoming band concert.  I’m also going to work on a new banner for the school website.  I might even put together a Scrabble website for Matt as a surprise.  Adobe Muse seems pretty easy to use.  The only drawback is that I have to export the files as html and do an FTP to the web host. 

Today was kind of frustrating because I had to be a sub all day.  Luckily they came to the library, but it also meant that I didn’t get anything done that I needed to do.  I’m going to be doing a presentation on my Scrabble club the week after spring break and I know I won’t work on anything school related over the break so I need to get as much done as I can before Friday.  It’s going to be a long week simply because we’re all anticipating spring break coming!

My friend Pam from back home might come to visit me during the break.  I really hope she does.  It would be so good to see her.  I think it would be good for her too.  I think she needs to get away for a little while.  Having her here would actually get me out of the house during the break instead of being a slug and working on a jigsaw puzzle or goofing off online all day. 

Time to upgrade?

Well, I bit the bullet the other day and decided to get the Adobe Creative Cloud so I could have access to Photoshop and InDesign at school and at home.  I had the programs on my old laptop which still works but is really, really slow.  The laptop I currently have is ok, but it’s now 3 years old and the warranty is going to expire next month.  I’m thinking of potentially going back to a desktop computer.  It would be nice to have a bigger screen to work in Photoshop.  I’m thinking I would like to have an all in one computer.  I really don’t want an obnoxious desktop tower and have to hook up all the wires and such.  I’ve been partial to Dell computers, but I’m also looking at the HPs.  Then again, I don’t know that I need a new computer, but I’m kind of like Andrew – can you ever have too much in the way of technology?  So it’s just something I’m thinking about, but not sure if I’ll talk myself into buying.  I also want to buy a small tv to put in front of my treadmill in hopes that I’ll use it more.  I did walk three times last week but this week, I’ve only walked once so far.  I have to walk today and tomorrow to make my self-imposed quota.