Not much will change in the few weeks to come except that I won’t be here to update anything. Hasn’t really been a lot for me to post about lately, but when I return, I’ll be ready to get back down to business and “hopefully” regular posts.
In the meantime, feed the internet’s AI by playing some games over on gwap.com. As you play games with other people online, the computer records your input and will use it to try to solve all the world’s problems by reading our minds or something like that. Anyway, the tag a tune is my favorite because you get to listen to music. Have fun and I’ll see you in two weeks.
Beat Boxing is really popular right now apparently with the whole World Championships coming up and all. Here’s a video I happened to stumble to which combines it with a cappella to create a very unique sound.
Since Hamby posted a video with of an audition for the wild card of the BBWC, here is the one that actually won the spot. Bonus Vid:
This week I finished my job as a Lister for the Address Canvassing operation of the 2010 Census. It’s hard to believe that we worked almost 7 weeks and finished two counties. Especially since that was 3 weeks earlier than the date we were given to finish by. We did more than we were required to do in a shorter amount of time than we were given and guess what we got in return. Three weeks less pay than we should have. There wasn’t even a pat on the back. Last week, we were supposed to finish everything by Friday, May 8. It didn’t happen because of the weather so they told us we had to finish by Tuesday, May 12. If we didn’t finish, they would take us off of the areas and give them to someone else.
Let’s take this in perspective for a moment. We were the most efficient team in the state of TN, finishing our area before any other group had 75%. Then, we had to help with another area because all of them were quitting. So they send their best team to help finish a job that another team couldn’t finish and then threaten us that if we don’t finish they will bring in someone else. Huh?
It doesn’t really make any sense to me, but I’m glad I don’t have to work for them anymore. There are so many things I could say about the job and how it can be improved, but there isn’t really anywhere for me to say it. They didn’t give us any tools to let them know how things were going. It was all chain of command and we were at the bottom. Not a good way to run an operation of any kind.
Now, on to the list. This contains happenings that occurred while I was in the field. Some will have explanations while others are self-explanatory.
Long Political Conversations: 1
It was bound to happen, but it wasn’t until my last day that I got caught in a soapbox talk. At least this guy was grounded and didn’t bash everybody.
Police Called: 1
This was in a very nice neighborhood in Cleveland. Couldn’t really understand who called them because everyone was very polite when they were talking to me.
People with way too much $$$: 4
Kittens: 4
These kittens were very cute and perfect for internet vids. One even fell out of a grill, not the actual grill part, but the bottom below the flames. I think they had an abusive father who came by later and fought with the mother. Cat fight.
Snakes: 1
Opossums: 1
Wild Deer: 4
Pet Deer: 1
Yes, I really saw a pet deer. I came up to a man’s porch to ask him his address and saw it out of the corner of my eye. I initially thought it was a plastic one since it had a bandanna around its neck, but then it moved towards me. Needless to say, it sort of freaked me out. Sadly, I don’t remember its name.
Threats: 1
At the same house as above, I went to knock on his neighbor’s house and as soon as I knocked on the door the man flipped. He told me no one was there earlier but I have to go get GPS spots for each house so I went over anyway. Then he tells me to get off of his property. And you don’t mess with someone who has a deer for a pet.
Motorized Scooters: 2
People Having Sex: 1
There was a constant knocking at one house, so I don’t think they could hear me at the door…
Crazies: 1
The man answered the door with a phone in his hand. I gave him my spiel about his address and he said he had a medical emergency. I told him all I need is his address and he kept on about having a medical emergency, all this time with the phone in his hand. He never actually talked into the phone but only to me. I never saw an ambulance go by when I left.
HHC’s: 2
HHC, or hand-held computer, is what we use to verify addresses. Mine broke one day because it failed to install. I got a blue screen which comes up right after boot and usually validates your installation before running a virus scan. The hard disk actually failed and I had to replace the whole unit. So I got paid for a whole day without doing any work, but talking on the phone with tech support for 2 hours… which if you’ve called any tech support number, you know how painful that can be.
So, in this installment, I wanted to update the status of my job and all that jazz.
-I contacted my principal and he’s checking on whether I have a job or not.
-My school is opening it’s 4th year, which according to the website, I’m still under the 50% possibility of keeping my job.
-I have a written document which states that they hired me, but I couldn’t get the DOE to get the paperwork through because they were waiting on the budgets, go figure.
-I’m flying back home for a month which means that if I don’t keep this job, then I’m screwed. Basically, I think I’m going to send my resume to every charter school out there in NYC and hope I get a bite at teh apple.
I’ll keep you informed.
Oh, side-(but relavent)note: Friday, a teacher at the school I was just teaching at came in talking about the freeze and was talking about how great it was and all that jazz. He then looked up at me and was like, “oh, well…. it’s great for us, sucks for you.” then walks off. Now THAT sucked.
So, yesterday during my second to last day of student teaching, I receive a call from a friend in my program (she’s also a math person), freaking out about getting a job. I stop her and ask what’s going on. She proceeds to tell me that today she was doing a demo lesson (basically it’s for doing interviews at school, in front of a class) and after, the principal told her, “Well, we were planning on giving you the job, but literally during your lesson, the chancellor declared a hiring freeze. So, we can’t hire anyone right now.”
So, I’m listening to this and thinking, oh, that’s just Cheryl being Cheryl. I get home and look it up. Can’t find anything. I later get a call from another friend of mine. He’s now freaking out also. Continue reading…
For those of you who want a short escape from the monotony of your everyday, click on over here. Death Vegas is a fighting game that draws you in with it’s unique controls and keeps you with its story. It takes skill and strategy to win a match as each attack comes with a slight delay which allows you to ready yourself to block or counter. No button mashing here. There are nine playable fighters and eight story chapters with four or five battles each.
The story is really the meat of the game. There are cut scenes before and after every bout that are told in a pulp comic style. This is not a lighthearted game at all. Since the chapters all follow a different character, you have to play each one to find out how the whole story ties together. It is set in Vegas, of course, and centers around a crime boss and how innocent people’s lives get intertwined with the mob.
Depending on the difficulty, you can expect three hours of playtime just going through the story. There are training modes and even a two player mode to keep you for just a little while longer. I highly recommend the game.
