A Break from Work

Friday, July 18, 2014

This week is dead week in Riverside Unified School District (RUSD).  The district is closed and everyone is forced to take off and as we know that is a good thing for me, I probably need to be forced at time to take a break.  My friend Stacey Baynham is here visiting from SC.  I picked her up on Friday night at the airport and we made our way to the hotel we were staying at called the Harbor View Inn and Suites.  Well, this is in Little Italy and I thought it would be more like the bed and breakfast I had stayed in in Little Italy before but not so much!  Let's just say this place was a little sketchy and maybe not the best choice but I was having trouble finding something in the are for us to stay at.  Well we found out why…..Benetta and Erin - it was Gay Pride weekend in San Diego.  Stacey and I just laughed and laughed, the four of us seem to always hit whatever city this is going on in at the same time.  Walking around with Stacey during this time is hilarious because there are some pretty good looking men and she just continues to say, "What a waste…."  LOL!!!!

Saturday, July 19, 2014

So today I was a tourist in San Diego.  LOL!!!  Stacey and I went down to walk along the wharf and decide to do the Old Town Trolley tour so we did the hop on and off tour of San Diego where war got to hear the history of the area and see lots of different places around the town.  It was a lot of fun and while we had to wait a lot of times for the trolley it was fun as well.  The trolley took us to the center of San Diego and we learned about Horton and how he started the city of San Diego and got people here. The trolley proceeded to Coronado Island and then back to Old Town of which we then started over to see all the fabulous things from the beginning as we hopped on and off the trolley.  We spent time in Seaport Village, at the Horton Plaza, Old Town and we wanted to go back to Coronado but we had to wait on the trolley a lot and therefore never made it.  The plan is to do the Zoo and Coronado later this week.  We did some shopping today and I found a couple of cool things.  I got a conversation starter box of cards to use for Professional Development at school.  I probably should have gotten this button since this seems to be the answer I have for everything right now with the Master Schedule.

I also found this at the store, which I end pretty funny.  Look guys, it is a life like frog…..Meaning so life-like it hopped away?  There were four of these hanging in the toy section and none of them had any frogs on them - and it was not a joke store….. LOL!!!

Stacey remembered that Len Hayes, a friend from USC lived in the area and contacted him.  We met Len for dinner that night at Stone Brewery, which is a interesting restaurant on a old base.  I wish I would ave taken pictures.  .  It was fantastic to catch up with him and hear how he was doing.  Len is now career Navy and does a lot of traveling back and forth to Washington.  He has another five years in the service and then he is planning on retiring.  It is interesting to hear what he has been doing and what he has been up to over the years.  He has progressed pretty far in the Navy from what we understand.


Sunday, July 20, 2014
I am a lobster!  Well a lobster with a strange burn line anyway….. Stacey and I went hiking this morning with Erin and Kellye and at the last minute I changed shirts into a workout top with a "T" back.  Well, let's just say that I will have this outline for awhile.  We went to Torry Pines to hike and there was such a nice breeze that I did not even think about the sun bearing down on me.  I had only put sunscreen on my face and neck this morning when I got dressed and before I changed tops.  Needless to say, I have been taking Motrin for the pain of the burn.  I hate when this happens and I really try to remember to put on sunscreen but darn-it, one mistake……

On a good note, the hike was great.  We had a great time chatting as we walked a new area and saw some beautiful views.  There are a lot of people that use these trails and therefore we passed a lot of people but it was not so crowded that you were waiting for people to pass.  This hike has a good split of uphill and downhill as you go toward the beach making it a beautiful area to hike and some fabulous views, even if I don't do well at taking pictures.  Sorry Stacey!!!

After the hike we went to eat lunch at a Mexican restaurant along the Pacific Coast called Las Olas.  The food was okay, nothing fabulous but the location and people inside were very colorful.  It amazes me what people will wear or not wear at the beach!  I won't go into a lot of detail here because I am not sure who all reads this blog but needless to say, I should not know about your personal hygiene routine based on what you are not wearing.

After the hike, Stacey and I headed to the San Diego Zoo, which we did not complete on Saturday. We took the bus and rode around the park then went and saw the animals we wanted to see including the Panda, Meerkats and we tried to see the Polar Bear but he was hiding from us.  A lot of the animals were out including the cute Koalas!!!!  They are so adorable and I would just love to take some of these beautiful creatures home with me!

We ended our evening on Sunset Cliffs so that Stacey could see a Pacific Coast Sunset.  This was fun and it was a beautiful sunset.  This area has an area that you can sit on the rocks and out of the cliffs if you dare.  There were a lot of people around but not so many that it was not enjoyable.  Here are some pictures of the progression.

Monday, July 21, 2014
This morning was a lazy morning after such a long night.  We went to have our nails done and then headed to Palm Springs to see what adventure would occur.  We both have heard so much about Palm Springs and how everyone goes there so we were really excited to have the change to go.  We had a name of a restaurant to go to and in fact some of the Management that I work with were in Palm Springs for a meeting.  As we drove out to the desert, you could feel the car getting hotter and hotter the further we went.  As we entered Palm Springs and began to look around, there was really not much around.  We saw some cut shops to go in and out of, restaurants and some casinos but for the most part both Stacey and I were lost as to what the "draw" of Palm Springs actually is.  The restaurant we at as was extremely good.  Their prices were reasonable and the service was wonderful.  Much better than the food and service from Sunday.  The reason that we chose this place is because one of Stacey's friends got engaged at this restaurant a few years ago.  After lunch we went to the Aerial Tram that takes you to the top of San Jacinto and allows you to see at the view around.  The funniest thing about this is at the bottom of the mountain in Palm Springs because it is so hot, there is nothing green and growing.  However, at the top of the mountain because of the cooler air and temperature, there is actually trees, grass and plants.  And this is at 8,500 ft in elevation. We even got to see some cute wildlife!

After Palm Springs we left to head to the Angels baseball game.  The good news is that we had great seats.  The bad news is the Angles lost their game to the Orioles.  We had fun at the game hanging out and the games have so many things happening between the innings you are never bored and it is always exciting.

After the Angels game we proceeded to Disneyland to stay at the Grand Californian Resort and Spa for the night so we could hit Disneyland on Tuesday.  I have never stayed at the hotel before and it was absolutely beautiful.  The beds were super comfortable and the view was over California Adventureland.  While we got there very late and there was nothing really going on, it was still nice to see the hotel and get a great night's sleep to hit Disney on Tuesday.

Tuesday, July 22, 2014
Today was Disney Marathon Day!!!   We had one day to do both California Adventure and Disneyland.  We started in California Adventureland this morning thanks to Kathy Rossi.   We started on the right side of the park and just moved around the entire park riding everything that we could.  rest food was eaten and lots of diet coke was drank today.  I know that it will go strait through me since I don't normally drink sodas but it was hot and I was trying to stay hydrated today.  After we finished in California Adventureland, we made our way to Disneyland where we did the same thing and stayed in the park until about 11:30 pm after watching Fastasmic and the fireworks.  It was a long drive home in which we finally arrived at 1:30 am.

Squirrel!!!!!

Wednesday, July 23, 2014
It was a slow but quick start to the morning.  Stacey made arrangements to meet a friend from her high school in Fashion Valley so we were up and going at 7:00 am this morning and ready to go by 8:30 am.  After meeting with Stacey's friend we hit the mall in Fashion Valley for Tiffany's, of which Stacey always visits when we go to different places.  We walked the mall a little to find this is the "ritzy" mall. They had several high dollar stores in the mall.  After we left the mall we traveled to Pacific and Ocean Beach to look for a pier to walk on and to eat lunch.  We found a pier and area to park.  As we were parking we saw a young girl fly off her skateboard and land on her hip and all I could think was OUCH!!!  She was fine and had friends with her but she definitely not dressed real well for riding a skateboard.    As we headed to the pier we noticed there were little bungalow houses on the pier as well.  They are pretty cute and it would be cool to be that close to the ocean and over the ocean in fact. From here we ate at a restaurant on the beach which had good salads, chips and salsa.

We left this location to go to Coronado and see the hotel and rock around.  The Coronado Hotel is huge and beautiful but has very little air conditioning inside to maintain its history.  The beach it sits on is beautiful overlooking the ocean and the sidewalks are wonderful to walk up and down on.  Stacey and I walked around the town and found the cutest boutique called Pretty Please where we both found an item or two that we liked.  Their prices are extremely reasonable and I would highly suggest a visit.  There was another store that repurposes items.  The two items that I saw that was most interesting was cutting vodka bottles to make drinking glasses and the use of old Bombay bottles for jewelry.

We left Coronado to head back to San Diego to meet Len for dinner at Sammy's Woodfire pizza only to find that Sammy's Woodfire pizza does not exist anymore in downtown San Diego and therefore we ended up eating at a place called Tin Roof which was good.  The server we had was from Tennessee and since Len was wearing a gamecock shirt that obviously started some conversations about South Carolina and the SEC.  After dinner, I took Stacey to the airport for her flight back to SC and headed home to Murrietta.  It was a great visit and I was happy to have a friend from SC come and visit!!!!  


Thursday, July 24, 2014
Today was a get things done type of day.  The car had a dent taken out of it this morning.  It had a small dent in the top on the passenger side from an acorn, branch or something.  It was a small dent that could be pulled out with the right equipment and the VW dealership did it today.  Liz came and picked me up at the dealership and we came back to the apartment to work on her resume and to plan a presentation for the California Mathematics Council in October.  Around 12:00 pm Liz took me back to  the dealership to pick up the car and it was off to Riverside for errands.

I need to sign my rental agreement for another year at the apartment.  I have requested Gloria to do my lease because I like her better than the other girl who I don't really feel knows what she is doing.  I am a little disappointed because my rent is going up $50.00 but everyone's is due to changes in the rental agreement.  I remember the rent changing at the other complexes I lived at as well.

Well, I have played this week so therefore tonight I did some school work.  I worked on the calendar for school, I updated my calendar and tried to get everything on the calendar so that I don't overextend or schedule myself this year.  I also have a couple of events going on during the weekends and I needed to make sure I did not have any conflicts.


Friday, July 25, 2014
Today was a beach day!  The first time I have gone to the beach since I have been in CA.  Now, I am not really a beach girl so this does not really upset me that I have not been but Jessica and Michael were going and wanted to do an adult day.  The kids went to their day care and the older girls were with friends so we took the Roe's new jeep to the beach.  We just laid on the beach and talked.  Yes, I am a lobster but my "zebra" sunburn from Sunday's hike is now evened our and I am more red all over.  I am wondering what this is going to do with my "tan" After begin at Carlsbad beach we went to a Pizza Port which is a restaurant nearby.  Now, I was excited because I think it is funny that it is called Pizza Port, like in Toy Story, however, this is not at all true.  It is port like beer and wine, definitely not something from Disney Tory Story!!  LOL!!  The salad and pizza were really good though and this is somewhere that I could come back to.

I went to Erin's in the evening to catch up on True Blood since we missed it on Sunday and she cooked healthy vegetarian food!!!  We had cauliflower crust pizza and salad for dinner and it was super yummy.  It was not crust you could pick up and eat, you had to use a fork but it was great for you because it was not made out of all the flour.  True Blood was good but this one really left you hanging. There were several cliffhangers at the end and since it will be two weeks until we are together again to watch True Blood - it was disappointing.  Darn schedules and traveling!!!  Alan Ball should have consulted me before he set up the True Blood schedule, LOL!!!!!



Saturday, July 26, 2014
So the plan today is catch up, get ready for the week and work on my PhD.  I played so much this past week with Stacey and had such a fabulous time that I now need to focus and get back on track.  I have a few errands to run this morning and then I am going to work on some school work and finally work on some PhD items this afternoon.  I hope Squeak will let me do this a little bit, sometimes she is all over me when I sit down.  Wish me luck!!!!!

Aiming for a Better Week - July 14-18

July 14, 2014
  Well today is the start of the last week of summer school.  I overslept because I could not fall asleep last night worried about everything going on this week.  I finally fell asleep about 1:30 am and needless to say, I did not make it up for my morning workout that I was going to do….. I have decided that I guess I have to turn on the air and set it low to be comfortable to sleep so I am going to try that for the next few nights and see if it helps.  It did last night.

Today at work I tried to get a lot done.  I seemed to have marked off a number of things on my list but of course some of that were things that I have been working on for awhile, so it was nice to finely get them off the list.  I organized the old WASC materials, dropped off items and set up for Data Teams training this afternoon with my 15 teachers.  I got the CA Commission of Aid paperwork mailed in, the budget office called and some emails sent that I have been gathering information on.  So I feel like it was a productive day but man…..I am tired now!!!!!

Data Teams training went well.  Better than I expected. The second group was larger and I was worried about how they would take this new process but they did EXTREMELY WELL and I am super excited about the possibilities of what can be done with Data Teams at the school once everyone is trained and we are on course to fully implement.  In the words of Dr. Christina Melton, "Slow is fast, when it comes to changes."  I keep rending myself of this whenever I get sad about the pace we are moving forward.

July 15, 2014
  Tuesday, Tuesday…everyone is saying it is Tuesday.  I need it to be Monday!!!!  I need to have more time with week to get things done - it is going toooo fast!!!!   Still working with EBA's and trying to get that figured out.  While it is going ok, I have to tell you I need to spend more time reading the FINE PRINT!!!  Due to my confusion I am missing to many little details right now in my anxiety.  I need to calm down and do a better job.  I am so worried I am going to screw soothing up that I am concentrating more on that and it is causing me to do things wrong because of the apprehension.  Ugh!!!

 Data Teams training finished up today and it went well.  The teachers who will be the data team leaders did a FANTASTIC  job today with the last two steps and really knocked it out of the park.  I am excited to see what is going to happen in the next year as we proceed with Data Teams at John W. North High School.  I finished cleaning up today and left work by 6:00 pm to come and pick up the come cakes from Sam's for Thursday's Summer School thank you event.  I got home around 7:00 after picking them up and did a hour walk around the neighborhood across the street from my apartment complex.  It has some hills and was a decent walk with very little dangers as far as cars and intersections.  I am going to try to mix up the gym and outside walking a little.  I think that might help me clear my head a little and get back on track as to where I need to be and what I need to do.

July 17, 2014
   Well the last two days have been EBA oriented.  This is the documentation that has to be turned in for teachers to be paid.  The problem has been the change over between Megan and I because I don't have all the documentation from the ones that she put in and fixed.  The individual that has been working with JW North has been out and just got back on Wednesday.  She has been fabulous in answering questions for me and she even met with me today in order to straiten out the mess.  When I got back to the school, it took about three hours to get all the EBA's in and fixed.  I think we are on the right track and our numbers match up with what the Budget office has now.  So we will see if once the EBA's are adjusted, if it actually matches!  Wish me luck!!!!

  Tomorrow is the last day of summer school then it is dead week at the school district.  This forces me to take some time off and not go into school - even though I need to.  When we get back they are doing the Aeries Roll-Over and we are not going to be able to do anything in Aeries until the roll over is complete.  So, we will see.  They have budgeted it a week but they think it might get done earlier.  Tomorrow is the last day that we can really work on master schedule for awhile so Ali and I are going to work on grades from summer school.

July 18, 2914
  Today was the last day of summer school.  There were no major events that happened and summer school ended smoothly with all teachers getting in their grades and the school shutting down easily.  The only two things that happened occurred and they were via phone calls.  1) we had a parent call and want to complain that her son failed summer school but he had been there everyday and was only late  like 8 minutes on some days.  She just did not understand how the teacher could fail him if he was there everyday.  I had to tell her that if her student was late 8 minutes, it was not 8 minuted but 30 minutes because we do not do tardies, we do absences for that block of time.  In addition, it is not only about seat time but that he has to be able to pass the tests and show he understands the standards.  I mean really - did she really think that he just had to show up and do nothing????  The second thing that happened was not really related to summer school but rather just the fact that the student goes to North. I had a phone message from a parent who wants to complain her daughter was downloading terrible music from the Internet on a school tablet.  She wants to know what we are going to do about it and what blocks are in place to prevent this.  Really!!!!  I don't control the Internet nor her daughter's search for music, nor the fact that her daughter can go to Starbucks with the same tablet and download anything she wants.  Needless to say, I got this message at 4:30 pm and I did not call her back.  I decided this would be a conversation for when we got back from our dead week.

  I am going to pick Stacey up tonight.  She is coming from South Carolina to visit for the week.  I am excited about her coming and being here.  We are going to be seeing the sights in various places so I am signing off for this week tonight to pick up with her visit.

Struggling this Week with My Strength Which is Also My Weakness

Well this is going to be a short post or it will get very depressing, which is not a reason to read this blog…....  This week has been tough.  I worked on the dissertation this past weekend and got Chapter 1 sent in for review of the revision but I am sure that it will not be good enough and there will be more changes.  I really just want to move forward and be done and while I know that is part of the process but I worry about how long I will continually have to revise……    I did get that sent into my chairman on Sunday and am waiting on feedback.

This week at school has been hard in some instances.  Ali has been working hard on Master Schedule with me and I know that it is coming along but again, this is one of the things that take time and I cannot rush it.  Ummmm…..like the PhD…..   I know that we have to get Summer School results and kids will move so it will change everything so it pays to be patient but ummm…. is there an end in sight.

We have three additional teachers to hire but I am waiting on permission from the District Office to proceed.  I have to have the paperwork approved before we can go ahead and with people on vacation it is hard to get done.  On top of that we have "dead" week the 21st - 25th and that will mean nothing can be done, no interviews, no approvals, no moving forwards.  I am stuck in a holding position…..

Do we see a pattern here right now???    One of my strengths is also a weakness in this case.  My strength is my ability to be organized, get things completed based on a strategic plan and move forward with the strategic plan.  However, at this point, I have no way to move forward because a lot of the items are outside of my control and I must practice patience at this point.    I am thinking that I might need to take up some type of mediation / relaxation technique….Yoga???  Sleep????   Taking suggestions…….

The good news this week is that Squeak does not have worms.  She went back to the vet this week and other than being old is very healthy.  So she is hanging out with me tonight trying to teach me patience as she curls up next to me.

I was hoping for some stress relief this weekend but I think I will have to hope for stress relief in the future!!!  I guess I will be sticking to the gym as my stress relief this weekend and some work on the PhD….  Maybe it will come during "dead" week???

Starting July in CA

Well, the second session of summer school is started and while it is a smaller group, at least the students are in classes and on the go for the last two weeks.  We have a a lot of students who want to do online summer school but Rich and I have been encouraging them to stay in seat based because they will not do the work, come to use the computers and therefore end up failing the class which would not be a good thing.  There seems to be about a 50% failure rate for students who take the online class for the first time.  The students just don't know what to expect and the ink they can wait until the last minute to do the work and then they end up not being able to complete the work and fail.   We got as many students entered for second semester as we possibly good early and I sent as many students to Online as early as I could for Charles to get them in so the second session started with very little problems.

Rich, the other summer school principal, has been great.  He has been teaching me a lot and explaining how he has handles summer school in the past.  He went and did all the talks while I cleaned up fro registration and got things put away.  He is now sending me to my new office, which he calls the palace, for me to work on Master Schedule.  I have gotten a lot done with Ali and have a much better understanding of things that we need to do to be prepared in August now.  I spent a lot of the time with a couple of teachers discussing some things that we need to do with master schedule to make changes and to make sure the Professional Development for this year is appropriate and follows the union guidelines.

I wanted to leave work early on Thursday but I new that I was going to have Dependent Verification at 2:30 pm.  Now, let me explain what this is.  Apparently, the district I work for has decided that all employees needed to prove if they were married, had children that the appropriate age to be covered under the Riverside Unified School District insurance.  Everyone had to go and do this or they were going to end your insurance.  Now, remember that I just got here in August and finished all my paperwork on September 15th so I don't really know why I need to do this but anyway.  The company doing the verification was running behind and appointments are taking longer than expected.  I had been told that if I did not have the correct paperwork they would not see me and guess what???? The paperwork I needed is in SC!!!!  LOL!!!  So, needless to say I was not sure this meeting was going to happen.  I went to go ask if they could still meet with me without all the crazy documentation they wanted and of course the were behind and I ended up asking question while another teacher was there, thank goodness she was okay with it, or said she was.  I ended up not having to have any of the documentation, he asked me three questions and let me go after I signed a piece of paper stating I agreed with what was on there and he wants me to call him to set up a meeting for me to buy short term disability insurance - hence the CATCH!!!!!  They will audit for the district but they want to be able to sell you more things you may or may not need.  However, I will stay that I might need to talk with them.  Since CA is unionized they voted not to pay into Social Security when it was first started.  Therefore if anything were to happen, I would not have disability insurance.  Not really sure what to think about that…… or how it works…….   I did get to leave early from work on Thursday to make it back to Murrieta to get my nails done and relax.  I knew that with the holiday weekend there would be people going all over the place and I wanted to get out of the traffic and be home before the traffic got too bad so I left school at 2:30 pm.  I made it to the nail place I go to and while they wanted to do red, white and blue on my nails, I did let them go with sparkles but not red, white and blue, it would not match any of my clothes!!  LOL!!!

I got a little crazy on Thursday and had cake mix and icing that I had been saving to make cupcakes for a friend for their birthday.  However, since I never had the chance it has been sitting in the pantry so of course on Thursday I decide to make some cupcakes and attempt to put a polka dot in them.  I was successful but then on Friday morning I threw them away because I decided if they stayed in the apartment I would eat them and Monday is too far ways for them to sit and take to work.  However it did work!!!

On the fourth of July I went with some friends to the Padres game in San Diego.  We had a good time for the 3:30 pm game and the Padres won.  We ended up sitting in right field and the seats we had were phenomenal.  We thought we would be exposed in the sun and was prepared to be burnt to a crisp but we need up being under the level above us in the shade so it was perfect, in fact a little chilly.  After the game, we went back to Temecula to watch the Fireworks at the park.

I will say the first week of July has been warm.  I have had to close the windows finally and turn on the air.  I guess I should to complain because I have not really turned on the air since October 2013 except for a few nights.  However, I had gotten up in the middle of the night and turned it off on a few nights that I went to sleep with it on.  However, I want to make sure that Squeak is comfortable during the day so I turned it on.  I was worried that she might be too hot in the apartment by herself.  She is asking very odd right now.  While she has always done what I called the "delayed follow," which is when I leave the room and 3-5 minutes later she follows me to where-ever I am and stays in the room.  However, now she is following me immediately like a dog and is laying up against me every chance she gets.  She also head butts me and talks more than she has before.  I am worried there is something wrong with her so she is going back to the vet again on Tuesday.

So this weekend I am working on PhD items in hopes to move further ahead in completing this project!