So You Think You're Crazy!?!?!?

After 4.5 years of hard work I have finally made my way into the University Common Computing- Student Worker Book of Legends. My story will be passed on down through generations of young students as they sit around and wait for a productive moment. Yes, I will be remembered along side the guy who was arrested for unseemly behavior while viewing unseemly material on the internet, and the idiot student who gave himself a serious concussion against the marble counters the night he lost his senior project. After all the times that I have passed these stories onto my young trainees, I now have a story of my own.
Tonight, as I sat planning my lesson on atomic structure for Wednesday, a woman in her 40s (at least) approached a new TC (technology consultant, as we're called) and demanded to see his supervisor. He pointed to me and she demanded to see my supervisor. No background on her problem or a request for help, just a very abrupt, "Who's your supervisor?" Taken aback by her, rather, aggressive tone I stumbled over his name for a moment. "Uh, uh, Jared..."
"Where is he? I want to talk to him." I began to suspect that she was likely to come over the counter at me.
"He's out on a tech call. Is there something I can help you with?"
"I want to talk to him, what's his number?" I took this to mean that she wanted his cell phone number.
"I can't give you that number, but perhaps..."
"Then I want the building number."
"We don't have one." We honestly don't. Each office, cubicle and support center has it's own and there is no central number.
"There's no number for this building at all? I want the help desk, give me the number."
"Ok, but the help desk has been out sourced to an off campus location." Her anger was beginning to rattle me, so I was fumbling a bit as I searched for paper and a pen. Both of these items were right in front of me, but I didn't see them right away.
"I want the number, right now. I pay tuition here. Get the number. Ten seconds, or I'll call the police!" That stopped me dead. All I could do was stare at her. I wasn't sure what to think. Would she really do it? Was she out of her mind? At the same time I was thinking what a waste it would be to use an entire sheet of paper for one phone number, and maybe I should call campus police myself. Seriously, this lady was some kind of lunatic!
"One," she began counting as if I was an unruly 5 year-old, "two..." Somewhere between 2 and 3 she lost interest and stormed off with her bags swinging behind her.
A few minutes later, a coworker of this crazy lady came up and apologized to us for her behavior. Evidently, she fell off the crazy train some weeks ago and has been having these outbursts at everyone, including her boss. He assured us that the cop thing was an empty threat. I am beginning to wonder if there isn't some kind of a drug issue with this woman. I understand that radical personality changes can be a sign of drug abuse. This lady was so nuts, she makes me look sane.

The Trash Heap Has Spoken. Nyah!

This year, in celebration of my 20-something birthday, I received a rather unique gift that has given me endless hours of amusement. Now, I must preface this tale with the disclaimer that said gift was not listed on any birthday list of mine. However, with each passing day I am more and more amused by it and utilize it heavily in my classroom. This gift was, in fact, the complete first season of Fraggle Rock.
Do you remember this show? Funky little Muppet creatures that live under ground, eat glass-like structures built by Doozers and seek advice from the all knowing, all seeing, all everything trash heap? I remember having an entire VHS tape of this show when we were kids in Germany. It was part of our Saturday routine for several years. Then we grew up and moved on to more sophisticated TV adventures like Animaniacs and X-Men. Still, there lurks deep in our hearts a soft spot for Uncle Matt and his near mishaps with unsuspecting fire hydrants and Sprocket the dog.
Needless to say I was somewhat surprised to open the package to find this particular gift. Surprise soon gave way to utter amusement at the thought of the excitement my sister must have shown the day she bought. I can see her now, getting the kids all excited about sending Aunt Leslie the exact same show she once sent them. Time has not permitted me to watch more than a few episodes, but it is nice relaxer after a long hard week at work and school.
A couple of days ago, a boy in my 3rd hour class suddenly asked me, "Have you ever heard of Fraggle Rock?" I blinked at him for a moment or two , my instinctual response to surprise, and began to sing, "Dance your cares away. Worry's for another Day." At this point he joined to finish the last two lines of the chorus. The rest of the students didn't seem to know what we were talking about, but several have told me they plan to rent it and see what the hype is about. Now the Fraggle Rock theme song has become an ice breaker in that particular class. Whenever this student comes in looking down, I start to sing the song. The entire class seems to be amused by it.
Since I do tend to sing a lot during my lectures , I am fast becoming known as the singing Biology teacher among my students. I used the Tootsie Roll while teaching metric conversions today. Which direction do we move the decimal? To the left, to the left. The reference was lost on many of them, but they were amused anyway.

Evidently, I Have Been Tagged.

A note to the one who tagged me... You are so busted!

4 JOBS I HAVE HAD:
1-Shift Supervisor at Peter Piper Pizza
2-Certified Nursing Assistant at a nursing home and children’s hospital
3-Office assistant for the child research program in the Speech/Hearing Dept at my University.
4-Currently, I work as a Technology Consultant for University Common Computing, which is a fancy way to say the IT Dept

MOVIES I COULD WATCH OVER AND OVER:
1-Harry Potter
2-The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
3-The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
4- Serenity

FAVORITE T.V. SHOWS:

Most of my favorites have been canceled, so I watch them on DVD.
1-Stargate SG:1
2-X-Files
3-Firefly
4-Bones

FAVORITE HOBBIES:
1-Reading
2-Writing
3-My piano lessons should definitely be on here
4-Attending the parties held at Margo Manor. I can’t wait for Pie Fest!!!

PLACES I HAVE LIVED:
Can I really only list 4?
1-Japan (Where I was born but can’t remember)
2-Germany
3-South Carolina
4-Arizona

PLACES I WOULD RATHER BE RIGHT NOW:
1- Home, asleep in my wonderful bed.
2- Home, asleep in my wonderful bed.
3- Home, asleep in my wonderful bed.
4- Southern California, reading a book on the beach.

WEB SITES I CHECK DAILY:
1-Blogs of family and friends
2-Taskstream (The website designed for teachers and student teachers that my Ed program requires I subscribe to for all my work.)
3- My email (personal and school accounts)
4- Google (Always looking for lesson ideas.)

WHO I'M TAGGING:
I have no idea who actually reads my blog so…
1- Mom
2- Katie
3- Bella
4- Emily

(Ha ha. Michelle thought she was done.)

Okay, now that you are tagged, you get to copy and paste this onto a post of your own. Delete my pitiful answers and type in your own. It is true blogging etiquette to really do this!!

Historical Document Archives

To read about my important, world changing contributions to science, society and the evolution of man follow the link to my old blog location.