buried by paper, sick kids, and a video

so today . . . i went back to school after being out sick for three days.

i found myself buried under papers--papers the kids had completed while i was gone, homework folders from last week, evaluations that needed to be completed this week, the attendance sheets, lesson plans to finish up . . . buried. i was seriously wishing i was still home in bed. but i made it to lunch and when i got back from my lunch break, i met ms. jessica in the parking lot. she covers my classroom for lunch time on mondays.

"you always miss all the fun," she said.

"fun" is teacher code for a mess. it is sarcasm. it is one of the reasons i teach kindergarten instead of preschool. there is a lot less "fun" in kindergarten. my students can make it to the bathroom in time. they recognize that sick feeling that means they are about to lose their lunch. they rarely spill. but for some reason, this year we have had a little more "fun" than usual. fortunately for me, it always happens when i am either at lunch, gone for the day, or home sick myself. today it happened while i was at lunch--projectile vomit. it seems that one of the little girls wasn't eating her lunch and wasn't really acting like herself. so ms. jessica sent her to the office where they found that she had a temperature of 101! her mother came to take her home, and on their way down the hall, it happened. and she wasn't even being sent home for throwing up--she was being sent home for having a temperature of 101! the throwing up was just an added bonus.

after the "fun" as they were leaving, her mom said, "well, she did throw up last night . . . "

SEE?!?!?! no wonder i can't get well! i'm surrounded by children harboring germs!!

i came back from lunch and tackled the paper monster that was taking over every available horizontal surface, while the kids played. when i could finally see the desk top again, we cleaned up their toys, and i took a video with my phone (minus one very sick little girl.) they decided to sing their favorite song--the song that feels like needles poking behind my eyes, because they sing it ALL THE TIME!!

but they like it. and they had fun. the good news is, there is sound! (well, maybe that is good news--it is a chipmunk song!) the bad news is, you are seeing the first take, because we only had a few minutes to spare today. actually, it is the second take. the recording didn't start the first time, so when i tried to stop it, it started recording instead. don't laugh--i know that has happened to every single one of you at least once! thankfully the performance could be repeated for the benefit of digitizing it for posterity.

the video is about a minute and a half long. nothing exciting happens at the end--they just get sillier and sillier. and you have my mother to thank for the chance to see the whole video, unedited. because it seems that i can only email 17 seconds of video, which means i would have had to edit. or i could have posted the whole thing on youtube and then linked to it, but i didn't really want to do that either. and then my mom (who has the same phone as i do) said, "try connecting it to your computer with the usb cord."

oh. there's an idea . . .

so here it is--part of my class singing a chipmunk christmas song . . .



they would have gone on all day if i hadn't stopped them. and if you are going to leave a comment about the kids, be nice or i won't post it!

mostly i wanted you to see that the new video update to my phone really works! i think it is amazing--although i did notice that the sound wasn't synced very well . . .

. . . but i'll bet the next update will fix that!

technology strikes again!

so today . . . i am once again stunned by technology.

yesterday i updated my new phone--my beloved palm pre. i don't mean replaced--i mean through the magic of technology, improved the way it works! apparently palm is continually tweaking their operating system, which is new, and so as they make improvements, they make those improvements available to all of us who already own their phone. for free!

i appreciate this. so often when we buy the newest, fastest, coolest electronic gadget, three months later they release something even newer, faster, and cooler. which of course immediately makes us unhappy with the now older, slower, dorkier gadget that we already own. this is called marketing :) but palm just keeps releasing updates to their system, so you don't have to buy a new one. i think this is wonderful!

usually the updates just tweak the existing features so that the phone runs more smoothly and efficiently. but today was THE DAY WE HAD BEEN WAITING FOR! today was the day they released the update that added a video camera to our phone! and they did this totally through software--we didn't have to take our phone into a store to have anything added.

i cannot imagine how this works. the phone does have a 3.1 megapixel camera and flash already on board, but suddenly it is also a video camera. i can't quite wrap my brain around how the software now tells the camera to take video rather than still shots. of course, i haven't actually used it yet--maybe it is terrible. maybe the quality is awful. maybe there is no sound. so maybe i shouldn't be raving about how wonderful it is just yet . . .

i will try it out at school tomorrow. maybe i can get my kids to sing a song or something. although, if there is no sound, that will be less than riveting video. and then, i will have to figure out how to get the video from my phone onto my blog. and you know what mad computer skills i possess ;)

but, if i am successful at 1-capturing video with my phone, 2-saving it, 3-figuring out where it is stored on my phone (because sometimes it seems as though the pictures i take run and hide,) and 4-managing to download it onto my computer (which of course means more searching . . . ) then i will post something so you can see if it was worth all that excitement.

assuming i can remember how to post video onto my blog . . .

storm watch. 2010. day 4

so today . . . i didn't see much rain. that doesn't mean it wasn't raining--i just missed it.

i had opportunities, my timing was just off. it was dry on my way to work--well, when i say dry, i mean it wasn't currently raining. although, the streets were wet. i think it must have rained in the night, but once i am asleep it takes a LOT to wake me up. rollie can wake up and turn on talk radio--i am oblivious. diandra can come home late and set the house alarm--i don't hear it. milo can walk across my chest to get to rollie--ok, i am kind of aware of his 16 pound body pretending like i am the ground beneath his feet, but i don't really wake up. so rain at night? doesn't faze me.

about 11:00 i started thinking about lunch. and i thought i might like a soda with my lunch today. and i thought i might like to go get it without risking drowning, so timing was going to be important. the only problem was, i had just two times from which to choose--my 15 minute break at 11:45 or my lunch half hour at 1:00. and since the rain has not been following the schedule i have laid out for it the last couple of days, i wasn't sure which would be the better choice.

and then i remembered--accuweather!

accuweather is an app that rollie showed me early this week. i had downloaded it to my phone, but hadn't used it yet. so i tapped my fingers on the screen of my cool new phone, and a radar picture popped up. cerritos was marked on the map with an X, which was very helpful as i could see where the rain was. but it kept moving! at first the worst of it was headed toward san diego, and i thought a soda might be in my future . . . but then when i looked half an hour later, it had moved back up into our area.

clearly i needed more information. and guess what? accuweather has LOTS of information. in addition to the real time radar map, it also shows the current temperature, what direction the wind is blowing and how hard, and also the humidity. then it takes those factors into consideration to give a "real feel" temperature. it has a daily forecast for the next two weeks, AND it also lists the weather conditions for each hour of the day.

that is the feature that i consulted in making my decision about a soda run. according to accuweather, it was going to be raining in the 11:00 and 12:00 hours. but at 1:00, it just showed a cloud with lightning! i decided that was my best bet. i was so excited about this information, that i texted rollie about my decision. his reply? "i can see how you would rather die from a lightning strike than drown--quicker. :) btw, i think that symbol means lightning storms, i.e. harder rain."

shoot! i hadn't thought of that. but he was probably right, as lightning is usually accompanied by rain in the winter time. so i decided to stay in where it was warm and just drink tea at lunch. who knew accuweather could also assist in encouraging healthy eating?

i noticed there was one button i hadn't yet pushed. it was on the lower right hand corner of the screen and was marked with three stars. i had ignored it for quite a while, because i just figured it was some kind of rating scale. but as i continued to play with the app, my curiosity got the better of me, and i pushed it.

and started laughing.

onto my screen popped a fairly extensive list of activities that were rated according to the weather conditions. for instance, today the rating for barbequing, beach going, biking, golf, hiking, kite flying, lawn mowing, outdoor concerts, stargazing, tennis, and travel was poor. it's a good thing i had an app to tell me that. otherwise i might just have decided to get out my kite after school . . . it was also poor for the flu and arthritis. however, it was fair for asthma, colds, and sinus. good to know, considering my doctor thinks i suffer from two out of three of those conditions. could the weather today be rated excellent for anything, you ask? oh yes it could--grass growing, migraines, mosquitoes (i am assuming that means excellent because there aren't any!) and uv exposure! no sunscreen needed today!!

i am in love with this app. i showed it to ms. martha, and she immediately downloaded it onto her iphone. i know that it is entertaining today because we are actually having some weather. when this storm system passes and we go back to living in the land of eternal sunshine, it isn't going to be nearly as interesting.

and yet, i am glad to know that i can always look to accuweather to see if i should get out the mosquito repellant . . .

***note to mom--download this app if you do not already have it. i think you will love it too :)

but where do i find the update for my brain?

so today . . . i think i am a little bit afraid of my new phone.

i got a new phone for christmas--a palm pre. it is an awesome phone! i think. i'm not completely sure, because i haven't mastered much yet--except text messaging . . .

when we first moved to southern california eight years ago, we had cell phones--regular ordinary cell phones. we used them to make phone calls--mostly to keep track of where we all were! and then doug (the worship pastor at our new church) introduced rollie to the world of "personal digital assistants" made by palm. initially rollie couldn't see the need for an electronic device that he thought was basically a calendar. and then doug uttered those fateful words, "why don't you use mine for a few days . . . " thus opening pandora's box . . .

it wasn't long before rollie had a palm pda. then i got one. then rollie got a newer one and diandra got his old one. then my mom got one. and then my dad (of course, he only plays solitaire on his!) and that was good. until sprint introduced the palm treo smart phone.

the treo was a brilliant idea--instead of carrying two devices, everything was contained into one handy package. rollie got one, then he got a new one and i got his old one, and soon one trickled down to diandra. and then i decided rollie's newest phone was just too cool and i couldn't wait for the hand me down, so i got a new one for my birthday. and then diandra's stopped working and she got a new one because of her insurance. so then we all had brand new treos. and that was good.

the treo was an almost perfect phone. i loved it! i had added several programs and games--some that i thought i couldn't live without. and then last spring palm introduced the pre. it was so sleek! and it had apps. and by fall, everyone in my family had one--except me.

you should have heard the conversations that happened in my head. every time i would see rollie or diandra doing something cool with their phones, i would remind myself how much i loved my treo and how i loved all the games i had and how i had my grocery list in it . . . and then i would see diandra listening to pandora or rollie checking his email, and i would have to raise the volume on that voice in my head . . .

and then it was christmas, and when i opened my christmas present, and there it was in all it's sleek and shiny glory--a pre for me! now we all had a palm pre. and again, that was good! it didn't take me too long to get my contacts and calendar and memos transferred. then the text messages started flying. i was so excited!

but then the phone rang. and rang and rang and rang. because no one had shown me how to answer a phone call.

actually, i don't get that many phone calls. mostly i text and play games on my phone. but if the phone does ring, it is probably a good idea to know how to answer it.

i've had my new phone for a couple of weeks now. and i love it--maybe even more than my treo. it is slim enough to fit in the back pocket of my jeans. it has a big, clear screen and a 3 megapixel camera with a flash! i can text like crazy, check my email, access facebook, read diandra's blog, play yahtzee, and take pictures. i have downloaded several apps--most of which i have no idea how to use. which is what worries me. my brain had finally caught up with all the stuff my treo could do, but now i am starting all over again. i love new technology, but i hate when it is smarter than i am. i wish there was a way to sync my brain with my new phone, so that i would immediately understand it all.

but at least now i know what to do when it rings . . .