Inspiration Fail
Nov. 1st, 2011 06:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meirwen_1988I have a ton of student work to grade, but am feeling like the spokesgirl for demotivational posters at the moment.
Partly I'm just fighting this low-level exhaustion that I can't seem to shake. I think I'm fighting some sort of under the surface infection, the kind that doesn't manifest as a fever, but saps energy. And I'm heartily bored bored bored with my restricted diet du jour. Oh, I know I'm whining--it isn't like I'm lactose-intolerant, or gluten sensitive, or have Crohn's, or have Diane's problems with food, or even diabetic. I'm not even fighting my occasional flirtation with hypoglycemia. No, none of that. But it is still annoying, and despite my best attempts, I still should probably buy stock in Pepcid, or Tums, or something. Is it too much to ask to be able to drink a cup or coffee, or have a beer, or a piece of chocolate cake, or some cheddar cheese, or something other than ultra lean chicken or pork loin? Apparently, yes. Oh, and my "whine" has to be "wine-free." I hates it master.
There's also this profound frustration with some of my work tools, namely my computer. In the highly technology dependent world that is 21st century higher education, a computer that actually performs as requested is a necessity. Ever since the computer virus hit my laptop, and it got reconfigured, it hasn't worked right. At first I thought it was me, so I tried to compartamentalize things pretty strictly, to the point of using different browsers for different functions. Everyone else I know thought it was crazy, but when I went into IT today the techs have compartmentalized functions on various browsers, too, so maybe not so crazy. But when the damn thing wouldn't save to my hard drive, when saving things on campus "looked" like it was on the C: drive by was really on the remote server, when documents became inaccessible when I was home, though they appeared to be present...I had had it.
One of my former students is on the IT staff, and he took a look at my computer today. He was sure he knew how to fix it, but as we talked he got more and more...puzzled looking. I don't like it when the IT staff looks puzzled. So, he tried something pretty drastic (not the most drastic, but drastic). When the computer finished rebooting he looked at it, got really worried looking, and said, "Oh--looks like your profile's been corrupted." Suddenly I felt like an Afghan man who's been told his daughter was caught alone with a boy. And I'm not even teaching The Kite Runner yet. So, they have my computer. Sergey thought it would be fixed this afternoon, and said he'd send me an email. As of half an hour ago, no email. I wonder if they're exercising the nuclear option, and, if so, when can I expect a usable computer at work again. At home I use my phone and my Nook for the most part. I try not to use the broken Dell laptop (as I am right now), running Windows XP, running Office 2000, because the virus protection is out of date, I can't afford right now to renew it, and, frankly, I don't want it to break. (Yeah, I know, but the computer I want, configured as I want, will run more than a grand--Apples aren't cheap--and the new phone has to come first.)
So, whiney girl is whiney. I'm going to go grab a Tums (damn M&Ms!), make myself some tea, feed the puppies, and buckle down to some grading before Sons of Anarchy comes on. Because, heaven knows, I want to send myself off to sleep with something "cheerful." Sometimes I despair of me.
Partly I'm just fighting this low-level exhaustion that I can't seem to shake. I think I'm fighting some sort of under the surface infection, the kind that doesn't manifest as a fever, but saps energy. And I'm heartily bored bored bored with my restricted diet du jour. Oh, I know I'm whining--it isn't like I'm lactose-intolerant, or gluten sensitive, or have Crohn's, or have Diane's problems with food, or even diabetic. I'm not even fighting my occasional flirtation with hypoglycemia. No, none of that. But it is still annoying, and despite my best attempts, I still should probably buy stock in Pepcid, or Tums, or something. Is it too much to ask to be able to drink a cup or coffee, or have a beer, or a piece of chocolate cake, or some cheddar cheese, or something other than ultra lean chicken or pork loin? Apparently, yes. Oh, and my "whine" has to be "wine-free." I hates it master.
There's also this profound frustration with some of my work tools, namely my computer. In the highly technology dependent world that is 21st century higher education, a computer that actually performs as requested is a necessity. Ever since the computer virus hit my laptop, and it got reconfigured, it hasn't worked right. At first I thought it was me, so I tried to compartamentalize things pretty strictly, to the point of using different browsers for different functions. Everyone else I know thought it was crazy, but when I went into IT today the techs have compartmentalized functions on various browsers, too, so maybe not so crazy. But when the damn thing wouldn't save to my hard drive, when saving things on campus "looked" like it was on the C: drive by was really on the remote server, when documents became inaccessible when I was home, though they appeared to be present...I had had it.
One of my former students is on the IT staff, and he took a look at my computer today. He was sure he knew how to fix it, but as we talked he got more and more...puzzled looking. I don't like it when the IT staff looks puzzled. So, he tried something pretty drastic (not the most drastic, but drastic). When the computer finished rebooting he looked at it, got really worried looking, and said, "Oh--looks like your profile's been corrupted." Suddenly I felt like an Afghan man who's been told his daughter was caught alone with a boy. And I'm not even teaching The Kite Runner yet. So, they have my computer. Sergey thought it would be fixed this afternoon, and said he'd send me an email. As of half an hour ago, no email. I wonder if they're exercising the nuclear option, and, if so, when can I expect a usable computer at work again. At home I use my phone and my Nook for the most part. I try not to use the broken Dell laptop (as I am right now), running Windows XP, running Office 2000, because the virus protection is out of date, I can't afford right now to renew it, and, frankly, I don't want it to break. (Yeah, I know, but the computer I want, configured as I want, will run more than a grand--Apples aren't cheap--and the new phone has to come first.)
So, whiney girl is whiney. I'm going to go grab a Tums (damn M&Ms!), make myself some tea, feed the puppies, and buckle down to some grading before Sons of Anarchy comes on. Because, heaven knows, I want to send myself off to sleep with something "cheerful." Sometimes I despair of me.
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When I come out next weekend
Date: 2011-11-02 12:37 am (UTC)--Hawk
no subject
Date: 2011-11-02 07:09 am (UTC)I hear you about the 'puter problems -- and I live with an IT guy! Still, the inanimate object fights me, and wins.
Thank whomever for tea and furry critters!
no subject
Date: 2011-11-02 12:30 pm (UTC)As for the IT people and their promises, I sometimes think they should watch Scotty of Classic Star Trek, and learn to tell their clients that any fix will take twice the amount of estimated time.
Postive Vibrations Sent.
no subject
Date: 2011-11-02 03:46 pm (UTC)Damn the torpedoes and all that...