First Days are Never Easy

The new semester is officially underway and what an introduction I've had. I made every effort to avoid the "first day scramble" but it happened anyway. I left the house 15 minutes later than I'd planned. I struggled down the 3 flights of stairs with suitcase, bag of trash, school bag and purse. Got to the car and realized that I'd forgotten the lunch and dinner that I'd painstakingly prepared. Back up the stairs to retrieve the food. Back to the car. Realized I forgot my hair accoutrements. Back up the stairs to retrieve the implements that keep me from looking bedraggled (all evidence to the contrary). Back to the car. Finally decided I had everything I needed and drove out of the apartment complex and turned west, remembering to throw away the trash before I left.

I got into downtown without incident, then all hell broke loose. I didn't print my notes, syllabus, or class rosters at home yesterday because my printer ran out of ink and I simply didn't want to buy more. I figured I could print at Big City University. Nope. Seems my computer and the printer had some sort of falling out over the holidays and now they're not speaking to each other. To further complicate matters, the internet also went down. Yes, the entire BCU internet system stopped working. By this point, I was a cursing machine.

The internet came back about 15 minutes before my first class. I rushed to print my class rosters from a colleague's computer and we rushed off to class......where the computer was cold from non-use. So, I had to wait for it to warm up - which took forever. Then, I couldn't find the remote for the overhead projector. I called the IT help desk and launched into a spontaneous stand-up routine. "So, anyone from out of town," I asked my students. I was about to say, "Funny thing happened on the way to the classroom..." when the IT guy arrived.

There we were in front of the whole class. I explained that I couldn't find the remote and he pulled up a window on the computer and clicked on a button. "We don't have remotes in these classrooms anymore, and we haven't had them for a while now," he said, condescendingly. Fighting the urge to slap him and call him any number of obscene names, I said, "There were remotes in these classrooms last semester." "In this building?" he interrogated. "Yes," I responded, fully aware that I was in front of my students and therefore could not rip the man's head off. He explained something else in his "oh, poor little stupid woman who can't work a computer" tone, and then he left.

OK, in all fairness, he'd probably had a bad morning. I'm sure I wasn't the only one cursing IT's name this morning. But still. My students were relatively forgiving and we stumbled through to the end of the class. My next classes went better. Now, I'm "enjoying" my 3 hour break before my last class of the day. In case you're wondering, 3 hours is a long time.

Trash as a Metaphor

Today, I drove into work. Yes, I know it's Monday and I usually work at home on Mondays. Over the weekend, my computer froze up and slipped into a coma. Since this was the second meltdown in 4 months, I put a DNR order in place. I tried not to freak out, knowing that I'd lost my back-up last week. I took the machine to Best Buy where the Geek Squad recovered my data. My former stalwart companion is now in pieces, its brain in a plastic ziploc bag, and its data on both a DVD and flash drive.

I've ordered a new computer that should arrive by the end of the week. In the meantime, I'm forced to work in my office. It's been a long time since I've worked in an office. A really long time. Like 10 years. It's a strange experience. There are other people around and I can't work in my pajamas all day. There aren't any windows in my office and I'm beginning to feel claustrophobic. I'm not sure I like this. Anyway, I'm working through my lecture and trying to get ready for tomorrow.

I'm also spending the week with Big City friends, so I don't have to do a daily commute. When I left this morning, I hoped that I had everything I'd need to live and work away from home for 4 days. I remembered my students' exams, I remembered my books, I remembered the oh-so-important flash drive, and I remembered to take the trash out. After making 3-4 trips up and down the stairs, I got in the car and headed out.

About 15 minutes down the road, I remembered the trash that was still in my trunk. "Crap," I thought, "How perfect is this? I have lots of trash and I can't get rid of it. I just keep hauling it around, stinking up my life." I'm not sure I've ever managed a more perfect metaphor. I also appreciated the irony of my trash riding in the trunk with my students' exams. I wondered who was winning the stench war in my trunk.

Rather than worrying about computers, being away from home, or any number of other things, I decided to worry about the trash. When I arrived at the parking deck, I noted that there were trash cans with flip lids on each floor, right next to the elevators. While others pulled into the first space they could find, I drove straight to the upper floor. I parked right next to the trash can, popped the trunk, popped the top of the trash can, and secreted my bag of trash into the trash can. Problem solved. I'm hoping that this concrete act translates into metaphor and my luck changes soon.