Combat Training

I got the email this last Tuesday letting me know I would start my new position as an Intervention Specialist yesterday (Friday).  I did not hear anything from my new lead until Thursday morning.  I have no idea what to expect. She told me not to be too overwhelmed. She will work with me through it.

Two of the new IS ppl in the group I am in are teachers that I worked with last year. They are becoming IS instead this year.  Not sure why.  One of them, Nathan, told me, "you will be fine.  Think of it as combat training in the middle of a war in Iraq."  What a guy.

So, the Lead, Carmen, disappeared on my yesterday afternoon.  I spent my time looking through the documents in the school cloud.  She sent me an email after 7 pm. apologizing for disappearing. She took her son to the doctor and then just got caught up in 'stuff'.  In other words, she just took the afternoon off.  THEN TELL ME!  I could have gone grocery shopping!  Then at about 11 p.m last night she started dropping a ton of documents into my school email.  I heard the notifications going off as I was trying to fall asleep.  I woke up at 6 a.m. with a tightness in my chest.

I set up my classroom and added my students.  I downloaded and saved documents.  And I just basically tried to relax.

I did find out something rather nice about the class I am taking...that starts this Monday, also.  It is only 7 weeks long...unlike the 14 weeks that I had been originally told that it would be.    That means, I will have about 9 glorious weeks before I would have my last 7 week class.  And then...I am DONE!

However, Johna, the head of the Special Education Department and my new boss, told me that once I take my test to get my certification added to my license, they are going to arrange classes for me to get my clock hours to get my HQ certification.  HQ means High Quality...which is something you get when you have a certain amount of hours of concentration in a course.  So I get to choose...Math...Language Arts...Social Studies...etc.

More classes and studying.  Will it NEVER end?  I am really looking forward to retirement already.

As for my kids...Bethany went to a concert down by the Ohio River--an hour and a half away-- last Friday night with a friend and had car trouble.  I drove down there and met them when the concert was out. She had almost no coolant.  I filled it up and followed her home.  I had called the mechanic Friday night and he said to leave it there for Monday morning.

It turned out, as I had originally suspected, the water pump was shot.  I had thought that's what it was but her dad told me he had a new one put on about 4 years ago.   So, I thought...I am wrong. But, nope.  And he did not have a warranty.  He had it put on at a fly by night place so I am sure it was not a new one, either.  Anyhow, it is fixed now and she has a $470 bill to pay.  She is kinda pissed that she is having to pay for that replacement but as I told her, it is cheaper than having to buy another car.  I am very thankful that the head gasket did not crack or the engine did not burn up.

TJ and Brit took off for Myrtle Beach this morning for a week for their 1st anniversary.  I had to bug my son to get an oil change on his car before they left and to make sure to check his coolant level before he left.  Thankfully he listened.  Then they took off and not too far down the road, they almost got Tboned.  Not a great way to start a trip but at least no one was hit, hurt, etc.

Well, time to get busy.