Another world

I had my head stuck in subnetting at work yesterday. It took my mind off all the other problems I was having. When dealing with this it is like you stick your head into this big tree that is full of leaves and you can see nothing else around you until you pull your head out of that tree. That was how it was for me. Very intense.Four long hours with one bathroom break.

The tech on the other end of the phone was super fantastic. We started off slow because I did not know what to expect and neither did he. By the time we were done he and I had shared dog stories and we were laughing and calling each other awesome.

I actually only had him on the phone for maybe two and a half hours. The first hour was prep work on my part. The last half hour was pack up and get out of there.

Yes, my head hurt by the time I was done. It may have been from no lunch. This tech is on the west coast so we began at 11 a.m. my time and finished at 3. I did have a helper - he ran and bought me a bottle of water during the marathon.

I was not "properly" trained. I have never been to formal schooling or training for computers. I have been to a few week-long classes - mostly two to three day classes. I did learn the hexadecimal numbering system - on my own. I  did not need it for work - for some reason that one just clicked with me.

As for subnetting, I did write a paper on it back in 1997 or 1998. I understand it, I just cheat and use an online calculator. I do not know how to figure it out in my head. Yet. I may learn, still.

In high school I was the artist or the short story writer. I managed B's in math but I only took as much as I would need to get into college. First level algebra and geometry. Nothing higher. It made me sick to my stomach. So did the teachers. Then, I did not even go to college. To this day I have not come across a math teacher that I liked. I did pick up a college refresher course (when I thought I would go to college back in 1992). His name was Lovejoy Das. I sort of liked him. He was from India. He said as a boy they used to do math problems in the dirt with a stick. WTF? I would have drawn pictures in the dirt.

Anyway, the day (yesterday) ended with a huge success.  I (we) pulled off a minor miracle as far as I was concerned. I had no idea how to set this unit onto the network and we did it. It required the wonderful world of subnetting, but I did not give up. I figured out the necessary changes and they worked. By god - they worked. It certainly made me feel better than the last few days of holy horror I have been through with another district. I have another job today and I am going to try my hardest to be successful with that also. Then tomorrow - back to the horror mess. Who knows? Maybe I will hit them out of the park all week. LOL!

My headache. I did take some Advil. By the "bewitching" hour of 9 p.m. it was completely gone. I have mentioned before that strangely, a lot of my headaches seem to dissipate by 8:30 to 9:00 p.m. By the time I went to bed I felt wonderful. I had taken a sinus Advil maybe that was the ticket.

No time

I closed my eyes and picked a photo

This is what you get. I didn't have much time to look for a photo that kind of describes my life right now. This is a picture of a rarely used water fountain in my office building. We have the water coolers planted in three places in the building that serve up delicious cold fresh water. Only rare visitors passing by the men's restroom use this fountain.

My daughter had to sit in "In school suspension" on Thursday because of her hair color. I went a couple of rounds with the school supervisor. I did not win and I did not expect to win. I wanted to argue my point on my daughter's behalf. She had me convinced that it was the amount of the unusual color in her hair the last time instead of the unusual shade. Au contraire. Because of conceding at the beginning of the year to her choice of hair color, I knew that he was going to keep throwing that up in my face. He did. Here is the beginning of a letter I wrote to my newspaper editor (which they did not print, probably a good thing for me, because I signed my name).

At a school near you students are pulled out of the hall in Hitler fashion and being placed in the gas chamber (In-school suspension). Why? Because they are not blond hair and blue eyed. Well, close. Because they have unacceptable hair color or eye make-up. Shades of red, pink, blue green and purple. Anything deemed unacceptable by the Administrator. The reason they cannot wear the unnatural color? It is an educational distraction or it may affect how they are judged in the future when they go off into the world to make a living.

My daughter does not want to change her hair color, but I am taking her tomorrow.

Her junior year in this school and her time with this school administrator is a blip on the radar in her beautiful and creative life. Screw him.

For the record, my daughter is NOT being discriminated against. They are pulling kids out left and right because of hair color and eye shadow and hair style (such as mohawks). I am not certain about piercings and tattoos. I had to wear a dress (or skirt) to school until I was in the 8th grade and I am bristling. Hair color harms nobody nor does it threaten other students. She is not using a lighter and catching paper on fire. She is not dropping banana peels in the hallway in an attempt to get someone to slip and hurt themselves. She is not squirting soap onto the bathroom floor. She is not sassing the teacher. She is not flinging rubber bands at staff or other students. She is not misusing school property. She is not throwing food in the cafeteria. She does her work, she does well. She is not a straight A student, she gets an occasional C.

I understand that limits have to be set. If they let her get away with a magenta/red hair color (even just a patch in her bangs) then they have to let another student get away with lime green, plum purple and Easter egg blue, and so on and so forth. He refused when I offered to have her cover it with a headband or to hide it behind the blond hair with a paper clip. Not acceptable, he said. I understand rules have to be followed. But the handbook was too vague for his argument. The rulebook reads:

"Hair color is to be of a natural shade as deemed acceptable by the Administrators."

There are 10 administrators and only 2 have seen her hair. I asked. He said that all Administrators are on the same page and in agreement with him. Hmmm. I asked him if he had a chart to determine what shades of red are acceptable and what shades are not. He said "No." I said then it is a matter of opinion. He agreed. He kept repeating "A color they can be born with or close to it." I scoffed. Another opinion. Oh, bother again. I am getting fired up. Again.

For the most part we are getting her hair changed because it did fade into a lot of pink. That is not what she wanted. She told me she wasn't going to do it. She wants me to pull her and home school her. It is something I have been against for years. I would consider it if it is just for the remainder of the year. Another point is the fact that we are very unhappy with the school's graphic arts program. I figure if she can do her math, English, government and science at home, then I can take her to the University for Graphics arts classes. Directly across from her current school.

Walking in the mall yesterday, I saw girls with green hair, red striped hair, and other various darker colors. I asked them where they went to school. "Home schooled" was the answer from each and every one of them.

I swore I wouldn't do it. The homeschooling. Arrgghh! Then where would she go for her Senior year? There is open enrollment. Worry about that when it comes. I have another reason in favor of homeschooling that I won't go into at this time. Big decisions. The pro's column of homeschooling is getting longer. I work at the place that actually offers the orientation and arranges the schooling. How convenient is that? I talk to the staff daily.

I cannot get in touch with my nephew who is supposed to be coming into town for a birthday dinner and a lot of family are waiting for me to let them know where the dinner is. He has not picked the restaurant or let me know what time he will be arriving. He didn't even answer his cell phone or return my call. This has me beyond worried.

One of my cats vomited and my daughter found a worm in it. The vet is diagnosing the worm as I type. I told them I want to treat all my cats and my dog if necessary for whatever it is. Yuck. I am about ready to hurl my coffee. Moving on.

What else? Oh, I have had a migraine on and off all week. Silent scream. I really didn't want to take any more medicine today, but guess what? It won't stop. It begins in the eyes and then I get really sick to my stomach. Sleeping makes me feel much worse. The medicine works wonders, but how many times a week am I supposed to take it? The weather in this Ohio Valley has been nuts, that is for sure.

I have a cake to bake and a house to clean. I have no time for migraines.

Well, the vet's office just called. I am off to get my babies their worm medicine. I chose the drops on the back of the neck instead of 2 pills for each cat. Could you imagine? I wouldn't have any skin left on my arms or hands if I had to force 2 pills down each cat's gullet.

My head is really pounding, now. My 3 Advil didn't last long. Ugh.