chaco pulled one over on the doc!

i was pretty worried the other night when i found chaco acting weird-limping and whimpering in pain when i came back from the kitchen. so we went in to the vet the next morning and while i was waiting for them to bring him back, i could hear them talking (i wasn't eavesdropping if that's what you're thinking...it's just that they were talking loudly and the walls seem to be thinner than my apt). anyhoo, the assistant brought him back in and said the doctor would be in momentarily and left. so i put him down and he started limping around, so i picked him up until she came in.

when the doc came in, she said, "well, we didn't see any signs of the problem that you mentioned." i held my hand up to stop her and put him down again and he again limped around and held his paw up. her face took on a look of complete and utter surprise. she proceeded to tell me that he walked up and down the hall and didn't wince or anything when she was checking him.

i have no idea what the deal was, either he was showing off, nervous or just wanted to get out of there...brat. (not like the glorified hotdog, more like a bratty child). that said, she prescribed some anti-inflammatory medicine, and pain killers. on the way home he kinda' chuckled and said, "woah, did you see her face when she came back into the room and saw me limp? i had her right where i wanted her! i'm tricky mctrickerson, right?"(sometimes dogs just say the darndest things...)

 i gave him the pain killers and anti-inflammatory meds as soon as we got home and i caged him-per the doc's orders. i fully expected that when we got home he would be asleep...but no, he was yelping from excitement to get out and shot out like a jack rabbit into the living room. keep him calm, she said. don't let him jump around she said...apparently she's never had a chaco. he kinda reminds me of amy poehler as Kaitlyn if you watch the link, the part that applies most is from 1:55-2:22 (first he tries to convince me that he shouldn't be left in the cage, and then he runs around in circles when he should be sitting still..ok, not the best analogy; perhaps i was just looking for a reason to include kaitlyn).

he was in his cage again tuesday, and today i left him out and he seems to be fine-we're continuing with the anti-inflammatory meds, but no pain killers. good little buddy.

in other news...we have an 'adult' bathroom near the teacher's lounge, and it has the kind of lock that lets others know it's occupied (like airplane lavs), yet either people can't read or don't know what OCCUPIED means, because they still try to open the door (without even a knock..jerks) that's scary. so i always feel like i have to double and triple check to make sure the lock is horizontal.

so i decided to make sure that it did read correctly when locked...

 one day, not too long ago while i was in this particular restroom, i noticed this little door by the toilet, under the paper towel dispenser...i wondered what it was a door to. i didn't bother to look, because i would rather stick with the story i conjured up in my mind. there is a little bathroom fairy that comes out once in awhile to clean up because the custodians struck up a deal with him. i realize that most fairies are female, but the males are the ones that live in bathrooms...anyhoo. i might try to strike up my own deal to get him to stand guard in front of the door for me...

and drum roll please.....i got a free sample of royal canin. i LOVE getting free stuff-no shame. i figure they jack prices up so high that i deserve it. the boys were really excited about it because this is what they used to eat all of the time until we changed to bil-jac.

please notice how chaco has his ears back and low as if he might be a little guilty for getting called out. well, that's because he got caught doing this:

bad little buddy.

bruno throughout all of this has been great. he's my no drama boy. i am thankful for that because he helps chaco find his balance!

thankful for healthy dogs and hoping to strike up a deal with the bathroom fairy,
julie

chat customer service folk make me write in CAPITAL LETTERS...

my conversation with the clear person (internet provider) went something like this:

Chat Transcript

Arren:  Thank you for contacting Clear Web Chat Support. My name is Arren. Please give me a moment to pull up and review your account.

Arren:  Pleased to meet you online. How are you doing today?

julie:  i already had someone helping me-do i have to start all over again

Arren:  Oh I am sorry for that.

Arren:  How may i help you today?

julie:  that person asked me to take off the battery cover of my hotspot to reset the device so that they could reset the password and we got cut off b/c obviously the connection was lost

julie:  i am having problems logging onto the wifi with a new ipad-apparently the password is not working

Arren:  If I understand you correctly,you cannot connect on your IPAD suing your clear device,correct?

julie:  the previous agent talked to someone in tech 2 or something and they were basically going to reset it from there

julie:  yes

Arren:  I understand your situation and I apologize for the inconvenience. But I will be more than happy to assist you with that!

Arren:  can you please provide me the mac id of the clear device?

julie:  (i gave him the #)

Arren:  .I am sory however that is not the correct mac id.

julie:  it's a wipipe and the number is (i repeated the #)-the smaller device is the usb port with the #0-----------

julie:  my phone # is ----------- if we get cut off-i do not want to go through all of this again

Arren:  Oh I see.

Arren:  Sorry however I am only seeing a USb device on your account not a clearspot.

julie:  strange because i have been using it for the past 2 or 3 years, and i ordered it from you guys-

Arren:  Sorry however I can only see 1 device here on your account and that is the USB.

julie:  ok, great, what do you suggest that i do????

Arren:  .Do you still have the box where it came from?

julie:  yes, part# PHS300CW upc cODE 094922229595 mac aDDRESS (same #) serial number MM090303301287

Arren:  Is that a CLEAR device?

julie:  i don't have the covering that had my address and the return address, but i have the original box-it came from one of your warehouses. i was going to get it at best buy, but i decided to get it from CLEAR. YES, IT IS A CLEAR SPOT-PERSONAL HOTSPOT

julie:  WIPIPE

Arren:  .I am sorry however we cannot locate any device under your account .

julie:  ok, now i am getting a little upset. OBVIOUSLY I HAVE ONE OR I WOULDN'T BE wasting my time here. find someone who can give you a suggestion about what to do.

julie:  please

Arren:  I understand that but on our end here we only see a USB device on your account w/c is active and no clear spot device.

Arren:  We need to have a mac id.

julie:  AND I GAVE YOU THE MAC ID!! WHAT NOW?

julie:  (repeat the number for the 4th time)

julie:  do you not have a way of tracking it?

Arren:  .Sorry however we do not have any mac id of that .

julie:  great. thanks for nothing-i don't know that this is going to work out for me. i have been using this device for the past 3 years-i may just have to switch carriers

Arren:  I really understand that but in order to have it check you need to remove the battery of the device so that we can get the mac id .

julie:  great. that's what the last person told me and that was when we got cut off because obviously we lose connection as soon as i do that. thanks.

Arren:  I understand that however we still need to get the correct mac id/

(and i'm guessing arren isn't even a real name, if i sucked that bad, i wouldn't use MY real name!) i mean, did you read the part about Arren:  .I am sory however that is not the correct mac id.(obviously this person hasn't heard about customer's usually right)...
so i copied the message, then i opened the device and took out the battery and guess what! 1. the number was the SAME NUMBER I HAD BEEN GIVING HIM..2. we got cut off. i am pretty sure that this is their routine way of getting rid of customers that they are not able to help. jerks.

so this is where i give my non-endorsement of their customer service. this happened twice. i am pissed. i thought about getting back onto their chat again and copying the transcript so the agent can just read through it, and keep doing that until they get tired of it and find someone who CAN help me. jerks.

all i want is to be able to get on the internet wifi through my hotspot with the ipad...that's all. why does it have to be so difficult-heart rate= higher than it needs to be.

and so, it goes-i have much difficulty with chat-customer service folk apparently!

i received my first newsletter, bearing great information:

yep, so not sure if you can see that or not, but the newsletter i received from 'retirement millionaire' just gave some great advice-not sure if you can see that, but it says that wine helps maintain bone strength for women better than milk....just sayin.

almost as good was the segment that said people who eat a little chocolate 5 times a week have lower bmi than those who only eat it twice a week...i like that study as well! who knew!

today after our school staff meeting, we had a leadership meeting...then i was going to try to get something done, not realizing what time it was, when one of my coworkers popped her head in and suggested a chili's stop-half price appetizers! so i agreed, since i haven't gone out to eat in ages. it was great to relax and get away from school...i looked at my watch and could hardly believe that it was already 5:20...boo.

well, i should've gone to the bathroom before i left the restaurant, but i figured it was close enough to my place that i could make it...well, when i got out of my car, i was wishing i'd gone because i dropped my leftovers and had to bend down to pick it up for the boys, then i grabbed the rest of my bags and on the turn to go up the second batch of stairs, my lunch bag fell, and i again had to bend down to grab IT! and once i got to the door and struggled with the key...i was pretty sure i wasn't going to make it. well, i cut it closer than i should've, but i did make it...barely. note to self-if you even think you might not make it, just use the bathroom where you are.

goodnight!

today i was yoda. tomorrow i might be chewbacca...deal with it.

so...yesterday i had my follow-up interview. i left school right after my last kiddo was picked up and drove down so that i could locate the correct building, as it was not on campus. i ended up locating the place with no problem (besides the fact that i was about an hour early; punctuality is one thing, over-extending their hospitality might be a little on the unacceptable side). so i went to a nearby tom thumb to get some small non-perishables.

while there, i really had to use the restroom-hate public restrooms...when i walked in, there was someone in a stall and the door was about two inches open, then i saw a hand reach down and grab the bottom of the door to pull it shut (thank goodness), so i proceeded to the last stall. while there, it sounded like the lady was giving birth (very vocal), then it sounded like it progressed to a wrestling match....and she was talking to herself. i heard the flush and washing of hands and i thought it was safe to come out to avoid the awkward moment of meeting this person...but no. she was still there when i walked out. it was a store employee. friendliest thing. she was smilin', said hello, asked how my day was, kept talking all the way out the door. hmm.

 while i was there, i purchased this tea, thinking it was a type of green tea (the title was a bit deceiving)...i saw that it had senna, but thought, surely it's not going to have any effect. well, i drank it around 8p.m. and by 4 or 5 a.m. my stomach was hurting when i woke up i realized that indeed those china-folk of old knew their herbal plants and medicines! in fact, i think perhaps the lady i met at tom thumb had drunk something similar!

it's herbal, not green

yep..it works

once i left, i headed back to the smu building. i went inside and found my room. i was still a little early. anyhoo, after i did my thing, i left still feeling uncertain about the results. at this point i have a reason to feel this way. i honestly have no idea which way this will go.

on the way home i stopped at walmart to get my perishable items. i also got doublemint so that i could celebrate grandma today.

i also found a couple of cool cups to use at school...they will work perfectly-

this is for days when i am feeling wise and on the ball.

you can imagine how i'm feeling on the days i use this one.

 so when i got home, i took a few minutes to chop up my greens. i LOVE it when veggies are pre-washed!

i have a student teacher now, and today was her first day. the interesting thing is that when we were talking during specials, i mentioned the class i'd just had, and she said, they're crazy...and not in a good way. (...even she noticed).

tomorrow we continue our poem project for  dancing in the wings.

goodnight!
julie

bring the bathroom to me!

sometimes as a teacher, you just have to leave your classroom to use the restroom. today one of my students got flustered because i had to leave and they had to be quiet and sit, and he said, "why do you have to go to the bathroom? why can't they bring it to you?" wouldn't that be nice? i only wish!

 then after school i was able to pull together a quick vocabulary bulletin board. it'll be up until Christmas, then we'll switch it again...i left the background in green because i think it's important to be consistent and keep a routine...ok, actually i may have been too lazy to put up the background paper. ugh. next time.

hopefully we can get more kids to use it.

when i got home, we tried pics again. still not what i was hoping for.

i was able to find a these great little ornament/books...all i need to do now is get some good pictures of my friends that are the right size so that i can make some fun little deal-y-ma-bobs.

 i'm pretty sure i have plans for these...and it will not be my principal and vice principal...i don't think they would see the comedy in that.

tonight we received the news that one of my classmates who had been battling cancer for awhile now passed away today. we had a very small class (59..60-something?) but freda was one of those silly, fun girls. she was a little shy, loved Jesus and she always had a positive demeanor! it is kind of a reminder that as much as we think we are in control our lives, we are not. for this reason, enjoy the small moments!


blessings,
julie