Pages

Friday, December 14, 2012

the more they stay the same

I had to go to the Principal's office this morning.

It was time to review for the mid-year employee goals review.  A review review, if you will.  As many I'm sure can imagine, this is a rather lengthy process for crossing guards.  SO many different areas to cover.  I must have been there for 12 whole minutes!  Seven hundred twenty +/- seconds of my life, including the idle chit chat.

Since I don't work on actual school grounds, I think of myself as more like a moon of the school.  When I do go a-visiting, I need a little recalibration to get into disciplined school mode rather than that of the ruffian outpost.

A highlight component of these visits is to play "What's In Abby's Mailbox Now?", since I check the thing 3, maybe 4 times a year.  Let's have a look!

Aside from various pieces of paper with boring but required text for public employees, I managed to find a few goodies.

First was a sweet birthday card from the Principal and Vice Principal.  Then was a very mass-produced looking but still appreciated birthday card from the district Superintendent.

Finally, a large bar of chocolate fell on my head (my mailbox is top shelf), labelled "First Aid Chocolate". Along with that came tumbling down a lovely resistance band as "Thank you for promoting a drug free and healthy school", complete with instructions for use.

My job-related goals have not changed from last time.  Keep the school kids from being threatened or maimed on the way to school, all the while exuding a cheerful and helpful representation of the school.  Sign here, date there.

In other midyear news, I must retrieve Chaco later today.  This could be titled "The Retrieval of Chaco in Two Acts", since the first act was Wednesday.  His finals were over, and he wanted to pack up and ship off most of his stuff so as to clean the dorm room as required.  Once again, I'm glad for the convenience of him going to college so nearby.  What is an all day or more event for some college parents is just another errand for us.

The Ellie Mae and I arrived ready for whatever he had to dish out, including much teasing of The Ellie Mae.  

Act I was a success, and I will return for the final act later today.  While it's been several years since I was in college, I can report that, if Chaco's University is any indication, the "happy penis" remains the college campus snow sculpture of choice.

The more things change...
.

10 comments:

Guano said...

Curious, did the birthday cards make you feel "valued"?
Getting hit in the head with First Aid Chocolate: sweet irony.

agg79 said...

Score! Nice assortment of treats to get in one's mailbox. First Aid Chocolate. Hope it tasted as good as it hurt. And, for the record, that is my kind of review - short, simple, sweet.

Happy penis? Coming from a place that gets snow only once every decade or two, I can honestly say that I have never seen that snow sculpture on campus. No pictures? And you infer innuendos on my blog.

Anita said...

"...keep the school kids from being..."

I came here for my usual dose of Abby, needing a distraction from the horror of today, and then I read that line.

Thoughts of you taking care of little children daily and of the recent Colorado shooting... I guess you're handling it like the rest of us.

But... I can still laugh and smile as I read about the adventures of Chaco, Ellie Mae, and the happy penis.

Hey, if someone thinks Ellie Mae is a girl, Chaco might get a little rep from this comment. :)

Anita said...

That might be a bad joke. I'm tired.

Abby said...

Valued? Nah.
The one from the school admins was "nice", but the super? As far as I'm concerned, he works for me. Not the other way around. Maybe I should send him a birthday card.

Abby said...

Oh, right! You warm-weather people miss out on such snow shenanigans. And nope, no pics. It's been warm since Wednesday and the uhm... happiness has melted.

Abby said...

Ha, yes someone who stumbles upon this post might wonder!

I typed this before the news broke, never expecting. I will say that the traffic during the afternoon commute was noticeably better behaved than usual.

ShadowRun300 said...

I sometimes wonder why people waste their time sending out such generic cards, or even if they KNOW they are being sent out.
Sorry to hear Happenis melted before we could see it. If my college ever sculpted one, I missed out. Maybe now that my kids are in college... although around here it would have to be an ice sculpture. We're not lucky enough to get snow.
Clever title and ending, btw. :)

Abby said...

I'm fairly certain that the superintendent couldn't pick me out of a line-up (maybe that's in my favor).
I'm hoping we get many more Happenises.

terri said...

First aid chocolate sounds like something I should have on hand at all times. You never know when you need a bit of emergency chocolate!

Chaco's school location certainly sounds convenient. Kacey is just under 2 hours away from home, but since she has a boyfriend with a car on campus, I rarely have to go through the production of retrieving her from school. So I can't complain.