Day 36 of rollback-California Covid-19 spike-Governor shuts us down

Lake Piru’s on fire and 3700 Livermore residents have not had electricity for 7 hours.

Monday. 8/16/20

8:30 - 9:30 - First day of school!! I take the dog out and give her cheese, then grab my coffee. I go to work and try to log onto my college website, but the system crashed!! The error message says “Maintenance Overload.” I need access to Canvas so I can “publish” today’s content, but all servers are down! If I can’t publish today’s lecture and PP slides, my first class will be canceled. Additionally, AVC is receiving the brunt of California’s rolling blackouts. A PG&E employee (ONE guy) thought the transformers looked overloaded and made the decision to shut down portions of the grid, resulting in rolling blackouts for sections of California…the socio-economic compromised sections [Hmmm, I wonder why THOSE sections are compromised?] The Governor is pissed and has opened an “investigative task force” to look into the issue. Nothing will come of it.

9:30-10:30 - I find a “backdoor” for Canvas so I don’t have to use my College website’s home page, since the server is down, and I post today’s content in preparation for my 2:30 class. Relieved! I’m ready but incredibly nervous. I hope this test run goes smoothly.

10:30-1:30 - I work on my syllabus and post course content and links for my high school class. This class is much different because class is held TWO days a week, instead of ONE, so everything has to be split in two and posted accordingly.

1:30-2:30 - I get ready for the Specialty Class No. 1 roll out (fingers crossed)

2:30 - 3:00 - Students log onto Canvas and post responses to the Discussion Board per my instructions. It’s working!

3:00-4:30 - The students play the audio file (my lecture), open the PP slides, and email me a few questions in real time - I respond immediately. There are no hiccups - nobody is confused. I end class a little early and check my enrollment, expecting a mass exodus because I’m not using Zoom, which is what the students are used to. Everyone is staying put - class enrollment didn’t drop. Success! although I haven’t introduced the chapter quizzes during class time yet. That happens next week and I’ll have to see how it goes.

5:30-7:00 - I continue working on my course content for my high school class. At 6:00, I log onto my College No. 2 email and discover that there have been some critical changes. I still teach on Wed and Fri, BUT now it is only for ONE hour each day, instead of 1 1/2 hours, which is NOT what I was originally told. Also, according to the school calendar, which the administrator forwarded to me, the students will be missing several Wednesdays over the semester in order to attend Liturgy. AND finally, this class doesn’t start for another week, again, which is NOT what I was told, so all of my dates are off. In light of this new information, I now have to revise the entire syllabus, as well as the online class…a true blow.

7:30-9:00 - I leave for Walmart to buy new reading glasses. No one is there and everyone is masking - this must be the best time to go. I used to think this pandemic thing and wearing masks was so weird, but now I don’t care anymore. This is the new normal.

I pull out money for my therapy session tomorrow.

9:00-10:00 - I talk to B.

10:00-11:00 - I do a 40-min, light cardio workout.

11:00-12:00 - I tighten up a few areas of Specialty Class No. 1.

12:00-1:00 - NIght time ritual and bed. The first day of school was a success.