Sometimes... I just want to hit myself.
How does someone take a typing test and get a zero? ZERO words per minute. You have have to absolutely hit not one key the whole time! If you typed 2 words, TWO WORDS, in two minutes, that be one word. I bet if you typed half word, they'd round up to one! DAAAAAAMN!
AGH! I want to scream.
Zero. zero words per minute. Un-flippin-believable.
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Monday, September 08, 2008
"What does that mean?"
Today, a student asked me for some email assistance. She said "Would you know why this attachment won't open?" It was some attachment to an email from Nigeria. Someone wanted to send her "a large sums of cash money" (actual quote). She hadn't read the email, so we both laughed when I read that line. (Hint: she obviously knows a bit about the internet and email if she knew about this scam.)
I told her that whatever the attachment was, it was probably wasn't good since it was attached to THIS email. Then I explained why an attachment wouldn't open: "Maybe it looks like it's not opening but is, as in the case of a virus. Or, the computer doesn't recognize what type of file it is." She mentioned something about never having this problem when opening other attachments. (Hint: She's opened other email attachments before.)
Then she asked about why these junk emails were sent to her email address. I showed her the "full headers", and all the emails listed in the "to:" box. She said "Ahh, I usually have that option set on my home computer, so I can see who sent the email and who was receiving it." (Hint: She knows the basics about reading email headers.)
Now here comes the purpose of this post...
Then, she says "For example, what about this email?" She clicks on an email, and reads the subject, "It says 'Let me bang you tonite'. What does that mean?" I'm thinking "How can she not know what that means?" and I realize, she does know. She just wanted me to "explain" it.
Ah, yes, one of the "great" experiences of being a teacher... the flirt.
I say "Well, I think that's a post for an adult website. You know.. sex." She says "Oh, really? Wow. I wonder what it says?" I reply "It's best to just delete those, as they're usually infested with pop-ups and viruses."
Seriously... I mean, COME ON! "What does that mean?"
Today, a student asked me for some email assistance. She said "Would you know why this attachment won't open?" It was some attachment to an email from Nigeria. Someone wanted to send her "a large sums of cash money" (actual quote). She hadn't read the email, so we both laughed when I read that line. (Hint: she obviously knows a bit about the internet and email if she knew about this scam.)
I told her that whatever the attachment was, it was probably wasn't good since it was attached to THIS email. Then I explained why an attachment wouldn't open: "Maybe it looks like it's not opening but is, as in the case of a virus. Or, the computer doesn't recognize what type of file it is." She mentioned something about never having this problem when opening other attachments. (Hint: She's opened other email attachments before.)
Then she asked about why these junk emails were sent to her email address. I showed her the "full headers", and all the emails listed in the "to:" box. She said "Ahh, I usually have that option set on my home computer, so I can see who sent the email and who was receiving it." (Hint: She knows the basics about reading email headers.)
Now here comes the purpose of this post...
Then, she says "For example, what about this email?" She clicks on an email, and reads the subject, "It says 'Let me bang you tonite'. What does that mean?" I'm thinking "How can she not know what that means?" and I realize, she does know. She just wanted me to "explain" it.
Ah, yes, one of the "great" experiences of being a teacher... the flirt.
I say "Well, I think that's a post for an adult website. You know.. sex." She says "Oh, really? Wow. I wonder what it says?" I reply "It's best to just delete those, as they're usually infested with pop-ups and viruses."
Seriously... I mean, COME ON! "What does that mean?"
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
The Famous Student-Teacher Crush
As a teacher, sometimes an uncomfortable situations arise, such as when a student develops a crush on you. Most often it's because you're in a position of authority and they are confuse that with liking you. There is never a circumstance that one should allow his/herself to get involved with the student. The best thing to do is, recognize the situation, do nothing to feed into it and continue teaching.
Recently, I had a student who seemed to be enamored with me. As usual, I tried my best not to do anything to feed into it, but still be my usual self. I felt bad for her because I think she realized that a relationship could not happen, and was depressed. It was evident that something was wrong. She no longer dressed up and seemed generally "down". She did not have a boyfriend, and wanted someone like me. But no necessarily me. Of course I felt flattered, but my ethics and morals would never allow me to take advantage of such a situation.
She's cheered up recently. I think she might have met someone on MySpace.
As a teacher, sometimes an uncomfortable situations arise, such as when a student develops a crush on you. Most often it's because you're in a position of authority and they are confuse that with liking you. There is never a circumstance that one should allow his/herself to get involved with the student. The best thing to do is, recognize the situation, do nothing to feed into it and continue teaching.
Recently, I had a student who seemed to be enamored with me. As usual, I tried my best not to do anything to feed into it, but still be my usual self. I felt bad for her because I think she realized that a relationship could not happen, and was depressed. It was evident that something was wrong. She no longer dressed up and seemed generally "down". She did not have a boyfriend, and wanted someone like me. But no necessarily me. Of course I felt flattered, but my ethics and morals would never allow me to take advantage of such a situation.
She's cheered up recently. I think she might have met someone on MySpace.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Sorry, I haven't posted in a (long) while, but I just didn't have any "zest" left. I'll be back soon with some more stories.
Meanwhile, here's something I found online that relates to my blog:
10 things your IT guy wants you to know
Meanwhile, here's something I found online that relates to my blog:
10 things your IT guy wants you to know
- If you ask me technical questions please don’t argue with me because you don’t like my answer. If you think you know more about the topic, why ask? And if I’m arguing with you…it’s because I am positive that I am correct, otherwise I’d just say “I don’t know” or give you some tips on where to look it up, I don’t have the time to just argue for the sake of it.
- Starting a conversation by insulting yourself (i.e. “I’m such an idiot”) will not make me laugh, or feel sorry for you; all it will do is remind me that yes, you are an idiot and that I am going to hate having to talk to you. Trust me; you don’t want to start a call that way.
- I am ok with you making mistakes, fixing them is my job. I am not ok with you lying to me about a mistake you made. It makes it much harder to resolve and thus makes my job more difficult. Be honest and we can get the problem resolved and continue on with our business.
- There is no magic “Fix it” button. Everything takes some amount of work to fix, and not everything is worth fixing or even possible to fix. If I say that you just need to re-do a document that you accidentally deleted 2 months ago, please don’t get mad at me. I’m not ignoring your problem, and it’s not that I don’t like you, I just cant always fix everything.
- Not everything you ask me to do is “urgent”. In fact, by marking things as “urgent” every time, you almost ensure that I treat none of it as a priority.
- You are not the only one who needs help, and you usually don’t have the most urgent issue. Give me some time to get to your problem, it will get fixed.
- Emailing me several times about the same issue in the same day is not only unnecessary, it’s highly annoying. Emails will stay until I delete them, I won’t delete them until I’m done with them. I will typically respond as soon as I have a useful update. If it is an urgent issue, let me know (see number 5).
- Yes, I prefer email over telephone calls. It has nothing to do with being friendly, it’s about efficiency. It is much faster and easier for me to list out a set of questions that I need you to answer than it is for me to call and ask you them one by one. You can find the answers at your leisure and while I’m waiting I can work on other problems.
- Yes, I seem blunt and rude. It’s not that I mean to, I just don’t have the time to sugar coat things for you. I assume we are both adults and can handle the reality of a problem. If you did something wrong, I will tell you. I don’t care that it was a mistake, because it really makes no difference to me. Don’t take it personal, I just don’t want it to happen again.
- And finally, yes, I can read your email, I can see what web pages you look at while you are at work, yes, I can access every file on your work computer, and I can tell if you are chatting with people on an instant messenger or chat room (and can also read what you are typing). But no, I don’t do it. It’s unethical, I’m busy, and in all reality you aren’t all that interesting. So unless I am instructed to specifically monitor or investigate your actions, I don’t. There really are much more interesting things on the internet than you.
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