The Venting Thread

[clean]

No, she is currently doing homemaking sort of duties.  She worked in the office of a medical practice, but the physician was diagnosed with cancer and with COVID he is in the process of closing the practice so she is home a lot, or spending time with her parents, especially when her sister's baby visits!

[sprout]

Is your partner also in Academia?

M.

My partner is not, but with both of us working from home, he has learned to give me wide berth on my big grading days.

[marshwiggle]

AS the time has not yet arrived for the first batches of folks that were given the shots, there is no way to know yet if they will deliver on their promises.

So this morning, While I was TRYING to grade papers before my afternoon classes (via Webex), she starts nagging me (I told her she was nagging me and now she is mad).  1st.... Father RJ is now out of the hospital and back to work.  He recovered quickly because he got the first shot before he got sick...... 2nd.
The J&J dose wont be out for some time, I dont think that you should wait.   .... 3rd.  The effeciency of the J&J vaccine is lower, you should get the current shot rather than wait.....  All of this in 30 minutes. 

We have discussed WHY I am waiting.  Im not waiting too long. I told her last week (for the 3rd time) that I will be glad to discuss the shot issue after the first week of March, once we have a few weeks' evidence of whether and HOW the county is going to make good on shot 2. 

So after the 3rd 'hint' that I should get the shot in 30 minutes today, while trying to grade,  I reminded her that I wont talk about it until March and for her to stop nagging me about it and  she got her feelings hurt.  It is not like I could even get in line for a shot as there isnt even a drive in clinic scheduled at least before Friday, so What did she want me to do about it TODAY? 

I don't have a solution, but have a significant other who sounds similar. For her, issues are either off the radar completely, or have to be dealt with RIGHT NOW. So the problem comes up in cases as you describe, where right now there isn't enough information available to make a definitive decision. Waiting for when that information becomes available, especially when it can't be guaranteed by any specific date seems excruciating for her, since it isn't even possible to put a specific date on the calendar when it will be "done".

Maybe someone on here is like that and can describe what would work for them.

[EdnaMode]

How hard is it to put things in order? We all learned our alphabet and how to count when we were wee kiddies. And the instructions said, submit the documents in the following order. The document templates even had numbers on them for *&^% sake! 

[wareagle]

How hard is it to put things in order? We all learned our alphabet and how to count when we were wee kiddies. And the instructions said, submit the documents in the following order. The document templates even had numbers on them for *&^% sake!

I have to wonder about learning the alphabet.  When I've helped line up the grads at commencement, I've never ceased to be amazed at how many of them could not get themselves in alphabetical order.

[Vkw10]

How hard is it to put things in order? We all learned our alphabet and how to count when we were wee kiddies. And the instructions said, submit the documents in the following order. The document templates even had numbers on them for *&^% sake!

I have to wonder about learning the alphabet.  When I've helped line up the grads at commencement, I've never ceased to be amazed at how many of them could not get themselves in alphabetical order.

I haven't expected anyone much younger than me to know the alphabet from A to Z since teaching sixth grade thirty years ago. Of the 120 students I taught during those two years, there may have been five who could recite the alphabet in order when they began my class. Elementary schools had dropped ABC from the curriculum, just as they'd dropped Roman numerals and have since dropped cursive. I taught the ABCs in sixth grade, because I couldn't bear seeing children flip through a dictionary hoping they'd magically arrive at the page with the word they needed.

[Charlotte]

How hard is it to put things in order? We all learned our alphabet and how to count when we were wee kiddies. And the instructions said, submit the documents in the following order. The document templates even had numbers on them for *&^% sake!

I have to wonder about learning the alphabet.  When I've helped line up the grads at commencement, I've never ceased to be amazed at how many of them could not get themselves in alphabetical order.

I remember at my first graduation ceremony, I was so nervous I barely knew my name much less where it fell alphabetically in relation to other names!

So that may be more nerves interfering than actual not knowing the alphabet. Also, I remember them giving us instructions but I couldn't hear them so I wasn't sure what they wanted which only made me more nervous. I'm sure they thought I was an idiot but really I was just confused and unable to hear.

[EdnaMode]

How hard is it to put things in order? We all learned our alphabet and how to count when we were wee kiddies. And the instructions said, submit the documents in the following order. The document templates even had numbers on them for *&^% sake!

I have to wonder about learning the alphabet.  When I've helped line up the grads at commencement, I've never ceased to be amazed at how many of them could not get themselves in alphabetical order.

I haven't expected anyone much younger than me to know the alphabet from A to Z since teaching sixth grade thirty years ago. Of the 120 students I taught during those two years, there may have been five who could recite the alphabet in order when they began my class. Elementary schools had dropped ABC from the curriculum, just as they'd dropped Roman numerals and have since dropped cursive. I taught the ABCs in sixth grade, because I couldn't bear seeing children flip through a dictionary hoping they'd magically arrive at the page with the word they needed.

That's odd. I remember my niece learning the alphabet in kindergarten, she's 13 now. They had worksheets and sang the alphabet song, but she was proud that she already knew it because she'd learned it at home.

[marshwiggle]

I haven't expected anyone much younger than me to know the alphabet from A to Z since teaching sixth grade thirty years ago. Of the 120 students I taught during those two years, there may have been five who could recite the alphabet in order when they began my class. Elementary schools had dropped ABC from the curriculum, just as they'd dropped Roman numerals and have since dropped cursive. I taught the ABCs in sixth grade, because I couldn't bear seeing children flip through a dictionary hoping they'd magically arrive at the page with the word they needed.

Don't teach children any objectively-measurable skills! It's important the the teacher's subjective evaluation, (especially of things like "potential"), are all that really count so parents can be told whatever they want to hear, and school boards can have all the success all the time!

[apl68]

How hard is it to put things in order? We all learned our alphabet and how to count when we were wee kiddies. And the instructions said, submit the documents in the following order. The document templates even had numbers on them for *&^% sake!

I have to wonder about learning the alphabet.  When I've helped line up the grads at commencement, I've never ceased to be amazed at how many of them could not get themselves in alphabetical order.

I haven't expected anyone much younger than me to know the alphabet from A to Z since teaching sixth grade thirty years ago. Of the 120 students I taught during those two years, there may have been five who could recite the alphabet in order when they began my class. Elementary schools had dropped ABC from the curriculum, just as they'd dropped Roman numerals and have since dropped cursive. I taught the ABCs in sixth grade, because I couldn't bear seeing children flip through a dictionary hoping they'd magically arrive at the page with the word they needed.

Not teaching the alphabetical order seems like terribly penny-wise, pound-foolish use of class time.  Is it really that hard to teach small children the ABC song?  That'll fix the alphabet in their heads but good!

Has "Sesame Street" stopped teaching the ABC song?  That's where I recall seeing the most memorable version of it.  How can you forget a guy whose lunch box contains a tiny piano player who plays the ABC song?

[clean]

I was in my 20s before I realized that 'the alphabet song' was 'Twinkle Twinkle little star'. 

But yes, preschool and maybe even kindergarten kids should learn all sorts of skills... like counting, the alphabet and even 'cypherin'  (2*2 is 4; 2*3 is 6)... and even 'goesintos'  (2 goesitno 10 5 times, 2 goesinto 12 six times...)

It is unimportent that the child knows what any of this means, only that they know the songs or chants.  The application will come later!

but Im not in charge! 

[ciao_yall]

I have a vague memory of being maybe 3 or 4 years old singing the alphabet song but with random letters because I didn't quite know the order. "C-B-R-S-K-R-U-..." And my dad laughing.

And thinking there was a letter called "meno" and asking my mom which letter it was. My sister thought there was a letter called "ellemmenno" and tried to use it to show off that she knew how to spell something.

[mamselle]

The old Forum had a poster whose moniker was "Ellameno" or a spelling something like that.

M.

[Langue_doc]

I thought that everyone over 5 knew the alphabet. How do you read if you don't know the letters? Now I know why I see glazed eyes when I talk about alphabetizing the list of references.

Numbers too seem to be a problem with most cashiers who should at the very least know how to add and subtract. I often get blank looks when I give the cashier additional pennies, nickels, or dimes so that I get quarters back (to feed the meters). Then it's the aha moment when the register spits out quarters.

[marshwiggle]

I thought that everyone over 5 knew the alphabet. How do you read if you don't know the letters? Now I know why I see glazed eyes when I talk about alphabetizing the list of references.

Numbers too seem to be a problem with most cashiers who should at the very least know how to add and subtract. I often get blank looks when I give the cashier additional pennies, nickels, or dimes so that I get quarters back (to feed the meters). Then it's the aha moment when the register spits out quarters.

In the days before bank machines, when I used to get cash from the bank, I would make the withdrawal an amount that made my balance come out to an even dollar. (It was an easy way to see that cheques had come off, etc..) Anyway the bank tellers would often marvel at this feat. I would have thought, of all people, even if they didn't do that themselves they would automatically see the utility in it. And that it just requires elementary school arithmetic.