Here, There, and Everywhere (again)

I'm learning....

....a lot from my boss. You've heard me rant before about our IT folks and how difficult they are to work with. The head of that department is on the same hierarchal level as my boss. I hold a meeting between our department (population 2) and the key IT people, twice a month. This is when we try to extract the information we need to keep things running, from these folks who guard it as though it were the location of Jimmy Hoffa's bones.

So, today, I watched my boss go head-to-head with this man today. Very interesting. He kept it quiet. When the guy raised his voice, my boss lowered his and made a subtle gesture with his hand to keep it down while he kept talking. He would let the man speak, then say, "I really appreciate you saying that," or "I understand where you're coming from on that." Then, he would present his argument. And best of all, when the man was being overly argumentative and stubborn, my boss would say, "I think we need to take a step back because now we're both being difficult." HE hadn't been, but saying this kept the man from feeling accused. And they'd take a step back. Excellent.

I think I can use this when I'm dealing with the 16-yr-old in my house. Sure can't hurt....

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8th Grade boys....

suck. My daughter is a percussionist. She has a percussion practice set that she keeps in a zipped case in the band hall at school. It's impossible to haul the thing back and forth from school, and they don't have any lockers in the band hall. So, instruments are kept in cubbyholes.

Now, I warned her repeatedly that leaving the drumstick case there isn't a great idea. It can fit in her backpack, and it holds not only her plain hickory sticks, but some collectible ones as well. But I'm Mommy and that synonymous with "has no clue" in a 12-yr-old's world.

You see where this is going, don't you?

Her sticks are missing. All of them.

She found her bag dumped out and some sticks missing on Monday. She told the teacher and used some other sticks that were in the band hall. The next day, ALL of her sticks are missing. She's in tears. Wait, I said that wrong. She's in TEARS. Even that's insufficient to describe the waterworks we're experiencing at home.

I'm resisting the "I told you so" impulse. She knows. She regrets. She's remorseful. She's in mourning.

However, yesterday afternoon, we get two messages on our answering machine. The first one is from a boy who is YELLING about my little darling stealing his drumsticks (apparently, the pair she found, used, and left in the band hall). So, he says he took hers because she (and I quote) "pissed [him] off by fucking with [his] sticks!" The second message is a softer voice, giving a name and apologizing, saying the other message was a prank and ignore it.

This morning, after we left for school (and before school started), another message was left by the first voice, saying she'd messed with his sticks again. (How this happened between closing of school and before it opened is beyond me).

I started making calls last night. Band teacher. School counselor. Principal. They've all now heard the messages. It's been determined that the voices do not belong to the kid named, but to two other 8th grade boys.....who happen to pick on this other kid mercilessly. Now, they've involved my daughter in this kid's problems.

Nice.

Now, I'm not saying 8th grade girls are angels. They're just a whole other brand of mean.

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I'm a techno-junkie geek

I have a new toy. I finally got paid for all the extra work I have done for Old Boss. So, I got a treat, Blogget-style. (and I apologize for the bad camera phone pic)


A new iPod Nano with video. I just about can't stand myself, I'm so tickled! What a dork, eh?

And this dork is a little pissed. I can't find ANY accessories for the thing, like cases and crap like that! The stores stock the gadget, but not all the nifties to go with it! SUPER ugh!!

Someone dropped the ball. All over the country, there are geeks like me standing aghast in the stores, money in-hand, lower lip quivering, saying, "What? No cases? You don't have cases? I have money! And you don't even have silicon color-coordinated earbud covers!"

Fine. Ugh.