Breaking USPS

My current* congressman sent out a fundraising email and referenced a threat to vote-by-mail. Via NPR: 

The U.S. Postal Service could "derail" the midterm election if it continues rushing out "untested" technology as part of President Trump's push to restrict mail-in voting, a newly released whistleblower report warns.

With voting by mail for the midterms set to officially start this week, key parts of the USPS plan for carrying out Trump's directives, including requirements for states to comply, remain blocked for now by a court order in the legal fight over the president's executive order.

Still, the mailing agency has been preparing for months to launch an online portal that would allow state election officials to submit absentee voters' names and ballot envelope barcodes required by the now-blocked rule.

This is worrying in California as they mail us all mail-in ballots. I have really enjoyed this convenience. Because of course they want to break all the good things that we have. 

People are fighting back, and hopefully these new rules won't be implemented this year. It's all about making new rules to break the system. They claim it's to prevent voter fraud, but voter fraud is such a minor problem. It's just an excuse. 

So, pay attention if you're doing vote-by-mail. They want to disenfranchise you. Don't let them. 

*After this election he'll be my former congressman as the redistricting puts me in a different district. 

A New Beginning

The reluctant sweater is kind of on a break, and I haven't had the time and space to continue the ugly slippers video, so I did what any reasonable person would do. I started a new project. 

No, I'm not going to tell you what it is. As I'm working it backwards (kind of), I'm not expecting anyone to have any idea, either. 

I should be in more of an explain-y mood next week. At which point there should be more to see. Maybe. 

Absence Modified

Thursday, while sitting in the teacher's lounge/workroom in the main office, a job popped up on the subbing app. A job I was kind of shocked to see. 

The previous Friday, Mr. K at the continuation high school had texted me to see if I was available to sub for him the following Friday. I said no as I didn't know how long the vacant success class would go, and so I was booked through the week. 

I had assumed that Mr. K had put in the request that day. Apparently not. 

I don't look too closely when jobs pop up, because if I don't grab it quickly enough, I miss it. (I'll click "accept" and then be told that another sub was already assigned to the job.) It wasn't until I got the "successfully booked" message that I looked to see what I had snagged. 

I was surprised to see the assignment for the next day. But there was a problem. It showed as a half day, afternoon. This I knew to be wrong as the continuation high school only has morning classes on Fridays. 

So, I called the school. 

I knew the secretary could fix the assignment, and I knew which secretary to call. When the system picked up, it asked me to dial the extension of the person I wanted. And then it told me that extension didn't exist. Deep sigh. 

The phone list I had for the school was from the 2023-24 school year. 

Well, I knew the front office staff. I dialed O for someone to pick up, and I recognized the voice. "Hi, Shelly. Could you please transfer me to Sabrina?" 

And when Sabrina picked up, I identified myself and told her what had happened. 

She was hesitant to touch the assignment as she didn't want me to be booted from it. I assured her that I get "absence modified" notifications all the time. So, she fixed it, and I retained the assignment. 

Of course, part of me just wondered if something went wonky and put in a job that didn't exist. But no. Mr. K just put in his absence the day before. (He is out a lot. I think he's trying to fly under the radar sometimes with his sub requests.) 

Fridays are pretty mellow at the continuation high school. Not much happened. But at least I had the sweet, sweet air conditioning. (The kiddos complained it was too cold in the room. I. Did. Not. Care. It's been icky hot here.) 

And Just Like That...

Tuesday. Lunch. 

I had just finished getting the students into their online gradebook (see yesterday's post), and I was organizing my stuff as things kind of go all over the place during class. The classroom door opened, and in walked a stranger to me. 

He identified himself as Mr. N, the new teacher. 

I had heard the prior Friday before leaving school that they had hired someone. We were in waiting mode, waiting for his paperwork to clear. As soon as it did, he could start. 

Mr. N told me he was starting Wednesday. 

All-righty, then. 

They gave us two days of transition. Mr. N needed the time to get his feet under him. I showed him what was up with the success classes. He was also hired as the school's new athletic director, so he had a lot of stuff on his plate. (It's been crazy without someone in that position as the school year begins.) 

But Mr. N is close in age to me. He's been at several schools. He's taught, coached, and done all the educational things, so he knows what he's in for. They're in good hands. 

That was the gig I signed up for. This is probably the shortest vacant position I've ever done. That's a good thing, really. 

And now, back to the day-to-day subbing of it all. 

(I told the kiddos this wasn't goodbye. I'd be around. A lot. And I will.) 

Winning

I connected with the middle school assistant principal, and she sent me a bunch of resources for the seventh grade success classes I was covering while the school was in process of hiring the teacher. In those resources was an offer that the counselors had made of coming to the class to help the seventh graders create accounts so they could access their online gradebook. 

After the previous week's debacle, you'd think I'd reach out to the counselors and have them help. Wouldn't you? Yeah, that's not how I roll. 

I could do this. 

The school is on a block schedule, so the class I met on Monday was not the class I had the issues with on Friday. Rather than chance another computer mix up, I put the students' credentials on paper that I handed out to them. 

I went through the slideshow. And I had the same issues I had Friday. 

"You have to create the password. Just make one up."

"It's giving you an error message? Did your password contain one capital letter, one number, and one special character?"

"Just go to your email and click on the 'confirm email address'. No, don't put in a code..."

Oh, and they had no idea how to find their email. 

Hands in the air, and I'd go over to find that they just weren't listening to my instructions. They plowed ahead, and then they got stuck. I'd have to answer the same question individually several times. So, basically what I expected. 

I handed out their credentials. I went back to showing them how to log back into the account they just created. "No, you don't have to do this screen again. You created the account. See how it says this account exists." 

And then, suddenly, they were all in. Poof. 

I just... 

I looked around, and they were looking at their grades. (I had not input any grades yet, but other teachers had. Their history teacher had maybe one assignment, so pretty much everyone had an A+ in that class. Some were amazed.) 

The feeling of accomplishment overwhelmed me. They did it! Mission accomplished. 

I won the day. Whew. 

Yeah, I knew I could get them through it. 

(As for the other class, the lady at the district office sent me an email early Monday morning. She had disconnected all the accounts that were attached to Sadie's info. This time I put their credentials on paper, and that worked. They got it all set up, too.)

In the Hands of ICE

I got another fundraising email from my current congressional representative. (I'm a little irked, though, as I learned in the primary election that come January I will no longer be in his district.) And it contained information I had not heard. So, I looked it up, and, via AP News: 

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has awarded a $16.7 million contract to purchase 6,000 pairs of gloves that can deliver painful electric shocks, saying officers would use them to control detainees and protesters who resist.

ICE moved forward with the purchase despite opposition from civil rights advocates and Democratic members of Congress, who said ICE officers cannot be trusted to use them appropriately.

Now, that's chilling. (You can find the full article here.) 

And those things can kill people. (Although, ICE has been killing people just fine without them.) I mean, tasers aren't as safe as we think they are... 

My congressperson had a petition to sign. You might want to call your reps and let them know of your displeasure over this.

Blooper Reel

I have started recording the video. 

I am making slippers that look like this: 

(It's been too hot to think, plus I've been busy at work, so my brain hasn't been in reluctant sweater mode. I'll get back to it once things cool off.)

I got a new light/camera holder since I recorded the last video, so there was a bit of a learning curve. I can set the camera up higher. My first attempt to demonstrate something ended up being below what the camera recorded. Oops. 

So, to make sure I kept my hands in camera range, I stuck some blue tape on my surface. But, as I moved around and recorded and such, the camera moved a bit. I had recorded everything I wanted to do, and then I checked what came out on camera. The blue tape? Had drifted into the shot. Most of what I recorded was unusable. 

Deep sigh. 

I had to rip out what I had done and shoot it again. 

And then there are the usual bloopers. Like...

But progress. 

I knit a bunch off camera (no need to continue to demonstrate the two rows that repeat), and when I get another moment when I can, it's back to recording more video. 

I won't promise when this will get done. Once it gets done, it'll have to go to my brother for editing, and that can take some time. But, it'll be up sooner or later. I'll announce when.