What a day!
Sep. 10th, 2004 11:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
auntiemeeshAll of this unpleasant rain and damp has caused an unfortunate odor of cat to rise up from the basement. This means that instead of writing chapter 13 (an unlucky number if ever there was one), I get to clean all weekend. I think I'll do a bit of writing tonight but I wanted to spend the weekend glued to my computer and so I'm pouting because I'm not able to be self-indulgent and lazy this weekend. :(
On the other hand, I'm waiting to see if Mr. X calls this weekend. It would be nice to have a date tomorrow night, or even Sunday night, but only time will tell on that front.
I was feeling a bit outraged at work today. Last year our room made a DVD of the children, which we sold to the parents as a fund-raiser. We had one of the parents help us with the editing and then had a local company burn the DVDs for us. Well, this parent (who does this for a living and claims to have sold segments to National Geographic) has decided to go ahead and offer his services to the entire center. For each room that has ten parents sign up, he will come in and make a professionally filmed and edited DVD of the children in that room, which he will sell to the parents, for a measly $100 per copy. The parents have to provide a $50 deposit before he will start filming. This money goes straight into his pocket and will certainly provide a huge profit margin. I realize he is charging for the time he has to spend in each room filming, as well as the time it takes to edit and burn the DVDs but still, that is just a ridiculous amount of money to ask these parents to pay.
The teachers in our room have talked it over and decided it is not fair to ask this of the parents. I was a bit on the fence about whether to do the DVD this year, but we have decided to go ahead and do it ourselves again. Luckily I have a friend who can do the editing, etc for us, as long as we film everything with a miniDV digital camcorder. I don't think this is what we used last year, which means we have to use the profits from last year's sale, plus our film money for the year, and probably each teacher will have to chip in some money as well, to buy a new one, but it will be worth it. To be able to tell this parent that he cannot get away with such terrible highway robbery will be a lovely thing.
And now for something completely different.
I was babysitting tonight for a family that has a toddler and two cats. The toddler was a dream but one of the cats brought a dead mouse into the house, leaving me to deal with it. Of course, there were no paper towels or anything lying about so I had to pick the thing up by it's tail to throw it outside. *shudder*
On the plus side, my computer seems to be moving a little bit faster so the surgery has been at least temporarily postponed. Yay!
On the other hand, I'm waiting to see if Mr. X calls this weekend. It would be nice to have a date tomorrow night, or even Sunday night, but only time will tell on that front.
I was feeling a bit outraged at work today. Last year our room made a DVD of the children, which we sold to the parents as a fund-raiser. We had one of the parents help us with the editing and then had a local company burn the DVDs for us. Well, this parent (who does this for a living and claims to have sold segments to National Geographic) has decided to go ahead and offer his services to the entire center. For each room that has ten parents sign up, he will come in and make a professionally filmed and edited DVD of the children in that room, which he will sell to the parents, for a measly $100 per copy. The parents have to provide a $50 deposit before he will start filming. This money goes straight into his pocket and will certainly provide a huge profit margin. I realize he is charging for the time he has to spend in each room filming, as well as the time it takes to edit and burn the DVDs but still, that is just a ridiculous amount of money to ask these parents to pay.
The teachers in our room have talked it over and decided it is not fair to ask this of the parents. I was a bit on the fence about whether to do the DVD this year, but we have decided to go ahead and do it ourselves again. Luckily I have a friend who can do the editing, etc for us, as long as we film everything with a miniDV digital camcorder. I don't think this is what we used last year, which means we have to use the profits from last year's sale, plus our film money for the year, and probably each teacher will have to chip in some money as well, to buy a new one, but it will be worth it. To be able to tell this parent that he cannot get away with such terrible highway robbery will be a lovely thing.
And now for something completely different.
I was babysitting tonight for a family that has a toddler and two cats. The toddler was a dream but one of the cats brought a dead mouse into the house, leaving me to deal with it. Of course, there were no paper towels or anything lying about so I had to pick the thing up by it's tail to throw it outside. *shudder*
On the plus side, my computer seems to be moving a little bit faster so the surgery has been at least temporarily postponed. Yay!
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no subject
Date: 2004-09-10 10:15 pm (UTC)As to your cat story, I was once giving a party for some friends from work when suddenly the very small daughter of a co-worker looks out on my porch and says, "Look, a dead mouse!" Sure enough, my cat had brought a gift to my party! It made a really great impression before we sat down to eat. LOL
no subject
Date: 2004-09-11 06:57 am (UTC)Thanks. Ours should turn out pretty well. I just feel bad for all the parents in the other classrooms whose teachers won't be able to provide them with an option. There are families that want the DVD to send to far-off family members. One of the parents in my room had signed up because her husband is in the army and hasn't been home in close to a year. He is being sent to Iraq within the next few weeks and she wants to be able to send him something that will give him a connection to home. I'm sure there are other parents who feel the same.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-11 02:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-11 02:01 am (UTC)That parent does sound horrible, trying to make a profit out of the fundraiser like that. I wouldn't hire him.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-11 07:00 am (UTC)That parent does sound horrible, trying to make a profit out of the fundraiser like that. I wouldn't hire him.
I'm hoping he doesn't get enough response from the parents to make it worth his while to do it.