All these things that I have done

So, I've actually managed to fill up my Dropbox, which is annoying. I've got a couple of zip files of archived material which could easily be moved out but I'm trying to figure out where to put them! USB sticks tend to get lost and are a pain to use from multiple locations anyway so I'd prefer cloud storage. Does anyone have any recommendations for large long term file storage?

I seem to have managed to bizarrely somehow sprain or do something weird to my hand! No, not like that, you dirty minded people! I would blame Rock Band because I did do something very odd to my arm muscle playing Satellite Radio last night but that was the other arm. Anyway, the upshot of this is that it now hurts to make tea because I can't pick up the kettle properly! It's lucky that the universe, although it likes mocking me, has provided me with an excellent high quality tea making boyfriend to pick up the slack of those cups of tea I would otherwise make for myself :)

Well, if I had any doubts about whether it was worthwhile buying my tablet, I can be reassured by the fact that I left it at school accidentally (at least I really hope I did - I was using it to read an ebook to my class so that we'd have enough copies that they could read along with regular books) and am really really missing it today. Normally I would lie around and read a book in bed and then get up and futz around on the internet while sitting in my comfy chair with it. I am actually missing it enough that I popped over to school because I thought they were open for ballet classes and stuff (they weren't actually, which was annoying) to see if I could find it.

In other only semi-in-my-brain related news, this is the first week in which Alex has gone to Oxfam and will be buying books which will end up at school which will actually be paid for by school money! I talked to Rach (our head) and she's agreed to fund us improving our bookshelves by, you know, having some books on them through giving Alex a list of writers and just buying the bloody things. I asked my class for suggestions and got a list of about 20 authors so that should keep us busy for a while!

Also, I am spending far too much time thinking about the experience machine. I wish I could do the last assignment on it but the question about it bears no relation to my thoughts on it so I might have to do something else! I have now started the registration process for my next OU course (Themes in the history of Wales), which is a small one so that I can also do a Masters level course next year without buggering up my transitional funding arrangements for my OU study. My school are offering/asking to fund me to train as a Mathematics Specialist Teacher. It looks interesting and comes to 60 points of Masters study (out of 180) over two years. I emailed Oxfordshire to ask about applying and got an email back saying "Yes, you can totally have a place!" which was a bit unnerving, but I think Rachel had already talked to the person there about me so hopefully it's just that and not that anyone can have a place for the asking! As a result, I'm also being made Maths co-ordinator, as our current one is about to go off and have a baby, so I'm also going to be applying for a salary bump, which I really hope I get as it comes with extra non-contact time attached so I'll be able to cover the extra work! It's a really good opportunity, but I feel very early in my teaching career to be taking on this much responsibility! There seem to be a lot of exclamation marks in there, which feels not quite right. There should be an uncertainty mark or something that I could use.

So, it looks like the latest version of Android will let me run two browsers simultaneously - the older one used to ask you which browser you wanted to use every time you clicked a link in the non default one. This means I can keep this one logged in on my tablet, which will hopefully get me to post more (you never know!).

Am generally enjoying the upgrade to ICS although I miss the old typewriter keyboard sounds. Not sure what the new one is - maracas? Still, I love the resizable widgets thing - means a lot of them are much more useful on the tablet.

I have to concede that my tutor is a lot better than me at getting her marking done! The closing date for my last effort was the 5th and I've just had it back today, which is very pleasing. Also, I seem to have cracked it with regards to the structural stuff because I got a 95 this time - very gratifying! Of course, I find it much easier to structure philosophy essays for some reason - I guess it's because the sources tend to be very structured so it's easier to see the best way to organise things.

Now all I have left of this course is the reflective TMA (which will be tricky as I always find reflection hard to write without feeling too self obsessed) and the EMA, for which I have a choice of three - one about the seaside and codes of behaviour, which doesn't interest me at all (although I haven't read the chapter yet, so who knows), one about sacred space and tourism, which I think is a really interesting question but the course materials only seem to approach rather obliquely so would need a lot of work, and one about the seaside as "experience machine" which, while I found the experience machine a very interesting thought experiment, doesn't really appeal as it implys a way of thinking about it which is totally contrary to the way that I have been and so would be a bit of a strain.

The downside of this mark, as oxfordslacker pointed out is that now if I hit distinction on the last two assignments I can get distinction overall so I will have to really make the effort :)

Have also been spending time since we got back from Italy (lovely lovely holiday) sorting out the house. Managed to get a huge amount of tidying done on Saturday - felt very productive - and then gardening on Sunday, although I've neglected that for so long that there is still absolutely loads to do to get it into a fit state for summer. Still haven't heard back from the builder about doing the decking - might have to look around for quotes, methinks.

Woo hoo! Got my fourth TMA back and got another 85! Am feeling very pleased with myself as I wasn't at all happy that I'd managed to pull together a coherant argument - it wasn't a question that leant itself to a focused answer very easily. I think I can do better, but that's cool - I still have 2 essays and an EMA to prove that in (plus the reflective thingie, but I'm not counting that :) ). Have a horrible feeling that I have to submit the EMA through the post - must make sure that I remember that and give myself deadline time to actually get it posted! Have skipped one chapter (the Shostakovich) but might go back and catch up on that over half term, particularly as am feeling motivated to read the next Benin chapter this evening, so will be ahead of myself, which will be good. I might even get the next TMA done earlier that the week of the hand in date :)

Am dithering about what to do next. I could do the second year philosophy course, which would be very interesting and I could theoretically do with Ruth but has an exam at the end which I would have to find time to revise for (I have checked and school would be OK with me taking an afternoon off to do it) or I could do the third year history course I want to do, which would also be interesting but presumably harder TMAs. I'm leaning towards option a, but just a bit worried about the exam.

So, it's posting or marking so I thought I'd post something :) Had a slightly disturbing experience this afternoon when I plugged in the laptop trolley at school and it caused sparks to appear from the plug! I mean I know it has problems, but I've never seen it do that before! Will have to get the caretaker to change the plug fuse now before we can recharge the laptops. Ah well.

Am getting my first professional massage tomorrow, which is quite exciting. Perhaps I will be all laid back after that - should ask my class to see if they can tell the difference :)

Dear people who've been paying more attention than me,

In the light of the SOPA and PIPA legislation going through US legislatures, should I be worried about hosting my data on US sites? These seem like blanket ban type things - will LJ or DW be knocked off air if they're passed?

How's it hanging? New term is off to a reasonable start. Most of my naughty children have come back fairly well behaved and the one or two who haven't, I know why (home upheavals imminent, basically) so that's fairly good. I planned a good 3 day set of Literacy and Maths lessons which have worked really well and am generally feeling quite positive and motivated to do things.

Well, things other than my OU essay, anyway. I have seriously stalled on the poetry, which is not good because it is due in on Friday. I'm just finding it really hard to be interested in the poems we're reading. It's much rarer for poetry to grab me in general, and I always expected this assignment to be hard. I expect once I sit down and write it, it'll go OK, but still, I should get on with it. I guess one of the benefits I will get out of this OU course is writing more entries in here to procrastinate :)

Am really enjoying using the ActivExpression handsets we bought for school. The only downside is that they can slow things down a little bit. I might start setting a time limit on some of the questions and see how that works. Also, I must start looking at the results after the lesson and work out how to save/review them so that I can show my collegues. I have actually volunteered to do the sharing assembly in a couple of weeks time so that we can show them off!

There's a girl in my class who really reminds me of me at that age. She's bright, reads loads and is very into tech - she was showing me the website she made using Google sites in ICT and is learning to write in Python, with help from her Dad. She's going to be a proper geek when she grows up, I think! Although she is good at poetry, so not entirely like me :)

One of my favourite New Year traditions is listening to Correspondants Look Ahead - highly informed, intelligent, friendly discussion between BBC senior correspondants about what will happen in the next year, plus a little bit of gentle ribbing about what people said last year. I was actually amazed at how much they did get right from last year - I had forgotten that Tunisia had already started by this time last year and Stephen Sacker predicted upheaval in Egypt, although he didn't go as far as it eventually did. The economics correspondant who's name escapes me (Paul Mason?) predicted defaults in Europe, although predicted Spain rather than Italy. It's a pretty impressive display.

The most interesting thing I've realised from listening this year is that there are presidential elections in the USA, Russia, China and France this year which is quite a startling selection of top table powers. Someone just predicted that possibly Jeb Bush will be so horrified by the paucity in the Republican field that he'll have to step up and might possibly be the only republican who could beat Obama, which is a horrible thought. No-one knows much about the Chinese candidate, even the correspondants, which is interesting in itself. In Russia, I personally think Putin will still win, but who knows what will happen after that. That's been the piece of news that's most amazed me this year - anti Putin protests in Russia. I never thought I'd see that.

Anyway, I highly recommend it. I wish they did it more often - perhaps twice a year, although you couldn't do it too often and retain the charm. In a completely different vein, by the way, the News Quiz Panto was hilarious - listened to in on the way home from visiting marta_u and Rachel to reminince about our university days, which was actually great. It's so long since I've seen them that I was slightly nervous but it was really relaxing and we talked for ages as well as watching a dreadful film (The Adjustment Bureau) once we got too sleepy for conversation :)