Ever had a day when everything goes wrong?

That was yesterday for me. My day started at 5:20 a.m. because I had a long drive to my first class at 8:00 a.m. and then a circling adventure of finding a parking space. The lab assistant was late so we had to wait outside for a long time. Finally, with only a few minutes to spare, we were able to get in. So taught my first section -- no major problems.

Then comes my second section and major headaches begin. First, we get a Blogger announcement that new accounts won't be accepted. OK, fine -- can wait until next week. Next, BlackBoard refuses to work so we really can't do anything else. I decided to improvise rather than waste the time and taught a lesson on Word but could not go over the main requirements because BlackBoard is still down. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr... So I had to let my students go early, asking them to login and complete the assignment in Word since I did demo the basic requirements. Not a good way to start your semester, huh?

Drove back to Tiny Town for my office hours, planning to finish an assignment for one of my own courses. Yeah, good luck with that -- phone kept ringing, students kept showing up at my door. Taught a night class. Everything was working fine until AIM stopped accepting new accounts. What's with new account creation today??? We had plenty of other things to do so I guess it was fine.

Do you think my day was over? Nope! My crazy brother decided to spend a few days with me before going back to school on Monday and drove his restored 67 Mustang to Tiny Town. Apparently, he was tinkering with that car the day before and didn't connect alternator wires properly so his pride (piece of junk in my opinion) died halfway down and I had to rescue him. Before I even got there, this crazy redneck approached him at the gas station and offered to jumpstart the car. Alex agreed, not realizing that the guy would demand payment. I get there and they guy is demanding $15!!! Since I don't normally carry cash, I have to withdraw money from the ATM to appease the guy. Do you know what really makes me mad? The guy didn't help at all! The car died again before I even got there because battery was not charging and it was possible to drive only for a short distance before jumpstarting it again.

Anyway, we used my car to jumpstart Alex's piece of junk and he followed me to my house, driving w/out lights to conserve power. Mom and Dad were going ballistic by that time, of course, and so I spent another hour on the phone assuring them that everything was taken care of, that Alex won't go anywhere today since I am working all day, that we will fix the car on Thursday, etc.

So far, today is much better... :)