Apple

Dear Familia,

As you all know, I am a serious Apple fan. The very first computer I ever owned (Thank you Auntie Lisa) and every computer I've owned since then has been a Mac and I've had various versions of the ever-evolving ipod. I could go on and on about why I'm a Mac vs PC girl, but I think it all boils down to the fact that Apple just has better customer care. AppleCare is by far the best technical support/warranty program I've ever had or ever heard of others having. Plus, Apple products are just designed better...in every sense of the word.

I knew that I would need a part-time job this summer and when I found out I would be in Georgetown with Zane, I decided to apply to an Apple Store. I already have retail experience and I know how flexible big stores can be with schedules. Plus, the employee discount ;) A couple months and 3 interviews later and I got the job! Unfortunately, they didn't have any Georgetown openings so I will be at the Clarendon store just a quick bus/metro ride away. I go in this afternoon to do paperwork and then I'm sure I'll start next week sometime. We have our own employee page that had a mini-orientation on all things Apple. I am going to share some of the fun links now.

The Mac vs PC choice was pretty easy for me, but you can learn more about switching if you click the picture above. Remember these hilarious Mac vs PC videos (and how TMobile aka worst company ever stole them?) This one highlights another huge plus for Macs...I've never had to deal with viruses :)

Everything you need to know about Mac...in case you were missing school over summer break ;)

Even just waiting in the store for my interviews I learned new things about how Macs operate. I think this is going be a very educational position. I'll let you know some more fun things as I learn more and more.

Love,

Jem

Substitute Teaching

Dear Familia,

So I started substitute teaching in January and so far it's been...interesting. I've taught every grade from k-12 and done Math, English, Science, Art, and even sports (hilarious). Some days are amazing and some days seriously test my patience. For example, today I had to call security twice at the shall-remain-nameless high school where I was covering a Math class. Once the kids were literally lighting things on fire and once one of the kids refused to give me his name when I was writing him up. I actually didn't call security the second time, but they showed up and I let them deal with his attitude. Outrageous. I've only been to Mountain View once and haven't been to Kino at all which makes me super sad. Skyline High has been my favorite school so far and I even have a favorite class of kids. They make me want to ditch the masters track and sign up to get my teaching certificate (Amundsen's 4th hour, you are superb).

It's a pretty amazing feeling to teach someone how to do something and even more amazing just to get to connect with students on a day-to-day basis. Only having classes for a day is really hard even on days like today. I want to be able to stay with those kids and help them realize that they should be taking full advantage of a FREE education. Even if Arizona is behind in the US education game, Mesa has one of the best districts in the state and we are light years ahead of countries like Guatemala. I had some incredible teachers over the years that truly inspire and motivate me to this day and it is pretty special to even be a tiny bit connected to this profession!

Paz,

Jem