How Are You Going to Spend Your Half-Week Off?

I'm not bitter about losing the mid-winter recess. After all, I had big fun the week of October 29th, walking through a foot of water to get to what was left of my house. It was great being homeless for six weeks, and the least I can do for Mayor Bloomberg is give up a frivolous family vacation. I've no doubt my students will be thrilled to come in as well.

As if that's not enough, the DOE, in its infinite wisdom, has decreed that June 24th and 25th will be student attendance days. This is because there's nothing better than bringing kids in after they've finished the course and taken the exams. There's no one more motivated than a teenager who know there's no good reason to come back to school, and I'm sure a couple of days with 20% attendance won't bother Mayor Bloomberg. He can always blame the teachers and penalize the schools.

On a personal note, FEMA has finally paid out on our flood insurance. I brought the check to my bank, the Municipal Credit Union, and they refused to sign it over to me. They said they wanted estimates. It was an odd request, as I'd sent them all to FEMA and they'd never shown the remotest interest. In fact, the check from FEMA was for more than I had outstanding on the mortgage. I told them to take what I owed and give me the rest, but they refused. They don't do things like that, they said. FEMA has rules, they said. But when I called FEMA, they said it was the bank's rules, not theirs.

Today I went to another branch and some woman who was not crazy helped me. I personally consider being not crazy to be a great virtue. She called the mortgage department, who said yes they would take full payment from the FEMA check if only I signed and faxed them some stuff.

I'd been planning to take all that money and party intensely  for half a week, but I suppose that will have to wait. So seriously, what can you do in four days that's really worth doing?

I'm up for anything that doesn't involve going to a bank.