Once upon a time I was a substitute teacher and let me just tell you, it was HARD! I filled in for all ages, from early elementary all the way up to high school. There are plenty of embarrassing stories I could tell you but I’ll save those for another post. Yesterday I couldn’t help but wonder what will happen in this new Covid-19 world we live in where, at least in America, many teachers are teaching 100% online. Virtual. Livestream. I think it’s going to be a relief for a lot of elementary teachers who no longer have to babysit but now can actually teach (sidenote: this will be a lot harder on parents, but that’s also a post for another day).

What happens when a teacher calls out sick? Are there substitute teachers qualified and up to speed on the new protocols for teaching? I did a little digging and in the years since I was a substitute, it appears the process is a bit more organized. Back then, any sub who was available may or may not receive a phone call the morning they were needed and they’d have to gitty-on-up to the designated school. It was a bit stressful and definitely unpredictable. From what I read while researching, counties have a pool of subs that are potentially ready to jump in as needed.

In a coronavirus world, I think that’s a good start to solving a possibly huge problem. As if the regular teachers and students didn’t already have a lot on their plate with the new online teaching, this could be another hurdle to students learning.

I guess we’ll see what happens as schools open up and navigate through the ups and downs of a roller coaster that’s a lot like Disney’s Space Mountain. You’re on the coaster, but you have no idea where it’s going next.

-Out of the Wilderness

The day I got this new LG Stylo 6 was a whirlwind! If you want to read the play-by-play, click here. The background of how I got the phone will add depth to today’s post. I’ve now had the phone for a full day and well, so far so good. I haven’t had time to really dive into the settings and apps and functions of the phone but I’ll do that soon because I love technology.

For the longest time I was keeping a look-out for a new phone because while the Nokia 6.1 was very acceptable, I knew the time was coming where it was going to become more annoying than a phone should be. The first signal was when the phone would randomly change the time of day. Not a big deal, really, but messages and conversations were all screwed up because the phone thought a message was coming in on Monday at 2pm. Reality is that the message just arrived and it’s 8pm Friday. Weird. It could also be detrimental if you have an alarm set for 7am and the phone has the wrong time.

So I knew the end was near. Well, “the end” came a lot sooner than I had planned. That’s the debacle I was in late Thursday night into Friday morning. A couple hours before I normally go to sleep, the phone shut down. When I tried to power it on, it would show the “Google One” screen, then turn off, only to go back to the “Google One” screen seconds later. It was in some kind of cycle I couldn’t fix, turning off and on and off and on endlessly.

Actually the problem started a few hours earlier than this. I was on a jog around the neighborhood and this is the first time the phone shut down for no apparent reason. I was able to get it powered up again, but since that moment, it wasn’t really ever the same.

Fast forward to bed time and the phone was still acting funky. I just let it do its thing, thinking once the battery dies I can charge it and maybe it’ll reset back to normal. Nope. Friday morning, almost full power and still having end-of-life problems. Work plans were already in motion for Friday morning so now I had to scramble to make sure this work coming up wasn’t affected too much by the phone situation. You see, the phone was an integral part of the upcoming work, even down to the very basic part of driving to the location. I needed navigation! Once I was at the work site, I needed the phone’s network to do the job I was assigned to do. Without a phone, there was no accomplishing the work.

Long story short, I went to a Verizon store and made sure to be the first person in line so I could get in and out asap. I don’t like making impulse decisions, and while I have been researching phones for months, I didn’t want to just pick one willy nilly in the store. But I had to. They didn’t have any Motorola’s I liked, so I went with the LG Stylo 6.

In the 24 hours I’ve had the phone, I give it 5 stars simply based on how it saved my work day. Navigation was good, although it DID bring me to some random farm miles away from where I needed to be. I don’t blame LG for that, it’s got to be Google Maps fault on that one. I used the hotspot for an hour or so and it worked flawlessly.

In conclusion, early Friday morning I prayed to God that the situation would be resolved so I could do the work I was assigned to do. As my brother once quoted, “Pray as if it all depends on God, work as if it all depends on you.” Friday felt like one of those days where even after I prayed, I needed a plan. I’m grateful God saw it through, and grateful He gave me the ability to think and act on a variety of solutions, as well as having pretty much a flawless experience at the Verizon store transitioning to a new phone.

-Out of the Wilderness

The best way I can share this story is by simply giving you the play-by-play in short segments, sometimes not even full sentences. My life was a 12-hour stretch where a “choose your own adventure” book married a roller coaster. So buckle up, here we go…

Thurs night phone dies. Never recovers. Charge it, nothing. Let battery run out to reset it, nothing. Not a big deal except I need phone for navigation AND need hotspot for work-related work Friday morning. Supposed to have hotspot on by 10am. Fri morning, phone still dead. All options: buy new phone, borrow phone, activate old phone, buy hotspot device, cancel meeting. Buy new phone is best, Verizon doesn’t open till 10am, when meeting starts. Crap. 10am meeting moves to 11am. Get to Verizon at 930am. Wait. At least I’m first in line. Doors open. Updated options: activate old phone, buy new phone, buy hotspot. I want Motorola. I get LG. Directions send me to farm with 1 mile long gravel driveway. Tennessee gravel = I need a Jeep. Arrive at 1110am. Wrong address. Retrace path back down 1 mile long “gravel” driveway. Crap. Arrive at correct location 1130am. New phone IS working and provides Hotspot as required. Me = relieved and yet, still annoyed at predicament causing all the problems.

Work completed. New phone was clutch. Old phone is devil.

Need nap.

-Out of the Wilderness