Four Hours and Counting...

I have now been sitting at my computer for four hours and counting attempting to register for my stupid content and pedegogy exams on the Texas Education Agency site. This morning while looking at some of my papers for student teaching I realized that the deadline for this registration was TODAY!!!!! As soon as I got home from work, I got online to sign up for the tests.

Apparently, every other student teacher in the state of Texas also put off registration until tonight. The website is running very slowly and keeps kicking me off.

Frustration does not even begin to describe what I am currently feeling. Any of my friends know that (though I am married to a programming geek) I hate computers and would never voluntarily sit in front of one for four plus hours at a time. This blog is completly the fault of the TEA site. Since I had to be at the computer non-stop (in the crazy event that a page would actually load-- it would happen in the two seconds that I ran to my room to fetch my book), I read Emerald's blog and since I was actually caught up on it, I starting reading all the blogs that are linked to her blog. Five blogger ads later, I decided I should have one too. After all, I have plenty to vent about.

Venting--The TEA site is not designed to handle high traffic. And it's stupid to start with. First you have to click the registration button and wait forever as it decides which tests you are eligible to take ( read your professor told them you can take it). Then you have to pick one of those tests from a drop down menu and wait forever agian as it processes that choice. If you are lucky and don't get kicked off of the site due to "High Traffic" or a time out error, you get to choose where (city) you want to take the test. More waiting with bated breath and crossed fingers ensues. If you are extremely fortunate, you now move on to yet another drop down menu with testing locations within that city. Even more waiting. Then you choose from the test dates. More waiting, praying, and fasting (remember that I can't leave out fear that I will be timed off the site...) follows. The highly favored of God get a last option wherein they choose a test time. If all goes well this time, you get to push the "next" button, that supposed moves you to the next screen where supposedly you get to verify your choices for the exam. I say supposedly, because I have not yet made it to this screen. I keep getting kicked off of the system at various waiting periods. I am now on my seventh (or is this the eighth) attempt to register for "a" test, never mind both of the ones I need. Hopefully, the site will decide it likes me before midnight and I will have a chance to teach this coming August....