>Random thoughts from a schoolteacher who spends the day with lots of wonderful, lovable, but germ-filled little kids.

My class picked a fine time to run out of tissue.
I’m devious enough to hide a box of Puffs with lotion in the cupboard behind my desk.

The industrial sized bottle of hand sanitizer is almost empty.

Good thing I have my own mini in my desk drawer.

It’s allergy season (for many, including me).
Maybe the class parents will send in a few boxes of tissue after their own kids use their sleeves once too often.

And the kids wonder why I don’t let them use my pens and pencils – I have a separate can for their supply of spares.
Germ phobic? Maybe. I don’t want to touch a kid’s pencil or pen without reaching for hand sanitizer immediately. Monk-like? Adrian, not Thelonius.

I clean the computer keyboards and mouses (mice?) frequently.
I have a pod of four computers; my class of 24 shares them. I can only imagine how many colds have spread this way.

I must stop eating lunch at my desk. That’s really an unsanitary practice. Not to mention the way the crumbs in the computer keyboard make it hard to type!

I really, really must stop applying swine flu hysteria to my teaching. I have enough to worry about! Remind me again — how many Mondays until June?

And more: Mother Nature Network has a great feature on swine flu information vs. media hysteria. My favorite part is this headline: