Liquid Crystal Frustration

It's amazing how easy it is to take certain aspects of technology for granted. Especially growing up in my family, my father working in a technology assistance program that approves grants for tech equipment in public schools and conducts seminars for teachers on new software and equipment. Besides feeling the pressure from old dad, I also felt like technology was just a natural thing to integrate into lesson planning. As my father puts it "it's a big buzz in the tech world lately. "Digital native and digital immigrant" It's like in language. Your generation has different skills and expectations, because it was the world you were born into"
Translation: Stop being a baby because your school only has one LCD projector, and no other teacher knows how to work it.
I think I had a right to be frustrated. It took me three freakin' days of dealing with this cursed machine to get it working. And not because I was a dumb ass (as one might have expected. And by "one" I mean Mr. Taco Fighter). Because there were cables missing that I had to go hunt teachers down for. I needed a Mac adapter. I ended up needing a whole new machine because the one they had liked to project its menu screen and nothing else. It was one thing after another, and the only thing that kept me going was how confident I was that the digital slide show I put together was going to wow my kids with its neat-o transitions and colorful display.
The slides were all from this community art project, all amateur contributors, that I felt the students were going to not only relate to the themes we have been looking at, but also to their personal lives.
So so wrong. They were bored the entire time. I got two kids pretty amped, and that was about it. The rest of them were yawning. The other rest of them were actually falling asleep.
I felt like throwing the replacement machine against the wall.
In another frustrated baby fit I tried to piss off my dad by telling him that technology in the classroom was overrated. He sighed loudly in the phone, not falling for it, and said "Daughter, it is just like anything else. You have to try this, see what works and what doesn't. You have to try technology that gets them more personally involved, see what works and what doesn't. Technology isn't some major guarantee for engagement. It's just another medium."
I really don't recommend having veteran educators for parents while you are going through the credential program, in case anyone is wondering.