Jim Droste gave me a good idea the other day when he started posting some photos from his recent trip to the Dells– rather that upload a whole big mess of pics at the same time, he’s treating us to just a couple a day. Easy for him, easy for you to not miss something.
So, yeah– stay tuned over the next few days for some updates to the photo galleries…
In the process of working on some thesis-related paperwork, I had occasion to review a story that I wrote about three years ago for a fiction class. I enjoyed most of it, and I did feel like I was able to give it a solid, honest critical assessment, having not even looked at it in such a long time. I was saying to Wordy that I could probably clean up the ending a bit and try to send it out for publication.
Then just this afternoon, I was having a conversation with Ron Rindo, my thesis director, about a very similar thing: what a fabulous idea it is to finish a piece, set it aside, and don’t even think about it for a couple months so you can look at it with a fresh perspective. That not something that I’ve always taken the time to do in my academic career, but where this thesis is concerned, I think it’s absolutely necessary. It’s a shift of thinking to go away from a standard, stone-set academic calendar to the notion that this is MY project, that I get to do at MY pace. Quality has to be most important thing, and I’m going to try to be mindful of that from here on out.
So pretty much right when I started working here, another one of the fin aid advisors is taking a new job in Madison (I thought about applying for that one, actually).
I was thinking about whether or not it would be nice to have another male come in to the fold and join our little ‘unit.’ I haven’t worked in a lot of places with other men. I don’t know what that says about me. The last one was WTMJ, and we all know how well that worked out (I don’t think it had anything to do with the gender make-up of the staff, though).
At UWO, my supervisor was a man, but he was kind of old enough to be my dad, and we didn’t have much in common. Plus, I don’t think it’s easy to be chummy with one’s boss.
Here, there are plenty of other men working in the department, but none directly in my ‘unit.’ The biggest thing that I differ from my immediate colleagues on is the length and depth to which situations and/or procedures should be examined/analyzed. I really appreciate having the least discussion necessary, and moving ahead with the solution or approach that makes the most sense. If it turns out that it doesn’t work, I look at it as a lesson for next time. I don’t feel like imagining every conceivable scenario in advance is always the best use of time.
While I would certainly appreciate another ‘male’ perspective on this and other topics, I also get a little apprehensive thinking about how I and the new man would be naturally expected to ‘get along,’ but that may not be the easiest thing for me. At times, I’ve been guilty of having a first impression of someone that is way off, and it gets awkward when I no longer want to associate later on, but enough time has elapsed that I’m ‘stuck.’ In relations with women, this is a lot easier to overcome, because it can simply be chalked up to “gender issues.” I dunno, this is probably just a personal anxiety issue. I have some problems.
Anyway, that’s what I’m working on today. I also need to try to figure out when/if I’m going to get some time off to move, and where I’m going to move to. I had some thoughts and conversations over the weekend that freaked me out about buying real estate again, but it still might be the best thing (as opposed to renting).
Oh, and this was interesting: I walked home from work to Jen & Joe’s on Friday. About 8 miles. It took me roughly 2-and-a-half hours.
Based on the research that I’ve conducted (which is more or less none), it appears that time passes more quickly the closer you are to the equator.
I swear, the days here @ UWM are passing a lot faster than they did in Oshkosh.
Any of you science-types out there care to substantiate this?
I managed to get everything done during this last week of work. On Monday, I didn’t think I’d be able to crawl out from under all of it, but I got a lot of help.
It’s exciting to be starting something new down in MKE. I’m getting a little bit nervous now, but still not too bad. I’m a lot more concerned about
A) where I will sleep on Sunday, Monday, etc.
B) how I will get to the office without driving.
I’m gonna put a picture of myself in my cube on the last day up on the Flickr in a minute.
If you’re in Osh Vegas this evening: I’m gonna meet some peeps out @ Peabody’s around 8.
I am apparently quite well-regarded at UW Oshkosh. I have had multiple gifts, drinks, and dinner purchased for me since I announced that I was leaving to take a new job in Milwaukee. I have had people who I was not aware knew my name stop me in the hall of Dempsey to congratulate me on my new position. It’s a little strange. But I’ll take it.
It may sound dumb, or like I’m making it up or something, but I’ve always marveled at the fact that other people would ever think or talk about me when I’m not there. I know it’s a completely counter-intuitive thing, if you really think about it, because hell– what do YOU do when people aren’t around? You talk about them. But for some reason the concept of someone noticing that I’m alive without me making it abundantly clear right in their face has never stopped blowing my mind.
I guess it’s good to be appreciated. I just hope I can do a good job at the new place and continue to make people say good things about me (for the most part).
Two days to go… I really need to figure out the bus schedule before Monday. Yikes.
Started my last week at UWO today. I feel remarkably normal about everything. Had a couple people ask me today if I was nervous about starting a new job, or excited to be leaving Oshkosh. Had to say neither. Maybe it just won’t seem as “real” until I start in MKE, but for the time being, I’m feeling fine about the whole thing…
I forgot to bring new coffee filters in for the second day, and I tried to make due with about 3 cone filters cut up and arranged inside the basket. That didn’t work, either. I put a ziploc bag full of filters on the steps so I won’t forget them on the way out tomorrow.
The steps are nice and clean, too; I had to give the apartment a nice little ‘once-over’ this evening, cuz my landlord is showing it tomorrow. It made me think about some of the shit holes that I’ve looked at while searching for apartments. I know that I probably won’t meet ANY of these people, but I really think you need to have some pride, a little self-respect, and try to make it look like you don’t live like a complete slob. Even if you do sometimes. So I did the floors, wiped the counters, washed all the dishes, and spot-cleaned the bathroom. Everything looks better.
Brewers won their 4th game in a row tonight. That’s also 12 out of their last 15. Pretty impressive. Still room on the bandwagon, folks…
I heard an interesting story over the weekend, wherein Steve Schrubbe’s car burned to the ground. That’s right– his car.
I also saw the third Spider-Man installment, and I’m giving it a 6-out-of-10: entertaining, but with some glaring holes/points of contention for the casual comic book geek (which I am). I’m a little too tired to chart the exact measures on a graph for you, but from the rough sketch below, you can see that some slight geekocity will allow you adequate background to enjoy the film, but as geekitude exceeds 50%, the issues with Spidey 3 rapidly approach infinity. I’d mark myself as about half-geek, so I guess the chart is skewed a bit through my perspective. But you get the idea (clicky for biggification).
OK, night-night time then.
Now that I’m only going to be working at UWO for 2 more weeks, I have tons of stuff to do every day over there. I thought I had prepared to leave on the down-low pretty well during the course of the semester, but it turns out I didn’t think things through very much. Lots and lots to finish up.
In the meantime, why don’t you watch a music video starring Charlie the Karate Chimp?
This is probably my busiest “processing” week of the year at work. We got started on the upcoming aid year, and trying to juggle two at once always presents a lot of time-consuming issues. On top of that, I have to get a whole mess of nursing students set to go in the next couple weeks…
I understand that for most of you, what I do at work is not really interesting or relevant, but I thought I would just mention “what I’ve been up to.” Yesterday, as I communicated to a few different people, my brain was mushy enough at the end of the day that I just wanted to be beaten over the head repeatedly with a heavy, blunt object. Like a 2×4. Or something. Next week will probably be better. Opening day on Monday, anyway…
In other news:
Joe & April had a good time in Germany, judging from the reports I’ve received. April’s folks are coming into town this weekend, now that the Knitts actually have enough room to house guests at their domicile. I was surprised that I didn’t get any feedback about the wallpaper that was on the computer when they got home, but I decided that there is probably some revenge scheme afoot that I’ll be surprised by later.
Jim Droste asked me to read at his wedding in June. I graciously accepted ((I also just realized that saying I’ve known someone for 10 years really isn’t that mind-blowing anymore. This fall, I will have known people I’ve known only since college for 10 years. That really doesn’t mean much, I guess, other than 10 years used to seem like a significant segment of time.)). Unfortunately, Michelle won’t be able to join me, since that’s also WILS seminar weekend. I’ll be looking forward to it either way…
I caught myself up on some things about the house last night that have been nagging at me, so I’ll feel OK doing some “recreational tinkering” this evening. I think I might get a HDTV tuner card for the PC. I’m curious about the sort of reception I’d be able to pull through the air. I guess I should go the Internet to find the facts about how well that would work.
I’ve had to type the word “verification” in a number of emails this week. Makes it seem strange that I have consistently been misspelling it– most often, it’s “verfication” instead. Spell check is good. I think you should consider spell-checking all your email before you send it. Even the casual/personal messages. Just push F7. That’s it. Every time. Make it a habit. F7 to check, then F9 to send. Unless you do the mail through the interwebs, then I don’t know what the hell you got going on.
I’m really just rambling here, time to tune in for Brewers baseball ((Yesterday, I sent the guys an email with the subject line “Could someone please pot Kent up?” but if my experience in broadcasting is any indication, the message was met with a middle finger, and the delete button. Doesn’t hurt to ask, I guess)).
There’s a freakshow in my neighborhood who thinks that his walk to class is a never-ending audition for American Idol. Seriously, 3 out of this last five days now, I have encountered this fellow that sings AT THE TOP OF HIS LUNGS as he walks down the street.
I’m all for letting the world know that you’re happy and you know it– good feelings usually make people feel good, and they should be shared.
Excessively good feelings, or feelings expressed in excessively strange ways, make you look like a nutbar.
Do you have any thoughts on why institutions of higher learning seem to attract the most looneys? Is it the free money, cute girls, and cafeteria food? Please, if you know– enlighten me…
