Found out today that seven people were let go across campus today. Two in ITS. One of them someone I’ve worked with for months now. Times are tough. Although I’m grateful that I am still employed, it pains me to see this person go. She’s worked at Brandeis in various departments for 15 years now, and the only reason she is being let go now is not because of her track record (which is impeccable) but because ITS has been forced to make even more sacrifices (despite the fact that we’re already running horribly lean, we’re still one of the largest administrative expenditures at the university, next to facilities and the library). We have no choice now but to reevaluate some of what we do, and to cut services, and she was a fallout from that decision. Her job was specifically about providing a service we’ll no longer be doing. Things suck sometimes.
In other parts of my life, things appear to be good. I’m slowing down a bit, so I won’t be so frantically busy, but that’s only so I can pick up the pace on other projects and deadlines that are approaching. What with the upcoming convention duties (more on that in the extended half of the article), the social obligations I need to fulfill, the practical things I want to get done, and the long term plans I should lay out, I suspect I’m going to continue to overwork myself. What I need is someone who will help me when I’m tackling a big project, make me relax when I’m not, and prevent me from biting off more than I can chew. Unfortunately, I’m so busy right now that I don’t think I’ll be able to find anyone before long.
Dark times….. Happy Valentines Day folks.
Read on for further updates on me, my projects, and my life.
So what all am I doing right now? Let see if I can make a list and give a 1 or 2 line status for each.
–Intercon Raffle Coordinator
Going pretty well. Danger Planet gave me a 50 gift certificate, 3 trolls is bringing donations, Mike Young always brings donations, phoenix games wants to donate, Steve Jackson games is giving us a boatload of stuff, we have our masseuse donating massage time, one person has said she’ll donate a hand made cloak, and I’ve sent an e-mail off to James Earnest today. I should also poke Looney Labs, but I’m in good shape.
–Intercon Table Gaming Coordinator
Phoenix Games and Steve Jackson want to run casual demos. Good. I have over 70 games, and a large chunk of tiem devoted. Good. Space is arranged. Good. Now I jsut need to draft and print some checkout sheets so I can track who/where/when the games go out, and I should contact ops to see if I can dedicate a person or two to man games when I’m not around. Amend: talk with Con suite too, as we’re sharing space.
–Intercon (other)
Rooms reserved. Good. Costume hints and character sheets are coming in. Good. Bit of difficulty finding the bits of costume I was looking for. Bad. Must go to costume store soon. Must also practice facial separations so I can make characters clearer. Must watch/read reference materials.
–Financials
Yeah, like you care about this? Credit Card is paid down. Reimbursement check for games is forthcoming. Taxes are filed, state return is already deposited. Must grow savings in anticipation of moving this summer. Must restrict spending.
–Social life
Suffering slightly from busy schedule. Fortunately, part of that occupation is events like BSCF meetings, which help fulfill socializing. Have promised movie nights to others, must cash in at some point. Need to be more social with housemates instead of jsut seeing them when we watch tv on some evenings.
–Romantic life
Going nowhere. Tried a few things in the past few months, but there’s been no connections. Must find people in my own age group _and_ interest groups to date, not one or the other.
–Personal life
Not reading enough. Not exercising enough. Watching too much tv (thus the first two). Everything else is pretty good. Should post content here more often. Will clean by weekend.
–Work life
I’m doing a good job and staying on top, but as evidenced by the above section, things are hell right now. Trying to convince boss that an eMac would be a bad thing for me, especially as it won’t work with the KVM I recently installed. Must follow up on Active Directory integration project. Must pin down Calendar sync before it drives me crazy or I delete more entries accidentaly.
–Ongoing projects
Need to get artwork framed and hung. Need to finish Sauron Plushie. Need to update book and video databases. Want to increase drive space for music collection, but that conflicts with financials.
–Other
Well, I sure as heck can’t think of anything else at the moment. I’m sure by tomorrow I’ll think of a dozen other things. Maybe I’ll make another post then.
