Icebreaker - The Next Generation :D

[Memnoch]

Originally posted by Cloudbringer: I have to admit that it is over now. I've got some heavy duty work on my desk now and will be making fewer (sniffle) workday posts (other than early morning and lunchtime). Simbul

You mean work finally caught up to those busy fingers?

I can sympathise!

Hail, Witch Queen of Ironworks!!

Mmm...whh???

Oh, sorry Cloudy, did I wake you?

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Memnoch - Custodian of the Holy Flame

[This message has been edited by Memnoch (edited 03-03-2001).]

[Cloudbringer]

Tobbin: That would be a rare case, if I WERE sleep-spamming the board! You have no idea what I'd type in. And I'm told I talk in my sleep by the few folk in a postion to know...hahahaha...and well, I apparently am very amusing...maybe I should try SleepPosting?! LOL

Memny: Yup, work rears it's ugly head...sigh..in fact I'm doing 150%+ of the support work for our large dept. 21+ faculty (new hire, I just processed will be coming in soon); more TA's than I can keep track of - fluctuates but somewhere in vicinity of 30-40 and some non-teaching ones; the grads not even on payroll -mucho many of them ;the lecturers and visiting scholars- varies considerably but presently -if my brain is functioning here..I think it's around 10-15+ and other assorted personages. While my boss is out on maternity leave, I have the admin stuff I used to do for my own dept pre-merger. But now we are about 5 times larger, so it really needs to be distributed amongst we three office support staff...unfortunately, nobody told Lynne's baby about that! LOL
The graduate assistantship allocations just hit my desk with a very HEAVY thud around 3:30 yesterday afternoon...sigh...StormQueen is going to be very busy with rl. YUK!

Ok, everyone feeling sorry for pooooor Stormy, just send your gold, rogue stones and bejurils to 555 West Pity Blvd, Poor SadQueen, NY 11111 HAHAHAHAHA


BeleaguredCloud

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Storm-Queen -aka The Purple Rose of the Black Knight

[bilqis]

Cloudlady, May I ask what you do for a living? I've gathered from careful reading that you work very hard supervising other people (grad students? TA's? whom?) for a university. But doing what exactly? Do you mind sharing your work title?

My husband is a professor of Marketing & Business Administration, thus my interest.
If I'm being too nosey, just say so.

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[Memnoch]

Originally posted by bilqis: Cloudlady, May I ask what you do for a living? I've gathered from careful reading that you work very hard supervising other people (grad students? TA's? whom?) for a university. But doing what exactly? Do you mind sharing your work title? My husband is a professor of Marketing & Business Administration, thus my interest. If I'm being too nosey, just say so.

Nah, nose away all you want. CloudBabbler loves to "bare it" anyway


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Memnoch - Custodian of the Holy Flame

[Cloudbringer]

Memny: Geez, hon, I thought you said you never 'kiss and tell' ?! HAHAHAHA

bilqis: Actual civil svc title: Secretary I (as in the number 1), Russian Spkg the 'should be' title for most of us in that position across the state is Administrative Assistant. I used to do more of what the state has a "asst to chair" title for, before the major departmental merger took place a few yrs back. That was difficult for me. Lost some of the INTERESTING and CHALLENGING tasks to the new asst to chair they created. (long story, but I lost that job by one vote of the search committee...and am aware it was internal politics...most upsetting, though!). I have since made the most of it and btwn me and my supervisor we've added some more challenges to the sparse collection I'd been left with. I'm getting to design the department's Access databases for personnel, graduate students and mailing lists, as well as do the webpages for our little Italian major and troubleshoot our faculty and lab computing problems. Nothing against those who unjam copy machines and stuff file folders all day , but I was suffocating! So these little 'diversions' keep me sane when I have to say for the four billionth time "Dr X's office hours are yadda yadda".
(had resumes flying out of here like leaves on the wind at the time of merger- but this is HIGH education saturation zone and good jobs at my pay level after 16 yrs of advancement(small as that is!) are very scarce- got a house, am tied down...sigh)

And feel free to kick Memny, will you, he's getting mighty uppity since he started avoiding the Storm-Queen! LOL :p

Why aren't my smilies working. the disable box isn't checked....sigh....


[This message has been edited by Cloudbringer (edited 03-03-2001).]

[bilqis]

Thanks Cloudbringer! Very informative! Ain't university politics FUN tho? :p My husband participates in the faculty union in self-defense!

Your job sounds similar to mine in that I am the troubleshooter/webmistress/computer-know-it-all for our programs, besides doing my real job of supervising 95+ volunteers. Sad eh? Actually, I love it because, like you, it gives me a creative outlet from my normal work.

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[bilqis]

Oh and I'll let you kick Memnoch. I'm too shy.

[Cloudbringer]

bilqis: Too shy? Oh my...well, *I* am not...c'mere and be kicked you impertinent aussie, you! 'bare all' indeed! humph! That smiley better work! I noticed we are all smiley deficient all of a sudden!

yah univ politics is a peculiar beast, to say the least. We had interprogram concerns...let's just say the merger was a 'hostile takeover bid' by the admin and the individual programs involved played off one another. I was the only internal candidate with ties to one of the merging programs (worked for them for over 10yrs and had a degree with them)- one fac mem on the committee was a bit anal bout having an outsider for the job. The one they hired was the wicked witch of the west re-incarnated and lasted one year -until the new OUTSIDE chair was hired and insisted on finding his own assistant! BWAHAHAHAHAHA That one move saved me from daily torture, no lie. I was ready to be unemployed rather than stay with the way things had gone. (prayers do get answered!)

Cloudy

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Storm-Queen -aka The Purple Rose of the Black Knight

[This message has been edited by Cloudbringer (edited 03-03-2001).]

[bilqis]

Cloudy - - I hear about merger all the time these days. Merger is currently a thorn in dh's side. (dh=dear, damn, darling, dumb husband --which one depends on the day - and today it means 'disgruntled') The state legislature has decided that all state colleges and vocational schools should be merged into one seam-less system. Forget that their missions are completely different, and that the coursework isn't equivelant.

I'm glad it worked out for you though. It would've been tough to lose all the seniority you'd built up. Or could you have just moved to a different civil service job somewhere else?


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[Cloudbringer]

bilqis...ah that's another whole ball o'wax...I'm not competitive, er let me re-phrase that! ...MY JOB is classified as non-competitive-ie: I didn't go through usual civil service channels for it because the ordinary testing they do doesn't cover the skills needed, specifically the Russian language requirement. (LOOOONG time ago the old Slavic dept got the Governor of NY to create the postion that is the one I now hold specially for them) What this means is: the dept can hire without going through the civil svc rosters and the incumbent(me) cannot advance or laterally move within the civil service ranks. My seniority is recognized only in name...no bumping of others to move up or out for me...sigh.. effective: brick wall! But the contracts have mostly been good, so I've stuck it out this long.

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Storm-Queen -aka The Purple Rose of the Black Knight