My boring life
Things are just jogging along as usual. Today at work is pretty dull. Some small chores and I had a two-hour desk shift. I have a break from interviewing students; so far I've hired 9 and there's one more I will talk to, but not till a week from Friday (international student, won't be in the country till then). So, phew. Hiring has been easier than I thought it would be. Just hoping that they all work out okay. Interestingly only 1/9 (will be 2/10) are men. This was not at all deliberate on my part, simply reflecting the fact that most of the work-study applicants were women.
No major blowups or problems amongst the staff this week, thankfully. I just hope that continues for a while. I will be having a meeting next week at which I'll be announcing that regular staff will do a little more time at desk this year, something that will probably not be well-received but which was suggested by and thus ought to have the support of my boss, the department head. It's a morning meeting... maybe I will bring something to eat to distract folks. ;-) My mom gave me a recipe she likes for fruit and nut bars, which seem reasonably breakfasty.
The washer, which has been nonfunctional for over two weeks, was finally diagnosed today as having totally failed shocks. This is probably at least partly our fault, since we had not made sure it was properly leveled again after all the plumbing work last winter. The estimated cost to fix was $600... so we're getting a new washer. SO and I were on the phone this morning trying to figure out what make & model to go for. I do not actually remember what we settled on, although I think it's another in the same line as we had. A lot of the front-loaders had really long, 100+ minute cycles, and that was a deal-breaker for me... but we also needed to find one with a high rating for stability (so we don't have the same problem again) and that didn't cost the earth. Anyhow, SO thought that he might be able to get that in today, which would be fantastic. Downside (besides the expense - going to be at least $700 all told, probably more - and the trouble of it) for him was that it buggered up his chance to do his morning run. He's training to try to do a marathon this fall, but it's so hot that he has to run in the first half of the morning or late in the evening, if at all possible. Although it is a little cooler today so maybe he will have gotten that in.
On the plus side, our refinance is going through and we will be signing on that next Thursday afternoon. I am taking 2.5 hours of vacation time to go to the office to sign! So weird to have to do something like that. The downside of having fixed hours and not being faculty any more. This will lower the monthly payment by over $150 IIRC, which is good. Right now we own about third of our house, the bank owns the rest. We decided that we own the big bedroom, a bathroom, and the kitchen. Hee.
My temporary loss of health insurance has been rectified, phew. I'm back on, according to the insurance website, which is good as I have to pick up at least one and I think two prescriptions today. Also stop at the public library to pick up a couple of cookbooks I requested from other branches, and put gas in the car. So I won't be home until later than usual... luckily all I will need to do for dinner is cook some broccoli, as we are having leftover bbq chicken, leftover potatoes, and SO is supposed to put cucumbers to marinate for quick pickle salad.
Right, I'm out of time as my lunch break is now over. Later...
No major blowups or problems amongst the staff this week, thankfully. I just hope that continues for a while. I will be having a meeting next week at which I'll be announcing that regular staff will do a little more time at desk this year, something that will probably not be well-received but which was suggested by and thus ought to have the support of my boss, the department head. It's a morning meeting... maybe I will bring something to eat to distract folks. ;-) My mom gave me a recipe she likes for fruit and nut bars, which seem reasonably breakfasty.
The washer, which has been nonfunctional for over two weeks, was finally diagnosed today as having totally failed shocks. This is probably at least partly our fault, since we had not made sure it was properly leveled again after all the plumbing work last winter. The estimated cost to fix was $600... so we're getting a new washer. SO and I were on the phone this morning trying to figure out what make & model to go for. I do not actually remember what we settled on, although I think it's another in the same line as we had. A lot of the front-loaders had really long, 100+ minute cycles, and that was a deal-breaker for me... but we also needed to find one with a high rating for stability (so we don't have the same problem again) and that didn't cost the earth. Anyhow, SO thought that he might be able to get that in today, which would be fantastic. Downside (besides the expense - going to be at least $700 all told, probably more - and the trouble of it) for him was that it buggered up his chance to do his morning run. He's training to try to do a marathon this fall, but it's so hot that he has to run in the first half of the morning or late in the evening, if at all possible. Although it is a little cooler today so maybe he will have gotten that in.
On the plus side, our refinance is going through and we will be signing on that next Thursday afternoon. I am taking 2.5 hours of vacation time to go to the office to sign! So weird to have to do something like that. The downside of having fixed hours and not being faculty any more. This will lower the monthly payment by over $150 IIRC, which is good. Right now we own about third of our house, the bank owns the rest. We decided that we own the big bedroom, a bathroom, and the kitchen. Hee.
My temporary loss of health insurance has been rectified, phew. I'm back on, according to the insurance website, which is good as I have to pick up at least one and I think two prescriptions today. Also stop at the public library to pick up a couple of cookbooks I requested from other branches, and put gas in the car. So I won't be home until later than usual... luckily all I will need to do for dinner is cook some broccoli, as we are having leftover bbq chicken, leftover potatoes, and SO is supposed to put cucumbers to marinate for quick pickle salad.
Right, I'm out of time as my lunch break is now over. Later...