David update, and weird work news
David slept more than 6 hours last night. This isn't quite a first, but it happens rarely enough to be a Big Deal. He's also getting quite a bit more mobile. When he sits in his swing now he often pushes himself up on his elbows to see what's happening. A couple of days ago he scooted himself backwards while playing on the floor; I missed it (at work), but Michael was pretty excited. Still experimenting with sounds, of course -- he does make some unusual ones! When I have a little spare time, if that ever happens, I need to organize David photos and post them online somewhere. The most recent ones are still on the camera, and there are a pile of completely disorganized, badly named photo folders on my computer, and a handful of photos on a 35mm roll I need to finish one of these days...
So, when I got to work today I found out that the National Science Foundation cut a million dollars from the operating budget for the rest of the year. The previous budget cuts I was complaining about were nothing compared to this. It looks like we probably won't be running experiments from May to October, and might be looking at layoffs as well. The budget for the new facility we're planning to build is unchanged, so it looks like we'll spend the summer working on that. Bizarre, really -- we don't have the money to keep everyone on staff, but we're making a significant addition to the lab. It all has to do with where the money is coming from. I guess it's similar to the problems my college had -- they kept upgrading the sports facilities but didn't have enough money to give the music department more than a little corner of the student center.
So, when I got to work today I found out that the National Science Foundation cut a million dollars from the operating budget for the rest of the year. The previous budget cuts I was complaining about were nothing compared to this. It looks like we probably won't be running experiments from May to October, and might be looking at layoffs as well. The budget for the new facility we're planning to build is unchanged, so it looks like we'll spend the summer working on that. Bizarre, really -- we don't have the money to keep everyone on staff, but we're making a significant addition to the lab. It all has to do with where the money is coming from. I guess it's similar to the problems my college had -- they kept upgrading the sports facilities but didn't have enough money to give the music department more than a little corner of the student center.