In which the main topic is money, but cleaning, cars, and grad school things are discussed
I feel somewhat accomplished this evening. Despite waking up from a post-work nap (I wasn't feeling well) in complete mental disarray, I did most of the cleaning I had on the list for today. Next up will be tackling the dishes I've been meaning to work on for a while, before I was interrupted by things like, oh, having no hot water in the apartment. Or, in some cases, having no water.
(Long story short: for about a week, I didn't have hot water due to boiler problems; one of those days, I had no water at all because they had to shut it off in the building due to leaks. Funnily enough, yesterday I came home to a sign on my door saying the water had been shut off due to a leak. This past month has not been a good time to be a manager of this complex.)
Also, I keep realizing I have enough "material" for about three blog posts (it's been a busy time). So let's call this part one! It mostly deals with money, because woo-hoo theme woo-hoo.
Last week, I went for the necessary oil change. I was *cough* late by *cough* a coupla months, but it's something that has *cough* happened before, and there was that whole two weeks where I didn't drive at all because the car was getting fixed! Yeah, yeah, I should be better about it. Anyways, I dropped it off with Sears and walked over to B&N, with the promise to return within the hour. On the way, I had a fascinating conversation with my sister about all sorts of good things. Yay Wii!
Anyhoo, I browsed for as long as I felt I could stay upright, then walked back to the shop.
Where my car was still up.
I went and sat in the waiting room, and the sales guy came in. "So we had problems with you car," he said.
I wish you would've called, thought I, but I didn't say anything. He explained that my engine block was "smoking pretty badly," and that they couldn't do the oil change because of liability. They did some of the other minor things I asked, and put some oil in the car, but they weren't gonna touch it beyond that.
From out of nowhere came a sudden ability to get things done, as after he left I called Saturn and the local rental car company and set up appointments for the next day. I normally wouldn't have gone with Saturn the dealership, except that is close to the University and, more importantly, right across the street from an Enterprise. Arrangements made, I called my parents (CP set) to let them know what was up, and that I was going to be making some...expenditures. Which, to be fair, I had planned on taking the car in at some point in December to get it looked over for various things--I just got sidetracked. So this, in a way, was a good thing.
As it turned out, it really was a good thing; I had three minor, efficiency sapping engine problems, and I got my parking brake fixed. It also turned out to be not as expensive as I thought it was going to be when, ya know, the engine block was ON FIRE. The only problem was that the Saturn guy got my phone number wrong, and instead of calling the NUMBER ON THE ACCOUNT when my number didn't work, he decided to just wait for me to call in. Which meant I had the rental for an additional coupla days. Not too terrible, but a little annoying, nonetheless.
Summation: I took Moody for maintainence but he turned out to be really sick, so I took him to Saturn and he got better! And I didn't have to cut off any limbs or sell any children to pay for it!! Actually, he's almost shockingly better; the car runs so weirdly quiet now I keep checking to make sure I've turned it on. I'll get used to it...at some point here.
Many of you know that ever since 2005, I've worked as a Project Assistant on a grant through the university. It's a job that's changed my life and set me on an entirely new, interesting path of study, but in down to earth parlance, it also has employed me for three years. And in the beginning, that was an important paycheck to get twice a month, as it supplemented the meager income I was pulling in at the time. Now I teach and do twenty+ hours at AISES and tech support for the department, so the PAship was just one job of five. (Four that pay, one--being a student--that doesn't. At least, in money.)
As of yesterday, though, the PAship will no longer actually pay me. The grant was designed to run for three years; we got a year extension last August, but they didn't chuck in supplementary "one more year" funds to go with it. Quite frankly, it was pay the PAs or pay the consultants, and as far I know, "Pay the consultants" won out. Aside from the fact that they do all the hard work, they're also, ya know, in their seventies. I may be jaded and immoral, but I am not going to take money from two amazing grandmas, okay? There are Standards.
I'll still be a PA, though, connected to the project formally and able to put it on my CV.
Summation: Ten's oldest job is still a job, but no longer paying her.
School started last Tuesday (good day, huh?), and I am back in the teaching saddle. I have a whole new plan of action! A new syllabus! New ideas!
I also have something like thirty students in my class. Down from the usual sixty or more I'm used to starting with. It's WEIRD. I might have to learn their names!
So far, the classes have been all right (I am thinking of posting my lecture notes here, since redundancy is good and I can note down the things that seemed to have worked). The first day I had a point to my lecture, but sorta got caught up in the EVERYTHING YOU KNOW ABOUT LANGUAGE IS WROOOONG and totally forgot to mention it. So I covered it at the beginning of last class, which then covered a ton of topics. NUMBER OF LANGUAGES VROOM! MOST LANGUAGES ARE NOT SPOKEN BY MANY PEOPLE NEAROOM! WHAT MAKES A LANGUAGE VROOOM! And I still had time at the end of class, even with all the administrative explanation at the beginning.
An hour and fifteen minutes of lecture can be a bit tiring, incidentally. Enthralling, but tiring. And I am not used to wearing SHOES yet to lecture in.
I also threatened to kill a kitten in the last class, and then had to make a mark as if to follow through with it. It was a pretty effective motivator, but it's probably a one-shot, as people who are not familiar with the 'Tubes will not understand how many kittens die a day anyways.
And I need to figure out when to use Henry "not really a linguist" Higgins's opening song. Because it's cheeky and fun and a good way to show class distinction via accent. Possibly next week...
Summation: Ten is back to teaching, only the class is tiny! Also, kittens.
...meep, it got late there. More tomorrow! (Err. Today. Yeah. Huh.)
---
*I am perpetually tardy to work. Having some bad insomnia the past few weeks hasn't helped, either; it really puts a crimp in that "Oh SHIT need to MOVE!" reflex in the morning.
(Long story short: for about a week, I didn't have hot water due to boiler problems; one of those days, I had no water at all because they had to shut it off in the building due to leaks. Funnily enough, yesterday I came home to a sign on my door saying the water had been shut off due to a leak. This past month has not been a good time to be a manager of this complex.)
Also, I keep realizing I have enough "material" for about three blog posts (it's been a busy time). So let's call this part one! It mostly deals with money, because woo-hoo theme woo-hoo.
Last week, I went for the necessary oil change. I was *cough* late by *cough* a coupla months, but it's something that has *cough* happened before, and there was that whole two weeks where I didn't drive at all because the car was getting fixed! Yeah, yeah, I should be better about it. Anyways, I dropped it off with Sears and walked over to B&N, with the promise to return within the hour. On the way, I had a fascinating conversation with my sister about all sorts of good things. Yay Wii!
Anyhoo, I browsed for as long as I felt I could stay upright, then walked back to the shop.
Where my car was still up.
I went and sat in the waiting room, and the sales guy came in. "So we had problems with you car," he said.
I wish you would've called, thought I, but I didn't say anything. He explained that my engine block was "smoking pretty badly," and that they couldn't do the oil change because of liability. They did some of the other minor things I asked, and put some oil in the car, but they weren't gonna touch it beyond that.
From out of nowhere came a sudden ability to get things done, as after he left I called Saturn and the local rental car company and set up appointments for the next day. I normally wouldn't have gone with Saturn the dealership, except that is close to the University and, more importantly, right across the street from an Enterprise. Arrangements made, I called my parents (CP set) to let them know what was up, and that I was going to be making some...expenditures. Which, to be fair, I had planned on taking the car in at some point in December to get it looked over for various things--I just got sidetracked. So this, in a way, was a good thing.
As it turned out, it really was a good thing; I had three minor, efficiency sapping engine problems, and I got my parking brake fixed. It also turned out to be not as expensive as I thought it was going to be when, ya know, the engine block was ON FIRE. The only problem was that the Saturn guy got my phone number wrong, and instead of calling the NUMBER ON THE ACCOUNT when my number didn't work, he decided to just wait for me to call in. Which meant I had the rental for an additional coupla days. Not too terrible, but a little annoying, nonetheless.
Summation: I took Moody for maintainence but he turned out to be really sick, so I took him to Saturn and he got better! And I didn't have to cut off any limbs or sell any children to pay for it!! Actually, he's almost shockingly better; the car runs so weirdly quiet now I keep checking to make sure I've turned it on. I'll get used to it...at some point here.
Many of you know that ever since 2005, I've worked as a Project Assistant on a grant through the university. It's a job that's changed my life and set me on an entirely new, interesting path of study, but in down to earth parlance, it also has employed me for three years. And in the beginning, that was an important paycheck to get twice a month, as it supplemented the meager income I was pulling in at the time. Now I teach and do twenty+ hours at AISES and tech support for the department, so the PAship was just one job of five. (Four that pay, one--being a student--that doesn't. At least, in money.)
As of yesterday, though, the PAship will no longer actually pay me. The grant was designed to run for three years; we got a year extension last August, but they didn't chuck in supplementary "one more year" funds to go with it. Quite frankly, it was pay the PAs or pay the consultants, and as far I know, "Pay the consultants" won out. Aside from the fact that they do all the hard work, they're also, ya know, in their seventies. I may be jaded and immoral, but I am not going to take money from two amazing grandmas, okay? There are Standards.
I'll still be a PA, though, connected to the project formally and able to put it on my CV.
Summation: Ten's oldest job is still a job, but no longer paying her.
School started last Tuesday (good day, huh?), and I am back in the teaching saddle. I have a whole new plan of action! A new syllabus! New ideas!
I also have something like thirty students in my class. Down from the usual sixty or more I'm used to starting with. It's WEIRD. I might have to learn their names!
So far, the classes have been all right (I am thinking of posting my lecture notes here, since redundancy is good and I can note down the things that seemed to have worked). The first day I had a point to my lecture, but sorta got caught up in the EVERYTHING YOU KNOW ABOUT LANGUAGE IS WROOOONG and totally forgot to mention it. So I covered it at the beginning of last class, which then covered a ton of topics. NUMBER OF LANGUAGES VROOM! MOST LANGUAGES ARE NOT SPOKEN BY MANY PEOPLE NEAROOM! WHAT MAKES A LANGUAGE VROOOM! And I still had time at the end of class, even with all the administrative explanation at the beginning.
An hour and fifteen minutes of lecture can be a bit tiring, incidentally. Enthralling, but tiring. And I am not used to wearing SHOES yet to lecture in.
I also threatened to kill a kitten in the last class, and then had to make a mark as if to follow through with it. It was a pretty effective motivator, but it's probably a one-shot, as people who are not familiar with the 'Tubes will not understand how many kittens die a day anyways.
And I need to figure out when to use Henry "not really a linguist" Higgins's opening song. Because it's cheeky and fun and a good way to show class distinction via accent. Possibly next week...
Summation: Ten is back to teaching, only the class is tiny! Also, kittens.
...meep, it got late there. More tomorrow! (Err. Today. Yeah. Huh.)
---
*I am perpetually tardy to work. Having some bad insomnia the past few weeks hasn't helped, either; it really puts a crimp in that "Oh SHIT need to MOVE!" reflex in the morning.