The Venting Thread

[AmLitHist]

I was approved to use faculty-reserved parking spots this semester.


Yesterday, I was ticketed ($100!) for using a faculty-reserved parking spot. =/

OK, Para, back to you--YOU win (/lose)!  :-)

I have a handicap hang tag, so I at least I can park where I want. Ironically, of course, where I want is at home in my driveway. Mick was right: you can't always get what you want.

[downer]

I have about 5 hours of training to do . Unpaid. Data security and workplace violence etc. Mostly it's useless. Now they have made it so the videos only play when the screen is actually visible. It's making it slower to get through the videos without watching them.

[mythbuster]

For several years I was the chair of the "Committee for Bureaucratic Changes to Curriculum".  Not the real name but you get the drift. I only managed to get off the committee when I went on sabbatical.
So I was very surprised when my latest submission to this committee was bounced back. New chair with big ideas.
They want changes submitted in an ass backwards way that will result in more work for the committee and more mistakes being made to the course catalog. Try to have a chat with the new chair but it's very clear that they are not at all interested in hearing about how this new method will cause problems. Sigh.
And of course, no one other than the chair knows about this new method. No communication at all with departments.

So I will be adjusting how we make submissions to this committee to minimize the damage on our end. Which will again, make more work for the committee.

[AmLitHist]

Being the cow that I am, I fell on the icy 4.5" of "light flurries" yesterday evening. I'd been so careful taking the dog out*, then cleaning said flurries off the car, etc. I did just fine, wearing sturdy shoes with good tread on the soles.

Coming back in from the last "potty run" of the afternoon, I put my good foot** up on the low step that is the concrete back porch, and as I did, my bad foot gave way and wouldn't hold me. Down I went, banging the hell out of my right knee and slamming my ribs onto the edge of the porch--all with the 50-pound puppy all over me, thinking Mom was wanting to play.

When I went to get up, I couldn't get a good foothold (as things I'd shoveled earlier now had a thin coat of ice). It was ridiculous.  I finally got myself scooted across the porch, opened the door and sent the puppy in, and was able to pull myself up by holding the door facing.

I'm sure this would have been hilarious to watch, in a Buster Keaton kind of way. I was not amused.

Luckily, I don't seem to have broken any ribs, though my side is sore and my upper back is achy. My kneecap is skinned up but doesn't hurt like anything is broken or dislocated, and I'm swollen and bruised halfway to my foot. So it definitely could have been much worse.

-----

* This is ALHS's usual job. However, he's in the hospital recovering from knee replacement surgery on Thursday. So, while he's out of commission, I'm on puppy patrol (and litterbox duty for the cat, plus all his other chores). He's expecting to be released today, so at least I have the car ready to go.

** The disunion fracture in my left foot remains, well, dis-united, since April. The plan was to get ALHS's knee fixed, then see if a surgeon will tackle my foot. (He might not, since it requires a bone graft from my hip, plus the foot surgery--and with my diabetes and slow/non-healing, plus my tendency to land in wound care every time someone looks at me cross-eyed--well. . . . it's not a done deal).


TL; DR version:  I went "boom."

[mythbuster]

AmLitHist- Ouch! I hope a bruised dignity is truly the worst of it.
    When I was in college my roommate fell and broke her arm in a similar manner on an icy step ---on her 21st birthday! At first I assumed the full answering machine was just birthday messages. I ended up being her hairdresser for several weeks while she was healing. Not the memorable birthday she wanted, to say the least.

[fishbrains]

AmLitHist--Glad you're pretty much okay.

I knew I had arrived at "late middle age" when, instead of laughing when I tripped over their backpacks in the aisle, students started to emit "oooooos" with frowns and furrowed brows. I think I prefer the laughing.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

Damn ALH! I hope you're feeling better.

[AmLitHist]

Thanks, all. I think I'm OK; I just feel like a damned idiot. That, and I'm not moving too fast today. I'm too old and stiff and creaky for this crap.  :-/

Grandma used to say, in German, "Those things happen a lot faster than they heal."  That's for sure!

Fishbrains, 20 years ago, I used to pace when I'd teach:  it kept their attention. However, I've given in to age:  I sit the entire class period now, esp. with my walker and this dumb orthopedic boot that seems to have taken root on my broken foot.

The older I get, the more I consider making an outer layer of clothing from bubble wrap.

[ciao_yall]

Thanks, all. I think I'm OK; I just feel like a damned idiot. That, and I'm not moving too fast today. I'm too old and stiff and creaky for this crap.  :-/

Grandma used to say, in German, "Those things happen a lot faster than they heal."  That's for sure!

Fishbrains, 20 years ago, I used to pace when I'd teach:  it kept their attention. However, I've given in to age:  I sit the entire class period now, esp. with my walker and this dumb orthopedic boot that seems to have taken root on my broken foot.

The older I get, the more I consider making an outer layer of clothing from bubble wrap.

I like that. Diese Dinge passieren viel schneller als sie heilen.

Or very similar, in Yiddish. Di tingz pasirn fil faster vi zey heyln

[Parasaurolophus]

Today, the faculty union warned us that the water from several sources in several buildings (including my own, and including the daycare) had lead levels way, way above what's safe.

That would be fine, except that they also told us that the administration has known since at least 2020, and just... told nobody and did nothing because it was too expensive.

At least the daycare people knew--because they did their own testing back in 2019, which is what spurred the university to check elsewhere.

[RatGuy]

Today, the faculty union warned us that the water from several sources in several buildings (including my own, and including the daycare) had lead levels way, way above what's safe.

That would be fine, except that they also told us that the administration has known since at least 2020, and just... told nobody and did nothing because it was too expensive.

At least the daycare people knew--because they did their own testing back in 2019, which is what spurred the university to check elsewhere.

Our union is trying to deal with mold in one of our buildings. The university tried to placate faculty by installing new ventilation. Some immunocomprimised faculty are petitioning their doctors to document everything as a way to appeal for more new offices or alternate classrooms. Can't imagine it'll end well

[Parasaurolophus]

Today, the faculty union warned us that the water from several sources in several buildings (including my own, and including the daycare) had lead levels way, way above what's safe.

That would be fine, except that they also told us that the administration has known since at least 2020, and just... told nobody and did nothing because it was too expensive.

At least the daycare people knew--because they did their own testing back in 2019, which is what spurred the university to check elsewhere.

Our union is trying to deal with mold in one of our buildings. The university tried to placate faculty by installing new ventilation. Some immunocomprimised faculty are petitioning their doctors to document everything as a way to appeal for more new offices or alternate classrooms. Can't imagine it'll end well

Ugh.

Update on my end: apparently, there's a significant cluster of cancer cases in one affected corner of the campus. This will definitely not end well.

[apl68]

Today, the faculty union warned us that the water from several sources in several buildings (including my own, and including the daycare) had lead levels way, way above what's safe.

That would be fine, except that they also told us that the administration has known since at least 2020, and just... told nobody and did nothing because it was too expensive.

At least the daycare people knew--because they did their own testing back in 2019, which is what spurred the university to check elsewhere.

Our union is trying to deal with mold in one of our buildings. The university tried to placate faculty by installing new ventilation. Some immunocomprimised faculty are petitioning their doctors to document everything as a way to appeal for more new offices or alternate classrooms. Can't imagine it'll end well

We had trouble with mold in the library for years.  It wasn't the dangerous sort, but it was unsightly and embarrassing, and just not good to have around.  It costs a fortune to get mold deep-cleaned from an entire HVAC system.  We were able to use COVID-era grant funds to do that.  The federal government was throwing buckets of money at disinfecting, etc.  Most of it ended up going to hygiene theater that was at best marginally useful, but in the process some institutions like ours were able to use some of it for genuinely useful health-adjacent tasks like mold remediation.  Your administration could probably have done something similar if they'd noticed the problem in time and shown a little enterprise.

[clean]

I have been scheduled to teach an advanced course in my area. It is a case based course.  ON the plus side, it will no longer be offered in a 7 week format!  The bad news is that when I negotiated with the chair about teaching the class, I agreed to teach it online BUT only if it would by synchronous.  (it is offered to students on our main and branch campus, but the branch has insufficient faculty, so EVERYONE must take it online!)

We got the official schedule today, and the synchronous part was excluded. I instantly emailed the chair, but the reply was that Assoc. Dean 'Napoleon' has vetoed that. 
I am now requesting that we find an adjunct for the branch campus.  Better to have some students get an inferior product than for ALL students to be forced to take the class online. 

(When the branch campus was created, it was said that there would never be online classes there; it would be a traditional experience.  That fell apart as soon as the state stopped the additional financial support they offered to get the campus up and running  - though COVID sped the disposal of the requirement).

So now Napoleon has entered the discussion to veto and force the situation....

I dont know how much longer I can continue to teach online classes.  The good news is that they will not be a mix of 7 and 15 week courses, but online classes in my discipline do not do well.  Students need to be there and online is a poor substitute for the undergraduates we have attracted. 

My retirement date is in flux.  Under the old dean, it would have been December 2024.  Fortunately we have a better dean, and I could see going further, but I dont see going much longer.  (I need to move more to cash/bonds to be sure that I can afford to retire, but my willingness is increasing!)   

[Parasaurolophus]

Tried to send the rent this morning. All of a sudden I can't make transfers without scanning a QR code for "security" purposes. My phone can't scan the QR code. I select "choose an alternative method", and there's only one option: to use my driver's license. Fine. I click it, only to be shown another QR code I can't scan.

I'm just going to scream into he fucking void now. Don't mind me.