The Venting Thread

[the_geneticist]

Well, it looks like I have just finally truly lost the game of Roulette that is adjuncting. All my classes have been cut for low enrollment or reassigned to a full-timer. I know how the game is played; this is far from the first time I've seen this. What's changed is that always before I've been offered replacement sections. Not this time. OnlyGameInTown CC is going through major retrenchments, and there were no more sections. My supervisor wants to rehire me, but cannot. Weeks of unpaid prep work down the drain. In fact, sixteen years of experience down the drain, because the institution really is the only game in town and I am geographically immobile. Not that adjunct work pays enough to be worth moving for anyway.

I am going to have to start a new career. My field is creative writing. Companies aren't exactly hiring poets, novelists, or other writers in droves. I don't even know what else I'm good for, if anything. I haven't done a real job search in sixteen years, either, much less during a pandemic and economic near-collapse. I hate job hunting and haven't needed to do it, until now. Career counseling is expensive. Does anyone have any knowledge or experience or ideas regarding whether it is worth it?


Larimar

You could certainly find work right now as a private tutor.  Lots of students really need extra support, not just help writing, but also methods for staying organized.  With most folks entirely online, you don't even have to be in the same geographic area as potential students.

[namazu]

Microwave-cum-vent-hood died in the middle of thawing frozen meat with which I had planned to cook chili. Looks like it shorted out internally -- the outlet still works and hasn't blown a fuse.

Not sure when/if we'll be able to find another model that fits and get it installed in a way that doesn't expose us to people outside our quarantine bubble, which consists solely of our household, and when they can go 2 weeks without sharing air-space with other people, my parents and my MIL.  Will have to figure out when we can avoid the kitchen for a while, which is not easy when we are cooking all meals at home and have a baby.  (Yes, we are more risk-averse than most.)

[mamselle]

Microwave-cum-vent-hood died in the middle of thawing frozen meat with which I had planned to cook chili. Looks like it shorted out internally -- the outlet still works and hasn't blown a fuse.

Not sure when/if we'll be able to find another model that fits and get it installed in a way that doesn't expose us to people outside our quarantine bubble, which consists solely of our household, and when they can go 2 weeks without sharing air-space with other people, my parents and my MIL.  Will have to figure out when we can avoid the kitchen for a while, which is not easy when we are cooking all meals at home and have a baby.  (Yes, we are more risk-averse than most.)tion,

Can you get an inexpensive counter-top model for the duration? Target, etc. probably have them and could deliver.

Or perhaps you're already doing that.

M.

[mamselle]

Well, it looks like I have just finally truly lost the game of Roulette that is adjuncting. All my classes have been cut for low enrollment or reassigned to a full-timer. I know how the game is played; this is far from the first time I've seen this. What's changed is that always before I've been offered replacement sections. Not this time. OnlyGameInTown CC is going through major retrenchments, and there were no more sections. My supervisor wants to rehire me, but cannot. Weeks of unpaid prep work down the drain. In fact, sixteen years of experience down the drain, because the institution really is the only game in town and I am geographically immobile. Not that adjunct work pays enough to be worth moving for anyway.

I am going to have to start a new career. My field is creative writing. Companies aren't exactly hiring poets, novelists, or other writers in droves. I don't even know what else I'm good for, if anything. I haven't done a real job search in sixteen years, either, much less during a pandemic and economic near-collapse. I hate job hunting and haven't needed to do it, until now. Career counseling is expensive. Does anyone have any knowledge or experience or ideas regarding whether it is worth it?


Larimar

You could certainly find work right now as a private tutor.  Lots of students really need extra support, not just help writing, but also methods for staying organized.  With most folks entirely online, you don't even have to be in the same geographic area as potential students.

With editing in my resume, I get a lot of listings via Monster, Indeed, and LinkedIn.

I'll PM you with a few shortly...teaching in just a moment.

And yes, online homework help is big right now.

More later.

M.

[namazu]

Microwave-cum-vent-hood died in the middle of thawing frozen meat with which I had planned to cook chili. Looks like it shorted out internally -- the outlet still works and hasn't blown a fuse.

Not sure when/if we'll be able to find another model that fits and get it installed in a way that doesn't expose us to people outside our quarantine bubble, which consists solely of our household, and when they can go 2 weeks without sharing air-space with other people, my parents and my MIL.  Will have to figure out when we can avoid the kitchen for a while, which is not easy when we are cooking all meals at home and have a baby.  (Yes, we are more risk-averse than most.)

Can you get an inexpensive counter-top model for the duration? Target, etc. probably have them and could deliver.
Or perhaps you're already doing that.

Yes, that's the plan for the immediate term. 

The vent hood over the stove will be a little trickier to replace.  It's not great barbecue weather here, either, but we'll certainly manage.  Having spent a good deal of time in S. Asia where many people have terribly-polluting indoor cookstoves (and also with colleagues who studied that very thing), I know that this is orders of magnitude less bad (but also that you don't want to breathe in byproducts of combustion when you can help it).

[Larimar]

Thank you for the replies and PM's. I appreciate it. You've given me some good ideas.


Namazu, I hope you are able to get your vent hood replaced quickly and safely.

[apl68]

Namazu, I hope you are able to get your vent hood replaced quickly and safely.

Yes.

Incidentally, venting about a vent seems a doubly appropriate use of this thread.

[mamselle]

Namazu, I hope you are able to get your vent hood replaced quickly and safely.

Yes.

Incidentally, venting about a vent seems a doubly appropriate use of this thread.

Ha!

M.

[sprout]

Being location-bound doesn't necessarily prevent you from adjuncting, particularly right now.  If you've been teaching online for covid, you could put feelers out nationwide for teaching online classes.

[Larimar]

You have a good point, and yes, I had been teaching online. Thank you.

[clean]

IT IS DEAD.

My hard drive has a short.  The Geeks were unable to salvage my files.  All may be lost.

SO BACK UP YOUR COMPUTER!!!


The kicker (in the ass) is that I DID buy a new external hard drive in November!  I have not even taken it out of the box!!

I am now living what I tell my students, "BUYING the study guide has never helped anyone.  USING the study guide might help!"   (It seems that my computer was not impressed by my PURCHASE of a back up drive!!)


I am exploring the options of buying the same model hard drive and swapping out the physical disk part of it... but I dont know if anyone is able to do surgery on a hard drive. (The geeks suggested that they COULD TRY to send it somewhere else for 'level 3' work that starts at $1000).

I dont think so!  But thanks for the offer!


SO BACK UP YOUR COMPUTER TODAY (or risk my fate!!) 

[mamselle]

The Geek Squad is not necessarily the best resource, if that's who you're referring to.

There are several online sites (I had one die for which it took 2 days to download everything, but it only cost 70.00).

And I also find it maddening that they can't seem to make them better. I'm suspecting intentionally planned obsolescence, really.

Mine is also making things difficult, and I was just this AM thinking I'd better order a new one and start downloading.

But I also have a large XHDD to save to, so I'll be backing up to that first.

Thanks for the reality check, though, really.

M.

[Harlow2]

Clean, before abandoning hope check with your university IT support and see if they can help.   My hard drive is next to the computer.  Ahem.  I will use it today. thanks for the nudge.

[downer]

A dean emailed a document with 7 pages of boilerplate to be included in the syllabus. This was cumulative from years of boilerplate, and I only had to add half a page to the syllabus. Sad for the students, sad for me, sad for the dean, for all of us to be so thoroughly enmeshed in a waste of time.

[EdnaMode]

A dean emailed a document with 7 pages of boilerplate to be included in the syllabus. This was cumulative from years of boilerplate, and I only had to add half a page to the syllabus. Sad for the students, sad for me, sad for the dean, for all of us to be so thoroughly enmeshed in a waste of time.

Wow! That's a lot of info. Could you possibly talk your dean into putting the boilerplate online? I know some schools do that and all the instructors have to do is put a link in the syllabus. If I had seven pages of additional stuff to add to my syllabus I'd definitely be asking people up the food chain if we could put it somewhere online like the school website or an intranet.