The week just keeps getting better and better. After deliberating for far too long, the insitution finally announced the details of the second wave of budget cuts, and over 400 positions will be lost - meaning about 70 people will actually lose their jobs. They've shifted over some personnel to other areas that had vacancies, in order to consolidate some functions and eliminate salary lines that apparently were considered extranious. Some of that was done on this branch a little bit prematurely, since we've have some resignations. We've also been told not to order office supplies from any other vendor but the one run by the company. The office supply budgets amount to insignificant spending compared to salaries, and minimal revenue for the company when you factor in the cost of procuring those supplies to sell back to the departments at markup. And when the holiday break comes around, we'll be closed for a week. Which is great - except that the days not considered "holiday/floating holiday" by the president of the institution will have to be covered by personal vacation time. Which is...bad. Madam president of course made a point of
announcing that she asked the board not to approve a salary increase for her this year, like the 16% one she got last year, while the rest of the staff hasn't even had a cost of living bump in
several years. She's too generous.
The good news is, I got my evaluation and it was overall a positive one. The criticisms were constructive, and I agreed with them (networking is not something I'm good at, but would help me immensely, and I need to learn to delegate, even if it means watching something go down in flames due to ineptitude). It was also revealed that "someone" had told my boss when he came on last year that I would be his biggest "problem" (he said he found the opposite to be true). I know who that "someone" is, and they caused more problems than they solved before their uncerimonious departure, and they may find it in their best interest to not ever allow their considerable shadow to darken my door again. I appreciated the encouragement and positive affirmations said in my favor, even if the meeting was very brief, and I appreciate the effort to have me shifted over to the other administrative area for my benefit. I do think there's probably an ulterior motive, but if it ends up being a win-win for everyone involved, then I won't concern myself with it. I'm just glad to have that process done and over with.
I got a china cabinet from a friend at work, and it's great. It's an older piece of furniture - just a year older than I am - but it fits in well enough with the rest of the living room pieces and I can display my glassware and collectibles that have been stored in the attic for almost ten years. The night my husband and I picked up the base we spent hours gossiping with my coworker. We picked up the actual cabinet peice last night and in the quest to reclaim my depression glass from the depths of my attic I also rediscovered a box of hockey collectibles, and I'll be going through my rather large card collection to see if e-bay offers a chance to make some extra coin. If I remember correctly, I had a Gretzky card that was worth about $50 back in the late 90s. I won't sell my signed pucks - those will go in my son's room if they're still in decent condition.
I have no bosses today. One is sick and the other is out of town for a wedding in the midwest. So my motivation is...well, all I'll say is you have as much luck locating that as you do of finding a singing leprechaun riding a unicorn having tea with Bigfoot. I spent part of the morning sort of playing hookey by browsing in the bookstore a couple blocks over from my office, where I bought myself some books as a birthday present to myself (a signed, first-edition hardcover by Douglas Preston that was half off (
!!);
Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk;
The Road by Cormac McCarthy). Once I've worked my way through these, I'll be reading
The Ruins and attempting to begin Terry Pratchett's Discworld series from the beginning. I'm really looking forward to my birthday this year. There are plans to celebrate it by doing something fun with some of my most loved people on the actual day (Saturday), and that is a perfect storm of awesome.
My husband met with my son's kindergarten teacher today. She said she has been very pleased by his progress, and that he is one of her best students. According to her, he excels academically, reading on probably a fourth-grade level and doing exceedingly well in math as well (she's sending the third grade word list home with him over the summer, but we're pretty sure he can already read all of the words and use them in context in a sentence). She suggested that we request a specific teacher for next year who will be able to offer him a little more challenge, and then see how he adjusts, but she recommended him for the gifted program. His exposure to the older kids in his after school program has also helped his social and emotional development. We'll think about it over the summer and see whether or not the gifted program is in his best interests - we don't want to push him too hard too early. He
is only six.
My husband's birthday is this weekend, and he'll join me in the ranks of the no-longer-in our-twenties. The plan is to have my husband's family over on Sunday for gift-giving and preparation of charred consumables. And alcohol. And cake.
