| Today was a much better bus day, since I got off to an earlier start, which allowed me to catch a bus that actually had plenty of seating available—as opposed to yesterday’s butts-to-nuts situation.
I didn’t mention that yesterday afternoon, I attended my first meeting, which was actually training (on the Drupal system), presented by my friend Jen Riehle, and her colleague Nick. Today, I attended a Policies and Guidelines Subcommittee for Drupal/ OIT Web Site meeting. It was a decent meeting, and I contributed as much as can be expected from a 2nd-day employee. 🙂 Everette, the guy who sits in the office next to mine and Rhonda’s invited me to join a group that was walking over to Clark Dining Hall for lunch, which was quite the walk—but that was good. I was familiar with the place as it’s in the building in which I worked during the first part of my employment with Service Learning, before they got their own center in a new building. |
While I loved the lunch, it was an all-you-eat situation, which is exactly what I don’t need as my trip approaches. I knew that going in, but weighed the danger of overeating against the opportunity to meet some new folks, and the latter won out.
Everette and this other guy named Harry, who turned out to be the husband of one of the managers in my area got to bantering about home projects involving physics that they’ve each done with their kids.
At one point I asked them if they were teachers, too, as they talked about how one of their little projects with the kids demonstrated Bernoulli’s Principle.
It was an interesting exchange. The other two guys that went with us were quite quiet—Jim and Germaine.
We took a different route back, which was both refreshing and made me do some self-reflection. Without a doubt, if I had gone alone, I would have walked back the exact same way I went. That’s me, when left to my preferences and natural inclinations. Comfortable in routine. Putting the “J” (judging characteristic) in ESFJ. I noted that I liked returning a different way to hopefully be more inclined to do that on my own in future situations where this notion could apply.
I know that you, like myself, have received an e-mail at one time or other that started something like this:
| FROM THE DESK OF FINANCE AND ECONOMIC AFFAIRS MR PHILIP .M. MALUSI OF SOUTH AFRICA. EMAIL: ADDRESS: philip-malusi@mighty.co.za TEL/FAX: + 27839609856Attn. Sir/ Madam: My name is MR. Philip .M. Mojola a high placed official working with Department of (Finance & Economic Affairs) in South Africa. My Email address s is philip-malusi@mighty.co.za and you can reach me on my private telephone number + 27839609856. I decided to reach you directly to solicit for your assistance and guidelines in making a business investment and transfer of US$17,500,000.00 (Seventeen Million Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) to your country. Please I must plead for your confidence in this transaction…
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I listened to a fascinating episode of The Story, where a guy took it into his own hands to get back at one sender of such e-mails. It raises such questions as, “How far is too far?” and “Is this vigilante justice?” This Scamming the Scammers is part of the Commodifying Race episode, so you’ll have to “fast forward” through the first story to get to it. Also, the guy who did it has his own “scambaiting” website called 419 Eater.
I, myself, was much more engaged by the story than the website. But that’s just me.
My sister checked in to let me know about my mom’s knee replacement surgery, which she later followed up with an e-mail (to her friends and colleagues) about:
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My mom is fine as of 3:30 pm yesterday when I left her. Because all the bone was healthy and there was no infection, they basically just popped out the worn out piece and put in another. Her doctor said it was like a brake pad replacement – at least he knew how to talk to us so we could understand him – I have got to try to look less lesbian-ish! LOLxml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” / This took a lot less time in surgery. They also gave her a spinal block and less anesthesia so she was much more alert in a shorter time, and she felt a whole lot better when she woke up. Of course the local anesthetic on her knee had not worn off yet so we’ll see! Her doctor is all about NO PAIN – he said now you have shots you can have, pills you can have, just ask – I wanted some but I tried not to make it about me!! She was to get up today and walk, and hopefully go home on Friday, Saturday the latest. They send a PT to the house in Jacksonville for rehab so that is good. The doctor also said that since he had to do so little that the rehab time would be a lot less. I am glad because I do not trust my dad driving back and forth. He kept saying things to me like why does that sign say “so and so” and I’d say it DOESN”T say that it says “so and so” – and he’s driving!!! I know you can so relate to this – spending time with your aging/ailing parents is exhausting, especially when it is in a hospital. Craven County has a lot to be proud of. That medical center has got to have the best HR training department – everyone there was so nice and helpful! I saw a lot of GRAPES – the ECU Nursing Students in their purple uniforms. The staff at the hospital call them the “grapes” – I love it. My mother’s nurse proudly exclaimed that she used to be a GRAPE, too. |
It was my turn to postpone my meeting with my financial advisor. My manager came into my office late in the day, and by the time we finished talking, it made it too late for me to be able to get to get to his office by six. We rescheduled—a little reluctantly as neither of us are “morning people”—for tomorrow morning at 8:00.
I met (Photog)Rob at Flex at 8:00, and taught him to lead in the two-step—not that I’m a great lead or a teacher, but I’d warned him of that ahead of time. Caveat emptor!
It was a fun night of dancing—I danced a lot. For some reason never revealed, Adam decided not to stop the music for Sordid Lives, so we had a full night of dancing.
I was talking to Michael right before I left, as we were the last two there, and he told me that he’d gotten laid off from his job as a paralegal. Bummer.