May 2007
Wild Fortnight!
18 05 07 19:30
This has been a roller-coaster week, for sure.
Last week I asked for and was granted a promotion and a raise, which made me feel valued to say the least. This at a time when the College of Education is having to significantly cut budgets.
The interview team that interviewed me last week for a position in the Office of Student Computing Resources called me back and invited me to a second interview on Monday. I half thought they would give me some type of functional test, so I prepared by downloading printer manuals for their large format printer, and reviewing as much as I could about OSX server, wishing I had the College of Santa Fe's server in front of me to play with. On Monday at 2pm, I headed to OSCR for the interview. I was right. They took me to one of their machine rooms and gave me a scenario to problem solve, a page of acronyms and terms to define, and sat me down in front of an OSX server and asked me to perform a variety of functions. It was really nerve-wracking. As usual after I finish with an interview, I thought I did poorly because I could think of a million ways to have improved my performance.
Then, on Tuesday, we had a staff appreciation luncheon in the College of Education. I headed over with the 'bye-bye Michael' DVD in hand to show our appreciation and goodwill for Michael, who will be leaving the Instructional Technology Facility in mid-June. The video was a hit. I think Michael appreciated that we took some time to recognize him, too. We will all miss him, for sure!
Well, I knew that I had been elected to SAC (Staff Advisory Council), so it was nice to be recognized for that. There was something else I didn't know about, though. I had been nominated and chosen for the Peer Recognition award. Wow! The letters made me blush. I knew I was the recipient as soon as the letters started being read, because Michael switched to 'gender neutral' language, and I was the only Y-chromo nominated! lol... The room applauded enthusiastically, which Michael noticed out loud. The award included a certificate, a trophy, and a check. I was on cloud nine by the time the luncheon was finished. Check it out in this newsletter from the COE...
When I returned to the computer lab, I received a call from Tom, who would be my boss at OSCR, and he offered me the position.
Oh my GOD! so now, not only did I feel great about what I had accomplished in the College of Education in less than a year, but I was also being offered an amazing career opportunity to work with a strong IT team that seemed extremely cohesive in interviews. I felt so badly accepting the position after so many accolades at the College of Education, but I simply could not pass it up, so I accepted. I can hardly wait to start!
Then, today, I got the most expensive parking ticket I have ever had in my life. They even booted my vehicle. I was charged $360 because I was using Carl and my only parking tag, which happens to be a 'retired' person's parking permit. I have been on the University of Arizona's Parking & Transportation's waiting list for a permit for almost a year, ever since getting hit by a truck commuting home from work on my bicycle, and because a permit seemed to take forever to procure, I had resorted to very occasionally using our permit. Who would have thought a spouse couldn't use it? What blows my mind is, 1: how did they know I was using it, and 2: how did they know it wasn't Carl using it even if I was using it? For example, what if I had just dropped Carl off at a building and parked the car for him? Or, what if I drove the car and parked it at the office for Carl to pick up after errands? Oh well. I didn't argue too much. I was worried the reason might be some homophobia and I didn't want to make a scene, so I just payed it. Now, if they will just allow me to purchase a permit for myself at the end of the summer like I have been trying to do for the past year, I will be all set!
In the final analysis, though, even though the cost was steep, the parking violation in no way offsets one of the most amazing fortnights I think I have ever experienced!
Last week I asked for and was granted a promotion and a raise, which made me feel valued to say the least. This at a time when the College of Education is having to significantly cut budgets.
The interview team that interviewed me last week for a position in the Office of Student Computing Resources called me back and invited me to a second interview on Monday. I half thought they would give me some type of functional test, so I prepared by downloading printer manuals for their large format printer, and reviewing as much as I could about OSX server, wishing I had the College of Santa Fe's server in front of me to play with. On Monday at 2pm, I headed to OSCR for the interview. I was right. They took me to one of their machine rooms and gave me a scenario to problem solve, a page of acronyms and terms to define, and sat me down in front of an OSX server and asked me to perform a variety of functions. It was really nerve-wracking. As usual after I finish with an interview, I thought I did poorly because I could think of a million ways to have improved my performance.
Then, on Tuesday, we had a staff appreciation luncheon in the College of Education. I headed over with the 'bye-bye Michael' DVD in hand to show our appreciation and goodwill for Michael, who will be leaving the Instructional Technology Facility in mid-June. The video was a hit. I think Michael appreciated that we took some time to recognize him, too. We will all miss him, for sure!
Well, I knew that I had been elected to SAC (Staff Advisory Council), so it was nice to be recognized for that. There was something else I didn't know about, though. I had been nominated and chosen for the Peer Recognition award. Wow! The letters made me blush. I knew I was the recipient as soon as the letters started being read, because Michael switched to 'gender neutral' language, and I was the only Y-chromo nominated! lol... The room applauded enthusiastically, which Michael noticed out loud. The award included a certificate, a trophy, and a check. I was on cloud nine by the time the luncheon was finished. Check it out in this newsletter from the COE...
When I returned to the computer lab, I received a call from Tom, who would be my boss at OSCR, and he offered me the position.
Oh my GOD! so now, not only did I feel great about what I had accomplished in the College of Education in less than a year, but I was also being offered an amazing career opportunity to work with a strong IT team that seemed extremely cohesive in interviews. I felt so badly accepting the position after so many accolades at the College of Education, but I simply could not pass it up, so I accepted. I can hardly wait to start!
Then, today, I got the most expensive parking ticket I have ever had in my life. They even booted my vehicle. I was charged $360 because I was using Carl and my only parking tag, which happens to be a 'retired' person's parking permit. I have been on the University of Arizona's Parking & Transportation's waiting list for a permit for almost a year, ever since getting hit by a truck commuting home from work on my bicycle, and because a permit seemed to take forever to procure, I had resorted to very occasionally using our permit. Who would have thought a spouse couldn't use it? What blows my mind is, 1: how did they know I was using it, and 2: how did they know it wasn't Carl using it even if I was using it? For example, what if I had just dropped Carl off at a building and parked the car for him? Or, what if I drove the car and parked it at the office for Carl to pick up after errands? Oh well. I didn't argue too much. I was worried the reason might be some homophobia and I didn't want to make a scene, so I just payed it. Now, if they will just allow me to purchase a permit for myself at the end of the summer like I have been trying to do for the past year, I will be all set!
In the final analysis, though, even though the cost was steep, the parking violation in no way offsets one of the most amazing fortnights I think I have ever experienced!
Michael is leaving us!
13 05 07 19:43
In mid June, Michael McVey, Director of the Instructional Technology Facility, is leaving Arizona! How sad for all of us in the College of Education. We decided to pull together a 'goodbye video' to show at the Staff Advisory Council luncheon on Tuesday. Yvonne Gonzalez and I ran around the college capturing people giving their best wishes to Michael, and I edited the video. Here is the result: