Monday, January 14, 2013

Redpoll


32 comments:

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    1. Mum expressed herself of the opinion that either Joe or Hilary *deserves* it. Maybe Joe deserves it. VPs often do run and get elected pres., but this sense of entitlement among Hilary supporters puzzles me.

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    2. On election day in 2016, Biden will be just days short of his 74th birthday. That's too old.

      I don't know precisely what sense of entitlement you have encountered. I understand why Hilary supporters feel she should have won, and should win if she runs again, in precisely the same way we feel Howard should have won and should win if he runs again.

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    3. Oh, but, it's not the same at all. LOL Howard's Howard God's gift to the Democratic Party and to America. Hilary's just some lady who used to be First Lady. Her supporters are sincere but misguided. We have the true gospel; we follow the true light. The others are false prophets and must be shown their error.

      Ah, yes, it's silly, illogical fanaticism in other people but true and reasonable devotion in oneself.

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  2. Hey Bill,
    I'm finding GoodSearch to work well, and have so far made 52 cents for Disability Pride Parade. :-) What is the date for the event?

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    1. This year's parade will be on July 20. It's always the Saturday before the anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

      The web site, disabilityprideparade.rog, is now up to date once again. Our former webmaster retired after the last parade (we're all volunteers, of course), and his replacement never did anything before telling us on Wednesday that he didn't have time. But luckily our former webmaster stepped up and said he would do it through the end of this year's parade.

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  3. I hit the Snooze button this morning and never heard the alarm again. Overslept by about 20 minutes, but that's okay. Got up and got ready to go to this morning's staff meeting, and realised I was still dragging even after my shower. Took my temp and it was 99.6F. That's not all that bad, but it's the highest it's been with this bug. My cheeks were flushed and I wasn't feeling well in other ways. So I called in sick to the staff meeting. Going to go have a lie down.

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    1. That was wise. Hope you're feeling better♥

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    2. Tonight was better. I'm hopeful it was a 3-day bug and I'm finally beyond it...nearly anyway.

      So, thanks to our conversation tonight, I screwed up the courage and sent an email to the Director saying I'll be making a cheesecake and asking if I am truly needed at the Trustees event. It helps that I have nothing to lose.

      Mah*Sweetie suggested that I could offer to change from Saturdays to Sundays, if that would help the group. It would actually be easier for us, too. At least it means I don't only have to say no, so it's a kindness to the group while not messing up our homelife.

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    3. Ah! That last sounds good. Glad to hear that it might work out for the best after all.

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    4. And the first paragraph sounds good too.

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  4. Alan, your info was fascinating, though it reinforced my disinclination towards alcohol. Thanks so much! I wondered about vomiting, so thanks for including that and blackouts.

    Our boy is despondent over a seemingly disastrous misstep with a girl he fancies. He's upset and everything seems magnified as it does to the young but he's not stupid or suicidal. And he's not a heavy drinker by nature. So he'd probably have three per hour, enough to drown his sorrows but not enough to be dangerous. Which would mean, by the time Connie found him, maybe an hour and a half in, he wouldn't be in all that bad shape. Gratifying for me, since I dislike unpleasantness, but not much for drama. Hmmm...

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    1. Three drinks an hour means he is nursing each drink for 20 minutes. Or waiting a while after he finishes one before ordering the next, which seems less likely. My estimate of his psychology is that he would down the first couple fairly quickly before settling down to the slow, steady drinking that you envision.

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  5. HMV prepares to call in administrators

    IIRC HMV (His Master's Voice) is the British name for what we know as RCA Victor.

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  6. =Heavy Sigh=
    Well, I wasn't well enough to attend today's staff meeting, but I got the low down from a coworker. It's all just stuff, but there's one thing which could be an issue. Currently, two of us work on Saturdays (including myself) and two work on Sundays. My Saturday coworker also works on Sundays. She has been doing this for about 5 years and now she would like to have some Sundays off. Her Sunday coworker would also like some Sundays off. They are asking me and another coworker (who doesn't work weekends at the Library) to work some of the Sundays so they can have some days off.

    I am not willing to do this, since Mah*Sweetie and I ONLY have Sundays off together, and we have VT*Grand on weekends. The other coworker has already agreed to it, so now I'm the bad guy.

    I have a feeling that some of what's driving the need for Sundays off is general job dissatisfaction, given our Director's dysfunction this past year. I think it's partly displaced frustration, and I feel like it's landing on me.

    Are work places always so very much like grade school?

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    1. From a purely Ivory Tower point of view, I don't think it is incumbant on you to switch to Sundays. You have other coworkers, after all. Let one of them switch.

      On the ground, such a stand may not be easy to maintain. But at the same time, you don't want to set the precedent of letting the people around you push you around. JIf Saturday works for you but Sunday doesn't, then you shouldn't be forced to shift. You know, standing firm sometimes on a point that matters to you does not make you a bad guy. Your home commitments are more important than your work ones, and people need t respect that.

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    2. When I dropped out of grad school at the MA level, it was mostly because I was tired of grad school politics. I thought that in a business that the nonsense would stop because a profit needed to be made. I was wrong: it seems profoundly human.

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    3. Thank-you so much, Cat. I didn't make it clear that they didn't want me to switch hours, but to ADD them! I would be expected to work BOTH Saturday and Sunday some weeks, and sometimes have both days off. Something tells me it wouldn't be predictable and anyway, I have no interest in working both weekend days any week. Interestingly, both of the people asking for this have two days off together during the week. My only two days off together are Sunday-Monday. Mine would be altered, theirs would not.

      I won't enjoy the lobbying and related poking into my personal life, but I am going to stand my ground. I have a life and I like my life. As it is, we were told we're needed to be present on a Saturday evening in February because the Trustees are having a Moveable Feast meal for potential donors that evening. They will have each course at a different place, and dessert will be at the Library...at 8:30pm...! This means I'm expected to be on hand at the very time I will be needed to read stories and sing VT*Grand to sleep. I'm perfectly willing to make a restaurant-quality cheesecake for the event, but I truly believe that my little granddaughter needs my presence more than some potential donors, especially as there will be others present.

      I'm sure I'm going to get a reputation as an uncooperative, unsporting curmudgeon. But at least I'll still have a life.

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    4. I was able to finish my M.A. But something happened in the summer between when I finished the M.A. and started Ph.D. studies. All of a sudden they were telling us what we could and couldn't do, what we could and couldn't write. Maybe that was a good thing. Maybe I would have benefited from the discipline, but having it rammed down my throat turned me stubborn and resentful and probably skittish. I couldn't get out of there fast enough.

      But, yeah, there's politics, or grade school behavior as listener would say, everywhere. I see it in the NFB Writers Division; I'm beginning to see it in my Engelbert groups. Guess Puddle's right and it's just human nature.

      Maybe the reason there's nothing like that here is that we have no rivalries or petty jealousies. We're just a group of friends who care about each other and are interested in each others' lives and small doings. No room for politics, nothing for it to feed on.

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    5. Thanks puddle. Yeah, darn that ol' humanness, eh? ;-)

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    6. Yeah, Cat. When I re-started my college studies, in the late 80's, it was at a progressive college and we presented what we wanted to accomplish and they gave us an interested advisor. I nearly got stuck with a guy who wanted to change my entire purpose! What saved me is that when I realised this I was talking with a different advisor ~ one I would have loved to work with ~ I said, "He doesn't understand what I'm trying to do" and I started to cry. He simply said, "We'll take care of you." Turns out when he saw how much it meant to me he decided to work with me! Best advisor I ever had.

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    7. I usually have my act together, but on the two or three occasions when I have been so kerflummoxed as to cry in public, I have always seen immediate and excellent results. Why is that? Why does it take falling apart in public to get the help that should have come from the start? Ain't life funny?

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  7. Thanks for letting me not merely vent but process this a bit with you all. It's keeping me a little clearer about what I need to do and a little more sane as well. ♥

    Viva la Dean Community!

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    1. Venting is good. Processing is really good.

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  8. Bill, I'm up to 60 cents for DPP! :-D This is fun!

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  9. Finished A Morbid Taste for Bones, the first Bro. Cadfael novel. Tonight on to the second, One Corpse Too Many. Can't think why I never read these books before. They're ideal for a medievalist cum mystery buff.

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    1. I've read a couple of Bro. Cadfel mysteries. Interesting enough as mysteries, although I'm not really a medievalist.

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  10. Alan ~ note for you on the end of the last thread. :-)

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