Updates....work fun.....

So, the "issues" at work are...well...they aren't over, I'm sure of that, and I can't say they are resolved because that would mean we came to some sort of conclusion, but they are done for now, I guess. We had lab meeting today and Dr. Hall basically told everyone I'm the boss when it comes to making sure everyone follows the rules and they needed to listen to me. Then we came to the fun part of the day in which L. & Y. got to air their grievances with me in front of the rest of the lab. Shall we list them? It will be fun....

1.) I am unprofessional because I got upset (although apparently getting upset and not speaking to someone for two months is not unprofessional).

2.) I can't manage people because I don't know how to handle confrontation.

3.) I yell when I get angry.

4.) I have a problem with L. so that has clouded my judgement in all things related to L.

And my personal favorite....

5.) I am a dictator who spends all my free time sitting around thinking up ways to "persecute" the graduate students.

Who are they kidding, I spend all my free time either at church (thanks Kyle) or knitting or shopping for Yarn so I can knit. I don't have time to think up ways to "persecute" them, although that might be fun.....

Oh well, my boss is on my side, and I'm sure the rest will fall into place.

Speaking of knitting, I have the yarn and I have the head measurement, so I'm all ready to start Jenny's hat tomorrow just before tip off so that I can knit away all during the game. I'm not taking any chances this time, and if this works, I may have to see if knitting needles are on the list of banned items at Rupp.....guns, knives, brass knuckles, professional cameras or cameras with telephoto lenses, and knitting needles....

1987

1987 was the year I started school. I was 4 years old at the time (my birthday was two weeks before the cut off date, but seeing as how my two goals in life were to learn to read and to ride a school bus, mom didn't think she should make me wait another whole year before I got to go) (and yes, I accomplished everything I ever wanted to do in life by the time I was 6 years old). I thought that I had left kindergarten behind a long time ago, but apparently I was wrong.

A little background first. I am the youngest person in my department by about 6 months and the youngest person in my lab by about 4 years. I work with 4 graduate students (2 from China, 1 from Gambia, 1 from Jordan), 1 post doc (Stephanie), and 3 PhDs. I am also the only person in my lab who does not have a PhD and is not working towards one. Now for the drama...

Back in December, one of the students, we shall call them Y., go into a fight with Stephanie over the two carts we keep in the lab. Y. was using both carts at the same time, Stephanie needed one, and there was some arguing and maybe some yelling. We started signing out the carts, and I thought all was well. I found out on Friday, however, that Y. was still not talking to Steph because of the whole cart incident. Y. is also only speaking to me on a need-to-know basis because (I guess) Y. feels like I took Steph's side in the Great Cart Scandal.

If this wasn't juvenile enough, there was more fun on Friday. About two weeks ago I sent out an email detailing some new procedures we needed to be following when we do surgery. I had gone over all the information in Lab Meeting, but I felt like a written explanation might help to make things clear. On Friday, I was assisting another student (we'll call them L.) with surgery when it became clear that L. had no idea what needed to be done. When I questioned L. about some of the things I had explained in the email, L. admitted to me "I didn't read the email because I didn't think it was important." Now this made me mad. I don't send out many emails, and when I do, they are usually about things that everyone needs to know. Since it was obvious that I couldn't depend on people reading my emails, I decided that the best way to make sure everyone was on the same page was to have a mandatory information session where we went over everything that needed to be going on. I discussed this with LabManager who thought it was a great idea, and then sent out an email telling the date and time.

Now, I will admit that I was still a bit mad (and maybe a bit menstrual--I'm just saying) when I sent the email. And I admit that there were some all caps, bolded, underlined sections, but since they didn't seem to read my emails all that often, I figured I needed to make it very clear what portions I expected them to read. This didn't go over to well. L. and Y. both got very upset and were going to to talk to BigBoss and do....well, I don't know--get me in trouble, get me fired, get me a raise (well, maybe not that last one). Luckily, LabManager headed them off, talked to them, and told them they needed to calm down or leave. LabManager then went and talked to BigBoss before he came and told me what had gone on. Then I had to go talk to BigBoss just to make sure that he understood my side of the story (which he did) and he assured me he was behind me 110% and that he would make sure that everyone understood that I was in charge of anything to do with animals and/or DLAR.

So, as of Friday afternoon here is where I stand with my lab: BigBoss & LabManager are on my side along with Steph & Jeff while L., & Y. are so mad at me that they are no longer talking to me and Y. has made sure that about half of the other students in the department aren't speaking to me either. No one knows what the other two students (A. and X.) think about all this since they haven't been seen or heard from since Tuesday.

Now, LabManager's excuse for L. & Y.'s behavior was that they are just young and aren't mature enough yet, at which point I had to remind him that I am 3-4 years younger that both L. & Y. and I don't act like that. It's bad enough that L. & Y. got all bent out of shape over an email that was sent to the entire lab (not just them), but Y. holding a grudge over the whole Cart Episode for two months is just ridiculous. She needs to just let it go. Oh well, we'll see what happens on Monday.

In other news, we are expecting some kind of big winter storm to hit tonight/tomorrow (which will hit this time since my friend Nathan is leaving tomorrow to move to Pennsylvania) so of course today I had to go stock up on the essentials (milk and yarn). So yes, I made my third trip to the Yarn Store since last Saturday. I needed to get another skein of yarn to finish up my Aunt Purl's Magic Scarf and I wanted to get some move yarn to make another hat using up some of the purple yarn I had left over. While I was there, however, I just had to go take another look at the Noro Yarns that I wanted so badly the last time I was in (umm.....Wednesday, yeah, I have a problem). Low and behold, they had restocked, and now they had a ton of new color choices!! I immediately gravitated to Noro's Kureyon color 90 and I just couldn't let it go. It was so pretty. It wanted to come live with me so badly. So I bought 4 skeins even though I have no idea what I'm going to do with it. I may need to take a second job to support my yarn habit.

The Noro yarn color that just had to come live with me. I am now the proud owner of 4 skeins of this stuff.

Oh yeah, and just in case anyone was wondering, I LOVED this week's Supernatural. It was totally awesome with just the right balance of creep factor, brotherly love/hate, and humor. You've got to love a show that makes fun of itself. Come to think of it, that's why I love Ugly Betty as well--and let me just say that the last five minutes of Betty totally caught me by surprise. Perhaps Faye is really dead after all.

Lights and Trains...oh yeah, and Hats

So I have a meeting tonight of the dreaded PNC (or Search Committee). I think, perhaps, just maybe I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Or it's a train. Either way, at least there is some hope that we will be done sometime this decade. (We'll be done by Christmas, Woody? Christmas 2020?) Until then, however, I will continue to post this picture of Kyle every time I mention this darned committee (because this is all his fault, you know) (and he could have avoided this if he had helped me move, but HE chose to be busy that day....so you know....)

In other wonderful and exciting news, I finally finished my hat (Crazy Aunt Purl's Easy Roll Brim Hat) last night while the Cats were stomping South Carolina. (If they are going to play like that, I will knit up a hat every time they play.) It's very cute, I promise, but seeing as how I don't have a digital camera, I can't show you all. I guess you'll just have to come see it in person. And to think it only took me three tries, two froggings, and one week to get it all finished. I might just get the hang of this knitting thing yet. If the flood doesn't come and swallow me up.

It finally stopped raining after about five days of nothing but gray skies and drizzle, and I thought I was in the clear. But NO! Today it was clear and sunny (if darned cold) outside, but we had a freaking FLOOD inside. One of the post docs from another lab was using our water system to fill up a big 10L carboy (which is normal). She put the carboy under the spigot, turned it on, and left. I didn't pay much attention to what was going on until the cleaning lady asked if I needed a mop. I was confused until I turned around and saw that the post doc had forgotten to close the spout on her container so all the water she was putting into the jug was flowing out again at the bottom. By the time anyone noticed, there was a large pond forming on the floor. Cleaning it up was not fun and involved a mop, some towels, and lots of complaining. I love my job. I do. I swear.

All Work and No Play...

I love my job, I really do, but sometimes I wonder about the people that run our "Next Great University" (which was the WORST slogan ever).

First there is the whole no Coke on campus thing. Somewhere, at some point, someone decided that Coke was evil and that Pepsi (and Pepsi products) should be the only thing available on campus. Now, I am a Coke girl through and through. In fact, I can't really stand to drink Pepsi at all (unless it is mixed the something else, like Rum, but campus is dry as well, so that is out too). The only exception to this rule is that they do sell Coke products at basketball games--men's games, not women's (they are held in separate places, so I guess it's all good). So, even though Pepsi isl a major sponsor of Men's Basketball, you cannot drink a Pepsi at a Men's Basketball game. Yeah, it doesn't make sense to me either.

Next, there is the whole issue of my building. It is a nice building. It is a brand new building. (It is an ugly building, but that doesn't really factor into this equation.) We moved into the 3rd floor of this lovely building about two years ago, and we actually like it. When we moved in, however, the 4th floor was not yet finished. They had run out of money before they could finish the 4th floor, so it was only a shell. Not too long after we moved in, they got a grant and so began work to finish the top floor for a new Cancer center. Now, after much banging and beating and other strange, distracting noises coming from upstairs, they are almost finished but what did they discover? When they applied for the grant, they told the Grant-giving people that they floor was going to be a Neuroscience floor. While Cancer research is important and wonderful, it is NOT Neuroscience. How are they going to resolve this problem? By making us move to the 4th floor, of course. We are all about Neuroscience, so it makes some sense, but WHY MUST WE MOVE TWO TIMES IN TWO YEARS? Moving a lab is a lot like moving from one house to another, only about 50x move complicated because of all the things (read: Chemicals, Radiation, etc) that has to be move carefully as well as very very expensive equipment that can only be moved on the first full moon after the second Tuesday of every month by someone trained by monks in China. The first move was horrible, but I got through it by saying this was the one and only time I would ever have to do this. It's a good thing that there isn't a 5th floor.

Oh yes, and in some fun other news, one of the female PIs got some flowers delivered to her office today. They were beautiful pink Lilies and Purple Daises. They were, however, giving one of the Administrative Assistants (Secretaries) hives (these are super fragrant flowers--you can smell them all the way down the hall) so now they are spending the day with the most wonderful Zel who works at the other end of the hall until it is time for the recipient to go home. There is never a dull moment around here, that's for sure.

Four Eyes

So I wore my glasses to work yesterday....this isn't something I do often, but my contacts have been bothering me so I decided to give my eyes the day off. Well, CrazyBoss commented three (count 'em three) times. The first two times it was a simple "I like your glasses" but the third time it was "I REALLY like your glasses, I do, I think they look really good" as if the first two times hadn't clued me into this fact.

I wonder about CrazyBoss sometimes. He wouldn't speak to me for about six months after I told him I was looking for another job (which I totally understand) but then, all of a sudden, it was like we were bestest friends (BFF, you know it). He felt the need to speak to me every. single. time. we would pass in the hallway (this is why, when you quit a job, you need to find another one far, far away--not just down the hall). He compliments me on everything now--my hair, my clothes, my glasses. Don't get me wrong, this is better than being mean and hateful to me, but I do sometimes wonder how much of this is just an act he puts on and how much is due to the fact that he's smoked sooooo much pot over the years that he can't remember what he ate for lunch today, much less what happened between me and him over a year ago (he is the posterboy for pot's effects on memory.) Don't do drugs kids, or this is what you'll turn into:

Also, still no Scopeman, although Jenny did spot him on Tuesday heading toward my building, so I know he has been on campus.