missdiane: (Blues Brothers - WHAP)
So I finally received the "proposal" from that staff guy that has difficulty listening to simple instructions. Lordy...it's a...well let me just show you a piece.

For reference, here's an example of what a forestry project should look like from our resident forestry expert. You state in succinct terms what the point of the research is, what the goals are and then you can get a little wordy/science-y in the methods section.

I made sure to let staff guy know in every bit of instructions that we don't upload proposals, what the layout is (which is very short and to the point) and that they have character limits. Here's a snippet from his TOME:

Thus far, New Jersey has overwhelmingly focused on forest stewardship objectives (e.g. wildlife habitat; groundwater recharge; public recreation) rather than woodland management ones (e.g. forest products). But even forest stewardship can be difficult to achieve in New Jersey, as many residents are adverse to any type of tree cutting on public lands - even to improve wildlife habitat - as evidenced by the long-standing controversy at Sparta Mountain Wildlife Management Area. These viewpoints are consistent with the “preservation” mindset compared to states like New Hampshire, which embrace more of a “conservation” ethos. While this terminology seems interchangeable to the layman, it actually speaks to two divergent management philosophies, which played out on a large stage when the U.S. Forest Service was created in 1905 and John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club called for preservation while the Forest Service’s first director, Gifford Pinchot, wanted conservation. Pinchot subscribed to the concept of utilitarianism and borrowed from 18th-century English philosopher Jeremy Bentham when advocating for “the greatest good for the greatest number” in government decision-making regarding forest management. This mantra of “utilitarian conservationism” was shared by President Theodore Roosevelt, and he and Pinchot became close friends and together exponentially expanded the national forest system to 150 units. The embedding of the U.S. Forest Service within the U.S. Department of Agriculture than the U.S. Department of the Interior is a product of this mindset.


Um...yay? Who gives a rat's ass about the philosophy of the creating of the forest service? What is it that YOU are actually doing? Because there's a whole lot of this hoo-ha and the actual supposed part of what he's doing for his research is...not it. It's a laundry list of a bunch of model building and consulting and not a lot of "we are going to study this thing and as a result reach these objectives"

Former Bosslady made the mistake of rolling by to say hi and I've drafted her to be a reviewer so she can hopefully go "Um...what the hell are you actually DOING here?" I'm going to allude to it but he's already made it clear that he thinks I'm a peon rather than a decider. Douchenozzle, I've been doing this for over a decade. I know what you're supposed to do and you're an idiot. But you know big fancy-type words. Whoopdediddlydo.

Oh, the back is well enough to get me to work this morning. But dude is making my head hurt. Whew. Current Bosslady is on vacation until Monday so if the back is iffy the next couple of days, I'll just WFH on the downlow.
missdiane: (Bear hiding eyes)
My low back pain last night was awful and I had pain on the left flank that made me wonder if kidneys were involved. Found out soon, nope. Just freaking hormones back to monthly and back to all kinds of pain, nausea, bloating, the works. I'd thought for a while that things were starting to space themselves out and get less frequent. Couldn't get that lucky, I guess.

I'm taking a partial sick day today since sitting up for long is rough. But it's "partial" because just yesterday I registered for a series of online classes and I don't want to miss the first one that's at 10am this morning. I especially do not want to miss it because...heh...it's classes to learn about the process of the job that I just interviewed for. The one today is titled "all things set up" which would BE the job that I would get so I can't possibly miss THAT!

Doubly amusing that my current Bosslady gets copied when I register for these University classes. Not that she'd have any clue why I'm taking these. I mean golly gosh, it's just professional development. Improving my current job skills and all...right?
missdiane: (Don't Give a Damn)
A year and change ago, they started locking the doors at either end of the hallway because there was a rash of thefts on campus. This tends to happen every now and again and instead of people being bright enough to lock their offices or at least their desk with their belongings, their solution is OMG!LOCKDOWN!

They put some stupid doorbells at either end of the hall and then leadership got pissy and told people not to lock the doors during the day. Essentially just secure your shit.

Not related...or maybe is...but have I've mentioned before that the new power-hungry d-bag in charge of the business office, budget office and HR has been gunning to throw our offices out of the building. I've heard he's already succeeded with chucking out one of our departments in the basement. Funnily enough, my name never seems to come up, only Elaine's so I don't know if they just forget I exist or what.

Aaaaaaanyway, today all of a sudden there's some guy outside our suite drilling and making all kinds of commotion and when I was walking out to go home, I asked him what's up. Evidently now they're installing a swipecard system on the doors at either end of the hallway. Hm...I have a suspicion that they'll also change the manual locks and then somehow I'm betting our IDs won't work.

As long as they don't change the manual locks just yet, I think tomorrow will be a smart thing to remove anything that I personally own tomorrow and keep it in my trunk. It will be extra handy if I end up getting that job and will already be packed. If I can't get into the area, I'll go home to work from home and send my useless as shit Director an email letting her know that she might want to handle it.

This fucking place. Ridiculous.
missdiane: (Bunny Standing)
Snippets
- Early this morning JuneBug finally had a regular litterbox "deposit" which I hope means her tummy is back to rights. She's all about the WANT SNACK ALL THE TIME, though. Girl, I know your butt is sad looking but you'll get that booty back soon enough

- Faculty are getting rejection messages from the USDA on results reports submitted back in late January that are inadequate. While this will mean work for me in the short term, prodding them to give more information, editing it in and resubmitting, I am SO GLAD that they've started doing this. Now I'll have leverage when it comes to reporting time in fall. Too many of them give me nothing to work with because they know there aren't consequences. Now there are. GOOD.

- Not menopausal yet. Was good to skip a month, though, and hopefully it's not too bad this round. I'm so done with the fuss.

- The smoke from the fires in Canada have made its way here and today is a poor air quality day. Tree and grass pollen are also high so the windows are shut and the air cleaners are running
missdiane: (Fuck this shit)
So at 10am, I have my annual review with Bosslady as mandated by the University. Yeah, who fucking cares? Not me.

I'm doing my job to the best of my ability, hindered only by her complete and total inaction to run the program and to ever answer any of my emails or questions. I'll have to figure out a way to say that tactfully. I think possibly "I have concerns about the program." or some such.

We'll see.
missdiane: (Domobunny)
I send my laundry out since it's a lot to lug from the second floor to a laundromat. However, that means hand wash things and bras pile up since I can't have those "wash and fold" since they'd get ruined. I had quite the pile going so since I need to use up vacation days before June anyway, I emailed Bosslady to let her know that I needed to take a vacation day for some personal errands. Not shockingly, she ignored the email like she ignores everything I send.

Then I hear from Emily late last night that the faculty unions have decided enough is enough and are striking. Well that's going to be interesting. They want us to "not cross the picket lines" but uh...I'm in a different and shittier union that also hasn't had a contract and isn't on strike so it doesn't apply to me. The President of the university has already been catching lots of shit from prominent scholars and with his commentary that the strike is "illegal" (yes, they consider us all "public employees" but only when it suits them. If the State officially shuts down for a hurricane, yes, Rutgers has tried to say that we're all "essential" and need to report in)

They're also insulting staff with this bullshittery
Can I work from home during the strike?

To ensure continuity of operations and provide the support that our students and patients will need, the university may suspend all flexible work arrangements for staff to best serve our students and patients. We understand that some instructors may choose to continue teaching and we encourage those who plan to teach to continue to do so in the mode they have used for instruction throughout the semester (in-person, online, etc.) to minimize any disruption to students.

So it was all hunky dory for folks to WFH during the pandemic but now that there are picket lines, even if you have nothing to do with students or patients, they're probably going to force people in. Thankfully my WFH arrangement in the afternoons isn't a "flexible work" arrangement but it's a disability accommodation so bite me, RU.

Aaaanyway, so now I have clean bras and gentle wash clothing and the kitties have fluffy clean beds. I got a call just when I got home from one of the folks in my suite who wanted to give me the downlow that he put in his notice to Bosslady. He's a PhD and the director of our campus's grants facilitiation office and they've disrespected him from day one. It's just him and the dramatic coworker that's also in our suite of three. He's moving to a smaller college but a higher position and I couldn't be more pleased for him. This sucks especially for Bosslady since dramatic coworker (DC) is getting treated for breast cancer and about to have a series of operations and downtime soon. Knowing DC, she'll probably do something stupid like trying to delay treatment. About all I'll do is tell her that she's a fool if she does that. Bosslady sucks ass and needs to struggle.

I do wonder at what level Bosslady is "striking" at all since yes, she's the Director of Research but she's also faculty. Hm...
missdiane: (Domobunny)
Yesterday one of the faculty let me know that they'll be striking at the beginning of April if talks don't produce anything. Just a few hours ago, the President of Rutgers sent an email with this tidbit mentioned:

Although the leadership of the unions has represented that the result of the vote authorizes them to call a strike, the courts have ruled that strikes by public employees are unlawful in New Jersey. I am hopeful that an unlawful strike or job action will not be called. Regardless of my hopefulness and optimism, we are taking all appropriate steps to mitigate any possible disruptions that a work action would have for you and, most important, for our students.

Uh huh...well this should be fun. I work in one of the administrative buildings of which I don't know if there would be demonstrating on my campus. The faculty member said I shouldn't cross the lines and should try to work from home but I don't know how well that would go over with Bosslady. I mean, she IS faculty but I'm sure she's not sympathetic. Hell, this was the woman that smack talked one of her colleagues with cancer, calling him lazy (when in actuality, he runs rings around her with securing funding, conducting research and producing publications).

Well, I'll just get back to work here in the meantime. I was hoping to get assistance from one of the people that actually have interaction with the Stakeholders for some language for the annual report but all I'm getting is "well you can go back and read the minutes." Gee, thanks for nothing, guys. Don't ask me for any favors.
missdiane: (Don't Give a Damn)
I have most definitely entered my petty bitch phase at work. But I'm painting a faux pleasant and professional façade over it.

People are playing power games and suddenly decided that the Federal reporting database that I inherited and have been curating for the University for the last TEN years and they've been aware of this is now a no no for me to do because....uh...reasons.

They got even more condescending when I tried to warn them that there were issues with the database and suggested a work around so the reports that USDA wants submitted ASAP can be submitted. I was told to just create accounts for people (that no one in that office has ever seen or used this database). So sure thing! My pleasure! I'll not only do that but I'll give you the permission to create more accounts and I'll just step aside altogether.

Oh but not before I deleted ALL of the data pending submission that I entered. I mean golly, I wasn't authorized to do the report so my data is all bad I'm sure. Have fun figuring things out and don't ask me.
missdiane: (Baby Bunneh)
Evidently Mom's doctor's office was trying to get her in right away and also told her to make an appointment with a kidney doctor. From some screw ups with transportation, it sounds like they cancelled the Friday doc appointment and the doc ended up calling the sister (and pissing her off since golly gee, it was interrupting her umpteenth vacation prep!). They mentioned something about ER but said they'll delay and send the nurse out on Monday (today) to take more blood to test. It sounds like her kidneys are failing though she says she had no idea and doesn't feel different. Hopefully it was just a wonky test.

The first contact with the feds regarding the Audit of Doom is tomorrow. Bosslady is making minimal effort and had me try to write some stuff so yeah, that's going as poorly as expected.

In the meantime, found this going around Twitter - participate if you'd like. I'm curious to know how you'd answer:
5 Faves:
Food: Dim Sum
Drink: Coffee with Silk vanilla soy creamer (hot or cold)
Color: Sparkly
Season: Fall
Show: Ghost Files (don't watch TV atm)
missdiane: (Do not challenge the gate)
My bedroom AC started freezing over yesterday and it's supposed to get to the mid-90s today. I seem to have such bad luck with AC units and when they fail, it's such a production to get someone to haul them to the dumpster. Why hasn't anyone created technology of a smaller, lighter unit to at least somewhat cool a place that's more eco-friendly? Hmph.

Hopefully this unit can limp through the rest of the summer, though it seems there's no end in sight to hot weather. Also, due to road construction, once I get home today, I'll be stuck at my apartment until the end of the week. I saw the big trucks looming closer to the entrance to my apartment parking lot so when I leave work this morning, I'm going to roll by TJ's to get a few fresh extras so I can hunker down. I'm going to get some salad mix since if it's going to be overly hot inside, I'm going to want cool food.

Ughhhh, I have a stupid faculty member right now insisting on scheduling a fucking Zoom call instead of just asking me questions via email. Whyyyyy? Well, since I'm taking Thursday and Friday off as vacation, it's today or tomorrow or just EMAIL ME.

They always make shit more complicated than it needs to be.
missdiane: (MLK has a dreamsicle!)
Surprisingly, Bosslady actually wanted to discuss relevant work-related items and not try a weird bait and switch. I do have some assignments to look into and gather answers but so far it's applicable to my job and not anything to do with the upcoming Civil Rights audit.

A bit ridiculous that it's taken her over two years to get around to paying attention to her job but better than never, I guess. I'll not be super optimistic about things suddenly going well but if there's any improvement to her lack of leadership, I'll take what I can get. Progress is progress.
missdiane: (JonJon in Mommy's shoes)
I was getting daily calls at 9am with reports on the boy and when I didn't get it this morning, I started to fret. From the report yesterday morning, although he was peeing and pooing ok (after not going the night before that which DUDE stop making me worry), he didn't want to eat the food I sent down when he usually inhales any food put in front of him. I wanted to make sure that I didn't need to take off work today and drive down to get the dramatic dork so I pestered them at 10:15. Of course he's doing everything just fine and giving the vet tech love and being his usual nervous but cute self.

His levels are good so if I were inclined, I could get him today but since I already had it set up to get him at 11 am tomorrow, I'll have one more night with just me and his sister. I also want to collect and take out all the trash, especially litterbox-based trash, so that when the two weeks of precautions end, all that I'll have to have sitting around in a double-lined lidded bucket in the apartment waiting to get under the radiation levels will be the leftover contents of the boxes. I have three brand new boxes ready to go once the two weeks are up.

I trimmed the girl's nails yesterday so that when she slaps him around, she doesn't do too much damage. She's been pestering me on and off during the day but lets me sleep pretty well. Though last night was so hot and stuffy even with the foil I tried on the windows, that I didn't sleep well. I'm hoping to get a solid night's sleep tonight since I'm sure it's going to be a ride for a while.

In other news, the email came from the feds about the Civil Rights audit that my idiot boss has been ignoring. She has 45 days to get an INSANE amount of information together and since it's nothing that my job involves, if she tries to dump it on me, I'm sending it all to the executive dean. They're coming on-site in November so this should be interesting!
missdiane: (Bitchslappin')
I'm tired this morning but I drag my yawning self into the office for my half day. I was actually not too mad since I have the office suite to myself due to both of my office mates being out today. But then I get to the other end of the hall only to see that the elevator is out of order. Seriously? No one could send anything to the building-wide listserv to tell those of us that NEED it?

Since I'm already here, I hobbled slowly up to the second floor. However, it gets worse because my floor has no bathrooms and I have a tiny bladder. So as soon as the glass of water that I'm drinking kicks in, fuck it, I'm slowly hobbling back downstairs and driving home. I sent an email to the ladies that are in the Exec Dean's office to ask if they knew how long it was going to take to fix. Because I'll be working from home until it is and I DARE my shitty boss to challenge that. 

Profile

missdiane: (Default)
missdiane

June 2025

S M T W T F S
1234 567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
2930     

Syndicate

RSS Atom

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated 10 June 2025 15:21
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios