Not Feeling the Love...

...maybe it's me. Maybe it's the yarn. Maybe it's the dreaded Second Sock Syndrome. Maybe it's because I can't find the notes I took and the heels don't match and I really wanted them to match.

Teal #2 S-L-O-W-L-Y

But I'm truly slogging through Teal Sock #2. I'm not feeling the love. And my Kollage Square needles are splitting the Trekking XXL yarn. Maybe I'm at that point in the ball of Trekking, but it's rather discouraging.

I'm finally on the gusset decrease. But I'm really quite sick of the ribbing pattern, I'm not happy that it seems a LOT thinner than Opal and I have a hole where the gusset begins. Dang, I hate that. It's fixable, but I still hate it. Only on one side, too. 

Maybe the yarn is inherently thinner than Opal and since I've done 2 pair in Opal back-to-back, I can tell the difference.

I'm told Trekking wears like iron, so I suppose it's just me.

But dang. I'm sick of this sock. 

The Job...

The press release came out today. It's not well-written and what shocks me is how many people were NOT told ahead of time. One of the people (and rightly so, but to the wrong person) blasted Boss Lady today. She told this person that even SHE wasn't privvy to the decision - it was made and THEN she was told. 

The person who complained is the kind of person you don't want to annoy. The message about the screwed up communications will be clearly, respectfully and STRONGLY delivered. And the point will have been made. 

But now, it's out there in the air, so I've already received some "condolences" e-mails. The culture at work has changed, and I'm not sure if it's because we've grown or because we've ceded a certain percentage of control (too much, in my opinion) to the bean-counters. Or in particular, ONE bean-counter. That's always dangerous because yes, bean-counting is very important.

But so are people. And in a university, you can have all the right certifications and qualifications, but if you don't have your people and have good morale - you won't have students because the majority of them are very invested in the 4 years that they spend at the school. They choose a university this size because they are NOT "cogs in a wheel" and if they get to feeling that way, they can and will leave.

I also found out that the job I applied for has generated "a tremendous amount of interest" according to the dean. So we shall see. I'm going to give it some time before I send my resume out. I really don't want to. I don't want to start over. 

Maybe that's wrong, but that's the way I feel right now. 

The Heart...

I talked briefly to my sister. Looks like I'm in for an atrial ablation in late July. The timing couldn't have been worse (well, actually, it could have, since I'm supposed to be out of town at the end of June!) but I'm also starting a small freak-out. 

It's a 5-hour procedure. At least 2 days in the hospital. A solid week off work. Then the scary part... You think I jest, right? 

Nope. No jesting.

About 6 - 8 weeks of no cardiac meds while the heart muscle not only recuperates from the surgery and the swelling goes down, but while it re-wires itself. So I'll be in and out of a-fib. The only Rx I'll have is a "significant" blood thinner. Because a-fib causes strokes, and I'll essentially be uncontrolled till my heart figures it all out. 

Soooooooo. How's YOUR summer going to go??

The Dismal Work...

Gradually, I'm clearing out. I made the inventory, and I'm now working my way through figuring out what to do with some stuff, tossing a LOT of stuff, and working on deciding what I can do without in case I actually am here till our December closing date. 

It's a lot like dismantling my house. I mean, it's a job. I get that. But I'm at the job so much that it really is a second home. There are things here that I've brought from home because I'm not home enough to use them!

And there are touches that I've brought in so that this space gives off the vibe that we're looking for: business-but-home. We deal with adult students. Night classes and weekends. These people are in a HURRY. 

But they don't want to be "institutionalized" - they like my art work, the decorations I put up every holiday, the stuff I have around that makes them laugh or pause to think of something else. 

And a lot of that is my own stuff. And it'll be stripped out of here, especially if I do leave early. 

It's a bit like a grieving process. 

Random Picture...

Dogstacle Course

This is the gang. In their usual "dogstacle course" pose. This is where, no matter where YOU are, when you walk by, they S-T-R-E-T-C-H out to at least twice their actual length. Just so you have to guess where a furry body part will be... 

It's eerily like when we had River, but her place was at the right, where Tippi is... 

We did train them to not get up when we're walking around. I mean, a couple of times, Hubby let slip the "out" word -- and I almost got my legs knocked out from under me. 

So we do ask them to just stay where they are. I just can't understand how they can stretch out so far...