Almostgotit.com

Poor John.  He’s had a tough couple of days.

First his wife wrecked a perfectly nice party by yelling at a major donor, and ended up being banned from UT and thoroughly pilloried by UT officials on the front page of the local paper besides.

That was yesterday.

Today, Tennessee’s Governor Bredeson did an end-run around Poor John by presenting some shocking news to the papers about UT’s budget cuts, includng numbers that were three times as high (e.g., three times as bad) as those that anyone at UT had announced before. 

Don’t panic though, people, The Guvv told reporters.  We won’t make it any more expensive for your kiddies to go to school at one of the cheapest public universities in the country.  We’ll just throw some tenured professors onto the street and make the remaining ones teach twice as many students for half as much money.

My husband, also in UT admin, got the news like everyone else in town, by reading it this morning with his morning coffee. 

Cuts of 10-15% next year.  On top of this year’s cuts, and the cuts before that.   Compounded further by rising costs that keep rising even when growth is zero.

“Geesh, what a bomb,” I said.  “and he went on record talking about cutting tenured faculty, too!  How will they take it in your department, do you think?” I asked.  “Are you going to be putting out hysterical fires all day, now?”  

My husband was thoughtful, even resigned.  “No,” he said.  “Probably not.  Maybe a few months ago, it would have been that way.  But everyone sort of expects it now.”

We could have moved to Utah, where they offered us more money and where the state’s economy is one of the few “stable” ones left.  Did we make the wrong decision, I wondered again this morning, as my husband packed his bicycle panniers and donned his 20-year-old wind pants for the chilly ride to work. 

No.  I don’t know how this is all going to work out, or even if it will.  But we’ve made our decision, and I still think it was the right one.  We both do. 

My husband kissed me and went out the door to do battle with Wednesday, and I poured another cup of coffee.

I have lots to do today before we head to the mountains, where we will meet dear friends for the long Thanksgiving weekend.  The cabin is smaller this year but we have always preferred being as close as possible anyway, the better to talk and laugh and eat together.  I got out my lists.

The back door opened again.  It was my husband, and he was grinning.

“I forgot my helmet,” he said.

Many thanks to James Viscosi , who has just presented Almostgotit with the coveted Superior Scribbler Award.  

This meme comes with Some Meme Rules, however, and here dey is:

1. Each Superior Scribbler must in turn pass The Award on to 5 most-deserving Bloggy Friends. [[feel free to let them know on THEIR blogs, too!]]

2. Each Superior Scribbler must link to the author & the name of the blog from whom he/she has received The Award. [[It's nice to leave a comment on the linking blog, too!!]]

3. Each Superior Scribbler must display The Award on his/her blog, and link to This Post, which explains The Award.

4. Each Blogger who wins The Superior Scribbler Award must visit This Post and add his/her name to the Mr. Linky List. That way, we’ll be able to keep up-to-date on everyone who receives This Prestigious Honor!

5. Each Superior Scribbler must post these rules on his/her blog.

I could link to MANY wonderful blog scribblers, but must limit myself to just these few:

• Lavenderbay at Voice of the Turtle, whom I’ve only recently discovered and enjoy very much.

• Quin and Rufus over at Korrektiv, plus their mythical- fellow- bloggers- whom- I- doubt- the- existence- of- very much, because they are funny and good guys plus also they leave comments here sometimes and I like that.

• Jana over at her TOP SECRET ART BLOG, Fiber Art Studio,  because she totally needs to be outed and keeps almost-outing herself but needs me to help her.

• Bill at Sweet William Now because he’s a very nice fellow nut-job with a familiar tendency to go on long rants…

• New blogger Jason at Lambetpath who has some great job-seeking ideas.  Jason is dear to my heart as well because he’s Almostgotit when it comes to blogging, including an “About” page that still makes me giggle (fix it please, Jason!)

HEAD COACH – FOOTBALL-Men’s Athletics- Pay Grade 45, DOE&Q, Extensive experience as a Professional or Collegiate Division I football coach. Knowledge of NCAA rules and regulations. Possesses extensive experience in collegiate athletic recruiting. Ability to interact with the public and at necessary functions to promote good public relations for the football program. Highest degree of honesty and integrity in dealing with student-athletes, coaches, media, public and administration. Knowledge of SEC and University rules and regulations. Extensive ability to recruit student-football athletes and ability to maintain knowledge of applicable NCAA and SEC rules and regulations. Interested candidates should contact Neinas Sports Services, 6630 Gupark Drive, Suite 200, Boulder, Colorado 80301. (303) 530-5566. Fax: (303) 530-5371.

The University of Tennessee must be really cutting corners, as they are now  hoping to hire a new head football coach for only $45,096.60 per year, according to UT’s salary payscale.

Is it possible that Tennessee’s athletic program is finally sharing the pain of the state’s massive budget cuts?

While there are hundreds of people at UT, mostly women, who are still willing to work full-time for considerably less than $20,000 per year, I somehow doubt the Vols are going to replace Phil Fulmer for an insulting $45K. 

But maybe the athletic department is plumb out of money following the $6-7 MILLION buyout for ousting Fulmer – and maybe the rest of UT won’t lend it to them this time, either, after footing the bill for the previous enormous buyout for the previously-ousted football coach.

Or maybe this ad is a pro-forma piece of HR gobbledegook which isn’t fooling anyone.

I’m so glad I’m not the only one who gets things wrong sometimes. A colleague of my husband’s passed this photo on from a colleague of HIS who lives in Kurdistan.  The stuff is made by an Iranian company, apparently, with “Barf” being an approximation of the Farsi word for “Snow.” But Russians wash with Barf, too. 

Judging by the expensive orthodontia on those skinny white people on the box, however, I wonder if it isn’t really just a plain old Amuricun emetic?

I’ve had a very small week.

I’ve accomplished very small things, and for the most part stayed in a very small space to accomplish them — it’s been too cold to venture very far beyond the fireplace (I’ve not yet plugged in the space heater in my office).

Last weekend, I met people who ran prestigious small colleges and national museums, won Nobel Prizes, and discovered Hepatitis B viruses.

In their spare time, probably.

Meanwhile, I managed to replace the bathroom light bulb yesterday – yeah, me!

I was determined to get some work done yesterday, and set my list on the dining room table with happy face stickers *and* a clock next to it so I could keep track of the time and not waste it like I do so many days. I had guessed how much time each ask would take, and left lots of extra time at the end, too.

Plus also, did I mention I had Happy Face Stickers?

Things didn’t go exactly as I planned, however.

I couldn’t work in a cold house, and couldn’t just “get more firewood” either, because the wheelbarrow had to be emptied of other stuff first, plus there was a giant dead branch in the side yard which had to be dragged to the curb before I could get the wheelbarrow through anyway.

Plus also the dog wanted to play.

But I got the wood rack filled eventually, and kept the fire going all day too, which made the cat happy (see if you can find him in the Kitty Sauna).

I was supposed to finish some website stuff, but had forgotten to find some of the art I needed.  Then my email with art attached failed to “send,” so I had to start over. Plus also the warm- cozy- living- room- computer was dead, so I had to use the freezing- cold- office- computer instead, which meant I kept sneaking back to the living room to get warmed up again.

Then I messed up my daughter’s plans. I took a shower but forgot both my makeup and the stuff for my hair that keeps me from looking like a dandelion, even though I had to give a neighborhood presentation later that evening.

I didn’t even get to the laundry.

I was supposed to update the neighborhood’s database, too, using a spreadsheet one of the reps had LABORIOUSLY updated, BY HAND, and couldn’t find the damn thing. 

Anywhere. 

Naturally, there are no other copies either.

So I had to practically clean the whole house instead, looking for it.

This morning I am starting over again. I also decided to reward my yesterday-self a lot of posthumous Happy Face Stickers, for all the things I didn’t plan yesterday but got done anyway.

I still don’t have any idea where that spreadsheet is, but I do now have a clean(ish) house! 

Yeah me, again! 

I’m beginning to guess that this is probably about as good as it gets.

An advertisement for a bank specializing in wealth management and private banking, appearing in last Sunday’s New York Times (11/16/08)

“First Republic maintains our relationship over the phone and over the Internet — it’s a beautiful thing.”

LEE BRATHWAITE, TELECOM EXECUTIVE
LAURA BRATHWAITE, ATTORNEY AT LAW, WIFE AND MOTHER

Successful, working couple, and hey –they’re even black. 

Thank you, I get it: First Republic Bank is More PC-Than-Thou.

But am I the only one who notices something missing here?

Absent from the blogosphere over the long weekend, I was attending an American Philosophical Society meeting in Philadelphia instead.

I can’t really prove I was there, though, as my “guest” name tag was confiscated before I left.

My camera finally came out on Saturday, probably because of all the secret service men standing around the edges of the room talking into their sleeves, who might well have taken me out at any moment for my illicit photo-taking of The Supremes, which was such a challenge that of *course* I had to take them.

Above: (from left) Federal Judge David Tatel, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter, and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Linda Greenhouse, who covered the Supreme Court for the New York Times from 1978-2008.

Many interesting conversations-and-contemplations-about-work-and-success later, I’m back to my ordinary life w/ woodstove.  More to follow…

Bonus points if you can get “(almost)” in there!

I have stolen today’s post title from a blogging friend of mine, Paul Maurice Martin, who has recently published a book.

Paul doesn’t talk much about the tremendous physical barriers he has overcome in pursuing his own vocation.  I don’t mean to dishonor him, either, by bringing it up, but after losing three of my own family members to a rare progressive illness, I know a little about the psychological and spiritual havoc a degenerative disease can wreak upon even the strongest of young men.

While I’m not in the position to comment on the content of Paul’s book, nor even upon the private nature of Paul’s daily struggles, I can certainly comment on the content of his vocational character. 

It is extraordinary, and I want what Paul has.

***

I spent a lot of this weekend admiring the work and courage of my online friends, actually. 

Emily at The Rocky Road of Love and other Great Recipes is back after a long hiatus, with a mouth-watering recipe for Rosemary Pecans.  I suspect some good holiday recipes are soon to follow, so recommend adding her to your feed reader!

The intrepid James Viscosi has published yet another of his rejection letters, which he always does with admirable good humor.  Finally we learn of his one-time aspiration to write comic books.  No wonder his whacky and wonderful dog blog, Dennis’ Diary of Destruction  has become a breakaway success!

Korrektiv is about to celebrate its 5th year Blogaversary, which is like 105 in regular human years, especially when dealing with all the obnoxious comments Almostgotit tends to lob into the mix there.  Congratulations to Quin and Rufus et al!

Reading Life on a Southern Farm always makes me sigh happily and start sucking my thumb.  The farm’s amazing chicken house is almost done, and we celebrated the unexpected arrival of a calf last Sunday.  His father is Jack the donkey, we’re pretty sure…

I’d never heard of Andrew Baisley before last week.  But last week he sent a message to our entire neighborhood mailing list that read:

Please remove me from your list. I have no idea who any of you people are, what neighborhood you are from or why you keep emailing me. 

Poor Andrew.  Turns out he is Andrew from BROOKLYN, and while he really does hope our neighbor finds her missing dog, he has better things to do than read about it.  Andrew turns out to be a pretty nice guy.  In fact, he’ll be coming to Nashville for business this week, so all of us are giving him a big SHOUT OUT from over here in Knoxville!  

Plus Also?  We’ve found Ranger, too!    

Many years ago, we took our four-year-old son on a hiking trip, where he discovered how much fun a person can have for several days with nothing but a mountain to play with. When my husband told our little boy about his OWN childhood hikes, our son — who was wielding a particular beauty at the time — asked Did you have any good STICKS, Dad?

Three big cheers for The Stick, which has just been inducted into the Toy Hall of Fame!

Next year, I hope they’ll induct The Cardboard Box, too.