Sorry I haven't updated, but either I've been on an on-line crossword binge, or burried in Excel spreadsheets.
I never really got to be the new girl. I started the job and jumped right in.
Today my boss is traveling and I don't have a bunch of pressing items, so I've been dicking around on the internet.
The latest big deal in my life is my 30th High School Reunion. Our school was small, fewer than 100 in my graduating class, so they're combining classes to make enough to actually throw a party.
I'm really looking forward to seeing old friends from the past. And also people I know and keep in touch with.
At first we were going to make a big event of it. My sister will come out with us and stay with some family friends. James and I are going to stay at the hotel, even though it is out where Jesus left his sandals, because James wants the option of returning to the room if he gets bored or feels excluded. Fair enough. I was thinking of going to LA to see The Price is Right, or driving up to Sedona, or the Grand Canyon or something to make it worth the hassle of flying across the country. But in the end, who really wants to be in Arizona in August? Now it's just a long weekend.
We're going to my cousin's wedding in NJ in June. We'll be spending as much of our time in NY as we can. I sure hope there aren't a bunch of wedding events, Rehearsal Dinner (where out of towners are fed rubber chicken) or after event brunches. I'm in it for one afternoon/evening the rest of the time I want to be in NY.
Most of my conversation with my family is about clothing. What we have, what we need to buy, what's appropriate. At this moment in time I'll be wearing a dress I've had for 5 years. I wear it on cruises, so it must be okay.
That's the problem with a vacation, it's more fun to plan, the realities are exhausting, uncomfortable and smell weird.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Friday, March 13, 2009
Payday
Wow,
I have ended my 3rd week back at work. To make this extra fun, I have a cold. All I want to do is lay around the house and sleep, but I have to get up every day and come to work. To do what? Not much.
Apparently the person who had my job before me made everyone think that pulling reports was a big deal. It's not really.
One of the managers has his reports doing a manual report. I'm to compile each sheet and then do a master sheet, showing the team optics/metrics. So I do this, keeping in mind that it's only as accurate as the spreadsheets I'm getting from the field. The manager sends me a scathing email the gist of which is: this isn't accurate. I call him, since I don't want anything snarky floating around, and explain that the numbers are computed from what I'm sent. I ask him for the hard numbers, and just put them in the blanks, rather than a formula. I fixed the issue in about ten minutes. So there.
This guy loves a report and it's all bullshit. Oh well, it makes the world go 'round and it's what I get paid for.
You really can lie with statistics.
I have ended my 3rd week back at work. To make this extra fun, I have a cold. All I want to do is lay around the house and sleep, but I have to get up every day and come to work. To do what? Not much.
Apparently the person who had my job before me made everyone think that pulling reports was a big deal. It's not really.
One of the managers has his reports doing a manual report. I'm to compile each sheet and then do a master sheet, showing the team optics/metrics. So I do this, keeping in mind that it's only as accurate as the spreadsheets I'm getting from the field. The manager sends me a scathing email the gist of which is: this isn't accurate. I call him, since I don't want anything snarky floating around, and explain that the numbers are computed from what I'm sent. I ask him for the hard numbers, and just put them in the blanks, rather than a formula. I fixed the issue in about ten minutes. So there.
This guy loves a report and it's all bullshit. Oh well, it makes the world go 'round and it's what I get paid for.
You really can lie with statistics.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Taking them back to school.
I heard on the radio this morning that 2 out of 3 high school students in Georgia don’t graduate in a traditional high school program. Wow. In an effort to demonstrate that Georgia has an educated work-force the state department of education has decided to implement different educational tracks within the high school curriculum.
The idea is that the student can decide what he or she would like to study, within the parameters of the offerings.
I’ve said this for years, not everyone is cut out for college. In this day of ever rising post-secondary educational costs, it’s lunacy to send every high school graduate onto higher learning, especially with no job at the end of the rainbow.
More and more people are graduating with outrageous student loan debt. Considering that there is no guarantee of a job, even with a diploma, how are these kids ever going to pay this back? So many people in their early twenties are saddled with crippling debt, and the jobs they get aren’t worth the decades of payments they will be paying for their degrees in underwater basket-weaving or “business” or whatever it is that those idiots I taught in public schools major in.
Now don’t get me wrong, I believe in the value of a good Liberal Arts education. I really enjoyed my seven years of studying English. I even used it for a couple of years when I taught it, but let’s be real; the college diploma that I have is just the minimum threshold of most corporate “management” jobs. It didn’t and doesn’t qualify me to do anything in particular; it merely indicates that I am trainable.
So what did I learn in school that was immediately translatable into a job skill? Typing.
Is it so bad to acknowledge that not every kid has the desire or the interest in going to college? The trend has been to sell college to everyone. If your grades are sub-par, you can start at the local community college and then transfer to a state school. Go on-line! Financial Aid is available! It’s silly.
What’s interesting about Vocation School is that typically there is a rigorous entrance requirement. Students are generally juniors and seniors, must have above a 2.0 grade point average, and must have passing grades on their state/federal achievement tests. In fact, in Florida, the Votech scores were higher than the traditional high school scores.
So what could a young person study at the high school level that would qualify them for a job once they graduate?
Secretarial: I’m sure that we can think of a better name for it. In my day it was shorthand, typing, bookkeeping and ‘business’, these days I’d think it would include database, spreadsheets, word processing and ‘business’. You get the idea. Send the little buggers out to their entry-level jobs right from jump-street. Do you really need a college diploma to be a customer service rep?
Healthcare: At the magnet high school where I taught, we had a program that graduated Licensed Practical Nurses. There’s a nursing shortage and many nursing skills are not strictly academic, but are also practical, learned in the field. There could be Certified Nursing Assistants, Phlebotomists, Medical Assistants, Medical Billing and Coding, pretty much anything one of those ads that are on in the middle of the day promise. All of these can be learned by high school seniors.
Trades: There is a paucity of electricians and plumbers. Why not get the kids apprenticed and learning something that they can earn a great living at? Skilled trades are always in demand and they offer an opportunity for growth and an above average wage.
Cosmetology: Hair, lots of people are interested in doing it, playing with it, styling it, and it’s one of those things that needs monthly maintenance.
Computer Science: Let’s face it, some of these kids are really good hackers. Why not direct that energy someplace useful? Train them in Oracle, Cisco and other certifications. Again, they can start as juniors and seniors and graduate earning right away.
The reason the vocational schools have dwindled is because in the seventies someone realized that minorities and women were shunted into what had previously been perceived as ‘dead-end’ jobs and the white males were advised to go onto college. Look around, that’s no longer the case. What I observed were frustrated kids who had no aptitude or interest in a traditional college-track education wasting away and causing trouble in a traditional classroom.
Will there be issues with racism and sexism? Of course, there are issues now. The kids dropping out aren’t the same across the board. It’s the poor, minorities and girls. Gee, that matches up pretty well with the traditional targets of discrimination. At least let’s stop pretending that anyone can be anything they want to be. It’s not true, it’s never been true.
The sooner common sense makes a return to all sectors of public life, the better off we’ll all be.
The idea is that the student can decide what he or she would like to study, within the parameters of the offerings.
I’ve said this for years, not everyone is cut out for college. In this day of ever rising post-secondary educational costs, it’s lunacy to send every high school graduate onto higher learning, especially with no job at the end of the rainbow.
More and more people are graduating with outrageous student loan debt. Considering that there is no guarantee of a job, even with a diploma, how are these kids ever going to pay this back? So many people in their early twenties are saddled with crippling debt, and the jobs they get aren’t worth the decades of payments they will be paying for their degrees in underwater basket-weaving or “business” or whatever it is that those idiots I taught in public schools major in.
Now don’t get me wrong, I believe in the value of a good Liberal Arts education. I really enjoyed my seven years of studying English. I even used it for a couple of years when I taught it, but let’s be real; the college diploma that I have is just the minimum threshold of most corporate “management” jobs. It didn’t and doesn’t qualify me to do anything in particular; it merely indicates that I am trainable.
So what did I learn in school that was immediately translatable into a job skill? Typing.
Is it so bad to acknowledge that not every kid has the desire or the interest in going to college? The trend has been to sell college to everyone. If your grades are sub-par, you can start at the local community college and then transfer to a state school. Go on-line! Financial Aid is available! It’s silly.
What’s interesting about Vocation School is that typically there is a rigorous entrance requirement. Students are generally juniors and seniors, must have above a 2.0 grade point average, and must have passing grades on their state/federal achievement tests. In fact, in Florida, the Votech scores were higher than the traditional high school scores.
So what could a young person study at the high school level that would qualify them for a job once they graduate?
Secretarial: I’m sure that we can think of a better name for it. In my day it was shorthand, typing, bookkeeping and ‘business’, these days I’d think it would include database, spreadsheets, word processing and ‘business’. You get the idea. Send the little buggers out to their entry-level jobs right from jump-street. Do you really need a college diploma to be a customer service rep?
Healthcare: At the magnet high school where I taught, we had a program that graduated Licensed Practical Nurses. There’s a nursing shortage and many nursing skills are not strictly academic, but are also practical, learned in the field. There could be Certified Nursing Assistants, Phlebotomists, Medical Assistants, Medical Billing and Coding, pretty much anything one of those ads that are on in the middle of the day promise. All of these can be learned by high school seniors.
Trades: There is a paucity of electricians and plumbers. Why not get the kids apprenticed and learning something that they can earn a great living at? Skilled trades are always in demand and they offer an opportunity for growth and an above average wage.
Cosmetology: Hair, lots of people are interested in doing it, playing with it, styling it, and it’s one of those things that needs monthly maintenance.
Computer Science: Let’s face it, some of these kids are really good hackers. Why not direct that energy someplace useful? Train them in Oracle, Cisco and other certifications. Again, they can start as juniors and seniors and graduate earning right away.
The reason the vocational schools have dwindled is because in the seventies someone realized that minorities and women were shunted into what had previously been perceived as ‘dead-end’ jobs and the white males were advised to go onto college. Look around, that’s no longer the case. What I observed were frustrated kids who had no aptitude or interest in a traditional college-track education wasting away and causing trouble in a traditional classroom.
Will there be issues with racism and sexism? Of course, there are issues now. The kids dropping out aren’t the same across the board. It’s the poor, minorities and girls. Gee, that matches up pretty well with the traditional targets of discrimination. At least let’s stop pretending that anyone can be anything they want to be. It’s not true, it’s never been true.
The sooner common sense makes a return to all sectors of public life, the better off we’ll all be.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
New Post from Work
Ooohhh!
A quick one, because I'm paranoid.
Today I researched. It's very interesting and everyone in this economy is exploring new ways of doing business. The Meeting Planning and Event community is outraged because companies receiving TARP money can't have any meeting for over $75,000 without getting special permission. In the meeting business you can't blow your nose for $75,000. Naturally there are sites devoted to expressing this outrage. My thought is to develop packages of services for $75,000 or less to market to TARP companies. Also, if there's a governmental rule, there's a loophole. Instead of having one big, multi-topic meeting, have many meetings, each with one topic. In the same hotel. You get my drift. Don't pay for catering out of your meeting budget. Pay for that out of per diem.
Considering that this is my 7th day on the job, I think I'm catching on pretty fast.
A quick one, because I'm paranoid.
Today I researched. It's very interesting and everyone in this economy is exploring new ways of doing business. The Meeting Planning and Event community is outraged because companies receiving TARP money can't have any meeting for over $75,000 without getting special permission. In the meeting business you can't blow your nose for $75,000. Naturally there are sites devoted to expressing this outrage. My thought is to develop packages of services for $75,000 or less to market to TARP companies. Also, if there's a governmental rule, there's a loophole. Instead of having one big, multi-topic meeting, have many meetings, each with one topic. In the same hotel. You get my drift. Don't pay for catering out of your meeting budget. Pay for that out of per diem.
Considering that this is my 7th day on the job, I think I'm catching on pretty fast.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Ah, today was normal
No weird Phone Blitzing, no catered bagels and 1/4 sandwiches, just a regular day. Oh, did I mention the 4 inches of snow and the subsequent icy conditions for the commute this morning. Oops. Yeah, that too.
I got in a bit after eight and mine was the only car in the parking area. I have an alarm code, but no one showed me how to use it and the last time I dealt with an alarm a cat shrieked at me, the cops called, it was gruesome. But, I was in luck, someone in the warehouse had come in before me, so I sauntered in.
I have to clock in. Really? Clock in? So I logged onto the computer, clocked in and then made coffee and oatmeal. I ate my breakfast. Diddled around on the internet for a while and about an hour later people started to trickle in. They canceled school so there was a shuffle to arrange to keep the kids, but it didn't affect me.
I worked on my spreadsheet until around 3:00, then I clocked out, ran to Kohl's bought a couple of things and ran back, clocked back in and updated the spreadsheet.
The day drifted by pleasently enough, and really, what more can I ask for?
I got in a bit after eight and mine was the only car in the parking area. I have an alarm code, but no one showed me how to use it and the last time I dealt with an alarm a cat shrieked at me, the cops called, it was gruesome. But, I was in luck, someone in the warehouse had come in before me, so I sauntered in.
I have to clock in. Really? Clock in? So I logged onto the computer, clocked in and then made coffee and oatmeal. I ate my breakfast. Diddled around on the internet for a while and about an hour later people started to trickle in. They canceled school so there was a shuffle to arrange to keep the kids, but it didn't affect me.
I worked on my spreadsheet until around 3:00, then I clocked out, ran to Kohl's bought a couple of things and ran back, clocked back in and updated the spreadsheet.
The day drifted by pleasently enough, and really, what more can I ask for?
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