The Latest
Hey, great news! Got the paperwork today to start working full-time at the lab (starting next Weds). It's just temporary--but the requisition is through April 1, and "can easily be extended if necessary." So that's good! And my last big paycheck from MUNI was printed yesterday, so I just have to figure out if they're mailing it to me or if I have to pick it up. But yeah, the good news is we're not going to have a big hole in our cash flow AFAIK. And the great thing about working at the lab is that I don't have to find another job to support volunteering in the lab! Woo-hoo!

So right now, I have confirmed:

• Up to 40 hrs/week at the lab, slightly less than my pay rate at MUNI, but priceless experience and enough for my expenses.
• 1-2 hrs/week paid tutoring, good rate.
• 2-8 hrs/week doing research work at UC Berkeley at a low pay rate (but with access to sophisticated equipment and the option of doing my own project on it)

And I have pending:

• 5-10 hrs of paid clerical work at a really neat non-profit
• 1-2 hrs. of unpaid (volunteer) tutoring. I don't know; my guts just tell me to do it.

At this point, with everything else I've got, I might turn down the clerical work if they offer it to me so I don't get overwhelmed. On the other hand, I don't know what their timeframe is like, and if I get turned loose in April that might be a good thing to fall back on.

I'm really glad I'm not going to have to work 3 or 4 part time jobs. I was a little bit afraid that might be how it turned out.

Today I am going to focus on doing follow-up to the various meetings and interviews I've had this week and do some grocery shopping. I should also try to stick a little more statistics in my head.

- posted by k @ 9:54 AM

 
News for today

• Got a Scandisc USB keychain drive in the mail, and it had a bunch of cool songs on it! Thanks, Bug! Merry stuff and things, everyone!
• Got another bill-type thing about my visit to the hospital. Turns out the insurance will pay all of the echo test! Wooooo-hooo! That was only $44, so hopefully this means they're also paying the rest of it, which is, um, a lot more. I think all the involved parties have the information they need, but I suppose I should try to call the insurance co. and make sure. Which means, what--3 days on hold?
• This morning I went to Copy Central and had a few copies of my resume printed out on nice paper. So I was at least partly intending to go to the career fair. But I haven't gone yet, and I'm supposed to hit that prof's office hours between 1-3pm, so I don't think I'm going to make it. There's another one tomorrow, though.
• The part time work is only going to be 2-8 hrs/wk, which is probably all I have time for realistically. It could expand over the summer and fall.
• 24-hour fitness has circuit-training places like Curves (except co-ed and not evil) called "Fit-Lite." There's one on Piedmont, near my apartmentish. I might do the free 5-day trial. The "fitness associate" I talked to also told me their prices change a lot, so if they go on sale I might join.

Oh god, what am I going to wear? I need some "medium nice" pants. You know, nicer than jeans, but not really dressy. For some reasons my khakis have become unflattering and they look like high water pants. :-/ Better figure something out and get out there.

- posted by k @ 12:43 PM

 
What I'm doing with myself
So it's true, I'm not working this week. You might wonder how I'm going to spend my time. I'll tell you.

Monday I worked all day at the lab, since I usually work a day there every week.

Tuesday (today) I don't have anything scheduled for the morning, but I did 3 loads of laundry over the weekend and now they are all put away in my dresser, so my bed is clear. Doing a little catching up on email, too, and finally listening to the soundtrack of Billy Elliot, The Musical (thanks BG!). Then

• Having a networking lunch with my ex-supervisor who's very supportive.
• Maybe going to a Career Fair. I really don't want to.
• Meeting a former professor to talk about direction, job leads, letter of rec for grad school, that kind of thing.
• Meeting the parents of a prospective tutee, and giving a demo tutoring session. They said she needs help with stoichiometry and getting from word problems to the appropriate formulas. That's stuff I know! I looked up some stoich problems online yesterday to refresh myself, and I have a good feeling. This is the part of chemistry that I got very good at.

Wednesday is similar:

• Career Fair continues, so maybe I'll go then.
• Meeting another former professor for the same reasons.
• Dropping in to see my undergrad advisor for similar reasons.
• Having an interview at a place I probably don't qualify to work at, and might not want the job, but would want to get to know more about the place and maybe volunteer there for experience and networking.

Thursday and Friday I'm probably going to take my bike in for a tune-up so I can start riding it places (because bus fare is obscene these days and I need the exercise) and hopefully meeting with my new part-time employer (we don't have a date yet, but he said "maybe later in the week"). Friday morning I might treat myself and go down the Downtown Oakland Farmer's Market. I've only been once, but it looked like a blast. The only problem is the persons I'd most like to go with are probably working at that time.

Throughout the week I'll also be trying to work out a couple times, finish this book about statistics, and read online about SPM and MATLAB (AND I found an "fMRI for Dummies" website that should be helpful). Also I'll be contacting people to schedule interviews for next week or down the line in the future.

Whew! Thank goodness for my new Franklin Covey planner sheets so I can keep track of it all.

- posted by k @ 11:09 AM

 
Last Day
Well, today is my last day at this job. It turns out that the total number of hours a person can work as a temp for the City and County of San Francisco is 1040 and it does not turn over with either the new fiscal year or the new calendar year, and perhaps not even with a new 12-month period. I got a 2-week notice two weeks ago, but because of the questions about the turn over, I wasn't sure until last Friday. Friday the 13th with a full moon.

It's an interesting mix of feelings. The good news is that my leaving happens to coincide with the return of the "old regime" and, well, I don't feel too bad about not working under the old regime. Not that anyone's bad or awful, just a major difference in personal and work style. I'm not entirely without prospects, but it's not like I'm walking into a full time job that I know of (I have a couple of part-time gigs and a promising temp opportunity, and they're certainly more career-related than this was). So I've been experiencing (alternately or together) relief, anxiety, elation. Am I being liberated from drudgery or thrown out in the street without a regular paycheck?

Yesterday I was taken out to lunch in honor of my departure. It was funny because I hadn't showered (water was turned off that AM for utility co. maintenance and we didn't see the notice on the door) and I was wearing the same clothes as the day before (because they were pretty much clean and I was seeing an entirely different set of people who wouldn't know). Except for my boss and the Old Regime, none of the people I worked closely with or developed relationships with came--I don't know if they were invited and I wasn't sure about the etiquette of inviting them myself--and at least one person I didn't know well but who was a friend of the Old Regime's was there.

I also didn't have much time, since I found out when I walked in that morning but at least there was the courtesy of asking me whether a Japanese place was ok. I said it wasn't because it might overemphasize seafood, which I do not eat, and my boss suggested an Ethiopian place which I had no problem with, and which we went to despite the apprehension of about half the invitees. One of them had never had Ethiopian food, but I told her it was not entirely unlike Indian food (she had previously asked me to recommend an Indian restaurant in SF since her favorite was closing) so she asked the waiter/manager what they had that was like Chicken Tikki Masala or Maklawana [sic].

I guess the way I've described it, it sounds like a let-down, but my expectations were very low so I wasn't disappointed. I felt like it was the last day of school and I had a humorous attitude about the whole lunch thing, so it was actually pretty funny.

So anyway, today I am just clearing out my desk and trying to take care of loose ends, delegate things on my "to-do" list that won't get done by me, etc. I might try to put together some information for whoever takes over the job next, beyond what I assembled for myself. I have learned a lot of things of various kinds working here, and if I have time tomorrow I might blog about that.

Meanwhile, I am just hoping I don't get sentimental when I turn in my badge and keys. I already got a little touchy-feely saying goodbye to my office supplies. I have a special bond with them, you know, because when the previous employee left this desk she raided it, so when I came on one of my first tasks was selecting all these babies from the Office Depot catalog. Now they're all laid out to sleep in the bottom drawer, almost like a funeral or a cryogenic chamber or something. I am debating whether to liberate some of them or not (I probably won't). Besides the rubber bands and pens, the one item that calls out to me is my Calypso staple remover. It is a thing of beauty and function, and I will remember it always.
- posted by k @ 11:56 AM

 
Ha! You thought I was gone.

No, just busy. Work is actually busy, if you can believe it. I am "in charge" of a sort of emergency project because, as my boss said to his workers (whom I'm now "supervising") I'm "infinitely more organized than [him]." What a hoot! I hope no one ever figures out the truth...and that he sees me as a useful asset rather than a threat. And that my internet usage isn't monitored.

So, today we will have brief updates, a link to an interesting article on Salon, and at least part of today's Friday Five.

Updates:

• I got a haircut. Reflected on avatar.
• My City Car Share key came, and I used it last weekend to borrow a truck so I could
• move a dresser into my apartment so I have a place to put my clothes! and 3-4 fewer boxes to take up space!
• My roommate finally got her router working, so I have internet in my apartment! woo-hoo!
• There is a tantalizing job opening that I have applied for and it's a wonder I can sleep at night. If they don't decide to hire a postdoc instead, I think I am first in line. (:-o) But of course, as usual, I haven't heard anything. I suppose I will suck it up and inquire on Tuesday.
• I found out that it takes 2-3 years (part-time) to become an ASL interpreter, so I'm not sure I'll take that ASL class after all.
• Maybe I'll take a MATLAB or C++ class instead?
• One of my resolutions is to make serious, well-put together applications to grad schools this year, so I would start in fall of 2007 (and if I have my shit together I think I could still almost maybe have my degree by the time I'm 30).

Here is the interesting story on Salon. I think if I added my comments here I would go on for too long, so my comment is: what does it say about me that I found this interesting, when some of the reponse-writers were appalled that the issue was even addressed?

And finally, the Friday Five (even though it's wordy and from Gord, it does lend itself to short, discrete answers):
here's the question:Our world is one in which many fully-literate citizens can be expected to know much more about entertainers than about the politicians who they're told represent them in government. It's easy for intellectual types like us Friday Fivers to dismiss pop stars, of course, but surely some of them interest us. What about living celebrities from the world of entertainment—meaning music, film, or television, but not including the world of the printed word except for those stars whose celebrity, though having originated in writing, has transcended this niche to household-name status? Which five "superstars" would you meet in person, if you had the chance to hand-pick them individually?

Ok, limiting myself to living persons and interpreting "meet in person" as something along the lines of "have lunch with" (as opposed to e.g. meet on a velvet rope):

In no order:

1. Tina Fey

2. Janeane Garofalo (I would have included Margaret Cho here, too, but I don't think we'd have that much to talk about)

3. Steve Martin (at least before I saw "Shopgirl")

Um...2 other people...I'll think of them. Meryl Streep? I'm sure she'd be very gracious. Do my answers surprise you? Who did you think I was going to put?

- posted by k @ 1:56 PM