Friday the 13th

Was such the stereotype yesterday for my poor student worker...she had a wreck on the way to work on University Drive (8:00 AM) with an international student (not to stereotype - please don't take it that way - who exclaimed, "This happens to me a lot!", then after that was settled, got lost in Research Park (had never been there before), and while trying to get out of Research Park, got pulled over by a cop. Luckily (or unluckly, however you might want to look at it), at that point in time she burst into uncontrollable tears and the cop had mercy on her, just giving her a warning rather than an actual ticket. Poor thing! I was somewhat hesitant about giving her much to work on considering the day she had already had, but couldn't help it...The main lobby area of my office had been repainted this past week and was still very much is disarray...we had to get this whipped into shape before the students rolled back in (or more students, anyway, as my calendar can contest they've been pouring in since January 2nd). We recovered some of the sound boards in maroon fabric, but the fabric store was out of maroon (what fabric store in College Station doesn't stock enough maroon fabric...I ask you that question?), so we had to strategically place the recovered and original ones back on the walls and go from there. We've also gotten new office chairs for the conference room, etc., so all of those items have had to be moved around, etc., etc., etc. And this doesn't begin to cover all of the other things the I needed her to do, so she was really hopping yesterday. I do think that it helped to take her mind off of things, even for a little while, and she's really creative, so she had fun redecorating...

As I had feared, I'm starting the semester off with too many things on my project to-do list at work...some of the things that would have lessened my stress load for next week weren't able to get done this past week...so next week will be even more of a doozey than this week was. At least that's what I'm preparing myself for, anyway. That way if it turns out to be that way, ok - I've prepared myself. If not, great!

Many things at the university level are segmented undergraduate/graduate, because I think the powers-that-be assume that there are separate people in each department that do both of these segments...so having graduate fellowship/scholarship deadlines for major $$$ during the first week of school isn't a major thing if someone only deals with graduate students...but it's a MAJOR issue when that individual also deals with undergraduate students...my week is not my own during the first week of classes. My time will consist of putting out student fires. Period. But, it's a big deal to me (and the department, of course, as it increases the matriculation rate) to try and give our graduate applicants the most opportunities for "free money" that they can get...so in comes the stress. Which perhaps is why my boss approached me on Thursday and asked me to be thinking about how I would want to structure some additional, professional help for the academic area to take some of the load off of me...But the kicker is this...I can't figure out what I would want to give up. Working graduate applications helps me to know and develop relationships with the incoming graduate students, which in turn helps with the recruiting and outreach component of my job, as I can call on them and recruit them to help with the departmental recruiting...kind of a big cycle. If I wasn't involved in their graduate application packages and working with them through that process, I wouldn't develop such strong relationships with them and don't feel like I would have the rapport with them like I do with the newer students that have come in since I've been there...Undergraduate - no way am I getting rid of that. I've made too many strides in that area in the past two years...Outreach and recruiting, well - it ties in with both of those aspects as well...but perhaps a graduate assistant or someone working part-time to coordinate the actual recruiting activities with me as their supervisor would actual work. This takes quite a bit of my time. But...this was one of the aspects of my job that I was going to work into an academic course and try to teach as a 485...planning and logistics class...since I'm meeting with the students that do outreach at least once a month anyway, Dr. Heinz and I had already talked about this since I miss teaching. Arg! Pros and cons with each and every aspect of my job. Well, I'm glad he doesn't want a quick response from me!! But, I will say this...It is VERY nice to have a boss that understands - without me even saying it - that there are limits to what a person is physically, mentally, and emotionally able to do and is willing to do whatever they can to keep their employees happy and productive. After his initial comment, I agreed I was going to have some help pretty soon, especially if we were going to keep growing, and I laughed and joked that I couldn't do many more 3:30 AM - 11 PM days...he just shook his head at me and agreed...then commented that I had other people that counted on me..like Kellen and Matt and that I couldn't continue to work those kinds of hours. I am so blessed to be in this position! Thank you God for opening the right doors at the right times and putting me exactly where I needed to be.

Sorry for the work ramble...

Now...the fun stuff. I have a long weekend! Monday is a holiday for TAMU, so I have a 3 day weekend! Whoo Hoo!!! Jeff is coming into town this morning, and we're going to the Aggie Basketball game this afternoon. What fun!