Skating forward
Nov. 20th, 2003 12:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jayDaytime, today: lots of dull meetings, argued with Pat over the costs and timing of hosting a skating outing, and interviewed a couple of possible student interns. Rather than the usual undergrads willing to work half-time for $15K/yr, given the state of the economy I'm seeing people with bachelors' degrees in EE -- even one with an M.S. -- and work experience. I guess that it's better than working in a furniture store or flipping burgers if one is trying to stay employed in a technical field, but I still feel vaguely exploitative.
Lunch today was a reunion of sorts, seeing an old friend RA that I hadn't spent time with since last winter. It wasn't stressful, and we tacitly left certain topics undiscussed. Conversation otherwise flowed as easily and pleasantly as ever. :-). It was good to see zir, and good to let go of some of the silly armed-camp social attitude.
Tonight I went ice skating, as usual for Wednesday evenings... I was on tonight. All of my maneuvers came easily, with no falls. Lots of nice endorphins, after 20 minutes and onward. And sometimes I'd dance on the ice to the background music, solo. Given some saccharine or over-dramatic background piece, plus swooshing down the ice, and a just a simple, baby jump at the right moment... and it's kind of strangely cool. Moving on the ice with the music has a slightly trance-like effect on me.
Afterward, on an impulse I went by the Wednesday after-poly-dinner coffee in Palo Alto. Despite the probability of people being there with whom I've been at odds, and going in alone... what the heck. It had been nearly a year. As it turned out, there were only a handful of the poly-dinner folks remaining, so I hung out and drank coffee with people I knew in the neighboring bdsm social. And I'm also glad I went because the cafe (La Dolce Vita) is closing next week, so this was my last visit there.
Tomorrow is James's birthday, turning 13... I need to go to Krispy Kreme now, as per his breakfast request for doughnuts.
Lunch today was a reunion of sorts, seeing an old friend RA that I hadn't spent time with since last winter. It wasn't stressful, and we tacitly left certain topics undiscussed. Conversation otherwise flowed as easily and pleasantly as ever. :-). It was good to see zir, and good to let go of some of the silly armed-camp social attitude.
Tonight I went ice skating, as usual for Wednesday evenings... I was on tonight. All of my maneuvers came easily, with no falls. Lots of nice endorphins, after 20 minutes and onward. And sometimes I'd dance on the ice to the background music, solo. Given some saccharine or over-dramatic background piece, plus swooshing down the ice, and a just a simple, baby jump at the right moment... and it's kind of strangely cool. Moving on the ice with the music has a slightly trance-like effect on me.
Afterward, on an impulse I went by the Wednesday after-poly-dinner coffee in Palo Alto. Despite the probability of people being there with whom I've been at odds, and going in alone... what the heck. It had been nearly a year. As it turned out, there were only a handful of the poly-dinner folks remaining, so I hung out and drank coffee with people I knew in the neighboring bdsm social. And I'm also glad I went because the cafe (La Dolce Vita) is closing next week, so this was my last visit there.
Tomorrow is James's birthday, turning 13... I need to go to Krispy Kreme now, as per his breakfast request for doughnuts.
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no subject
Date: 2003-11-20 01:45 am (UTC)You'll have to excuse me - this is something that I feel quite strongly about ... it is exploitative. It seems to me that, if finances are tight, then employers and superiors should be prepared to share the burden with employees and juniors - yeah, this is idealistic, but hiring someone on a pittance despite their qualifications, experience and skills because they (and your department) are desperate is ... immoral, I think. They don't have full freedom to choose their conditions and remuneration, and the employer which you represent is in a position of power over them.
Yeah, it's hard for you too, but...
no subject
Date: 2003-11-20 02:11 am (UTC)What has recently changed is not the program -- but that people already holding various technical degrees are enrolling in a few college courses, then using that mechanism to in turn apply for these low-paid part-time internships. They are bumping the traditional undergraduate internship candidates... what would you do, yourself? Refuse to interview anyone already holding a degree from another university or college? Turn applicants with an MS down as overqualified? We aren't desperate, per se... these would be add-ons or optional on a given project.
no subject
Date: 2003-11-20 04:27 am (UTC)The program should be used as originally intended - for novice undergraduates - in parallel with finding real money if there is work for these more qualified people. I also know that no one person or department can fix the whole system, but if there is a surplus of qualified people, then the system needs adjusting. Again, in an ideal world, those in power would re-adjust the budget to make that possible - you know better than I do what could in principle, and - with determination, in practice - be done in your hierarchy to target funds more usefully: imaginative solutions that neither penalise the first-time UGs nor the over-qualified applicants.
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Date: 2003-11-20 03:00 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2003-11-21 07:41 pm (UTC)