RBOC: Planning and Griping Edition

Busy trying to clear things off my desk. Feels like the workload for my year (or maybe just the term) has been front-loaded.

But progress has been made. The following items are in the planning stages and need feedback:
  • I'm planning the meal for the closing banquet of the conference we're helping with. Honestly, who left the guy from Texas in charge of a menu for a group that's guaranteed to have lots of vegetarians? Even worse, our caterer has just stopped giving prices with their catering guide so I'm going into this blind and well-aware that I'm going to have to negotiate. Anyway, how does this sound for a vegetarian menu:
  1. ravioli porcini morel (the main course)
  2. fresh mesclun salad
  3. baked sweet potatoes
  4. baby squash
  5. angel food cake with seasonal berries
  • I think I've got a widget/gadget/whatever the hell Blogger is calling it this week to help deal with the job search status questions (incidentally, there didn't seem to be a great counter for Blogger, but there was a spiffy one for WordPress). My question is what things would you like to see me track? I was thinking about the overall cost; the number of jobs found, applied for, contacted by, and various types of interviewed for; and maybe the number of requests for particular types of documents. Anything else?
  • On a different note, one of my soon-to-be-graduating seniors said, in response to a discussion about Interlibrary loans, "Wait...so the library will give us a loan?" They were quite disappointed when a fellow student said "Yeah. Of books and magazine articles."
  • My Mac is still softwareless. It's a $2600 web browser at the moment (oh, and it plays "Spore" - see the example at the right of one of my creations). I tried to request the software I'd need for it, and am now locked in a battle with IT over whether I should have to buy copies of software that the University has upgraded to and that I'm required to use in teaching for this computer.
And on that note, good night.

Comments

4 Responses to “RBOC: Planning and Griping Edition”
Post a Comment | Post Comments (Atom)

ash said...

this is probably covered under "contacted by"...but i would love to see data on how many schools don't give you an answer or never even acknowledge your application. i remember being shocked every time i went on the job market at how many schools just pretended like i didn't exist (and have heard similar stories from others in various fields), but i have never been able to quantify that complaint.

September 10, 2008 at 11:59 AM
Dr. Curmudgeon said...

I think making that explicit will definitely be worthwhile. One of the jobs that I've applied for year in and out only last year actually contacted me to tell me I didn't get an interview.

It's definitely worth noting.

September 10, 2008 at 10:23 PM
lonna said...

Regarding your menu, it looks interesting. As a vegan, I am always interested in what they throw my way. At my school they never have anything without cheese, so I bring my own food. My only suggestion would be to make sure that at least one thing is vegan. For example, I am in love with baked sweet potatoes. Yum, yum, yum. Try to see if the caterers can just bake them plain (no butter on the outside, like some people do with baked potatoes). All condiments should be on the side. Also, if you are having a salad, try to make it as plain as possible with toppings on the side perhaps. Our salads always have meat on them. And, this sounds stupid to omnivores, but I then consider the salad "tainted". I can't just peel something off.

Good luck with the job search. It's amazing how insensitive and ignorant educated people can be.

September 11, 2008 at 4:55 PM
Dr. Curmudgeon said...

Thanks for the vegan tips. I know anything without cheese or butter is a rarity here, but it's certainly something I'd like to ask about. Right now, I'm dreading the estimate for it.

September 11, 2008 at 10:52 PM