Thursday, February 14, 2019

Jobs, life and just a bit of X-Wing to keep us sane :-)


So, the job hunt continues it seems…  The interviews I’ve gotten recently were…  Different.  Guessing that I have been on Campus for far too long and the idea of taking a job outside of Campus is almost foreign at this point.  I DO go over my 20 years in a few Months, so I am actually (more or less) free to look outside of the University at this point.  Good and bad that is…  As I interview in the “real world”, I am reminded why I did NOT for so long and why I was willing to take the lower pay in the University system.  The benefits and stability are REALLY important for the whole family thing.  But there do seem to be a dearth of opportunities here to move within the University at this time.  A shame, and as one of those Manager types who tried for years to get people hired in to replace folks who left without success I am “concerned” about the staffing levels.  Seems very much like another situation where nothing really gets fixed until it burns down.  Dealing with exactly that situation in my own building with the main power to half the building “down” with one of the busses having melted with flood water pouring over it.  Emergency repair in place and this weekend to fix it in a more permanent sense.  And this time they are actually going to put in the “shield” to divert the flood water from the power equipment that was “scheduled for some time next year” after having been an emergency request and filed under “deferred maintenance” for at least the last seven years…  So, they “saved” a bunch of money over those years by not implementing the (relatively) inexpensive fix of simply diverting the flood waters because of the “no consequences” over the years.  Then of course it DID fail catastrophically and there is a VERY expensive fix that is required.  The buss had to be manufactured as they are all custom, there were of course the OT charges for the Electricians who did an amazing job with the temporary emergency fix to at least keep SOME power to the building in the meantime and even more as the replacement is put in place over the weekend so we do not just shut down the whole Department during a normal business day…  Not everyone is happy about that as we are a VERY active Research Department and there ARE in fact labs that must shut down on Saturday because of this…  But overall of course we have to apply the 85% solution.  If it works for 85%, then it should be judged a success.  And so it goes….

Flu season is brutal and I got news that my building was one that was exposed to unvaccinated folks with active diseases…  Measles I think.  Mind, I was vaccinated ages ago as a child and again in the Army of course as we were exposed to very “exotic” things travelling many places…  Annoying as there ARE a few folks who have no immunity, and this poses an unnecessary risk to those people.  In GENERAL, I’m more of a “let everyone do their own thing” sort of person, but as this affects others including some of my own people…  The “do your own thing” only works so long as it does not harm others…  And since this DOES pose a risk to others I have less sympathy for those who wish to not be vaccinated. 

Ah, on to more “fun” things…  More X-Wing games in and more information released about the upcoming Wave 3 and 4 for the game…  Wave 4 announced and several reprints with the Naboo N-1 fighter that I’ll be getting for my Republic forces.  Having the TIE Defender ability to get the Evade for the Speed 3+ maneuver REALLY fits my play style and I suspect it will pair well with the Jedi Fighters.  The new B-Wing sculpt is AMAZING.  Folding S-Foils, rotating ship AND Cockpit…  They really are stepping up their game with the new ships.  And as that was always one of my favorite Ships…  Flying 2 of them now, looking forward to them being Hyperspace legal soon J… Though I suspect my Rebels will become Republic very shortly when Wave 3 hits.  No points yet, so not SURE they’ll work, but all indications so far have been that they will be balanced and playable from the start.  2nd Edition has been REALLY good so far for that.  The new stuff has 2-4 more previews yet to do if they follow true to their normal pattern.  The ARC-170, the Sith ship and maybe the individual packages for the Aethersprite and Droid ship…  But looking like it will be out well in advance of the next big event here in Bloomington on 4 May…

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