The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round...

As many of you know, I have been previously (and currently, although that's too complicated to go into right now) employed by the Gov (henceforth BB -- Big Brother; the sundry agences will be bb1 and bb2, etc)). So, let me guide you through a dialogue.

Setting: My home, August 2007

Me: Whoa! What's this deposit into my account for? That's much more than I was expecting. I better call and get this straightened out.

dials phone

Me: Hello. I'm calling because there has been a mistake. I was not owed this much. Can you straighten it out?
bb1: Oh! Thanks for letting us know. We will get on it.

month later

Me: Hi! I was wondering if this was taken care of yet?
bb1: You are in a file on my desk. I have let them know and I'll be going to HQ this month and see what I can do.
Me: okay (I'm in a file on her desk?)

months later, dropping by the office
Me: So, any resolution?
bb1: Oh! I haven't heard anything so I'll keep working on it.
Me: Okay, but I am paying income tax on this amount.

fast-forward May 2008

opening a letter from BB. Enclosed is a bill for an amount that is much more than was deposited into my account and does not account for what was due to me.

Me: Hey, that's not right! (calling the number on the bill)
bb2: (after a navigating the menu and receiving a live person on the end. After a brief explanation, the brusque voice says...) You need to call this number.
Me: Okay.

meanwhile, left a message for bb1, dialing number to bb3

bb3: (a friendly voice and some fun hold music) okay, you aren't in our system. Let me see if I can find who you need to call

some funky soul hold music later....

bb3: Here's the number (gives out the number for bb2 that I had just called)
Me: Umm, they told me to call you.
bb3: they were just confused. You are under x department, not our y department
Me: okay, thanks

calls bb1 just to see if she is back in the office. No answer
redials bb2 number and after much mashing of numbers later...

Me: Hi! I need to straighten out this bill and you sent me somewhere else but you are the department I need to call. I work under X.
bb2: (different person, equally brusque). Oh, Ms. bb2 (sub-1) handles these accounts. I'll connect you
(goes directly to Ms. bb2 (sub-1)'s voice mail. She's out of the office until May 19th). I leave a message.)

***sigh***

I got a gal in Kalamazoo Part Deux

I am currently sitting in a coffee shop outside of campus. I believe that Kate had lunched here earlier in the day. I am happy as a freakin' clam. I can smoke. I have Internet. I have a quiet place. I have coffee. I can have ice cream if I want it or sweets or anything my little ol' heart desires. Just lovely. Plus, it's a bonus that since the car is rented in my name then I can come and go as I please. What luxury!

So, paper went well and it's over and done with. I was paired with two MA students who were giving papers definitely related to topic, but they were just youngsters. I don't say this in a very negative way because I believe both are non-medievalists (at least one a Victorian scholar -- hey, if I was to give a paper on Victorian lit, then I would imagine I'd be in the same boat). The panel was also well-attended which is nice. Not too big but actually filled out the small room. It's never fun just to give one's papers to fellow panelists.

I haven't been to too many sessions because of all the work I brought with me. Good news on one level -- I finished editing one paper (not mine) and the author seemed rather happy with the result. This good because it was a massive revision and I was asked to edit with a rather heavy hand, especially since English is not the author's first language. Now, I should be working on my paper for this same journal. *sigh* Will it ever all be done?

And I'm still not getting good sleep. I have discovered coffee with a shot of espresso (they call this the "sinking ship" -- oh dear!).

In another hour I will go to the open bar reception for UConn people and will meet back up with Kate and probably a bunch of other people who I want to see. That's at least a very nice thing at this conference. I know a lot of people here and we are both (usually) mutually happy to see each other. I even gave a ride to the coffee shop to another UConn person and she is sitting on the other side working as well. I am happy to enable happy workspace!

Happy, happy, joy, joy to you all. Will post more soon.

Kazoo

I'm sitting in the lobby of Valley I which is where Kate and I are sharing a room and the lobby is the only place I can get internet reception. It would be such a godsend if we could get it in the room. The trip here was pretty uneventful -- some rain as I was driving us in. We took it easy for the most part and had pizza at Bilbo's (mostly because we figured that the medieval hotspot would be intolerable during the other evenings of the conference). Then I worked on editing an article and looked at my paper. I present it in thirty minutes. I'll be glad to get it over with. I wish I had a better attitude toward this conference. I suppose the upside is that in the bare bones dorm room, I am focused on my work.

I didn't sleep well last night because I was probably thinking of all the work I had to do. Then again, I never sleep well in an unfamiliar place. This morning was particularly noisy -- with garbage trucks, people walking outside, and a few birds having territory or mating battle through songs. You would think they would get tired of the same tune? But I heard the same one echoing far and near. I wonder who won?

In other bird news, the swan is nesting by the lake. A swan's nest is pretty spectacular to see although it would have been nice to see the babies. Okay, more on this later. Must look over the paper one more time. No more coffee though or else I will read my paper in five minutes, not twenty.

Anybody want Netflix?

I have a free month to give to somebody (maybe two) so if you wanted to try out Netflix, then I'll pass it on to you. If you are behind on your movie watching then this is a great opportunity to catch up.

Positives about Netflix: awesome catalog. I've watched some really obscure, hard-to-find things. Shipping is generally pretty quick and I've only had a few hiccups with them.

Negatives: to get the month, you do have to sign up for the service and provide a CC or whatever. They recommend films based on what you watch and rate, but they aren't always the best (though some gems have popped up). Though they say "unlimited" plans, they really are limited because after a certain number of rentals a month, they slow down shipments. However, I estimate that I pay about 2 dollars a rental and that's on a busy month with me not able to watch movies every night.

So, let me know :)

Late night grading

The end of the semester is just around the corner. Just a million things to do before it's over. Then I'll soon be out of both my jobs which is a bit of a relief. I have too much to do (ah, the Academic's crazy logic).

I did hear that sadly, a third job has not manifested. While I will be in LA this summer, it will be for three weeks, not six. The second session did not fill. I suppose what with the economy tanking, parents are sending their little brilliant kids to more science and math classes than studying the graphic novel. Such a shame because I was looking forward to the class (but I'm also glad because I would have been so tired after that).

Maybe it's grading late at night that makes me just want to sleep and not work at all? It's been a tough year and I'm looking forward to a little downtime -- not to mention an honest-to-goodness vacation! Though with family aboard, maybe not so downish time.

Some more interesting posts also loom. With the spring, I become philosophical....

A Belated Best Wishes

Happy Birthday, Gene Gene, you birthday-dancing machine! (did you go dancing on your birthday? or did you eat your birthday cake and did you get a belly ache? Cheryl told you that would happen.)

Bali Hai! Tiki-ness

I guess I should have been quicker on the draw because she who blogs first often blogs best. Both Cranky and the Queen have outscooped me just because I wanted to write about birds!

Actually speaking of birds, Sandy has two little birdies that were very cute at the party. The girl was in a cranky mood and since it was past her bedtime and she didn't have HER swing to sleep on, she knocked the boy off his. It wasn't even like she wanted the swing -- she didn't even get on it -- she just didn't want him to have a good time.

No, I wasn't such a dork that I stood by while watching everybody tiki drink and tiki drunk. I had my fair share at the awesome spread our host and hostess laid out for us. I drank some blue stuff with fruit and some red stuff with fruit then I turned to juice. Not literally, of course, although I felt very healthy with all this citrus. I just wanted to make it home without making a tiki spectacle of myself.

It was so good to talk to Perilous Cheryl and the Joey Zone (and Cheryl! Was I such a jerk to you? No! I was trying to cheer you up! I must be getting bad at this cheering-up business. Did I ever tell you that there is an anime where all the characters have names based on American rock stars? The bad guy's name is DIO! I would imagine that he would like that?).

So, I mingled and talked to people I knew and people I didn't know. It was a fantastic party -- kudos to Sandy and Mike!