Thursday, November 30, 2006
final straw.
Thanks to a bit of handy advice from Danielle, I'm no longer keeping my cell turned on while I'm at work. If people can't follow instructions and abide by my wishes to not call my personal cell phone...well, they're going to get dumped straight to voicemail, at which point they will hear a voicemail greeting that tells them that the university isn't paying my phone bill and to stop calling that number. And this will be the case until the university coughs up the dough and gets me a departmental cell phone.
If you're going to be rude and disrespectful to me (especially while I'm just barely within earshot) you'll get no special treatment from me, ever. Just remember that if I wasn't here at all, you wouldn't have any of your precious A/V equipment.
The university better get moving on this whole job opening, otherwise they're seriously going to have two positions to fill and a lot of angry faculty members to boot.
getting more lousy with each passing moment.
It doesn't end!
If you saw that someone had taped down power cords and audio cables with gaffer's tape, as well as AV carts with casters locked and tape marking their location, what would be your first reaction?
A) Someone must have been in here early to get everything all set up and took care to make sure all the cables are secure so no one will trip! How thoughtful and responsible of them!
B) Yo, let's rip this shit up and move everything around! Hey, why won't these carts roll?
C) Where's the rest of the roll? I have an urge to make a gigantic tape ball.
Yep, B) is what I was met with this afternoon. And in addition to that, I was also met with complaints relating to the color of the gaffer's tape. Yes, the color. No, I don't have black gaffer's tape, I just have white gaffer's tape, and they're lucky I even had that in the first place. It could have just as well been duct tape and I'm sure they would have loved the look of that.
Remember how I said earlier that my inclination to help people today is pretty much non-existant? I set up the equipment, left the help sheets on the AV carts and went about my business...you know, the business of servicing the rest of the campus and not just this one event? They can figure out how to get things running. I mean, I wrote the friggin' help sheets, so they're not lacking in equipment specifics and troubleshooting details.
I haven't even been able to eat properly today - I still have about half of my morning croissant sitting next to me here, waiting to be eaten (and probably won't be, since I'm notorious for letting people get to me like this, affecting my appetite for the whole of the day). I actually got more job satisfaction out of staying up until 3am working on that video rush job than I have the entire week here at work, because I know that the video I put together is actually genuinely appreciated.
Speaking of sleep deprivation, it would appear that it's time for another cup of coffee and another Sobe energy drink. I'm still stuck here at work for at least another six and a half hours. Ya fuckin' hoo.
the depths of insanity.
If a person finds a 50ft VGA cable to be important and necessary for an event occuring this evening - a length of cable which I would need to have special ordered over a week ago - how far in advance would you say they should have considered such a thing?
A) Two weeks ago
B) Two hours ago
C) In...ad...vance? You speakin' some fancy European language, boy?
If you answered A)...well, you're better off than the people who thought B) was a sufficient amount of lead time.
I swear, no matter what good works I do here, no matter how much I do for everyone around here above and beyond the call of duty, some people always find something to bitch about. It's extremely demoralizing. And they wonder why I'm starting to look for another job.
Allow me to step up to the mic and channel Kanye West for a moment...
(fill in the blank) doesn't care about their staff.
Hmph.
just a warning...
I am in absolutely no mood to help anyone here at work today. Thus, I won't (at least until the big event tonight). I was here in the office until 1am and up doing video work until 3am, therefore, FDU will have to take a back seat to me today and not the other way around. I'm owed at least that much.
So, in the immortal words of Scarface from Half Baked...
"Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, you're cool...and fuck you, I'm out!"
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
doing what i like.
It's nearly midnight and I'm still in my office. However - for once - it's not FDU-related work that's keeping me here tonight. I'm working on a rush video job for which the tapes need to be in the client's hands by tomorrow in order to get them in the mail and to their destination by December 1st. Never let it be said that I'm not dedicated to my work - at least, the work that I actually enjoy doing. Never mind the fact that it's keeping me from sleep and I have to be back here at 7am and I'll be here until at least 10pm tomorrow.
I'm crazy, I know.
But like I said, at least this is something I enjoy doing and I actually feel like I'm doing something of worth, something that's appreciated...unlike my work at FDU, where all anyone can seem to do is bitch and complain, never minding the fact that I'm overworked, understaffed, and virtually a one-man show here from morning to evening - it's too damn bad that you didn't get your microphone yesterday, considering you called it in yesterday afternoon after it had initially been cancelled on Monday...besides, what kind of DJ worth his salt doesn't show up to a gig with microphones? But I digress...
So, to sum up my two jobs, as it were?
Videography/Editing = rewarding, enjoyable and appreciated.
FDU = stressful, underappreciated and totally unnoticed (until something goes wrong, that is).
Now, back to editing...
(P.S. - Can someone tell me why the new Blogger beta is perpetually fucking up my formatting? That first line break after 'FDU-' shouldn't even be there, but I can't get rid of it...)
the complete pussification of american kids.
Wow. Just...wow.
Apparently food is unsafe for children now. And stacking blocks. And lamps.
And people wonder why today's kids are so soft...
a quick tip.
If you're going to call me over to your classroom claiming that you can't get a VHS cassette to work in the player
and you claim that it's been rewound, I'd really rather not traipse across campus only to find out that it hasn't
been rewound, ultimately causing me to interrupt my work...to go rewind a tape for you.
And this was a student too! Isn't this generation of teenagers supposed to be at least reasonably technologically
inclined? I wouldn't have thought one to be so easily defeated by an un-rewound VHS cassette.
brr still.
Still freezing in here.
But the books in the stacks (where, coincidentally, there are no people) are nice and toasty warm!
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
the things i think about.
If you have a credit card with a payment protector plan and you have a negative balance on that card...shouldn't that mean they
owe you money for that service now, instead of charging for it?
Yeah, my brain's turned to mush. And then it's turned to slush, due to the freezing temperatures in my office (which have now caused a massive leg cramp in my left calf). It's actually warmer outside than it is in my office. Figure that out.
Monday, November 27, 2006
brrrr.
Holy fucking shit, it's freezing in my office. I can't feel my toes and I'm wearing my winter coat in here.
Meanwhile, it's supposed to be a nice 65 degrees out today. Go figure.
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
there's that "urge to kill" again...
I give up. I seriously give up.
People from FDU keep calling my cell even when I clearly tell them that it's MY personal cell phone and not a university-funded phone (it's on the goddamn voicemail greeting, people, take a hint already!). I'm still waiting on that departmental cell phone I'm supposed to be getting, but considering the pace at which things get done around here...
People keep jerking me around with equipment requests...no, wait, it's cancelled...oops, wait, it's back on ag-oh wait, nevermind, it's cancelled again...OH MY GOD! IT'S NOT CANCELLED! WE NEED IT N...oh wait, it's cancelled again, for real this time, really.
And it's still freezing in my office. The only plus I can find in this is that beverages stay nice and frosty sitting on my desk. Of course, it doesn't help much if that beverage is supposed to be HOT chocolate. My back's still killing me because of it. Meanwhile, the Mansion's nice and toasty. Is it any coincidence that's where the administration offices are? Nope, I didn't think so.
Getting on the road for a nine-hour drive tomorrow night will be like a vacation compared to this...it'll have to be, since I'm pretty much not allowed to take any vacation anyway. Hmph.
more wonderfulness.
It's as though this campus is deliberately trying to make me miserable. For the past two days, my office has been absolutely freezing with no end in sight. I can barely feel my toes, my nose is ice cold, and I'm bundled up in my hoodie at my desk. Typing seems to be the only thing keeping my hands from going numb. Wonderful. But I bet all the offices belonging to the so-called "important people" on campus are nice and toasty. Hmph.
And of course, the cold is making my back - which had been improving over the past few days - throb with pain, since we all know how well cold weather affects muscle and joint pain. I'd put on an ice pack, but...well, I don't want to go hypothermic.
Sadly, this isn't even a new occurence. This office is consistently freezing in the winter and roasting in the summer. And over the years, nothing's been done to remedy it. Just add this to my list of woes that are making me want to get the hell out of here.
Monday, November 20, 2006
all about jiri...
I miss Jiri Fischer. Would love to see him back on the ice someday, but he's better off tending to his new family.
Friday, November 17, 2006
curse you, woot!
Yep, it's a Woot-Off at the illustrious Woot! Been going on since last night and dammit, I'm tired. I had Woot-Off trackers going all day at work today and despite my getting paid yesterday, I either haven't found any Woots worthy of my cash yet or it's been stuff I've already got. *sigh* Guess I'll stay up for one more Woot and hope it's something good. With my luck, I'll fall asleep just as a Bandolier of Carrots is listed...
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
give me back my @#$%ing matrix!
Okay, I don't normally post YouTube stuff here, but this guy's videos are too good to not share. My personal favorite is The Rude Awakening of Optimus Prime. Shit Piece! Heh heh.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
i hate this place.
I'm getting beyond fed up with FDU these days. How fed up? Enough to actively search out other employment because, frankly, this job isn't worth all the trouble.
I've been awaiting a new technician pretty much since Mike left for his cushy NYC job (and I don't begrudge him one bit; more power to him, I say!) back in August...and here it is, mid-November. The friggin' job wasn't even posted until the beginning of October and thus far, we've had one applicant. One. And apparently, he's been thrown out of consideration by parties other than myself because of worries that "he might not stick around". Great, now we're prolonging my misery here because of what a potential hire may or may not do in the future.
And what exactly are the extents of my misery?
- 70+ hour work weeks
- Often working 6-7 days a week with only the occasional Saturday/Sunday off
- Unable to take sick/vacation/personal days due to my being the only person capable of servicing the campus' equipment needs (clearly a Union violation that the Union doesn't seem to give a shit about)
- A blown-out back that has gotten progressively worse over the course of the semester (particularly today; my entire left side from shoulder to thigh has stiffened up to excrutiatingly painful degrees)
- An inability to finish my degree here, due to the fact that the Film Dept. doesn't offer the final courses I need in the evenings and even if I got another technician in here, there's no way for me to be able to take daytime classes (I may ultimately end up having to change to a Comm major, just out of necessity...either that, or pray that enough credits would transfer to another school upon finding another job)
The very least FDU could do is offer me a significant raise for my troubles (I think I could stomach this workload a hell of a lot better if I was making $25+/hr). Everyone knows that, frankly, this school would collapse without me here - and this is one of those rare cases where I can rightfully be arrogant and cocky about such a thing, simply because it's true. Classes would be unable to run due to a lack of equipment, projector/computer support, and so on...and what is a university without its classes? Administrative meetings would be lost without the ability to use Powerpoint to get their messages across. Events would be severely lacking without microphones to allow their speakers to be heard. In terms of teaching and presentation technology, this campus would be thrown back into a virtual Stone Age from the moment that I walked out the doors. Which is exactly why I'm not even able to take sick/personal/vacation days - the campus simply can't function without me here.
They're going to be in for a very rude awakening in the event that I find other employment, that's all I have to say. There are very few things keeping me here; there are a hell of a lot more making me want to get the hell out as quickly as possible.
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
frazz rules.
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
i just seriously lol-ed. a lot.
Friday, November 03, 2006
will it blend?
This is a brilliant way to promote a line of blenders. The "Don't Try This At Home" ones are especially neat, particularly the marbles.
And in other news, I think I've become hooked on Sobe Adrenaline Rush. Fear for me.
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