shootingstar

Where are u going?

Apparently some people have structured their portfolios so well. They only check weekly or monthly.

I can still see some parents defending their child if did harass in this way. As just a “joke”.

Yea, sometimes too laid back for my taste in certain areas. Unlike govn't, there's not enough public oversight over efficiency of university operations and services. Only when a controversial professor shoots off their mouth or bunch of student protestors over xxxx where stuff hits the public press. For sure, generally speaking there may be more nice people (if they didn't have hidden knives).

I haven't asked outright of my BIL, if he enjoys teaching still. He still must carry at least 2 undergrad courses per semester. In engineering undergrad, at least 1 course is 100+ students. He probably has a TA helping somewhere. He tells me he wants to work until....70 yrs. I totally agree, regardless of type of industry/workplace, a good leader makes alot of difference. Which is why it amuses me when people criticize govn't. They think they know and ALWAYS choose bad examples because it's entertaining. Good govn't service is dull and not worth a story to tell over a beer or coffee.

Hopefully you aren't referring that difficult workplace as yours? I have been short-listed, flown in and interviewed by several universities for jobs. 1 of the universities was in California. It's such a huge exercise for them to interview candidates (for tenure track jobs), it's a whole day which includes meeting immediate co-workers, lunch and several group panel meetings. Plus the applicant is required to deliver a presentation on a pre-set topic provided in advance to a larger group of co-workers. Meaning 25-30 people. Not just 2-10 people. Which is appropriate because such jobs requires a person to have very good communication skills at a certain level to teach students. I think I might have become a very different person where I wouldn't have known about certain skills I naturally had, because I would be competing internally heavily against colleagues on other distracting stuff. I was a quieter graduate and shyer at that time in life. My jobs were such I had to push myself to speak out behalf of the dept. and make changes, etc. Otherwise I would not survive. Period. There were some scary times at certain points of career which I had to walk through fire...FAST from a management standpoint and show by delivering. A university library is not like that.

Not sure which work Wells wrote, that predicted the cellphone with images, etc. It was Wells, that created certain tropes, expanded by other sci-fi writers.

The last time I sat on couch with laptop to type stuff, etc. was maybe 10 years ago. I had a neck crick afterwards which hurt. At home or anywhere as a visitor, it is at a table. That's what I want from a minimal ergonomic perspective. Even in retirement, I can be hrs. on the computer. When I'm thinking and typing/composing something, I really need to use pinpoint speed reliability of a mouse. Touchpad is impedes my creative thinking and wordsmithing.

By coincidence, I chatted up yesterday with 2 university employees at an evening public campus event for an exhibit from the university's archives. I've never worked in university nor college. We all have same degree training. Young women were very bright and personable. One could see they were happy, for having landed what they perceived as plum jobs. They probably will stick around in academia for 25+ more work years ahead of them. However, I know over the years from a long-time friend working as a manager for 20 years in academia, it can became stifling with fiefdoms. LIke other workplaces, except the golden handcuff situation can compound certain problems for some folks. Would have been cool to work in academia for ie. 5 yrs. ...And then for me, to leave for other places. People criticize govn't for lack of productivity. Well... in certain quarters of academia, that's another ball game. It can help if there is often public outreach programs, from the university to inform general public about some cool research of relevance.

Really? I hate touchpads, I need to type at the rate of my brain power.

It would be useful to find out how often northern lights can be seen in Finland ...reliably in certain time period. I'm sure others here have the links to scientific info. which "predicts", not guarantees northern lights viewing. I understand that Finland isn't el cheapo. It would be great they are keen to experience/see other things in Finland. Next door, Norway's fjiords would be gorgeous. Yukon territory heavily promotes its northern lights but not clear how much of a guarantee one can actually see them within ie. 1 wk. or whatever.

Now, back from a reception opening a museum exhibit on original H.G. Well's original works in science fiction. Part of our local university library's rare books collection. Each university library specializes in certain collections. Ours has several hundred different original publications of what he wrote and had published. H. G. Wells - Wikipedia What he wrote, certain concepts / tropes other future sci-fi writers adopted and expanded, changed it. Also met 2 recent grads, working in library system. So it was meet a much younger generation, younger than who I've worked with last job. Our youngest team member at work was working almost 8 years after she graduated. We talked about their adjustment to working during covid, AI, etc. Of course, it helps there was some free appetizer food for the evening. A futurist and "visionary", Wells foresaw the advent of aircraft, tanks, space travel, nuclear weapons, satellite television, and something resembling the World Wide Web.[5] Asserting that "Wells's visions of the future remain unsurpassed", John Higgs, author of Stranger Than We Can Imagine: Making Sense of the Twentieth Century, states that in the late 19th century Wells "saw the coming century clearer than anyone else. He anticipated wars in the air, the sexual revolution, motorised transport causing the growth of suburbs and a proto-Wikipedia he called the "world brain". In his novel The World Set Free, he imagined an "atomic bomb" of terrifying power that would be dropped from aeroplanes. This was an extraordinary insight for an author writing in 1913, and it made a deep impression on Winston Churchill."[111] In 2011, Wells was among a group of science fiction writers featured in the Prophets of Science Fiction series, a show produced and hosted by film director Sir Ridley Scott, which depicts how predictions influenced the development of scientific advancements by inspiring many readers to assist in transforming those futuristic visions into everyday reality.[113] In a 2013 review of The Time Machine for the New Yorker magazine, Brad Leithauser writes, "At the base of Wells's great visionary exploit is this rational, ultimately scientific attempt to tease out the potential future consequences of present conditions—not as they might arise in a few years, or even decades, but millennia hence, epochs hence. He is world literature's Great Extrapolator. Like no other fiction writer before him, he embraced "deep time".[114]

That mention of Aruba here ....I guess was coincidental what Squarewheels received by email. My bad.

@Razors Edge I find that type of stuff annoying..and clearly the algorimths are working. @Ralphie if I really wanted to, I could have worked another year and retired at end of this yr. (instead of 2023). My work effort still would have been welcomed this yr. But that's all. At the same time, there were various things going on from late 2022 onward, where my boss was preferring and grooming a very bright millennial team member. I personally felt the person needed to change her personal style or she would run into problems later in her career. There is a younger team member, a younger millennial who was just as smart, but probably would be far better in people management style in future. I think my boss herself, has aspirations to be elsewhere within next 4 yrs. after her boss retires. Her boss actually indicated when she hope to retire...well to all her 3 divisional teams, which surprised me. (I would never do that --would want to control internal political jockeying.) No meanness or whatever in the workplace at the time I was there. But that, along with inroads of AI and what I predict soon, then fall 2023 was a good time for me to start retirement. My official retirement started in late Dec. though I left office in Sept. 2023. I stacked all my earned vacation weeks at the end. We are allowed to do this with my employer. You might not be able to do this.

@Ralphie how many different people have stiffed you in past few months? What do you tend to ask/comment about before the crickets?

Are you still viewed as expert in areas? Or they are not paying attention deliberately. I guess people refuse to turn on video cameras alot of the time. I knew some people in my virtual group course sessions, were tuning out. But all of my teaching peers in our team experienced that. Not much can be done. But, no in staff meetings and other peers 1:1, I wasn't stiffed. In meeting with clients from multiple different depts., I made sure the meeting was focused with some short stuff for them to think about in advance, so there wouldn't be crickets. They knew they had to give me feedback or there would be no progress on project. We also had a broad corporate code of conduct which included treating one another as employees with respect. It was in writing and there was/still is a course every single employee had to take the self-directed course. You see, if an employee kept stiffening others, that could form part of performance problem..documented with proof against corporate standard.

Hope you don't have long covid, ChrisL.

For reasons I'm not completely clear myself: I haven't been drawn to the Carribbean at all. A beach/tropical based destination has not been my top criteria in foreign destination list of priorities. I viewed Hawai'i and was proven right when I went there twice to different island, that it has so much to offer (very different cultural history, flora and fauna) ---in addition the the beach/tropics scenery. I also admit after living in Western Canada for past 20+ yrs., now I care even less for humid, hot and sunny weather. I always plan my Toronto trips to avoid their humid summers. **Living in southern Ontario for lst 40 yrs., does prepare one for humid tropical weather destinations. So to me, when we were in Japan near start of monsoon season (mid June onward for several wks.), it felt very much to me, like southern Ontario...humid, some heavy rains. A Canadian if they have lived for several years in different regions, does learn about different weather extremes.

Well, so much for their good intentions. If they bike several times/wk., they get 1 star at least and that's a good start.

It can be big ass change. It does help to have 1-2 interests/activities that you already do (even if right now, it's not a lot.). Enjoy the work benefits ie. better work schedule right now, and time off for those activities. You already are slowly...creeping along in change. I already felt that in my final work yr. WFH switch part-time, helped me too. I'm amazed by the amount of foreign trip travel for some folks I know....I mean 2-3 foreign trips annually with 2-4 wks. per foreign trip. I probably would seriously dent my budget. I know....take advantage of one's mobility/health now, etc. In 2024, still planning trips around seeing/spending time with friends and family in North America. Kinda babyish of me. But even such trips still cost some money. Last foreign trip (excluding Seattle from Vancouver, last year's New Mexico) was Japan, Seoul in 2017.

You keep on alluding to retirement in so many side ways.... come on, Ralphie: remind us again, when?

So are you are no. 1 in pillow heaven. We are happy too with our respective pillow loves.

I don’t have a pet. It’s ok— I’m not looking for one. I’ll enjoy others when I visit. Actually a lot of my friends have never had a pet or they didn’t get another pet after pet died. I think they just wanted their lives to be freer in their retirement.

one

Very interesting --those lemon cucumbers.