Tales from the Steppes

2005-04-06

9:27 a.m.
And as you feel it, you'll know it's true that you are blessed and lucky

The last 48 hours have been both busy and eventful. Monday was just one long blur. First work. Then school. Night meeting. Home for 10 minutes. Back out to do school work. Home for more school work after my laptop battery goes.

At school, my first tells me that yes, he has the document I sent him and he is "working on it." I explain that my submission to the IRB is due on Tuesday. Can he at least approve the protocol? Apparently, he has no problems with that, which is what I have been waiting to hear. Did he think I was asking him to edit my bullet points outlining my theoretical framework? Arrrrrgh!

At my night meeting, Fred and I talk with the Town Council about the upcoming Master Plan. Fred introduces me as working on it, which is a roll of the dice on his part because he did not have permission to do so. There have been much internal wrangling about who was going to get me for their Master Plan, Fred or Khalid. Fred had been to John, our division chief, and asked and this was his way of forcing the question. It is also his way of trying to get John to get off his butt and hire me permanently before Environmental did.

All of this is now rendered moot. Tuesday someone in Personnel called me offfering me the job I applied for in Environmental. Less money than I want, but we can negotiate that. So now I have a problem as I would much rather stay where I am. I wanted to talk to John yesterday but he was on his way to the County Council to present the Biannual report, a time of max stress for him. Just think of presenting your budget and work program to the nine Nazgul. So I thought I would talk to him today, as I was not terribly focussed on this yesterday either. Today there was an email saying John is on leave until the 18th. Florida. I talked to his admin assistant and if he calls in, she will explain the situation.

All of that is well and good, but my primary focus of the last 48 hours has been getting my stuff into the Internal Review Board. I finally got all protocols, consent, proxy consent and assent forms, directions, and interview questions finished. What a giant pain in the ass! But a major leap forward, from dealing with the theoretical construct to the nuts and bolts of the research. And it is nice to have reached a major milestone.

I celebrated by not working last night. Fell in bed around 10 pm and slept for 10 hours straight. I feel a bit hung over this morning after sleeping so much but definitely better. I am off my workout schedule but I think that I probably have my priorities in the right order.

I think I know how much money I am going to ask for to start the negotiations with Personnel. Another issue will be my start date. I am going to ask to not start until the 25th at least. Ostensibly this will be to tie up loose ends here. The reality is that I will be working on my thesis nonstop to write as many chapters as I can. Since the IRB will not decide on my project until the end of the month, I cannot do my actual research. I can write everything else up though.

Not that these are my only options, of course. I am going to a job fair tonight specifically for architects, landscape architects, and planners. But it does seem like a good fit for a couple of years, until I am ready to get a Ph.D. I am going to Raleigh this May to meet with the man I hope to study under and find out more about his program.