the annie blog

I probably won’t get a chance to blog tomorrow. We are leaving for KC because Mark is directing one of his plays – here’s the link. We are very excited for him. We will be taking our cast up in the afternoon and performing that evening – then there’s a question/answer thing at the end. My brother and SIL are coming and bringing my mom with them. Yippie! It’s like a min-vacation. BUT – we are leaving bright and early the next morning. We also have like 6 students with us that are in the cast also. So, it wouldn’t be appropriate to head to a bar with them. We think we’ll drop them off at the hotel and keep our fingers crossed that they behave. We have friends and family we want to spend time with – but if it doesn’t happen at least we’ll get to see everyone. We will see some of our friends that we haven’t seen in over 10 years. Unreal! That’s gonna be strange. I’m a little nervous.

So tonight we have rehearsal, then we come back home to watch the Chiefs!!! I’ve got things packed and ready to go. We’ll leave after Mark’s last class. I am bringing my knitting to work on. Plus I’m bringing my book on CD to listen to in case I need to tune out momentarily in the van with 6 students!!!

I think I may get a new office!!! Thank God!!! Here’s the deal. I am in an area in the basement (I’m not exaggerating) with a total of 7 offices. Two of them have windows. The rest don’t. I don’t have windows. The two that DO have windows leak profusely. They have tried and tried and tried to stop the leak. New windows, caulk, digging up and adding a drainage ditch – tons of stuff, nothing works. The place is carpeted. Imagine if you will, tons of rain coming in and making the carpet moldy and smelly. Last year they FINALLY ripped up the carpeting in the two leaky offices. Well, it still leaked, but this time the water just flowed right on out under the door and got the hall carpet wet. Same thing – major smelly mold! Plus we have the added smell of being in the basement. It’s always damp and cold down there. Our clothes stink, we have sinus infections (one guy had to quit because he developed asthma being down there), our papers are all damp and flimsy. You get the idea.

We have complained and bitched and moaned about it. But, like any place of business – space is at a premium. Well, one of the women in one leaky office finally found an open office and got to move there. She was starting to get freaked about turning on her PC every morning because she wasn’t sure if it was all wet or not. Then, the other woman in the other leaky office got to leave because all her classes moved to a totally different hall and there was an open office there. Well, maintenance has decided to make one of the wet offices their break room, and the other one their tool room. So now we also get to smell sweaty maintenace people and everything they microwave for lunch. Plus, it’s LOUD in a break room! They make hella noise. We have complained about this too – over and over.

The Gods are finally smiling on us!! One woman in our area got a major nosebleed the other day and spent a good amount of time talking to the workman’s comp people. Administration didn’t like this. Plus, our new President was taking a tour and was amazed at our working conditions! He couldn’t believe there were people actually working in that area. He said we have till November to find a solution! Thank God! So, I picked up the reigns from there – since everyone else in my department was being kind of timid about the whole thing. I decided to just handle it myself – can you say bossy? I met with my supervisor and planned out where everyone should go. I shot for the moon and got approval! It was funny because he looked down at his notes and said, “Oddly enough, you have office spaces for all your colleagues, but I can’t help but notice you haven’t mentioned anything about your office?” Ok, here’s where I played my trump card. There is a KILLER office on the second floor. I didn’t even know it was there until 3 years ago. The woman who had for the past three years has retired. It’s been closed up and hidden and empty all summer long. I told him I wanted that one – and that because I was doing all the work for my department I felt I should get the awesome office. He agreed!!! So, now he taking it to the Dean and I HOPE we get approval. We could be out of our offices in a couple of weeks. That would rock!

Let me explain this office. There are windows! They don’t leak! The place doesn’t smell like mold and make you have sinus headaches all the time!! It’s huge. It’s got a storage closet with shelves. It is in two sections. One section that’s like a normal office, then the other part I will make into a little sitting area/lounge thing for me. I think I’ll furnish the damn thing and everything. It’s out of the way from the beaten path (Obviously – since I just realized it was there 3 years ago.) So, I’m keeping my fingers crossed. My colleagues are pleased with me. Though a few of them are pessimistic by nature and seem ultra-hesitant to get happy about it. I, on the other hand, am starting to think about color choices and where my desk will be positioned. I will need a floor lamp, a fan, it needs major cleaning! But I would love it! I work better in silence and by myself. This would be perfect.

So, hopefully we’ll hear something by next week at the latest. I will have to send the President a thank-you email if it all goes through. Just think – I won’t stink, my papers won’t always be stuck together from moisture, and I won’t be sneezing and snotting all the time. I bet I can stop taking Clari/tan every day. The funny thing is – I don’t need it over the summer, over Christmas break, or spring break – just when I’m in the dark, damp little hell-hole. Plus, if I am in my office for 2 hours or more without a break, I always have a sinus headache. EVERY DAY!!! I will be so happy to get rid of that – I already feel like I can breath. (In case you can’t tell, I’m sooooo excited about this!)

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