Fay types tall.

I'm almost 5'3". Almost.

OK, job/networking question. I applied for an "Academic Administrator" position in this institution and know someone who used to work in that dept. I wrote to her and asked her about the position, and she wrote back very positive, encouraging me to apply. She also suggested that I write to an AcAdmin for another program in the same department in this context:

You may want to be in touch with [name redacted] who is the academic administrator for ESD and see if she could be a good source of information. [She]is great! You can tell her that I suggested you get in touch with her.

So I've been puzzling over an email to this other person who I don't know. I want to seem curious but not clueless. Here's what I have so far:

[Redacted] suggested that I drop you a line; I’ve applied for the [program] Academic Administrator position and she thought you would be a great source of information about how the Academic Administrator functions within the department. I’ve been involved in the pilot program that is exposing the next generation of AOs to the world of the Academic Officer- that’s where I reconnected with A, she came in and did a presentation for us – so I have a good idea of what an AO does, but am interested in knowing a little bit more about the daily life of the Academic Admin.

I was wondering if you could share with me your thoughts and experiences as an Academic Administrator so I could get a more holistic view of the functionality of that role within the department. Certainly the job description is a great tool to get an idea of the work, but I was hoping to get a good feel for the job, if that makes sense. From what I’ve seen of the position description, I think I could be quite successful at it, but I definitely like to do as much research as I can. My experience at MIT has been in non-academic departments (example 1 and example 2). I’m very interested in moving over to the academic side of things, so any thoughts you might have about working in an academic department would be helpful too!

Any thoughts? This is hard.

It sounds good to me, Nora. It could maybe be a little simpler:

[Redacted] suggested that I drop you a line. I’ve applied for the [program] Academic Administrator position, and she thought you would be a great source of information about how the Academic Administrator functions within the department. I’ve been involved in the pilot program that is exposing the next generation of AOs to the world of the Academic Officer, so I have a good idea of what an AO does. In fact, that’s where I reconnected with A, when she did a presentation for us.

I was wondering if you could share with me your thoughts and experiences as an Academic Administrator. I'd to know a little bit more about the daily life of the Academic Admin and the AO's role within the department.

I think I could be quite effective in the position as described, but I definitely like to do as much research as I can. My experience at MIT has been in non-academic departments (example 1 and example 2). I’m very interested in moving over to the academic side of things, so any thoughts you might have about working in an academic department would be helpful too!

You know me. I'm the Mad Editor.

My boss forwarded me this note. It is not from our theater, but omg it's a doosey, so I had to share:

(Actor) dropped the wireless receiver in the toilet, and flushed it. Amazingly, it still gets a signal. I put an out of order sign on the stall and called building maintenance to see if we can retrieve it.

I think we’ll probably just burn that mic pack if we do manage to get it back…

My favorite part is they are still getting signal!

Thanks, Ginger!

Could it be? Maybe Buffista~ma is working it's magic on the Gaza Strip? Hamas says open to new truce in Gaza

Re the height differential. I am 5'3", my ex-husband is 6'3" and my ex-fiance is 6'1". I tend to skew to the tall, skinny ones, but I've dated everywhere from mid-5 footers to the over 6 footers. The more critical criteria is hair/eye color. I go for blond/red with blue/green eyes. The dark hair/eyes have less of a chance with me. I may acknowledge that, yes, they are blazing hot to look at, but I end up with the pale, northern European types 90% of the time.

Oh, so much more Peace~ma for Gaza, Israel, and the entire area in general. And safety~ma for those who live and serve there.

Well, omnis, there is an official 24 hours truce.

However, Israel is still planing military action, and Egypt remains a third side on this (since the other entrance to Gaza is through its territory, and they were a lot more violent than Israel last time the Palestinians broke through there).

Continuing peace~ma to Israel and Gaza.

Now, in completely trivial decision-making, should I buy this jacket? I think I may almost be more in love with the description than the jacket itself. "James Dean meets Annie Oakley" sounds like, well, my idea of a girlfriend.