Well, other bands know more than three chords. Your professional bands can play up to six, sometimes seven, completely different chords.

Oz ,'Storyteller'


Spike's Bitches 43: Who am I kidding? I love to brag.  

[NAFDA] Spike-centric discussion. Lusty, lewd (only occasionally crude), risqué (and frisqué), bawdy (Oh, lawdy!), flirty ('cuz we're purty), raunchy talk inside. Caveat lector.


Nora Deirdre - Dec 22, 2008 7:47:01 am PST #5423 of 10000
I’m responsible for my own happiness? I can’t even be responsible for my own breakfast! (Bojack Horseman)

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.


Ginger - Dec 22, 2008 8:00:02 am PST #5424 of 10000
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda

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.


omnis_audis - Dec 22, 2008 8:24:04 am PST #5425 of 10000
omnis, pursue. That's an order from a shy woman who can use M-16. - Shir

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!


Nora Deirdre - Dec 22, 2008 8:29:47 am PST #5426 of 10000
I’m responsible for my own happiness? I can’t even be responsible for my own breakfast! (Bojack Horseman)

Thanks, Ginger!


omnis_audis - Dec 22, 2008 8:30:46 am PST #5427 of 10000
omnis, pursue. That's an order from a shy woman who can use M-16. - Shir

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


SailAweigh - Dec 22, 2008 8:42:09 am PST #5428 of 10000
Nana korobi, ya oki. (Fall down seven times, stand up eight.) ~Yuzuru Hanyu/Japanese proverb

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.


WindSparrow - Dec 22, 2008 8:45:17 am PST #5429 of 10000
Love is stronger than death and harder than sorrow. Those who practice it are fierce like the light of stars traveling eons to pierce the night.

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.


Shir - Dec 22, 2008 8:48:43 am PST #5430 of 10000
"And that's why God Almighty gave us fire insurance and the public defender".

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).


smonster - Dec 22, 2008 8:53:12 am PST #5431 of 10000
We won’t stop until everyone is gay.

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.


meara - Dec 22, 2008 8:57:48 am PST #5432 of 10000

I am not normally someone who has any issues with insomnia, but someone sent the evil fairies last night, and though I tried to go to bed shortly after midnight, I ended up instead reading first one book...and then laying in bed at 3AM tossing and turning....and then reading another book...and finally going to sleep AFTER 5AM. WTF?!?!

This is not the way to have a successful "let's get stuff off my plate on the last day of work before vacation!" day. ARGH.

I've mostly dated women roughly my size. That's what happens when you date women, really. I think my current, N, is probably one of the shortest--I think she's about three inches shorter than me (OTOH, she can bench press my body weight). I also dated one girl who was probably about 5'10 and pretty broad shouldered. That was kinda fun (girls who are that tall and big seem much bigger than boys that size, who do not seem big at all). But mostly, within an inch or two of my average sized height (5'6).