We are being tasked with a 3% overall reduction in budget this year, with more next year-- this is throughout the medical center, of which the school of medicine and the scool of nursing fall under (for some reason we report through the medical center to the university president). BUT we still need to come up with the money for strategic initiatives.

I think they are so reluctant to get rid of people, (not that I mind) that we are nickle and diming everything. I spent more time arguing because I gave a faculty member a parking pass that cost $3.50 when they are supposed to pay for parking themselves. Also, we can no longer order door stops, except for ones that cost $50.00 through facilities.

Last year I cut 375K from the library budget. The year before that: 450K. This fiscal year we predicted 150K, but I think we'll get close to 250K. I've lost 7 positions in two years.

Holy crap. That's not insubstantial.

Yeah, wow, that's a lot of money to cut (unless you're like, the federal government and defense spending). And more layoffs? Boo.

Holy crap. That's not insubstantial.

It's a whole new way of doing business. I'll give you a quarter to go to one of the Dean's alumni visits and tell him how great the library/librarians were. Sigh.

I'll give you a quarter to go to one of the Dean's alumni visits and tell him how great the library/librarians were.

Keep the quarter. Just let me play with the puppy. And take you all out to dinner. Telling off the Dean would just be icing on the cake.

Dang, Sparky. That's rough.

My new neighbor across the hall actually dropped by last night to notify me he was hosting a party, and told me to let him know if anyone got too loud.

As a teenager, I would tell the neighbors when we were having a loud party and when the sound would go down. Never had the cops called even though we were blasting music and there were a ton of drunken high school kids in the neighborhood (Mom collected keys. Those who couldn't drive spent the night and helped clean up the next morning). (I look back at where I lived and I wonder where everyone parked.)

The RIF my company went through at the end of 2014 was only the second in the 24 years I've worked there. It is frustrating cause our piece of the company is meeting and exceeding goals, while other segments are the suck holes, yet the cuts span the whole company. Kinda crazy.

Yikes, Sparky. So sorry. And cutting that much from a library budget really hits the school's ability to serve the students, so it's a short-sighted thing to do.

... I thought the economy was on the rebound? That's what Morning Edition keeps telling me, in between stories about people who have lost their homes, or about how Target is laying off thousands of workers. Cognitive dissonance ahoy!

I'm lazing about in my bathrobe; ordinarily I would be at work by now, but I'm meeting a contractor at home to talk about my kitchen. (And another contractor tomorrow, and another next week hopefully.) What I should have done this morning is go running or go to the gym, and instead I'm cleaning the kitchen and futzing about.

... I thought the economy was on the rebound?

Well, law school admissions are way down because of all the people who went to law school and then couldn't get jobs. And the number of undergrads is down too, since there just aren't as many kids. IDid you see one of the things about Sweet Briar closing, right?

And the economy trending up doesn't mean things are good, just that they are getting better. x'>0 even x''>0 but x pretty low. I picture sine waves whenever I hear about economic trends - surely not accurate, but visualizing we're just a little past 3pi/2 works for me.