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Monday, January 22, 2001 Remember that new job? Well, the work as it stands is great (although I'm still not convinced by the slow pace of the office - but then, that may be a reflection of my being a JCF endowment casualty). There are a couple of political issues, however, that may (in fact, will almost certainly) result in my losing my immediate boss (who I like a great deal). If I have to report to her newly hired superior, I suspect I'll be a lot less happy. So I'm just standing here waiting to see how the chips will fall. I hate waiting almost as much as I hate not having control of situations.
It seems that in addition to Bill Clinton and Newt Gringrich, Jesse Jackson also philandered with an aide.
Argh. Does anyone know whether the absolutely slow net connections I've been enduring lately have anything to do with California's dire energy shortage? As I sit here at work, people are making phone calls home to the East Bay: "Now, I just wanted to warn you, Joey, that there might be blackouts this afternoons."
Some days I must just look like someone with a soft heart. Yesterday I ended up giving away ten dollars in the three blocks from the Civic Center BART to my house. The last $5 was accompanied by a long conversation about having no food, a mentally ill wife, and an unemployment check being late. That was from Tony, a man from Santa Rosa who lives in my alley, to whom I'd never spoken. He sees me fairly frequently at Cat Club and on my way home. He felt the need to promise me he'd pay be back. I just got paid, so I was flush, and the total money is probably what I would have spent on drinks if we'd gone to Assimilate. Still . . .(It doesn't happen more than once every couple of months.)
I liked this picture (which accompanied an AP article on yesterday's big storm in California), although if I were those people, I might be running away. Perhaps it is just a trick of the photo...
So, on day four I'm still fairly happy about my new work, but I'm beginning to realize that it's going to be quite a while before I really know whether I'm contributing properly - I spent today researching potential foundations for a project, but it'll be months before we know whether my work pays off: we decide on funders to solicit, write letters of inquiry, then - if asked - write full prposals and then may or may not get funds. The full cycle is likely to be will over 6 months, and a lot can happen over 6 months.
Started my first day of work yesterday. This seems to be a real job: I'm officially exempt (which is to say that there is no overtime), 'administrative' is nowhere in my title, and I already have to attend 5 meetings this week. I am, in fact, sitting here in the only suit I own that fits: the Friends & Foundation's annual board meeting is today, and I'm expected to attend the meeting AND reception. {Heaven only knows what I can say to board members on my second day on the job.}
Well, James and I have spent the last two days hanging out and running errands and s t r e t c h i n g o u t t i m e before I start my new job on Monday. We've just about finished post Xmas Xmas shopping (we do family presents in time for the holiday, and then shop for friends afterwards), and I've resolved to try to get a bunch of New Years cards out by Sunday (this is another concession to how busy JCF was before I left).
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Yesterday, James and I went to the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park. At $3.50 for adult admission to lovely gardens and $2.95 plus tax for a cup of tea and a bowl of cookies and crackers, the Tea Garden is James' and my pick for the best cheap teenage date spot we can think of (and apparently people do think of it, because it was quite crowded yesterday afternoon). For reasons that are not quite clear to me, I spent the majority of my time peering over low fences and around stepping stones into ponds looking for fish. I saw three.