Umbrellas

/ faithsweatandtears / Leave a comment

A thoughtful custodian took my umbrella out of the trashcan & hung it on my office door handle last night. Such a kind gesture to think that I threw it away by mistake, but it was broken. 😉

In addition to the rain, it was so windy yesterday morning that my umbrella flipped inside-out, and one of the spines (<<is that the right word?) was already gimpy, and it broke in half.

Speaking of umbrellas, we need to invent one that doesn’t allow you to get soaked getting into/out of the car &/or building. It’s nearly pointless even to carry an umbrella, because if it is windy (like yesterday), then you’ll get soaked by sideways rain, anyway. Furthermore, by the time you get seated in the car, you have to close the umbrella and get soaked again in the few fumbling seconds that it takes to retract and stuff it under the seat! 😦

More often than not, I just prefer to walk in the rain. I’m not so sweet that a little water will melt me. 😉  Besides, we still desperately need the rain here, so I’ll try to remember to be thankful for it!

1,000 posts & you’re still reading? Thanks!

/ faithsweatandtears / 2 Comments

I wrote about reaching my 500th blog post milestone last spring, but reaching 1,000 seemed like ages away … Wow, here we are!

Lately, I’ve been listening my way through my late brother’s cd collection. He was a big heavy metal/alternative music fan, and although it comes as a surprise to many people, I like that kind of music, also. (I am a prude when it comes to some of the lyrics, but I like the music a lot.) I also listen to praise & worship music and enjoy a meaningful ballad as much as the next person, though I lean toward bands like Skillet and Audio Adrenaline. I have eclectic tastes; what can I say? 😉

There’s just something about listening to amazingly skilled drummers and guitarists, and yes, even angry lyrics, that seems to release what might otherwise become pent-up frustration in my own life. If we’re honest (well, I can’t speak for you; I can only speak for myself), there are things we I would like to express sometimes but can’t say aloud, for numerous reasons. For me, metal is an outlet for those sorts of emotions.

I’m not trying to justify explicit lyrics and the negative behavior that is often stereotypical of the rock scene. I’m just saying that the music diffuses the rage that I might feel, for example, during Dallas rush-hour traffic (<<I do not miss that!), or when my boss got fired for no reason, or when someone flooded the bathroom, or when my brother died, or _____ (<<fill in any number of reasons that drive any one of us bonkers).

One line from the cd that I’m listening to now (by now-defunct band Type O Negative) stood out to me: “The only things that last forever are memories and sorrow.” As a believer in Christ, I disagree, but I can see the musician’s perspective. If all you know of life is in the here & now, when dark times come (and they will), then you can lose hope. I don’t know how I would have made it through the past few years without my faith. Yes, I have bad days. I just admitted that I listen to heavy metal to channel my rage!

The thing is, though, when the song is over, the rage is gone. The nagging feeling in my flesh-self that says to lose hope is pushed aside. I think there’s a reason why the Bible says that we have to pick up our cross and follow Christ daily. It’s an arduous journey–full of challenges, but we can find joy along the way.

Thank you for walking this journey with me.

The new digs

/ faithsweatandtears / Leave a comment

After months (I lost track) of being in solitude, I officially moved to my new office on Friday. I took most of my personal belongings home last week to sort and decide what I really wanted to keep, and I took my plants home before the Christmas break so they wouldn’t die while the office was closed. Consequently, my new office is pretty bare!

What a surprise it was when No. 3 peeked his head around the doorframe with a vase full of roses & eucalyptus and his two younger brothers hot on his heels. My mom hid behind the corner (as if they would have driven themselves, LOL!).

Thanks, Mama, for the gorgeous flowers! Everyone who passes by my office wants to stop & smell them, so I think they’re a hit. 🙂

Wednesday Words: What not to do as a manager

/ faithsweatandtears / 1 Comment

This week in my Human Resources Management course, we are discussing four management theories. We’re talking about how the various supervisory styles fall into a chart from one of our textbooks by Mainiero. The chart divvies up employee behavior based on whether they perform above or below expectations and whether they get along well with others or not. (The so-called ideal subordinate, then, would be someone who gets along well with others and performs above expectations.)

Here are some of my thoughts on the four theories:

My first job out of college was with a Theory F manager, and it was largely the reason for my decision to leave the field of journalism. I worked as a reporter for a small-town newspaper. After being called out during a staff meeting and verbally abused for submitting photos that he deemed to be sub-par for the upcoming edition, I knew that nothing I did would ever be good enough. I believe that fear is a motivating factor, but it is appropriate in truly do-or-die situations, such as Basic Training for the military. In an office setting, Theory F management is dehumanizing and belittling. Because of that manager, I made a commitment to myself—and I have honored it, all these years since—to never criticize an employee publicly.

I think that Theory X goes hand-in-hand with Theory F, in that being a micro-manager is a mere step or two away from becoming a fear-mongering overlord. Assertive personalities under this type of management could fall into the “talented but abrasive” quadrant of Mainiero’s chart, but they will likely butt heads with the boss. Workers who perform beneath expectations may coddle the boss and tread water in the “charming but unreliable” quadrant, but others will ignore the abrasive boss and fall into the “plateaued but indifferent” quadrant or – like me, in the above example – simply leave the job. I can only imagine that the “ideal subordinate” employee to a Theory F manager would be a Yes Man.

On a related note, I see how Theories Y and Z are closely related. An employee who is properly trained, given reasonable autonomy to do their job (Theory Y) and is treated as part of the “family” because they grasp the mission and vision of the organization (Theory Z) is well suited for productive business. A combination of Theory Y and Z seems to lend itself to a work environment where people build careers, not just hold down jobs.

When does novel become norm?

/ faithsweatandtears / Leave a comment

Some universities are still holding out when it comes to distance education. This Internet thing is still too newfangled for them to grasp. They assert seemingly valid reasons: concerns about mission-creep, emphasis on residential life, cost, etc., but I question the rationale.

I can understand the first point about mission-creep, to an extent, although I believe there are ways to embed the university’s mission within core classes and throughout the curriculum. The second reason primarily applies to undergraduates, but since most graduate students live off-campus, they represent a good cohort with which to begin a distance education program. The third point is the most difficult for me to understand. Software programs such as Blackboard are already in use at many (most?) universities, and using the system for distance learning is no more difficult than using another module of the software; tools like discussion forums and document sharing are already built in! It’s like saying that you can’t create a newsletter because you only use Excel, but you ignore the fact that MS Office Suite also comes with Word and Publisher.

I read an article today about something unfathomable–a tenured professor is walking away from his post at a prestigious university in order to teach solely online. During his recent announcement at a professional conference, the professor explained that “his move was motivated in part by teaching practices that evolved too slowly to be effective.”

Wow. I would like to take back all of the snarky comments that I’ve made over the years about tenured professors becoming lazy, non-caring, out-of-touch fuddy-duddies. (Ok, most of the sassy comments, but a few are still applicable.)

The gist is: since when do you have to be physically present in a classroom to learn? I believe this is especially true at the graduate level. My doctoral classes cover a base of material, but I am expected to expound on what I read/learn and apply the information to my personal research and writing. Even in a “typical” doctoral program, I don’t know of anyone whose professor held them by the hand and guided them through every lecture, every research paper, every project and their dissertation. Graduate students are expected to work independently and become scholars.

I may not be Einstein, but I would gladly hold up the work that I have completed at a distance against a traditional doctoral student’s in-class work. Would my work be better? Perhaps not, but that isn’t the point. It should be comparable. Let a student’s work stand or fall on its own merit, not based on the classroom environment.

Monday Musings: 3 years later

/ faithsweatandtears / 2 Comments

Sometimes I break out
in a cold sweat, rememb’ring
that horrible day.

Today is the third anniversary of my brother’s accidental death. I don’t like the word anniversary in this case, since it seems to insinuate a happy occasion, but I don’t know of another word to use. Last week, two close friends made a comment on different occasions about the phone call I made on that fateful evening to tell them that something terrible had happened, and I had to drive to Houston right away. I was amazed that it stuck in their minds so vividly, because I don’t remember making those phone calls. I remember bits and pieces about that evening but not much in the way of specific conversations.

Three years later, and it feels like a different lifetime. I live in a different house; my family dynamic is completely different; I’ve finished one more degree and working on another. We still attend the same church, though it has moved locations and grown tremendously since then. About the only thing that hasn’t changed is that I’m still in the same position at work, but really, even that has changed significantly internally — my team has been reassigned, and I just relocated offices on Friday. Things change even when they stay the same.

Perhaps I’ll make it through the day without crying. Perhaps not. I didn’t make it through church yesterday dry-eyed. We sang a worship song that I’ve heard dozens of times before, but it struck me that he might be singing something similar right then in Glory, which made me think about spending forever with him, praising God – in person! – together. They were bittersweet tears, indeed. I miss him terribly, but how could I feel sorry for him? It’s the rest of us here who are to be pitied. What a glorious reunion we’ll have someday!