Sue She, and thank you Sasha.

First off, I'd like to say- kudos to Sasha. What a trooper, posting with the frequency of rabbits fornicating, she ...posts on. Maybe she's the only one with interesting things going on in her life. Maybe she just likes to write. ;) Maybe I actually have stuff to do at work (for once!). Anyways- thank you Sasha, for giving me something interesting to read while I eat my yogurt.

On to the Sue She. Yesterday, for whatever reason, I felt a craving for sushi. I don't get that craving very often. In fact, I've only had sushi twice in my whole life - once with Wife about 2 years ago, and the other time with a former gymnast during the "trying to move on from Jen" part of my life about 2.5 years ago. Yes, 2004 was the year of the Sushi for me.

Anywho, I decided I wanted sushi, and Jessica consented, saying that it was ok- that she had only had store-bought sushi before. So we headed off to Godaiko. For whatever reason, I thought that Godaiko was in the Collanade on Eisenhower, and I was saddened to find that it was not. So we parked, and thought about it, and decided that the best course of action was to call some friends that I know like sushi. 6 voicemails later, I called Sasha, vaguely remembering either a post or conversation that mentioned sushi. She then pointed out that Godaiko was not in the Collanade, but over in the Oak Valley complex.

Turns out she was correct.

So we ate about $40 worth of Sushi, and loved every sticky grain of rice. So now let it be written: I like sushi. It took 2 years to really grow on me, but I do like it. We had california rolls, a "Paul's Big Roll" (heh heh- thats funny. Heh heh), cucumber rolls, shrimp something or other, and shrimp tempura rolls. They were all yummy.

So now I'm going to have to buy a book and some tools and learn how to make sushi.... and then I'll have a sushi party this fall!!! .... or if I suck at making sushi, at least a sushi outing to Godaiko (or sushi.come).

So, thank you, Sasha. We almost had sloppy joe nachos (recipe to come this weekend) instead of sushi.

Lets switch topics.

How was that for a segue? Jessica got a Macbook. Its awesome. Insanely awesome. I'm going to have a bit of jealousy until my Macbook Pro comes in at work.

Speaking of work
So, apparently, I haven't posted a lot about work this summer, but here's something "new" that I got to do recently.... we hired a person this summer to work with ResCompTV. That makes 3 of us- me, Shaun, and this new person. We'll call her Bob. Bob was an RCSC, a rover, and just graduated from UM with a film/video degree. I have some problems with Bob. She is VERY socially awkward, to the point where after she leaves, your eyes go really wide in bewilderment. She has the tendancy to hear a commotion, or a comment, or a word that piques her interest, then come over to see what is going on, hover behind you or crane her neck to get a peak at what it is is going on, and then takes a step or two back, pauses, waits to see if you're going to talk to her, and then goes back to her cube. This typically happens 3-4 times a day, every day since May. To top things off, she's graduated; wants to be a video editor, but has no demo reel to show anyone; lacks the confidence in herself to be comfortable or even appear remotely comfortable around most people; has no vision and doesn't trust her own judgement video-wise when it comes to making choices while editing.....and doesn't really have any other video skills so to speak, besides editing.

Anyways, I know how my boss is - he is non-confrontational, and doesn't really set the bar high for his employees, so when I asked him what his plans were for Bob, he said-
"I dunno - she has a summer appointment."

I then asked what his expectations were for an end date.

Again: "I dunno, I hadn't thought about it."

A few days later (this is all at the end of July/beginning of August) I send him an email and ask him- "What is Bob's end date? If it is going to be the end of summer, shouldn't she be made aware so that she doesn't assume she can just keep working here? I don't have the work to support her, and she doesn't bring a lot of skills that we need to the table".

A few days later, a response and a carbon copy to the student staff coordinator: "I have no specific plans for Bob, but her appointment is probably up at the end of August. If anyone (including her) wants to continue we should probably discuss further."

So I immediately responded to both and said: I'd prefer not to keep Bob past Sept 1st, and I'm willing to have a discussion about why."

To which my boss responded "That's fine. Someone needs to communicate her end date to her. You or me?"

And I responded - "I'll do it." (Because I know that if my boss did it, he would give her some leeway- let her stay longer, or not tell her until its convenient for him..... and bottom line: she isn't right for this job, its not helping her or us, and she needs to go.).... so last week I sat down with her and said that I'd chatted with my boss about fall projects and staff time- at which point she interrupted and said

"Oh, yeah- I'd been meaning to talk to you about that. I mean... I don't think you guys are in any hurry to get rid of me or anything--"

And I interrupted back, saying: "Its not a matter of wanting to get rid of you, the bottom line is that we don't have the workload to support 3 full time people - you've seen how we barely have enough work during the summer- in the fall we have even less work, and we have a student returning. I've spoken with my boss, and we're going to have to keep this to a summer appointment."

So that kind of sucked to do, but I don't feel too bad- she lives at home with her parents, is driving one of their old cars.... its not like I'm making her homeless or anything.

Anyways, I feel a heck of a lot better knowing there will be an end to the awkwardness in the office. :)

Cheers!