The paperwork for my job upgrade was been sent to HR, but it will be October before I see any salary increase. But the increase in pay will be retroactive until July 1, so it could be a nice payday. It doesn’t appear as though I’ve made it to the final interview stages of either of the jobs I applied for, although I could still be surprised.
Jobs update
Well I didn’t get a librarian job, if you hadn’t gathered that from Twitter. They hired someone for the User Education Technologies job but the Digital Media Technologies job was called a failed search and they’ll re-advertise it in the future. Better luck next time I guess.
On the brighter side my current position here at the library is being reviewed for an upgrade, and I’m in the pools for 2 other jobs elsewhere at UT and I’ve made it into the second round for both I think. Not that I want to leave the library really but in a money crunch you do what you have to.
Update on Cable, Interviews etc.
If you’ve looked at the recent posts here, you’d see that I’ve had issues with Comcast. I’m happy to report all is well. Setting up the Tivo again was a bit complicated, since this is the first time I’ve had a digital cable box. Having the Internet at home again is great, I was having withdrawal problems on the weekends.
Interviewed for a new job yesterday. Actually two, it was a combined search. Instructional Services Librarian for User Education Technologies/Digital Media Technologies. It went well, we’ll see what happens.
Comcast doesn’t have the best command structure
Update: it’s in interesting tale, so feel free to read. Issues resolved, thanks Benny and Kirk and whoever else was involved for their quick work on this. Hopefully this situation won’t happen to anybody else.
So Stephanie and I got our new house built and we finally moved in in April. Our new house is a little over 500 feet away from where the cable line stops. We understood this might take Comcast some time to do so we first told them about it in February. At that point we didn’t think there would be any problems.
In March we call to check in. Comcast sends out a technician who runs a line from the closest electric pole to the house. He says he doesn’t know why they haven’t run the line yet and resubmits the request.
When we move into the house in the beginning of April we call Comcast and they send out the install tech again. Of course there is no line so there is nothing to install.
A bit later we go to Comcast’s local office in Knoxville and find out that our request has been moved into the second quarter budget which started April 1. We are told at that we should have cable in 4 to 6 weeks and we should cancel our service and re sign up when the new cable is installed.
May 12, which is 4 to 6 weeks after we were told 4 to 6 weeks, we go to Comcast’s office again and they say someone should be at your house today. No one was. We start calling. We are always told, after much time on hold, that “We have emailed the construction department, someone will call you back”. No one ever calls us back. Last week we were told that we missed several appointments for an install. Which is odd because no one has ever called us.
We are told that our cable would be installed yesterday, Monday June 2. I take that day off work and wait. and wait. and wait. Stephanie calls and is told our appointment was moved to an all day timeframe, someone should be there by 4 p.m. So I wait. No-one comes.
So Stephanie calls again and talks to a supervisor. The supervisor says that our request has been moved to the 3rd quarter of 2008 and we might get cable by October. They also say that the people have been scheduling things and saying people will show up are wrong and this should never have happened.
So Comcast never had any intention of giving us cable. And AT&T doesn’t offer DSL where we are. So satellite internet is our only remaining option.
Anybody have any opinions on HughesNet or WildBlue?
Stephanie and I really didn’t like getting jerked around by Comcast. Comcast if you’re listening we really want cable, just tell us what animals to sacrifice or who to bribe.
Doug Raber – Public Library Director
Doug Raber, a friend and former advisor of mine at both Tennessee and Missouri, is leaving academia to be the public library director in Ferndale, Michigan. The local paper there has the story.
Best of luck Doug, dress warmly. 🙂
More on the sad state of Hoskins Library
The Knoxville News Sentinel has a story on Hoskins Library. The damage over there is pretty serious. If you ask me they should just tear down the Kefauver wing instead f trying to fix the foundation (which has been tried before).
Be sure to check out the video that goes with the article. Some of those cracks are quite large. It will take serious money to fix all that damage even if the foundation is fixed.
Hoskins Library: A Secret History
Knoxville’s Metro Pulse weekly paper has a story on UT’s Hoskins Library which used to be the main library. It now houses archives and special collections among other things and has fallen into disrepair.
Tennessee Library Association Conference
Just got back from the TLA Conference in Chattanooga. I had a good time, saw several people that I hadn’t seen in a few years. The presentations were good, Loriene Roy, ALA President-Elect was the keynote speaker. Sadly I didn’t get to hear her speak since the room was standing-room only by the time I got there. I attened sessions on IM reference, wikis, and library website redesign among other things. I also toured UT Chattanooga’s Lupton Library.
Not a lot of time
Blogging has slowed down because life is still busy and I haven’t had much time to think, let alone post anything. I’m settling in to a new office and am beginning to figure out my job. Right now I’m waiting on computers and software so I can debug a new site design…
Work Work Work
Well I’m starting to get settled in at Hodges. Still waiting on keys to my office, which may not matter since I may be moving offices anyway. Still don’t know quite what I’m doing yet, but I do know I’m the only person in Hodges whose sole job is designing web sites. That probably means I’m going to be staying busy.