Ill Fates

Never do the following in Outlook:

1) Open Deleted Mail folder
2) Look in mail management tools.
3) Find all items over 30 days old
4) Select all those items
5) Delete all those items

Why? Because it deletes those items from your in box, not from your deleted mail box. A bit of irony: I did this because I was reaching my limit, and the limit is about to be expanded.

The result is kind of sickening, but also kind of freeing.

(For those who want to know what happened next. 1) No, the mails deleted from my in box did not go into my deleted mailbox. 2) My IT guy can't get the mail back, but another guy may be able to restore a back-up. I'm really okay with it either way.)

(For those who want to know where the title came from, it rhymes with the name of this one rich guy whom I hold partly responsible.)

Need

I periodically get notices of new teacher certification test scoring opportunities. This time the envelope included an additional insert. It's a memo that says, "WE NEED YOU! November 2007 will be a busy and challenging time. Three large projects are scheduled for scoring... Your expertise is needed, so we really hope you will participate."

So I called and asked how much they want me. Specifically, what is the pay scale these days? "The same as it always is." I said that at that rate, I really wouldn't be able to find time to help. She agreed that it would make things a lot easier if the pay were higher.

They used to pay as much per hour as my day job. Now they pay just over half what I earn. Over the last decade and a half, they've raised the rates $1 per hour. That's 10%. And you can also get a raise of another $1 if you've worked there as much as I have or $2 if you've worked there an incomprehensible amount of time. And for that they want someone with a degree and teaching certification. Laughable, eh? And so they are reduced to begging and hoping.