Tuesday I was approached by the section head (Dr. Hyde) of Racing Chemistry and told about a job position he had posted. He encouraged me to apply for it and said he was forbidden by personnel to say anything else. When I asked if he was telling anyone else about the position, he said no. I went to talk to my section head (Dr. Ensley) and told him what had happened. He didn't know what was going on and said if I went to talk to the director (Dr. Main), he would like to go. We did have a meeting with Dr. Main. It was not very fruitful. The rest of the week consisted of many meetings, many phone calls, and lots of rumors. This is what I know for sure:
1. My current position is being eliminated, despite the fact it involves a project that could fund the Diagnostic lab and the Chemistry/Toxicology is short people already.
2. No one can specifically tell me that my position is being eliminated.
3. The position in Racing Chemistry will not be eliminated, unless their contracts don't come through. (Dr. Main DID specifically state that if the contract Racing was trying to establish didn't work, the position would be there until January.)
4. Regardless of where my job is at, it is the first one subject to layoffs because I'm lowest on the lab tech seniority. (This one was straight from Human Resources.)
5. Dr. Hyde is retiring in September.
6. I can transfer back to Chemistry is they have an open position, but have to wait six months before I can. (If you do the math, that's sometime after January.)
7. If Racing can't get this new contract, it is possible they will close the whole department.
8. If Racing closes, I will not be able to transfer to Chemistry because I won't be eligible, and everyone in Racing will be able to do the job meaning I would have to compete with everyone with more seniority than myself.
I'm not happy about having to leave my position in Chemistry because I love my job there and love the people I work with. I have accepted a position with Racing so I can still work for Iowa State. I'm trying to give the job a fair chance, but I feel that I was forced to take the position to keep my job. I'm more mad about that fact that no one can tell me anything other than rumor and "I'd like to tell you, but I can't." I've heard that many times this week and have gotten lots of cases in that has kept me so busy, I'm skipping break to keep up.
It's been a very long and stressful week. I'm working part-time in Chemistry next week to try and train someone to do my job, then the following week I'm in Racing full-time. Dr. Hyde has agreed to let me be available to Chemistry on a limited basis to run tests that aren't run very often, as long as I tell my lab manager. I'm not happy with the situation and there are a lot of people that have given me sympathy over the last week. Dwayne (my lab manager) and Dr. Ensley went to Dr. Main to fight to keep me in Chemistry, but my impression is that Chemistry doesn't make enough money and that's where they're going to cut people until they can't justify it anymore. I'm at least thankful that there are several people within the lab that feel I'm worth fighting for and worth keeping in the Diagnostic lab.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
State Fair
Jason and I took last Friday off (obviously because we haven't taken enough time off this summer) to go to the state fair. We left our house a little after seven in the morning, ate breakfast, then headed to the fair. For those of you who don't know, my family used to show dairy cattle (Brown Swiss) so we lived at the fair for the first week. I didn't leave the cattle barn much, so going to the fair without cattle is a whole nother experience.
Jason and I were fortunate enough to have a friend close to the fairgrounds who let us use their driveway to park. It took about ten minutes to walk from their house to the gates. Jason and I went to the Pavilion where Dad was watching the Brown Swiss open show. We watched for a while then met up with Mom and Grandma Peterson who were outside the Agriculture building looking at flowers. They borrowed my camera and took lots of pictures. (Here's one of a Dahlia.)
Unfortunately, I can't put them on my flickr account because it exceeds the amount I'm allowed for the month. I'll put them up next month. Once the Agriculture building opened, we went and saw the sights in there. After we were done with that, Jason and I headed off to visit some people in the cattle barn. They were so nice and let me pet their animals and smiled. Mom and Dad haven't had cows for six years now. They were never animals to us. They were pets. We also went through the avenue of breeds and saw the biggest boar and bull. They are absolutely massive!
We met up with Mom, Dad, Grandma, and Matt for lunch at the pork tent. We always go to the pork tent because it's always good. After lunch, Matt and I split a glazed funnel cake. Jason, Matt and I went to the Animal learning center where they have animals that are close to giving birth, or have given birth. You get to see lots of baby animals including ducks, chicks and ostriches.
Jason decided he needed dessert after seeing the baby animals and we went to get him a candy bar on a stick. Yes, they actually put candy bars on sticks and deep fat fry them. We went through the Varied Industries building where Matt and Jason looked at the vendors and I snuck off to see the quilts. I discovered that they actually have a quilting room where they have all the materials to make what I would call snuggle quilts. The size of quilt you snuggle in when it's cold. You could make a quilt and all of the quilts were then donated to children in need. If we hadn't of been pressed for time, I would have helped to make one. It's something I need to remember for next year.
Once we were done in the Varied Industries building, Jason and I went to get mac & cheese bits and look for something on a stick for me to eat. Matt suggested cheese on a stick. It was good and definitely better without the marinara sauce. At this time it was getting to be three in the afternoon and we needed to leave. We walked back up to our vehicles and came home where we showered and packed for our weekend in Independence. (Like I said, because we haven't had enough vacation this summer.)
Jason and I were fortunate enough to have a friend close to the fairgrounds who let us use their driveway to park. It took about ten minutes to walk from their house to the gates. Jason and I went to the Pavilion where Dad was watching the Brown Swiss open show. We watched for a while then met up with Mom and Grandma Peterson who were outside the Agriculture building looking at flowers. They borrowed my camera and took lots of pictures. (Here's one of a Dahlia.)
Unfortunately, I can't put them on my flickr account because it exceeds the amount I'm allowed for the month. I'll put them up next month. Once the Agriculture building opened, we went and saw the sights in there. After we were done with that, Jason and I headed off to visit some people in the cattle barn. They were so nice and let me pet their animals and smiled. Mom and Dad haven't had cows for six years now. They were never animals to us. They were pets. We also went through the avenue of breeds and saw the biggest boar and bull. They are absolutely massive!We met up with Mom, Dad, Grandma, and Matt for lunch at the pork tent. We always go to the pork tent because it's always good. After lunch, Matt and I split a glazed funnel cake. Jason, Matt and I went to the Animal learning center where they have animals that are close to giving birth, or have given birth. You get to see lots of baby animals including ducks, chicks and ostriches.
Jason decided he needed dessert after seeing the baby animals and we went to get him a candy bar on a stick. Yes, they actually put candy bars on sticks and deep fat fry them. We went through the Varied Industries building where Matt and Jason looked at the vendors and I snuck off to see the quilts. I discovered that they actually have a quilting room where they have all the materials to make what I would call snuggle quilts. The size of quilt you snuggle in when it's cold. You could make a quilt and all of the quilts were then donated to children in need. If we hadn't of been pressed for time, I would have helped to make one. It's something I need to remember for next year.
Once we were done in the Varied Industries building, Jason and I went to get mac & cheese bits and look for something on a stick for me to eat. Matt suggested cheese on a stick. It was good and definitely better without the marinara sauce. At this time it was getting to be three in the afternoon and we needed to leave. We walked back up to our vehicles and came home where we showered and packed for our weekend in Independence. (Like I said, because we haven't had enough vacation this summer.)
Monday, August 17, 2009
Happy Birthday!
Today is Jason's birthday!!! We celebrated a little bit this weekend when we were in Independence. Pat's grandma made this really yummy yellow with fruit cake (no candles). It was delicious and much appreciated. Since we went to Colorado, I got him a package of white chocolate peanut butter cups and a sound card. Sound cards are his favorite and he really liked it. We are going out for lunch since he has the day off, and are getting together with some of our friends for supper. I hope he has a wonderful day!
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