The calendar tells me that it's the 28th day of February. I don't have any reason to think that the calendar is lying to me. However, I also don't know whether I can account for 28 days of activity this month.
We're approaching the on-campus interview part of the search for another math faculty. It's pretty exciting professionally (because it will be good to have a tenure track math colleague to help carry the load) and personally (because I know one of the finalists personally). It's times like this when I wish I were in a larger department, because then I can shy away from the conflict of interest gracefully. But when I represent 50% of the full time math faculty (and 100% of the tenure track math faculty), there's no hiding. Having been up front about everything with the entire committee the entire time, I feel that I've created a sufficient level of impartiality and awareness of my potential biases. Hopefully, we'll have a decision soon.
The credit fraud issue is hopefully reaching a close soon. I had to contact AT&T Mobility directly (Fraud Department: 1-877-844-5584 -- for future reference) and they sent me some forms for me to fill out to attest to the fact that this is not my debt. It turns out that this account was opened in 2008, which dates it around the same time as previous issues. So I guess there was probably some "faulty" false information that kept them from actually associating the debt to my name, and then over time someone finally got names and addresses and whatever to match up (which is how it ended up on my credit report). I had to dig around my files to come up with a couple pieces of correspondence that would verify that I lived at my former address during that period of time. I'm sending these papers off via certified mail tomorrow, and I hope that will be the last thing I need to do.
Church is starting down that long road of changing the way we do things. There are good things happening in terms of an increase in attendance (especially with the kids and youth) and various pieces of organizational structures coming into place (deacons). But I'm under no illusion that this is a quick fix and that things are all going to be great and perfect. Moving forward, we will need to capitalize on the idea of adequate training for anyone in any type of leadership position. The deacons and elders need both Biblical/spiritual training as well as some level of basic leadership training. The existing small groups probably need better support if they are going to be expected to grow (and small group leaders probably need better training, too).
And now for something completely different, here are a brief couple blurbs in the direction of politics:
Nevada Public Employees Ninth-highest Paid in Nation
As you get past the headlines, you reach this paragraph:
"But the study found some public employees -- principally teachers -- are underpaid in Nevada in comparison with their colleagues around the United States. Elementary and second teachers received $50,444 average pay in 2009, or 96 percent of the national average of $52,305, while higher education instructors earned $68,529, or 91 percent of the $75,748 national average."
And that's probably before the 4.6% pay reduction due to furloughs. But for some reason, people continue to think that education (and particularly higher education) is costing too much money. The evidence seems to be pointing to local governments not managing their local monies well.
And in an "only in Nevada" moment, Harry Reid screws up:
Reid urges Nevada to Outlaw Prostitution
"The gallery in the Assembly chambers went silent Tuesday when Reid paused for applause after he told lawmakers from both houses that 'the time has come for us to outlaw prostitution.'"
Here's a fuller quote from the speech:
"We should do everything we can to make sure the world holds Nevada in the same high regard you and I do. If we want to attract business to Nevada that puts people back to work, the time has come to outlaw prostitution."
I have to admit that I don't understand this at all (nor does most of the state). Maybe something like a Chick-Fil-A would stay out of Nevada because of prostitution (ignoring the fact that prostitution is NOT legal in the populous areas of the state, such as Las Vegas), but I'm pretty sure that the existence of brothels is quite low on the list of priorities when a company is considering moving out here.
The fun part about this is that the legal "working women" might be mobilizing:
Brothels Fire Back at Harry Reid
"'If I could tell Larry Reid or whatever his name is -- I'm not really into politics as you can tell -- it would be to let the small towns make their money,' she said."
Reality is strange sometimes.
