Blog

Short blog posts, journal entries, and random thoughts. Topics include a mix of personal and the world at large.

Nah, we just hate you

It’s always interesting to hear from new faculty members about “how it was” back at the university they used to work. Of course, this line of comment is typically accompanied with them complaining they’re not getting the same treatment here at San Francisco State University. To which I have to say they need to realize that our university is the second tier of the California public university system. We are not a UC. We’re not even a Polytechnic. Resources and support around here might not be as ample as that private institution they were at previously.

Besides, if their previous institution is so great in comparison, why the French did they leave in the first place? Let’s not forget: they applied for their faculty positions. That means they wanted to come to San Francisco State University. Perhaps some due diligence was missing if the quantity and quality of available resources (IT or otherwise) is proving insufficient. But hey, I get it: they’re probably getting paid more now than their old positions. It’s all about the money.

What really irks me is when certain new faculty get personal with it. As if our inability to fulfill their computing wants is a direct affront to their personhood. Right, because when the California Sate University system mandates certain requirements vis a vis computer security, it’s specifically targeting you. Same with us: we’re declining your request to dual-boot Windows and Linux because we hate you. Just you, not anyone else. (Obviously, my tongue is fully in cheek here.) Asking for my supervisor? Sure, I guess you like to be told the same thing twice by two different people.

As Michael Corleone famously says in The Godfather: “It’s not personal. It’s strictly business.”

Shopping spree

Black Friday for our local Target store is not the Friday of Thanksgiving. Rather, it’s the weekend of move-in day before the start of Fall semester at nearby San Francisco State University. The horde of freshmen, with their family in tow (keepers of the credit card, obviously), attacking the shelves for their everyday dorm-life needs. That includes a SodaStream for one guy, and a whole vacuum cleaner for another person. The latter of whom is a guy I very much personality align with. A dirty room is simply unacceptable.

Whilst witnessing the purchasing madness going on (I was going to the Whole Foods at the same mall), I thought to myself, “Gee, I hope the crew at Target knew to stock up for this occasion!” “What if everyone wanted a coffee maker?” You see, our Target is not as big as the typical one. Under normal operation there is no way it can handle thousands of freshmen moving in and buying stuff. Heck, I can still remember going there not too long ago and was unable to buy the particular socks I wear. Not in stock.

The manager of that Target should be fired if the store were ill-prepared for Fall move-in day.

Seeing countless SUVs lining up towards the dorms with the entirety of a student’s living needs is a reminder that summer is almost over. I don’t know, it sure felt like a quick one to me. Work-wise it’s been bit of a lull since June, honestly. I am actually looking forward to having jam-packed days of action, and a bustling campus full of students and staff. The 2023-2024 school year is the first one since the official end of the pandemic, (Federal COVID emergency declaration ended in May of this year) so I am wondering if the campus can return to its former glory of packed buildings and halls.

Like back when I went to school at SFSU in the late aughts.

Going round in circles

On the roads near the San Francisco State campus, there are a few roundabouts. A type of road feature more often seen in Europe, it’s an efficient way to filter traffic connecting multiple roads, without resorting to stop lights. Unfortunately, because roundabouts are so rare here in the States, often times drivers have no idea what to do with them. The rules are simple, really: anyone in the roundabout have absolute right of way. All other traffic hoping to enter has to yield.

I think that’s the problem: yielding. I encounter too many drivers these days who loathe to wait for any seconds longer. You should see their frustration queuing at a red light! God forbid you’re the car blocking them from making a right turn on red.

Anyways, it’s always fun during the start of fall semesters because there would be new drivers to the area. And invariably some of them would do something crazy in the roundabouts near campus. Just the other day I was following a car inside the roundabout circle, and it actually stopped to let another car in. Luckily the other driver knew the rules, and waved the erroneous driver off.

Hey, at least it’s not someone going in the wrong direction! Public service announcement: roundabouts only goes one way - counter-clockwise in America.

But because this is America, and our driving standards to get a license is notoriously poor, I can never relax even during times when I have the absolute right of way. Never know when the next car approaching the circle don’t know or simply don’t care to yield to roundabout traffic. So I never assume: ease off the throttle, be prepared to brake. And if the car is a Nissan Altima, there’s a high chance it will not yield at all.

A tall crane

My neighborhood is the residential type with homes no taller than three stories. The tallest thing nearby is San Francisco State University, of which the highest building on campus is nine stories. The university is in the middle of constructing a new science building. Consequently, a giant crane have been erected for that purpose. This thing absolutely dominates the skyline, and honestly, a bit of an eye sore.

I get it now: I can see why NIMBYs all over protest against tall, dense housing. It’s not very nice to have your horizon of pure sky suddenly get obstructed with some monstrosity. What NIMBYs have to do is admit that is the real reason for their opposition - in additional to lowering the values of their home, of course. They chose to buy in a suburban area, and indeed it would suck to have that changed from under them.

Saves us the "we don’t want luxury apartments and developers to get rich” bullshit.

Just because I understand NIMBYs, doesn’t mean I am with them. San Francisco need to build more housing, full stop. And it cannot all be concentrated in the north east part of the city. Our nearby Stonestown mall is planning to develop addition apartments and shop areas to surround the existing mall. It’ll be interesting to see if it gets approval, because the skyline of our neighborhood will be changing with it.

Who knows if I’ll even be around to see that come to fruition. Not because I’d be dead, but because I might have moved away. Major constructions in this country - unless it’s a stadium/arena for a sports team - takes a long time. That aforementioned science building at San Francisco State won’t be complete for another four years!

First week of school

It’s been a fairly hectic week. San Francisco State University resumed in-person classes for the spring semester, at 50% of all courses. First week of school is always a hectic time for us on the tech support side (I barely had time to eat lunch on Tuesday) I actually shifted my schedule to an earlier start time to accommodate the service needs. Thankfully I already wake up much earlier than I need to for work, so my rigorous sleeping schedule remains intact.

Three days in thus far and I’ve taken over 10,000 steps on every one of them. This is great for my cardio. If I had an Apple Watch I’d certainly have closed those rings. It’s lovely to see an active campus again full of students and staff. Even at 50% capacity, the halls seem mighty crowded, and lines have returned to the campus food shops. It’s nice to have people back, though I do miss the eerie quiet of the pandemic ghost town just a little.

Some of my coworkers would say they miss being able to find parking easily on the streets surrounding campus. I of course don’t have the problem: I smugly walk to work in about 10 minutes from home.

California and San Francisco have lifted the indoor mask mandate starting on the 16th. The City also no longer requires proof-of-vaccination for indoor dinning. Strangely, San Francisco State have kept its own indoor mask mandate for all of its buildings, deviating from the San Francisco public health guidelines for the very first time. Let’s see how keen people are to follow the masking rules when our campus is the exception, rather than the norm.

From a pure comfort standpoint, I am more than ready to not wear a mask for all eight hours of my workday.

Back in session

Fall semester is back in session on campus, and so are physical classes. Even though two thirds of course are still online, the campus is once again bustling nicely with activity. People are queuing up outside of the library before it opens at 8:00AM! Students lost in buildings not knowing where their classrooms are! Teachers complaining about the audio and visual equipment! San Francisco State is back, baby.

As someone who did very little working from home during this pandemic, it’s really nice to see other people around campus again. It’s no longer a ghost town lacking in amenities. There was but one eatery open during the last 18 months, and now there’s variety again. Personally I’m happy the Peet’s coffee upstairs from us in the library is back. I bring my own coffee, but some days you need that additional pick-me-up after the initial supply runs out (he says like a drug addict).

On the IT support side, we are absolutely strained to capacity in supporting both online learning and physical classes. Compounding matters is attrition in personnel (of their own accord, thankfully, rather than lay offs). The built-in excuse is that we are still in a pandemic; sorry if the supreme service you were used to is no longer the case. Things that take two hours now takes two days. Thankfully most people are very understanding, but of course there are the unfortunate few who are too selfish to realize what’s going on.

Services are short-staffed everywhere, including at a university.

What is comforting however is that our campus is 98% vaccinated, which is kind of amazing, given San Francisco as a city only just reached above 80%. It does put me at ease with being in rooms full of people again. Masks are of course still required indoors, because we’re not idiots. if things continue to progress in a positive direction, I can see even more in-person classes happening during the Spring semester.

It’s good to be back!

Layoff what ifs

So, my employer - San Francisco State University - is going through with layoffs in response to the budget crater caused by the COVID pandemic. While I am surprised that layoffs are on the table before lesser considerations such as furloughs and pay-cuts were even discussed, it’s not something that I’m really stressing over. Mainly because any decisions is out of my control, and also I am confident in my abilities and fortunes that I will be okay in the long run, whether I stay or go.

But I have done the thought exercise of what if I were to be let go from SFSU? I think it would be a great opportunity to make a big life change, coming off of really the only job I’ve known and done since I got out of college. It would be a great time to consider moving out of San Francisco, perhaps outside of California, or even this beloved country (a friendly wave to Asia). Honestly, that sounds very exciting, and partly why I’m not overly concerned about the looming layoffs.

To make such moves, however, one would need a sufficient capital cushion, and thankfully, I do. It would hurt a ton to have to sell the 911 GT3, but it would net me back just over six-figures, and with that amount in the proverbial pack-pocket, I have the freedom to choose my next destination, and not be in a hurry to do it, too. For sure I am super lucky to have kept my job during this time of coronavirus, while so many millions have lost theirs, and I made sure to save diligently these past five months in the event I do get laid off.

Whichever way the layoff hammer falls for me, I am content and ready for the outcome, and to keep moving forward.