On...

Working for a Non-Profit

The new computers seem nice, but cheap. The Financial Director decided to go with a wireless network, instead of getting each office wired for our connection. It was a practical decision, as our offices may be moving again in the next couple of years, and not installing all the wiring will leave the patio home intact. The move, however, is in question as my boss and the PH coordinator would prefer to stay here, and this home is the least likely to be reserved, for several reasons. Still, it would be nice if they'd ponied up the dough, and maybe we wouldn't have the connection and memory problems we seem to be having, which certainly do not add to the joys of...

Being an Assistant

Hearing your name spoken is supposed to be a pleasant experience, but the "Tracy" echoing down the hall several times a day does not fill my heart with thanksgiving. I'm not a computer expert--far from it, my friends. But every time there's a problem, I'm supposed to fix it, or at least listen to her complain about it. I actually did fix a problem Tuesday, quite by accident. When A (my boss) tried to connect to our shared drive, she got an error indicating she wasn't connected. The icon representing our wireless network said that not only was she connected, it was an EXCELLENT connection. Going through My Computer, I right-clicked on the drive icon, after many other blind stabs at a fix. I clicked on Disconnect, thinking when I tried clicking on it again I'd get an option to Reconnect. Uh, no. The entire icon disappeared, apparently upset that I'd questioned it's stability. I then tried the same thing with our Shared Apps. It disappeared, too. I didn't really panic, because I knew I could get them back, but I also knew that would cause more boss whining. I went to the desktop and clicked on the Shared Drive icon there. It opened up. I don't know why. Yesterday, she was having problems with Outlook. "Tracy..." It turned out she didn't need Outlook, she just needed to get on the Internet, and didn't remember to click on the Explorer icon.

I wrote and sent out a press release yesterday, going against some of my own feelings about how to format and word a release. It's just easier than trying to talk her out of her own way. I used one of her old releases as a template, and made some minor changes, but she didn't seem to have any problem with those, and did say it was good. Having been on the receiving end of such releases I know what I like to see, and what I think is professional. She likes to indent, which is personal letter style, not professional. She has other preferences, such as a specific font I don't like, and using lots of bold characters and "quotation" marks. She is a CMP, and I'm not, but I've done radio news. That's not to say that I'm a journalist by any means, but I do have an idea of what's usable. It's not a fight I'm prepared for yet, but maybe gradually I can make some changes. She is the boss, and I'm fine with that. I'm just not sure how long I will be.