[Magdalen] A surprising couple of days.

[M J [Mike] Logsdon]

First, work.  Yesterday, my lead, and sole surviving co-worker, finally got the burr under her collar to initiate discussion with our boss the idea of she and I being promoted, if only temporarily, based upon our increased, and elevated (in subject matter), workload.  She and I would merely be bumped up one classification, and involving a minimum of a 10% pay increase.  (For the record, she would go from Water Resources Hydrologist to Assoc Water Resources Hydrologist, and I would go from Water Resources Technician to Water Resources Hydrologist.)  Our example has been others who have been similarly bumped up, but their bumps have involved actual impacts to the budget.  Our bumps ARE ALREADY COMPLETELY PAID FOR, with extra left over.  (We are development fee-supported.  We pay our own way, in other words.)  We will see how far the "fairness" question goes.

Second, today, via my Mom's email address, my brother wrote me, apologising for my feeling I've been kept in the dark, and that there's reasons he hasn't been able to communicate, which he'll explain on the phone at a later time.  He said "we need to talk more, for Mom's sake".  My initial Close Reading tells me he's sorry I felt hurt, not that anything actually bad happened, and that we need to talk "more", not necessarily "now", which is evidenced by him writing me via Mom's email, not his own.  Or calling me on his own.  I've decided, in my "pick my battles cautiously" mode of late, to talk with him, minimally, the day he either writes or calls directly.  Then, I'll know he's serious.  Otherwise, it was just him placating Mom.  (He COULD have logged into his own email account rather than send under HER name.)

No better time for my buddy Donne!
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"O perplexed discomposition, O riddling
distemper, O miserable condition of man!"
- The Rev Mr John Donne
(in a not-so-chipper moment)