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Director's NoteJohn Roberts |
Welcome to February 2013. Unlike 2012 this is definitely the year for snow and Ice activities. But please be careful out there! As many of you know, Hank is recovering from the nasty spill he took while ice skating on Lake Mendota. So again, have fun, but please be careful!
Speaking of Ice: The IDDO crew is now in transit to New Zealand, from the Antarctic, for some well-earned decompression. They had an unbelievably successful trip and are being compared to the Super Bowl Champions by some members of the Scientific community.
I usually report on the first robin sighting on the year in my Directors note but I’m a month earlier this year and I have not seen my first robin yet. (I hope not to for a few weeks at least. It is cold and snowy outside!) Dee Wade reported seeing one in her yard last week. She has a heated bird bath so she always sees one before I do. I keep forgetting to ask for a heated bird bath for Christmas.
We have the remodeling bug again and are putting modular furniture into room 1025 to provide 5 offices. We keep packing ourselves in tighter and tighter. Speaking of tighter, the 5th and 6th floor computer rooms are again filling up fast. Fred is again contacting Physical Plant with plans for adding more power and cooling for the supercomputer as well as to handle our normal growth. We are also looking into cloud computing as a way to slow down our computer facilities growth. This is another sign of the health and continued growth of our Center.
The process towards creating a new Human Resources system continues. The latest focus is on 1) temporary employment, 2) transitional compensation and titling, and recruitment. There also continues to be more information coming out as processes are clarified and defined. This is a huge undertaking and will no doubt continue for years so please pay attention to the updates and send your questions and comments SSEC Human Resources folks, to your governance representatives, or the SSEC Directors.
Eric Thompson has completed several sessions of his Purchasing 101 presentation. It covers the basics of how to purchase items at SSEC including some do’s and don’ts when using the purchasing card. If would still like to attend please let Eric know so he can schedule another session.
I have been assured that the plaque declaring the breakroom the JoAnn Banks Breakroom will be here soon, so stay tuned.
On a final note, going back to Hank again, one of the problems he is having with living his life on crutches is transporting liquids. I brought him a beer hat yesterday, that certainly should help but I am also wondering if anyone has a better suggestion? We do have an innovative engineering group here right? Or do we still have the string drink-carrying holder someone made here a long time ago? Cheers!
