Anywhere but here....

Ah, finally...fall weather is starting to set in around these parts. Oh sure, high temps in the upper 70s is still pretty warm by northern standards, but in the south it's a welcome relief to the 80s and 90s that permeate the region from May to September. It's a beautiful day out today as I sit here at my desk, perusing job applications, wishing I was anywhere but here. Our front desk person left a week ago and now I've the task of screening apps for a suitable replacement. Unlike past recruitments for that position, we've gotten some really good applicants this time, four or five of whom really stand out for me.

A new job for myself would be a nice change of pace. My boss is a nice guy, but he's a dink. He loves coming up with new ideas that he will pawn off on others, let them do all the work, and he'll take all the credit for. He had one of our former front desk persons type most, if not all, of a three book volume he was working on--and then misspelled her name in the credits. Dink. Not to mention he looks at our meager operating budget as "his money." For example he wants to publish research papers four times a year and send them out to other colleges and universities. He obtained $2k in funding from somewhere on campus to do this; already the anticipated expense for just 3 mailings has hit $2,600. I'll take that extra money out of one of his research expense accounts before I tap our department's meager operating budget. I like my boss on a personal level, but in terms of administration and running this department, to restate, he's a dink.

It's a beautiful day out today, and I'm not doing anything that I want to be doing--either today or of late. With gas coming down to a more budget-manageable $2.10 a gallon, I want to take a day off and head to the mountains and go hiking. Not a short two or three mile trail, but one of the longer seven to twelve mile trails. The leaves seem to be turning much faster and earlier than usual this year. There are lots of yellows, and some reds and orange, even at this lower elevation. I'm sure the mountains are much more colorful now and would make a great subject for a day of photography. I want to go hit some small mountain towns and find apple butter or jugs of apple cider. I want to find a huge-ass pumpkin to set on my front porch and take a chance that some little bastard (like myself in my younger days) won't take it and smash my mailbox with it. Many years ago in kindergarten I remember going to a farm somewhere on Long Island where my classmates and I were to get a pumpkin to bring home for Halloween. My mom sent me with X amount of money, and damned if I didn't use it all and get the biggest pumpkin I could find--almost as big as I was! And damned if I couldn't carry the thing.

But no...I'm stuck here at work. Where would I'd rather be? Anywhere but here.