I’m an Information Technology Specialist at a university-based medical school. I leave home at about 7:15 each morning and I’m at work by 7:45 to ensure that the equipment in the two major classrooms is working properly before classes start at 8:00. More often than not though, my job has nothing whatsoever to do with computers, networks, LANs, SANs, servers, DHCP, TCP/IP, or any other form of IT service that our department provides. My job, apparently, is – quite simply – to keep the faculty happy! When the faculty are happy, my supervisor is happy!

Don’t get me wrong, I really like my supervisor… she’s young, pretty, and bright, and she’s currently pursuing the same Masters degree that I completed 5 years ago. She’s also building a new house… well, to be precise, her dad is building a new house – and she and her husband will eventually live in it. It looks like it’s going to be a nice place once it’s done sometime later this summer, I’m told… but she is definitely stressing over it.

I’ve often thought that it would be nice to build a house, but the older I got, the less I warmed to the idea… and now I know why. It’s a lot of work!

This poor girl drags herself to work each day by about 10:00 and then takes 15 minutes to eat some hot oatmeal before settling in to the tiring job of browsing the web to see if her favorite no-kill animal shelter has posted any news! By 11:30 it’s time for lunch… and since there are no facilities near us, we must travel into the local town where a plethora of choices is available - including the regular fast food fare, but also Italian, Chinese, and Mexican. According to her, we get an hour for lunch but that doesn’t necessarily include travel time… which easily adds on another half hour or so. So, we’re back in the office by 1:00 or 1:15 and by 4:00 we're both ready to go home although we don't usually leave that early!

After having such a hard day at work, she spends her free time tending her 13 cats and helping her dad build a house! At times, when the weather is a bit drier, she bombs around town in her 1972 Corvette Stingray! I can certainly understand how all this activity can make someone feel stressed.