Every time that I start to worry that I’m running out of material for this blog, admin comes through for me. I suppose that means that I should be grateful somehow … … but definitely not in this case. We all know the drill. Once we set up an e-mail account, the very first andContinue reading “Belabelling a point”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
COST cutting
Right. If this blog is going to be about the absurdities of admin, might as well finally go after the granddaddy of them all: the European Union. You know, the entity of which the choking bureaucracy was part of the reason that an entire country decided to leave Europe? (Speaking of absurdities, let’s talk aboutContinue reading “COST cutting”
A question of form
Forms are synonymous with admin. And forms are simply awful. Period. (Although most people would agree with each of these sentiments, I strongly suspect that they have never contemplated the logical consequence of linking them together.) There is, of course, the pain inherent to any form in and of itself. However, there’s whole bunches ofContinue reading “A question of form”
Working the chain gang
Remember the good ol’ days of the internet? The days before endless numbers of spam e-mails about penis enlargements or from Nigerian princes? (Or about penis enlargements for Nigerian princes? I mean, they have to invest those millions somewhere, right?) When life was simpler and people were so unsavvy that you actually had to explainContinue reading “Working the chain gang”
Leerevaluations
First off, I should probably explain that title … Despite their stunning underdog victory to claim the title as the funniest nation in Europe in 2001 (sorry for the repetition, but I still can’t wrap my head around that one), most people who don’t speak German don’t realize that it’s actually possible to make punsContinue reading “Leerevaluations”
We are Anonymous
To combat cheating, my University here in Not-Bielefeld recently implemented an online tool (PlagScan) to help to assess the degree of possible plagiarism in student reports and theses. (As an extreme bit of irony, the program came online exactly one day after I submitted a report on a thesis where there were some instances ofContinue reading “We are Anonymous”
The self-fulfilling prophecy
Just a quick one this time around … A few years ago, one of the secretaries (if that job description is even allowed to see the light of day anymore) in the department wanted to rise up the pay scale and, this being Germany, could only do it upon achieving “further qualifications”. (In Germany, everythingContinue reading “The self-fulfilling prophecy”
Taxing patience
Another lesson in admin logic that my father reminded me about, this time a transcontinental one … Although I always claim to be Canadian, that’s really only true culturally, if it can be said that there really is such a thing as a cultural Canadian. (Molsons, hockey, and poutine does not a culture make. JustContinue reading “Taxing patience”
Hours are not to reason why
If you’ve ever wanted a good example of the old saying that time is relative, you need look no further than the admin behind teaching in Germany. It all seems so simple going in. When I arrived at the University here in Not-Bielefeld, I was told that my teaching load was nine hours a weekContinue reading “Hours are not to reason why”
An open-and-shut case
For our “protection”, the IT Department here at the University of Not-Bielefeld recently restricted the types of attachments that could be received via e-mail. Most affected by this were the older Microsoft Office documents (e.g., .doc or .xls files), which could be compromised with vicious macros and other similarly evil stuff. Instead, for the pastContinue reading “An open-and-shut case”
The Blog About Fog 