I saw sunlight again, today, for the first time in a long time…
That’s more of a manner of speaking than reality, of course, but it certainly feels like I’ve been under water for … two months now?
I’ve had various projects keeping my busy, but the BIG time suck has been this “MOU Research Report”.
The idea is that ASMSU needs a new facility for its Outdoor Recreation committee, another currently vacant facility, and some options in terms of negotiating with MSU’s Auxiliary Services department for that new location. I’ve been working on a sub-committee charged with doing some research as to the facts and numbers of the different options available to us. The final report was presented to ASMSU Senate last Thursday night (24 Jan ’08), and Senate will render a decision next Thursday (31 Jan). There was really an obscene amount of research that went in to the final report document. If you’re interested, for whatever reason, here’s a copy:
2008.01.25 MOU Research Report (Final)
And the appendixes: MOU Report Appendixes
For what it’s worth, I researched and wrote pages 6 through 24. It was kinda a push at the end: I (we) didn’t start writing until Tuesday night around 8:00 pm. The final report was finished around 6:00 pm on Thursday night. Between Tuesday and Thursday, I went to two classes, and didn’t sleep. If you calculate that I wrote just better than 9,000 words of the final report, that’s an average of 195 words per hour, including revisions (six drafts), appendixes, etc.
It’s funny: this is the second … long report I’ve written incredibly quickly in the last two months. the last, Due Consideration, was actually only 6800 words–18 pages–and took more like 6 days. I’m getting more verbose … and faster!
I’m reminded of watching the news about the publication of the “Ken Starr Report,” however many years ago. I must have been around 11-years-old at the time. I remember it was obscenely long–something like 1,200 pages (or was it 11,000?)–and thinking to myself that it was kinda a pity: who was going to read 1,200 pages? Even then, I remember reflecting that, obviously a lot of work had gone in to the report … and wondering about the wisdom of it all. You could write the most convincing report in the world, but if it was a billion pages long, it wouldn’t convince a soul–because no one would read it.
That’s really all I could think about, Thursday night, after the report was out. I’d been so busy working on it until the moment it was in Senate’s hand that I hadn’t had any time to reflect on how I would present to Senate. Needless to say, two days without sleep and no time to prepare, it was a disaster.
What a disappointment.
When the whole research committee thing started, I was of the opinion that, once the report was out, I wouldn’t care what Senate decided, because at least it would be an informed decision. Well, now it’s out, and I don’t really much care what decision Senate makes … because I’m too tired to care.
Of the two choices that are likely, there’s a decision that will save ASMSU $10,000+ per year while retaining a half million dollars worth of equity, and there’s a decision that will transfer away our equity and increase ASMSU’s expenses substantially, both in the short run and the long run. And either decision has some looming questions, still unanswered.
But, like Pontius Pilate, all that’s left for me to do is wash my hands of the whole ordeal. I’ve done my part–or, at least, all I can do.
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So, with the MOU business finished … I can return my attentions to being a student. Which I REALLY need to do. I’ve all but skipped the first two weeks of classes, and it’s not going to be an easy semester, regardless.
