I have to give a public tribute to my life long friend, John H.Trudeau, Ph.D.

In this world of down-sizing and out-sourcing it is unusual to find someone who has worked in one job, for one employer, for twenty-five years. John, up until a few weeks ago, was the Director for the Center for Social Policy and Community Development at Temple University. John brought his whole caring self to the task. He is a world class grant and proposal writer. His skills brought in the money, as well as bringing a sense of love and caring to the endeavor.

The Center, presently, under the School of Social Administration at Temple University, is, to the people of North Philadelphia, and across Pennsylvania, the human face on a faceless monolith. When the folks in North Philadelphia need help and advice the Center is where they go. There was no better human face to represent this organization than John’s.
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Yes! It’s finally happened! After working out in the far-off lands of Bucks County for over two years, my dream to once again work in the city has been realized.

Living in the city and working in the suburbs can be very hectic indeed, especially when one must drive to work (see also my SEPTA Biking posts, part 1 and part 2) and no other options at the time seem feasible. Now it will be a matter of: walk or bus?

This also leads to more checkmarks in the “pro” column of my de-car dilemma spreadsheet, so the adventures of getting rid of my car will once again continue!

I can completely deal with a friendly argument between two colleagues at the water cooler, in the hallway, or at someone’s desk, but I just had to endure an extremely vociferous verbal repartee between two co-workers goin’ at it about how fans should treat their sports teams. One was of the opinion that you stick with your team thru thick-n-thin, win or lose. The other guy seemed to think that it was best to punish your team if they aren’t doing well by not going to games & spending money on tickets. (I’m not a die-hard fan of any particular team but I lean more toward the former belief–that loyalty is king.) Regardless of what I believe on this topic, what I really do believe is that they should have had their “discussion” at a volume 100 decibels lower than the actual level. Our office is pretty small & everyone was kinda listening and/or sniggering, probably hoping they would break out into fisticuffs. We definitely lost about 2 hours worth of collective productivity in the office because of their little row. I mean, really, how dare they disrupt my net-surfing time with their screeching banter?

I’ve been on call, so really all I’ve been able to do for the last week is work and sleep. And the sleep thing keeps getting interrupted by the phone ringing…

But about a week and a half ago I went to the Young Involved Philadelphia membership party, where they made presentations for groups that had made sucessful changes in the city. Afterwards, we went to Ludwig’s, which claims to be the city’s only German bar. It brought back memories, and I started telling my Oktoberfest stories while we were over there. Good times.

If you have experience with wigs, this could be your lucky day. The InterAct Theater recently posted a job on the Philadelphia Greater Cultural Alliance website, looking for someone to tend their wigs. The full ad says this:

Society Hill Playhouse needs an experienced person to maintain (clean & set once a week) several wigs used for the show Menopause The Musical. Open-ended employment, the show is now in it’s 72nd week. Center city person would be preferred. Job starts today!

The job was posted on February 7th, so they may have already filled it, but if you’ve always had a dream to work with wigs, this is your shot.

Image credit: ava rage