whiplash

1. No, I am not referring to Mickey Rourke, although, why yes, Iron Man 2 arrives shortly, dignified girly SQUEEEEEE!
   
2. I am apologising to anyone who dislocated their neck trying to read the blog yesterday afternoon and evening, during the course of which I changed the stylesheet about fifteen times. This was an absurd, quixotic quest aimed at getting my Twitter feed into the sidebar. It didn't work, at least not to any extent I'm happy with. Further bewildering change to follow. Also, construction of a pocket dimension containing the extra time necessary to teach myself CSS.
   
3. I am also acknowledging my own dislocated neck. In a bizarre and completely left-field move which I absolutely did not see coming at all, the Faculty has randomly agreed to finance my attendance at this fairy-tale conference in Glasgow in August. Completely. Up to R25 000, here have a nice new research entity into which we can put all this money, please send through details of trip costs when you feel like it. I am feeling validated, confused and very, very suspicious. What happened to "fairy tale is not a serious study", then? are there no standards any more?
   
4. Further to the whiplash theme, the Dean has gently pointed out that the rules on the university travel grant fund have just changed to allow admin as well as academic staff to apply. (I missed the last round of applications and the next round isn't in time for August, hence the Faculty intervention out of its own pocketses). This means that in future I could possibly charge up my nice new research entity annually and go jaunting off hell-bent on intellectual pleasure. I am quite ridiculously pleased by this possibility.
   
5. In another head-turning manoeuvre, I took smoczek's sage advice about the whole work-from-home thing, and managed to persuade my rather nice boss that I had serious reason to want to work Fridays from home for a bit. This was based on (a) my ongoing fight with chronic glandular fever and sinusitis, and an attempt at creative management of the exhaustion and fuzzy head, (b) the fact that I have piles of admin through which I need to plough reasonably uninterrupted by the gazelles, and (c) the stern suppression of my own Puritan work ethic, which is trying to bring on the guilt about it all. *Stuffs guilt guinea-pig into bag head-first, sits on it*. I have won the right to work at home on Fridays until at least the end of the semester, subject to review. The contemplation of the fact that the faculty apparently values my work sufficiently to allow me to get away with this, is giving me whiplash.

Things are apparently on the up, slightly deliriously. Also, mac1235 brought me the second episode of the current Doctor Who, last night, causing further yay - shall break it out tonight. While I'm on a roll, does anyone have anything beyond episode 15 of Castle? Fangirls get impatient.