(no subject)

Good morning everyone, and welcome to Radio Free Monday!

Ways to Give:

digitalwave has been hit with a massive tax bill due to errors made many years ago. They're on a payment plan, but she and her husband have ongoing medical bills to pay and digitalwave is unable to work due to illness. She is selling comics, collectibles, books, accessories, and other items here to raise funds.

Anon linked to a fundraiser for Cat, a Rennie who is having shoulder problems after a kayaking accident and has had to cancel her summer renaissance faire in anticipation of shoulder surgery. Her surgery is covered by insurance, but the rest of her life while she awaits it and recovers is not; you can read more about the fundraiser for her non-medical bills here, and buy goods from her Etsy store here.

Kayla has been accepted to the 2014 Clarion SFF Writers' Workshop at UCSD, but needs help with travel expenses, as she'll be driving from Atlanta to San Diego. You can read more and support her efforts to get to the workshop here.

Help For Free:

Emily is doing an undergraduate seminar research essay on the formation of internet-based friendships using HP fan forums from the mid-2000s as a case study. As part of her research she's collecting anecdotal data via a survey, which you can fill out here. She is also available to discuss the survey if necessary at eagibson@andrew.cmu.edu

Mark let me know about Flamingo Rampant's newest project, "Who Will Hire You Now? Trans and Genderqueer People Talk About Our Work." A compilation of interviews with trans and genderqueer people regarding work and employment. They're looking for interview candidates; you can contact work@sbearbergman.com for more information. (They would like people to include demographic details -- age, location, race, ability status, gender identity, sexual orientation -- and the job or jobs they want to talk about.)

News To Know:

Gen sent me an email about an experience her partner had with a therapist aiding them in gender transition, who gave them incorrect information regarding a therapy session requirement before a letter of recc for hormone treatment could be written. The therapist later admitted they provide misinformation about requirements on purpose, because they prefer a specific theraputic method. They both wanted to warn people against this therapist; you can read more about their experience here.

digitalwave also mods a couple of help-out comms on LJ: dusty_corners, a comm for people to post things they'd like to sell, and wish_list, a place for people to post when they need help or have charities to share.

Housing:

kinetikatrue is looking for a new housemate for the People's Republic of Fandom, a 4 bedroom Victorian in Takoma Park, Maryland. You can read more about the household and its amenities here, as well as how to contact the residents.

And this has been Radio Free Monday! Thank you for your time. You can always post items for my attention in comments here (or on any post) or email me at copperbadge at gmail dot com. If you're not sure how to proceed, here is a little more about what I do and how you can help (or ask for help!).

(no subject)

So, on Friday afternoon, literally ten minutes before I left for the day, I got an email from Human Resources informing me that due to my position and/or title change, I would need to update my profile in the database.

I haven't had a position and/or title change since 2012, when I was promoted from receptionist to administrator, and while my surname is not super common, it's not out of the bounds of belief that they might get the wrong Sam. So I emailed them and said, hey, are you sure this went to the right Sam?

I got one sentence back: "You should check with your manager."

UH. OK.

So I forwarded the email to my boss with what I felt was far fewer question marks than all this deserved, and Friday night she emailed me back:

Sorry, HR got ahead of us! We’ll be meeting on Monday morning to talk about your new role. This shouldn’t be a complete surprise since we’ve talked about your goals for growth, and about the new business manager taking over some of your duties. It’s a good direction for you and the team. We’ll talk more on Monday!

Which at least is less ominous, if still hilarious. Only I could get a promotion and not know what it was for an entire weekend.

Anyway, the upshot is that we met this morning and I have been promoted from administrative manager to full-on Research Analyst. This is a huge jump in terms of my career and a huge compliment, and involves absolutely no more money whatsoever, because I already make more than an entry-level Research Analyst makes, but whatever.

Makin' my way in the world!

Also this means I can stop looking for jobs. Oh thank god.