1998 Cornell University

For most of 1998 I worked at Cornell University again. I can’t emphasize enough about how much I love working there. Your physical surroundings are beautiful. Buildings were done in architectural styles from 1860 to modern. Oh and the greenery!!! I would spend my lunch hours walking around Beebee Lake or through the sculpture garden at the Plantations. If the weather was bad, I would go to the Johnson Museum of Art and look at new exhibits or old favorites. On the top floor, which also holds Asian Art, there are huge windows with views looking up Cayuga Lake and across Ithaca. The majority of the professors and student treat you (a common worker) with respect and in some cases awe. I don’t think it was just that I was female either. Cornell is such an open liberal environment that was never a huge issue except for some of my co-workers, but not many. I worked with some great guys! Joe I the pump guy. Smiley who was always ready to help and yes, always with a smile. Paul E the new pump guy who became a very good friend. My old buddy Tom S who was an apprentice with me. These are just a few of the guys I worked around that I knew had my back. The bean counters didn’t like you to work in pairs, but if you needed a hand there was always someone you could call for help. Some days were crazy with emergency calls from overflowing floor drains in the Big Red Barn to no heating/cooling in a Dean’s office. There was glass, PVC, cast iron, steam, chemical, and air piping. You could be fixing toilets one day and helping a grad student build a flume the next. You never knew what you were going to walk into when they handed out the work tickets in the morning. That’s what made it fun! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ What made it not fun was sometimes things couldn’t get fixed in an eight hour day. I would have unexpected overtime. With two little kids at home, that can be tough. At the time I was still married, but he really hated it when I was late. I hated missing bath and story time with my girls! Looking back this was one of the calmest times in my life. I had a steady 40 hour job that not only paid the bills, but allowed me to put some away for college educations. My house got paid off. My kids were well cared for and happy. I was done with school and the future was looking good. But as the saying goes, if you want to hear God laugh, tell him your plans. By 1999, things had changed drastically.