maren

And good luck to K.!

Sounds to me like the IT part of job is to coordinate between in-house IT and external IT vendors, as well as the divisions within the company that require IT applications. Basically someone to: * poke IT when they snooze * keep track of all the purchase requisitions * organize planning meetings, take copious notes, keep good records, and make sure everyone's delivering what they promised on time I don't see where the person has to BE an IT person. Just computer-literate, and savvy enough to understand what various project needs are. The various department needs could be -- designing databases, and insurance forms (web-based? paper? telephone entry? probably all of the above) that interface seamlessly with the databases, making sure the database design anticipates all the queries that the department will need to run on the database -- that's one of the kinds of projects I could envision. Seems like the position your friend is applying for would be to make sure the department's needs are met by inhouse/external IT. (Did I just repeat myself?) Anyway, that's what it sounds like to me -- and she should emphasize any experience she has in planning, coordinating meetings, overseeing any kind of project with a budget and timetable, any administrative experience.

Hope it's a good one!

Wow. Thanks for posting that, Valerie.

What about... John Beresford Tipton???

Here I've been thinking of you as older and wiser, but man -- when I was in 7th grade, if I'd lived in your hometown, I coulda been your babysitter! Have a great birthday, Jim, but save room for the coming festivities, and that package from Corsicana...

I did -- very vivid pictures of his childhood, and up to about age 21 -- my impression is that the book ended there -- but maybe just the detail ended there...

(paging Kenny Weir -- we need Australia in the house!)

Awww... (do you remember what you were playing?)

Real maple syrup from Canada -- fairly cheap in the grocery stores here.

Loved, loved, loved Richard Pryor.

Couw seems to be in the Chat Room all by his lonesome... What are you saying to yourself, John? (I'd join ya, but the java thing is a problem...)

Hope you're having a great birthday, you kid you!

My previous post reminds me of the very apt nickname given to me by Deep (or was it The Groper???): "maren(thetical)" Can't we all just get along????

To Brownie: Sometimes it is difficult to get a full sense of an individual on line, but 7/4 is a very nice, very hardworking (at a business that I believe is conducted largely online) person... To 7/4: Brownie is a fantastic photo-journalist, with an important role in the history of jazz -- if you have time, it'd be nice (and probably make you feel good) to respond to his PMs. I hope you both cut each other some slack, 'cause I consider you both friends and integral members of this community. My 2 pennies...

I'll be "drifting" in October of 2012...

And if you're a self-employed professional musician, they're a business expense (directly deductible from your income on your Schedule C). Saved my hearing, playing alongside a screaming guitarist and drummer enamored of his ride cymbal...

Dakota Staton Illinois Jacquet Grover Washington, Jr.

You're right -- the real ethical concern in this particular case was whether the transplant would completely fail, which would leave the woman in even worse shape, no longer able to get the patchwork-skin-graft halfway measures that doctors would otherwise have used, likely hastening her death. But my understanding is that they fully explained this risk to her, and she chose to proceed. Some might say she was too depressed or distraught to give real consent -- but IMO that sounds like a rational reaction to losing half your face -- "go for it, cuz if it doesn't work I'd rather be dead."

Johnny Paycheck Johnny Pacheco Ferdie Pacheco

Jim, I'm so sorry. Take good care of yourself. (The first time I lost a friend my age -- she got an infection most people recover from, but she just didn't -- it was physically painful for me and I think our whole group of friends -- felt like we were beaten up.)

Germaine Greer Rosie Grier MerlinOlsen

Antonin Dvorak Hermann Rohrschach Arnold Horshack

Everyone here is pretty savvy about this stuff, but still... (from http://http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,4136,97983,00.html)