Well, after several detours through the Slough of Despond at this job, I am on the verge of completing my 6 month probationary period and becoming a full-fledged employee of the State with all the rights and emoluments thereto appertaining . . . .
It now seems that some of my tech skills and interests are useful, so I am taking advantage of the opportunity to learn more about PHP and CSS. PHP seems more straightforward than CSS so far, or at least more familiar. I have successfully created a database, and some pages to query and display its contents, all in a matter of hours.
It helps that the summer lasts until late September, giving me a nice 3 month window of opportunity without students and the background distraction of teaching to get in my way: faculty like to — and plan on — travel in the summer, and staff can’t afford to, so that keeps us out of each other’s way.
