2001-08-25

We now interrupt your previously scheduled introspection about work for some thought on WKU-Linux. I find myself chaffing under the yoke of Executive Adviser. I think it is because when I was the admin of the servers I found myself spending time working to make things better for the group. The rest of the officers at that time were too busy with whatever they were doing, but I worked to make the group better. Now I have been removed from direct involvement in the group (partially by position, partially on my own), but I see the same crap happening. This time there is no one to continue to do anything. This annoys me. This time instead of being able to go on and make changes for the group, now I am forced to sit and watch as it fades into nothing while only being able to bitch and moan on the officers list and to Rob. I find this distasteful and I am starting to understand why Terzo just threw it all down and walked away. This group of officers has such a nice setup coming into it, they are no longer hated by the university networking, they have the respect of the people around them, they are no longer dependent on the CS departments wishes, and so many other things and they just don’t seem to care. I fear by the end of the year they will have become like ACM was… a joke. The only problem with that though is that we are not a big bullet point on Art Shindhelm’s summary to his higher-ups while being a local chapter of ACM is and he will work more to keep it alive. Another problem is that last year I had Maxx on the officers list who also acted like a catalyst, this year I have no one. Instead I get a president who takes everything I say as a personal insult and rages back no matter if I am suggesting a topic for the next meeting or attempting to actually shame/guilt the officers into actually doing something. It is getting tiresome and I am losing faith that it is actually worthwhile. I spend so much more time lobbying, working, thinking and doing to get the club to flourish than the others and they think that I am the one that is crazy. Rob stated that they are going to talk about why they are in the club at the next meeting. I am eagerly waiting to see what some of the reasons are, but I feel that I probably won’t get the answers that are the truth. It is too easy to say things like “I want to see linux and this club grow” or “I hope to help people to use linux” for the true answers like, “I need something to put on my resume” or “I was kicked out of every other group and this one is easy to stay in because there are no real rules” to come out.