Have you ever wondered why a retreat (especially business ones) is called a “retreat”?  I guess it retreats from the normal business hassles and worries to allow more insight into what is really going on.  Our retreat today (yeah, a whole two miles from our offices) covered what I am told is the usual initial retreat items such as SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunities, threats) analysis, mission statement formation, vision statement formation, and some brainstorming sessions.  It was… different.  I personally have never been on a retreat, been plenty of camps for IT people and technical seminars.  This retreat was more of a team building and catch our breath experience with some information about changes in the way things are being done.  We are in the mist of a departmental shake-up (don’t worry, no one lost jobs or will be losing jobs) that started about a year ago which moved some of the sections to different departments and added new directors.  So far it has done a lot of good not just for the departments but for the university in general.

Of course the f-word, furloughs, came up and none of the news is good.  I’m worried now how I am going to make my mortgage and car payments for the month that the three-day furlough is planned to occur (though it still has not be approved and it is a slim possibility that it will not happen at all before January).

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