Money

This morning I met with an incredible number of people from the district to discuss the subject of budget-cutting. Ouch. We are not alone in being asked to trim down; we're only alone in that everyone else works at the school and I work somewhere else, so I'm not a party to the normal business process. Like everyone else, we've been asked to trim by about 10% next year. This year, of course, without Bump profits but with the cost of the trophies, we're hurting. Next year, with an eye on the ball, we should be okay. I will have to raise Bump fees a little to cover custodial costs (shades of Bigle X). And we will have to continue to keep a tight eye on unnecessary buses; apparently there's a form for parental transportation, and we'll get these for the future. All in all I can continue to report that the team has the strongest possible support of the district, but we are in the mix like everyone else and must face economic reality.

And how does Veteran's Day sound to you? 'Cause that's the next Bump. We have officially moved our weekend. Moving a debate weekend is like moving Peoria: it's a big deal. But we will no longer have to worry about snow cancellations, which is good, but we will now have to hit the ground running in September, which is nuts. Ridge can segue into the old Bump weekend, and maybe we can put an MHL on the old Ridge weekend... Anyhow, I'll need to do lots of planning over the summer, but my vacation will be over in June, and I can put the old shoulder to the wheel and get gwine from there.

Just a reminder. I hate Bump. All TDs hate their tournaments. Unless they're insane. Which means about half of the TDs hate their tournaments, if you do the math correctly.

Speaking of which, Joe seems to have a nice boatload for this weekend, with 2 divisions of LD nicely filled plus a decent contingent of Pfffters. I'm really looking forward to it, because of all the complications of playing with the novice judges who are in the varsity. 2 or 3 rounds each, nicely spaced, is the goal. Judging every round is too stressful. And I'd like to get into a round or two myself, as I've said. And I need to unload all the candy that Dave bought. Or Dan, as the district people refer to him. Close enough, I guess.