Journal 3

E.M. Recio

29 May 2001

When I arrived at the center I was surprised to find out that there was a church group there finishing up their Sunday meeting. It was a predominantly black congregation; its minister was dressed in an African gown with brilliant colors, and a small oval shaped hat with a flat top, of the same color configuration, which covered and snugly gripped his head. He came up to me and asked if I was the volunteer who was supposed to come in at 1:00PM. When I told him that I was indeed that person, he asked if I had a key to the center. I did not, so it immediately worried him that there might not be anyone to lock up after he left. Immediately he started dialling several different staff members' phone numbers to ask them to come in and take over. Someone finally did come in, or at least said that he was coming in (which he eventually did, four hours later.)

As it was the weekend before the last week of classes as an undergraduate, I had a load of assignments and papers to finish. I had brought in my laptop computer to finish much of that work. I like Sundays; the front desk duties are not that demanding. You also have many hours alone that you can use to read or, in my case, work on my papers. When the staff member eventually came in, I started explaining the modifications and the such for their database. I explained the semantics, and practicality behind switching to Linux based systems. The major advantage is the ability to use legacy systems, and little to no upgrade costs.

It seems like there was going to be a problem attempting to persuade the board or trustees or some other officious body of this change. He said that he would have to go with them for a reason why switching to Linux is better for the center now. In talking with Miguel Antunes, though, it seems to be a prevalent problem in the social services (Management becomes stultified and stagnant.)