I Am Network Man

Aaron and Edward's school holds an auction every year to raise money for things that the school district doesn't/can't afford to fund. I'm not sure what these things are, but I believe in the cause. Last year, even though we'd been in the neighborhood only for two weeks, Meg volunteered us to help with some minor tasks (I don't even remember what we did); this year she volunteered me to set up and manage the computer network necessary for registering the attendees and for processing all of the auction purchases. Oh dear.

Even though I earned my CCNA once upon a time, my confidence wasn't brimming at the prospect of setting everything up from scratch. It took a little work and research, but I was able to patch together all of the borrowed equipment and confirmed it was working a few hours before the auction began. We processed hundreds of people and over $47k in transactions for the evening--all without a hitch. I think my CCNA instructor would be pleased; I was relieved more than anything; a public flogging was imminent had I failed.

The auction was held at the Sellwood Masonic Lodge, a an 80-year old building in the heart of Westmoreland. Apparently the Masons in the area are becoming extinct and sold their building a few years ago (perhaps a foreshadow of what will happen to the Mormon congregation soon). They still rent part of the building, but their co-habitants make for a hillarious combination (it's a new-age, mystic shaman-healer--but maybe that isn't all that strange a combination).Every person had to walk over the Square and Compass symbol covering the entrance. Probably nobody thought twice about it--especially since there weren't any other practicing Mormons in attendance (as far as I knew)--but I thought it was cool.

While I donated my time and skills to the auction, Meg donated a couple of services that fetched some actual money: her bread-of-the-month club sold for $54 and her cookies-of-the-month club sold for $36 (she also helped by bidding up many items, indirectly earning more money for the school; buying several different items for herself; and helped with processing many of the transactions). Meg's goodies have made her into a cult figure at my office, and I predict that her baked-goods-clubs will soon achieve cult status at Llewellyn and garner an even higher price next year.

Comments

  1. ME9:53 PM

    Great retelling and very accurate. However you failed to pat me on the back for making up the catalogs and having them printed and bound in time. If you want to get higher prices on my monthly baked goods maybe you should invite some of your co workers. Especially the ones that live nearby.

    ReplyDelete

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