Not a good week

Well, this week has definitely had its ups and downs. Here's a recap:

• Our university's back-up of their payroll records were stolen. Good times. I had to call my bank and the credit bureau to get things squared away. Identity theft seems to be an inevitability.
• I got my draft back for my masters project. Looks like I'll be writing a new draft.
• We watched Woodstock the movie for my class. After about 3 hours or so, we realized that we may have the wrong version of it. Apparently my good ol' SO says that he watched a 2 hour version several years ago. We got the Director's Cut. We should have watched the theatrical release. Sigh.
• I'm starting to break out in a skin rash, thanks to the dry weather, the overall stress from my personal finance situation, the robbery of all our information, and the inevitable outcome of my applications to Ph.D. programs. The last time I broke out in a rash was when I worked for IT during one of the worst viral threats of the year. I looked like I had leprosy. It wasn't fun.
• More reading and writing than I know what to do with.

On the other hand, I do find that both Research classes I am teaching have some pretty sharp students. Of course, there are other students who I've yet to hear talk. . . In fact, if I were to bump into them on the street, there's a good chance I wouldn't recognize them. And it's already the end of week 2. I really need to work on that. . .

I always wonder if it's ever a good idea to trust your employer with all of your financial information. However, given the circumstances of getting your paycheck in the mail, it always seems like direct deposit is the best option. This isn't the first time I've heard of sensitive material being leaked at a workplace environment. I used to work at a hospital, and they accidentally threw away copies of their financial records in the trash. Without shredding them. Or putting them in a bag. A huge wind picked up and blew these records into the parking lot.

Another instance included a woman from HR asking about "blacked out" portions on someone's personal file at a contracting company. Also not good.

Yet another was when a large file of "volunteer" donations and their donators were discovered to be directly linked to pay raises at a large plant. Also not good.

Should we really trust the folks that cut our paychecks? Why do we immediately provide them trust when we wouldn't give that trust to your average joe? These people in HR are average joes. I even wonder if they go through any additional training programs or certifications to learn how to handle confidential materials.