I always try to inform my lists when I'm going to be absent from the
office, but in this case I'm not off on a diving excursion or users'
group meeting.  I am departing UTC after many years of tenure for a
new position at Xavier University of Louisiana with our fellow list
contributor Richard Gambrell.  I have been there several times
previously in a consulting role, but after an initial interview/offer
I'm taking the plunge and accepting their position.  I liked what I saw
and appreciated the perceived upper management support of IT on campus,
and it just felt like where I should be.  Plus they have some nice toys
that we (UTC) can't afford on our budget.

I will be there on-site Friday (driving down Thursday) and through the
following week covering for Richard while he is on vacation.  I will
maintain coverage of my lists remotely with associated delays which I
ask you to tolerate.  In the event of emergency level list problems, you
can reach me at <[log in to unmask]>.  I will not be forwarding my
UTC mail en masse to xula since the traffic (and noise) is significant.

I will return to UTC the last week of July (7/28-8/1) but making the
transition to XU in early August.  I am checking both mailboxes now.

The lists at utc.edu (hp3000-l and others) will remain for now although
Xavier has a requisition in for an NT server and Listserv software for a
local listserv machine.  My lists will be moved as soon as the Xavier
server is functional, and we will have a "neat" forwarding feature
available which will auto-forward hp3000-l requests and postings to the
new machine at Xavier when everything is up and running.  It should be
much cleaner than the previous utcvm -> raven transition since the
current software handles list "moves" much better than the previous
release.

Nothing should happen to hp3000-l or other lists that you can tell,
other than to make matters simple you should eventually change the list
address to point to Xavier.  The transition should be much smoother.

It has been an interesting stay at UTC, but I must move on.  I look
forward to the new position -- still HP hardware (2 3000's, 3 9000's,
all HP networking hubs/switches) just a different location with more
toys.

Please don't panic -- this should be transparent to you.  I will
follow-up with information before the list actually moves.

If you want to send me feedback on this topic, please do so before 10:00
EDT Thursday, 7/17/97, else address your comments to
<[log in to unmask]>.

A final note, UTC has been most co-operative to continue service to the
lists during my transition; and Xavier has been more than generous to
fund a local Listserv server.  I'm trying to be fair to both parties
during the transition and so far no problems.  It has been a rare but
civilized departure in career paths and I thank both of my employers.
You guys on the list bear with me and we'll keep the torch burning.

Semper fi...

Jeff Kell <[log in to unmask]> and now <[log in to unmask]>