Don't forget to write the correct year on your checks.

Feb 07, 2008

So I wonder: what would happen if I suddenly started dating my checks according to the Chinese lunar calendar? Would they be kicked back? Or would the receivers of said checks have me declared mentally incompetent?

This being day one of the Year of the Rat, I might just have a fairly positive year:

What happens on the first day of the new year reflects the rest of the year to come I sent in some more final paperwork for a Very Important Client: another big name on the resume; a good chunk of change; a chance to keep up a valuable skillset; and a chance to work with someone who has, thus far, been a pretty cool person. We seem to have a good rapport. (It doesn’t hurt that I know how deliberately corporations move - so the fact that I’ve been in talks with this person since shortly before Christmas and we’re only now getting the final steps done, doesn’t faze me.) I’m happy, they’re happy, everybody’s happy.

Opening windows and/or doors brings in the good luck of the new year. Even before I realized what day it was, I noticed that the weather was fairly sunny. Accordingly, I opened the drapes on the big windows at the front of the apartment and left them that way most of the day.

Sweets are eaten to ensure the consumer a “sweet” year. I had about 1/3 of a one-layer chocolate cake, over the course of the day. Not as sweet as something from a top-of-the-line bakery, but definitely sweet.

Bathe yourself in pomelo leaves and some say that you will be healthy for the rest of the new year. Um. Well, I used juniper-scented shower gel and body lotion; and I drank several glasses of Fresca (essentially, carbonated weak grapefruit juice). Does that count for anything? [And yes, I actually enjoy Fresca.]

[Dear ghods. I just realized that today I had chocolate cake and grapefruit juice. Though not for breakfast.]

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...or maybe from behind this giant pile of dishes.

Jan 23, 2008

I’ve been doing a fairly good imitation of headless poultry these last three months. Packing...moving...unpacking...getting business licenses...finding new doctor...oh, yes. And reorganizing the business. And getting new clients. And generally going nutso. I haven’t had time to update here, I haven’t had time to email anybody, I haven’t had time to chat on the phone with friends.

I had a dream about washing dishes. The pile of dishes to be washed never diminished. At one point, I just started smashing things...and still the pile didn’t get any smaller. H’m, yes, I think this might be stress-related, doctor. Now give me my prescription.

On the plus side of the ledger, I just sent off the paperwork to finish a new client’s vendor-approval dance; and hopefully should be getting freelance work from them (in addition to my other two ongoing gigs) within the next month. I’ve also managed to do a fairly good job evaluating the new billing system.

Tomorrow is my birthday. I’m trying to think of something suitably decadent. Possibly buying myself a chocolate cake...and spending the day in my jammies and socks, drinking fresh-ground Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, talking on the phone with Apryl, eating chocolate cake (it’s good for you! It has milk, and eggs, and wheat! That’s nutrition!!!¹). Yes. This sounds plan-like.

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The sky is so happy that it's drooling. A lot.

Dec 18, 2007

The temperature is going to be in the low 40s every day this week, and there will be precipitation. Every day this week. The yard-area out back is now distinctly swampy, and I am beginning to worry about flooding later in the season because yard-area does not appear to have any drainage.

Welcome to the coastal rainforest.

I'm grumpy because I'm feeling overwhelmed. The rain isn't causing the grumpy — it's just a convenient excuse to bitch and gripe and feel, for half a second, like I'm doing something proactive (because whingeing is so very proactive. Pfaugh.) Normally when I'm grumpy I go out and walk, or sit and read for a while. Problem being: a) it's pissing rain, and likely will be for the next week; and b) I've got too much to do to be able to calmly sit and read.

Dammit.

Here's a partial list of things I've got to do:

• read up on business taxes for this state (do I need to charge sales tax on services? Or only on physical goods? And if so, how much? Yadata-yadata-ya...)
• open a business bank account
• update my online payment processors
• balance my checkbook/bank statement
• activate my new ATM card
• organize my office papers
• shred the stuff that's been accumulating (appropriately enough, in the shredder) since I moved in nearly two months ago
• pay my water bill
• go pick up the cat food that I special-ordered two weeks ago...which finally came in...three days ago
• create the site for the new "umbrella" business
• return the damaged box-shelf set I received late last week
• install the ioncube loaders on my primary server
• create a "test" list for evaulating some billing software (to replace the one that never, ever, fucking ever seems to be feature-complete)
• download, install, and start evaluating said software (hurrah for trial versions...but it's a 15-day free trial, so I want to go about this intelligently. I don't care to put down another coupla-hundred dollars on yet another piece of software that won't do the job)
• change the bedding
• do the laundry
• do the dishes
• figure out why the vacuum cleaner's having a snitfit (and pray that it's easily repairable)

...and I'm absolutely sure I'm forgetting a few (dozen) things. Many of these things, when taken in isolation, are actually quite small and manageable. But a few of them are pretty daunting.

Dammit, I need a drink.

Or, you know, to just get cracking already. Hell, it's mid-morning and despite being “at work” for the past two hours, I'm still in my 'jamas.

Now would be the perfect time for that bumper sticker that reads “I'm awake and I'm at the keyboard, what more do you want?”...but getting one of those would be yet another item to add to The List.

Keywords: | work | whingeing | home | Holidailies |
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Dec 17, 2007

My friend — the one who helped so very much when I was moving in (thanks, Monkeybard!!) — is having a get-together. Another friend, who lives three hours away, is coming down. It’s going to be cool to get together with friends! I haven’t been able to do this in years. Living where I used to live had its advantages, but also its drawbacks. (“Friends who don’t live close” was near the top of the drawback list.)

Another friend and former co-worker (one of my fellow survivors from the Job from Hell) passed my name along as She Who Wrangles Framemaker Into Submission, and about two weeks ago I was contacted by someone about a freelance gig. I sent in my paperwork, didn’t expect to hear anything until after the holidays, and got an email today: “Just wanted to let you know, your paperwork’s in process but there’s more procedural hoops through which to jump. Oh, and by the way, I’ve been passing your resume around to other groups in this company.” So not only did I get a courtesy-notice (which is kind of hit-or-miss from corporations, I’ve learned), I’m getting more exposure, which could lead to more freelance work.

I received my new bank-account goodies today: ATM, checks, the whole works. One more item to mark as ‘completed’.

I may be flying back to Ye Olde Place to spend time with the family, but also to catch Blade Runner on the big screen. It was re-released (very limited engagements) as part of its 25-year anniversary. There’s a new DVD edition available; but I think I’ll wait and see if I can find any reviews/comparisons online before purchasing.

I have yet to receive a gas/electric bill, but I did get my water bill for the first 45 days. Thirteen dollars. That’s it. (I was a bit worried about that one, since most apartment complexes where I used to live just included water in the rental cost; but I guess I didn’t have quite so much to worry about.)

And the eggnog cookies came out well!

Not bad for a Monday…

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