I'm just doing the headless-chicken dance

Apr 11, 2007

Iteration 04/12/2007

Who says 'unemployed' means 'free time'? I've had projects, ideas for more projects, and (of course) regular chores building up since my last inadvertent vacation back in mid-November. One week was just not enough time to make much of a dent in things. So now, of course, they're all waiting for me to get around to finishing them off. I've got:

1. The Iterations meme portal. In all the confusion yesterday, I forgot to post the new week's entry...so when people got there this morning, there was no new place for folks to leave their weekly comments. (Plus, I just generally want to reorganize the information on that site.)
2. The control panel skin needs updated for both business sites. It's been a while since I've updated the skin, mainly because the changes were extremely minor. Now, though, there's been some new functionality introduced (and some old functionality removed), so I need to spend time getting those pages made and links fixed. I might as well take the time to give both skins a good overhaul.
3. I've got two more articles I want to write for the support site. I know that if I just sit down for a few hours, I can write two pretty nice articles. One is support-related, one is business-related; but clients will appreciate both of them.
4. The new version of the billing software still is not feature complete (more than a year after its 'launch party' - bastards!!). Since the change from version four to version five is so profound (they're essentially rebuilding the software from the ground up), people won't be able to migrate their customer databases and their product databases. They'll essentially be able to migrate the customers...then have to manually re-associate all the various packages and products with the customer. They'll also have to have the customer re-enter their billing data. This is a nightmare, and so I've been holding off on installing the old version of the software (which is feature complete). I didn't want to have my customers have to re-learn the billing and helpdesk interface more than once in two years. That's just a bit unprofessional. Now, though, since I have no idea when the new billing software will actually be Ready For Prime Time, I think I'm going to go ahead, bust down, and install the old version of this nifty new billing software. I have to pay for the damn support; I may as well get the benefit of some version of their product. Though it's extremely disappointing to find another company pulling a Microsoft.
5. I learned some new JavaScripts at the old Le Job (one of the few valuable things I got there, besides the paychecks), and I'd like to use them in the business sites for switching out “promo” information. This, of course, means a minor revamp of some existing pages.
6. The business is moving into a new form this year: I want to split the design and development off of the hosting site and give it its own brand. I've also been toying with adding “managed services” to the hosting site: people pay an extra amount of money, and I design, develop, and maintain their site for them.
7. Of course, giving the design and development services their own brand means creating a new site just for that. It isn't quite as simple as moving content from one site to another, either...because there just isn't much content on the design and development services.
8. Wear white strips to lighten my teeth. I have interviews scheduled for Thursday, and anything that helps neaten up my appearance is good. Regular brushing just does not remove coffee stains properly. Usually I have problems when wearing these things, namely that I keep fiddling with the lower strip and it all but comes off about 10 minutes through. I found out, though, that if I distract myself by watching an episode of Babylon 5, I get through the entire session with no problems...and the lower strip actually stays on my teeth.
9. Read my friend's manuscript. He sent it to me a week ago; and if I do well on these interviews tomorrow I may be starting a job next week. This means I've got to get that manuscript read!! (And now, dangit!!)
10. Last week I bought a pair of 5 lb. dumbbells. I need to start doing regular exercises to tone my arms and upper body just a bit. I don't want to be buff. I just want to get rid of my incipient bingo wings.
11. I want to get out and walk again this week. Two weeks ago, I walked to a nearby coffeehouse and back: a three mile round trip. I got a single blister, but no huge leg cramps. I know that I feel better when I can walk every day. This week, though, I've been hovering around the phone. And today it's raining. So perhaps walk tomorrow? No, I'm interviewing in the morning, and in the afternoon I'll be anxiously awaiting the results.
    
    Saturday, then. Definitely walk on Saturday.
12. ...but at least I've gotten my taxes done. (Everyone in the US: you do know that you have until the 17th of April this year, not the 15th of April?)

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