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[Jan. 24th, 2010|09:01 pm] |
My LJ expired. I'm having difficulty placing it as a priority to renew it because I don't post in it all that much. But since I'm not a paid account, I can't post by email anymore, so I'll post even less, probably.
I'm mostly packed to head out to DC tomorrow. Not terribly thrilled about it--they're keeping us in class for 3 days and then overnight on Thursday as well. When they originally started talking about this, it was supposed to be a brief meeting to discuss our 360 results. Central Office is paying for it, though, so if they want to keep us, I guess they can. Somewhat looking forward to going to St. Petersburg next month. Of all the times you want to escape Chicago and go to Florida, it's in February! I wish they would set the dates, though, because I would love for David to come along. The government can buy a plane ticket 3 hours before departure and it's the same price as buying it months ahead. Not so with regular people.
This weekend was crazy. David and I did our marriage prep class on Saturday. Wow, so different from the classes my parents used to lead when I was a kid. They had maybe 5 or 6 couples in their living room, a couple hours for 3 or 4 weeks. This was about 80 people, 1 day, about 8 hours. It was interesting, though, and David and I had fun with it. We still have to do our FOCCUS test, but it's not like there's a huge rush yet. Today we went to the Bridal Expo in Oak Brook, and I had such a large entourage that I couldn't keep track of everyone. The place was claustrophobically jammed with people, and a lot of those bridal vendors were just unpleasant. That doesn't change the fact that we still need to find a DJ, florist, and photographer, and just thinking about it makes me want to elope. |
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[Nov. 19th, 2009|11:09 am] |
Finally got an update about the upcoming travel I'm supposed to do for work. They still want to do it the week of Nov 30, but it will be in Shepherdstown WV instead of in DC. It has been many years since I've been in WV, and even then I mostly drove through it instead of stopping and enjoying it. I don't even know if Shepherdstown is in in a really gorgeous mountainy area of WV or if it's just plain and boring.
Yesterday was the first day since Nov 6 that I was actually ahead on NaNoWriMo (30050! Woo!). Today, of course, I am not ahead, because I have yet to do any writing today. But if I will be traveling on Nov 29, I'd better plan to wrap up 50k ahead of schedule. The last few days I have been knocking out 3-4k without suffering too much, so 2-3k shouldn't be a problem.
Writing so much has driven me to read voraciously when I get home. Even at work I have been infatuated with blogs. I want a blog--maybe I will start one next month. When I get back from travel. Hrm.... Yesterday I read some blogging advice that you should "Be a character on your blog."
http://www.copyblogger.com/sesame-street-blogger/
Doing this makes your writing more entertaining, it gives brand recognition, and it lets people know who you are. I thought about this and realized that most of the blogs I really enjoy are written with a distinct voice that lets you know about who the blogger is. Also, the idea of doing this scares me to death. |
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[Nov. 3rd, 2009|01:03 pm] |
On track with NaNo for now. My goal this year is to really focus on keeping up with the required word goal each day so then I won't have to kill a whole Saturday with writing 10,000 words like I have in the past. I did slip behind yesterday but caught up today, so as long as I can keep within a day or two of the word goal, I think I'll be all right.
On Sunday tackled sending some poems out. Didn't finish--turned out there was a massive amount of stuff to recreate (cover letters, poem copies with addresses, etc.) which I lost when my computer crashed in 2007. Plus, there has been a massive shift in the submission process since then. A ton more journals only accept submissions online, or some accept online. Plus many have gone out of business, or others simply aren't open for submissions. So it's a ton of research, and none of the old lists or books I have are updated. As of now, I have a cover letter format written up and a list of addresses, so have to put them together and figure out what I'm sending out, and where. Must get that done this week.
David and I are having a housewarming party on Sunday, so that's one more thing to prepare for. The house has a minimal amount of clutter, though the kitchen always collects it. Also, things keep falling off the walls. Nails simply will not hold in the plaster, and I've spent probably $15 on those stupid 3M command strips that lose their stickiness and pop off the walls within a few days. It's mind-boggling and I'm not sure what to do about it. Maybe go buy a drill and start putting screws into the walls.
I may have gotten into a new leadership program at work which will require some travel. Will know more next week. I suspect all of the travel will be to the DC area. Aw, why can't it be Las Vegas??? |
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[Oct. 22nd, 2009|08:44 am] |
Yesterday I made a list of all of the things I want to get done--basically, all of my irons in the fire, things like my book that I'm sending out to publishers, the career ladder change I'm working on at work, all of the house repairs I want done, the beer brewing hobby I want to start, plus more. There were like 13 things, and honestly those weren't even all of them. They were just the ones off the top of my head.
Some of them are dependant on time and money. My first financial goal is getting my credit cards paid off, and I have to just keep throwing the same amount of money at them that I have been for the next 6 months. Big money house projects just won't happen until I can divert that money into savings. I say I want a greyhound, but a pet is a big drain on money too, not to mention time, especially since it will have to be walked until I can afford to fence the back yard.
I'm sure some of my problems are time-management issues. I have down time here at work, and at least some of that could be spent writing. Sometimes I think I should start a blog (not LJ, which is basically an online diary), because that can be a great way to focus your interests and connect to other people. Penelope Trunk says that your blog has to be about 1 thing, and then everything else that you write about can relate to that. It is a challenge picking the thing to write about.
I feel like I don't use social media to my best advantage, which is a disappointment to me, because I used to be a part of a lot of online communities. Of course, when I did that, I had very little else that I was responsible for. There are things I need online networking for, though. I threw $45 at poetry contest entry fees last spring, and none of the publishers even sent back a rejection notice. Michael Anania used to tell us that those contests were like buying lottery tickets. Tons of people threw money into it, and 1 or 2 people got their books published. I need better contacts who can get my book published, or at the very least I need to be sending to publishers who have more respect for the people who send them all that money.
Blogs are a heck of a lot of work, though. If I do one, I have to make sure that I get back at least as much as I put into it. |
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[Oct. 10th, 2009|08:55 pm] |
Gotten hooked on Mad Men lately, which I didn't expect. I reluctantly read a couple reviews on Salon.com, and really ended up liking the complexity of the plot and characterization. It doesn't have the irony or intensity of Dexter, but the drama of how the characters enfold is really quite enchanting. It's not like I'm completely in love with the 1960s decade, but I have to admit that some of the kitchiness is quite charming. I started watching with the beginning of this season (I think), but now I'm thinking of picking up previous seasons on Netflix.
Went to see the greyhounds today at the Broadview Meet-n-greet. They had Banana (racing name Kay Banana Rama), by whom I have been so enchanted for the last week or 2. She is suuuuuuper cute, but she seems like she might have a little anxiety about unknown environments. I know David would like to wait until spring to get a dog, but I am soooooo tempted.... |
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[Oct. 8th, 2009|11:33 am] |
Got the form on my raise today from my step increase that took effect last Sunday. It won't be a ton of additional money, but it helps and it's nice to have. I won't have the last of my credit cards paid off until spring, but I'm thinking about starting up a Roth IRA now. My half of the mortgage plus property taxes is about $175 less than what I was previously paying in rent, so I need to be doing something useful with that money. David and I also need to set up a joint savings account, probably with ING. If we each throw 1/24th of the mortgage in every month, we can make an extra mortgage payment a year (plus earn a little interest), which will cut 8 years off the term of our mortgage. Pretty cool!
All that makes me sound super responsible, but I have been on a real spending spree the past few weeks. I haven't really bought any clothes since last fall and a lot of my work clothes have been looking pretty tattered, so I bought a few things to help out my wardrobe. I'll have to go through things this weekend and throw out or donate a bunch of old stuff I won't wear again, though. Bought a bread machine on Monday from Amazon with the free shipping, and it arrived with lightning speed on Tuesday. Baked a loaf of bread last night--just something plain and ordinary, but it was pretty tasty! Looking forward to baking ones with a lot of whole grains and fruit and nuts, as well as making pizza dough for homemade pizzas.
David and I are headed to The Chicago Theatre tonight to see Kathy Griffin. I'm pretty excited! We've had the tickets since before we even found the house. Since moving in we haven't gone out much, so it will be nice to get out and do something fun. |
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[Sep. 29th, 2009|10:39 am] |
Things are finally seeming to get back to normal around here, so yesterday I wrote some poetry postcards. I knew I was behind on writing them, but those only brought me up to 22, and since next week will be week 40, I see I am seriously behind. Work is more relaxed now that we have reached the end of the fiscal year, though, so I have a little more time here. Can I write 22 postcards (as many as I've written from the first of the year until now) from now through the end of October?
Thinking also about NaNoWriMo. I don't feel a pressing need to launch myself into a novel this year, but I have a month to mull it over, so I'll see if any interesting ideas come to mind. I haven't been reading that much over the last month, so maybe if I read a couple novels in October, more ideas will get stirred up. Anyone else planning on NaNoWriMoing this year? Plenty of time to think about plot and characters if you start now!
More may be in store for me at work coming up. This pay period, I just hit my 2 year anniversary, which means I'm converted to Career Conditional (regular employee). I get a little raise from a step increase, but I'm at the top of my career ladder, so there's no where else for me to go. My boss wants me hired into a new career ladder before she retires, and we've been talking about options. It's great that she is looking out for me. She also mentioned a leadership program which would require some travel. Applying would require a lot of write-ups on behalf of my bosses and HR. No real work for me, but they have to be the ones to vouch for me if they want me to go. Might be a lot of people applying, though, so I'm not exactly counting on going.
Thinking about trying to brew some beer this fall. It's like wanting to improve my cooking skills--it would be interesting and satisfying to learn. It's a big job, a lot of planning, a lot of steps and work before you see a result. The initial equipment cost isn't prohibative, but it isn't stuff I want to buy and then have sit in my basement unused. If I'm going to do it, I want to try it a couple-few times at least. I have other priorities than starting this project now (especially since I don't have much free time to speak of at the moment), but it's interesting to think about. |
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[Sep. 28th, 2009|08:49 am] |
Feeling great this morning, maybe just on account of the house finally feeling like it's closer to being in order. We spent a lot of money this weekend--bought 6 place-settings of dishes (though $100 of that was a gift from David's mom) and and some shelves. The dishes are a dark blue with stylized pink flowers, made in Japan but we got them at World Market. The shelves are from Ikea--David got a Billy, which is a nicer shelf than I've ever bought, but as we were putting it together I could see why it costs more than the shelves I usually get. It's just higher quality in general. They no longer make Flarkes, so I ended up getting the Flarke replacement, which of course costs twice as much. Hopefully it will blend in with all my other Flarkes.
Was very nice yesterday afternoon to hang out and watch the Bears game with David, in our own living room. A lot of our time seems to be spent fixing things, but I still love hanging out with him. We don't go out nearly as much, not just for money reasons but because we have our own space now and it's nice to hang out in it. I think we will go to the Beer Fest at the Bavarian Lodge in Lisle tomorrow, though. David and I are both a little sad we didn't get to go to the Great American Beer Fest this year, which was this past weekend, but the timing was bad and we have other things to spend our money on. Plus, my sister was in a wedding in St Louis this past weekend, and it seems pointless to go to Denver and not see her!
Need to finish putting stuff away at the house--always just a challenge after a move to find "a home" for all of the boxes of miscellany. Looking forward to October, when things will hopefully calm down and get to be more settled. We have tickets to see Kathy Griffin that we bought a few months back. I'm excited to see her! Also, my dad is professing in a Franciscan lay ministry (I think that's how you say it?) in October. It's like taking holy orders, except it's a secular order, and instead of taking vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, he will make promises of them. Anyway, we're all going back to Columbia for a kind of family reunion around it, and it will be great to have a few days off that's not house-related. |
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[Sep. 23rd, 2009|01:05 pm] |
Haven't had a great last few days. David has been off camping, and there are too many problems around the house for me to take care of alone--those stupid plastic tiles falling off in the kitchen, the utility sink overflowing from the washer. Maybe this is an issue of me not growing up in the Chicago area where this is a common practice, but I DO NOT consider it to be acceptable to have a hose dumping clothes washer water into a sink, where you're constantly fiddling with a sock on the end of the hose to filter out the lint, yet that does not keep the strainer in the drain from clogging up with lint and paint chips every few washes so that the sink overflows. No, I do not feel any better when people tell me (and multiple people HAVE told me this), "Oh, that's just like we have in our house!" I call BS--just because you have a sink that's an open drain for graywater doesn't mean I want the same. I want to get this converted to a standpipe so it will
dump the water directly into the sewer. I don't want to have to clean it up, bail bucketfuls of it out, or fish around it it up to my elbow. I actually consider this a high priority, since the current situation functions so badly. I also need to get the dryer vent cleaned out so the dryer will take less than 2 hrs to dry a load of clothes. This house has crap lint issues.
I requested a book from the Westchester Public Library that shows steps on how to convert this. I saw scans from the book on Google Books, so I know the content is there, but only the 1st page of the instructions was online. I don't know if we will actually do the work ourselves, but at least we will know what's happening if we end up hiring a plumber. The bad thing about David's father and uncle being "handy" is that if they disagree with what we want (like putting recessed lighting in the basement) they roadblock it. If I have to hire a plumber to do this, I will, but handling all of this on my own is overwhelming. |
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[Sep. 17th, 2009|09:29 am] |
This has been a tough week, not so much on account of being back at work but just the chaos my house is in, along with earlier in the week every possible thing going wrong that could. Things are slightly better this morning as a result of setting my alarm clock 15 minutes earlier. I hate giving up those precious minutes of sleep, but I'm learning it's impossible to go through my regular routine in the amount of time it used to take, just because I have a second person living in the house.
I hope to god things will settle down once everything gets unpacked, because it is awful giving 10 hours of my day to the government (counting my new, longer commute) and then spending almost all of my evening doing things for David or for the house. I don't even get the chance to check email until 11:30pm. At least I have tomorrow off (though I have half a dozen errands to run). David leaves Saturday for camping and will be gone for several days. I have to spend Saturday power-cleaning my old apartment so I can hopefully get my whole deposit back, but then I should have a few days to myself. Sadly, I think they will be spent unpacking and organizing rather than actually relaxing.
On the bright side, the house's shower is hot now and functions well, despite still being a mind-searing blue. I really wish it had a ventilation fan rather than just a window, though. Looking at the bathroom in the basement on a daily basis makes me think it might be the soonest target for a make-over. I hate looking at the grey wood paneling, the mis-matched plastic "tile" sheets tacked up behind the sink, the rusty storage shelf, and the big empty area behind the door just begging for a whirlpool tub. I only wish the upstairs bathroom had as much room for a fancy tub or shower or at least a useable counter. It's tough to have only the edge of the sink or back of the toilet to balance things on. Seriously, where did they expect 1950s women to set their giant cans of hairspray and tubes of fire-engine red lipstick? |
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