If I go nuts, do I have to do it quietly?!?
I've hesitated jumping into this for a long, long time. Signed up for it when it was still relatively new, but ignored it's existence for the longest time. Mostly because I already spend so much time online, I'm afraid to get into more stuff that is going to make me stare at the monitor more.
But... having given up one community that I participated in for a number of years, I decided to come back here and catch up on some of my friends. My local community of friends hasn't been getting together nearly as often as they used to, and I truly miss that as well.
Now I'm finding ways to distract myself from what I really should be doing... so here I am.
Quick catch-up on things that have been occupying most of my time the past couple years
1. Finances.
I had a lucritive contract for a number of years, but it was too much of a head buster emotionally, so I gave that up and took one for less money and less stress. A year after taking that one, it got cut in half, leaving me with less money than I have to have. That happened back last June, and I've been mostly cruising along since then living first on accumulated savings, then the equity in my house. Now it's gotten to be crunch time, however, and I really need to get serious about things.
One problem that I have is that I want to do things that I enjoy doing. The money generated has always been a side benefit of doing stuff I like. But, tho I know where I'd like to go now, I'm not finding a decent path there. That leaves me uncertain the best way to proceed, especially now that timing has gotten more critical.
One aspect that solves not only some of that, but also some fairly pressing socialization needs (hopefully) is to open a couple unused rooms here and make them available for housemates. But, man, finding them is not easy or cheap either!! I've currently got listings on 2 sites: http://www.roommateclick.com (search for username dorothyk1) and http://madison.craigslist.org/roo/135439097.html
For a couple weeks, I had a couple guys from Saudi Arabia staying here who are attending http://www.wesli.com to learn English. That was a fascinating experience! I learned so much from them. But, they decided they needed to be closer to campus and found an apartment downtown. Now I've got one guy that is supposed to decide this weekend for sure about one room (he already said yes, but until I see the cash...), and not even a decent nibble yet on the other. So, I'd love if folks could help me find good people.
Another huge time, energy, and finance consuming headache related to finances has been the state tax audit that I've been going through. Massive UGH!!! That prompted me to develop http://auditssuck.com which I've been actively ignoring so far this year as well. But, this auditor is having fun having her way with me, digging through all of my business receipts and asking questions like, "why is there a box of Altoids listed on a receipt turned in as a business expense??" Sheesh!!! One thing for people to be aware of... they are looking at anything that people buy online and don't pay sales tax on... they are going to get you for that one!!
Things I'm slowly and reluctantly giving up includes a lot of volunteer stuff that I've been doing, predominately working with the Admin people at http://freecycle.org where I do some behind the scenes work in addition to being owner/moderator of the Madison group of more than 5,000 people all looking to pass on their excess stuff... for free.
I'm also getting dismayed at the prospect of the work involved in this years church festival, given my other circumstances. It will happen, but I'm going to have to have a lot of folks pulling more weight then they did last year.
Lessee... I've gotten further away from my hosty duties in the Adobe forums than I'm comfortable with. I work among excellent people there, who I enjoy a great deal, and I have so many good excuses to work with software that I enjoy. Now I need more reasons!! Hopefully some that make me money! InDesign is my current one that I'd like to make more use of. That is page layout software, and can be used for anything that ends up in print, from business cards to books. Also any documents that end up available on the 'net as pdf's.
A frustration this week is trying to tell my aging eyes that a different kind of glasses are in order... so I'm fighting through getting used to progressive lenses... and not doing all that well at it!
There is a lot more... but I'm gonna quit!! Comments and suggestions are welcome! It is well more than enough to either type or read in one sitting!
But... having given up one community that I participated in for a number of years, I decided to come back here and catch up on some of my friends. My local community of friends hasn't been getting together nearly as often as they used to, and I truly miss that as well.
Now I'm finding ways to distract myself from what I really should be doing... so here I am.
Quick catch-up on things that have been occupying most of my time the past couple years
1. Finances.
I had a lucritive contract for a number of years, but it was too much of a head buster emotionally, so I gave that up and took one for less money and less stress. A year after taking that one, it got cut in half, leaving me with less money than I have to have. That happened back last June, and I've been mostly cruising along since then living first on accumulated savings, then the equity in my house. Now it's gotten to be crunch time, however, and I really need to get serious about things.
One problem that I have is that I want to do things that I enjoy doing. The money generated has always been a side benefit of doing stuff I like. But, tho I know where I'd like to go now, I'm not finding a decent path there. That leaves me uncertain the best way to proceed, especially now that timing has gotten more critical.
One aspect that solves not only some of that, but also some fairly pressing socialization needs (hopefully) is to open a couple unused rooms here and make them available for housemates. But, man, finding them is not easy or cheap either!! I've currently got listings on 2 sites: http://www.roommateclick.com (search for username dorothyk1) and http://madison.craigslist.org/roo/135439097.html
For a couple weeks, I had a couple guys from Saudi Arabia staying here who are attending http://www.wesli.com to learn English. That was a fascinating experience! I learned so much from them. But, they decided they needed to be closer to campus and found an apartment downtown. Now I've got one guy that is supposed to decide this weekend for sure about one room (he already said yes, but until I see the cash...), and not even a decent nibble yet on the other. So, I'd love if folks could help me find good people.
Another huge time, energy, and finance consuming headache related to finances has been the state tax audit that I've been going through. Massive UGH!!! That prompted me to develop http://auditssuck.com which I've been actively ignoring so far this year as well. But, this auditor is having fun having her way with me, digging through all of my business receipts and asking questions like, "why is there a box of Altoids listed on a receipt turned in as a business expense??" Sheesh!!! One thing for people to be aware of... they are looking at anything that people buy online and don't pay sales tax on... they are going to get you for that one!!
Things I'm slowly and reluctantly giving up includes a lot of volunteer stuff that I've been doing, predominately working with the Admin people at http://freecycle.org where I do some behind the scenes work in addition to being owner/moderator of the Madison group of more than 5,000 people all looking to pass on their excess stuff... for free.
I'm also getting dismayed at the prospect of the work involved in this years church festival, given my other circumstances. It will happen, but I'm going to have to have a lot of folks pulling more weight then they did last year.
Lessee... I've gotten further away from my hosty duties in the Adobe forums than I'm comfortable with. I work among excellent people there, who I enjoy a great deal, and I have so many good excuses to work with software that I enjoy. Now I need more reasons!! Hopefully some that make me money! InDesign is my current one that I'd like to make more use of. That is page layout software, and can be used for anything that ends up in print, from business cards to books. Also any documents that end up available on the 'net as pdf's.
A frustration this week is trying to tell my aging eyes that a different kind of glasses are in order... so I'm fighting through getting used to progressive lenses... and not doing all that well at it!
There is a lot more... but I'm gonna quit!! Comments and suggestions are welcome! It is well more than enough to either type or read in one sitting!