Busy and actually pretty good
The last few weeks have been a roller coaster of chaos, new chances, broken plans, successes, failures, and just plain old life.
Despite returning from a road trip just in time to see one of our cats suddenly decline with previously unsuspected cancer, it actually has been pretty darned good.
I attended the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing last week. Some of you may recognize this as the "women's convention where the Microsoft guy made that gaffe about trust-the-system". Well, I was there, but missed his keynote because I don't like to attend keynotes ... I was either networking, or planning my day, and did not get to witness the foot-chewing first-hand.
The convention was a resounding success for me, personally and professionally. I came home with a great deal to process, a fistful of solid job/client leads, and a commitment or three.
I even ran into the company that I would have started if I wanted to run a company instead of remaining a solo. They are doing what I want and love to do, and they are hiring. I am hopeful. We seemed to have passed each other's initial inspection. They are one of the very very few jobs for which I would be willing to permanently relocate outside the "5 hours' drive to Mom's" radius while Mom is still with us.
Husband is 100% supportive of me working for them, even though it would likely leave him bearing the brunt of any relocation effort. We'll miss the tax benefits of having my own business, but that pales next to the mental and physical benefits of doing work you love at a good company.
The trip included interviews, and there was time spent catching up with Mel Tatum, visiting the Arizona-Sonoma Desert Museum (OMG I want to set up camp in their hummingbird aviary), spending way too much in their gift shop on hummingbird stuff for Mom's new apartment, and failing to sleep in for some reason. And I got to playtest Mel's Native Law card game.
Drumbeats Indian Arts in Phoenix - where to start? So much gorgeous, and bona fide, Native American stuff here. It was tough coming home with only one flute and some workbooks. Far too much music and reading material for me to figure out what to get. Next time, I will have to do some research.
The last day of the trip was when the tab got presented for the previous two weeks of Wow. While turning in the rental car they pointed out a dent I had missed - looks like someone dinged the rental while I had it, probably in the conference center garage, so I'm out the $500 (so far).
My phone was lost/stolen in the airport on the trip home, and has yet to be turned in anywhere. I did get the number suspended and device disabled until obtaining a temporary phone.
Here's hoping that none of the job leads tried to contact me by phone and were put off by the "This subscriber does not allow incoming calls" message that was up for ~24 hours. They do have my email ...
I've mostly caught up on sleep, and am making inroads into the chores that piled up in the meantime. This weekend is catching up on the paperwork, chores, and starting to follow up on the job leads.
*hugs* to everyone. I am still planning to go to OVFF, but need to really keep a tight control over expenses due to the unexpected whammy of car damage + lost phone + vet.
Despite returning from a road trip just in time to see one of our cats suddenly decline with previously unsuspected cancer, it actually has been pretty darned good.
I attended the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing last week. Some of you may recognize this as the "women's convention where the Microsoft guy made that gaffe about trust-the-system". Well, I was there, but missed his keynote because I don't like to attend keynotes ... I was either networking, or planning my day, and did not get to witness the foot-chewing first-hand.
The convention was a resounding success for me, personally and professionally. I came home with a great deal to process, a fistful of solid job/client leads, and a commitment or three.
I even ran into the company that I would have started if I wanted to run a company instead of remaining a solo. They are doing what I want and love to do, and they are hiring. I am hopeful. We seemed to have passed each other's initial inspection. They are one of the very very few jobs for which I would be willing to permanently relocate outside the "5 hours' drive to Mom's" radius while Mom is still with us.
Husband is 100% supportive of me working for them, even though it would likely leave him bearing the brunt of any relocation effort. We'll miss the tax benefits of having my own business, but that pales next to the mental and physical benefits of doing work you love at a good company.
The trip included interviews, and there was time spent catching up with Mel Tatum, visiting the Arizona-Sonoma Desert Museum (OMG I want to set up camp in their hummingbird aviary), spending way too much in their gift shop on hummingbird stuff for Mom's new apartment, and failing to sleep in for some reason. And I got to playtest Mel's Native Law card game.
Drumbeats Indian Arts in Phoenix - where to start? So much gorgeous, and bona fide, Native American stuff here. It was tough coming home with only one flute and some workbooks. Far too much music and reading material for me to figure out what to get. Next time, I will have to do some research.
The last day of the trip was when the tab got presented for the previous two weeks of Wow. While turning in the rental car they pointed out a dent I had missed - looks like someone dinged the rental while I had it, probably in the conference center garage, so I'm out the $500 (so far).
My phone was lost/stolen in the airport on the trip home, and has yet to be turned in anywhere. I did get the number suspended and device disabled until obtaining a temporary phone.
Here's hoping that none of the job leads tried to contact me by phone and were put off by the "This subscriber does not allow incoming calls" message that was up for ~24 hours. They do have my email ...
I've mostly caught up on sleep, and am making inroads into the chores that piled up in the meantime. This weekend is catching up on the paperwork, chores, and starting to follow up on the job leads.
*hugs* to everyone. I am still planning to go to OVFF, but need to really keep a tight control over expenses due to the unexpected whammy of car damage + lost phone + vet.