#5331 - attention deficit and disorder
i keep meaning to write in here, but by the time i get home and have dinner and watch some tv and take care of stuff around the apartment, i don't feel like sitting down at my desktop computer to type. i don't feel like sorting through my email at my desktop computer, either. i can't wait until when i can buy a new laptop since i'm much more comfortable just sprawled out on the couch when i take care of stuff like that. i don't know, sitting at my desk just seems so formal.
after sitting at my desk at work for 8 hours each day, sitting at my desk at home is pretty much the last thing that i want to do. ever since my macbook air's monitor cable started fraying and the hinge started breaking and the screen went all psychedelic i've been using my ipad as my laptop instead. it works well for 90% of the things i want to do, but that last 10% is a pain in the butt. it's good for reading email, but i hate replying / organizing email on there. it's good for reading my rss feeds and catching up on the news and so on, but i prefer my mac's lj client for composing journal posts. i have a bluetooth keyboard, but i can't stand the way it wants to auto-correct some things i type.
things are going well. er, most things are going well, i suppose. i still can't stand my job. it's not that it's hard or anything, i just feel like it's such a waste. i'm bored and frustrated and i want something that will pay me more. based on lovethiscaryn's recommendation i bought "what color is your parachute?" since i have no idea how and where to begin to find a new job. i don't know how some people seem to find new jobs and transition every year or two - it's very intimidating to me, and i keep looking for jobs doing things that i think i'd enjoy at companies i think i'd enjoy working for, but either i find something and apply and i never hear back or i see something and i talk myself out of applying for some reason or another. example: i found a position at a local startup that kind of fits in with what i'm currently doing, but it mentions having a statistics background and data visualization background, and since i never really did anything with either of those i don't even bother applying even though perhaps i should.
i'm still in a holding pattern with deltoidzee's company i interviewed with several months ago, and they're waiting for the government to approve a budget before they can proceed. that'll be nice and all, but if i do end up working for them then i'll be working around where i work right now, or even perhaps further north, and i'd really (really really) like to find a job actually in DC. i'm tired of commuting in traffic every day, and i'd like to stay local and be more environmentally friendly in my transportation choices - most of what i did at work today was sit at my desk and study google maps and google streetview to see how i can get from point a to point b via bike trails and lanes.
thanksgiving weekend was nice. i got some reading done, finished a book that i bought back when i visited portland in january. anne was going to a they might be giants concert in dc on saturday night and needed me to take her there to meet up with her friends, and so i escorted her to the venue, waited around until the line went in, then went to hang out a few blocks away at busboys & poets so i could have some dinner and finish my book. i've got three other books i'm in the middle of right now, and i could really use another long weekend just to catch up on reading and stuff like that. that's another thing, by the time i get home i'm all worn out from work and applying for jobs is another last thing i want to do.
speaking of time off, that just reminded me - i got a summons for jury duty a few weeks ago… but back for my old county in maryland. i submitted a form saying how i no longer live in the county but i never heard anything back, and my paperwork says that i'd have to report starting tomorrow. just checked online and my juror number is among those not needed at this time. so, how about that - i live in anne arundel county for years and never get called for jury duty. i move to dc and the county picks me. figures.
i also found when i went home for thanksgiving weekend a notice that the MVA in maryland has sent my account to central collections and i'm expected to pay $519.48 for letting my car insurance lapse. huh? i sent them a letter explaining how i never let it lapse and included copies of my insurance id cards to show that the same insurance policy number has been in effect since december 1, 2010 even if i changed my address to a dc address in july in order to register my car in dc. we'll see how that goes.
caryn got the job in dc she was hoping for, good for her! i'm still not sure what might happen with us, if anything. we haven't done any videochatting over the past few weeks, and we've texted only a little. it's (probably) not personal since she's been stressed out and busy with her GREs and getting ready to start her new job and find a new place to live, etc., but my emotional needs are such that i'd need any relationship i'm in to be more than just an occasional get-together. i'm looking for somebody who's as interested in making an effort to see me as i would to see them; when it ends up being me doing most or all of the initiating, i get a vibe that i'm just being humored, and i end up feeling insecure. what can i say? i'm an attention whore. :P
who knows, things might pick up once she's more entrenched in the dc area, but i don't know. i think (ok, festive pointed it out and other friends confirmed, and i agree) that i'm too much of a "cat lady", as michelle described me. i'm not very fond of dogs. i'm trying, though! at least her dogs are small, since i can't stand larger dogs, but i also can't see myself ever having a dog. my personality is just more suited to cats and cat-owners, i guess. i should probably find a new job before i find a new ladyfriend anyway.
i raised $775 for the american cancer society and i finished the annapolis half marathon (more like the annapolis 12.75 mile run, though, since they left out a portion of the route because of a miscommunication :P). the race was good, but for some reason the people the american cancer society registered didn't show up on the results list. from checking the time of someone i knew who started with me i saw it took them 2 minutes to reach the start of the race, and checking the time of someone who finished just before me and subtracting 2 minutes from his gun time, i figure i finished the race in 1:51:40. not bad, even if it wasn't actually a full half-marathon. they had a few other troubles with the race, and part of the race had 3,200 runners on a narrow trail, but you've got to expect some troubles at an inaugural race.
this past saturday a rover was launched on its way to mars, and some of the folks i know from the NASA tweetup back in august and i were allowed in to the national air and space museum early (we have a hookup by way of the head of web / new media for the air and space museum, and one of the curators) to watch the NASA TV live stream; we had breakfast beforehand at a restaurant in a holiday inn near the museum, and i not only deserve a medal for waking up early on a saturday on a holiday weekend, but i biked 6 miles from my apartment to the holiday inn even before i had any breakfast.
i brewed a batch of beer using honey left over from feisty_fitz's wedding this summer. also, ever since caryn called me up on facetime to facepalm at me for making kraft macaroni and cheese out of a box, i've been trying to cook and eat better; as an example, i made red curry yesterday for dinner (had leftovers today) entirely from scratch and fresh ingredients, and it turned out really well. could have been a little spicier, i guess, but not bad for a first try!
mom has had on-again/off-again vertigo the past week or two, i think she's going to the doctor tomorrow to see what's causing it.
so, other than job and kinda-relationship stuff, things are going mostly well. i'm so not prepared for christmas, though, and it doesn't seem like there's only 34 days or so left in the year.
after sitting at my desk at work for 8 hours each day, sitting at my desk at home is pretty much the last thing that i want to do. ever since my macbook air's monitor cable started fraying and the hinge started breaking and the screen went all psychedelic i've been using my ipad as my laptop instead. it works well for 90% of the things i want to do, but that last 10% is a pain in the butt. it's good for reading email, but i hate replying / organizing email on there. it's good for reading my rss feeds and catching up on the news and so on, but i prefer my mac's lj client for composing journal posts. i have a bluetooth keyboard, but i can't stand the way it wants to auto-correct some things i type.
things are going well. er, most things are going well, i suppose. i still can't stand my job. it's not that it's hard or anything, i just feel like it's such a waste. i'm bored and frustrated and i want something that will pay me more. based on lovethiscaryn's recommendation i bought "what color is your parachute?" since i have no idea how and where to begin to find a new job. i don't know how some people seem to find new jobs and transition every year or two - it's very intimidating to me, and i keep looking for jobs doing things that i think i'd enjoy at companies i think i'd enjoy working for, but either i find something and apply and i never hear back or i see something and i talk myself out of applying for some reason or another. example: i found a position at a local startup that kind of fits in with what i'm currently doing, but it mentions having a statistics background and data visualization background, and since i never really did anything with either of those i don't even bother applying even though perhaps i should.
i'm still in a holding pattern with deltoidzee's company i interviewed with several months ago, and they're waiting for the government to approve a budget before they can proceed. that'll be nice and all, but if i do end up working for them then i'll be working around where i work right now, or even perhaps further north, and i'd really (really really) like to find a job actually in DC. i'm tired of commuting in traffic every day, and i'd like to stay local and be more environmentally friendly in my transportation choices - most of what i did at work today was sit at my desk and study google maps and google streetview to see how i can get from point a to point b via bike trails and lanes.
thanksgiving weekend was nice. i got some reading done, finished a book that i bought back when i visited portland in january. anne was going to a they might be giants concert in dc on saturday night and needed me to take her there to meet up with her friends, and so i escorted her to the venue, waited around until the line went in, then went to hang out a few blocks away at busboys & poets so i could have some dinner and finish my book. i've got three other books i'm in the middle of right now, and i could really use another long weekend just to catch up on reading and stuff like that. that's another thing, by the time i get home i'm all worn out from work and applying for jobs is another last thing i want to do.
speaking of time off, that just reminded me - i got a summons for jury duty a few weeks ago… but back for my old county in maryland. i submitted a form saying how i no longer live in the county but i never heard anything back, and my paperwork says that i'd have to report starting tomorrow. just checked online and my juror number is among those not needed at this time. so, how about that - i live in anne arundel county for years and never get called for jury duty. i move to dc and the county picks me. figures.
i also found when i went home for thanksgiving weekend a notice that the MVA in maryland has sent my account to central collections and i'm expected to pay $519.48 for letting my car insurance lapse. huh? i sent them a letter explaining how i never let it lapse and included copies of my insurance id cards to show that the same insurance policy number has been in effect since december 1, 2010 even if i changed my address to a dc address in july in order to register my car in dc. we'll see how that goes.
caryn got the job in dc she was hoping for, good for her! i'm still not sure what might happen with us, if anything. we haven't done any videochatting over the past few weeks, and we've texted only a little. it's (probably) not personal since she's been stressed out and busy with her GREs and getting ready to start her new job and find a new place to live, etc., but my emotional needs are such that i'd need any relationship i'm in to be more than just an occasional get-together. i'm looking for somebody who's as interested in making an effort to see me as i would to see them; when it ends up being me doing most or all of the initiating, i get a vibe that i'm just being humored, and i end up feeling insecure. what can i say? i'm an attention whore. :P
who knows, things might pick up once she's more entrenched in the dc area, but i don't know. i think (ok, festive pointed it out and other friends confirmed, and i agree) that i'm too much of a "cat lady", as michelle described me. i'm not very fond of dogs. i'm trying, though! at least her dogs are small, since i can't stand larger dogs, but i also can't see myself ever having a dog. my personality is just more suited to cats and cat-owners, i guess. i should probably find a new job before i find a new ladyfriend anyway.
i raised $775 for the american cancer society and i finished the annapolis half marathon (more like the annapolis 12.75 mile run, though, since they left out a portion of the route because of a miscommunication :P). the race was good, but for some reason the people the american cancer society registered didn't show up on the results list. from checking the time of someone i knew who started with me i saw it took them 2 minutes to reach the start of the race, and checking the time of someone who finished just before me and subtracting 2 minutes from his gun time, i figure i finished the race in 1:51:40. not bad, even if it wasn't actually a full half-marathon. they had a few other troubles with the race, and part of the race had 3,200 runners on a narrow trail, but you've got to expect some troubles at an inaugural race.
this past saturday a rover was launched on its way to mars, and some of the folks i know from the NASA tweetup back in august and i were allowed in to the national air and space museum early (we have a hookup by way of the head of web / new media for the air and space museum, and one of the curators) to watch the NASA TV live stream; we had breakfast beforehand at a restaurant in a holiday inn near the museum, and i not only deserve a medal for waking up early on a saturday on a holiday weekend, but i biked 6 miles from my apartment to the holiday inn even before i had any breakfast.
i brewed a batch of beer using honey left over from feisty_fitz's wedding this summer. also, ever since caryn called me up on facetime to facepalm at me for making kraft macaroni and cheese out of a box, i've been trying to cook and eat better; as an example, i made red curry yesterday for dinner (had leftovers today) entirely from scratch and fresh ingredients, and it turned out really well. could have been a little spicier, i guess, but not bad for a first try!
mom has had on-again/off-again vertigo the past week or two, i think she's going to the doctor tomorrow to see what's causing it.
so, other than job and kinda-relationship stuff, things are going mostly well. i'm so not prepared for christmas, though, and it doesn't seem like there's only 34 days or so left in the year.