Random update

Well gentle readers, I've been pre-occupied, but not dead. Here are some random things:

-I'm now 38.5% done with my MS in Accounting. Yeah!

-DH Jeff & I have celebrated our 5-year anniversary. Cool!

-One year down, three to go in this administration. I'm not going to wax eloquent on THAT whole thing except to say they must really think we're all morons.

-One New Years Resolution I will keep: update my workout playlists - for real! They're getting a bit stale and I have new stuff to add!

-Must get to this Christmas thing - wrap, send, repeat!

-Very glad to have such great family and friends!!! *Happy Glow*

Last, but not least: I will be blogging more on a philosophical bent for a while, rather than political (too depressing and BP-raising)...but still with a bit of social commentary.

Un-F'ing-believable!

I've been drawn out of my lethargy after hearing this morning about Obama's nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize. Um, say again? Yeh, that was my response after DH Jeff informed me this morning.

What was the reasoning behind the nomination? More importantly, would the reason make any sense to me? I'm dubious. Ah well, he'll be in good company with Arafat.

Check out this nightmare

House Ways & Means Committee defeated an amendment aimed at preventing illegals from getting proposed Obamacare. Read Michelle Malkin's take on it here. I shouldn't read things like this. Knew it would get worse during this administration, but...

Updates

I'm now deep into school & have already submitted my first paper. Working on the first five pages of a larger paper. Sending out a paperbackswap book to a requestor today. Must work out. Going to see King Lear @ the Shakespeare Theater tonight. Foot's coming along just fine. Must go now!

Update!

So, the news of Renee:

1. Getting stitches out tomorr--oh, yeah--later today. This is good!
2. I finished Kingmakers. Watch for my review of this book club selection.
3. I'm on the LAST chapter of my Accounting book, which I hope to complete, uh, later today.
4. In the last week, I've been contacted by two Accounting placement agencies. They found my resume on Monster.com. A little clue that perhaps I should have posted my res on Monster first, you think?
5. I've found the joys of Freecycle. This is a forum in which you give stuff away (ie, free). Areas/neighborhoods/cities have their own "branch," for example, Arlington, Virginia has its own site that's for people who live in Arlington. You wouldn't believe the stuff that's offered. It can be real random stuff (eg, unopened cans of Similac, fabric swatches, left-over cleaning products, etc.) - maybe stuff that one really can't sell, wants to get rid of, yet doesn't want to throw out. Or stuff that might sell, but you just don't have the time/patience to go the Craig's List route. You send an OFFER email to the listserv, then interested parties contact you directly to arrange pickup (they have to pick up the item(s) from you). It's actually karmic & keeps stuff out of the waste stream. So far, I've had really positive experiences.

Progress Report

Ok people, here's my progress (re everything):

1. Got my foot surgery done on Friday & am recoop'ing fine. Many thanks to all (drs nurses, staff) who made the thing go as smoothly, comfortably and painless as possible. Honorable mention to Rachel, the RN who did my IV insertion - the insertion was pain-free, expertly done and the resulting mark is tiny. It's an art. Loved the efficiency of the whole process (surgery, from prep to finish), prep info calls & reminders, the warmed blankets provided before & during the procedure and the hot tea in post-op.

Further thanks to all who have called, emailed, Facebooked good wishes for my recovery.

Number one thanks to my DH Jeff who shepherded me home, has been great moral support & ordered pizza for lunch yesterday (he'd get that last one). Super luv!

2. I'm starting chapter 25 in my Accounting book. After that, only one more chapter!

3. I'm on p162 of Kingmakers, a book club selection that is rather challenging - Middle East history with all the dizzying number of players involved. I march on.

4. Was contacted by an Accounting placement firm earlier this week (after they saw my resume on Monster.com - yeah!) & had a chance to meet with them. This is a hopeful development. Also, it was nice to be contacted by an actual human being, instead of an auto-generated email response. Wish me luck that something comes up.

5. I'm in a very good mood. Not really a novel development, but helps immeasurable with my energy levels.

That's all for now folks.

Marching on

Well, I finished Milagro Beanfield War. Wahoo! I'm in the middle of chapter 21 in Accounting. And my tan is coming along very nicely.

On a less bright note, I got another rejection from the Feds regarding a job I'd be perfect at. Mewl. My unemployment benefits are about to run out, so I'm hoping I can extend them...

I'm finally taking care of an old problem in one of my toe joints. Unfortunately, it'll require (minor) surgery. Whatever, this has been going on for years, mostly because my Internal Medicine kept telling me it was nothing (eg, tendonitis). The podiatrist's xrays spoke volumes - it's an obvious bone spur that's been causing so much discomfort.

That is all for now.

Some more "progress"

You know you want it. Well, here it is:

-Finished chapters 16 & 17 in Accounting.
-Applied for a Commerce Dept position.
-Reached p156 in Milagro Beanfield War, which I'm determined to finish, after a reading hiatus of a year. Clearly, I'm a masochist.
-Bought new shoe laces for DH Jeff's hiking boots.

Now I must:
-Go to the gym
-Shop for groceries
-Fold laundry
-Keep my chin up
-Ignore all news, esp. about Savior Obama

Argh.

Progress of sorts

I warned you that I would be giving you updates on my "progress," and you didn't think I was serious?

1. On chapter 16 of Accounting: Investments. Wahoo!
2. Yesterday, I applied for two positions.

Now I have some other realizations:

1. I can't stand Facebook - all the myriad applets. Drive. Me. Crazy.

2. I'm getting a little irritated when folks know my email address, but send me messages thru Facebook. So I get the notice of a message with the text in an email, but I have to log onto Facebook to reply. Uggh. Don't I have to log onto enough sites already?

3. I thoroughly loathe & detest America Online. One of our little projects to wipe my clean system to eradicate all the copious crap that AOL has inflicted upon my poor little computer.

Over and out!

Realizations

So, I've been unemployed now for half a year & have discovered:

1. I suck at time management
2. I'm getting good at crossword puzzles. Also, obsessed.

Nevertheless, I'm gearing up for my re-entry (again) into the world of academics (accounting). Before I start classes in July, I have vowed to complete my entire accounting textbook so I have a leg up (did I mention this?). So, my gentle readers, I will keep you informed of my progress. Also, this serves as motivation to re-engage with blogging.

Ok, with that in mind, I'm reading chapter 15 (of 26) today: Long-Term Liabilities. And, as long as the weather holds out, I'll be reading poolside. Wahoo!

Just because you need to know

Here are five things that are keeping me busy while unemployed:

1. started Rosetta Stone Arabic lessons;
2. working out like crazy woman - new regimen;
3. reading;
4. swapping books like mad(www.paperbackswap.com); and
5. becoming more housewife-y by the minute. because you know the bed needs to be made daily, and the crumbs must be vacuumed, and the magazines straightened, and the laundry done, and, and...

I need a job. Oh yes, I need a job.

Catch of the Day

For those of you who are enthusiastic bibliophiles, but don't necessarily have the room for an ever-increasing library, there's an online book-swap service that I just started using: Paperbackswap.com. Here's how it works:

1) you list books you want to get rid of;
2) another member orders it from you;
3) you send it to them;
4) they report on the site when they've received it; and
5) you get a credit for a book of your choice.

There are no membership fees - your only cost is postage for the books you send. When you order a book, the other member pays the postage.

Cool huh? So far, the members who have received my books are good about reporting the receipt. I've ordered a couple of books, but have not received them yet. I'll let you know how that works out.

Like torture...but without the fun

Well, here's Day 3 of Fed Week, ie, the week that I apply for every government position possible. My Fed application total is up to 4, bringing my grand total to 17. Wahoo!!!

Well, I bit the bullet and entered all my resume information into AVUE Digital Services portal. And then attached my resume to my profile. Because redundancy is what government is all about. This process took SEVERAL HOURS, not just because of the particular requirements, but also because something in AOL has made my internet move at the speed of crippled turtles (if crippled turtles also had obnoxious AOL pop-up ads and update reminders). Yesterday, when I wanted to attach a pdf of my transcripts, I COULD NOT because the size exceeded the portal allowance. Hmmph.

Ah well, I proceed.

Update: So...in order to attach my transcripts, I actually typed up a spreadsheet consolidating all the transcript info from four schools. Nice, cool, well-formatted, with the ability for one to scroll thru the entries. Tried to upload it to my AVUE file, BUT: the site doesn't accept Excel spreadsheets. So...I copy the text into Word, thus negating the beautiful formatting. But hey, it uploaded with no problem. Mewl.

I bet you're wondering...

...why this site has been so light on political commentary, vis-a-vis the new administration. Well, wonder no longer. It's because what I feared is coming to pass and there's just no use in commenting on it. For all those who voted for The One: the change you deserve. It's going to be a distressing four years.

Hopefully the Republican Party can pull its head out of its collective bum in the next four years (e.g., stop being such sell-outs [you know them as "centrists"], locate their long-lost fiscal conservativism brain cells, stop pandering to the open-borders folks, etc., etc.) and take back the White House - or at least Congress. One can only hope. It's a tiny, crying-in-the-wilderness hope, but still.

Archaeological coolness in Colombia

WaPo has a neat blurb about some really freaky and awesome dig findings in Colombia. Coal mining sites have revealed a treasure trove of fossils, most notibly those of multiple HUGE snakes, that may have fed on crocodiles and giant turtles. Many other well-preserved fossils (fauna but also flora) are being found, the kinds of which indicating that the area was once a tropical rainforest-type place where scrub and small trees now grow. Check out the whole article here.

Status and requirements

Ok, so I've submitted applications for 13 different jobs (at different orgs) as of yesterday. I started a 14th yesterday afternoon via USAJobs via DCNetworks only to find out that I must enter all my resume info ALL OVER AGAIN on the particular agency's employment portal. Now, mind you, I had entered ALL of my stupid resume info on BOTH USAJobs and DCNetworks ALREADY. If I didn't know any better, I'd conclude that this particular agency was trying to make the application process so onerous that the prospective applicant would just give up. That's where I am now albeit subject to change.

Not to mention that these government jobs all seem to require a masters degree or at least graduate school work. Huh? For an accounting clerk position? For essentially an admin assistant position? Are you for real? And some online govt applications have this whole questionnaire about the extent of knowledge about different forms, applications, processes specific to the govt. I mean, come on - how hard could it be to learn this stuff on the job? We are talking about the federal government, right? Maybe if I confessed to cheating on my taxes* that would substitute for the education and bureaucrat-specific knowledge requirements.

On a related topic, some of you know about my unfortunate experience with an almost-job. Well, I won't go into the gory details, but I have come up with a bunch of bottom-line standards for my prospective employers (besides a livable salary, of course):

5. My duties must not - under any circumstances - have anything to do with Comcast.
4. Because I haven't reached any level of mind-reading, my supervisor actually needs to communicate expectations. I can only intuit so much.
3. I am not willing to wait months for my first paycheck. Pay is life, get it?
2. The organization must have a stable, ongoing and reliable funding stream. This means actually having money on a regular basis in the bank. For stuff like payroll.
1. My supervisor must not be a textbook example of an abusive personality. There's no wiggle room to this one.

Well, if my job search hasn't been a smashing success, my quilting is coming along great. More on this as the story develops.

* Never have, never will cheat on my taxes, BTW. Drat.

Interesting aesthetics

Last weekend DH Jeff & I went with a friend (and a puppy!) to her mountain place for a relaxing weekend. On her property was a deer carcass in the late stages of decomp - so of course we had to take pictures. I printed a shot of the deer head, then inverted the colors to make a "negative" image. Then framed them. Weird and spooky - and very cool. Jeff says he wants me to frame a set for his office to properly set the tone. Heh. Here, let's see if I can upload them:



Inverted:



Cool, huh?

Realization

No matter how small a residence is, there is always housework to do. Mewl.

Reaction: pick yer battles; tackle the worst spots and accept the not-so-bad spots until tomorrow.

Random things about me

Instead of responding to the myriad requests for 25 random things about me on Facebook, I'll give my dear readers five:

5. Love horseradish.
4. Born to organize.
3. Member of Phi Beta Kappa in good standing.
2. Feel guilty about not blogging more.
1. Detest Facebook surveys, challenges, applets. Sorry friends.

There may be more random things. I'm not sure.

Random thoughts on Inauguration Day

1. How can you screw up the Presidential Oath? Yes, Pres, just stop at "execute."

2. Realization that Geithner's tax "error" is more than I earned last year.

3. "Brown, stick around"? Is this an amnesty cry? And/or an open borders affirmation?

4. "White, do what's right"? You mean like paying debts, paying taxes, not expecting the Guv'ment to take care of me like an infant? [In case of snarky comments, I've paid for my unemployent compensation for the last 20+ years - so buzz off]

5. Good luck, Mr. President, now reality sets in.