Thursday, December 19, 2002
This Week's Recap
Parker is sick yet again. He’s developed his third cold in as many months, and the doctor’s diagnosis this time is that he now has illness-related asthma. They had a nebulizer delivered to our house, which I believe is now ours – it’s still up in the air if we are paying for it or insurance is. The colds now moved to Kristin, which means my days our probably numbered – here’s hoping my Preemptive strike of OJ is enough to deter my infection by a weapon of Mass Influenza.
Meanwhile, we got the tree up, which was amazing given our lack of motivation to do so. Over the past few days, all of the ornaments, lights, tinsel, and beads have slowly migrated up the three, leaving a swath of empty green and semi-intact ornaments within Parker’s reach. Parker has taken to taking whatever he finds in the room and decorating the bottom of the tree with it – scraps of paper, books, pie tins, and cat collars and harnesses. Its cuteness outweighs the frustration of it.
Last night Parker cried non stop (sans nursing breaks) from midnight to about four in the morning. I ended up taking a sick day to recuperate, and help Kristin, as well as to prepare for two job interviews in the afternoon.
The first interview was for freelance work with a marketing firm in town. That one went super – they originally were not looking for a freelance designer but were so impressed with my portfolio that they called me in to tell me they want to work with me. Hopefully this will offset the losses that will incur when I stop using Elance next month.
The second interview was for my dream job. It’s at Santa Fe Community College, overseeing their entire web site and bringing a unified identity to the various departments. In addition, it will involve numerous other project of a variety and breadth of skills that I am virtually salivating. Plus, it’s closer to the house, parking is better, and the office closes at 4:30 every day. If the pay is also better, then I am there in a heartbeat if they offer me the position. I am currently contemplating how to best sell my desire for this position save lying prostrate before the selection committee. Of course, I continued my time-honored tradition of clamming up in the “Any Questions for us?” section of the interview. If only they asked that and then said, "Get back with us in 2 hours".
Speaking of freelance, I’m currently wrapping up the production of two sets of Christmas cards for fellow UF employees. Remind me never to do this again. They understand that my work is not going to be as professional as what they’d get at another service, but it’s almost as expensive, and my perfectionist side can’t get through the flaws. I didn’t anticipate production costs, and with them, I’m about breaking even – I probably paid for our Christmas cards and stamps in this endeavour. Plus, I refilled my first ink cartridge- probably something I’ll be doing a lot of in the future, if I can figure out how to anticipate that first gush of ink that follows the refill.
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