Happy New Year!
The weather this week was wet. The week ended with a big storm that started around 11pm Friday night and splashed its way into Saturday morning, ending about 7am (then returning for a small finale between 10 am and noon), with lots of wind and perhaps six or ten power failures overnight. There were leaves and branches all over the place on Saturday morning, and three more power outages throughout the day.
The power hits were all short (except the last one), but annoying, because the computers went down. At 4:40 the power went out for 20 minutes (even though the storm was long gone by then, having left us blue skies at noon).
The cats didn't like the overnight power failures. Every time the power comes back on, the CD player in the bedroom "reboots" and makes little sorting sounds with its three CD trays. Sometimes when the power comes back on, our doorbell rings (it did that at 4am and 8:15am). And, if the power is out for more than a minute, UPSs all over the house begin to go beep… beep… beep.
Now you know how I know we had so many power failures overnight – each one woke us up when it ended.
Rich mislaid his pocket knife and mailbox key a week or two ago (they're on the same ring and that ring separates from the main key ring). We'd been looking, to no avail.
On Wednesday morning, I found them — under Rich's chair in the living room (really under, on the swivel pedestal). They were mislaid all right; I just happened to walk toward him at the proper angle when the light was just right, and there they were.
We had a Perl and Ruby people dinner at a Chinese restaurant in SF this week – familiar place, new location and name, some menu items changed. A good time was had by all, I think.
I'm still sifting through job listings, sending my resume and credentials to various places. It's interesting to read all the different ways people write job descriptions. One caught my eye:
…I don't want to see your resume. I want to see your *blog*. But in lieu of a blog a resume will have to do. Here are some more requirements:
…
Interesting. I have to wonder if this is the coming trend. I recently had a telephone interview and was asked if my weblogs were listed on my resume. They weren't… they are now.
Another job description I saw listed "sense of humor" under "QUALIFICATION & EXPERIENCE ". I think that any job description that "requires" a sense of humor is one to avoid. (Run! Run Away!)
I paid bills and wrote checks on Friday (Quick! While I can still write 2005 and mail before the postage rate goes up!).
Egad, the postage rate is going up again. Why can't they just set it somewhere that will last for a while. How about raising the rate in increments of 5 cents but less frequently? Or, my favorite, issue a 1st class, first ounce stamp without any price printed on it. When you buy stamps, you pay the going rate but at least you wouldn't need to stock up on "makeup" stamps. Grumble. (I picked up 200 2-cent stamps at the PO on Saturday).
We installed a cat flap in Rich's (interior) office door on Friday night The cats are still considering whether or not this is an improvement. As a friend once said "Better isn't always better, but better is always different."
The weather cleared by midnight Saturday – dark cloudless skies with stars and many-mile visibility. Many people in our local area celebrate the New Year with fireworks and this year was no exception. We stood on a nearby hill and watched a 180-degree display.
This week I read Burglar on the Prowl, by Lawrence Block. Yes, you read that correctly. I read one book. (Actually, I've been reading several books; I finished one book this week). Overall I read (finished) 25 books in December.
In between and around the rest, I've had almost enough naps and plenty of snuggles with the cats. There have been good meals (we made our always yummy turkey pot pie) and interesting conversations with Spouse and friends. I've had a few chats with my Dad and with my friend Bari in Texas, and exchanged email with my Mom. I still don't have a job, but unemployment insurance helps keep us from sinking too swiftly.
If you know of a San Francisco Bay Area company looking for help with internal documentation and/or web content, send them my way…
Onward and Upward.
vlbrown-mzydt 