This book was recommend by Jay Wiseman several years ago on a mailing list I subscribed to when I lived in San Francisco. I found the book at a book sale and picked it up. I never read it. In the last month Mistress Matisse mentioned this book in her blog... several times. I picked it up and started reading. I appreciate the prompting.

I can't recommend it highly enough. Especially in a community where we often know little about the people we meet & what we do can be perceived as being violent. It was an eye-opener for me in many ways.

It will go back on my book shelf for another read in a year or so because this is easy to digest and full of valuable life skills.

I'm joined lots of gyms over the years as I've moved around. I joined my first in the early 80's and have probably joined or discussed renewals over a dozen times since then. It has always been painful -- until now.

I joined Planet Fitness in Raleigh last night. I brought in a coupon a co-worker gave me that said "One Year for $99". They took my credit card and didn't try to up sell me, bait & switch, or tell me there was a special deal only good today.

I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop - and it did not.

This is a no frills place but I'm a no frills kind of girl and I just had to let anyone know who's looking for a gym at a good price in the Raleigh area.

I'm on call today for work. Got my first call at 6:30am from a customer in Atlanta. And I am very thankful to have this job. I think the rest of the day should be uneventful and taking a few calls this morning has earned me 8 hours of vacation time to be used when it suits me. I'm happy with that trade-off.

Jake went to my dad's house & my sister's house with me for Thanksgiving visits and dinner. He met my mom as well as various other relatives. It was a stress free day. Refreshing.

Now, if I could just get my family to stop saying "You cooked that?" ... it seems to be an ongoing joke that I can't cook. Even when I clearly demonstrate that I can :-)

The biggest win: mom & my step-mom took pictures of Jake & I. I might actually come out of this with photos of the fellow I like so damn much.

It's been a year full of ups & downs. I'm thankful for the happiness I feel today.

Saw this on a friend's blog and I loved the music... then heard the story about his "Sarah".
My first thought was "at seven she knows what a key change is?" (Ok, I'm a geek).
Then, of course, I just smiled. And put the head phones on and listened again (I'm at work).



So I hunted this down and it made me smile. I'm a bit old to be expecting a Prince to
ask for my hand. But I like the reminder of how romance can make a girl feel :-)



I would love to have a reason to dress like this :-)

And of course I had to find the other tune he mentioned. Embedding is disabled so find it here.

This says very well something I believe strongly: 

"I finally integrated that no love has to be possessive and exclusive to be real and durable. I understood that the biggest act of love is to set the person you want for yourself totally free. I realized that watching the seeds you planted grow on their own is more important than to gate a dry garden."

from:
http://iliveheresf.blogspot.com/2009/11/catherine.html
one of the SF blogs I like to read.

I had a very good weekend :-)




A few more are here. Enjoy :-)

His yahoo messenger status said: "This better be good... I'm studying".
So I did a hit and run with "I'm very good. Nite!" ,shut down Yahoo... and went to bed.

This morning I see:
You are my most terrible distraction, an alluring attraction, my excruciating obsession, a work of art in mind and body, radiance that destroys my focus, but yes you are good...always good. Sweet Dreams Baby.

He can certainly write :-)

I know what he wants, he knows it's unlikely he'll ever get it, but the dance makes me smile.

I really couldn't figure out how bloggers were making enough to live on but this explained it well. She solicits $7500/month in sponsorships. This page does a great job of explaining what she offers and it's clear she enjoys what she is doing.

Now that I understand the business model. I may be a bit more motivated to get started. I love to write, I want to find a way to make money no matter where I live, and this looks fun!

I make less per month (assuming she gets all the sponsorships she offers), but I do have healthcare benefits. I'd have to factor that in, but now I see it's a possibility.

Clearly this is is a project that builds slowly over time, but it looks easy enough to start while I'm still working full time with an eventual goal of quitting the fulltime job and going full-time as a blogger.

I just need to pick a topic I care about and can focus on. And add pictures.

--> To several of my friends: You should really consider this.Photo blogs are well recieved.You are already doing most of the work. Figure out how to target a topic and build readership?

(Link: http://whatiwore.tumblr.com/private/100491802/YDK2b1stsms27vz7cj1HzhMp)

This struck a cord with me: 

- - >
“The problem is that there is no methadone for a bad relationship,” said Rachel Lloyd, a former child prostitute and the director of Girls Educational and Mentoring Services, a program in New York that helps girls escape and stay away from prostitution.

From this NYT article:
< - -

Why?
Because my heart still disagrees with my head about Jake.
I wish I could just forget.

I saw the article below today in the New York Times:
(You have to register to read but the account is free)

--->
$13 an Hour? 500 Sign Up, 1 Wins a Job
By MICHAEL LUO
A trucking company in Indiana realized that the recession allowed it to be methodical in picking one candidate from among nearly 500 applicants.
<---

In the article, they mention several times that all over-qualified candidates were eliminated because the company expected them to leave when the economy improved.

So I need to retract a comment I made earlier in the summer. I was angry at the low-ball offers I was seeing from employers. Now I realize I was lucky to be talking to some of these employers at all.

And I am even more thankful for the job I have currently.

How did I get it? An ex co-worker encouraged me to apply for a job on his new company's website that I wasn't quite qualified for. I was hired for a different job that was never posted. I didn't have to beat out 499 other people to get noticed. I got lucky with the timing and had a personal reference - which trumps unknown resumes.

If you are looking, leverage the people you know.

So there I was, giving a fellow a blow job in his car in the parking deck at work. A car drives by and one of my co-workers gets out...

Lesson learned: Park in the deck behind one of the other buildings in the complex.

p.s. I'm finding the best way to get over a broken heart is to find someone who

• makes me laugh
• doesn't ask for commitments, but does ask what I'm looking for
• can't keep his hands off of me when he sees me.
• is open minded
• is aggressive and is still very respectful of my boundaries.

Today, life is good. And I'll be working late to make up for that "errand" I had to run around 3pm.

I'm feeling giddy about being so deviant.

:-)

After 5 months of searching for a job, I have a good understanding of what skills employers are looking for. in the software industry, one of them is PMP certification.

I signed up for a PMP exam prep class and started last Saturday. I'll be in class every Saturday in October. I'm not sure when I'll be taking the exam yet, but it won't be immediately after the class is over. There is just too much to learn. I have a much healthier respect for anyone with this certification. It's a boat load of stuff to memorize and much to unlearn: no matter how you have done this in the past and no matter what your company advocates, to get the certification you must learn the terminology and processes documented by the PMI organization.

I'm doing something good for my future career potential. But I'll be mostly studying for the next 5 weeks and beyond.

Works out quite well with my social life for the moment :-)
As always, I try to look for the positive.

This would have been useful in my recent (new defunct) relationship with Jake. So I'm saving it here for future reference. I'm realizing that I may not be a good match for an introvert, but many of these tips work for all types of people.

From the "Best Article Every Day" RSS feed here:

How to Care for Introverts

1. Respect their need for privacy.
2. Never embarrass them in public.
3. Let them observe first in new situations.
4. Give them time to think. Don't demand instant answers.
5. Don't interrupt them (ok, always good advice!)
6. Give them advanced notice of expected changes in their lives.
7. Give them 15 minutes warning to finish whatever they are doing before calling them to dinner or moving onto the next activity.
8. Reprimand them privately.
9. Teach them new skills privately rather than in public.
10. Enable them to find one best friend who has similar interests and abilities; encourage this friendship even if the friend moves.
11. Do not push them to make lots of friends.
12. Respect their introversion. Do not try to remake them into extroverts.

"Battistella's New Orleans Kitchen"
http://www.battistellaskitchen.com/page/page/3670848.htm

Website sucks. Location is obscure. They are listed nowhere.
The food is amazing.

Ate there with friends last night. Excellent.
Friends swear the Sunday Brunch is even better, but I have to drop a few pounds before trying that :-)

My friend Eddy txt'd this to me when I bowed out of a visit to the local dungeon:

"Let not we who are Squires of the Night's body be called Thieves of the Day's beauty."

I replied: "From?"

Next txt: "Henry IV part one (Shakespeare in the voice of Sir John Falstaff)"

It's amazing what he remembers from when he studied Literature. He's also becoming a good friend.

"Perpetual devotion to what a man calls his business, is only to be sustained by perpetual neglect of many other things." --Robert Louis Stevenson

And that is now the challenge. Time or money, but rarely both.

Will I become complacent and go back to the treadmill of mindless acceptance that to survive I "must" sit in a cubicle all day? I have the itch of wanderlust these days. No destination and no clear goals, other than for change.

Hopefully this job will be unsettling enough that I will stay hungry... and continue to consider other options.

"Last night I discovered a new form of oral contraceptive. I asked a girl to go to bed with me and she said no." -- Woody Allen

Today, this sounds like a good choice for me.

I start a new job Tuesday. Found it through one of the guys that was laid off the same time I was at my last company. I'll be doing technical support for proprietary software.

Good news: The offices are 5 minutes from my house. That was pure coincidence but I'm going to love the lack of driving.

Bad News: After I go through training I'll be working a 5:30am-2:30pm shift. It appears I'm going to become a morning person whether I want to or not. My biggest challenge will not be getting up at 4:30am, but in leaving work on time. I historically have been the last person to leave at night at most of the places I've worked. I can not let that happen in this situation.

The summer of uncertainty is ending with a positive twist. And getting busy again will be a good thing for me.

"Yes, I am a beast. Make the best of it." from the first time Lord John has sex with Percy Wainwright.

from: Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade by Diana Gabaldon

From Amazon: "Listeners may find some provocative homosexual sex scenes a bit disturbing, but this shouldn’t bother Gabaldon’s legion of fans."

And some of us found these scenes quite hot.

I found this on CD at my local library. Great driving material.

Looking for work in a down economy is humbling.

You think you know what you are worth and... you are not.
I got a job offer at 30% less than I was making at my last job and I was:

• angry
• sad
• feeling like a victim
• afraid to turn it down

I called a friend and he said he'd taken a 65% pay cut. He suggested I take the job. I felt lame for being angry. But, I was still angry.

I got a call about another job today and the potential job pays basically the same as the one offered. It's appealing due to the job description.So tomorrow I have another interview.

I am on the way to making peace with the fact that companies are taking advantage of the desperation of the unemployed. For now.

I am motivated to work on getting some certifications that will improve my chances of increasing my earnings when the economy turns around. And I'm selecting a job based on the one that will give me the experience that will position me best for my next job.

And I'm frugal, so I can certainly live on what is offered.

I'm just very unhappy about it. But maybe it's a good thing to no longer be "fat, dumb & happy". Possibly this is what I need to look at some long term changes.