Answer: Packing for Rhinebeck

Question: What should I be doing instead of blogging?

But hey, photos don't take long. We had cat cuteness today:




I finished these socks last Sunday, at Grandma's.


They fit nicely, though I wish I'd made them taller. Live and learn.




Something I can adjust on the next ones, which I started ... on Sunday, at Grandma's. What, I was going to be without a project on the needles? Yeah right!


I made the ribbing a little bit longer (13 rows, instead of 10), and will make the leg longer than the blue ones.

The yarn for these is, like the blue of the previous pair, from last year's Rhinebeck haul. I haven't used it all (yet), but I'm using it!

The yarn I got last weekend deserves its own post, I think. If I have time tonight, I'll set it up to post tomorrow, while I'm away. At Rhinebeck! With the sheep! And everything!

I'm a leetle bit excited. Like, take a tylenol PM to sleep excited. Have to pack first. Bye!

A Step Back That Is a Step Forward

It's official! Tomorrow is my last day at this job, Tuesday I start elsewhere. End of the tease commences now.

So here's what happened: last week, I heard from the company where I used to be a proofreader, up until they had layoffs two years ago August. You know, the place where I worked when I started blogging (if you've been around that long), where I had the garden. They wanted to bring in a temporary proofreader, and wondered if I might be interested and available.

Now, I would by far prefer a permanent job, I won't lie. Hence all the efforts to find out if TPWII* was planning to make a decision any time soon**. However, just getting off the subway*** and back into my car for the commute is a big plus. Add in the fact that I know (and like!) many people still there, that I know something about the products and style, and then consider that they're paying more than I'm making now, and I am sold.

*The Place Where I Interviewed
**I talked to the recruiter at 11 Monday morning, and told him why I was hoping to get a sense of their timeline. He said that he didn't know, but he was meeting with the hiring manager "this morning" and hopefully he could give me an answer by the end of the day. And of course, nothing was heard from him again. Color me not-so-optimistic. This feels like the job-hunting equivalent of He's Just Not That Into You.
***Yes! It's the end of the bitching about the subway! See, now you're excited!

Whew. Looking back at the summer, it seems so ... placid, compared to late September/October. Between trips to Apple Festival and Rhinebeck and Florida, and job interviews and possibilities and changes, it feels like I've been on a roller coaster for, oh, the last three weeks, with another three weeks to come. Not all bad stuff (I like roller coasters), just a lot of it.

Weekend Pictures, Some Job News

I had such a nice weekend. It was great to see my aunt and grandmother, shop for yarn (naturally; pictures to come when I meet the daylight, maybe Friday), eat the Fire Department's french fries and sell pies at the church tent ... all the usual Apple Festival weekend things I enjoy so.

All right, who wants to see some pictures from my weekend? If you do, you're in luck!

Some gourds ... because what says autumn like a four-foot gourd?


Pretty, pretty trees. The foliage was ahead of itself, versus the last few years at this time. Beautiful!





Mystery weed/plant that sprang up near my aunt's roses. Anyone know what it is?


Rose, of course.


Their cat, Junior, who makes Miri look friendly and approachable. If you look closely, you can see that Junior is sticking her tongue out at me.


A few years back, Syracuse had a display of painted horses, the way Chicago did cows, and Naples has gators. Check out the dapper Blue Cross model!


Quite a building it graces, by the way.


I liked this sign at the Apple Festival.


And this Rhinebeck-worthy plate.


In fact, the live guys were very cute, but it was the motion that I really liked.


So I took a little movie. To the left, to the right, chew it all night...




Oh, and my last day at my current job is Thursday. I gave notice today.

Here's where I'm going to be annoying and not Tell All, for which I'm sorry but it isn't all confirmed yet, and I don't want to jinx anything. I will tell you that isn't related to The Place Where I Interviewed (TPWII) a few weeks ago. They haven't responded to my attempts to learn what their hiring time line might be, which is fine and all, it hasn't been that long, but I'm not going to just sit around waiting for them, you know? It's something else, and I should hopefully get confirmation tomorrow, so tune in next time! (When you'll hear Nurse Piggy say ... When you'll hear Doctor Bob say ... anyone? anyone?)

There's always time for the Muppet Show:

Quick Home-Again Note

So, I'm back. I had a wonderful time, though man, that drive tires me out. It's under six hours including stops, and I had no problems, no major traffic or weather issues, but I just get stiff and sore from the sitting. Getting old!

Speaking of which, 42! The birthday has come and gone, and now my age is "the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything." Which makes me miss Douglas Adams anew.

I got the car unloaded, which means I have some unpacking to do here, or my (three-day) work-week will be awkward, with the finding things and so on. Happily, NESN is replaying yesterday's Bruins game tonight, so I can watch them while I unpack, and pretend I don't know they're going to win. It will be such a pleasant surprise!

Edited to add: NESN is showing Saturday's game instead. The Bruins are not going to win, I can feel it. Sigh. At least it's hockey.

Also! Today is National Coming Out Day, and while I'm not coming out personally (not being gay makes that impossible), I support anyone who is, does, thinks about it, and so on.


We're all people, people.

I Should Be Packing

No, I haven't finished packing yet.

Started? Does making a list, and having some of the things on it piled on the table, count as starting?

Yeah. I have "work" to do. Here, look at the funny. I'll be back in a few days. Have a nice weekend!

Something to Smile At

I loved this video. Try it and see if it makes you smile, too.



Thanks for another good one, Boing Boing.

A Well-Timed Airfare Sale, Followed By An Anticlimactic Weekend Wrap-up (with photos!)

When I woke at 3 this morning with a headache starting, I didn't think it was going to lead to anything good.

And at first, it didn't. I tried applying heat to the back of the neck, which sometimes helps, and dozed off, but woke with worse pain, so I took a pill and went back to sleep. When the alarm went off, my head felt somewhat better, but not completely, and I decided that getting more sleep and going to work a bit late was a better idea than getting up and having the pain return and spoil the whole day.

Two more hours of sleep and I felt a lot better. I turned on the computer and e-mailed my boss that I would be in late, then looked over the inbox. Hmm, Jet Blue is having a one-day sale. Wonder if it covers Boston to Fort Myers this time? Often it doesn't, or the price is less of a sale than one might hope for. Let's see.

Ooh. Oooh. I picked an itinerary, then e-mailed it to my mother, saying I was tempted. One thing led to another, and I'm going down for a week, a lovely six whole days plus an evening and a morning, of peace and Mom and beach and Mom, in three weeks. I just keep smiling.

And the headache connection? Their e-mail was sent at 7, when I would normally be on my way out the door. I would have seen it later, but would the seats still be there? One flight that I chose was down to mostly center seats and pay-extra seats: I got one of the last window seats available without the $40(!) surcharge*. And the price of my flight down increased by $5 in the hour between finding and booking. It might well not have worked out, if I hadn't been home and reading my e-mail later than usual. (As of right now, the website says there's one seat left on the flight I'll be traveling down on, and it costs twice what I paid.)

*Jet Blue offers extra-legroom seats for an extra cost "starting at $10". I decided I would pay $10 to not be way at the back of the plane, but when I chose it, it was $40 extra. No, thank you, the back of the plane is fine! Maybe if there were only center seats left; otherwise, that's too much for me. My entire round trip, with fees, is under $175.

Life is short. Nothing like being in a funeral home last week to remind me of that.

*********
I called the dentist today, in response to a message I got last week about rescheduling my appointment in January (which, WTF, but also whatever). I was hoping to get another evening appointment, but they're only open late one night a week (not that I'm not grateful for it). She was pretty snippy about my asking for another Monday night appointment, and I wanted to say, "Lady? I'm not the one who wanted to reschedule, so don't give me a hard time about it." I certainly understand having a bad day, but taking it out on the customers isn't a great idea.

*********
As you may have noticed, I'm not an early adopter of new technology (see: have had an MP3 player less than a year; don't have a GPS), nor am I in a hurry to replace still-functional items that the market has long moved past (I still own a VCR*, use an answering machine in preference to voice mail on my land line [and still have a land line, for that matter], and I bought my TV in college, twenty-ish years ago). Which leads me to the new cell phone I got over the weekend.

*Sadly, I don't think I can call it functional anymore. The last time I tried to use it, it wouldn't play. I have dozens of tapes; I'm kind of crushed.


I last got my cell phone replaced when I was moving into my new condo, which makes it almost four years ago. Verizon will replace your phone every two years (coincidentally, just when your last service agreement runs out), and I had had that phone just under two years, but the battery wouldn't hold a charge past a five-minute phone call, so I traded it in, grumpily. The one I got lasted much better, though in recent months the battery did start to show signs of weakness. But it worked, and I knew how to use it, and it had pictures of Pan and Harold in it, and I kept it.


Last week, though, it started to creak when I opened it, and I decided that if I went to open it one day, and found myself with half a phone in each hand, I would be very sorry I hadn't gotten around to replacing it, so I bumped the task to the top of the list. Which is how I ended up with little boy blue here:


Hey, there are worse reasons than color to choose a phone.

**********
Saturday was my shopping day, culminating with the phone experience. I also returned library books, got my watch battery replaced, bought some new slacks for wearing to work, stocked up on cat food, visited Savers and walked out with a dress, two good sweaters, and a pair of slacks for $27, and got some socks. I also took my it's-your-birthday postcard into Starbucks and got a large caramel frap with extra caramel sauce. Yum.

I learned again that the front of the package makes claims:


And the back of the package gives details.


I can't imagine why this skirt was 80% off, can you?


I didn't buy it, though, nor this bag:


There are some amusing names in the pet products.



I saw that there are some mighty weird book titles out there. All these books got published!





And despite the shelf tag, I can't imagine there are many children reading Plutarch.


**********
Sunday was my day in (except for dinner with friends). I'm away the next two weekends, which was pretty motivating.

I did laundry and dishes, changed the sheets, made chili, ran the dishwasher, balanced the checking account, wrote a note to mail, boxed up something else (and took both to the post office on the way to dinner), flattened some cardboard to put out with the recycling, and scrubbed the litter boxes.

Now, my head is not 100%, so I'm taking it to bed early tonight. Cross fingers for me.

Quick Notes, Post SnB: job, agency, Kermit/Queen

Thank you all for the comments on my recent (and continuing) job-angst. A few things to mention:

• For the prospective new job, yes, the job listing in question is still on Company's website.
• In my current position, although I am technically an employee of the agency, they had nothing to do with hiring me (I got an e-mail directly from the person who is now my manager, and interviewed with her, she offered me the job, and the agency knew nothing about it until after I started). They aren't like other agencies from when I've temped in the past; I would describe it more as the company where I work outsources their HR for some employees.
  
• Also, the agency's policy manual refers to their website for details about current policies including vacation and sick time. I've tried several times to find that on their website, but unfortunately their website was designed by blind monkeys, and I can never find anything there. I'll have to call them. Oh joy, another item for the to-do list.
  

**********
The agency sent out a newsletter (the September newsletter, by the way, on October 4th) of links to employment-related stories, and each description had a link at the bottom to Twitter. Which lead to this interesting juxtaposition:


**********
Items like this one are the reason I read Boing Boing. Not everything there is my cup of tea, but oh my, when it is.



Top that, Michelangelo. Whoever that man is, he's totally into it. And Queen + Kermit + Bowie + Kermit = genius.

If I Do Nothing Else

I can console myself that I have at least made this possible:






I believe that, together with the look in her eyes, her paw laid over his is meant to indicate, "You can't have him, he's mine."

Thoughts on Not the Last Day After All, and on Knitting

I am a planner. I enjoy planning and anticipation and lists, sometimes as much as the thing itself. A proposed last-minute trip can throw me for a loop because I wasn't planning that, can I do that? Do I want to? Give me a minute here...

I like knowing what to expect, and having time to get my head in the right place, to plan, to gather what I need, to make lists. I like surprises sometimes, but not always, and not too many.

I started this job mid-May with the clearly stated expectation that it was a temp job, with a clear end date of October first. Nothing was said to indicate anything else. Once in June and once in September, my boss mentioned in the course of e-mails that I did well on a certain project, but otherwise I got no feedback, no information about scheduling or planning, until two weeks before the expected end date. I feel like I knew the path ahead of me and wham! Here I am on a different path, all confused.

Instinct versus reason

I know what the reasonable, sensible decision here is: stay on at the current temp job until I find a better permanent job. What I can't resolve is how I feel about that decision.

Instinct says leave. Go. Last day Friday, as planned. I don't like the atmosphere, the management style, the pay rate, the benefits or lack thereof, the commute. Go. Leave.

I don't know why it's been okay to work here up to now, but feels untenable to continue. Perhaps it's simply that one can put up with a lot when there's a definite end date set. Once that end becomes undefined, it's a whole new ballgame. Plus, I hate not knowing, and being able to plan accordingly. I did expect to have uncertainty in October, but it was going to come with all that time off...

Earlier this week, the stress that arose from the thought of staying was tremendous. I didn't know what to do, and felt almost panicked. I know what I should do, but but but, I don' wanna. Now I feel more resigned, but still not happy.

Meanwhile, my boss continues to be hard for me to understand, this time in that she seems to be assuming that I'm staying on. Tuesday she dropped off a great big in-your-downtime project for me.

I wonder how long she thinks I'm staying?

I wonder what the weather's like in her world?

On a related note, I have a question for you, or two actually. You know, if you have an opinion. No pressure. Just that I'm sure you'd have something to contribute, you clever thing, you.

First, how soon is too soon to get in touch again with the company where I interviewed?

To recap, I interviewed last Thursday, 9/23. I sent an e-mail thank-you note the same day, and mailed a handwritten one Friday afternoon. I'm thinking that next week might be okay: I noticed a trademarking inconsistency on their website, and thought that letting them know about it would bring me (and my eye for detail) to mind. And I could ask what their timeline is looking like.

Please, if you have an opinion, weigh in: is next week good, or too soon?

Second, when the happy day comes that I have another job (or the unhappy day when I don't, but I can't take the current job, or more likely the commute, for another day without an end in sight), what about giving notice?

Normally, I am a staunch two-weeks-notice person. I believe that short of extreme circumstances, it's just rude not to give notice.

In this case, though, I'm kind of pondering. I feel like I committed to October one, and I haven't committed to anything beyond that (nor have I been asked to, straight out). As they say, Massachusetts is an at-will employment state, meaning that the employer can ask you to leave at any time, and legally you can leave at any time.

So, in my shoes, would you give two weeks notice? One week? What do you say?

**********
The Evolution of Knitting Confidence

Four years ago, I read on Knitty about the technique of knitting two socks at once, one inside the other*. I was shocked, fascinated, awestruck, and absolutely positive I would never, ever try it**.

*Imagine twice as many stitches on each needle as usual, where the odd-numbered ones belong to sock A and the evens to sock B. And two balls of yarn. When you're done knitting, there's the magic trick of pulling one finished sock out of the other.
**One single stitch wrong, and you're screwed: you have conjoined socks. Most people do not have conjoined feet.

But I thought of it one morning this week, knitting my (singular) sock on the subway, and realized that I'm more interested and less appalled by the idea now. I'm not rushing out to start it, and it certainly wouldn't be travel or social knitting, but it seems much less impossible.

I think maybe I'll scout around for a more basic double-knitting project, so I could see just how crazy it would make me, holding two strands of yarn separately. And then we'll see.

Coming home tonight, the T was absolutely mobbed. I knit, standing up (leaning against the door), because it was that or get off the train. As usual, 90% of the remaining riders got off at the next to last stop. I looked up to see just one other person remained in my section of seats, and as I said to her, "What are the odds that the last two people here are both knitting?" Because she was! A scarf. We talked about knitting, and hand-knit socks, and it was a nice moment after the madness.

Sometimes, while knitting on the T, I think about all the answers to the seldom-asked question, "What are you doing?" Some possibilities, more and less literal:

• knitting
• making a sock
• turning the heel (casting on, decreasing for the toe, etc)
  
• self-tranquilizing
• staving off a claustrophobic* panic attack
• not thinking about how much I hate people
  

*Side question: is it in any way dismissive of people who are diagnosed claustrophobic, if I refer to myself as a little bit claustrophobic? It's not a condition/diagnosis that I've ever officially gotten, and I don't want to imply more than that serious crowds make me anxious. Really, really panicky and anxious. (Do I sound like a nutcase tonight or what?) (More than usual, I mean.)

For that matter, my knitting confidence has increased during my months knitting on the T. I have cast on, and worked on heels and toes, while riding the subway, without causing crisis or angst. How about that?