Month: July 2014

this one got kinda long and tangential, sorry.

i was telling a friend recently, that i hadn’t seen in a while, about my new job. she said, “you have to create your own job anymore.” something that triggered a poignant feeling, but then i remembered that it actually worked out in my favor.

years ago, when i started at pleasant company, i was a temporary employee. i worked on many web projects. most of the front-end work was being done by an agency (named clotho, who may or may not still be around; their website has a copyright of 2010), but the design work was done in-house.

i remember the first round of layoffs. they got rid of my favorite creative manager, myland mcrevey.  it was a very upsetting day. not long after that, my boss left to start her own design company. and, not too long after that, they offered me a (permanent) graphic design position. i told them i’d rather stay temporary and have a boss than have a go at a regular position.

so it was, for a little while longer, a project came up that afforded me the opportunity to write my own job description as a front end developer. years went by and the decision to not continue with design, but to go to the technical side of the web started to feel like a huge mistake. my other designer friends were becoming creative directors, art directors, freelance designers, etc. while i was stuck in the same spot ten years later, developing for IE7 because the company wouldn’t upgrade and everyone’s browser was stuck on compatibility mode.

after “you have to create your own job anymore.” soaked in, i happily realized that i wouldn’t be where i am today if i hadn’t done just that.

on friday morning, i met with a cpa. i don’t think we liked each other because the meeting lasted about 9 minutes. he kinda looked like the boss from office space. it’s okay, though. i’m meeting with another cpa tomorrow, and her office is bike-able. i have a line on another potential cpa, but she’s in waunakee… and i don’t really want to miss so much work to bike home and then drive out there; i kinda like keeping my life in a 5 mile radius. plus, supporting local business is hip now.

after the cpa meeting on friday, i killed a little time in the willy st park and then met with a banker at heartland to open up my business checking account! i don’t, honestly, think i’m going to rake in a whole lot of dough, but it’s important to keep it all separate.

there are traits that i have and i can’t remember if  i learned them or always did them; and if i did learn them, how long ago was it? one of those traits is being stressed out when the kitchen is dirty. mom will tell you that i hated doing the dishes when i was a kid, but it was my job to  bleach out the porcelain sink when it got unbearable. maybe i just liked the smell of bleach.

every month, i get “nesty” and *have* to clean the sink, counters, and stove top. i almost emptied out and cleaned the fridge this last time, but just cleaned one crisper drawer because it was embarrassing.

another trait is that i tend to go full boar when i get an idea in my head to do something. this weekend, that resulted in my registering for an LLC, getting my EIN, and making an appointment with a CPA (these acronyms are too much).

i need to work on branding and a web presence, and my one clients’ website.

i’m also attempting to learn gregg shorthand. i’m on the second round of chapter 2; i’m finding the repetition to be helpful, even tho it still looks like a bunch of squiggles to me.

i’ve been trying to alternate between shorthand and web work on the weeknights that i don’t get matt, but i have a deadline for my one client, so they might need to take precedence for the next week and a half.

according to sleep cycle, last night, my sleep quality was at 49% (this is compared only to all the nights i’ve been tracking; since june 25). it looks like i slept between midnight and 1 and then from 1:15 to 1:30. then i finally fell asleep again at 5:30. this is also after taking 12mg of melatonin throughout the night. :/

here’s the chart of my “sleep” last night:

i emailed the developer (at 2:30 in the morning) with some ideas for people who don’t sleep well, and they got back to me right away with a thanks and a maybe. one of the suggestions is to be able to edit the alarm time. at 5, i wanted to change my alarm time to 8, but couldn’t, so i ended up stopping the data collection at 7 and turning on my iphone’s native alarm for the time that i needed to get up, so there is an hour and a half of data missing.

inconsistent sleep can be dreadful to one’s health, too. i’d almost rather have fun at happy hour and get a decent amount of sleep than roll around for six hours every night.

it does seem, however, that the worse i sleep, the lower my resting heart rate. i wonder if it gets higher because of dreams i have during rem cycles.

everything went well, as it has the past few years. the only major problems i’ve had are as a result of previous fillings either being old, or cavities growing around them.

one thing came up tho; both the hygienist and the dentist are convinced that my labret ring is a culprit behind my #25 gum receding. the thing is, they hadn’t measured it for about four years, and it hasn’t changed since. anyway, they suggested i remove it (not likely), or find another piece of jewelry. so, i guess i get to go shopping.

in other news, i’m on day three of no booze. yesterday wasn’t terrible.

i stopped at mickey’s to finished up some work between the dentist and home, and discovered that tomato juice on ice with some pepper is pretty tasty and it sated my need for dinner for a while, which was good because i didn’t eat til 8.

i got home, walked the dogs, unpacked my luggage* from the day, emptied the dish washer, filled the dishwasher, filled the water containers, put laundry in the dryer, put laundry in the washer, and finally started making food.

i bought a bunch of la criox flavored soda waters, but they’re not all that good. i ended up drinking some “citrus blend” klarbruun that someone left at our memorial day party… that was good.

*i had my laptop and some bike tools that i don’t normally cart around. when i overfill my bag, i call it my luggage.

i’m embarking on a minor physiological test of myself. i’m abstaining from alcohol* for at least six** days.

notes so far: it was hard to fall asleep and stay asleep last night; some of that was due to the fact that Merle has a tiny bladder and we need to be more diligent about letting her out as frequently as possible. i’ll keep the medical statistics private (weight change, resting heart rate, affects on bodily functions),  but have started a journal for future reference.

as matt says, “you gotta ring out the bar rag every once in a while.”

if all goes as planned, in a couple of days i think i’ll try a 2-day juice fast; might as well reset as many organs as i can!

*i’m still going to drink my daily bottle of kombucha, in which the percent of alcohol is less than that of cough medicine.

**we’ll see how i feel on sunday. it’s entirely possible that i won’t want a bloody mary with brunch!