dianaschnuth

Here I sit, manning the reception desk at work, watching the gorgeous weather outside, wishing I could be out there. I’m all caught up on the work I needed to get done by week’s end, and now I’m just helping out the rest of the department and stalling until it’s time to go home… without being too obvious about it. Not that there’s much of anyone to bust me for slacking; this place is dead today. Anyone with any sense must have decided to play hookey and go golfing.

Of course, now that I have some time to blog, I can’t really think of anything I’d wanted to say. Figures.

Had I sat down to blog about eight or nine hours ago, I would have written quite the vitriolic entry about my day job. You might have gotten to read more than you wanted to know about the inner workings of my department, and how far behind we are in our work, and our staffing issues. You might also have learned a little more about the fact that my employer is choosing not to let us know yet which branches and departments are staying and which are going, and how this is making the entire department quite pissed, although we’re still just assuming that we’re toast.

Even though I spent the entire first half of my workday being lethargic and not caring about my job, I kicked a whole lotta ass in the second half, got a shitload of work done, all while zoning out with the iPod, and that improved my mood. The drive home with the window down only added to the upswing.

The next bend in the stress rollercoaster came when I read my e-mail and discovered that a contracting deadline had been moved up from what I had originally been told. My initial plan had been to spend a couple hours working on the project tonight, and a couple hours here and there next week, since the proof didn’t have to be in until April 2nd. Try again — my revised timeline gave the ultimate to-the-printers date of March 27th… which meant that I spent 3½ hours on the project tonight instead of only two, and got the bulk of it done (I think). The director (the person who recruited me for the job) even went as far as to ask my main contact if the two of them should work tomorrow on finishing what I started. We’ll see what they decide.

I feel like I keep dropping the ball in so many different ways with this contracting gig. They keep giving me assignments, though, so either I’m doing better than I think I am, or they *really* need warm bodies. I’m voting for the latter.

Time to ramp things back up. I have a website to finish redesigning, and accompanying flyers and business cards to update, on top of getting my own resume and portfolio in primo condition. I am *so* going to snag myself a better job, and soon. I plan to at least have some prospects lined up, if not interviews and/or job offers, by the time I head out to Japan.

More rock, less talk.

Looks like the HR issues I was having with my contracting job may have been ironed out. I wasn’t able to connect with the contact person to do the training on how to use the online timeclock, but she had sent me the Word file that explained the process. I had thought that a phone conference with this person was a requirement… but it seems that I am able to log in and record my hours, so that issue may be resolved.

This is good, since I finished a four-hour project this past Wednesday and have already been presented with another, more involved but similar project due by next Thursday.

My main contact there said that they could potentially give me enough work for a 40-hour week, but also mentioned that the summer months are the slow season for their firm. I’m not comfortable with the idea of relying on freelance and contract work to keep me financially afloat, even with a relatively steady inflow of work from this particular firm. Like I’ve said before: if it were just me, I might be more inclined to take the plunge. But I’m beyond the carefree “oh shit how do I buy food this week” days of my youth, and I can’t afford to jeopardize my half of the mortgage and car and insurance payments, or my student loans and credit cards and whatnot. That narrow window of financial spontaneity has officially closed, and I now crave stability.

I also have new comps due to my freelance client by Monday. They happened to choose the design I liked the least, but because its main features (rounded corners) matched some of their previous marketing materials. Once I had a copy of their existing flyer to give me ideas, and vector versions of the logo and logotype, along with their ideas on what they wanted to incorporate into the new comps from the old, I felt much more prepared to give them what they wanted.

It’s shaping up to be another working weekend of sorts. As long as I’m getting paid, though, I’m OK with it.

Had a call with my freelance client during my day off today. Discussed time frames, design ideas, web presence goals, and so forth. Realized after the fact that better pre-phone-call notes are in order for my next client, as well as actual signed paperwork, rather than just a verbal agreement. Might have been a little optimistic on my timeframe for ultimate delivery. Let’s just say that the next five to seven weeks are going to be devoted to this project as much as possible.

Enter the higher-paying freelance gig. I’m apparently getting training in the structure of their interface tomorrow evening, via the magic of the internet and conference calling. That very likely means that the dude has a project ready and waiting for me to tackle. These projects are estimated to take 16 hours to complete, which will basically be one week of evenings.

Add to that about one evening a week of juggling eBay postings, and I’m going to be one busy bee right shortly.

At least I gave the other freelance client an “assuming life doesn’t drop stuff on my head” clause.

Must not bow to the temptation to shirk exercise in favor of working on web stuff. Need to continue taking care of myself, despite all else.

P.S. – Did I mention that we’ve lost another team member at work, and will be losing another this Friday? Makes the workplace a lot more jumpin’, too.