What do I want out of life? 10% oysters and 90% pearls.
Is that so unreasonable?
Webstrainer, the Original Oyster, is On My List and has been for the last month or two. They're giving me more like 80-20. This is entirely unacceptable.
It's not just the people I work with directly in the Mother's Little Helper program--a story in itself--but more broadly, across the entire spectrum of things they do that I use to do my work. They have made and are continuing to make changes I don't approve of. (Clearly they didn't get the memo that I am Queen Of the Universe and that everything has to be done my way.)
One of the pearls is a Webstrainer educational seminar (online) that MLHKimmie and I were invited to participate in. Our share of the airspace should amount to +/- 15 minutes, making the four hours we've spent prepping a bit ridiculous but when someone's going to record something and stick it up on the internet for posterity, you don't want to take chances. Good publicity, should I decide I'm in need of such a thing, anyhow.
The oyster in the room is that unless I Do Something about my blasted company website so that I have links to these things, it's a waste of time participating in them.
Another of the oysters is my ongoing attempt to get my sh*t organized. I'm trying to set myself up some procedures and schedules 'in my spare time' but a large enough chunk of spare time to think my way through all of what I need so that I know where to start is--sadly lacking. (I could, of course, use the time I waste doing things like writing whiny blog posts.)
Clients, surprisingly, aren't on the oyster list at the moment. They're all pretty quiet. Which is good, since the silence gives me space in my brain to contemplate how to respond to some of Webstrainer's more ill-judged (IMO) product changes.
Also to practice my share of tomorrow's presentation. I don't mind 'public' speaking--whether in person or online, but I sure do hate having my face recorded. (Definitely an oyster.) Call me vain--but one of this afternoon's scheduled tasks is to figure out what spot in this apartment offers the best lighting for tomorrow. Something not too bright (I am such a hag these days) but not so dark that I seem to be speaking from beyond the grave.
Sigh. Of all the problems I expected to encounter, striking out on my own, my on-camera presence didn't even make the list.
Posted by AnneZook at 12:47 PM | Comments (0)It's been an interesting week so far--and it's only Tuesday!
The story on last night's news broadcast, that of a bear wandering through a mountain neighborhood, couldn't compare at Chez Moi to the story of a goose that spent the morning strutting up and down the front of the building, stopping to peer in the windows whenever, one assumes, it caught sight of some interesting activity.
The story of a giant tide of tsunami-created debris washing up on the Alaskan coastline couldn't hold my attention last night because I was too busy watching the Mattress On A Rope drama.
The upsairs, third-floor neighbor moved out by lowering their mattress, and then their sofa, to the ground with a rope. (We do have an elevator, people.) I was concerned--the amount of male giggling suggested that the Boys Above had fortified themselves for the task with liquid stupidity, but in the end I had to admit that they seemed to have known what they were doing.
The anime con I attended with my nieces a couple of years ago--oddball costumes and all--pales in comparison to what I've let myself in for early in June this year. Apparently we're having a Denver Comic Con. A coworker from the Café emailed me to suggest that I meet her and her husband there and I fell off the Frugality* Wagon.
What I mostly like about cons--the only thing I really like about large cos--is the Exhibit Hall/Dealer's Room. I like the shopping. I usually find a panel or two I want to attend as well but by and large I'm not a huge fan of humongous crowds.
Looking at the small (6x8?) month-at-a-glance calendar I bought myself for this year, I realize that the months so far are a sea of ink--notes about projects and meetings and deadlines on nearly every day. I can't figure out how someone who is "my own boss" winds up facing a huge list of tasks like this every day.**
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* Although "frugality" has actually been replaced by "economical" in my little household. The word 'frugality" drove me to an unfortunate round of obsessive stocking up and hoarding that means I won't need to buy moisturizer, bath gel, or half a dozen other items until some time in 2013.
** And, no, it's not because "the customer is the real boss" or any other corporate-speak cliché of that sort. I mean, that may be true of other people's clients but my clients are certainly not the bosses and most of them are well aware of that.
Posted by AnneZook at 11:58 AM | Comments (0)End Note:: I'm not really dinking around--although I know you wouldn't know that from the length of this blog entry. I'm sitting through a conference call that really didn't need my participation.
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Yes, I'm still trying to produce edible, tasty food myself. Life can't all be walking across the street to Whole Foods and buying something fresh and delicious every evening.
After my empanada success, I gave up on those for a while to experiment with other ideas. (As delicious as the second empanada test was, I can't always be stopping during the day to fry meat and, anyhow, most of my successful recipes are beef-based and I wanted to expand my repertoire and, yes, I spelled that correctly on the first try, excuse me while my innate spelling skills continue to amuse me.)
So, I'm thinking--pizza.
I haven't historically been a huge pizza fan. I can go a decade or so without eating it and without missing it. But, as far as things you can easily make at home go, it seemed like a good candidate, yes?
I started with one of those pre-made Boboli crusts because it was a fast and easy solution (and those are two words I value in the kitchen). The calorie count struck me as a bit high at 190 calories for 1/2 the 8" pizza crust, but it was a place to start.
For the record, after the two crusts in the package were gone, I switched to the small size of flour tortilla. You save about half the calories and decrease your "evil while bread" consumption. (Saving calories on the crust is important to me since I see it just a way to get the toppings to my mouth.) If you're cooking for more than one person, don't substitute a larger tortilla--it won't firm up as well. Just make a tortilla for each person. (Or, you know, make two for yourself, each with different toppings. Cut each in half and you have two meals.)
Anyhow. Simplicity itself.
I mix and match to create a single pizza:
Fresh mushrooms
Red onion
Canned black olives (sliced)
Canned artichoke hearts (small or medium size)
Asparagus (I buy frozen & 'nuke one stalk at a time)
Grilled chicken (chopped small) (unless you're vegetarian)
Salt & pepper to taste (I'm sure there are other spices that could be used--I haven't branched out that much yet.)
Thinly slice or chop a fresh mushroom. Ditto a bit of red onion--one thin slice, chopped is enough for a single tortilla/pizza.
Rinse a tablespoon or so of the black olives in cold water, dry, and set aside.
Rinse the artichoke hearts thoroughly. Take one or two (depending on size) and chop into small (about 1/4" - 1/2") pieces. Dry.
Chop one spear of steamed, dried asparagus into 1/4" pieces.
(Rinsing and drying the canned or steamed veggies is important. Otherwise, your pizza is watery.)
I bought some roasted garlic cloves (thank you again, Whole Foods) and have sprinkled those on as well--if you've a garlic fan like I am, it's a very tasty addition.*
Chopped, seeded fresh tomato could be very nice--I'll have to buy one.
I've used both reduced-fat provolone cheese and shredded low-fat mozzarella and they both worked. The provolone had a slightly better flavor with veggies.
I guess you could probably just load your toppings onto the tortilla, sprinkle on the cheese, and heat it all up at this point, but I tend to be a little more cautious. Also, I like to make sure the raw veggies cook or at least start cooking, since I like the flavor that way.
What I do:
Put tortilla on cookie sheet. (I line with a bit of foil because I'm too lazy to wash up). Put meat (if desired) and all veggies except olives on tortilla. I slide the cookie sheet into the oven and heat at about 250-275 for 15 minutes. This starts the veggies cooking and gives the tortilla time to start firming up. Sprinkle on the grated cheese and the black olives, turn the oven up to 325 or 350, and heat for another 8-10 minutes or until the cheese melts.
Ridiculously delicious. Once you take the pizza out of the oven, the tortilla can be picked up like any pizza after it sets up for 30 seconds. It holds a surprising weight of toppings, too, and I tend to load them on.
For the gourmets, substitute a sprinkle of feta in place of the other cheese. You don't cook it--sprinkle the feta on as soon as you take the pizza out of the oven. (And it's another calorie-saver! Swanky and healthy.)
For those with a real commitment to cooking, almost any roasted veggie could work. After experimenting, I decided the extra time and effort was more than I wanted to invest, but YMMV. Those of you who go around roasting veggies regularly can just make a bit extra next time.
Before I got so lazy, summer squash and thinly sliced yam were both successful for me. I bought some julienne-cut, sun-dried tomatoes at the store the other day. I'm going to try them today even though I'm a bit doubtful about that sweetness. Maybe if I roasted some yam and some parsnip, both also sweet, it could be interesting with some rinsed and dried pineapple chunks?
You can make any kind of pizza you want. The fattening "evil" of pizza is largely in the crust and the full-fat cheese. Substituting a 100-calorie tortilla and low-fat cheese lowers the calorie count (and saturated fat level) down to something reasonable and you can load on veggies to your heart's content.
Variety is the spice of life and whatnot, so feel free to buy some thinly sliced pepperoni at the store, along with some prepared pizza sauce. You can spread the sauce on the tortilla, sprinkle it with pepperoni, pile on the sliced mushroom and/or yellow onion or whatever you like, and still wind up with a delicious meal for a reasonable number of calories. It doesn't take much meat--the sliced pepperoni I buy is wafer-thin--to add a meaty taste for those of us who love it and want to have that kind of pizza experience.
You can use tomato-based pizza sauce with the veggie option of this dish--although you might need to experiment with your veggie mix until you figure out what does or doesn't work with the pizza sauce flavor.
Fruits love you, so love them back! Raisins and ham are a surprisingly good combination. Pineapple works with both ham and chicken. I'm not a mango fan but I know that chicken and mango are a good combo. Very thin slices of apple could be lovely on a veggie pizza.
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* Caution! Garlic, even roasted, has a delicious aroma that you probably don't want clinging to your fingers four hours later. You can add the cloves to your pizza whole or do what I do--spear a couple of cloves with a fork and chop them into smaller bits with a knife. Use the knife and fork to transfer to the pizza.
I think there's a tiny corner of my brain still functioning, if anyone would like to complete the train wreck that started at precisely 8:03 this morning.
A client I didn't think would be ready to move for a couple of months is ready to move now and wants a meeting at noon next Wednesday.
I'm not available at noon next Wednesday because I'm committed to a Webstrainer project that I've been trying for a week to find time to prep. A videoconference is not a good time to find yourself babbling incoherently. I must prepare--and I must do it before Monday when another participant and I are scheduled to do a run-through with each other.
Another client that I didn't expect to expand, at least not for a couple of months, decided to expand now and the size of their whole project needs to be doubled before next Tuesday.
A friend (the aforementioned "another participant", another of Mother's Little Helpers, and my mentor in that arena--and hereinafter to be referred to as MLHKimmie because this is getting ridiculous) dinged me this morning to suggest that we collaborate on a new client she's angling for. While I look forward to the pleasure of working with her, I'm also aware that other "expert" eyes on what I do will trigger my no-so-inner compulsive overachiever genes and I'll want to do better than my usual casually good job.
I mean, what is up with this, anyhow? Is there some higher power at work here? *
I'm reaching the time of my life when I like to think of myself as semi-retired, you know? **
We all know how starting your own business goes, right? You hang out your metaphorical shingle and then bite your nails and chase desperately after every dollar for a couple of years (at least), trying to build stable client and income bases.
I gotta say--I was kind of looking forward to the process. An extended stint of quasi-leisure was going to be nice since, unlike my previous experiences in being unemployed, I'd prepared by socking away a chunk of funds.
I have a lot of hobbies and a lot of books. My living space abounds in toys I could be playing with for sixteen hours a day while I wait for work to show up on my doorstep.
I demand to know where my leisure went!
I'm starting to suspect that when you hear about entrepreneurs working seven days a week, it's not because they're afraid that they'll miss an opportunity while they're blinking. It's because opportunity isn't knocking--it's kicking down the door, sprawling out on the couch, and stealing your dinner.
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* There's no such thing as a gratuitous Tremors reference.
** If you haven't met the Beeb's immortal Mulberry, you should treat yourself some day.
Posted by AnneZook at 04:37 PM | Comments (5)OMGosh, I forgot to tell y'all about my recent Adventures In Food!
First, I got together with the remaining Café folks a couple of weeks ago. We met up for lunch at Shiraz, a Persian restaurant that I've seen a lot, since it sits next to my favorite sushi restaurant in south Denver.
My companions all selected some version of kebab, but when my eyes hit the entry "Saffron Chicken" on the menu, I knew it was the only possible choice.
Mmm. Tender chicken, creamy sauce, and rice. Simple and delicious. It didn't quite measure up to my rose-colored memories of the Saffron Chicken at the regrettably defunct Saffron's, but it was a darned close second.
The Café crowd were all fine. We had a good time chatting--they filled me in on what's new and what the Corral has been up to. (I was amused to realize that they were telling me of some of the changes--things that would have affected what I did--with considerable trepidation. I knew I was becoming that one cranky, old bitch that every office has! I'm so glad I bailed when I recognized that fact.)
From what they said, performance from the 'net continues to decline. I regret that--and I really regretted hearing that last year's candidate for breaking $1M in sales is struggling to reach half that this year--but staggering out of bed at 8:00 or 8:30 each morning, as the mood strikes me, instead of struggling to achieve up, bathed, dressed, and present in the office by 8:00 is worth it. (When I say, "not a morning person," you have no idea how serious I am.)
We agreed to make it a monthly 'do and I'm hoping we go back to Shiraz again. In fact, I'm going to email them today and whine about it.
Posted by AnneZook at 10:00 AM | Comments (0)Although not, of course, in the zombie sense.
New clients continue to appear. two since I last updated.
Occasionally a client moves on, like today, when I was told that one client is so delighted by how well their stuff is going that they think they no longer need professional assistance so they're going to save themselves the cost of my monthly fee.
(I find myself wondering--if I charged more would they have more respect for how difficult this is?)
The occasional public kudo has been launched my direction--I'd provide links but I want to keep this identity separate from my other identities so you'll have to take my word for it.
The weather broke its two-week balmy streak with a weekend storm forecast to bring up to 6" to the metro area. In the end, it was just a much-needed rainstorm, with a follow-up storm on Monday and, today, a return to the world of balmy.
I think I'll walk across the street and buy myself some junk food. It feels like that kind of evening.
Posted by AnneZook at 04:57 PM | Comments (8)I did for a while, yes. I mean, in case you were wondering at the extended silence.
I have had--nothing to say.
In the three weeks since I got back to town (the trip was a lot of fun, thankyouforasking), I've been having Brain Issues. As in, I can't seem to force my brain to focus on the work at hand for at least eight hours a day. Some days, I've only worked for 2-3 hours before knocking off to goof off.
Of all the things I worried about when striking out on my own, my work ethic was the last on the list.
And, you know, I'm not even sure if it's really a problem. While I'm sometimes aware of some projects not getting done promptly, it's not a thought that strikes me often or hard. I'm getting it done mostly. 90% or more of it all gets done quite promptly.
Is the remaining 10% is getting pushed back because I'm a lazy fool or because when my brain contemplates the projects, I'm not really sure of the right course of action? I really, honestly, just don't know.*
In other news, I did try a different chicken pot pie recipe and this time the R.C. requested that I not cook that any more.
Whatever.
I've also roasted vegetables a couple of times, but that's hardly exciting or adventurous.
I've been sticking pretty close to my walking plan the last couple of weeks, managing 30-40 minutes a day. As little as I'm working some days, it's a bit disgraceful that I'm not using some of the excess time to exercise more but, again, whatever.
I've also scrubbed the bathroom and kitchen floors on my hands and knees, dusted, cleaned armloads of additional paper out of my life (things d/l from the internet in the last 5-10 years that I no longer need or look at), done innumerable loads of laundry, vacuumed, and learned (thanks to the R.C.) how to upload personal documents to my Kindle.
This morning I was actually measuring my bedroom/office with an eye to rearranging the furniture to a more feng shui alignment when, thankfully, my brain kicked in and I did four solid hours of work. Now all I have left to do for the day are two research/analysis projects, neither of which, I suspect, is going to get completed.
However. I've started them both, so we'll hope for the best, right?
Hope your lives are more productive than mine, but I'm fairly certain none of you can brag of better weather than Denver's current, highly uncharacteristic run of 70+ March days.
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* I think my biggest problem is that, aside from the occasional flurry of frustration caused by simultaneous new accounts, I'm not overworked.
I've always been overworked--I don't think I know how to conduct myself when I just have, you know, a sort of average amount of work to do each day.
I don't do "average. I have two speeds--all-out and full-stop. There does't seem to be much of a gear in between those.
Oh, I can do a quasi-top speed that's short of racing gear (because I'm not really a fan of letting things sit around until they're in danger of exploding) but I don't seem to be able to access any kind of "cruising" speed. My brain doesn't really function well if I try to keep it in low gear.
Posted by AnneZook at 12:52 PM | Comments (1)This is probably the last chance I'll get to blog before I leave town tomorrow morning, so a few quick updates:
#1 - Chicken Pot Pie - the R.C. said it was a very good example of chicken soup but not at all like a pot pie. Must try again. Next time, I'll use cream.
#2 - J (in comments) is winning the crazystakes since his people are weirder than mine at the moment.
#3 - You know what I miss about my job? I miss the ability to tell people to get away from me when they tried to "help."
I don't seem to be able to stop these agencies or their clients from demanding additions, deletions, and random minor changes that not only don't fit into my overall strategy but have no strategic purpose of their own.
"I want more business" is not a strategy, people. It's not even a goal. It's what you wish upon a star.
Goals are things like, "X number of leads a month" that are measurable. How this works is, you tell me your goals, then you leave me the heck alone except when I ask you to do something to your website and then you email me later that same day to tell me it's done.
Is that so hard? Do what I tell you when tell you to do it and we'll do just fine.
One client sent me a casual note this morning, asking if it wasn't about time I billed him again. I responded, pointing out that he hasn't paid the invoice we sent three weeks ago yet. Sheesh.
I've sorted my laundry and dug out a suitcase. (I need to do the former so I can put it in the latter.) I've also plugged in my various electronic gizmos so that they'll all be fully charged tomorrow. I dug around the enormous mess (okay, one small pile of papers) until I found all that cash I pulled out of the bank for the trip and the various reservations and shuttle pages I printed. Can't print my boarding pass for three hours.
Guess I have time to do some work.
I'm struggling with writing at the moment--have committed to loading up 2-3 more "wiki" articles before I leave town and I'm not coming up with the right casual-but-professional tone. The articles I've loaded so far have varied from the beige-and-boring to manic enthusiasm.
I might be more committed if, like some of the other MLH, I was hoping this work would get me public attention and draw clients but the truth is that I'm getting new accounts as fast as I can absorb them at the moment and until I get better at balancing all of them, I don't really need mobs of new people contacting me.
Embarrassingly, one or two people have already mentioned seeing my first couple of efforts. Really must do better in the future.
Sigh. It wasn't such a bad, little job, you know? Regular paycheck, benefits, they paid for the coffee.
Be good while I'm gone!
Today's culinary experiment--chicken pot pie.
I don't know why this recipe attracted me--I don't even like chicken pot pie. I took no liberties with the recipe, aside from skipping the crust since it adds a billion unnecessary calories.
It's in the oven now. Excitement!
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P.S. Clients? Still mostly crazy although two show indications of developing sanity.
Posted by AnneZook at 01:21 PM | Comments (0)Empanadas!
I tried again, this time maintaining a strict focus on the cuisine in question. Success!
The successful recipe, for anyone still reading, is to lightly saute some onion until translucent--the recipe called for butter but I substituted a spritz of Pam--then fry your hamburger in the pan until brown. Add salt & pepper to taste, toss in your other spices (I used a tsp each of paprika and cumin and a few hearty shakes of crushed red pepper and stir it all up on medium-low heat until the spice have a chance to get acquainted with the beef--say, five minutes.
Spritz the sheet of foil on your cookie sheet.
Lay out egg roll wrappers, spoon ingredients onto half, staying 1/4" - 1/'2" from the edge, fold over the edges, wetting the inside rims with water to make them stick together--press firmly or use a spoon or a fork to seal--carefully, so as not to poke a hole in your dough. Place wrapper on foil, spritz top so it will brown, cook at 350-375 until wrapper is crispy. Say, ten or fifteen minutes, depending on how hot your oven cooks.
Eat.
I feel very brave. Next time I'm going to get creative with a tiny bit of cheese or olives.
The egg roll wrappers are still just too big. Next time, I'll also try halving or even quartering them.
I also joined the legion of the Ladies Who Lunch this week--going out for lunch for only the second time since I commenced my new career.
I met the R.C.. at Elways, so named for the football guy, yes. He put his name on it and for ten years I staunchly resisted passing through the doors--my silent protest at having half the city named after a guy who was apparently very good at football, a pasttime I find paralyzingly boring, and whose name I was already tired of long before the end of the last century.
I think, in retrospect, I'm glad about that.
I mean, if I'd know ten years ago how absolutely delicious the food was, I'd probably weigh 200 lbs by now.
Spicy steak chili. Lip-lickin' good.
I'm not talking about work stuff because all my clients are still crazy.
Posted by AnneZook at 04:38 PM | Comments (6)Sometimes, it might feel good to cuss a bit.
I don't usually swear--it's so white-trash to have four-letter words pouring out of your mouth under any circumstances and at my age it would be doubly inappropriate.
The Piggyback Corral was back in my inbox this morning--asking in all innocence if I saw a reason why they shouldn't delete the X-thing that was no longer working well. I saw a bazillion--but I contented myself with pointing out one--that the X-things are where the locations' business comes from so deleting the X-things means eliminating the lead flow.
So. You know. Don't do that. It would be bad.
An email back-and-forth ensued, where they generously offered to pay me to teach the newbie how to do it all. They offered to pay me for an hour.
They really didn't understand or respect what I did, did they?
I mean, is it me, or does this offer pretty much confirm that?
One of the 'Nuts is also in my in-box, asking me to call them about taking over management. I haven't done it yet--but have decided it's worth making the phone call. I mean, they thought my fees were too high back when I was offering them a special deal, right after I left. I can't wait to hear what they think of what today's 'list' prices are.
The Playground Monitor thing turns out, I'm happy to say, to be intermittent and largely virtual. Maybe one web meeting a month and maybe traveling once a year. I can live with that.
Another behind-the-scenes thing I can't talk about is happening and the advance prep is taking up a fair share of my brain this week. Suffice to say that top of this weekend's to-do list is writing articles. It's been a long time since I wrote to order and I've never written anything that might pass for a "professional" article.
I'm a tad concerned. My syntax is idiosyncratic (and how impressed are you that I spelled that right on the first try?), my punctuation intermittent, my vocabulary pretentious, and my attitude flippant. Doesn't seem to bode well, does it?
(Which, for some irrational reason, reminds me that I promised Gidget a month ago that I'd go do some work on our company website. Must really try to be more productive.)
It's 2:24. What with one thing and another, I have not yet even started the to-do list that faced me at 8:00 this morning. Maybe if I dig in now, I can get at least one thing checked off in the next three hours.
I need to start working more hours each day, that's all. If I take my contacts out, I'll bet I could keep going another two or three hours before my eyes blazed red from monitor burnout.
Posted by AnneZook at 02:24 PM | Comments (4)Sometimes I do a lot in between posts, but by the time I get around to blogging, it's all stale and not worth the effort it would take to type about it.
Recap of the last few days, beyond the already-blogged cooking thing:
Snow.
Some more snow.
A little more snow.
Even for Denver, 15" is a lot of snow, and that was what we had before the 2 inches we got last night. It's still coming down, too.
It feels like every time I almost have making a 2 mile walk down as part of my daily routine (I plan to work up to 4), we get snow and it's so treacherous underfoot that going even a single mile takes half an hour or more. Sheesh.
In the middle of a chat-meeting at the moment. Should probably be paying more attention to it.
Latest client nibble--so far, this one has the potential to be the craziest yet. He's sent me three or four long, almost incoherent emails so far, each of which has been as much about his hobby as his business. I dunno. I demanded a premium (for me) fee, to offset the crazy I feel coming and he said, "okay" so either I'm still underpricing my services (I've doubled my fees since I went solo full-time) or--or, I don't know what.
Webstrainer is being flattering again. Apparently, from the worldwide list of 40-50 of Mother's Little Helpers in my specialty, I and four others have been "nominated" for a further honor, which will hereinafter be referred to as Playground Monitor. Should this come to fruition, it involves a meeting in ten days that I hope is virtual since otherwise it will make my second scheduled trip to CA this month.
I don't know why they're picking me. My group of MLH includes people who are younger and more knowledgeable and at least as articulate in our field. People who are already much better known to the community at large.
Where, I ask, where was this career field when I was 30 or 40 and young enough to really take advantage of what seems to be my affinity for it? I coulda' been a contender!
Also, a Webstrainer-affiliated site that I donate some time and expertise to, helping non-profits solve their problems, has sent me yet another "Congratulations, you're exceptional!" email but they're not fooling me and I don't have any more time to dedicate to giving away my expertise than I'm already giving them, so they might as well not suck up to me.
Or, maybe I would, if I were better organized.
Bored of that topic now.
Yes, I'm going to California the end of this month. My annual pilgrimage to meet up with a group of friends I rarely get a chance to "talk" to, even online, the rest of the year.
It's chancy, I know, spending the money on this kind of trip at this point in my financial 'life' but part of why I decided on this new lifestyle was to give me time to live my life, and part of my life that I really love is this annual trip.
I'm not active in the hobby that originally drew me to these people any more, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy seeing them and talking to them. (And, to be honest, I just love the little town where the gatherings are held. When I win the lottery, I might move there, assuming it's one of those lotteries with a $200million payout.)
Must go finish my meeting and then do some work.
Posted by AnneZook at 09:58 AM | Comments (4)I haven't been amazingly adventurous on the Food Front recently, but one thing I did do was to sign up for a session at Whole Foods across the street.
The topic was Argentinian Empanadas and I'm a huge pig for good empanadas, so the R.C. and I braved the threat of a major (even "epic") storm forecast and toddled over to take a look.
An empanada, for those who don't know, is a pastry filled with tasty (pre-cooked) fillings of various varieties and fried or baked.
Mmmm.
We learned to make the dough and to fix the fillings, getting to taste two variations with recipes for both, along with links to websites offering other filling recipes. Well worth the price--which was nothing.
Me, being me, I came home resolved to DIY so I could try a few things for myself. (Experimental cooking is hobby of mine. Thankfully, the fact that I'm a lousy cook means little of what I make winds up on my butt. Most of it goes in the trash.)
First, dough.
The traditional recipe calls for heaping helpings of lard. Our chef provided us with an alternative recipe using only butter, instead.
#1 - I am astonishingly lazy.
#2 - Making dough didn't strike me as "part of the fun" to be had.
#3 - Nor do I own a food processor, the gadget needed to make the dough in two minutes or less.
#4 - Nor do I have the patience to make the dough and let it "rest" in the refrigerator before I continue playing cooking. Who's in charge here, anyhow? Me or a sack of flour?
Also, I am no longer allowed to eat things where one of the first three ingredients is "X sticks of butter."
To save time and fat calories, then, I decided to substitute egg roll wrappers for the homemade dough. It would change the final result a trifle but each wrapper (made of soy) is 100 calories and no fat. Healthier!
I had both chicken and "'salad size" shrimp on hand, so when lunchtime approached today, I decided to try them both.
I sauteed a bit of onion in two pans, then diced and cooked the meats (in the different pans). Removing the meat from the pan(s), I added some diced veggies (not an ideal mix--just what I had on-hand which was green beans, baby carrots, and sweet corn) and pan-seared them in the small amount of liquid leftover from cooking the meats. I added, variously, salt, pepper, ginger, garlic, and a very small amount of hoisin or oyster sauce to each pan and hotted it all up again. (I know--weird sauces for an "Argentinian" recipe. I blame the egg roll wrappers--once I got started cooking I was thinking "egg rolls" instead of "empanadas.")
While the fillings cooled a bit, I sprayed a piece of tinfoil with some cooking spray.
I laid out two egg roll wrappers and put about 3 tablespoons of filling in each. The empanada recipes call for 1-2 tbsp of filling but egg roll wrappers are larger, so I added a bit more under the theory that I was only going to be eating half of each initially anyhow. As it turned out, even 3 tbsp was not quite enough since when it came time to roll, I had more wrapper than filling, but whatever.
I rolled and wrapped the fillings, placed them on the tinfoil, sprayed the rolls with some more cooking spray, and poked them into the oven.
In about 6-1/2 minutes, I should know if any of it is edible or not.
It's very exciting!
Still. Next time, I think I'll stick with "approved" recipes from people who know what they're doing the first time I try something new.
Also, there are a lot of vegetarian empanada recipes I want to try, along with some sweet versions and, as long as I have a stock of egg roll wrappers now anyhow, I'm thinking that homemade eggrolls, without the frying, would be a tasty thing to be able to make for myself.
2 minutes and 20 seconds!
How's your life?
____________________________
Don't Do This At Home:
Ugh. Forgetting, in the middle of cooking, what cuisine you're experimenting with is not a good idea.
Also, too complicated. Too many flavors going on. I see, now, why all the empanada filling recipes I see online are so simple. One main ingredient, one accent, and a couple of spices.
I think I have some hamburger in the freezer. I'll try again, in a few days, but focusing this time.
I'm happy to report that the egg roll wrappers were a success. They crisped up nicely. If nothing else, I can congratulate myself on having eaten only 100 calories of processed soy at lunch instead of half a stick of butter, a cup of white flour, and however much oil those ingredients were able to soak up during the frying process.
Posted by AnneZook at 12:15 PM | Comments (3)Nothing like having your head stuffed up to convince you that everything you should be doing is more effort than it's worth. It's all Oysters and no Pearls today.
The new account I'm working on is something of a mess. The client, let's call him Sunny Jim, is one of Louie Louie's bunch.
The business has been advertising on a DIY basis until now--and doing everything simultaneously in a way that virtually guarantees spending the maximum amount of money for the minimum return.
Somewhere inside my stuffed-up head is a simple way to start over--I've done this before--but those brain cells don't seem to be functioning today. Every time I try to follow the process through to the logical conclusion I run into the abyss of their completely useless website.
It's like building a house without putting down a foundation--no matter how fancy the windows you design or how many bathrooms you decide to add on paper, every time you put two boards together, it all collapses. Online? Website=foundation.
I'm not really in a position to turn down clients yet--the cost of COBRA each month is decimating my savings--but I am very frustrated by clients who don't get the concept.
So distracted I burned my lunch in the microwave. Apartment stinks.
Posted by AnneZook at 11:01 AM | Comments (1)Lookee! Here I am--back again in less than a month!
Today's schedule includes doing laundry. I do like working from home--the ability to get some of these little chores done "on the side" is a gift. I took time this past weekend (still working 7 days/week, yes, but slowing down a lot on the weekends) to go through the newest Pile (misc mail, mostly junk) and get rid of what was get rid-of-able. What's left just needs to be filed--but that means opening the door to the Storage & Filing half of the closet which means facing the three Piles I shoved in there two months ago, promising myself I'd deal with them "very soon."
Newest account went live today. I'm dubious. Doubtful. Dithering.
I have no objection to a d i e t program, but I'm not a fan of this particular one so far. Although the cost is low, what you get when you opt to pay is (IMO) not worth the price. They need three or four times the amount of information to justify asking people for money to access it.
Louie Louie (it's one of his clients) is taking my objections to them--if they don't decide to provide content worth the cost, I may have to take an ethical stand.
I hate that.
I don't know, though. There's some content behind the paywall, and some of it is of value. I'm going to have to decide just how much to let my own opinion of clients' businesses affect my decision to work with them. (I suspect, knowing me, the answer will have to be "quite a lot.")
Before the holidays, I had a Big Client Nibble but it seems to have been just that--a nibble. Haven't heard a peep from them since.
I got a nibble for a mediumish (is too a word) account yesterday. I'm letting Gidget and Vela take point on that one--I suspect most of the work the client will wind up wanting will be in their areas of specialty. It could produce a modest initiative in my own area, though.
That plus the new account, the newest account, and the second-oldest new account, all of which have and/or will activate this month, will add a nice increment to my income. (At the moment, I'm making so little that these 3-4 new accounts will almost double my income. Still--I tell myself that I never expected to be raking in big bucks a scant 60 days after opening my self-employment doors.)
I've also been dithering about my annual trip to CA. It's time and past time that I made plane and hotel reservations and whatnot, but I haven't been able to make up my mind whether or not to spend the money, what with my current income and all.
The cost of the trip, no matter how economically I try to do it, winds up being about equal to a month's rent & utilities. A fair-sized chunk of dough. And yet, the point of being self-employed was partly to leave me time for more of a life, right? To loosen up my schedule and leave me more time to do a wider variety of things? Still. Enough money to cover R&U for a month?
This morning, with great reluctance, I decided to pass on the trip.
Makes me sad.
Part of me is still dithering and deciding.
It's Friday! This coming weekend I anticipate finally having the time to watch the new DVDs I got for Christmas!
Also, to beat the final boss monster in one of the games I got, so I can let myself open the second game and start on it. (Current game: Final Fantasy III. Next game: Rune Factory 3.)
A day or two ago I knocked off work early and had an amazon.com blowout, spending a gift certificate Santa brought me and then this morning, in my email, lo! another one appeared! Blowout #2, here I come--filling up my Kindle!
New books! I can't tell you how excited I am--buying an armload (even a virtual, electronic one) of new books all at once--that's not something I ever let myself do any more--first from a lack of shelf space and later (after the Frugality Program set in, during my last bout of unemployment) because of the cost.
At the moment, though, I'm re-reading Dickens, though. It's a real advantage to be in love with authors whose works are in the public domain. Not necessarily because I was able to download all their works for free, but because doing so inspired me to re-read the books.
If I ever wondered why I kept giving them shelf room all these years--now I remember.
In the middle of David Copperfield at the moment. The villains are a bit over-drawn, especially for modern sensibilities, and Our Hero is a bit of a doormat, but those faults are offset by the endless battle of the donkeys and by the immortal Micawbers.
I don't know why I thought you'd care about any of that.
Hello, hello.
So much time has passed--so little to report.
I'd like to add a bit of drama--Louie Louie doesn't seem to have liked my last couple of projects for him and is requesting advance access to the next account (a new one, signed up yesterday) before it goes live, so he can check it first.
Although I'm a touch bitter about people who demand a week's worth of work in 48 hours, then carp about the quality of the product--or who provide vague instructions and are subsequently surprised not to get what they pictured--I'm not feeling crabby today, so we'll let it pass. (Also, I just received the check for last month's work for him and am reminded of why I do this.)
I'll also pass on whining about getting yet another client who wants to "help."
It's what I call Edit Syndrome. When faced with a blank page (or empty account), no one is willing to commit to--or even has a clue about--what they want. Once someone else creates a draft, suddenly everyone's an expert in what it should have said or how it should have been done and they're all eager to edit to show off what they know.
Bah.
It snowed last night, but didn't amount to much. An inch or less. The roads were a bit icy this morning (or, so those who have to commute on them have told me) but the sun is shining and it's all warm and beautiful out there today.
I've been spending what seems to be a ridiculous amount of money recently--90% of it at the grocery store. Stepping onto the scales reveals that yes, I did put on a holiday half-pound or pound, but not more than that, so it wasn't some kind of junk food binge.
I suspect it's the diet. Eating "healthy" food is much more expensive than eating junk. You often see bags of potato chips on sale BOGO (Buy One, Get One free) but you don't see bunches of celery or bags of oranges on sale that way. Produce only goes on sale when it's at the overripe "eat it today or throw it away" stage.
Fresh fruit--I've been on a watermelon kick but it's out of season now and getting pricey. Have to stop indulging in that.
Partly I've been stocking up on ingredients (if freezable) for new recipes I'm pretending I'm going to try. (My leisure reading, when I'm on a diet, is often cookbooks. I search for appetizers or healthy food combinations that have reasonable nutrition stats per portion.) (Also, I find cooking very entertaining. I'm not good at it, but I find it entertaining.)
I tried a new recipe this weekend--a shrimp-based appetizer, that turned out to be quite delicious. Shrimp, cucumber, avocado, red onion, tomato (the recipe called for red bell peppers, but I loathe those, so I added tomato for color instead), green onion, cilantro, jalapenos. Sounds like it would bite back, but the 'bitey' ingredients were used in very small quantities so it turned out very flavorful instead.
I've been eating that and RAT sandwiches alternately for the last 48 hours. (Leftover ingredients--Red onion, Avocado, Tomato. Put 'em together on a crusty roll with a tiny smidgeon of cilantro paste and some black pepper and chow down.)
I like a nice veggie sandwich although I find them challenging. Because so many veggies have high moisture content, they're slippery. I do hate a sandwich that, when you bite it, half the ingredients slide out the other side. Maybe I should buy some of those "pocket" rolls with no open end for things to escape from?
I didn't really have anything to say today. You know that's true when I'm talking about sandwiches.
Oysters
Remember when I said I didn’t know what was wrong with my head the last time I posted? I know now. My transition from the corporate cubicle world to self-employment, though it seemed to be seamless and simple on the surface, had the back, bottom, and sides of my brain in some turmoil. Had a tiny meltdown there for a few days.
I quit my job!
In a sinking economy where even the corporate-owned nightly newscasters have started mentioning, quite matter-of-factly, that while unemployment and poverty rose in the last quarter, the rich got a lot richer, I left the dull but secure safety net of a stable job for the uncertainty of going it on my own.
At an age when I expected to be anticipating an early, and well-funded, retirement, with my retirement funds stagnant—as they have been for the last 11 years—I decided to give up my paycheck?
Not all my preparation—thinking about it for two years, talking about it incessantly, having enough funds on-hand to keep me going for a few months, etc., seems to have convinced all of my brain that, (a) this was going to happen, and (b) it was okay to make the decision.
I think it was three or four days ago that it all actually fell in on me—the idea that I was going to quit my job with only a tiny and unstable income in sight, I mean. Since that was easily two months too late for me to change my mind, I went ahead and adapted.
I’m better now.
It’s much too later to bore y’all with the work details of the last month. Highlights include one account that I didn’t expect to come on board actually taking the plunge, adding a small amount to the aforementioned tiny income, a new account from Louie Louie materializing yesterday, adding another critical mite of bill-paying funding, another Louie Louie account lurking in the wings, a moderate account from the Sandwich Man (another agency), that could sign on this month, and a solid nibble from a stand-alone account that would, if it develops, double my current income.
There. In a nutshell and drama-free.
Pearls
My holidays were fantabulous, as they tend to be. I got the usual mix of games, books, toiletries, and foodstuffs, all of which delighted me.
I took a chance and asked Santa for the new version of Final Fantasy III they released for the DS. I was a bit concerned—I’ve been doing mostly just farming games for the last 2-3 years and wasn’t sure if I was “up” to anything more challenging any more, but I’m moving right through it, and having a ball.
Santa also brought me Rune Factory 3, but I’m saving that one. I haven’t even finished my birthday game (Harvest Moon: Tale of Two Towns) yet and bouncing between two games at once is as much as my brain can handle.
I made holiday cards again this past fall—store-bought ones are cheaper and nicer but making cards gives me something to do with my hands in the evenings besides eating. Because I didn’t get them actually mailed, family members can expect to see theirs as “new year greetings” showing up in the next week. No one else I know actually sends cards, so I’m going to let them off the hook and stop sending those. The R.C. wrote a holiday letter, which inspired me to write one of my own for inclusion. (I’m a big copier of others’ notions.)
Now, post-meltdown, I’m back to what will become my “regular” work schedule. Today, so far, I’ve showered*, attended a regular idea-sharing chat session by way of “professional education”, finished one load of laundry and started a second one, and run an armload of reports for the new account I need to reorganize and get working by Thursday. All very productive and peaceful.
Also, I made a pot of tea. I’m becoming very fond of sipping a civilized cup of tea throughout the day. A pot of tea—something that would be very difficult to make in an office, is becoming symbolic of my new freedom.
Freedom. Not leisure.
There is more--but I'll blog again soon. Right now, I need to go do some work.
Hope your holidays were the most wonderful ever, and that 2012 brings nothing but peace, prosperity, and joy to you and your loved ones!
_______________________
* Not a thing I can take for granted. I’m finding that the water in this building tends to be off unexpectedly once or twice a week. Not always for long—often less than an hour—but long enough to make the morning pot of coffee and shower a bit unpredictable.
It's now been almost three weeks since I struck out to explore the waters of Entrepreneurial Life.
So far--well, nothing to report. I'm still working on the same clients, all of whom are still being stupid in the same ways.
The two new agencies who appeared with clients in hand have not so far produced any billable work but with the holidays approaching it's normal to see a bit of a slowdown. I guess. I think. I hope that's what it is, anyhow.
Vela is still around--I think I mentioned that she also decided to go freelance after she was laid off and that she and Gidget have been working on a number of projects together? She comes up with the weirdest stuff--it's mostly her clients that Gidget winds up working 60 hours a week on for 5 hours worth of pay.
Vela sent me one recently--a holiday account that should have been planned and launched a month or more ago. It was a desperate, urgent, urgent project for--wait for it--no pay. Because she's a friend, I didn't mention this, I just sent her a list of what I need. That was six days ago and the client's already short 3 week window of opportunity is shrinking fast while I twiddle my thumbs and wait.
I don't mind helping them out, they really are very dear friends, but I do object to what I do being treated as something not worth paying for. When I ask them to help me, I always pay them. The projects I do for them--they never seem to think that offering me money is necessary. (Not a big issue at the moment--the stuff they come up with is pretty small-scale, but still.)
I have a 10:00 chat session (education) today, a 10:00 client conference call tomorrow, and a 2:00 educational seminar tomorrow. It was my hope, when I struck out into Entrepreneurial Waters, that time to keep up with the industry, educate myself a bit, and generally learn more about what I need to know, would be easy to find. This is not, thus far, tending to be the case. This week's two educational events are the first ones I've had time to schedule.
In an industry prone to changing rapidly, almost daily, and dramatically, education is not a luxury. I need to get my days better organized.
Sorry--when I sat down to write this, I didn't realize my head was in such a plodding, blah place at the moment. I'll try for a more upbeat tone in the next post.
Posted by AnneZook at 09:42 AM | Comments (0)Today it's all oysters and no pearls. and it's barely afternoon.
This morning I have overslept (tch-tch), done three loads of laundry, and moved the Closet Project at good 40% toward completion with the final weeding out of a few more garments and the sorting of "things I will wear a lot" from "things I might wear occasionally," complete with bagging the "occasionally" section to keep it all clean.
This is not because my compulsive work ethic is taking a holiday.
No, it's the aforementioned Crazy Component--still the Magical Mystery Machines account.
When I sat in the cubicle farm, the need to step back for an hour or two and let my subconscious work out how to accomplish whatever impractical demands were being made of me meant doing a lot of smoking (hardly healthy), staring at data until my head was going in so many circles that rational thought was impossible, and, not infrequently, finally doing something not because it was the right thing to do but because I was "at the office" and I felt compelled to do something.
Now, when someone demands the stupid, the illogical, or the downright absurd, I can go do something productive while the back of my brain works on the problem.
It doesn't necessarily make arriving at the "right" course of action easier--ridiculous and unobtainable are still ridiculous and unobtainable --but it's certainly much less aggravating.
So, maybe that's a pearl.
Posted by AnneZook at 01:24 PM | Comments (0)Got a little distracted from the topic in that last post, didn't I?
For the record, I shopped yesterday and at the Container Store I acquired the bounty of not one but two small bookcases for half price! (Floor model sell-outs. Score!) So I got extra shelving in my home office and also three more shelves for the closet, to assist in the never-ending task of organizing the space. I also cleaned out old and unloved garments and took them to a donation station, another huge step toward getting it under control.
I still have boxes and bags full of stuff--the cubicle stuff and presents I've received from Webstrainer that I can't decide what to do with--stuck it all back in the closet until I have time and energy to go through it all--but aside from that heap, I made major Organizational Progress yesterday. I feel good about that.
So--that 72 hours we were going to talk about.
Well, first, two oysters.
I celebrated my new reliance on freelance income by threatening to fire one client--the JasonWife account--if they don't provide me with the site features I need, and smacking another one across the chops for "helping" so relentlessly that a pipeline to the almighty wouldn't allow me to produce success for them.
I can't stand clients who want to "help" and especially those who demand major structural and focus changes every 10 days.
A review of past performance shows that their results have been poor all this year. You would think that would be enough to convince them that they don't know what they're doing and that they should leave it to the experts, wouldn't you?
I mean, granted, their Magical Mystery Machines product makes my head hurt when I try to understand it enough to advertise it all, but the kind of "help" that would be useful--like a website with clear destination pages and less reliance on industry abbreviations--would go a long way toward "helping" me and the Webstrainer software understand what they're doing.
Aside from that, the first client from one of the two new agencies (hereinafter referred to as Mister Dillon) bailed, so that project is dead in the water. I'm not sorry--another client with ridiculous expectations and even more ridiculous demands for how quickly their expectations needed to be met. The agency swears there will be Real business some day soon. Whatever.
Haven't heard back from the other agency (hereinafter identified as Sandwich Man) about that proposal for the first of three accounts they were thinking of offering us. but that's partly my fault--they needed one additional bit of info and it took me until Friday to get it to them.
Things with Louie Louie, my original pearl, seem to be reasonably smooth. I have five active accounts with him (and one on hiatus), three of whom seem to be happy clients. One of the others is the aforementioned Magical Mystery Machines problem child. The other is the FastFinder company who used to do different things on their website that produced massive success but who aren't doing that any more and won't stop complaining that their massive success melted away.
And, finally, there's UglyFruitSoftware, a definite oyster, my most recent client and (unusually for me) a direct account--no agency involved. Possibly the worst--certainly the ugliest--site I'm trying to work with--and that's after I sent page after page of suggestions for improvement to the lunatic client who inexplicably insisted on doing all his own coding and design. He made about 1/3 of my changes before he got bored. I do not predict a long-term relationship or any measurable success. If I found myself on that website, I'd hit the back button instantly and go find a more professional company to work with.
I'm not regretting my decision to go it on my own--not at all--but I'm not immediately seeing any decrease in the level of Crazy I'm dealing with.
On the other hand, I did work in my pajamas one day this past week, so, fun there.
Posted by AnneZook at 09:50 AM | Comments (2)