Whew. I sure am glad that temp job has ended. What a lot of fuss and stress just because some people are constitutionally incapable of getting their work done before the last second!

Between the supervisor whose idea of training is vague at best and the same person's habit of not getting her assigned tasks done until the last second, Monday ("drop-dead" day) was fairly frantic. Said supervisor showed an inclination to blame me for them being against the wall on deadlines but, as the R.C. and the rest of that department well know, I never walked out of there in the evening leaving more than about 30 minutes of work undone--in fact, just enough to keep me busy the next morning until the supervisor wended her leisurely way into the office.

You gotta admire her nerve, though. 30 minutes after she produced the last part of her share of the project on Monday, she was in my cubicle passing remarks about how I'd done quite a bit. She didn't say "for a change" but it was in her voice. Considering that she chose not to show up on that cold, snowy Thursday when the rest of us foraged through the snowdrifts to get to the office? Gotta admire that kind of nerve.

Still, as the R.C. has kept pointing out--the paychecks don't bounce!

The poor R.C., though. She's having her first day of a 4-week temp job today and the work they want her to do doesn't seem to be (so far) as advertised. What she's doing is not making her happy and I'm not sure if she's even going to finish out the week, much less the month.

I'm redoubling my efforts to find a job now that the holidays have passed. The job sites were loaded with potential positions this morning and a former co-worker also mentioned that there's a position open at her new company, so possibilities abound.

Lest I forget--Happy New Year, all!

How's it going? I hope all of you had safe, warm celebrations.

Me, as is my habit, I was snuggled up in bed long before the midnight bell tolled. Even when I was a Young Party Animal, we considered New Year's Eve to be amateur hour--all of those once-a-year drunks on the road. Now that I no longer drink and find that staying up until midnight to be a pointless waste of sleep unless I'm reading a really good book, I'm doubly unwilling to don festive attire and go hang out with a lot of hooligans once a year.

Yesterday I did very little, very slowly.

Today? Not so much. Today's schedule has been like this: Get up, suck down one cup of coffee to prepare me for the day ahead. Pour a second cup and get to work.

-- Try to access the file Buehler sent me for the next project (cannot access on PC or on laptop--search online for converter, find, download, reboot computer, file still will not open, email Buehler for different file format if available) (But, of course, hooray! for more free-lance work for Buehler! He pays better than anyone else.)

-- Search all job sites (find several possibilities!)

-- Read return email from DiamondGirl (there may be a job at her new place of employment--continue emailing with her for an hour while I rework cover letter and send in via her and the Craigslist ad both),

-- Drive to aforementioned recent temp job site to get job ads I left there (chat with a couple of people briefly)

-- Come home, put in two loads of laundry, strip bed, prepare third load of laundry

-- Return to job sites and start customizing cover letter for the nine ads I have bookmarked. (Still in progress--this is a two-hour task for this many jobs of such various requirements.)

And it's only 1:00! Being unemployed is many things, but frequently it is not *restful.*

I have a New Knitting Project underway--a hat/scarf combination in cobalt blue. I have hopes that it won't turn out too badly. After I finish it, I'm out of yarn, though, so there will be no more yarn project updates until the Fates produce full-time employment with a generous paycheck.

I still have two holiday gift cards to spend. With some luck the weather and roads will be nice enough this weekend for me to make it to Borders. I'm getting Making Money. I've been wanting that for months and I'm very excited about getting it.

In the meantime, I still have seven ads to respond to, so I'd better get back at it.

Here's wishing all of you the best life has to offer in 2008 and beyond!