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10/29/2006: "quick miscelaneous updates"
I've been feeling very drained of late, and just haven't bothered to post stuff. I figured that I should finally get around to at least posting a brief digest of what's been going on. Here goes:
1) I've not heard back from the Mississauga job. So much for the "99% certain you'll get it" the recruiter keeps saying. I've pretty much dismissed the possibility at this point.
2) Had a second interview for Burlington. Sounds promising, but I'm not going to hold my breath.
3) I have two interviews tomorrow. One is for the parent company of the place I worked for straight out of university, in Cambridge. Could be promising. The other is in Stratford. Not quite as exciting, but it's a lot closer.
4) I finally went in on Friday to apply for EI and to sign up at a temp agency. I have to keep calling in to keep my name near the top of the list. I also have to find a previous record of employment for my failed sales job before I can get any EI.
5) I finally totally shaved my head. The only hair I have left on my head is my eyebrows and a goatee and mustache. Everything else got clipped, then shaved. I like it, and will likely be shaving everything twice a week to stay smooth.
6) I had the pleasure of attending Elizabeth May's nomination meeting in London on Thursday. For those of you that don't follow Green Party stuff (probably most of you) she is running in London North in a federal by-election. I got to see and meet her for the first time in person that night, as well as chat with a bunch of London-area Greens. Fun evening.
7) On a business trip to Windsor (doing work for Gerald) I came across a business idea that has real merit. Real merit in that there is a definite problem that needs solving, and there is a huge amount of value in solving the problem. It may be a fairly capital-intensive business to start up, but that's what investors and venture capitalists are for, right? I'm going to keep looking into it, foremost to make sure this is truly a niche that hasn't been examined yet. There is stuff that is very similar, but so far I haven't found anything that is exactly what I think is needed. Could be lucrative.
8) I blew my New Year's resolution. This year's was to not each chocolate bars. I was doing fine until we bought some Hallowe'en treats, and totally forgot that the mini chocolate bars are indeed still chocolate bars. So "chocolate bars" goes back on the list for this coming January, and "vending machine food" will have to be bumped back to 2008. Bummer. This is the first setback I've had on this program of eliminating one recreational food each year.
9) The woman who is relocating for a job locally is really excited about my vision for a cohousing community. I'm ecstatic about that, because she's not only got experience with Ecovillage at Ithaca, but she's VERY involved there, and knows a lot of people that could help out. Having her and her family join will be a huge shot in the arm for my little dream project.
10) It's good to see that Apple finally bumped up the baseline RAM in the MacBook Pro to 1GB. Hopefully by the time I'll be in the market for a MacBook they'll have increased that to the same level. I'm really looking forward to a new computer so I can run things like Google Sketchup and GIMP, things that will simply bog down my modest little Pismo.
11) I'm considering becoming LEED-certified. This is something Gerald would like me to have if I'm working for him, but cashflow precludes his paying for it. Bank of Dad has approved it, however. It would also give me a platform from which to leap into the green building industry, which is something I've been interested in for a very long time. The workshop is November 8th in Toronto, so I have to hustle to get things in place to go.
12) I've been referred to counselling by my church. I'll probably contact them tomorrow. I'm not really sure what it will be able to do for me, as so far as I can tell this whole situation has been brought on by the lack of work. I have plans to make sure this doesn't happen again (LEED-certification, MBET program) but they take time. I'll call and see what they say. Talking certainly can't hurt at this point. I probably need to vent a lot more than I realize.
13) If you haven't check out Freecycle yet, do so. We've been using it to get rid of a bunch of stuff we simply don't need, and it feels great to do so. Best of all, if something is wanted (and I've had a very good success rate) it's gone in a few days, if not hours. Last weekend we got rid of some kid's clothing and fabric, all within 2 hours. Sweet. A definite clutter-buster. That, and I just wanted to make it to #13, as it's my favourite number.
There - that should hold you for a while. I'm sure there'll be more to report later this week. Hopefully, some of it good.
