the job thing

After consulting a newsgroup (no, not rassef) and having a friend call with the results of research, I called the unemployment office's robot yesterday, and told it that I hadn't been available for work the previous week. I now wait to see whether they send me a piece of paper explaining that I'm not getting a check for that week, or take it as read. (The current NY rules are that one can be paid for no more than 26 weeks in a 52-week period; if things go well, I won't need that week's benefits, and if they don't, it'll mean I'm eligible for a later week, so it comes out much the same. Aside from knowing I've been honest, a comfort for reasons both ethical and practical.)

Meanwhile, thanks to ers, I've just sent off a resume for a writer/editor job at a financial services company, found on a Web site she pointed me to.

And my intrepid researcher suggests that I re-analyze the question as "where do I want to work?" and then figure out how to get that place to hire me. She said assorted ego-boosting things to me, and when I told her to keep saying things like that, said something like "you mean pointing out things that are plain as day?" Definitely egoboo, and much of it is stuff I already knew, but is good to hear from outside. But "dedicated" isn't how I usually think of myself. She's right, though: given something worth doing, I'll dive in. And I used a variant on that as part of the cover letter I just sent.

Now, if I can just remember what good suggestion it was that I caught myself halfway through responding by giving reasons it wouldn't work. Having caught--and stopped--that particular bad habit is both good and noteworthy, but it would be nice to remember what it was that I found myself saying "yes, but" to.

the job thing

After consulting a newsgroup (no, not rassef) and having a friend call with the results of research, I called the unemployment office's robot yesterday, and told it that I hadn't been available for work the previous week. I now wait to see whether they send me a piece of paper explaining that I'm not getting a check for that week, or take it as read. (The current NY rules are that one can be paid for no more than 26 weeks in a 52-week period; if things go well, I won't need that week's benefits, and if they don't, it'll mean I'm eligible for a later week, so it comes out much the same. Aside from knowing I've been honest, a comfort for reasons both ethical and practical.)

Meanwhile, thanks to ers, I've just sent off a resume for a writer/editor job at a financial services company, found on a Web site she pointed me to.

And my intrepid researcher suggests that I re-analyze the question as "where do I want to work?" and then figure out how to get that place to hire me. She said assorted ego-boosting things to me, and when I told her to keep saying things like that, said something like "you mean pointing out things that are plain as day?" Definitely egoboo, and much of it is stuff I already knew, but is good to hear from outside. But "dedicated" isn't how I usually think of myself. She's right, though: given something worth doing, I'll dive in. And I used a variant on that as part of the cover letter I just sent.

Now, if I can just remember what good suggestion it was that I caught myself halfway through responding by giving reasons it wouldn't work. Having caught--and stopped--that particular bad habit is both good and noteworthy, but it would be nice to remember what it was that I found myself saying "yes, but" to.

experimental cookery

We have some leftover leg of lamb (there's a lot of meat on one of those things--we've already gotten three meals out of it), so I decided to try my all-purpose pilaf recipe. It calls for broth, and I'm not really happy with the canned broth I have in the house, so I've thrown a small potato, part of a carrot and some extra peelings, some garlic, some ancient celery, salt, pepper, and olive oil into a saucepan. In a little while, I'll either have a perfectly usable vegetable broth, or I'll be out about 20 cents worth of vegetables, and can fall back on the canned stuff. And, as long as I was in there, I toasted some pine nuts, to put on the pilaf just before serving. (A quarter century ago, this recipe was a fairly plain side dish.)

experimental cookery

We have some leftover leg of lamb (there's a lot of meat on one of those things--we've already gotten three meals out of it), so I decided to try my all-purpose pilaf recipe. It calls for broth, and I'm not really happy with the canned broth I have in the house, so I've thrown a small potato, part of a carrot and some extra peelings, some garlic, some ancient celery, salt, pepper, and olive oil into a saucepan. In a little while, I'll either have a perfectly usable vegetable broth, or I'll be out about 20 cents worth of vegetables, and can fall back on the canned stuff. And, as long as I was in there, I toasted some pine nuts, to put on the pilaf just before serving. (A quarter century ago, this recipe was a fairly plain side dish.)