Move complete

We got the office all moved and set up again in record time. It helped that the new space was in the same building.

We move U

I’m off to help LotStreetWiz move his office from one cubicle to another. That will mean his extension number changes today.

see more crazy cat pics

What to do while unemployed

This came up in a BookCrossing discussion. My answer follows.

• Plan your garden? If it’s warm enough, plant a few things. Tell the people at the garden store that you’re looking for a new job.
• If you have TV, turn on some of the daytime exercise shows and bounce along with them.
• Start a daily stretching session- it will make you feel years younger. (Whartons’ stretch book is good–active isolated stretching or some such.)
• When you can leave the house, walk at least 3 miles a day (1 hour at a reasonably brisk pace) - but start off with five days of 20-minute walks and 5 days of 30-minute walks to get acclimatized.
• “Edit” your closets by passing along things you don’t wear, things you always put back for next time, things that itch, shrink, wrinkle at a hard look, or simply don’t flatter you. Compare them to clothes worn by people in the next level up of your profession.
• If there’s a public pool, swim. Tell the people you meet at the pool that you can swim during the day because you’re between jobs right now, and you’re looking for a new opportunity.
• Review what’s going on in your industry or one you’d like to be in and find out what skills you’ll need over the next few years.
• Phone your employed friends, meet them for coffee, and ask what’s going on in their lives. Let them know you’re looking for work. Maybe they’ll have heard of something.
• Learn to draw.
• Mend things that need mending or throw them out.
• Re-write your résumé.
• Find out what school at The Boy’s next level of school is going to need by the time he gets there, and work with parents who are there now to help provide it. Mentiond that you’re looking for work.
• Once Boy is well, run round and do all your long-term errands such as dentist, doctor, floor polishing, renew professional memberships, plan next year’s vacation. (Pitch tent in backyard? Need tent!)

I talk a good game, don’t I?

Computer problems

More LOLcats

Something happened to my laptop computer and now all I get is the Blue Screen of Death. None of the starting modes work. I have to dig up some original disks and do something about it so I can get access to recent files and photos.

Remember the Milk

Finally, the Web has come up with something I’ve been wishing for: a good online manager of to-do tasks.

More help for friend

The team of helpers, especially the rest of the team, has been cleaning my friend’s apartment. Instead of buying a new couch, we raised the old couch to a comfortable level using rectangular ceramic tubing.

I also dropped off some freshly laundered clothing and left a book for her.

More help

I dropped off some finished laundry and a mirror for my friend. I re-organized part of the closet to save space. I emptied a tall bookshelf that has to be moved away from a heater. It’s only been there two or three years. I moved some shelves from in front of a chest of drawers so that she could get at the winter scarves and hats in the latter — and found my missing keys, which had fallen between the two pieces of furniture.

I’ve been busy

Too busy to blog, in fact.

Tuesday night I was too tired and depressed after visiting my friend to go to the STC meeting; which is just as well because it didn’t happen.

On Wednesday, my friend called me before 8:00 a.m. to tell me about another tote or suitcase she didn’t want lost in her mess. I made a note of it. I ran errands. I waited to hear the interview results. I moved the laundry along. (It’s infinite.) I made a long list of ileo-safe foods. My friend’s “helper team:” of friends had a conference call to plan. She has a one-page list of all the things that she wants us to do to get her apartment ready for her to come home. We agreed to meet there on Thursday. I picked up her keys to make copies and measured the furniture that needs to be replaced.

Wednesday night was a Pilates lesson.

Thursday I had a second interview with my prospective client. Then I walked up to visit my friend in hospital as she was anxious that she might be moved and wanted to measure the heights of various objects in her room right now. I rushed home, had a snack, and got the keys copied and labelled them. Then I met the others at her apartment. We sorted out her clothes to find the dirty ones (ALL of them, it seems). I checked her voice mail and saved the messages. We worked for about three hours to clear away some of the mess (putting clothes into closets, recycling expired flyers). Each of us took two large bags home for washing. I also identified some clothes that she’ll never get into again, which are candidates for the thrift stores. Life was complicated by my losing the car key somewhere between the car and the apartment; the other helpers gave me a lift home. Finally, I helped another friend to study for an important test–she picked me up and I was able to unlock the car with spare keys. We had a good time studying and I met her two cats.

Friday it was swimming practice at 7:00 a.m., driving LotStreetWiz to work, and visiting my friend at hospital. I figure if the clothes are smaller than a certain size, we can get rid of them. However, she wants to make the decisions. Then I went home to do more laundry and check the STC job bank e-mail & listings. I combined trips, driving to Welland and checking my dad’s house, and meeting his friends to give them an update, then driving back to Hamilton to pick up Andie and take her back to Toronto.

Saturday it was more clothes-sorting, trying to rescue my friend’s cats, checking the STC job bank e-mail & listings, and doing laundry. I sorted all our sheets to find single sheets for my friend’s prospective new bed. I took the sheets to her apartment. On the home front, one of our kittens, I presume, brought in a very flat, dried-out squirrel carcase. In the evening I took Andie contra dancing and we had about three hours of that. ( See Toronto Country Dancers for location and times.)

This morning (Sunday), one or both of the kittens brought in a pigeon; we don’t know if they killed it or found it.

We all went to a swimming lesson. We came home for lunch and to keep moving the laundry along, including my friend’s dirty clothes. LotStreetWiz is helping Andie to shop and driving her back to Hamilton. I’m *ahem* doing dishes and more laundry.

Hurray, hurray, I cleaned out the closet today!

Today I did a long-overdue task: cleaning out the bedroom closet. I took out all the clothes that were hanging up and put back only the ones that I wear which fit me and are suitable for work or formal occasions. I grouped them for convenience by type of clothing, e.g. dresses, then skirts on one side, tops in the middle, trousers on the other side followed by blazers. Clothes that are too casual for work or too warm went into dresser drawers. It sould make dressing in the morning much simpler.

Here’s a link to a survey site for business casual clothing for women: Lane Bryant, Macy’s, Chadwick’s, Coldwater Creek, Catherines, Lands’ End…

Yes, I still have too many clothes. But it’s a start.

Trying to be organized

I thought that I’d forgotten a dental cleaning tomorrow, so I quickly arranged to have the morning off and took home some general reference material to read. Then LotStreetWiz pointed out that it’s not for two weeks: I was looking at the wrong week in my calendar.

He has cracked a rib due to a slight bicycle mishap; that’s going to slow down his Ironman training for a while: his coach gave him three days off.