work blog, launched

Hey! In case I didn't catch you, dear reader, on my mass e-mail, my work blog has now launched. The URL is heymyfirstname.com, except instead of "myfirstname" it says my first name. If you do not know my first name...ok, I'm fairly certain I don't have any readers who don't know my first name. But if you are the one and only, leave a comment with your e-mail (you can delete it after you post it, I'll still see the comment) and I'll send it to you.

we're coming down to the ground

I'm trying to make my apartment livable by clearing up some of the disastrous mess - turns out when you bring all your office stuff home, then get a new desk, then buy a new computer, printer, phone, and camera, then start planning a trip to a very cold place that requires a lot of special equipment, things can get a bit cluttered.

To help me clean, I'm listening to my five-star-rated songs in iTunes. I define five stars as a song that, at some point in my life, I've been able to listen to on repeat without getting sick of it.

The Peter Gabriel song from Wall*E, "Down to Earth," just came on. I found that song, all cheerful and full of hope, very helpful in gearing up for work on days last fall when I was feeling particularly miserable. When it started, I thought, oh gosh - I haven't heard this in a while! I checked the stats and the last time I listened to it was ten and a half hours before I got laid off. Cool. It's a new era!

looking around the blogosphere

So as I figure out what kind of blog I want, I'm going to poke around and look at what other people are doing.

Here's one approach to this whole reporter-blog thing: posting notes as you work on a story. That's a blog post at the Center for Environmental Journalism. Some dude is working on a story about climate change and here he writes about an interview with a scientist. It's moderately interesting and well-written. I don't see anything that makes me want to follow it and read more, though. There's no shortage of places to read about global warming.

Olivia Judson blogs on the New York Times website about evolution. She has a nice writing style, but I get really impatient waiting for her to get to a dang point. I don't love her writing enough to keep going. Maybe in a book, but really, I have a short attention span online. (I admit, I didn't read the above post all the way through, either.) I'd be happy if she posted shorter pieces more than once a week, rather than 1,800 words weekly. Other people appear to be fans - she gets tons of comments.

So, the conclusion thus far: I apparently can't pay attention for long enough to give an intelligent critique of these blogs. Lesson: Short is good.

SSA blog

Ooh, I really like Kumquat's idea about starting a blog now about my Spring Science Adventure. It could be about preparing for the trip, reading up on the science ahead of time, and my burning questions about the accommodations, such as "Will there be a place to plug in my ipod charger?" and "What happens if I run out of tissues?" Normally when I'm packing to go somewhere, I figure, yknow, if I run out of something, I'll just buy it. Not an option this time.

(The place I'm going isn't a secret in real life, by the way - if you're mystified, leave a comment and I'll e-mail you.)

what is this blogging the kids are doing today

I'm starting off the new year, professional-wise, by ignoring my many deadlines in the next two weeks and trying to figure out this whole "blogging" thing. This seems ridiculous, as I have been blogging nonstop since June 2005, when I first claimed not to be interested in blogging. (Actually, July is even funnier - read from the bottom, as I transition from explaining why I'm not blogging to writing obsessively.)

But now I'm considering actual professional blogging. A blog about my book topic, for one; a blog about science and being a science writer, maybe; a blog about knitting...probably not. These blogs would be under my real name (I know! shocking!). I'm thinking WordPress, because people seem to be happy with that. And I hope that it would find readers.

Very few people have actual pre-built interest in my book topic, but as soon as I tell them about it, they're like, whooaa, cool! So the hope is that my blog would attract people with the "whooaa, cool!" response and get them to keep reading and eventually, oh, buy copies of the book for themselves and everyone they know. I guess I know more or less where I'm headed with that blog. I'm just waiting to hear from, um, the guy whose family it is about to see where he stands on this whole "book" issue.

So, what about this science/science writing blog I might want to start? I actually don't read any science blogs, mainly because I don't like any of them enough to go back regularly. Do you read any? Which should I read? I'm going to start surveying them and seeing which ones I should read, who I could learn from, just how mean and awful the commenters are, and why I dislike so many of the blogs. (I suspect a lot of my problem is that I have a really short attention span when I'm reading on the computer, which means a post as long as this one is pretty much not going to work for me.)

I suppose it could all be the same blog, with BookTopic posts tagged as such and other posts tagged as something else.

Help? Anyone? Insight?

after!

Look, it's my new office! It's not totally finished - it's probably going to get kind of a wall-like thing on the left side (maybe going up as high as the big shelf that is there) with some more shelves on it. Also, I'm getting a laptop, so the computer situation will change. Also, I will put stuff on the shelves. Oh, and the desk making the "L" is just my old desk - it's going to be a new one that matches the other new one and may also be on wheels, so I can get it out of the way when people come over. Anyway, isn't my dad awesome?

xtratuf!

I know, clicking links is annoying, but you must look at the boots I have to get for my Spring Science Adventure. They're Xtratuf! Just like this kitten!

hit by an office tsunami

Here's a "during" picture of my home office corner:

Wait, that picture makes it look way too orderly. Let's go stand behind the desk and check out the rest of the room:

Ok, that's more like it.

testing again

This time, with an attachment!

This is a good "before" picture of my desk corner.

UPDATE: Hey! It totally worked! That's good to know.

testing...testing...

This expedition I'm going on (which doesn't start til April) will
involve no web access. Shocking, I know!! But I will be able to send
text e-mails. So I'm trying out the thing where Blogger lets you
e-mail web posts. Does it work? Would it work better if I knew a
little basic html? Probably! Let me try a link...<a
href="http://mellificent.blogspot.com/2008/12/woooooo.html">here</a>.

Of course, since I won't have web access, I also won't be able to look
up links to include in text-only blog posts...man, this is going to be
a whole different world.

UPDATE and either I'm really, really bad at html, or that little experiment failed. I coded it right, didn't I? I think it just doesn't work. Well, just as well I'll only be sending text.

year

Sorry, I know that after a great burst of blog productivity I kind of stopped for a while there, but I realized there's just no way I'm going to make my quota and I kind of gave up. This year, there will not be 366 chunks o' towwas. It was just a rough year, you know? I mean, it's ending really well, but for a lot of the year I was pretty actively unhappy. There was a long stretch there where I slept on the couch most nights because I didn't want to go lie in bed and think about my day. I am more interested in blogging when I'm in a good mood.

I'm in a TOTALLY good mood now. Today I was at T.Hand's house and she asked, in a concerned voice, if I am really ok with being out of work. I am so ok. For example: no more stress-related digestive problems.

I was thinking the other day (as I painted polyurethane on a piece of my new home office) how darn lucky I am. I'm embarking on a really cool and exciting new phase of my career. I happen to be going into it in a very good financial position, in an apartment I love, with many excellent friends, relatives, and professional contacts on my side. Things are pretty darn good! I know freelancing will come with a whole new pile of stress, from new and interesting sources, and I know I'm feeling great right now 'cause I haven't really done any work in the last six weeks. But I'm optimistic about this new direction.

woooooo

So, the night before I was told I was getting laid off, I got an e-mail about this awesome adventure thing - someone was looking for a science writer to go along on a research trip. I forwarded it to Miss Shirley and wrote this: "omg. how much do I want to go do this? a lot." I was like, man, why do I have this stupid job so I can't drop everything and go away on six-week adventures?

Eleven hours later, I found out I didn't have the stupid job to worry about anymore.

And tonight, I found out I got the gig. Woooo!!!!!!

my new anthem, I guess

home office

Last Friday I had my dad captive in a car for an hour or so and got him thinking about how to rearrange my desk area. My desk is in a goofy little corner of my apartment, and it's really not big enough to work on. I mean, like, WORK work. I also need a way to get my bills, various coupons, Christmas Show stuff, and other non-work things out of my way when I'm working. Fortunately, my dad is really good at arranging furniture and shelves and things, so by the time we got out of the car he pretty much had it figured out. Today we went to IKEA to look at drawers and I think this whole desk thing is going to come together. Wahoo! Then I will no longer have an excuse for avoiding work. (Hahahhaha. No, don't worry, I'll think of something.)

finances

I have a decent amount of savings, so getting laid off is not an immediate financial emergency. But it does mean I'm living off a bank account that's only going in one direction, so I'd like to slow its rate of depletion. This has led to my new fiscal policy: Don't spend money.

It's actually kind of liberating. There's a number of activities I can cross right off my list. Shopping, for example. Most concerts and movies. Going out for drinks.

Sure, I'm still spending money on food, Netflix, and other necessities. But basically, this gives me very easy criteria for deciding what to do. Does it involve money? Yeah, I think I'll skip it. I imagine I'll start reintroducing spending eventually, as I get income, but for now I'm ok with being cheap.

vanilla google

When gmail first came out, privacy advocates were all up in arms about how google was going to use the text of your e-mails to target ads to you. And I see their point, but google swore nobody was actually going to read your e-mail and I personally was willing to risk it for the awesomeness that is gmail.

It turns out, I actually like the gmail ads, especially the ones that run in one line across the top of the window. There are so many goofy small businesses that buy ads. I keep seeing one for a website that has nice-looking cheap peruvian yarn. (Of course, now that I *want* to find it, I can't. Trying all kinds of searches in my gmail. Perhaps the ads expired. I did get several other knitting ads. And this, which could be useful.)

Just now I was trying to find my notes from a story I wrote about vanilla, because I wanted to buy some vanilla beans and I couldn't remember the names of the online sellers my sources had recommended to me. I searched and searched and finally found them, but then they were both way more expensive than I wanted. But then I noticed this ad for a store at the top of the window and was like, hey, guess I can check there - and they had the best prices I'd seen. So I went for it. What the heck. I like the google ads, I might as well support the people who buy them. I hope the beans aren't bad.

P.S. Ha! I've blogged about this before! And now I know how to knit...and those recycled silk yarns are still beautiful....

books, books, books

So in addition to my only-in-my-brain knitting memoir, I'm actually working on pitching a real live book idea. And I just sent a link to this blog to the editor I'm working with, so everybody wave! Hi S.Stra! If things go according to plan, I'll start a brand-new blog on the book topic soon. You all have to come read it and leave funny comments, ok? Extra exciting: That blog will be under my REAL NAME. I KNOW. SHOCKING.

lookin good

I think to match last year's feat (and the year before) I'd have to blog like three times a day for the rest of the year. Don't hold your breath. I mean, I'll give it a shot, but there could be a lot of boring posts.

Hey, I'm a freelance writer now. Check that out. I was in an excellent position when I got laid off - I have an embarrassingly large amount saved and in an easily-mobilized account (as opposed to my retirement savings, which I'm not touching), no family to support, reasonable rent, and yay, thank Congress for COBRA. And whenever I called a former boss or other nice person to tell them I'd been laid off, they'd say something like, "Great! Can you freelance for me?" So I'm going to give this freelance thing a shot. The savings and other circumstances mean that I don't have to panic for several months. And things had been so lousy at work for so long that I'd thought all the way through the worst-case scenario, and let me tell you, it isn't that bad.

So in the last few weeks, I've pitched a book (!), talked about many story ideas with an editor of a Big Magazine (some of the involving international travel), signed up to write a bunch of quizzes for a website, interviewed for an insane ocean adventure, and generally had a lot of exciting tastes of what my life could be now that I'm free. (Free!)

things I don't miss

Today one of my former colleagues called me to ask a question about how to do one of my least favorite tasks from my former job - the thing that would have me rewriting like fifty million times with increasing levels of misery. When he told me what he was calling about, I laughed at him and told him he was making me very happy. (I think he swore a little.) Considering how much success I had at that particular task, I may have been the wrong person to ask.

Everyone I talk to, from the guy at my HMO who explained what happens in the gap between my regular employer-paid health coverage ending and COBRA kicking in, to the dancer who's here from Quebec for the Christmas show and happened to ask me about work, is like, whoa, it is not normal to be that happy about getting laid off.

direct dial

Today I made my first call about a freelance story, to a PR guy somewhere in the midwest. It feels weird to be doing something so clearly work-y like that at home. Not wrong, just unusual. Here's how unusual: The first time I called, the call didn't go through. I got some kind of phone company error message. I looked at the display on the phone, checked the number, it was right - then I realized I'd dialed 9 first. Apparently, in my brain, you have to dial 9 before making a work-related call.

One of many small mental adjustments.