Well, this is my last night in this house...

I'm feeling stronger and happier... I feel like I live here. I'm glad to still be in touch with K, but so happy I don't live over there.

But enough about me, please.

How's it going with you? What's is happening in your life?

Mame
I have been hesitant to make a post since we don't know each other. I have to tell you I really admire your strength. It made me smile just to read that you are feeling happier. Wishing the best for you now and in the future too.

Thank you, TTH.

Me? I'm eh, which is a step up from feh.

Taking a long time to recover. Still insufficiently clear-headed to make major decisions. And I have to make a few. Need to figure out a new career path. Right now, I wouldn't hire me for anything. Please don't quote me to the people I'm doing work for at the moment.

What do you do, Roberta? And what are you capable of doing right now?

I'm an editor/proofreader. Right now, I'm proofreading something that's taking me twice as long as it should.

I can't say what I'm capable of. My mind is fuzzy.

Ah... it also depends on the subject matter. Try editing a manuscript entitled: Thermodynamic modelling of magmatic processes. It's enough to put anyone to sleep!

You're very close, Mame - Roberta usually can edit manuscripts like that.

Mame, My first job was for the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Thermodynamics? No big deal.

Scintillating? Nope. But I'm not looking for that in my work. In fact interesting can be a problem; it's a distraction.

The problem is that publishers (at least some of the ones I've been working for) are outsourcing the work--to foreign countries. You might think that an editor of an English language book should be fluent in the English language. Silly girl. I had the same delusion. The work is disappearing.

I have spent 20 yrs editing (off and on) scientific manuscripts for content, context, grammar, spelling and punctuation. It's the equations that drive me nuts

Everyone seems to be outsourcing. BC cranberries are sent to the US to be packaged and are then sent back, with US labels on them. My landlady won't buy them because they 'aren't BC cranberries' - sigh. BC lumber is now being sent primarily to China, apparently, to be planed, and then sent back here only to be sold back to China! lol what a goofy world we live in.

And then of course there's the toll-free calls to your bank or telephone company where you get a person you can barely understand to try and help you figure out why you don't have any service 3,000,000 miles from where they are. Yeah, outsourcing. sigh.

Haven't worked on a really doozy equation in years. I actually liked them. No accounting for taste.

Yes, I call my bank and speak with someone in India. My bank is four blocks away.

Don't know what the solution is. Company's need to economize, turn a profit. But I need to pay the rent, keep the lights on, and have a working telephone.

When I'm feeling better, I'll be investigating some retraining. I'm not gonna be all that picky. If I can pay my bills, I'll take the job.

Roberta a friend of mine does care taking for elders that do not want to go into a nursing home and makes roughly $20 an hour. Not too bad considering it doesn't require a degree.

She presently works for a 94 year old woman who is the widow of a world famous economist and is still quite social and does a lot of entertaining. My friend has met a lot of interesting people through her employer

Property management is another option and doesn't require a real estate liscense.

I can't bear the thought of working for a large corporate entity again.

Complaining helps! Our bank did the same: any phone calls made would automatically connect you to India. They were friendly enough, but more and more people complained of difficulties understanding them, and errors in statements and so forth. About a year ago they changed back to an American workforce. By the way, this was not your average little neighborhood bank, it was Wells Fargo.

If not this old house, what old house? Where are you and what are you doing.

The heat was turned on in MA's building today. It was in the high 80's all last week and we had to go buy a floor fan. He had to take his ac down(by oct 1) and put it in storage. Maybe Al Gore can fix Global Warming for us.

hee hee

Hey! I'm so proud of myself!!

I bought myself a bROTHER 7020 printer/scanner/copier and installed it myself. Okay, so I didn't do it right (had everything plugged in to begin with) the first time, and the disk that came with it was buggered (really) and I had to download the drivers, so it wasn't uneventful... but the damn thing is scanning and printing... I know not everything is perfect (okay, the manual talks about PS drivers and I don't see any of those - I think I'll visit the computer forum in the next day or two)... but Hey! I am Woman! I did it! I scanned and I printed, whoo hoo!

On top of that (yes, as if THAT weren't enough!!), I wanted to download Limewire to record some songs and part-way in (ehBeth, would that be hypenated?), I got a message that I first I had to install Java... so did that, too, and have downloaded about 60 songs tonight This is me, who left everything to Da Man, who has a computer in part of his brain... I never had to touch anything for 20 yrs. So... it's a great BIG thing.

On top of that, I, a navigationally-challenged person, have managed to find my way around this Island with only a few glitches (I call them 'scenic tours' heh heh)... but it's good to know my instincts are right and the times I've gone the wrong way are when I've talked myself out of it.

AND, on top of THAT... we are trying to close the transfer title of the mortgage and $ payout but have encountered an increasing number of snags along the way. Apparently I had to get an independent lawyer, which I did, until such time as her $ estimate came in - it was obscene, I want to tell you, obscene! $5000 for an agreement he and I came up with which consisted of 4 items - completely ridiculous!

So I decided to go it alone, but I had to get a laywer to witness my signature on these documents. So, I call three of four, get estimates and whatnot. I contracted with a firm for a lawyer to witness my signature, but at the witching hour, he was 'too busy', so the legal asst found me another firm and laywer, whom I called, only to find out that he thought it was too complex (hello? this from a lawyer and we're only talking simple title transfer docs), so, despondent and completely frustrated, I called the third, arranged to drop the paperwork off, thinking that this would be a no-go and complete waste of time but ba da bing, ba da boom - got all my papers signed (this was yesterday, of course - everyone knows lawyers don't work Saturdays!)...AND, I thought it would cost me $150 or more, but they only charged me $30! Wha Hoo! I love that guy - he can do my real estate conveyancing, for sure.

Major accomplishments from the computer-challenged (hardware only, software I can do) and navigationally-duh... I really am proud of myself. Okay, so I said it already, but really, I am surprised And proud of myself! ha ha ha

And that's what's been happening in my neck of the woods!

What about you guys?

on ya!!!!!!

Hey, I am proud of you too, Mame. I knew you could do it!
Congratulations on becoming independent and self sufficient!


Here?
It rained! Enough said - SoCal doesn't cope well with rain.

Impressed as hell, Mame. Not surprised. Just impressed.

Go, Mame!

When I met you, Mame, I thought to myself 'what a dynamic woman, she can do things'.

Well, I was not wrong!