My current projects will take me through the remainder of the week. I have one or two appointment slots open Monday afternoon, January 30. Times are also available in the afternoon on Tuesday before 3:00, Wednesday morning, and throughout the day on Thursday and Friday, February 2 and 3.
I have some appointment times available on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, next week.
I am officially on vacation, now. My next appointment openings are on 5 January between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. (the late afternoon slot is already booked). On Friday, 6 Jan., I have openings throughout the day, including 4:00-5:30 p.m.
As usual, things got a bit busy around here, and I have not been keeping up on my blogging. I have finished with this semester’s ESL academic editing and am looking forward to taking a couple weeks off. Really, just 14 days, this year, from December 20 through January 2.
I feel a very strong need for quiet and renewal. Most of my work these past few years has been résumé and letter writing, and I have been working to do my own writing on at least a semi-regular basis. So now I need some mundane time for resting and refilling the creative “bucket.”
To that end I also hope to take off a couple of days next week, beginning Tuesday, when I have a pulmonary function test scheduled. I have no idea how long that will last–or how bad the air quality will be.
Adding more flexibility to my schedule, I can now take appointments over the lunch hour. In exchange, I may be spending more time outside the office, but I will have the telephone with me.
The appeal, of course, of the three-day weekend is the multiple opportunities for turning off the alarm clock and sleeping in. The problem with feeling well and rested and energetic is, of course, that one does not. Sleep in, I mean. The pace of the weekend was relaxed, mostly. I cooked chicken breast to put on the salads and a chuck arm roast for the sandwiches.
Al’s cold had not gone away entirely, and so I donated blood while he went to a nearby café for coffee. I’m keeping track of my hemoglobin reading, wanting to be sure to start taking vitamin-mineral tablets that include iron at some point in the future when I actually need to supplement my iron. (I may die first, at this rate.) Grocery shopping took up most of the rest of our afternoon. Al went out to the RRRMC and did the volunteer thing, yesterday afternoon, while I caught up on laundry and dish-washing chores.
Other than that…I got back onto the exercise bike, today, and did two sessions: 8 miles and 5 miles. My blood pressure is purring and making contented sounds. (A comfortable 110/75, now that my cold is gone and my activity level is back to normal, again.)
In the interim I was able to finish up all of my jobs, including those scheduled for the coming week, via email, and so I start out Tuesday clear. Perhaps I will be able to finish reading the new What Color Is Your Parachute? and get back to The Origins of Political Order, which has been sadly neglected during this long time period of straightening out the allergy thing in the face of the totally miserable ragweed/sagebrush season.
The telephone is turned off for the evening (as of about 5:45 p.m.), and I’m done for the day. Calls and emails will be answered on Friday after 9:00 a.m.
Good night, all!
There has been an interesting upturn in resumes for people who are looking for new work environments, here, and lots of enthusiasm. The unemployment rate for North Dakota, July 2011, was 3.3%, and that’s exciting news for people looking for work.
As we’re moving into fall (and out of vacation mode, here), I bought the Nook edition of Richard Bolles’ 2012 (40th Anniversary Edition) What Color Is Your Parachute? I’m excited to see that as part of the substantial revisions he has included a section on incorporating social media tools into job search. I haven’t finished reading this section entirely, but I did want to point out right away that he suggests Googling your name, going through the information that turns up, and setting about having removed from Google any material that would be detrimental to your job search efforts, as well as promoting your skills, abilities, and strong points. (Pay special attention to what photos of you people are tagging on Facebook, etc. Tighten up on what photos, information, posts are publicly accessible.)
Bolles also noted the importance of getting a basic LinkedIn account and filling out the profile completely and thoroughly. I would advise getting hold of a copy of his book and reading about how to fill it out so improve your chances of making a good job match. Going through the exercises in the book will help you gain a more detailed, objective view of yourself in terms that will be useful in doing so effectively.
It is important to understand the “why’s” in order to do a good job with the “what’s”.
Over the weekend, I started a new Facebook page for my artistic/creative activities unrelated to my writing, editing, and résumé services. Once 25 individuals have “Liked” my page, I will have a shorter URL. For now, you can find my “Artist” page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Liz-Bennefeld/250882284936294 (or by searching for “Liz Bennefeld” and selecting “Pages”).
As I get photographs put up on the new page, I will be removing them from The Written Word‘s Facebook page. At the moment I am looking for all of my Red Bubble groups “Featured Photos” and putting them into an album. I should have kept better track, because I am not sure how many of them there are.
Looking forward to another interesting week! (Bought paper plates over the weekend, which should cut down on time needed for chores.)
I do so look forward to the weekends, a change of pace…a different set of activities. With the forecast of rain, once again, I will have reading time out in the gazebo with the sound of raindrops on the roof and the wind blowing through the branches of the cottonwood tree at my back.
Whether the schedule has been heavy or light, the contrast between the work week and the weekend is necessary. We set aside time to take care of other tasks, sleep a bit later in the morning or stay awake longer at night, and reserve time for meditating, thinking, praying, walking…whatever activity it is that helps to restore the feeling of mental and physical balance to our lives. If the week has been hectic, the change of pace contributes to a restored perspective. If the week has been unexpectedly quiet—idle or nonproductive, then the weekend offers the opportunity to rest from worry for a while and turn our hands to work of our own choosing that is both productive and enjoyable.
Of course, some people “work” harder on the weekends than at their jobs during the work week. Even so, it is the discontinuity, the change of rate of activity that restores our balance…our sense of control. We are in charge of this time and can do with it what we decide to do.
