I actually doubt there are any "Salad-Heads", as danabren put it, on my Friends List who aren't on hers. But just in case, and to bookmark it for myself...

 
Only one task finished this week, but it was a big one.

* Jobsearch - Done - Last week I interviewed for and then was offered a new job. I'll be starting after Thanksgiving, working a partial week around my last few days at Dunn McKenzie. Then I'll be full time as of December 7th.
* Etsy Projects - I finally got my collection of Fabric Gift Wrap Bags posted in my Etsy shop.
* Photos - I've made a lot of progress on reconciling Flickr with iPhoto, including uploading some new photos to Flickr.

 
Continuing work on reconciling iPhoto with Flickr, I discovered I was missing a Flickr set for my humor photos. This has now been rectified.

 
I had the in-person interview yesterday, and it went really well. This morning I called to check in with the placement rep I've been working with, and I've been officially offered the job. Monday when I go in to DMI I have to give my 2 weeks notice. I'm actually going to start at the new company on December 1st, before I officially leave DMI, as they're going to have me in for a partial week the days I'm not in at DMI. I start full time on December 7th.

I am so all over the map right now.

I'm excited and happy. No more semi-unemployed limbo. A better job, for better pay, with a shorter commute. A chance to become an integral part of the team at a company in a much more economically stable industry. What's not to love?

Yet at the same time I am completely freaking out. Change is scary. I don't want to leave DMI in the lurch. Part of me is afraid that having gotten used to what's effectively been a paid vacation, that it will be hard to go back to work full time. Have I mentioned that change is scary?

Edited to Change: Now that I've actually given my notice, I've unlocked this post.

 

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

 
Earlier today I reworked the spreadsheet I had used to determine the pricing of my wrapping bags, filling in some estimations with actual data now that I have it. As a result, I discovered I could drop the price of all the bags by 50 cents each. So that's great, as it makes them more affordable.

I also just got off a phone interview, and will most likely be having a follow-up in person interview tomorrow. This could very well be an ideal job for me, so it's rather exciting. Still, I'm doing my best to stay calm and not count my chickens before they hatch.

 
I've finally got my collection of fabric gift wrap bags up in my Etsy Shop. My family has been wrapping in fabric for about the past 10 years, and it's great. Once you have a decent assortment of bags circulating back and forth between family members, nobody ever has to buy any more gift wrap.

 
Ugh. I'm so close to finishing this huge project. But I ran out of one little thing and need to run down to Jo-Ann's to pick up more. It's only a 15 minute errand, and I'd be happy to run it so I can get this project done. But no. I can't go yet because I'm stuck at home waiting for a call from the MSP. But as they're a branch of the DUA, and therefore crazy busy in this economy, I honestly won't be at all surprised if I never get the call. So meanwhile I'm stuck waiting until after business hours, when it will be safe to leave the house.

In happier news, my favorite placement agency called me today with a lead on what sounds like a great job. So that's nice. Though I'm soooo totally not even going to think about thinking about said job until/unless I hear back that the company actually wants to interview me.

 
Chances are good that somewhere in your home you have a plastic tote or something made by Sterilite. But you probably didn't know that the company is based in my home town. Even if you did, you probably didn't know what an incredible company they are.

 
Nothing scratched off this week. But I have been busy.

* Housework - Clutter is starting to accumulate in the living room. But I did catch up on the kitchen. Overall, now that the apartment's actually organized, I've found that while clutter comes and goes, overall I'm actually keeping up with keeping the place clean much more successfully.
* Etsy Projects - Tons of work on a new offering for this Christmas season. I still haven't listed it, as I need to take a few more photos and finalize the text for the descriptions. But that should happen in the next few days.

 
Yes, what a complete and utter shocker. Here it is, middle of the night (morning), and I've caught up on my weekly Thursday night glut of shows, including Supernatural. So of course that means it's time for pics of Jared & Jensen!

 
One of the units in my building is open, and I told my landlord I'd pass word.

1 bedroom
living room
kitchen
bathroom with tub
off-street parking
$625/month

If you'd like more details, let me know. And feel free to forward this to anyone you think might be interested.

 
And cable, and phone too!

Arriving home from the laundromat this afternoon, I didn't think much of the Comcast van parked on the street in front of my house. You see them all over, all the time. Arriving upstairs, I immediately concerned myself with putting away the laundry. After that was accomplished, then I went to check my email. Email? Email? Hellooooo? What's wrong with my connection? Hmmm... the lights on the modem don't look right. Do I have a dial tone? No I don't. Do I have cable? No I don't.

That's when I remembered seeing the Comcast van. That's also when I remembered that my downstairs neighbor moved out last week. That's when I realized that in disconnecting her service, they managed to also disconnect mine. Grrrrr.

So I call Comcast, and find my way through the phone tree. When I finally get through to a real person I point out to them that their phone tree needs tweaking. At one point they ask you to press "1 for cable television, 2 for high speed internet, or 3 for digital voice." Yeah, they really need "4 for all three." So I tell the guy what's wrong, and about how the Comcast van was here not 10 minutes ago disconnecting my downstairs neighbor. Oh no, that can't be related. It must be something wrong with my modem. Uh huh. Right. But I oblige him by rebooting my modem. And while he seems genuinely baffled, I am completely unsurprised when nothing changes. He's convinced there's a problem with my modem. When I point out that wouldn't affect my TV, he says that sometimes it can. Riiiiight. Because equipment failure after a line branch will totally cause failure on the other branch. But at this point I've done the hard reboot, and he's sent his signal thing through to the modem several times, and that's just not doing the trick. So he's completely out of ideas.

At this point he then says he has an appointment opening tomorrow for a tech to come by. Uh, no. That's not an option. Among other things, I actually have work tomorrow. So I ask if there isn't an opening today. Oh no, I'm assured there are no openings today. So then, very politely, I ask to speak to a supervisor. I'm on hold. He comes back to say he's getting his supervisor. I'm on hold. He comes back to say his supervisor is almost available. I'm on hold. He comes back to say that he and the supervisor are working on the problem. I'm on hold. He comes back to say they're really working on it. I'm on hold. He comes back to say that the supervisor has found an appointment for me for today. Wow! That supervisor really must be a miracle worker. I mean, they apparently pulled that previously non-existent appointment out of their ass. But good on them. I now have an "all day" appointment for today, meaning that the tech could show up at any point between 2:30 (current time, at that point) and 8:00pm.

So I go and read for several hours. Then I remember that I need to run the dishwasher, so I do that. Damn! Should have done that at 2:30. Because no sooner do I start the incredibly loud dishwasher than the Comcast tech shows up. So he comes upstairs, and I bring him up to speed about how all 3 services are out, coincidentally right after the previous Comcast van had been here. Oh yeah! He admits what the phone guy couldn't because of calls being recorded. The tech in the other van cut my service.

So this tech disconnects the cable from my system and attaches some device to it that sends some signal. He then goes outside, and by finding the signal out there is able to determine which is my line. Back inside to reconnect the cable to my system. Back outside to hook the line back up. Lo and behold, suddenly my TV is showing me pretty moving pictures with sound, and not the "Please stand by. This channel will be available shortly" text message that's been showing the past several hours. I check and I have dial tone. I check and I have internet. The phone rings and I confirm to the tech that yes, everything's fine now. Thanks. All told, not even 10 minutes work, and most of that was probably going up and down the two flights of stairs.

Yay, I has internets again, and can watch my shows tonight.

 
Don't feed the trolls. Really... don't. Yeah, I know. They scurry around, yelping and mewling. They so obviously need to be fed. But you know you'll regret it. You know that as soon as you feed them they just barf it back up all over you. Don't. Feed. The. Trolls.

 
Arriving home tonight I was feeling all jumpy and jittery, teetering on the edge of a panic attack. (Long day, too many stressors, blah, blah.) So to decompress I had a nummy dinner, played some sudoku to decompress, and was bad and drowned my sorrows in way too many Trader Joe's chocolate covered orange sticks.

After a while I started to feel better. But then after another while I started to feel worse again. What the hell? Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. Before I had felt jumpy and jittery for emotional reasons. Now I'm feeling jumpy and jittery for physical reasons. Doh! Sometimes I forget I react badly to too much chocolate.

 
Not too much accomplished this week. But thankfully not as little as last week.

* Housework - With all my new post-Halloween clearance acquisitions, I ran out of space in one of my storage totes. So I picked up a few more totes, to allow for the new stuff and future acquisitions. I also caught up this week on some general cleaning, which I had let stack up lately.
* Etsy Projects - I relisted some winter/Christmas items I had offered last year, but had let lapse over the summer. In the process of relisting them, I also updated the photos to include some better ones. I've also finally begun the process of slowly updating photos for most of my listings. (I took most of the better photos a while ago, and have just been procrastinating about processing them.) I also did some preliminary design work and picked up supplies for some new seasonal items I want to offer this year.
* Virtual Yard Sale and FreeCycle - I finally got around to taking some photos of the Apple Think Different posters I have, and was all set to list them on eBay when I decided to hold off on that. Instead I emailed a vendor that I know buys the posters to see if they might be interested in mine. (I know normally they only buy unopened sets. But I do happen to have one they're currently out of stock on, so I figured it would be worth a try.)

 
So today I headed out to the Cake Wrecks book signing in Framingham. It was such fun!

 
Calling all Sesame Street fans! And cake fans! You simply must check out This week's "Sunday Sweets" entry over at Cake Wrecks.

OMG, the adorableness!

 
Tomorrow I'm headed off to the Cake Wrecks book signing in Framingham. Just a little while ago I finished my entry for the Wreckplica contest. The inspiration cake is the second photo down in this entry.