truck stories and general updates

Ted’s got some offsite meetings this week in a place with a cramped parking lot, so he’s been taking the car I usually drive, leaving me with the Mighty Big Truck. (There’s a current country song which contains the line “He can’t be much of a man by the look of that little truck.” I expect hair to begin sprouting on my chest any second now.”) However, in true girly fashion, though I can drive the truck just fine, I can’t park it worth a crap. This is mostly because I can’t park for crap in general – never really learned to parallel park because a week after getting my license I moved out of Philadelphia and since then have never lived in a place where it’s needed, and I can’t back in well (which is a thing you need to do with big trucks) because I have terrible depth perception. Hey, I have a doctor’s opinion on that last part. (Had another eye doctor appointment yesterday. She’s got me wearing reading glasses for reading and computer work, on the theory that will prevent eyestrain and help my eyes relax for distance when I drive.) However, it doesn’t help that the truck doesn’t fit in a single parking space, lengthwise – you have the choice of finding a pull-through spot and taking up all of one space and part of the other or sticking out into the roadway.

Yesterday, I got up early and went to the gym. Getting changed int he locker room afterward, I had a nice conversation with another woman there, in the course of which she asked me what I did. I confessed to being unemployed (well, I think I did mention working on the book) and she kindly mentioned a few local places that may be hiring. We waked out to the parking lot together, and I felt a bit silly climbing into that big truck. She probably thinks now that all authors get huge advances and guaranteed royalties. Oops.

Today I booked a massage, and I know that parking lot is usually pretty full, so this may be challenging. If I have to, at least I have the option of parking at the big box stores’ lot next door and walking. This may be the very definition of first-world problems, but it’s the only vehicle I have today. It’s only a few miles, so I suppose I could bike, but it’s cold and rainy today and the route is all uphill and mostly on big roads. (I’m not frittering away money on the massage; it’s the second one on my birthday giftcard.)

Things are moving on the job front; I had a call with one recruiter and submitted forms requested by another yesterday, and I have a screening call on Thursday with a company (I mean, directly, not a recruiter.) One of the ones from yesterday would be a step up, but it would mean moving again, and I like it here. I’m talking to them just in case the job turns out to be really wonderful. The one tomorrow sounds exciting – nearby, reputation as a great place to work, in a new industry but interfacing with one I know – so I hope that call goes well. The book editing is being a bit difficult, but that’s because I’m working on the most complex chapters of it. The editor is being responsive, though he sounds a bit disappointed that this isn’t as simple and clear as the intro chapters, and I think his comments and criticisms are accurate.

Today’s good news is that I may get to see a former colleague; he’s responsible for the US Western zone, and he’s here this week and in meetings with Ted, so we invited him for dinner. He may need to cancel, though, if work dinners are required. I was planning to make a brisket anyway, with new potatoes and spinach salad, so whether he comes won’t affect the amount of cooking I do, just the amount of leftovers. Possibly I should straighten the house this morning, so that it’s done before I find out whether or not he’s coming. Otherwise, plans for this week are to blitz ahead on the book, though of course further revisions will need to be done after the editor reviews them. I’d like to have as much done as possible while I’m still at home.

Mirrored from Dichroic Reflections.

the state of the cats

I am not sure giving Macchiato-cat a treat was a good thing: it just led to her getting up in my face to see if there might be More. I deliberately gave it to her in the living room, not near the pantry, to try to combat her (correct) belief that the pantry Is Where Good Things Live, because now every time I open the door she’s there in a flash and has gotten on the bottom shelf a few times. However, I don’t think it worked because she may well be smart enough to remember that I had been at the pantry minutes before.

Oolong does not eat kitty treats; she eats pretzels and gets very excited about popcorn, which makes sitting on the couch and eating a bowl of it a bit of a kitty-fending ordeal. Today was an epoch in their little lives, as they had TUNA for the first time (I decided to have a sandwich of it for lunch). They ate it, but neither one seemed as excited about it as they do about treats / popcorn respectively.

They’ll be coming with us to the lake house for this long weekend, which will make their third time there. They like it there, but are not so thrilled about the process of getting there. The first time, we put calming collars on them, which just meant we had the ordeal or getting those on plus the ordeal of getting them in the carriers. Last time we gave Maka calming treats on the way there (Oolong won’t eat those, either). We didn’t really think they had much effect, until the way back, when she was agitated and biting at the cage, and we realized we hadn’t given her any – luckily, they were packed where I could reach them and she became much calmer after having one. She’s pretty easy to get in the carrier, though, and will even investigate it on her own, though she doesn’t actually get in. Oolong is harder to catch, and doesn’t like being handled. Once she’s in, though, she stays calm and just glares at us the whole way.

We’re not sure they really understand the whole transportation concept. The lake house has is built on a slight slope and has two floors: a main floor with living areas and bedrooms, and a lower floor with some extra rooms that are on ground level at the back, and have nice sunny sitting places for cats. This house has three floors: bedrooms on top, living areas in the middle, and entry and garage below. Both times, after getting back home, they’ve gone downstairs and seemed to be looking for the extra rooms. I think they’re convinced that the car is just a place where we go sit while the house transforms itself.

Now that we finally have the sofa here, we were planning to take one of the rocking chairs back to the lake house, but I think we’ve given up on that idea for the moment.

Mirrored from Dichroic Reflections.