Back to the Grind...Sort of

Thank you to my new recruiter who has placed me in a one week temporary position--at a great hourly rate!  Starting tomorrow, I will be back in the FiDi (San Francisco Financial District) during the day.  Around people.  In an office, with tasks to do, a boss.  Fun! 

I've been worried of late about ever working again--the thoughts do creep in as resume after resume is emailed or uploaded with no calls, no response but the canned email weeks later that "we decided to pursue other candidates and will not be proceeding with you, but thanks for applying!"  I want to be that "other candidate."  And I know I will at some point.  It just gets frustrating watching the days tick past.  I don't want to move home, to give up my San Francisco dream.   Yeah, I can last though February, but I'd rather not go through the panic of Christmas coming and still be looking, racing against the clock.

Add to that my feeling that I have been looking for a job forever...yes, a year ago, I had a good job.  But I looked for a year before finding it.  A year of sending out resumes, interviews.  Now, here I am again, after having worked my tail off at that job, thinking it was a good fit, back to sending out resumes and hoping for a chance to wear a suit and answer questions and hope I did better than the other candidates.

I enjoy working as a temp--if the hours were more predictable, I'd gladly do it for awhile.  A new company, new coworkers every week or month.  A new commute, if only changed by a block or two.  Though there are downsides--the desk isn't one's own, working with  the permanent person's family photos staring at you, not having any desk drawers to call one's own, often having the more menial tasks sent to oneself...I admit at all my past jobs, I have smiled in relief when my boss said "oh, we'll leave that for the temp."  No more.

Especially now that I have been the temp this year--removing staples from files for 7 hours straight.  I can just imagine the conversation before I showed up. "Hey, George, the temp is coming tomorrow, we can get that staple project done!"

But work is work and in this economy, work is very good indeed, so I will gladly remove staples for hours, file, learn various telephone systems, and attempt to remember all the names that blur by in my day, week or month as the temp for that glorious weekly paycheck. 

Yes, weekly...another perk of temping, a check every week.  My bank account loves that.

So, up early tomorrow--goodbye, sleeping until 8!  Onto wondering what color F Market Streetcar will take me to Market Street, debating whether I should stop at Peet's Coffee, wearing my adult clothes, making a good impression as this could lead to a more permanent situation.  We'll see.  It feels good to be back in the game, if only for a week for now.   More will come.

Summer has arrived

Ah, summer.  Been a long time coming.  And no, not the usual "June gloom" that means summer in San Francisco, with all-day fog, grabbing a sweater and a coat to head outside, Birkenstocks left in the closet.  We are having sun, warmish days, with the fog coming in on its cats' feet overnight, keeping it comfortable.  Perfect weather, in other words.

The sort of weather that makes one want to be outside, to find errands to run, and take long walks.  I am doing all of the above, especially the latter.  I just discovered that Fort Mason--the incredible bayside national park area--is 1.7 miles from my apartment, meaning a round trip walk is just shy of 3.5 miles, a respectable daily stroll complete with uphill portions.  So long as it isn't raining, I will be making that stroll daily.  Added bonus (aside from bay views and the scent of cones being made at Ghirardelli) is taking the walk on North Point Street, few tourist crowds.  Yeah, Beach Street is prettier, but the people-dodging would make it a nightmare at any real walking speed.

The cats have been enjoying their favorite hobby of watching the pigeons.  No nest this year, my balcony is empty of the junk that drew them here last year.   They still wander the balcony and gaze at me and the kitties, somehow they know a screen keeps them from danger.

Happy feet, Low BP!

Back from the doctor--and my first experience using Healthy San Francisco, the program in place in the city for those without insurance.  It was easy as pie and I have a fantastic doctor--young, interested, I really like her.  And the facility I was assigned to is one of the city's best, Brown & Toland--in Healthy San Francisco, they get doctors to participate, so the doctor has patients with all sorts of insurance and HSF as well.  Once I have insurance, she better be a part of my plan, because I think I finally have found a good primary care doctor after years of searching.

My toe is fine, started feeling better this morning.  Why do things get better the day of the doctor appointment?  Weird.

She also had X-rays of my knee, which I injured last December in my work building's lobby.  All clear there, too, but I will go to physical therapy to strengthen it.  My blood pressure is low (86/60), almost too low as that was my reading when I was stressed in a doctor's office.  And my tetanus booster is done through my 48th birthday.  I'm almost all caught up.

Tomorrow morning, I will go for blood work, it has been far too long that I have neglected doctor's visits.  Hopefully it will all be in order.  I am happy--for my health and for living in a city that has a program such as HSF allowing access to care even without insurance.  I am motivated, to keep up with my doctor, to get back into my college clothes and find my 40th birthday in less than  two years in the best shape of my life.

Bye bye ice cream habit :(

Busy Bee

Today was a busy one.  Went to the library and picked up three books on hold:

Already started The Book of Awesome...fun read!

 What did we do before books were able to be put on hold from our computers?  I learn of a book, put it on hold. Wait--sometimes two days, sometimes two months and it is delivered to my branch library--though I visit once a week just to peruse the new books.  This week, a book on a ballet dancer, one on the making of the Constitution and for fun, the Book of Awesome.  A balanced diet of reading.

And I just finished making ginger carrot muffins...it is a quickbread recipe, but since I realized after starting that I lack a loaf pan, I made them as muffins.  Didn't rise much, but they smell fantastic!  I'm thinking breakfast, with honey butter.  Is it morning yet?

The witch thing is my salt/pepper shakers.

The freak June rainstorm was fun.  What is up with this weather?  Very strange indeed.

Sorry for the delay

Guess it has been awhile since I have written...I won't take such a pause in the future, promise!

This has been a rather quiet month...lots of resumes e-mailed out, not much response.  Many books read.  Many online debates.  A graduation party, seeing family I hadn't seen in years and years (I won't let that much time pass again).  Too many sweet treats enjoyed--ok, maybe it isn't possible to eat too many sweet treats.

June coming up.  And it's still raining in San Francisco, with more rain forecast for the weekend.  I don't remember the rain lasting this late into spring since I arrived in the city fifteen years ago.  Cold, yes.  Last summer was memorably chilly all summer long.  But rain?  In June?  Is this the East or West coast?  Not that I mind so much, if it is going to be gray, it may as well rain.

So that's where I've been this month...how about you?

Art Break

In San Francisco, we are fortunate.  Not only do we have amazing museums, but many of the museums have one day a month with free admission.  Because I've been working hard on my job hunt, I decided to take a quick break and visit the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SF MOMA).

The following are some of the highlights of my visit, I've taken photos of the information and the artwork, enjoy!

 Mondrian--the one I'd be eating soon...and not be tossed out of the museum for so doing!

 Pollack, me like!

Warhol, no information card needed!

 Jasper Johns

 Who knew that a recycling pile = art?

 Magritte

 Just because it was pretty much a black canvas.

 Another Warhol

 Sweets from the Rooftop Cafe

 Even the cappuccino is art!

 Yum!  Tasty and pretty.

 Scary!

 Calder...taken to commemorate the time at Butterfields when the telephone bidder I was helping set a world record price on a Calder, not this one though.  Ah, the olde days!

Funny map of my fair city that I found in the Museum Store.

Where Were You When You Heard the News?

It seems that we are at a historic moment.  Osama bin Laden's death announcement.

I was in my big chair, settling in to watch Law & Order Los Angeles, TIVO'ed earlier this week when my dad called to tell me to turn on MSNBC.

He said it was some announcement about bin Laden.

I am now watching the reaction from Facebook friends and Newsvine, waiting for the President to speak.

Big night.  Big night indeed.

Where were you when you heard?