April showers

 I'm starting to think that the old adage April Showers bring May Flowers has more to do with the phrase "when it rains it pours" because every one of my clients has a deadline this month. EVERY ONE. 

Which is a blessing because they need me and a curse because I've got so much to do!! Add in Easter and family travels alongside multiple family members needing medical help and boom, it's April 22 already. 

I'm "venting" here cause I need to do that and I'm not sure anyone reads this blog :)

And in the midst of the chaos, a pitch letter I sent in January might bear fruit. Of course, they called for a meeting this month LOL. If you want something done, give it to a busy person. 

I know that I could balance things differently, but I like all of the people I work with and want to keep them all. I think if I can pull off the deadlines this month that I will be a good place for the next year and that's really the goal of freelancing isn't it? Stable income with engaging work and wonderful clients. 

Curating Twitter to "shut down"

Concerned about deleting my business Twitter account fully, so instead I'm parking it. I deleted all of my followers and stopped following everyone, and turned the account private. The I discovered that they created an "interests" section where they checked everything I ever tweeted about along with the current owner's name and his personal interests. I'm now unchecking all those boxes. In the process of deleting some old tweets I was reminded of all the ways I worked to start this business again in 2009. I took a class and started a website at http://offpeak DOT comxa DOT com/. It no longer exists, but I did one. I also brainstormed lots of ideas and wrote a lot of pitch letters. And 14 years later I continue to have a side hustle. Perseverance does pay off.

And now for something completely different...

I had the opportunity to attend a student convention on campus last year. It was one the geekiest events I've ever attended and one of the best things was the pop-up shops all over campus. I had so much fun browsing and adding games to lists and buying stuff, but one game in particular stood out.

Dino Dude Ranch: https://www.letimangames.com/dino-dude-ranch.html 

It's a kid's game for learning how to manage resources and start to learn how to prep for more complicated games. The store only had one copy for ordering and I forgot to put my name down. Tagging here so I remember to go shop for it again! 

Wow the landscape has shifted

My headline means two things to me today. First, the social media landscape. This was my post on Facebook this week. 

Social media is a mess right now. The new Facebook interface is convinced I want to be one of the groups I support all day long (and not myself) which completely confused a friend this morning. Twitter keeps changing its interface and asking me to give them money (no way, you should be grateful I'm still logging in and seeing any of the ads on the site). Instagram keeps sending me videos of strangers describing knitting hacks in languages I don't understand (and I'm not entirely sure why except for the one "how to crochet a penguin video" I did watch once about six months ago). I'm not job hunting so LinkedIn is not a destination and I prefer to read instead of watching videos so YouTube is not the best place for me either. 

But, I do like to know what you're all doing. Going to try to keep hanging in here to see the people I love doing the things that they love and chuckling about LOTR memes and Mariah Carey on her way.

It's getting worse. And now I see people going to Mastodon, Tumblr, Reddit and Discord. I'm in a few of those places, but I'm not sure that this business needs to reinvent itself again in social. I'll keep this blog going and I'll stay active on LinkedIn, but I think I'll be closing my Twitter account after I get my data. I don't use it enough and he doesn't get to count it. 

And now my second point.

The freelance world has changed since the pandemic. I used to see dozens of options available to connect with potential clients for reasonable rates and now FIVERR is advertising on TV, PhDs are taking editing jobs, and more people have jumped into the remote world. Many of the places where I used to find gig work at night (EST) are already finished by the time I can log in. I'm happy for the companies but sad my routine is broken. I will be honest I was hoping that my business model would last another 20 years, but the world changes constantly. 

I am fortunate to not be desperate enough to write for pennies. I am also fortunate that I am not homebound and can flex in different ways to support myself and my family. After a few months of frustration, I am moving forward again with a new part-time gig and it's exactly the bridge I needed. When it's time for me to leave my full-time job, I'll be able to focus more on Off Peak again.

How are you navigating this changing landscape? 

Memories

Had a pipe burst in my basement.

Didn't realize it was dripping for a few weeks/months ?!? before it went completely.  When we stopped the water and moved stuff out of the space, everything on the top shelf was moldy. Things got better the farther down the damage went, but  I lost two garbage cans full of stuff right off the bat. Luckily really dear items were in plastic totes and are totally fine, but I had some files and archives in cardboard boxes that got damp. 

I'm now sorting through all of those boxes to see if I can salvage things and if I really need to keep them. 

It's been a wild memory trip. 

I've forgotten so many things I did as a student and professional. I worked for many companies who have closed (Ampersand Graphics, BANCO, Metro Community News, Oncology News International, Advance (Radiology News), and Sibley's). I've left some places (JWU, RPCI, Cambridge Proofreading, WordVice, and JCPenney) but I'm still connected to many people from them. 

I wrote a lot. 

I worked a lot.

I am still working hard, but I really did not remember just how much hustling I was doing when my kids were small. So many clippings that I have to throw away. It's OK, my kids were really never going to read all of that and I don't need that kind of portfolio anymore, but I HAVE A LOT OF CLIPS. 

The scary thing is that I know I've gone through these boxes in the past. So, while these items bring back memories it makes me wonder what else am I forgetting? What will I never remember again because I've lost these? Is this why the elderly hoard things?  

I had a horrendous time cleaning out my parent's home. So, I really do know that this experience is for the best. It's better for me to spend some this time remembering and paying homage to my past. I can probably save a few triggers for myself that my kids will love to find someday. And they are more likely to see them if I can clear away the excess junk that made me feel productive. 

Writing this post as a nod to my future self for when I'm no longer capable of moving the boxes around.

Hello 2022

Blogging is not my thing. I have discovered over the last few years that I am a reactor to situations and that I love to help other people create, but I'm too busy to generate new and personal things right now.   

Hence, my last post was in March 2021. Because pandemic. 

I'm still going to keep this blog. It really is a great place for me to put tips and tricks I use with my clients and shortcuts that help me work smarter. So, here's my annual post to stay active :) and stay well. 

I'd like this pandemic to reach the endemic stage to launch the next phase of my career. 

#WearAMask #ProtectYourBubble #GetVaccinated

Let me know if I can help...

Wow. What a month.

COVID-19 has changed so much and parts of the world seem absolutely frozen right now.

But, things will return to "normal".  Normal always changes.  What was normal when I was 20, is not what is normal now. My whole work world flipped upside down, but we are getting things done. I am fortunate that my freelancing made my home office very adaptable to my primary occupation, but that is not necessarily the case for many. We are all learning to adapt.

The need to continuously learn is really the only constant in my life.  So, if I can help you with a project, or learn something new, let me know.  Hang in there.

26 Shirts

Sometimes I am lucky.  I picked Feb. 2 as my first 26shirts sponsorship day cause it's the day of the big game :)  And in addition to the regularly offered shirts in Buffalo, these are the special ones available this time around! 

Buff-Emoji

The Buffalonian Shirt

Connections

Last night I had the pleasure of attending the 20th Celebration of Catholic Education dinner at the Buffalo Convention Center. My husband and I were guests of a friend who works for Uniland, so we came to the event not entirely sure who we might find. We promptly walked into the parish group where my husband volunteers (teacher of the year award winner!), a former colleague of mine from Roswell Park and UB, and several other friends we don't always get to see. It was a lovely evening. The bonus to the whole event was the potential for a new project, updates on some other former colleagues, and a reassessment that everyone on Buffalo knows everyone else, so acting politely at all times is needed :)

Evolution

Recently I think I started a transition and now that I'm in the thick of things, I'm not quite sure when it started.  When people talk about time flying, it usually means that milestones stack up with very few unique markers breaking them up.  If you have children your signposts are probably the start of school, the winter holidays, spring break, and the last day of school.  Then a short summer and do it again.  Rinse, repeat.

Now that my kids are grown, I'm finding different markers in my life.  Some of these are sad (co-workers get new jobs, friends move away, death comes too soon) but many offer the potential for happiness. I am overwhelmed with the possibilities and find myself trying to decide where I go next.  My client shifting has opened up a ton of free time for me.  My kids moving out means I have lots of extra space to spread out for new projects. My bookshelf is full.  It's almost too much freedom after being so structured for so long.

While I hem and haw about the next "big thing" I've decided to help my aunt get her book published, to help my Dad sort through his house and to clear out the project pile in my workroom.  Each one of those activities will teach me a new skill that might open up more freelancing and will help me come to peace with my middle age.  My mom's passing showed me how a lack of planning impacts the next generation, I'm not doing that to my kids if I can help it. 

Purging old content

In the new age of changing tools and more privacy needed, I've made the decision to purge another blog I started.

I've always loved the idea of writing, but finding the time to just write for fun doesn't always happen. There is always another chore or task to be done. So, I just deleted something I started in 2011 when my oldest was looking at colleges.  Seven years later I posted a whopping 13 times as the meanestmother.

Real life is just way more interesting than a virtual one.

PS: When I deleted the blog, I realized that I had created a Twitter account in tandem with it.  Will be purging that too.  But I did love this little avatar I made for that.  I have three kids and while they are similar in many ways, they are also doing different things all of the time.

PPS: I also appeared to have created a new email account for that Twitter feed that I completely forgot about (and hadn't used for three years).  Now I'm wondering what else I started and never used again.  Does anyone else have this as an issue? 

Internet Access

It appears I'm spoiled where I live and work. No issues ever accessing the internet. Lots of wifi connections I can make and when I absolutely need to do it, I have easy access to the cloud and can turn on my personal hotspot. 

Last week I visited northern California along the coast.  It was a place called Jenner, about two hours north of Oakland.  Very limited wifi access.  My phone did not work, the house we rented had SLOW access and the towns nearby only worked in the wide open spaces.  Normally on vacation this is not a bad thing, but I had a freelance deadline in the middle of the trip.  So, I got a little freaked out when I could only get my computer to connect when standing in the middle of the bedroom.

I managed to meet the deadline and also managed to avoid jobs before I headed back to the airport.  But it was an eye opening moment to realize a few things. First, how dependent I have become on internet access. Secondly, how I never considered California to be remote. Finally, how the lack of land lines will be an issue if the internet gets throttled.

Scary week for America

Reading "The Way We Never Were" by Stephanie Coontz.  Last week was eye-opening for awareness of how much I don't know about history. I don't want to see America step backwards. From chapter three: "sentimentalization of middle-class family life justified terrible exploitation of those other families (African-American, immigrant and working class).

Last night the GOP launched Trump as their candidate. And I'm so sad.  This is no longer the party of Lincoln or Reagan. We used to try to move people ahead, and he wants to grind people under his heel.  Very much like Germany and Italy in the 1930s.

I miss the National Review when William Buckley and George Will wrote it. Political news nowadays is fear-mongering. No attempt to promote new ideas or vision. No attempt to bring people together.  I'm glad I left the GOP before the convention.

As for the people who question why I left the party (and am currently unaffiliated) I share this quote from George Will: "I joined it [The Republican Party] because I was a conservative, and I leave it for the same reason: I'm a conservative... The long and the short of it is, as Ronald Reagan said when he changed his registration, 'I did not leave the Democratic Party; the Democratic Party left me,' " 

Even years

Not a fan of even years.  In fact I'm pretty sure this rant has been published before but it's time again. Made it to the end of April this year before stuff started to go south again.

I don't pretend to say that I expect life or work to be easy, but it is incredibly frustrating to have to drop everything I'm doing to manage a crisis that was created due to inaction or a failure to share critical information.  A real crisis is one thing, a crisis manufactured by inaction is another.  For some reason my view of the even year issues tend to be the latter.

Third blog post for my class

Well, with the second blog post I've officially passed the class, but I'm planning to keep on doing the homework. It's actually pretty interesting to see how they collect content and have peer grading. I got dinged last time for writing only 300 words, but since the assignment said "write a 300 word blog post" I'm not sure I get that. Oh well.

Here's my third and final post for the class:

One of my fondest grammar memories, and yes those exist, occurred on the first day I was in fifth grade.  My teacher drew an upside down “e” on the board and asked for a show of hands for people who knew what it was.

I raised my hand.

Now, I’ve never been a popular kid but that pretty much sealed the deal that I was one of the biggest nerds and possible teacher’s pets ever in the history of the world.

You see my dad, who taught English for several years, had just explained what that symbol meant the previous night at dinner. Less than 24 hours previous to her asking the question.  How could I not raise my hand?

For those of you who don’t know, the upside down e (and I can’t get that symbol to work right now) is called a schwa. According to Merriam-Webster the schwa is “a vowel that has the sound of the first and last vowels of the English word America.

That moment saved me tons of time for the rest of the year. She assumed I knew what was going on most of the time and so I got to do lots of fun things in the room. She had a box of starter sentences. If you needed to write an essay but didn’t have any ideas, you could go pull out a card and finish the topic. I loved that. It was a great idea generator.

Someday I hope that I can write a novel or a series of short stories. When I try to get my thoughts on paper I often catch myself creating first sentences, just like that box, as a way to get started. Helping my own kids get through school limits my time right now, but someday I think I’ll get it done. But, I did manage to do one thing for my kids, just like my dad did for me. They all knew what a schwa was on the day their English teachers asked. 

March comes in like a lion

So, who decided that the phrase "March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb" makes any sense?  Lions in savannas which are usually warm. 

Tonight freezing rain is expected. I can't decide if I'm happy about that or not. For it to rain, we have to be up over 32 degrees. It's been over a month since the last time it was that warm around here. Seriously.  But at least this should end soon. It's almost St. Patrick's Day and that is usually when the snow stops for the season. Usually.

2015

Not even sure I should be titling this a 2015 blog, but here goes.

I have decided that I am not a blogger. I love twitter, I love facebook but I don't love blogging. I think it is a few reasons:

• I'm too busy
• I am happy to share my opinion when asked, but just putting stuff out into the void seems a bit pretensious
• New tools have already supplanted the reason I relaunched this blog

So, the reasons.  I'm too busy.  I love my job at UB. I work on a computer all day long. I'm not doing a lot of generic computer work in my free time.  I have freelance jobs too, so again, when I don't have to be on a computer, I'm not being there anymore. So blogging fails the free time test.

I'm happy to share my opinion.... but not just being opinionated.  I'll share fun stuff on twitter (follow me at (@cpd623)  and hang out with my friends on facebook, but that stuff is way more personal than what I want to share on a blog. Maybe I'll change my mind again, but maybe not.  I'll keep this active, but more like monthly than weekly or daily.

New tools. I love Pinterest for my book tracking. I managed to pin 52 books last year and I've started the same goal for 2015. I don't need to blog about them anymore cause that is faster.

I'm always open to new ideas, work requests, professional contacts etc. If you'd like to work together, find me on LinkedIn. 

Wow.

Today is a wow day. It's a weird snow day in Buffalo where half the city is being blanketed and the other half has nothing.

Seriously.

This is a view down Genessee street in Cheektowaga. To the left is the storm, to the right is sun.

Tomorrow the snow band might move north, but we'll never get as much snow as the southtowns.

Also WoW, how long since I last blogged. I guess I'm not very dedicated to it. I tend to blog more when I have free time and there is very little of that in my life at this moment.   I've been blessed to be very busy lately and that is the important thing.  I have managed to read 50 books though, only two more for the goal this year. Glad I got ahead of that when I did!

Wishing for all to stay safe and warm and dry.

May was a whirlwind

So hello June. In fact I'm late on the hello part since today is June 3.

No books read since my last post. Grateful I got ahead on the year-long goal when I had the chance. Between the family funeral, getting Peter home from college, Maggie's end of SHA activities, Pete's birthday and a weekend in Richmond, VA with Matthew for the East Coast Volleyball playoffs, I lost the month. Totally.

Update on the projects... um, the dress is still not done. Have totally reworked it. I begin to understand why couture costs so much. I am literally hand stitching part of it now to fit her properly. I hope it is wearable when done but I now afraid that it will be a tortured piece of fabric when finished. I'm not sure I'm a candidate for Project Runway anytime soon.

On the plus side of that not being finished, I will have a legitimate excuse to sit in the cooler basement while working on it.

Starting to read Rebuilt and planning to read "12 Years a Slave." Looking for history recommendations. I find those easier to read in spurts and that appears to be my life for the next few weeks as we prep for two graduations this month.

May flowers

Had fun visting Mischler's Florist at the end of April to get flowers for the front yard and the diaconate luncheon. Primroses were on sale and they were gorgeous.  The rabbits have enjoyed all of the ones I planted in the front yard, so I hope they rebound OK. Daffodils are blooming so we have some color all around.

I was able to share the daffodils with my Uncle Steve before he passed last weekend. They really did brighten up the room. We lost him on May 4, which was odd considering the Big Bang Theory episode last week about Sheldon coping with a death on Star Wars Day. I'm not really sure I want to start finding clues to my destiny in random tv episodes, but that hit awfully close to home.

With his illness and the diaconate needs, I really have had no time to read or do any other activities around the house. I really need to finish Maggie's dress too. Time is slipping away.

Three more books under the bridge though. The most fun was Red Shirts by John Scalzi. I love that concept from Star Trek and it was a brilliant take on the idea. Also read The Alloy of Law from Brandon Sanderson (a mistborn book) which was OK and the Druggist of Auschiwitz by Dieter Schelsak. It was a sad take on the "medical" side of the concentration camp.