Mishmash Musings

I am going to try teaching some online classes beginning with the summer term. I think it would be great to be able to work from home at least part of the time, so I’m giving it a trial run for six weeks. If all goes well, I might ask for an increased online class load for the fall.

The only thing I have to do to prepare for online classes is sign up for web based video conferencing that will allow me to meet face to face with students whenever necessary. That shouldn’t be a problem to set up, so I should be ready to go in no time!

So right now my home “office” is in the back of the living room. I had originally put my computer hutch here so I could keep an eye on my son while he’s watching TV or playing video games. But now that he’s getting a little older and spends more time outside with his friends than in here in the living room, I’m thinking of moving my hutch to a quieter location — like the basement.

The basement is half-finished, so it’s not like I’d be relegating myself to a dank, dark cellar. It would be cool down there in the summer (which is a bonus since I wouldn’t need to use the air conditioner when I’m the only one home) and comfortable enough in winter if I use a space heater. I’d still have a TV down there too. The only problem is that my cell phone reception is hit or miss when I’m in the basement. I need to be able to take and make calls, so this could be a deal breaker. I wonder if a cell phone signal booster would help me take care of that problem.

Anyway, I think I would benefit from a change of scenery. Between work and grad school, I spend a lot of time at my desk here and I think I would be far more efficient in a quieter space. Then again, I don’t want to be completely removed from my family all evening, so I’d have to manage my time a lot better. I’ll have to think about this some more.

As I mentioned in my last post, I was feeling quite depressed about having my least profitable month in three years as a freelance writer. Well, I’ve decided to just look ahead, so I’ve quickly regrouped and started working towards this month’s income goal. I was able to hit my daily target for today without much effort, and already have stuff lined up for tomorrow’s target. I’m getting off on the right foot here, and hope to be able to keep this up for the next 30 days. I need the confidence boost that will come with hitting my target this month, so I’m going all out to reach that magic number!

In cleaning out my desk today, I found that I’m running dangerously low on some office supplies that I use all the time: white out, printer paper, paper clips, and ballpoint pens. I need to restock very soon because I’m the type of person who can’t sit down to work unless I have all everything in place. Even if there’s no chance that I’m going to need a paper clip for a particular project, I somehow manage to convince myself that I still can’t begin until I replenish my supplies. Yes, I realize it’s a procrastination tactic, but I can’t get past this quirk!!

I don’t know why this always happens to me. I have a consulting gig that I agreed to take on merely as a favor to a former boss of mine. I have no interest in working full-time outside my home at this point, so this gig seemed like a good one for me. It only required that I put in one or two office days per month, and that I spend time writing e-mails and company memos as necessary.

Recently, however, my boss has totally been taking advantage of me. He’s shorthanded right now, so he asked me to fill in for three weeks while he looked for a couple of new employees. Even though I hate working every day, I agreed to do it just to help out.

But now, my willingness to help is coming back to bite me, as my employer has extended my office time to six weeks. I can’t really say no, as it’s in my best interest to have this gig to fall back on should I ever need a full-time job.

But going from working 2 days per month to 20 is really taking its toll on me, as I’m completely running myself ragged. I barely have time to eat properly, I’m not getting stuff done around the house, and I’m not sleeping as much as I need to. I guess on the positive side, I can say that I’ve lost a couple of pounds without having to take any fat burners or supplements, but that’s really a small consolation these days.

Yes, I get paid above and beyond my contract for all of this extra time I’m putting in, but money’s not the point right now. There’s a reason I don’t want full-time work, and that reason is my son. It’s his summer vacation, so I wanted to spend a lot of time with him, but that’s not happening since I’m working so much. I feel guilty about it and feel bad that the boy has to go to a babysitter (albeit my mom) every single day.

Ugh. I don’t know what to do. I just wish my boss would get his act together and find new employees ASAP!

We’re nearing the end of the month (EOM), which means there are a bunch of accounting tasks I have to tend to. Since the IRS considers me self-employed, I must keep meticulous records of all the financial transactions related to my freelance writing business, including how much I’ve earned, how much I’ve been paid, how much I expect to be paid, and how much I’ve spent on related expenses.

Along with a huge stack of receipts, I’ve got about seven Excel spreadsheets open, as well as a couple of Word documents. I’m definitely stretching my computer memory to the max here! But I find that it’s a lot easier to keep a running total for the year (updated monthly) than to try to figure everything out on April 14.

All of this accounting work is very tedious, and is a very boring way to spend a Sunday night. I wish I had the funds to hire an assistant for this stuff!

As many of you know, I have an outside-the-home consulting gig that usually takes up a few hours of my time every week. On occasion, however, I have to put in substantially more time than usual to help keep things at that business running smoothly.

This is one of those times.

For the next month (4 weeks), I’m slated to work 4-5 hours per day, 5 days a week. I have tried reworking other employees’ schedules to reduce the need for my presence, but so far haven’t had any luck. That 20-25 hour work week was the best I could come up with.

At any rate, between that job and my family, I will have very little time for blogging, so don’t be surprised if you see only a handful of updates for the next month. I’m not abandoning this blog; just taking a bit of a break. Hopefully, I’ll be back to a regular posting schedule by August!

Instead of having to check back every day, why not take this opportunity to subscribe to my feed? That way it won’t be as much of an effort for you to keep up!

I just realized that I haven’t posted about my consulting job in a while, so this update is long overdue.

I’m happy to report that things haven’t been too terribly taxing on the work front in recent months. I’ve just been putting in the minimum number of office hours to fulfill my obligations, and haven’t had to do anything outside of my job description. It’s funny that I’m happy about the way things should be, isn’t it? I mean, why is it such a surprise that things are going smoothly?

Well, actually, there have been a few annoyances lately, but nothing major. One of the things I have to do is observe new-hires in action and then write detailed evaluations about their performance. The idea is to help get employees up to speed as quickly as possible by nipping bad habits in the bud.

Anyway, I had a lot of trouble communicating with one of our latest hires. This young woman is a total Nervous Nellie type to begin with, and she practically went off the deep end when she learned I’d be observing her. The first two times I tried to do it, she begged off, asking me to show her how it’s done instead. I felt bad for her, so I complied.

The third time I went in for her, she finally let me do my job — except she then made herself unavailable to sit down with me and go over the evaluation. I tried phoning and emailing her for four straight days (no exaggeration) before I got a response. She just wouldn’t call me back! WTF was that all about?

And then to make matters worse, she made an appointment to go over my notes by phone — and then completely blew me off, again refusing to answer her phone or call me back.

It’s too bad I don’t have the power to fire people, because I wouldn’t have hesitated in this case. I can’t believe how totally unprofessional she has been… I have a bad feeling about this employee, so I hope my boss doesn’t invest too much time/money in her!