Don't let the ink dry

Another week gone...and my email and calendar at the new office still don't work right.

...so many big adjustments...

I'm acclimating to a place that kicks off projects at 4 and has them essentially done by noon the next day. Over and over and over. Soon it will be automatic - it isn't yet.

I always joked that I'm a great food improviser: I can open the fridge and make a tasty dinner from leftover bits, castoffs and sauces. That's how I've been surviving at my new gig: stitch together a phrase from the previous project, mix with a dash of two pieces ago, fold in a healthy dose of boilerplate, and blend.

These patchwork quilts will suffice. For now.

Hit the road, Jack

My new gig started yesterday, and there's so much to adjust to that the jury is definitely still out.

I know that I'll have to stop saying things like, "At my old job, we X, Y and Z". But, so far, I've found it hard to resist the temptation.

Isn't that the healthiest thing for any new relationship?? Unfiltered talk about the ex?

One thing I DO know is that I've been lucky with the commute so far. It's more than double my former commute (there I go again...comparing apples and kiwis) but mostly, it moves. On some level, I tell myself that it's a good thing - I'll get to catch up on my books-on-CD on the 30-mile drive. But when I see the unpredictable patches of brake lights at 7:30 every morning, I'm never really sure they'll let up and the traffic will get going again.

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Treading virtual water

I've ended up with a lot of wasted time these last few weeks - only, I didn't know it was wasted time when I was wasting it.

I wish that meant I cut myself some slack, reveled in my family before they all headed back to school, or generally did things to "get my head right".

But, no.

The time-wasters are my new haunts - where I post my profile, update my resume, look under every rock for job leads. I've blogged a little about my love/hate with Monster.com. For about three days, I couldn't seem to update anything there, even after restarting and re-logging in and anything else. Even now, I'm still not sure why there's a line on my profile to the effect that "Employers cannot view your profile". Great. I'm talking to myself. Not unlike this blog!

Then, this week, it was LinkedIn. I've spent a lot of time there making connections, building a network. I found a gig that sounds perfect for me on their "Jobs" and applied right there through LinkedIn. But unless I miss my guess, only people in my network can see my profile. So the HR person probably can't see my stellar recommendations and carefully crafted list of accomplishments and talents.

It's like this portfolio that I'm finally dedicating myself to. All this work (and all this help I'm getting from friends).... I just hope I get somebody gets to see the portfolio soon.

Surfing down the rabbit holes

I didn't used to be like this...

In college, I could sit in my office studying, reading, plowing through stacks of work. At my job, I was a master-multitasker, floating from meeting to meeting, team to team, task to task. I took notes; I prioritized; I followed up; I did the legwork; I got it done.

When did my brain turn to linguine? I know it's just a temporary linguine, but I feel like I'm a lot of loose strands that don't exactly go anywhere.

When I first got the layoff, I immediately hit Monster and other job sites. I searched, I even started applying. I barely had a resume; I had no portfolio, no samples in conveniently packaged pdf form, no website. So now I'm backing up, breathing deep and laying the groundwork for my future potential jobs. All that angst (which I thought was driving me to action) was all for naught.

Not that that idle angst has left me. Even now, I check email, then go to LinkedIn, then I remember I said I'd send someone my resume, then tweak my resume for the 8th time, then I go to Commarts to change my online resume to match the tweaks, then I scan something because I "need to get going" on my portfolio, then I decide whether the thing is worth scanning or whether I should try to get the actual file from an old friend, then my 5-year-old knocks on the door to ask me for a snack, then I go back to my email to make sure I didn't forget anything ELSE from yesterday (damn this linguine brain!) then I remember I need to check on the deadline for my 401K rollover and isn't the Visa bill due today and and and

...and it's an hour later. And I didn't send my resume. And the item didn't get scanned. And my 5-year-old is still hungry.

I feel like I'm walking up an icy hill encased in Jello.