11:32 p.m. - 2003-12-04
ice
Met one of my friends on the bus this morning. She works at a non-profit agency for seniors. She needed information on resources and legislation specific to their needs. My work sometimes requires me to work with websites that would help her a lot. Sometimes the best networking occurs in just sharing day to day concerns. I sent her the webpage addresses tonight so hopefully she'll be able to complete the work she needs to do. I really miss the volunteer work I used to do. It's nice to help even in just these small ways.
Walked into the worksite and was handed a gift - a Christmas mug and a package of cider - from the management firm that looks after the building. It's amazing how some small token from a stranger can raise one's spirits. It didn't matter to their staff whether I was contract or permanent staff or what my rank and title were - I was just valuable in their eyes because I am part of their "community". Work started as usual - the morning chit chat and routine.
An hour into work I called the constable I spoke with yesterday with the information he needed to follow through on enquiries into the phone calls I was receiving. This afternoon he let me know the problem was that the area code that was attached to the phone number being given out for John Callaghan was incorrect. It should have been 413, which is for Springfield, Massachussetts. Well that makes sense and is reassuring. Much better is the fact that a simple explanation can be given rather than worrying about possibly illegal activities that might cause my family harm. It was reassuring too that the police took the concern seriously enough to follow through on it. When you are outside of a service looking in, it is hard to know what might be useful information for them and what isn't. I didn't want to waste their time, but I didn't want to ignore something that could have been a problem either. It was interesting too to hear other staff's reactions to what I was reporting. Some expressed concern about the risks from the callers' possible actions and some were more afraid of the police themselves. I guess it depends what one's experiences are how one will interpret the same concrete data.
Popped into my chiropractor's office at noon even though I wasn't scheduled in - the staff are great at making it possible to slip in when something has gone awry. I think it was that law of physics - "for every action, there is an opposite and equal reaction". I had asked my doctor last appointment to be a little more aggressive with working on my neck, because I was tired of not being able to shoulder check when I was crossing the street - our drivers are scary when it comes to pedestrian safety. He did a last adjustment and it came back to haunt me today. Ouch! I feel good now though.
At the end of the day the liaison I had last time I worked at this company came by. She was asking if I was comfortable with an extension of the contract to do similar work in another section of the library. She said my supervisor was already working on the paperwork for it. I agreed and explained a little bit of my own rationale for the way I am seeking contracts now. I explained about the election coming up and the fact that I didn't feel it was responsible to take on anything complicated that I might not be able to complete, before an election is called. I'm not certain if that was tactically correct or not, but I would rather be honest about my limitations with respect to affecting a company's best interests in choosing their employees. Truth is I would love to work on something considerably more challenging. I'm already getting quite bored with the paperwork, although some of the data I'm seeing is new to me. I'm learning a lot about useful technical skills for environmental management so I'll have to content myself with that as my benefit from this contract. Things always happen a certain way for a reason. Right?
Met another friend on the journey home on the bus. She told me about her holiday last week in the mountains. This is a beautiful time of year to be out there - although as her story underlined - it is a terrible time to try to drive through them. Her descriptions of their "adventures on ice" were pretty vivid and it made our travel time pass quickly.?
Got in the door and found my youngest just pulling a batch of chocolate muffins out of the oven. Yum - equally as good was the dough. At my appointment the other day, my doctor had commented on the amount of weight I had lost since the last time I saw him in the summer. He seemed pleased, but asked why it was coming off so quickly. I just pointed out that the weight gain had been part of the effects of the sickness I dealt with last year. I'm not sick anymore, so the body can function normally again. However, I'm going to have to watch myself right now since I still have some weight to lose. I love Christmas baking - both the doing and the eating - but my body likes to pack that on my hips, just as a souvenir of happy times, you know.
Checked my e-mail after dinner and found a nice note from my supervisor too. I had worked with him yesterday, on the phone, so that together we could finish editing the reports I wrote for him to give to our client. He sent me the report for the final polishing for clarity last night. He just let me know he was happy with the final result and sent an official copy for me to keep. In all, several positive ways to end a shivery, cold, blustery winter day.
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