Centime

The Blog Roll

Like many others in the blogoverse I have struggled as to how to use blogs rolls. Who do you blog roll? Why do you blog roll them? If some one blog rolls me do have to blog roll them just to be polite? If I blog roll them and they don't blog roll me back should I take it personally and delete them from my blog roll?

Whatever.

This is what I have decided to do. I read the blogs you see on the right. They may or may not blog roll me back. I care not. I read them even if they do not read me. After all, I have no illusions that I am one of the most interesting bloggers out there. If you find me interesting at times, thank you. If you would like to leave a comment, please feel free. I might respond, I might not.

Let me introduce you to my blog-hood:

Relations:
Receptionista - a vibrant young woman I am proud to share a bit of DNA with.
Hot Flash! - My big sister. I wish she would blog more often as her writting rocks.

Politics:
Daily Kos - Liberal viewpoints from mulitple authors.
Dazzle Camouflage - One mans liberal viewpoint.
Majikthise - One womans liberal viewpoint.
Obsidian Wings - More liberal viewpoints but sometimes centrist.
Red State - Conservative viewpoints. Need to know what the enemy is thinking - as scary as that is.
TPM Cafe || The Coffee House - Yep, more liberal viewpoints.
The Wall of Separation - Dedicated to the separation of church and state.

Good Reads;
Demented Tidbits - Baby Boy Freberg cannot be described in just one sentence.
Faith Gambler - A young mans' quest to find the meaning of life.
Julia - Tales of mom-dom.
Good Grief - How can you not read a blog tag-lined, "Does this blog make my butt look big?". Besides, she's a progammer like me.
Pushing an elephant up the stairs - On womans struggle to fight depression and raise teenagers.
Road Warrior Rage - One persons attempt to capture the lunacy of Corporate America and consulting.
Soylent Content - The unique perspective of a Seattle man.
The Adventures of a Snowball in Hell - One womans struggle to raise her kids and deal with a horendously awful ex-husband.
The Painted Cave Artist and Mom who makes ends meet by working in retail.
The Space Suitcase - A girls life in Chicago. My old neighborhood actually!
This is My Body,This is My blood - I love her stories and her humour.
Tvindy - The perpetual student. I kind of envy that.
Will Wheaton dot net - Life after Star Trek.
Hey Monkey - Another Chicago area based girl who does great embroidery.

Hope you like my blog-hood.

Maybe I'm just weird...

I am seriously thinking about taking my three bedroom house and turning it into a two bedroom house. Let me explain, the two little bedrooms are very small - 8 by 12 feet each. Knocking out the wall between them will give me a nice 16 by 12 foot room. I could build a big closet instead of having two dorking little ones. It could become an office/guestroom/sewing room Also, the windows in each room are right next to each other. They could be knocked out and a set of french doors could lead out into a nice courtyard area in front of the house. But everyone knows this will reduce it's re-salability. Who wants a two bedroom house?

But I do have vague plans to expand the place. I am thinking of building a loft/second floor that would give me the soaring ceilings that many people here in the Phoenix area have. I have very low ceilings at the moment. This expansion could include space for a third bedroom and be a massive improvement.

But this expansion won't happen until the kitchen gets re-done, the carpet gets pulled up and replaced in the living room and master bedroom, the wall in the office are get rebuilt, the car port gets turned into a garage and the front door get moved forward, the pool gets built and the low wall out front gets put in. Now add to that list the construction on the bedrooms. Not to mention all the regular maintenance and surprises homeownership brings. A rather long of house improvements have I.

All I need is money. That must be why I am flying half way across the country every week....

a disappointing day...

Today was a very disappointing day. I moved out here thinking that I had a job all lined up. It was a contract to hire instead of a straight hire. I figured that would put both sides on approval. I was getting along with everyone at work although I was a tad bored but I figured one they went live I would be busy enough on support issues. What I didn't do was my research on this company. They are losing money. Their sales are staying stubbornly low and eventually something had to give. They had asked me if I wouldn't mind staying on as a contractor until the new year as they were having some budget constraints. Well, today they determined that they would not be able to offer me a job after all and that they would probably end my contract in a couple of weeks.

Granted I was planning on about moving out here anyway but I was going to buy a cheaper house and take out a smaller mortgage...

Oh well, now that I am out here it should be easier to look for a new job.... but still, a very disappointing day. I kind of feel like a bride who saves herself for marriage until the night before the wedding and then the groom leaves her at the altar....

Career Options

Lately I have been at loose ends trying to figure out what I want to do next. So, I have come up with a list.

• Get a PeopleSoft postion in the Phoenix area and go to design school part time to become an interior designer.
• Pros
• Fair income.
• Use skills I am very good at.
• Get vested in a pension plan
• Could be part of a team again. Have really missed that being an independent consultant.
• Not have to keep track of all that business paperwork.
• Cons
• Studying part time would be difficult while holding down a full time, stressful job.
• PeopleSoft positions in the Phoenix area may be limited.
• Get a part time retail job at a furniture store or other interior design type of business and go to design school full time.
• Pros
• No more stressful systems work.
• Can concentrate on studies while getting experience in industry.
• Cons
• Low income. In fact, interior design does not pay as well as systems work.
• Full time student at my age? OMW....
• Will have to wait until AZ residency is established before returning to school.
• I hate retail. The hours are yucky, the generally public is difficult and the pay is low. At least that was my experience at a clothing store 20 years ago.
• Continue being an independent PeopleSoft consultant.
• Pros
• Established in business and industry
• Use skills I am very good at.
• Income potential not as good as it was but still decent.
• I am my own business woman.
• Cons
• Tired of the short termness of assignments and not being there for the long term.
• Boring.
• Boring.
• Become a web designer. Get a part time retail job to bring in some income while learning web design skills.
• Pros
• Something new to learn.
• Many small to medium sized businesses will need this skill.
• Get to do new development instead of supporting PeopleSoft code.
• Cons
• No experience.
• Lots of competition that is way ahead of me in terms of skills and learning.
• Different tools. Same job.

Decisions. Decisions....

Phoenix

After a brutal, cold winter in the Midwest I have decided a move to the Phoenix area is what I need. Here is what I am looking for:

* Ahwatukee area.
* Price of $150,000 to $200,000.
* 3 bedrooms.
* Garage.
* Tile roof.
* Single level.
* Open kitchen plan with an island.
* Preserve lot or wash. Privacy is what I am really going for here. A nice view would be nice.
* A back yard big enough to put a pool in. I would rather the property not have pool so I can design and build one instead.
* Tile or wood flooring.
* Covered patio.
* Desert landscaping in both the front and back yard.

I love my two bedroom condo here in Chicago but I hate the winters and I can get a whole house for this condo is worth....