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Jennifer D. Wade Journal

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Blog posts January 2006

Toro! Toro!

Just got back from seeing "The Matador" with Jill.  Good flick with Pierce Brosnan as a burned-out hitman and Greg Kinnear as his one and only friend.  We both liked it a lot.  It's funnier than you might expect from the title, but in some ways, it's also very profound.

After the movie, we went to the Italian place near the theater.  We had to wait a little for a table, so we went over to the bar.  Some woman came up and started talking to Jill. The woman was obviously well on her way to being drunk - slurring her words and TALKING VERY LOUDLY!  SHE SAID JILL HAD DONE A STORY AT THE PLACE WHERE SHE WORKS.  Great.  Now go away!  (No, Jill didn't really say that, but I sure thought it!)  As we were leaving, the bartender apologized for the woman.  Unfortunately, it seems like every time Jill and I are out somewhere, she gets stopped by someone who "sees her on TV all the time."  After all these years, we're both used to it.

Let's see, what else?  I'm about halfway through part IV of the project.  And, I think I found a mistake in the studybook!  I guess I'll drop them an e-mail and see what they have to say.  I plan to finish part IV tomorrow, and maybe start on part V.  We'll see.

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Progress Report

On the Section 4 we go for the on-going tech writing gig.  I finished up Section 3 on Saturday.  Well, OK, I did do a couple more items on Sunday - but only a couple!  On Sunday, I also got started on Section 4, and I've just done a very little bit of work this morning.  So, onward and upward.  My current thinking is to have the whole damn thing finished in 3 or 4 weeks.  After that, my current thinking is that I'm still thinking about it.  Leaning toward not doing another one, but thinking that maybe I could do one around May or June.  We'll see.  I suppose the answer is largely dependent on whether I actually get asked to do another one.

Coming up, I anticipate doing my taxes and fixing up the web site.  I bought a couple books on HTML.  I guess I'll read at least one of them before I totally screw things up.  No fun, I know, but probably better in the long run.

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Still Going...

Had the day off from work today - a comp day for working Christmas.  I got the cleaning done and did about 8 more questions for the CHES project.  I hope to finish the third section by the end of the weekend.  Actually, I'd like to finish it tomorrow if I can.  I need to do about 30 more questions for this section.  I don't know if I'll have that kind of time - or patience - to do it all in one day.  The more I think about it, the more I think this will be a one-time only thing.

Not much else to report.  Between this stupid project and my real job, I haven't had time to do much else.

Do me a favor, next time I think about taking on a freelance job, STOP ME!

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Two Down, Five to Go

I have, I think, finished work on two of the seven sections of my freelance project.  It works out to 67 questions down, 250 to go.  I'm figuring i'll write about 50 questions for each section.  I kind of have a better idea of what I'm doing now, so maybe it will go a little faster.  I'd like to finish one section a week and be done with the entire project no later than the end of February.  The guy seems to like the work so far.  The bigger question remains do I like it?  It's too early to judge right now, I think.

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A Clearer Picture

First, an update on the eyes. Everything's OK.  No need for a stronger prescription.  The doc said he could have increased the strength a little bit.  But, honestly, I couldn't tell that there was much difference from the current one.  Maybe next year, though.  We'll, uh, see.

I did get a story idea out of the trip to the eye doctor.  Instead of dialating my eyes, they took digital images using something called "optofast" or something.  The picture shows the retina and all the blood vessels in the eye.  The doc can look at the picture and determine if you might have diabetes, or macular degeneration, or a detached retina.  All he saw on mine was some extra pigment spots.  NBD.  It's all good.  Anyway, the story idea came when I head that this is a fairly new technology and that my doc is one of only two in the area (in Luzerne County, anyway) that are using it.  So, I took some info into work and passed it on to Jill.

I plan to spent more time this weekend working on the freelance project.  I think I'm getting the hang of what they want.  Basically, it comes down to picking out the key facts, and then writing about each fact in three or four different ways.  Bloody awful.  Assuming I get asked to do another assignment, I'm still mulling over whether I would take it.  Oh, well.  No need to decide right this minute.

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Visionquest

I'm off to the eye doctor in about an hour.  Time for a check-up.  It's been almost exactly one-year since I got my current glasses.  (Recall the doctor's words of wisdom when I asked under what circumstances I should wear them:  "When you want to see better," he said.)  I guess I must really want to see better because I seem to be wearing the glasses more and more.  Or maybe I'm just doing more things that go a lot better when I wear the glasses.

For example, the tech writing thing (up to about 45 total questions now.)  It's boring enough with the glasses.  It would be purely awful if I had to be bored while squinting at the computer screen.

A couple weeks ago, I guess I blacked out or something because I left for work without taking my purse.  And, since the purse is where I keep the glasses, I had to go glassesless.  Not good when your job primarily involves 10 hours of reading tiny little print off a computer screen.

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Making Progress

35 questions down, only 265 more to go for my first tech writing assignment.  Assuming I complete it sometime before spring, I'm considering whether or not (if asked) I would take on another one.  Right now, it seems to be a bit labor-intensive, if you know what I mean.  But, maybe I'll start getting the hang of it as the weeks progress.  Money or a life.  Hmmmm.

I'm going to try to bang out another question or two this morning, then head off to the gym.  First time I've done that since the summer.  I think it's time.

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The Answer

The answer to the question posed on December 31, 2005 is, evidently, no.  No, I cannot sleep in 2006.  I don't recall any anti-sleep laws being passed.  But, for some reason, sleep is not allowed in my world.

I'm currently operating on about 3.5 hours.  Last night, for the second night in a row, the late news went on VERY late due to a football bowl game.  I think the 11p.m. news finally went on aroud 12:42 a.m. (that would be THIS morning).  I was home by 2:00, watched TV for a while then went to bed.  But, I got up at 7:30 so I could take my car over to the garage.  I now figure that, since I'm up (and since the next item on the agenda is to wash the comforter that KT threw up on sometime during the night), I might as well stay up and do something useful.  So, here I am!

Sometime today, if I can stay awake, I do want to start on my freelance tech writing project.  I ordered a relevant book, which arrived on Tuesday.  So, I have no more excuses.

OK.  Well, maybe I'll just take a quick nap first.

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Goal for 2006

Note to self:  Make out a will.  You're almost 40 years old.  You could be hit by a bus tomorrow (not that getting hit by a bus has anything to do with turning 40). Whatever.  It's time.

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