December 2023 Odds and Ends

 1)  We had a very nice, very quiet Christmas.  We laughed a bit, because we had completed the bulk of gift buying before Hammerfall 3.0, so it was not necessarily reflective of our current circumstances.  That said, we all had more than enough.

From The Ravishing Mrs. TB I got  two of Diodorus Siculus' Histories, a blown glass mug and beer from Africa, penguin magnets from South Africa, a bottle of red wine, and an alpaca sweater from Peru.  From Nighean Gheal I got a Japanese dual translation book of short stories for practice, CD of koto music, and a Studio Ghibli movie (Pom Poko). From Nighean Bhan I got a new water resistant backpack (badly needed) which includes a place for a battery bank and built in cord for USB charging (which seems like a really good idea; I am curious how well this would combine with a solar charging unit for power on the go).  From Nighean Dhonn I got The Western Art of War by Victor Davis Hanson which was recommended to her by her college professor (Hanson is a favorite of mine and on a personal note, I love how he has combined Classical Studies and agricultural in California's Central Valley.  Goals.).

All the gifts are both useful and enjoyable.

2)  Yesterday I received my first application rejection from a company - about a week turnaround, which is pretty impressive.  I am assuming this will be the first of many, given the economy we are now in.

I also spoke to a possible consulting lead (a friend of a friend who was super kind and recommended me).  She said she might have some part-time batch record review work in January, possibly 10 to 20 hours a week.  She asked me if I had an idea of my per hour rate.  I did not (I never do).  We did both agree that with the current economy and how companies are reacting, business in general had slowed down (I suspect this will come up a lot this coming year).  She committed to getting back to me after the holidays.

I also touched basis with a friend from the company that brought us Hammerfall 2.0.  She was laid off in June and has been looking since then; over 300 job applied for and nothing yet.

I am assuming this situation will either be over quickly or it will be a long haul.  I am planning for and assuming the long haul.

3)  My sister and The Outdoorsman are out in New Home with their family (including The Brit) to celebrate their wedding anniversary and visit.  This is the first time in 15 years - since we moved - that they have come out.  For Christmas, they gave The Ravishing Mrs. TB and myself tickets to a New Years' Party at an upscale local hotel.  I have to wear a tie and everything.  Hilarity may ensue.

Recently The Ravishing Mrs. TB and I were talking about company Christmas parties and realized we had not been to one since 2015, at least for my work (her work usually does a two hour dinner from a local restaurant; as it is a church, frivolity is mostly confined to Secret Santa and trivia games on Christmas knowledge).  Looking at some of the photos of other companies I have seen online, it seems like many places do the equivalent of a "Christmas Lunch".  I wonder if concept of the corporate Christmas Party is another relic of Economies Past that has simply disappeared and will never return.

Which is fine, I suppose.  Younger me enjoyed the free alcohol and feeling fancy; older me simply can no longer handle it or the noise and activity that goes along with it.

4)  To point 2) above, starting 02 January I have to start coming up with some kind of regular schedule for day to day activities.  Part of that is for my own sanity of course (I do better with a schedule), but part of it is also the fact that it could be some time before another job appears.  I do have things I need to do around here, but I also need to start thinking in longer terms of "what I can do in the event a regular full time job is not forthcoming".  Some of it is honing industry knowledge of course, but some of it is looking at other ways of generating income.

We have already done one round of expense reduction following Hammerfall 3.0 and are doing a second sweep.  Whether or not I qualify for unemployment will have an impact on this (I will not know until 02 January 2024).  And we need to continue to identify dates when specific things have to occur - for example, if I do not have a job by 15 March we will need to find alternative health coverage and get that in place by 20 April to allow the COBRA coverage to be canceled prior to 01 May 2024, when it would start to come out of our bank account.

To be clear, I continue to consider ourselves very fortunate.  Many people are in a much worse position.

5)  With this post and tomorrow's post, I will have accomplished a soft goal I set for myself of posting every day of the year.  There is nothing magical about that of course, and frankly writing this much almost guarantees that not everything is at the same level (or as FOTB (Friend Of This Blog) Eaton Rapid Joe says, "Write something every day").    It does entail a certain level of discipline though, which I likely benefit from.  Doing something even when you do not want to do it is a great way to practice keeping one's nose to the grindstone.

I am inherently lazy and need all the help I can get.