Storm's a-comin'

The weather people are saying that the Seattle area's going to be hit with a major storm today: rain-rain-rain, winds of a major proportion, snow in the mountains, all manner of weather that is generally uncomfortable for human beings and other living creatures. In the wake of my two sick days last week and my day off yesterday, working from home seems like an excellent idea, so that's what I'm going to do today--and probably tomorrow and Thursday.

What about Friday? Friday, I fly to parts south to visit my cousin P and his wife S. Thanksgiving week will be another short work week for me, and then things will return to normal again--at least until Christmas week.

I'm so not ready for the holidays. The days go quicker and quicker. I'm told this comes with age. Considering the alternative, I'll take it but I don't have to enjoy it.

Had a good weekend--a roadtrip to Portland to stay with davidlevine and kateyule. It was lovely and stress-free, which I really needed. We cooked a lot, talked, and . . . oh yeah, I got a new computer and printer. My old MacBook Pro was ten years old; it was time. The machine sort of pushed me into it, refusing to boot completely and all. Thankfully, everything was backed up. Looking forward to getting the new machine set up and rolling. I have writing and genealogy and photography to do.

Also got to enjoy a delicious dim sum lunch with calendula_witch and mark_j_ferrari. I don't see them nearly enough. Mark had never had dim sum before so it was delightful to watch him discover the joys of shu mai, dumplings, three varieties of bao, sesame balls and egg custard tartlets, among others. He displayed the appropriate dismay at the chicken feet. I think we have a convert.

Also, I made a new necklace for the first time in quite a while, a beautiful thing in shades of smoky blue and copper with fresh water pearls. I spent more on it than I should have, but it's one of the prettiest things I think I've ever made. Mark declared it gallery-worthy. I preened a little at that.

So, now I go off to work after five days of not doing so. I anticipate an overwhelming amount of email and tasks needing to be completed. I want to like my job more than I do, but at this point I'm extremely frustrated with the stagnation and the lack of promotion or movement options. I'm looking at my options and considering a change. We shall see.

A dark and stormy night, outside and in

So, it was quite the storm today: major winds and rain, just as predicted. Many folks I know lost power and still haven't gotten it back yet. My power flickered a couple of times but it remained on. Glad I didn't have to deal with an outage.

So here's a thing going on that I haven't mentioned: I'm interviewing with Facebook tomorrow. It's a second interview--a first with the hiring manager. The position is based on Menlo Park and if I took the job, I'd have to move. Here's the thing: I had a first interview with the recruiter and told her, point blank, that though working for FB would be exciting, the role we're discussing would be a lateral move for me and I'm really interested in something that would be a promotion. She insisted that I talk with the hiring manager, that though it might be a lateral move, Facebook is so big that it was likely I could move in the organization within a year or a little more.

In email, I received links from someone else on the recruitment team that they suggested I review before the meeting. I'm looking at them now, knowing what my role would be, and I find I'm just bored. I've done this all before. I agreed to talk to the hiring manager, but I can't imagine much that would motivate me to take the job, sell my home (or rent it from a distance--bleh), and move my entire life to northern California unless promotion would be guaranteed and the money would be spectacular. But no one can guarantee promotion and money can only make up for so much.

What all this boils down to is that I find myself wondering if I'm done with working on the web. Or, at least, working in content. I've been so dissatisfied with my day job lately that I find it hard to focus and not to snap at coworkers. I just get impatient with people (especially the woman who recruited me for the job I have now; she doesn't realize exactly how condescending she comes across and it's infuriating). But I don't know what I'd do next. There's a piece of me that would like to toss this 40-hours-a-week thing, but I have a mortgage and other bills to pay and, at my age, I admit that I've become accustomed to living in a certain way. I've been building security for retirement and I don't want to stop that. Also, I don't do well with financial uncertainty.

So there we are. I know I need to do some evaluation. I'm not even sure how to start. But I do know one thing: I can't go on being frustrated and unhappy at work. Something's got to give.