New Bicycle!

We bought a bicycle for me to ride to work while in Nola. We only live a 15 minute walk from the office but it'll be nice to ride - it'll be breezy on those stupid hot days and it will keep me from being asked for a spare dollar every day. I rode in today and while it went well, I will have to keep away from the buses in the future.

I did manage to slice my hand/finger while taking the packaging off the helmet. The husband had to take me to urgent care where they glued it together (with purple glue). I'll be glad when it flakes off as it's catching on stuff.

NOLA

I'm back in New Orleans for work (this time with Sly and Ah-nuld). My last show in this town was unpleasant to say the least but I really liked being here. I got in last Monday, the day before Fat Tuesday. I had my fill of Mardi Gras last year so I didn't mind missing most of it. On Friday I woke up with a sore throat that turned into neck pain and a hacking cough. I finally went to the urgent care this morning and they tested me for strep - it was negative. I thought I had pneumonia but my lungs were clear. I walked out after getting a steroid shot and a scrip for antibiotics. I was also told to get some OTC medicine, which I did. I spent the day feeling worse and worse until I finally got the payroll out and went home to some Nyquil. The extra sleep seemed to help because I feel a lot better - still coughing though.

The husband and Sofie are coming tomorrow after driving cross-country. I hated to not drive with them but I'm glad I did as I managed to find us a place to live right near downtown. I'd been nervous about the husband liking it but I realized we can give 30 days notice and move out if we need to... There are places in the Garden District that would be fairly nice but we liked being able to walk to the Quarter and stuff. And there's a new grocery store down here so we can walk to that, too. The husband and Sofie can walk me to/from work and we can hit the store if we want. I like that about living in a city.

Now I just need to feel better. Time to call the husband and say goodnight.

Random Pics From Virginia

Sitter

I'm trying to find a house/cat sitter since we're going back to New Orleans for work. It's a pain in the ass. I posted on FB and several people have written and asked for info, which I send them, then I never hear from them again. Or they can't commit to the full 4 months. Um, why would I want to tag-team a house-sitting position? I did finally get one person who may not flake out on me - we'll know more on Monday from her.

I did go ahead and post on the website we usually use. I don't know how many messages I've gotten yet but we'll have to start weeding through those. It's a bit of a pain in the ass as well but has to be done.

At some point we're going to be down to just one cat and we'll take it with us. And if we get a new cat I'm going to leash train it. I still want a second dog but the husband thinks it's a bad idea to get a dog and then go on location. I can see his point but I think that the dog will adjust to the change in environment knowing that it's with its new pack. But it has to be a joint decision. So that will wait until we get home in July. It's not like there aren't going to be dogs that need homes in July...

Catch Up

Sorry to have been away so long. I find that FB satisfies my immediate need to post what is going on in my world but it does tend to get me in trouble. Anyway, I am unemployed again, having finished work on the show in Richmond - the one about the bearded, stove-pipe-hat wearing president. The work wasn't particularly hard but I was not a fan of most of the people I worked with. I really hope to never work with most of them again. There were a couple, though, that made it bearable.

Wasn't a huge fan of Richmond, either. I think part of that is due to where we lived. If we had lived in a more historic area, or Carytown, it probably would have left a better impression on me. But I loved D.C. and would go back there in a heartbeat!

We did a lot of site-seeing on our way east this time. We had intended to take a week but ended up taking two (a story for another post). But most of it was really good and I'm glad we ended up with the time to do it. We started in Flagstaff, saw Meteor Crater, stopped to see the James Garner statue in Oklahoma, went to the Arkansas diamond mines, visited Hot Springs, saw the Cumberland Gap, and more. I'm probably going to have to look through my pics to remember them all.

As it is, I've got some time off before my next job, which I don't actually have lined up yet. The current hot lead is New Orleans (again). We'll see. I need to file my unemployment and get on with the purge that we started last year. And I need to get my tax stuff together, especially if we end up going out of town again!

100 Thing Challenge

Every time I got back from location I would look at the stuff in my house and wonder why I thought I needed it all. I've been paring things down a bit at a time (donations and a yard sale) but now it's serious - we've decided to do the 100 Thing Challenge.

I'm reading the book and it's been an eye-opener for me. There's more to it than just getting rid of stuff and parts of it strike really close to home. Once the husband reads the book, we'll sit down and write out our rules. I don't know if we'll stick to 100 or some other number, but I already think we'll be dividing it up into his, hers, and ours.

He'll get his library, I'll get my jewelry, we'll clean out the kitchen cabinets... It should be fun. I'm debating starting another blog to track the donations. I have to track them for the IRS, might as well show the world how much stuff 2 people can accumulate...

Who's Getting Punished?

I wanted to process the checks in advance for the people who are staying in town so I wouldn't have to take them back to CA with me. Mr Dumbass Boss decides he's not going to pay anybody in advance because they don't deserve it. Um, hello? I wasn't going to give them their checks. Just trying to get the paperwork off my desk.

I hate that he can piss me off so easily. I think I will ask again tomorrow and see if he actually thought about what I was doing or if he just had a knee-jerk reaction.

Can't wait to be done.

Next Show

I've got my next show lined up - going to Virginia. It's not everything I wanted but it's 98%. I'm going to be an assistant and it's only for 3 months, otherwise I would have held firm for the full 100%. I can only hope this all works out; being an assistant is new for me but I think the show will be big enough to keep us both busy and we'll have a clerk to push paper around. 

My main reason for accepting this show is it's with a studio I've never worked with before. I've heard nothing but fantastic things about them and I've been wanting to get my foot in their door. I don't know much about the key accountant or the payroll accountant but I'm hoping I'll fit in. If nothing else, it is only 3 months. And we'll be less than 2 hours from D.C. so we're planning on seeing all of the sights. Just have to find a dog daycare for the Sofie. She won't be happy but it'll be good for her.

My current show is finally winding down. We finished the last bit of filming in 1 day instead of 2 and that's all paid out. I'm in full wrap mode and we're chugging along to pull out next week. Then I've got 2 or 3 weeks at home and done is done. 

My coworker, who called me a martyr and a liar, is starting to be friendly again. I'm not really interested unless there's an apology but I don't see that happening. Even with an apology I don't see us being actual friends. It's too bad because I thought that's where we were headed... Even so, it makes it easier to be in the office. 

I have been thinking about the martyr comment though. He might be right. I'm going to have to work on that one...