Thursday, October 23, 2014

Celebration!

In my determination to have more fun this week...

  • I got my Portland Library Card!!! 
  • Ate some of mister's DELICIOUS meatballs. 
  • We went out for pizza and pinball. 
  • I made my weight loss post-it wall again. Gonna get back on this wagon if it slays me. 
  • I made an enormous list of Portland-y things to do. 
  • I re-organized my life and made a new planner with a space for everything. 
    • Daily To-do list
    • Work shifts/work tasks
    • Bills to pay and paydays
    • Something fun. I am required to acknowledge one fun thing I've done per day. 
I am going to reassign my stubbornness to making sure that I am enjoying life. Working enough to live. Playing enough to please myself. Walking fast enough to burn some fat.

I have been working two jobs a day for the past week while I'm finishing up at TV Work and starting my Chevy Work training and have still managed to have a good time and be somewhat healthy (drool... meatballs). It makes for 12 hour days but for a brief moment in time, I will be ahead of the bills game. It's the perfect start to the new job.

AND... Get ready...

Best news!!!

I will have a day off on Sunday, November 2nd 2014. It will be the first day off I've had in 51 days.

That being said...

 WAHOO!
Nanette

Sunday, October 19, 2014

*drumroll please*

The Chevy dealership has hired me full time to be their warranty processor. I am not allowed to disclose my wage for a while (AKA: until the current lady leaves). But it's a step in the right direction.

I will only be working 5 days a week. Normal business hours 8-5 or 9-6 Mon - Fri. Finally... FINALLY...  I can now say that this stress is a universal relocation stress, not a specific to Portland, or specific to NY experience. I was looking at my budget books from when I first got to Brooklyn. Everywhere it's written "Do not panic. You are going to be just fine." Words to live by.

Now, it's still going to be tight wallet times. But the quality of life has skyrocketed.

- No crazy dentist issues + no more entitled manhattanites.
- Weekends off.
- Insurance (health and dental) for significantly less than the health exchange was offering.
- Ability to recalculate my student loan payments.
- Less time commuting (saving about $100 per month on gas).

Which means things are looking up for sure. I may actually have time to experience Portland and stop posting whiny no-money blogs... but actually upload some fun photos of places I've been going.

Speaking of fun places, I made it to Powell's City of Books. AMAZING. The selection is unlike anything else. It's even better than The Strand which boasts over 2 miles of books or something... or books to the moon and back. Yeah? Well, Powell's has an entire city block of books. They have multiple stories. And apparently it's a huge hotspot for book tours, author readings, book signings and stuff. THANK YOU. PLEASE TAKE ALL MY MONEY.

Mister and I have been greatly enjoying some of the food carts located about 2 blocks from our house, specifically Operation Wings and Unicorn Burger. This city also has a crazy obsession with Viatnamese cuisine. Everywhere you look it's Pho, Pho, Pho. Which is great, but how competitive can the noodle soup business be around here?

Also another interesting point to note... Portland comes in second only to Vegas for highest amount of strip clubs per capita. I swear, probably 25% of the female population earns money taking their clothes off here. And they've got something for everyone, live lingerie modeling, Vegan stripping (only serves vegan food and they only take off vegan clothing)... they even have plus-size strip clubs up in here. Keep Portland Weird indeed. I'm going to have to start keeping a list of all the terrible and hilarious stripclub names.

I will get out, find interesting things and report next week. Two more weeks of 7 days a week and then I will be a normal human!

XO,
N

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Phentermine

Alright, Day 2 of Phentermine.

Yesterday was amazing. I had a great project at work that kept me running around. i was speeding through all of it. On top of it, it made me the freaking Hulk, I was carrying 20-40lbs of files back and forth from the service department and the front desk, then processing and going back for more (6 times).

Things I noticed...
- Sweating. Head sweating. Mostly because I was running around. Partially because my body temp was up.
- I felt electric. Like buzzing. I'm sure they call this "jitters" on the side-effect list. Normally I relate side-effect with negative symptoms, but this one was great.
- Increased focus on the task at hand.
- Decreased clock watching.
- Decreased food cravings.
- After eating, I was uncomfortable. Not nauseated, but it just made me feel so uncomfortable... like I'd eaten rocks. I could feel the food just sit there.
- Elevated mood. I felt great, bring it on! I can take on the world.

Today...
It is very similar. I am more prone to taking on activities at work because I feel better, more energized. Today I moved like... 8 drawers of files to make room for the rest of the year. I've thought about doing it for the past 2 weeks but today I actually did it. I figured, I may as well. It's slow and I was pumped to make a visible difference.

I got hungry for a second around noon, but I wasn't going to eat lunch that early. So I got into the next project and completely forgot about food. I wound up having a V8 around 3:40pm. My energy is tapering off. But I can still feel the medication in effect. This is how I normally feel at the beginning of a day.

Will thinks that my reaction to this medication, which is definitely a stimulant, may point to ADD, ADHD type of disorders. I can't believe the difference in alertness and focus. But isn't that what everyone would experience? I dunno. I've considered it before, as I'm a very distracted person and have a tendency to even interrupt my own thoughts. But that could also very much be normal. I have a hard time choosing to focus on stuff. Once I'm focused, I'm fine. But getting me to start the task is the difficult part.

More soon,
N

Job VS. Job

It was definitely a better week. I'm concentrating on the two jobs I have.

I applied to a handful of jobs at the beginning of the week. No calls back except for the sleazy payday loan place. Thanks, but no thanks.

Here's the update though...

TV company - Potential to move from Temp to Perm... in January. Pay increase: $12 to $15.

Chevy - Potential opening in the upstairs office. Moving from weekends to full-time. Pay increase: $10 - ??? (Anything less than $15.94 means, I would be taking a monthly loss).

Dentist - Offered my input on a potential new contract on Wednesday. No contact from her yet. I assume it means she's not interested. Which I am gloriously OK with.

So I'm approaching a decision in the next 2 weeks or so. Full-time at Chevy and quit the TV stats or keep my 5 days at TV stats and 2 days at Chevy while they hire someone else?

I've been comparing and contrasting...

TV Job Pros
- EXCELLENT health benefits fully paid.
- Excessive paid vacations (like Christmas - New Years).
- Happy team, calm environment.
- Clear expectations.
- Nice gounds for walking - though only allowed to leave the desk for 15 min walks 2x a day.
- Annual performance reviews and raises.
- Random perks like free drycleaning, yoga tuesdays, setting your own schedule.

TV Job Cons
- Must wait until January to get hired.
- BORING work.
- Nature of work lends to snacking and anxiousness.
- Twice as far from home as Chevy.
- Passive atmosphere.
- Big Brother company.

Chevy Pros
- Good health benefits (med+dental) with a nominal monthly fee ($50).
- Social environment.
- More active job (filing, stairs, finding people).
- Enjoyable work.
- Company promotes from within.
- Locally owned though still corporate/professional.
- Closer, shorter commute (save gas $$).
- Hiring NOW.
- Only allows eating in the breakrooms/Non-snacking environment.

Chevy Cons
- More stressful prescense of boss.
- Expectations are sometimes not clearly communicated.
- Harder to get raises without job description change.
- May not pay as much immediately.

It seems like I would be happier with my work and employment at Chevy. Sure the perks aren't there. But is that worth being bored - yet still busy - to tears 8 hours a day?

Also there's the element of patience... and how I don't have any. ANY. And Chevy is dangling this opportunity within the next two weeks.

So... maybe next week's update will have more Action News Now!!!

XO,
N

P.s. 31 days since my last day off. Still truckin'.

Saturday, October 4, 2014

The day it turned around.

Today is the day it turns around.

Today I'm pretty sure that the contract with the dentist is over.

Today I made a friend in Portland.

Today is the day I start applying for only the good paying jobs.

Today is the day that I can shake all of the left over NYC sludge from my system.

Today is the last day of pouting and complaining.

It has been another rough week. It is day 23 of working without a day off. But I'm tired of that being the weekly update.

This week I spent time with Lindz, an old friend from college. I gained a new, quiet walking partner at work, Anne. And made a friend with a client at the chevy dealer, Dexter.

This is a picture of Nanette getting social.
This is a picture of Nanette working less.

Financial stress be damned. I am going to find better work. Someone is going to see my worth in the interview process and snatch me up. I'm sure of it. Until then, I'm still employed.

Game plan...

Tonight - Revamp the resume and cover letter.
Tomorrow - Send resume to 8 - 10 postings, post it on monster.com, post it on indeed.com
Monday - Start going to work earlier so I can do afternoon interviews + find 10 fun, free places to go/things to do in Portland.

XO,
N