Gregory is home!

I can't believe it! Several days of freezing temperatures and Gregory is home, no worse for wear. He is 2 pounds lighter and pretty thirsty, but the vet said he looked fine.

He was in Weaverville, 17 miles away. I'm going to talk with my neighbors and try to find out how he might have gotten out there. What I really want is to find some explanation so that I don't have to think some sicko did this intentionally out of malice.

He seems just as happy and relieved to be home as I am to have him here. He only gets off my lap to get some water and then he comes right back. I am so grateful. I am so grateful. I am so grateful.

Gregory is missing, and I am lost

In the fall of 1995, Gregory appeared in my life one day as an apartment stray. Last Sunday, over 13 years later, he disappeared. I don't know where he is or what happened to him.

If someone had found him, surely they would have called me. I have signs all over the neighborhood, ads in the papers and online, lost cat reports at the shelter and emergency clinic, and my number is on his collar if he hasn't lost it. It's been terribly cold the last few nights. If he's trapped outside I don't know that he'd survive. If he's trapped inside he'd be awfully thirsty by now.

Gregory, my old friend, I'm sorry I couldn't save you this time. If I could throw a blanket over the whole world, to keep you warm and protected, until someone found you and brought you home to me, I would.

Gregory was last seen in West Asheville near Olney Rd. and Vermont Ave. He is grey and white, 10 pounds, male, neutered.

2009 New Years Resolutions

As usual, I have 5 resolutions for 2009 that I plan to do my best to live up to.

1. Write an iPhone application


2. Limit myself to 2 Greens+ chocolate bars per week - You may remember that I have a bit of an addiction to these


3. Exercise at least 5 days a week


4. Straighten the house each night before I go to bed - I started this habit a few days ago and I like it so much I want to make it a regular thing


5. Visit 2 new places this year - I make this resolution every year. I think it's a good one.

2008 Resolutions - How did I do?

Just about a year ago today, I made my annual list of 5 New Years Resolutions. No point in making them if I don't go back and see whether or not I lived up to them. So, let's take a look...

1. Chew my food thoroughly - I remembered to do this only intermittently and didn't remember until now that it was a resolution I had made.


2. Walk my dog twice a week - If you go by a weekly average, then yes. There were 2 months in there where I walked him every day. During the cold weather though, he was lucky if he got even 1 each week. So I didn't really stick to this one either.


3. Plant a vegetable garden - Yes! I did do this! Of course, I planted it too late and now everything appears to be completely dead, probably from frost. But it still counts!


4. No more hitting refresh buttons on websites, email, and RSS readers - Oh my goodness, did I really say that? Yeah, didn't stick with that AT ALL. But I am better than I was a year ago. There are only a couple of things that I check compulsively now and I don't exactly do it all day long like I used to.


5. Travel to 2 new places this year - I don't know. Does Charlotte count? I don't think I can really say I did this. I've been too worried about money to take a real vacation anywhere. I went to New Hampshire last January, which counts, but that's only one new place.

So...wow, terrible. Usually I stick to at least 2. This year I can only say I really stuck to one, and the result of it is a giant outdoor litterbox for the cats (which may also explain why nothing is growing in my garden). I will say though, that with the exception of the 5th resolution, I made significant progress with regard to all of them.

I haven't come up with my resolutions for 2009 though. Maybe I need to aim lower, huh?

Pickin' the mandolin on my way back to bondage

If you're not a bluegrass fan, you may not relate to what I'm saying. I love bluegrass. Doesn't matter what kind of mood I'm in - if a good bluegrass tune starts playing, I feel like dancing. The music makes me so happy. Even the sad songs make me happy. So when John asked me the other day, after I'd spent weeks feeling like every day was a big waste of time, what I'd really enjoy doing, I said "I'd like to play in a bluegrass band. But that's not going to happen."

He seems to think I'd make a pretty good mandolin player. I took violin lessons for years but I never got to be that good, so playing is a frustrating experience for me. (Say what you want, Aunt Kathie, but I'm really not good at it.) But a mandolin has frets so it's easier to play. You don't have to worry about being in tune. That made a lot of sense to me and so I became pretty enthused about the idea of learning to play the mandolin. And I just so happen to have one lying around. It's the one my grandfather used to play when we'd visit for the holidays.

If I didn't think of something interesting to occupy my time, I was going to drive myself insane. I can only job hunt for so many hours a week and for some reason it's hard to do anything else when you're thinking about getting a job. I started playing mandolin yesterday and it's managed to hold my attention so far. I'd happily play it all day long if my finger tips didn't hurt so bad. Good fun.

The Holidays Are A Pain

I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday season because it is seriously interfering with my job search. Trying to look for a job between Thanksgiving and New Years Day is a complete waste of time. No one does anything the week of Thanksgiving. And then when they get back to work, everyone is just thinking about their Christmas vacation coming up in a couple of weeks. I don't know why anyone even bothers showing up to work the week between Christmas and New Years. If anyone is there at all, they are probably just playing video games the whole time.

I had a company call me a week ago Tuesday saying they wanted someone to start THAT WEEK, and asking if I could come in for an interview. I said "sure!" I hear nothing for a full week so I figured they hired someone else. Nope, as it turns out, they just didn't get around to dealing with the hiring because everyone is on vacation. At least most companies have the decency to tell you up front that they won't be getting back to anyone until January.

That's great for all of you, but I'm trying to find a job and this is a big inconvenience. Come on people, get back to work!!! I've got 3 hungry pets to feed and they don't care one bit about the holidays.

Job Hunting Again

It's been almost 2 years since I started this blog. 2 Years since I left my software job in Seattle and said, "never again!" Then I started building websites for clients and I said, "ok, again, but this is really kind of different so it doesn't count."

Now, 2 years later, I'm here to tell you, unequivocally, "Again!"

2 Things have changed since December of 2006. (1) I am running out of money and (2) I actually don't hate software development like I thought I did. (Good job Aunt Kathie - you called that one at the very beginning.)

The truth is, I have had a ton of fun building websites and various web applications over the last couple of years. In fact, it was only about 2 months after quitting that job in Seattle that I started getting the itch to build foodscout.org.

I was definitely unsatisfied with my life at that point. I felt like every day was a total waste of time and energy. I kept thinking "there has to be more to life than this." Turns out that it was unfair to blame those feelings on my job. The job added to it, sure, but once again, I found that I had to look inward to really solve the problem. Working with interesting people, doing interesting things doesn't actually sound too bad to me at all, now that life in general is so much dang fun.

Now, I know what you're thinking. "Diana, that sounds like a bullshit justification for falling back into that thing you swore you were done with." And you may be quite right about that. If so, I refer you to reason number (1) above: I am running out of money. Anyone looking for a good Java developer who isn't burned out on high tech?