work

It's official. I now labor for http://advomatic.com I'll be soliciting my brain to them part time for the next ten days, off for a week to wrap up some stuff for a New Georges show, then back full time.

Advomatic does websites for, "Progressive Advocacy, Grassroots Movements, and Really Cool Causes"

It's times like this when I'm jolted back to the realization that my experience base is vastly different from most. I'm just a little terrified to get a steady job. You have to understand that I value my freedom over everything else, and I haven't had a job where I truly answered to someone above me since I was 19. Thats about 8 years.

That factoid goes hand in hand with the fact that I haven't had health insurance since I was 21 and that is about to change as well. It also doesn't hurt that they're gonna practically double my income.

All in all this should actually free me up to do a lot of those things that I've been saying I would do for so long. It's a 'virtual office'; meaning that we all check into the same chatroom every day and it matters very little if I work from 9-5 or 6am-midnight - as long as I put in my 40 hours a week.

I also have the luxury of being able to work from anywhere. This gives rise to all sorts of thought about traveling and putting down roots for 2-3 months at a time. Ramblin'; as it were.

All in all, I think this is going to be a great move.

Wow. This past week has been among the most stressful I've had in a long long time. I have two sites that need to launch by Monday a third that will want to launch by the end of next week and a fourth I'm running late on and a meeting with a new client that I find very important tomorrow.

In addition to that I'm tasked with making sure I have double rent this month... don't ask. I'm beat.

Not to get on an old horse here, but this is feeling kinda stagnant. I don't want my life to be one series of ever approaching deadlines.

Time to parlay this inter-web thing into a few projects I'm actually passionate about.

That should be doable. With the money coming in from the sites that I am finishing, I'm geared to take some time and start developing a few sites of my own.

For starters, the semi-big client referenced above is a project I've been negotiating for a while that will meld my experience in the entertainment world with my web-work into, what I think, will be a profitable company. The investors can't really pay my rate, but they can cover my expenses for about a month and make me an equal partner. That's very exciting. Being involved on the ground level on soething I think will be big.

It's not world changing or anything like that, but I hope it is one of many.

Is it bad when you look forward to work you will enjoy more as relaxation from the workload you have now?

Things have been crazy at work and getting crazier. Today was a particualrly long day and I'm still not done. I frequently feel like I'm keeping ahead by the skin of my teeth and have trouble enjoying my time off thinking that I should be trying to get ahead.

Through the maelstrom of that and moving, and various other stresses in my life I've found that I'm more tense than I've been in years - this is rougher than teching two shows at once (but not by much ;)

So reaching way back I've rekindled my old practice of trying to meditate. I admit I don't get to it daily like I used to in high school, but I do try to clear my head 2-3 times a week at least.

I really don't know if there is a 'proper' way to do this. I start by clearing my head of all thoughts for a few moments. Literally trying to think of 'nothing' pushing even the color of the back of my eyelids out of my mind. Or sometimes when its too much to do even that I try to hold the thought of a metallic sphere in my mind and then imagine that its mercury, but I need to keep in in the shape of a sphere for a few moments.

Then, I address each thing I encountered during the day in turn, giving particular consideration to anything that caused me distress, tension, or undue stress. This goes on as long as it takes.

Repeat step 1 and you're done.

So, why and I'm telling you all this. Well, it dawned on me that this is really nothing more than spending 10-15 minutes thinking about what I'm doing each day.

Wouldn't the world be a better place if everyone took 15 minutes to think about what they were doing each day, as opposed to just acting and reacting...?

I still do a lot of stupid things - but I bet I've missed a few since starting this.

Thats all.

So, its official, I have a place to live for a year. Lease signed, keys obtained, and stage one of stuff being moved in accomplished.

Sunday saw me get the last of my stuff out of Sean's, and I think I have two boxes and printer at Justin's still, which will be removed Thursday. Next I need to get my stuff delivered from storage, but that will most likely be a hefty bill and won't be until this weekend or next.

Monday I woke up late feeling gross, took a shower, ate some food and passed back out. Some weird bug going around, Justin had it, and now I do - although I appear to be getting over it quickly enough. I woke again on Monday 4:30pm, asleep again 11:00 last night, woke up 11:30 this morning, and am almost human again with the help of some DayQuil. This, of course, puts me behind on work, but not too bad.

Last night I discovered the roaches. I'm told everyone in NYC encounters them at some point, and I've had isolated incidents before, but this is just ridiculous. Luckily they appear to be restricted to the kitchen, and I think if I put a ton of traps and boric acid down we can get them under control.

Thankfully the cafe is mellow today and I can just sit and try to get some work done. See if I can't knock off early and kick this cold completely. *sigh*

Working from the cafe today on N. 11th and Bedford called 'Sound Fix'. No sooner than I ge my coffee and sit down then a musician starts to set up. This is new. I knew that they did music in the cafe frequently, but this is the first I've encountered it. The singer, whose name I don't even know, is so-so. But there is a certain quality to doing web design to live music that I think I really enjoy.

You don't get live music in most workplaces....

Nice.

ADDITIONAL: Well it was nice before the whiny metal band came on.... really, you're playing a coffee shop at 3 in the afternoon = how much gear do you need, its 5 geeks with laptops and your friends, be cool, dudes, be cool.

I went home to work.

You always think it might be nice to be your own boss. It must be good to be able 'to make your own hours'.

That bloody slavedriver just let us out. He's a jerk. I hate the boss.

*sigh* Is blogging to yourself a sign of senility?

I want to write the "Drupal for Dummies" book as an addendum to the class I'm teaching. But Wiley Publishing won't take solicitations for for Dummies books unless they are from a literary agent.

The market is hot for this. Drupal is hitting its power stroke but literally thousands of people need a better reference than exists right now. I think I'm the person to write it. Anyone? Anyone?

I've been hacking around setting up drupal sites for the past two weeks. ITs good. My resume is growing faster than I'd imagine, and I'm getting deeper and deeper into the "Drupal" way.

Unfortunately this has left *no* time for anything else. My basic day is wake up no later than 9:30-10:00 (usually more like 8am). Coffee. Work till I can't think. Realize that fod is a good thing and eat "breakfast" (circa 2:00pm). Keep working. Eat. Keep working. Stop, well, about now really. 11:49 pm.

Good News:
- Laptop back from shop. I'm hoping to get out to a internet cafe tomorrow and see the outside workd again for the first time in a while.
- Accounts pouring in. 2 definites and 2-3 potential new clients in the past 4 days.

Also, took on more volunteer work, tis will be drupal before the end of next wek (we hope). http://assembleforrightsnyc.blogspot.com/

I won't lie. I'm hoping it will be a good portfolio piece for Tresler Designs. But I still think the cause is well worth supporting.

Thats all for now. Talk to ya'll later.

With the server change I decided to try out Drupal's multi-site functionality. It rocks. Right now the code that is runing this site is also running five other sites of mine. This remarkably streamlines workflow.

Last day at the theater before moving back to the computer world. I'm looking forward to the long list of things that I have waiting me in - work at your own pace- land.

Lots going on otherwise too. Came up with a new website idea that I want to push. NYC-theatertech.com A networking site for theater technicians in NYC...as if it wasn't obvious.

Basically I'm realizing that my entire "career" as it were is based off of my networking abilities, and that is really what I am trying to parlay into theNYClife.com

Well if that is the case I should expand that idea in the social networking sites and get several set up. Both theNYClife and NYC-theatertech.com have the ability to expand to other cities as they grow. 1) Keep it local 2) solve a problem (scratch an itch) 3) actually follow through and get your work done (possibly the hardest part.

Yesterday, I really didn't want to get out of bed. A small part of it was being out with Friends way too late the night before, but long after that stopped being a factor, I still didn't want to ge out of bed.

As I was laying there, pondering my immobility, it dawned on me that I didn't want to get out of bed because I thought 'if I'm up, I need to go to work'. That de facto 'awake' should be equal to 'working'.

I finaly got up and read a book for a few hours and ignored the computer. I think that was healthy.

So, busy doesn't really describe what I've been of late. Finally finished my 'week' of work in Tony Walton's studio. I say 'week' with quotes because it was five days over three weeks. Almost done with one major website and about to start into another, AutoCADing for a furniture manufacturer in Long Island City, production managing New Georges next show, and formulating a business plan for the soon to be treslerdesigns.com.

I figure if I keep my nose to the grindstone for about two more months, I'll see the glimmer of financial stability and health insurance. I'm looking forward to it.

Uncle Sam treated me well this year, and I'm seeing a healthy chunk of money back from taxes this year. Means I'll be back in a place of my own by the end of the month. I'll also be getting a laptop so I'm not stuck in that new place all summer, glued to my desktop computer. The new macbook pro is looking awfully attractive now that it can dual boot windows. I find it highly amusing that by mac's crazy new software 'Boot Camp' ain't nothing but a bootloader that Linux users have been using for years. See LILO or GRUB for the same effect for free. Either way, I think the dual 2.0 Ghz is what sold me. That and it is shiny.