Categories
Business Geekery Job Hunting

Repost: Graphics & Presentations

Originally posted April 12, 2007, now archived here.

For further explanation why this post exists, see Intro to Experience Dump. This is the graphics and presentations related section. In no particular order, the list as best I can remember…

PowerPoint
Corel Draw
Jasc Paint Shop Pro
Microangelo
Adobe Illustrator
Microsoft PhotoDraw
Microsoft Photo Editor
Microsoft Paint
Visio
AutoCAD
Ulead PhotoExpress or PhotoStyler
Graphics portion of DeskMate on Color Computer 3
Jasc Animation Shop
The Print Shop

There are ones I can’t remember, like a particular 3D graphics program I played with back when computers could barely handle it, and a cheesy early CAD software. There are others besides the Ulead software that were bundled with scanners. There’s the built-in graphics features in Word, which were my other specialty besides macros when I supported the product. I created a detailed training handout on the drawing tools in Word just before I transferred to VB support.

Then in VB support, I eventually ended up doing the segment of training covering graphics. Speaking of which, there’s the icon editor that came with Visual Basic, which did what it needed to do but couldn’t compare to Microangelo. I know I’ve looked at the presentation and graphics software with other suites, like OpenOffice, but by now that almost goes without saying. Also speaking of VB, I wrote a goofy little program called KidPaint that also isn’t listed. Never thoughts I’d see the day one of my own kids could play with it.

For someone who can’t really draw, I love my graphics software. When I was in Word support, eventually it was mostly so rote that I would talk to people while doodling in Windows Paintbrush. Anything remotely interesting I saved, so I have a stack of floppies somewhere with all that.

While I wrote this up, I remembered that I’ve used Microsoft Publisher. One of the first PC softwares I ever used was a thing called IMSI Publisher. So are those to go under presentations, or under word processing? And what about Adobe Acrobat, the full version? Distinctions, distinctions…

Update 5/8/07 – Added The Print Shop. How could I get this Broderbund software that was once ubiquitous?

Experience Posts (links to reposts):

Intro to Experience Dump
Hardware Experience
OS Experience
Word Processing Experience
Spreadsheets and Accounting
Graphics and Presentations
Database and RDBMS
Dictation Software
Communications, Internet, PDA, Blogging
Legal Industry Software
Backup and Compression Software
Miscellaneous Software
Security, Spam, Malware…
Call Center and Tech Support Tools
Languages and Programming Tools
Server Software
Software Creation

Employment and College
Experiences and Accomplishments Scratchpad

Categories
Business Geekery Job Hunting

Repost: Spreadsheets and Accounting

Originally posted April 11, 2007, now archived here.

For further explanation why this post exists, see Intro to Experience Dump. This is the spreadsheets, bookkeeping, tax and accounting related section. In no particular order, the list as best I can remember…

Excel
Lotus 1-2-3
Quattro Pro
Multiplan
Quicken
MS Money
Quickbooks
Peachtree
Juris Classic and Next Generation
Juris Management Console and various utilities
Juris Time Sheet
Juris Expense Sheet
VisiCalc
DAC Easy Rapid Tax
Star Office
OpenOffice
First Choice
TimeForce Qqest time clock
Tranti time clock
XTreme Time Minder

There are probably others I’m forgetting. Some of the above were various versions. The funny thing is, I’ve done support for programmers who were working on accounting software packages, but not ever used the ones in question myself.

I’ve ended up using Excel regularly.

The Juris products are peculiar to law firms, where I have supported them, including a big migration from the “classic” DOS version using BTrieve data to a 32-bit version for MSDE or SQL Server. Which reminds me, I still need to get the classic edition running locally on the bookkeeper’s computer so she can access historical data if needed. The server it had been on crashed for good a while back.

With my accounting degree, you’d think there’d be a bigger emphasis on this stuff, but not really.

Not sure what’s next. Might be graphics and presentations. Might be communications. Might be database. The sure thing is it won’t be tonight. I never expected even to go this far today.

Update:
Added the two timeclock systems and the timekeeping software I used internally. For the Timeforce Qquest, I actually set it up, isolated the timekeeping machine on a separate network with the bookkeeper’s computer, helped figure out how to use it, and later fixed a polling problem. For Tranti I wrote documentation for the standalone timeclock, and supported the timeclock software integrated with the POS system. I wrote Time Minder for entering time and categorizing activity based mainly on the wishes of our large client, but such that it could also be used for any client and internal timekeeping. In an earlier, completely different version I had a stop/pause/resume/start measuring function I thought was cool but wasn’t as needed or useful as expected.

Experience Posts (links to reposts):

Intro to Experience Dump
Hardware Experience
OS Experience
Word Processing Experience
Spreadsheets and Accounting
Graphics and Presentations
Database and RDBMS
Dictation Software
Communications, Internet, PDA, Blogging
Legal Industry Software
Backup and Compression Software
Miscellaneous Software
Security, Spam, Malware…
Call Center and Tech Support Tools
Languages and Programming Tools
Server Software
Software Creation

Employment and College
Experiences and Accomplishments Scratchpad

Categories
Business Geekery Job Hunting

Repost: Word Processing Experience Dump

Originally posted April 11, 2007, now archived here.

For further explanation why this post exists, see Intro to Experience Dump. This is the word processing and combined packages that revolve around word processing section. In no particular order, the list as best I can remember…

Every version of MS Word, including providing Microsoft support of 1.0, 1.1, 2.0 and 6.0
WordStar 5.0 and 2000
WordPerfect 5.0
Lotus Ami Pro/Word Pro (about three versions)
PFS First Choice
Spinnaker 8-in-1
Star Office
OpenOffice
IBM word processing software for OS/2 (bundled, forget the name)
Ashton-Tate MultiMate
Volkswriter, for Color Computer 2
EZ Word
AbiWord
MS Works
DeskMate, for Color Computer 3, if I have the name right.
602Text

There are probably ones I’ve forgotten. This doesn’t count some bundled or simple text editors and word processors, like DOS edit, Notepad, UED, Write, or WordPad. I may have played with a more recent version of WordPerfect. I probably played with whatever was bundled with at least Red Hat Linux and KDE. These days it’s gotten to where a word processor is pretty much a word processor, and it’s lucky Microsoft can charge any amount for Word.

Volkswriter is the one I used on my Color Computer 2 and loved so much. When it died and I bought a Color Computer 3, I was irked to learn my good word processor wouldn’t run on the newer machine. I still have stuff I wrote in Volkswriter, on ancient 5 1/4″ floppies, among my old computer-related detritus and treasures.

Once I got a PC, I used First Choice for a while, then I bought WordStar 5.0 through DAK and fell in love. My roommate installed WordPerfect 5.0 and I toyed with it, but it was too hard to use. I seem to recall that I stumbled upon pressing F3 twice to get information on how to do anything. I probably developed a lot of my unexpected typing speed using WordStar, and could probably get back into the old shortcut keys (which mapped logically to menus!) in minutes. Not that I would want to go back to something little more than ASCII in nature when modern word processors exist.

I played with Word 2.0, but at the same time I got Ami Pro, I think it was 3.0, and it seemed much better. Around the time I was using Ami Pro at home, I was using MultiMate at work, on an early IBM PC with something like a 5 MB hard drive. Yeesh.

It was ironic that I landed the support job that turned out to be for Microsoft Word – they didn’t tell us until after we were hired – with a resume created in Ami Pro. Once I got a load of Word 6.0, the latest release and reason for the support hiring, Ami Pro no longer seemed superior. Apart from being lighter on resources. I did support of Word 6.0, 2.0 and 1.x, specializing in Word macros (before VBA), for over a year before moving into VB support. This experience worked out great for my eventual stint supporting law firms, even if they didn’t always take full advantage.

That about covers it. Next up I guess will be spreadsheets plus tax, accounting and bookkeeping related software. Talk about bringing back memories; I had forgotten until doing all this thinking about what I have used that I did indeed lay hands on VisiCalc at one time.

Experience Posts (links to reposts):

Intro to Experience Dump
Hardware Experience
OS Experience
Word Processing Experience
Spreadsheets and Accounting
Graphics and Presentations
Database and RDBMS
Dictation Software
Communications, Internet, PDA, Blogging
Legal Industry Software
Backup and Compression Software
Miscellaneous Software
Security, Spam, Malware…
Call Center and Tech Support Tools
Languages and Programming Tools
Server Software
Software Creation

Employment and College
Experiences and Accomplishments Scratchpad

Categories
Business Geekery Job Hunting

Repost: OS Experience Dump

Originally posted April 11, 2007, now archived here.

For further explanation why this post exists, see Intro to Experience Dump. This is the operating systems (OS) and environments section, which will be shorter and include less extended commentary that the hardware section. In no particular order, the list as best I can remember…

Every version of Windows from 3.0 on, and NT from 3.51 on.
At least four Linux versions: Red Hat, Mandrake, Corel and Ubuntu.
OS/2 Warp 3.0
Macintosh circa early nineties
Most versions of MS-DOS, particularly 3.3, 5.0 and 6.x
OS-9 for TRS-80
AS/400
Tranti Systems EZ-DOS
An older version of Novell

This is includes things I have supported as well as touched, so it is possible for me to have supported the use of, consequences or. or interactions with an OS without having used it personally.

Some things I experienced more intensively than others. When I started working at Corporate Software, I was nicknamed “The DOS Guy” by my colleagues. Even then, before Windows 95 released, when we were using Windows 3.11, there were people hired to do support who were utterly lost in anything but the Windows GUI. And not always much better off there.

By comparison, I used to load ansi.sys and create colorful batch file menus using escape codes. The first time I ever saw Windows, I thought it was a bit goofy and wasn’t sure I saw the point. What got me using it was the apps it would run.

I used to hang out on a BBS run by an OS/2 fanatic. I even read the Team OS/2 newsgroup (or it may have been a Fidonet thing) regularly with great interest, despite having never used it. When OS/2 Warp 3.0 hit, I bought it and used it for a while. It was pretty cool. IBM missed a slight window of opportunity to shake up the industry. I found it started crashing after a while, which I blamed more on the hardware I installed it onto than on OS/2. I put it on a 386. When I got Windows 95, it went on a 486. Surprise! It seemed more stable. It also helped that I got Microsoft apps support training on Windows 95 just before it was released. I never looked back, but always felt bad that OS/2 didn’t fare better. It could have, to the degree it was a matter of business decisions.

The OS category properly gets into server elements, but I should probably cover that separately. Take something like Windows 2003 Server SBE; you’re setting up a server and dealing with its OS, but also Exchange at the same time. Then again, this reminded me I forgot the Novell server I dealt with, and while that’s networking, it’s also the OS running the computer, so I added it.

Okay, next it’ll be word processors and combined packages that featured a word processor.

Experience Posts (links to reposts):

Intro to Experience Dump
Hardware Experience
OS Experience
Word Processing Experience
Spreadsheets and Accounting
Graphics and Presentations
Database and RDBMS
Dictation Software
Communications, Internet, PDA, Blogging
Legal Industry Software
Backup and Compression Software
Miscellaneous Software
Security, Spam, Malware…
Call Center and Tech Support Tools
Languages and Programming Tools
Server Software
Software Creation

Employment and College
Experiences and Accomplishments Scratchpad

Categories
Business Geekery Job Hunting

Repost: Hardware Experience Dump

Originally posted April 11, 2007, now archived here.

For further explanation why this post exists, see Intro to Experience Dump. Despite my emphasis there on sofware, this is about hardware; mainly computers, but also other items.

System 36 Terminals
Data General Cyber System Terminals
AS/400
Early TRS-80, Color Computer 2, Color Computer 3
Commodore 64
Tandy Pocket Computer
Original IBM PC through approximately current PCs and servers, including building, rebuilding and upgrading many 286 through Pentium level machines.
Various laptop/notebook computers.
Older Apple Macintosh
Terminal Server thin clients
Tranti 2100 PC-based restaurant POS System
To a much lesser extent, non-PC Tranti 29 and 105 systems
Many different printers, local or networked, various brands, types including daisywheel, dot matrix, thermal, ink jet, and laser.
Various Blackberry, cell phone and PDA devices.
Various scanners, copiers, faxes, and multifunction devices.
HP Digital Sender 9200
Various hubs, routers and switches.
Digital cameras and webcams.
Many monitors, monochrome through LCD.
TimeForce Qqest time clock
Tranti time clock

Probably things I’ve forgotten, and certainly things that seem silly to list. Internal peripherals, for instance. I’ve played with an external modem or two, but why would I mention dozens of of internal ones? The format of the above also doesn’t leave room to mention having dealt with RAID arrays, as well as plain old IDE drives implicit when mentioning PCs, and newfangled SATA drives.

Some commentary and explanation on the list, though…

Cyber System was in use at Massachusetts state colleges at the time, along with newfangled DEC VAX machines at Bridgewater that I didn’t get to use. It was what I used for BASIC, which was too boring to bear because I’d already self-taught too much, for Pascal, and for COBOL.

System 36 was at The Renovator’s Supply, running mainly inventory software written in RPG (Report Program Generator), which was a hot coding skill to have at the time. I used to teach other people how to use it, and how to make it dance and sing. I got my first taste of e-mail on that system. That job was where I got my first, unofficial, experience doing PC support, and using PCs in a work environment when I helped in HR and compiled material safety data sheets. I seem to recall they actually upgraded to a 400 before I left. I had more direct experience with a 400 recently, figuring out last year how to access my client’s old system and searching for documents they unexpectedly needed. That was an instance of my almost intuitive communing with computers coming in handy.

The Pocket Computer was the first computer I owned (as opposed to the first computer I played with – unless I am forgetting something earlier – and learned my first bits of BASIC on, a friend’s TRS-80 in 1977). I got it for Christmas 1983. It had a big 1k of bubble memory and could be programmed in a shortcut variant of BASIC. For instance, the letter “i” used in place of “input.” I programmed it to take inputs and return present and future value interest factors. I still have it, and as far as I know it would work fine if i finally got around to replacing the batteries. I also still have my scientific calculator that has “20. 7” saved in its memory. I had more fun playing with that corrupt non-number. For instance, 20. 7 * 2 isn’t the same as 20. 7 + 20. 7, and 20. 7 – 20. 7 is not 0. However, I never trusted that calculator to be accurate again, once it generated the bogus number.

I bought my first PC in 1988, right after I finally finished college. It was an overpriced Packard-Bell 286, very solid, with 1 MB RAM, a 60 MB MFM hard drive (as opposed to IDE) in the days when 20 MB was still normal, and an EGA monitor. You booted it and got a message at the top center of the screen “Welcome to the Packard-Bell Computing World,” with a C:\> prompt below. DOS 3.3… those were the days.

In 1992, my “uncle” Henry taught me how to build computers and we upgraded the 283 to a 386. From there I never looked back. He picked up some software and batch file pointers from me, and we had a lot of fun messing around with stuff and going to computer shows. When I discovered “online” in 1993, I never could get him hooked on it. I wonder what he’d make of the internet as we now know it.

My Mac experience is extremely limited. A friend I worked with in the early days of Arisia on marketing materials, program books and T-shirts had a Mac and laser printer at home. I wrote. She opined and co-wrote. I proofed and edited. She did graphics and layout. I had such a good feel for it that she considered my opinion on layout and graphics to be valid, which she didn’t consider the case with pretty much anyone else. We had a lot of fun. I didn’t lay hands on the computer too much; mainly watched her use Aldus and Adobe products and “admired” the tiny black and white screen. She worked at Cigna, where they had far better Macs. We went there one weekend and I played with one Mac while she worked at another. I promptly made it blow up. Heh.

Tranti Systems was my first support job. The 2100 was a new PC-based POS system for fast food restaurants. They were basically 286 PCs, 386 once parts for 286 became too expensive or hard to get, with a proprietary add-in card. They ran a modified version of MS-DOS, a file manager/utility program associated with that, called EZ-DOS, the POS software, and Lantastic. I learned my first stuff about networking there, and at one time was something of an expert with Lantastic. I did a lot of testing and breaking things, anticipating what would later be real world problems.

Mostly it was callback phone support and a ton of overtime carrying a pager, but I also did other things. That included a trip to North Carolina to do the training and help install systems in two Taco Bells. Oddly, I enjoyed the training, at the same time I was terrified speaking in front of groups of people. I also enjoyed customizing register keys, which involved a custom macro language built in for the purpose.

The company also made an electronic timeclock system, a natural extension of POS timeclock functionality. I created documentation for that product. Which involved using MultiMate word processing software on an ancient IBM PC, which was the main kind of computer they had there. That was where I got most of my retro experience, with the oldest PC machines and versions of DOS prior to the 3.3 that might otherwise have remained my earliest. It was pretty bad. They also had I believe it was a Nixdorf mainframe, for which a few of the old PCs doubled as terminals.

I think that’s enough embellishment of the “hardware” part of this exercise. I do want to finish it someday, after all. The kind of thing all the above leaves out is the adventures in getting early soundcards and CD-ROM drives to work at all, meaning a lot of cursing and/or praying. I figure it goes without saying that building and working on so many computers implies a lot of that.

Next up, operating systems…

Update:
Added the two timeclocks.

Experience Posts (links to reposts):

Intro to Experience Dump
Hardware Experience
OS Experience
Word Processing Experience
Spreadsheets and Accounting
Graphics and Presentations
Database and RDBMS
Dictation Software
Communications, Internet, PDA, Blogging
Legal Industry Software
Backup and Compression Software
Miscellaneous Software
Security, Spam, Malware…
Call Center and Tech Support Tools
Languages and Programming Tools
Server Software
Software Creation

Employment and College
Experiences and Accomplishments Scratchpad

Categories
Business Geekery Job Hunting

Repost: Intro to Experience Dump

Originally posted April 10, 2007, now archived here.

Once upon a time, after I got my first PC, I used to list all the software I had used. The idea was to show off that I was computer semi-literate, had laid hands upon Lotus 1-2-3, and of course should be hired for accounting-related work for which knowing Lotus 1-2-3 was increasingly mandatory.

I never did get that accounting job. However, I did almost get a combined cost accounting and “design a computerized cost accounting and quality control system” job, which didn’t exist but was inspired by my resume, that would have been slightly over my head at the time, but a fun challenge. More fun than commuting to Lowell from the South Shore would have been. I’d gotten a 96 average in a cost accounting class that had easily a 50% dropout and failure rate; thus that element of the almost job.

Ultimately, though, the practice of listing that stuff, and emphasizing computer mad skillz, got me technical support work. Even then the list was starting to get too long, and it’s long since to the point where you’d shorthand some and leave the rest unstated.

Heck, I haven’t even created a resume since 1997. I’ve done a few fits and starts of “if I needed one, what would it say,” but that was the last full-fledged one, and it was for internal consumption, so might not fully count. In which case, my last general resume was written in 1994. Using Ami Pro. I guess it really is worth taking stock. As I mentioned the other day, I am in a unique window in which I could leave being self-employed, or keep it entirely on the side, and go for a “real job.” Or a mix of part-time stuff that might include “real job” elements. I recently saw a paid tech blogger at a commercial site not know something so elementary that it made me wonder why I’m not doing something like that.

At any rate, this doesn’t pretend to be a resume. It doesn’t pretend to be short. It’s an info dump for my benefit, and if you’re curious enough to go through the list, or want to compare notes or add comments on your experiences or computer/software/work history, then cool.

Each of these posts will at least link back to this one by way of explanation. They will be subject to update if I think of things I might have forgotten. I might have them link each other. They’ll be categorized, but my categories might seem a bit vague or odd in places. Oh well. Since I’m dividing it all up, perhaps I’ll add more commentary than the original list format might have implied. For what it’s worth, the things I have listed so far run to four pages in Word. At 14 points, since I like a good view of what I am typing, so it’s not really as long as it sounds.

Of course, if I want this to be a complete exercise, I’ll need to talk about more than the technology list dump. It’s also about what I have done, what I enjoy doing, and what I prefer to avoid. I’ll undoubtedly get to that.

So, here goes…

Experience Posts (links to reposts):

Intro to Experience Dump
Hardware Experience
OS Experience
Word Processing Experience
Spreadsheets and Accounting
Graphics and Presentations
Database and RDBMS
Dictation Software
Communications, Internet, PDA, Blogging
Legal Industry Software
Backup and Compression Software
Miscellaneous Software
Security, Spam, Malware…
Call Center and Tech Support Tools
Languages and Programming Tools
Server Software
Software Creation

Employment and College
Experiences and Accomplishments Scratchpad

Categories
blogging Geekery Job Hunting

Reposts Galore

I am about to repost a bunch of posts I did about my various experience, mainly listing different software, etc. I had used over time, with sometimes excessive elaboration about the circumstances. This is potentially useful to me for reference, and since migrating the blog to WordPress and archiving most of it still in Expression Engine broke the archives somewhat, I thought I would bring them to the fore.

I’ll make this post sticky for a while, so it’s clearer what’s going on, as the posts will ultimately appear in the same order published, with the oldest first. Here goes…

Categories
Job Hunting Money

That Went Well

I had a phone interview this morning for a support job that would be largely from home, and relatively advanced as such things go, making it more interesting. I will have to speak with a number of people there before the process is complete, so the bad part is it could take a while, and at any given time their numbers could tilt them into not hiring just now, suspending the process. The woman I spoke with wanted to get it rolling, and I was highly recommended to them by a former colleague. I came away excited about the prospect.

My second interview is a week from today, at 3 PM.

I like the idea of the from home thing because it keeps me relatively available and eliminates commute time and gas expense. We’ll still need babysitting and/or to arrange Deb’s schedule accordingly. Sad that we missed out on the free babysitting gravytrain, or even the almost free version that would mean actually giving my mother (or whoever) gas money for coming to babysit as much as full time hours. Oh well.

Anyway, cross your fingers, and maybe we’ll still have electricity and I won’t be living in a tent for my third interview and when I ultimately get presumably hired.

Categories
blogging Business Geekery Health Care Job Hunting Kids Medical Money Quiz or Meme Totally Random

Life Gives Us Deadlines

This is an updated and abbreviated version of a post I have been meaning to write and have a couple times had partially written for weeks, and relates to mentions here (linked by Sarah in this awesome post), and over here, and perhaps elsewhere, like this, and on Twitter.

As you may know, we’ve been financially challenged. Things have become almost but not quite stable on the way to the end of the tunnel. We’re not in immediate danger of eviction for being behind on rent. We can eat. The phone and internet – vital to modern life and in our case making a chunk of money and seeking more – are being kept on. The kids have health coverage and Henry will get his one year checkup and shots – albeit not until almost 13 months old due to doctor vacation scheduling – and that’ll set us on the road to getting an even better handle on the allergy/sensitivity problems, which may also become less critical as he ages. It’s actually been I have no idea what I was about to type a little while ago when I stopped in mid-sentence. I think I was going to say it’s been good I’ve been so available, and that will make working from home a Good Thing, except I must be able to work for that to work which is a matter of some juggling and changes. But I digress.

Have to stop and try to remember where I was going with this in the broader sense. I load my thoughts in my head and risk losing them if they don’t spew right out the keyboard.

Um…

There’s been one big deadline coming at us. The gas & electric can’t be turned off if you have a baby under a year and financial hardship. Henry turns 1 on the 20th. We’ve accumulated most of a year’s worth of balance. In fact, it’s apparently a couple months more than I thought, and the peak bills in the winter weren’t much more than the bills have been this summer. Odd.

We assumed, not unreasonably, that I would get enough work before now to straighten that out and take us the rest of the way out of the basics. As it is, we should be able to cover the current utilities in the future, so it’s mainly about the arrears.

The bottom line is we have to pay at least $1425 by August 22nd to keep the gas and electricity on, and then the other half will be in six installments.

That means needing to come up with about $1000 above what we can otherwise manage.

I have an offer of $150 toward the second installment from a local charitable agency, but not the first, as they have to know the power will stay on and it won’t be wasted dropping in the bucket. That would effectively give me until sometime in October to have gotten the prospective job, or other work sufficient to keep it all rolling.

Someone finally expressed interest in buying the xtremeware.com domain I’ve had for sale for several months, so I thought that might do it, but I haven’t heard back. I just replied a third time, from a different address, making a time-sensitive offer to sell it at the lowest price I can reasonably accept. I’ll probably list it again in a formal service to expedite the possibility and give others a chance if the warm prospect bails. That would help some, if it could happen soon enough. We’re looking at what else we can sell in the next week, focusing heavily on my comic book collection from years past.

For the most part, family isn’t a viable source of help, so I won’t go asking them unless it comes down to, say, the last $100 or so between us and darkness.

At any rate, whatever we could say about how we got here, miscalculating and all that, it’s not as important as moving forward. The consequences, if we can’t keep the utilities on, will be the same as eviction. There are contingency plans for Deb and the kids to stay with a friend of hers. I have no such plans, beyond being acutely aware I still own a tent. That just sets up a much harder scenario to escape, makes it hard to make the money we now make online, makes it hard to get work, makes it hard to take care of the kids, makes it hard to keep Henry’s sensitivities watched and controlled.

I haven’t been eager to say anything by way of asking for donations, as we already got helped once beyond all conceivable generosity. We wouldn’t be so stable now, otherwise. I’m itching to get on the other side of the PayPal button and be able to do the same for others. Surely that’ll come, but isn’t here yet.

This was why I planned to do a fundraising edition of CotC, since that was a different audience and reason – appreciation of the carnival in the past or expression of a desire to have it happen in the future – it didn’t feel inappropriate. My spare time for that never became copious, even though the fundraising aspect made it paying work of sorts. Again, not to reflect on where and why but to resolve and proceed.

So. Anything I receive in PayPal (button at top of right sidebar) will go to the gas and electric arrears until that is paid up or something else is a more immediate threat. I’ll add to this if I see later I forgot something, or will post status updates as appropriate.

The other part of the plan, besides maybe mentioning this in a less frantic way, was a post soliciting micro-work of the sort I can actually do while taking care of the kids and having to fit it into minute or few bursts or sleepy midnight interludes. Ironically, planning that, composing it and so forth didn’t lend themselves to my time and circumstances. While that might not raise what a full-fledged getababysitternow job would, it would have helped. I still plan something along those lines, which was not going to be a mere post, but also a mass e-mail to contacts, some of whom might not even realize I am looking. Even some people I expected were aware things were grim had no idea, so on the periphery, who knows.

Oddly, everyone has left me alone long enough to ramble at length. This is as much as I wrote over the course of a couple weeks in an unfinished post on the topic that reached the point where I wasn’t sure what I’d said and needed almost a rewrite of an edit. However, it’s time to make supper before the kids mutiny.

Update:
We’re down to about $650 $600 $200 needed to make the deadline. Not there yet, but it’s progress. Almost there! Thank you all so much for your links, donations and purchases.

Update on August 19. 2008:

I’ve removed the sticky status from this post and am updating this one accordingly. While things won’t exactly be rosy and we still could use assistance if anyone feels generous (this big push was for half the arrears; it’ll be hard to pay both the installments on the other half and the current bills, if nothing else), with some juggling and astonishing generosity from several people, we’ve reached the immediate goal. Thanks!!

If you do still want to help out, the PayPal button on the top right remains. Deb’s shop still has a few physical items, though it is going largely virtual. We still have books for sale, and may add more along the line. Some have had to be removed after Henry damaged them, which is helpful.

You’re welcome to use the info in the sidebar where it says “Light the power!” to go directly to the gas & electric on our behalf. That’s going to be over $200 a month to catch up, after all, on to of an average of probably $300 a month over the year, with the big ones coming all too soon. That’s anonymous, unless you tell us you’ve done it. We’ll just see that part of the bill has already been paid.

I didn’t end up selling off some of my comics for this emergency, but I’m not attached to most of them, and will probably put many of them up for sale. Possibly right on one of the blogs, or possibly other places. Stay tuned.

I still am trying to sell xtremeware.com, though perhaps I should use that as the domain for selling comics. It has a higher Page Rank now than we do here. Anyway, the auction expires tomorrow, but until then I will accept a bargain reserve price ($500) for the thing. That’s somewhere between 1/2 and 1/20 of what it should bring. I’ll probably put it on longer term offer at a higher price, whether I also sell stuff on it or not. I also have xtremecomp.com potentially available, but haven’t really thought about price.

At any rate, thanks to everyone who donated, linked, and made a point of buying stuff. It was a big help.

Categories
Job Hunting

Well Yay

I have a phone interview tomorrow at 10 AM for a support and training job almost exclusively from home. Which makes it especially important to keep the electricity on, which is another post entirely, one I’ve been working on for weeks. (In short, we need about $600 this week to keep the power on and not end up homeless, and any donations people make will go specifically to that until the whole arrears is paid off.)

Hopefully that will go well. One of my former partners works for them in that same position and referred me. It sounds ideal.

Update:
Here is an actual post with details about the need to raise what turns out to be $1000 by August 22nd.