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We’ve been living in our house for 5 years, and we’ve hit one of those junction points.  I’ve caught up on the first round of construction bills, and we’re in the middle of refinancing the place (compared to last time around - it’s going well).  As a result, we are finally remodeling the upstairs, painting the hallway  – and (finally!!!) getting rid of the last remnants of the worst looking carpet on the planet.  

Painting is going great (¾ inch nap rollers vs 3/8 inch nap rollers – there’s a world of difference in the result on old plaster walls).  The stairwell was a mix of dirty paint, tape residue (from posters?) and horribly covered plaster patches.  The upstairs hallway was painted in a kind of ugly gray/green color that made the hallway look kind of like a dungeon.  The hallway ceiling was white, but scuffed up from where the previous owners had installed big, ugly, rectangular fluorescent lighting units.

Ahhh no longer!   The ceilings are consistently white, the upstairs hallway is bright, and the stairwell (that needs one more coat) looks clean, and even!

Lol – my hands are getting all callused up, and I’m getting back in shape from doing real work again…It’s great!  I may be crazy, but I’m really looking forward to putting down a floating hardwood floor in the next week or two (as soon as the paint in the hallway upstairs dries).

Work

Job-wise I’m actively “looking for opportunities”.  In the span of 6 years, my employer has gone from the best with whom I’ve been associated, to….well….it’s a paycheck.  Don’t get me wrong - getting a paycheck is better than not, but I’m not quite ready to throw in the towel and coast through the rest of my career – and that’s exactly what I’ve been doing lately.  Blech! 

Also to throw a little spice in the mix I’m studying to become certified as something called a Project Management Professional – basically it is a credential that certifies I know how to run projects, and will make it easier bid on certain work. 

Some of you (stalkers!) closely watching the Decatur Tribune may have noticed I’ve done the paperwork on an assumed name: “Jackson Operational Systems”…At this point, the more options I have the better…. If you have a couple thousand hours of software/education/consulting work you need done at reasonable rates, let’s talk!

I’ve also been working for several years on building an Onshore Outsourcing facility in Decatur (lol – a lot of you probably already know this).  I’m convinced Decatur has a great talent pool; our cost of living is attractive, and our work ethic is great.  As the economic recovery shifts focus to job-creation, I want to be in a position to make the most of opportunities as they appear. 

Finally, as if all that weren’t enough, I’ve been toying around with the idea of joining the MBA program at Millikin.  On the one hand, I already have a Master’s degree from Illinois State University; I’m going on 44 years old (I’d be at least 46+ by graduation), and I already have a fair amount of professional experience, so I’m not at all that sure adding an MBA would do much  for my career.  On the other hand I like learning and the MBA program looks pretty cool.  If getting another degree comes as a consequence of learning (and mastering) new and interesting stuff, then…I dunno…

Politics

Bet you haven’t noticed I’ve taken a break.  With respect to the City - I think the CM is a competent guy and with an exception or two I think the City Council is pretty reasonable.  Sure there are still lame protest votes, but even then, I think it’s pretty much a “we knew this person was going to vote this way, they’ve not offered any alternatives, and we were not counting on his/her vote anyway”.

I’ve not been doing much with the local Democrats lately either.  Not that I’ve changed my affiliations, or philosophies, or anything like that – quite the contrary…  It strikes me how nationally the Democrats won by sticking to their principals and embracing their core beliefs, while locally the party seems (to me at least) to be cozying up to folks who, only one election cycle ago, were deep in the gutter slinging mud and thousands of dollars against our party’s candidates.  Frankly, I could see a former, unsuccessful Mayoral candidate running on the Tea Party Ticket, and certain elements of the local Democrats doing their best to support him!  Anyway, since I’ve got other more immediate stuff take care of (house and work), I’m staying out of that mess – at least for a while longer. ;-)

It has been extremely hard not to stir the pot on Healthcare.  Single payer/Medicare buy-in for all is the only way to go it’s about time we joined the rest of the civilized world, and started spending half as we do now for health care.  People using the ER as their primary care facilities (which is not uncommon) is unacceptable.  It’s expensive and unnecessary.