Blog diet

It should be no secret to regular readers that I'm not crazy about my job. I still think the substantive parts of what I do are important and interesting, but my real, day-to-day duties have turned me into a glorified editor. The writing quality of the documents I receive is so low that I have to do significant work to turn them into things my agency can publish without embarrassment. It is a sad, sad state of affairs.

Perhaps the saddest aspect of this state of affairs is what an incredible slacker I've become. I spent all week reading a document for which I'll have to prepare a memo summarizing my (and other readers') comments. I want to have the memo ready by Monday and I started writing it today. I'm at page 22 of the document and page 8 of my memo (it's a bad sign that my memo is so long).

In order to get this memo done on time, I decided to track my time at work. Being accountable to myself should help me get more work done. I set up a little free timer thing with categories for my different tasks, including non-work ones, like lunch, breaks and "non-work reading." So, what did I find I was spending most of my time on? Was it on writing lovely, entertaining blog posts? No, not at all. Most of my time was in the "non-work reading" category. That's right, I was spending (almost) ALL DAY reading blogs! And I'm a fast reader. However, since I subscribe to over 100 blogs on bloglines, even a reader as fast as I would get bogged down.

Yesterday I decided that not only were my reading habits ridiculous but they bordered on the shameful and definitely crossed over to the irresponsible. I may not enjoy my job, but I am well paid and I do have work to do and I damn well need to get it done.

Even in the super slow times, I need to limit the blog reading to off hours. I have lots of non-pressing reading to do if my projects are in lulls. I actually was starting to get some of that reading done before the holidays, but too many days away from the office and the ramping up of some projects put it on the back burner. But it's there, waiting, when the slow times come again (and they will).

I'd say that even doing my own writing is a better non-work use of my time than reading blogs. Not that I'm going to stop, oh no. I'll just have to gorge myself in the evenings and weekends. When I'm not knitting, that is. Or maybe while I'm knitting!

Today's approximate numbers:
Time spent on real work: 5 hours
Time spent on blog writing: 30 minutes
Lunch: 1 hour
Breaks/email: 1 hour

Hey, that's almost a full day! I haven't even included the drop-bys and casual work conversations (one was a question about how to use our phones for conference calls—if it's electronic, they ask me). I'm off to a good start.

Wish me luck!

Grateful for: self-discipline.

Not a gentleman

Tonight, I was going to go swing dancing, but I still can't face it. The long drive, the scary guys, the strangers, the pressure. I considered checking out a band closer to home...but that means sitting around, waiting for the band to start, not necessarily liking the music, and nothing to do to occupy myself between times. Why not just stay home, watch A Star is Born on PBS, SNL later, and get a solid night's sleep? It's probably not even a stretch to blame two Saturday nights at home on the break up.

I planned to go out last Saturday too. But, just like last week, I'm not going anywhere. I should probably cut myself some slack. I was social two nights this week. This morning, I went to hot yoga and this afternoon I went grocery shopping. Not exactly a thrill a minute, but not bad either.

I am doing something that doesn't really count as getting out there--I became active again on the free (dating) site. My attitude and approach is much different than during the last go-round. I'm not terribly interested in dates. I mean, if I met someone wonderful, I wouldn't say no, but deliberately seeking out romance is not appealing. What IS appealing is flirting. And telling my sad stories to strangers. I may have talked more about my break up to imaginary internet friends than to real life friends.

I've had a couple of interesting conversations, including one that kept me home and entertained last Saturday night. I've "met" one young guy who wants to be friends (he has a girlfriend). While I doubt we'll ever meet in real life, I enjoy chatting with him.

Yesterday, I was approached online by a man about ten years older than me. His pics were fine, but what caught my eye is that he mentioned the Eden Center in his profile. I've written about it before, but I absolutely love the Eden Center. I sent him a quick email expressing that sentiment. He IM'd me in return and we started to chat. Then, after a few minutes, he said, "Oh, I see you are Jewish. And that you went to Israel." (I have a picture posted that was taken when I was in Israel last March, labeled as such.) And then, abruptly, the chat was over. The site can be a little funky, so I re-opened the chat window and sent him a message. No answer. Today, I emailed him to find out what happened. No response.

I think he stopped talking to me because I'm Jewish. This is a quote from his profile, "My grandfather told me that the most important things in life all revolve around relationships. Your relationships with God, your family & friends; I try to follow those values." I wonder, does following those values include refusing to chat with me because I'm Jewish? There were so many different ways he could have handled it...for example, by just saying, "I'm sorry, this won't work for me." That wouldn't have bothered me in the least. Not to mention that he obviously initially contacted me without reading one word of my profile. What a dolt!

Bonus: his user name incorporates the word "gentleman." What would grandpa have to say about that?

Grateful for: indifference.

Drop me a line.