Happy News

Was in touch with a friend who started me blogging a couple years ago. The reason that she started was not a pleasant one. She continued until recently and now she has stopped. Hopefully, she will start again when the mood strikes her. She is worried that right now all she can do is complain about her situation and the things that she faces.
I think that not complaining in your blog is a good philosophy although as you may have noticed I will complain about contractors and others who are supposed to get work done and do not do it in a timely manner. In some cases, this is a warning to me to get things done.
I have good news, I am helping a friend at One of Kind. Time to get ready to help.
Got to run.

Contractor

Good news, the contractor finally sent the information. I know that the work might be more than we had actually planned but it will be good to have it done. I think that these companies are happy to have bigger jobs so our job was not significant. The job will be done in two stages but I made sure that the part that had to be done, keeping the rad pipes warm was done the first stage. Not sure when the second stage will be done but it will happen before Christmas. Guess these companies do not care what things you have to rearrange. And rearrange, I did.
Will let you know how things progress as the work gets done.

Contractors!

Don't you hate contractors who come to do the estimate and then after several days still have not submitted an estimate? What are they waiting for? That you become so desperate to have the work done that you will do anything and pay any price to have the work done?
I am very frustrated with these people. I am now going to make more phone calls to find another company. Wish that the estimator or company would just come out and say that they are not interested in the work and recommend someone else instead of having you hang on and wonder what is going on.
Feel like starting a list of company that you can trust. Why bother giving the companies that are disreputable a forum?
Good luck with your work.

Plans using e-mail

Making plans using e-mail is certainly easier than the phone. Many years, I used to the phone to arrange gigs for a quintet that I used to be in. I would have to call the other 4 players and get their commitments, sometimes it would take two or three phone calls. Right now, I am busy arranging a luncheon with a group of friends and we have settled on the date, now the location. Using e-mail, the date has been confirmed although one of the members does not have e-mail so I check with her when I play tennis with her. We play a couple times a week.
The same can be said of my trio, I send out an e-mail and then receive responses about dates for performances. So much easier.
I am glad that I have e-mail for these purposes.
Sometimes, I wonder how I managed before.

Landing a rewarding Job

The perfect gift for a high school, college or university graduate: a professional career counsellor?
My goodness: $50 for a professionally produced resume. You can not do it yourself? If you can't should you be applying for the job?
Several thousand dollars can buy career coaching, interview coaching and a step-by-step plan on how to land a rewarding job.
People are willing to spend upward of $40,000 to get a MBA but then don't spend a penny on learning how to get the job they want. If they are capable of getting a MBA surely they don't need career counselling, they can give it.
The article points out an important point that it is not easy finding bona fide counsellors.
The resume is now a marketing tool according to the article, hasn't it always been.
Interesting, another career opportunity but not for those who looking for jobs. What a strange world that we need people to write resumes for us and point us in the right direction.

Slow Movement enters the design mainstream

I love the Slow food movement. It is important to cook and enjoy food, not rush out to the local fast food emporium. Now, it seems that the slow movement has also entered the realm of design. The Slow movement in design wants us to allow for reflection, association and appreciation to become part of the design process. This translates into a renewed enthusiasm for traditional over high-tech, the local over global and the artisanal over the mass-produced-with the additional value in the design content of made-to-last quality over the cheap and disposable.
Chief among the stylishly slow practitioners is a New York based textile company called Pollack whose line is available to the trade in Toronto through Primavera Interior Furnishings. Pollack's design director, Rachel Doriss recently gave a presentation at the Textile Museum of Canada.
Doriss talked about her grandmother and her skills with a sewing machine and knitting needles. "We live in a super-throwaway society now", observes Doriss. "There used to be a fix-it guy who could fix your washing machine and your TV. Now, if it's broken, we just throw it away and get a new one."
Doriss' designs and desire to work slowly are running into problems as small companies go out of business. Hopefully, there will always be companies that agree with her philosophy. I certainly do.

Many Facets of People

Earlier today, I received an e-mail asking about information about Miep Koenig. When I found some information, I was told but the person who they were looking for lived in Toronto. Well, further research revealed that Miep Koenig, part of the family that hid Anne Frank and her family during WW II was the same person who moved to Toronto and had been an educator. It seems that the person who asked about her did not know her background. Fascinating. On the weekend, I participated in a course about writing. The participants also had varied backgrounds. It was interesting to find out more about each individual. One was a former top model, another had lived in Burma and then worked for the UN, another a statistician. Each of these people had stories to be told and unless you dug dip enough you might never know about the many facets of these people.
Amazing that people do have many sides to them and that we do not always see the other side.