So, in an effort to stay sane, I’d like to MUSE some on my week, which has had remarkable highs and lows.
- Past weekend: thought contract was going to be canceled.
- Monday/Tuesday: contract extension agreed to, terms still outstanding.
- Wednesday: best concert I’ve ever been to, by of my favorite bands of all time (MUSE).
- Thursday: Bittersweet ending of one of my favorite TV shows, Burn Notice.
- Friday: had to take my precious bulldog to the surgeon to have her torn ACL repaired.
Consulting Musings
Consulting is one of those professions that is always in flux. In fact, my current contract is one of my longest, but usually every 6-12 months I’m on the look out for new work. Its built into the rate and frankly, if you can stay on contract, its tolerable 95% of the time. The worst part is the uncertainty. Sometimes you can be the best consultant ever, get more work done for the money than your client could have dreamed, but you’re still a consultant which means you won’t stick around forever. Contracts end and you have to go find something else. I understand the business part of it, but when someone says things like “I want to keep you, but…” or “…budgetary constraints…” it stings and begins the uncertainty period which can be a few days to a few weeks. I don’t mind an impending end of a contract, in fact, I am reminded to enjoy the nuances of the client and try to relish the pros of working for them. I don’t mind short contracts either. I do mind being a week or three from an extension deadline and being uncertain as to what will happen to me. That’s the risk. At the end of the day, all I can do is work my hardest all the time and make sure there is little reason to not be extended!!
MUSE Musings
I’ve loved MUSE since 2003, honestly. The song Time is Running Out is probably my all time favorite song and opened my eyes to the wonderful world of “alternative” music. It was a ridiculously awesome concert, and I had floor tickets, so I got to stand up there for four hours, but was 8 feet from Matt Bellamy.
Burn Notice Musings
Its always sad when TV shows that you love and have spent years watching end. It now joins other shows that make me sad to think about missing still: (begin geekery) Seaquest DSV, Star Trek Voyager, Stargate SG-1 (and other SG iterations), LOST, Eureka, Chuck (end geekery) and soon to be HIMYM. It was a good ending to the show, I am satisfied, but hope they do more because I do love those characters.
Bulldog Surgery Musings
My bulldog is 3 years old, and she recently partially tore her ACL (in dogs, they don’t have ACLs, they often injure their CCL, but for illustrative purposes, we’ll just call it the ACL). We tried physical therapy, but she had ups and downs and it became obvious that she would not recover without surgery. It was really hard to leave her this morning at the vet, really hard. I just feel so sad thinking about her being locked up alone and said before surgery begins, though the vet tech said that she’d get lots of love today, which I believe. She’ll be at the vet for about 30 hours total before we take her home and its about a 3-4 month recovery time where we must restrict her immensely. No playing, stairs or being off leash ever. That will be hard, but supposedly they do heal quickly, we just have to ensure that she is fully healed before we let her be herself again. She will be okay in the end, and this is all for her own good. More PT and exercising will be necessary on the back side, but I hope and pray that she’s okay today :-/
So, I will be glad when this week is over officially, my dog is home and my contract is signed for the next 3 months. Happy Friday.
As an update, Maggie got through surgery just fine, and now the 8-12 weeks of recovery have begun. She’s doing okay.