A Pinch of Salt, or a Handful.

Nice thing about not working, I get to sleep in. If getting up at six thirty could be called that. Usually getting up with the thought that maybe I should bite the bullet and do the business thing, but then I go looking and looking and applying. Two cups of strong coffee and my vitamins, then a quick look at Craigslist, Monster, and Careerbuilder. One guy who might hire, calls me "Brother" and seems glad to see me. Hmmm. Glad I have my pile of salt handy. I don't take statements with a pinch of salt anymore, more like whole handfuls.

I don't need to make much, my cost of living is low, compared to most. No debt, extremely frugal, only thing going in my house (owned outright) right now is the computer, cordless base station, two UPS, one DSL modem, bath light, and 26 watts of lighting downstairs. Don't forget the coffee maker though. It's a Bunn, doesn't make gourmet coffee, it's a version of those monsters seen in convenience stores. In two minutes, a pot of coffee guaranteed to wake half a cemetery.

Some reasons why I should start a handyman service.

1. Get the tools out of the place. Three ladders, table saw, chop saw, and power tools everywhere. Then there are the tool boxes, three of those at last count. Tripped over one this morning since I was caffeine free and not quite conscious.

2. I'm good at fixing stuff. Tis true, since I buy stuff that breaks, like this townhouse. Lately, I have been overhauling and replacing toilets. I have three toilets, two of which are very, uh, original. I also fixed one digital camera and my phone. Why I fixed my phone is beyond me. There's been two telemarketers who have been calling me on a daily basis despite being on the do-not-call list.

3. Getting out of the house would be nice. So far, I load up my old steel quarter-century old Fuji bicycle and find a place to ride. I could ride in traffic but I'd rather burn gasoline then get run over. So, what if I got paid to get out of the house? Would make up for the cost of gas.

4. Customer service. I'm very good at it. I actually enjoy helping people. Right now the only one benefiting from it is my cat. She's already spoiled beyond all belief.

5. Income would be nice. Don't need much, but feeding that cat ain't cheap. Then there's me.

Some guy named Steve Pavlina posted an article called "10 Reasons Why You Should Never Get A Job".

The link is "stevepavlina.com/blog/2006/07/10-reasons-you-should-never-get-a-job/".

Makes for compelling reading. He's more white collar then blue though. Also his income seems to be through advertising, public speaking, and donation.

For my own druthers.........

I made a ton of money as a network operator, and a very decent living as a library employee, a facilities administrator and other jobs, but money is money. It goes away after a while. The network still keeps breaking, the facilities keep on needing administrating, the library still needs library work, and unlike Ozymandias, King of Kings, there is not even a large statue sitting in sand to mark my work.

I like to leave something concrete behind Something that people can look at. Be it just shelving, or a whole bathroom, or just fixing some exterior trim, I like to make sure it's nice. I can understand the need to be productive, but sometimes just an extra minute can make the difference between just "O. K." and a good job.

Here's my kitchen from the condo I used to own. I'm proud of that kitchen. It took me nine months to rebuild it. Mostly because it was pay as I go, and it cost some money. The work I did for employment, I did well, but this is what I like to remember. This is what I am about.


Ignore the date stamp. This was 2004. Camera died and reset itself.

Later in the day......

I'm a business now. Not earning any income, heck, only three and three quarter hours old. Town of Cary gladly took my money and was happy to see me as a source of future income (for them that is). I still want to work for someone else, with-holding and all, but income is income. So if it means cutting out the middle man (employer), so be it. Yellow Brick Houseworks is now official but not taking customers yet.

Someone pinged me as a potential worker for a NOC. Don't think I'm what they want but sent them a response anyway. I'm not holding my breath for this one. Apparently when recruiters see these, they start thinking.....

I monitored a network by means of Netcool and Big Brother. I telnetted into Cisco and Juniper routers to diagnosis problems and get data to build a trouble ticket. Answered queries via phone, email, and IM, and escalated issues out to field engineers, and lower level support, produced end of shift reports and kept logs and Remedy tickets up to date.

The going rate now is a lot less then what it used to be. Those days of OT, holiday pay, and the big bucks are just history now.