I keep looking at my calendar to be certain that I'm not spacing on anything. Due dates for applications, appointments for my mom - physical therapy today - and the dance classes twice a week are keeping me busy. Then there is all the stuff that doesn't make the calendar: gardening, cleaning out the extra bedroom for the visiting Tim, etc.
So today I'm sitting in my living room trying to think about nothing. Just being sleepy and enjoying it.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Saturday, August 30, 2008
The Only Things That Are Interesting About Me Are The Ones I Don't Tell Anyone
It's pretty easy to write a sort of online diary when I am fairly certain that no one looks at it. Why I have this online rather than in a notebook is the same reason I keep my calendar on Google - I can't lose it.
Things that are interesting about me that no one knows:
I can arch back and touch the floor.
I really am 49. (Some people do know this but just don't believe it.)
I've hung out with Jerry Brown. And Garrison Keillor.
And I have a card with an e-mail address laying on my clothes bureau that belongs to the man that I'm going to marry, if I ever marry, and I am incapable of slipping him a note even though he gave me his card and asked me to.
I have seven sisters and four brothers (I do reveal this from time to time).
I don't have faith in marriage but I do have great regard for my friends who make it work.
I want to be a parent but I don't want to bring a child into this world.
Whoops, now I've told someone.
Things that are interesting about me that no one knows:
I can arch back and touch the floor.
I really am 49. (Some people do know this but just don't believe it.)
I've hung out with Jerry Brown. And Garrison Keillor.
And I have a card with an e-mail address laying on my clothes bureau that belongs to the man that I'm going to marry, if I ever marry, and I am incapable of slipping him a note even though he gave me his card and asked me to.
I have seven sisters and four brothers (I do reveal this from time to time).
I don't have faith in marriage but I do have great regard for my friends who make it work.
I want to be a parent but I don't want to bring a child into this world.
Whoops, now I've told someone.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
life decisions and the to-do list that comes out of making them
No Espana.
Yes, go for a walk. Maybe to church.
Yes, go on vacation. A few days at the shore, alone. Bring a trashy novel or at least something that will totally distract.
Find a job. One that suits the "work to live" quotient.
Think about the next fifty years. If our life course is circular, I should consider that I'm at about the half-way point. I can just get more youthful from here on out.
Oh, work things out with the sister that irritates, the sweetie that you don't feel sweet towards and the woman who is grouchy when you ask for a cup of coffee.
Yes, go for a walk. Maybe to church.
Yes, go on vacation. A few days at the shore, alone. Bring a trashy novel or at least something that will totally distract.
Find a job. One that suits the "work to live" quotient.
Think about the next fifty years. If our life course is circular, I should consider that I'm at about the half-way point. I can just get more youthful from here on out.
Oh, work things out with the sister that irritates, the sweetie that you don't feel sweet towards and the woman who is grouchy when you ask for a cup of coffee.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Thursday, July 17, 2008
David
I just broke up with my boyfriend. I love him so much but he doesn't have the same intensity towards me. All fine and good for him as he is happy with the company and intellectual intimacy we have. I, however, want more. I want to be the best thing since sliced bread.
This is going to be hard, hard, hard. I'm going through a period of unemployment. Trying to right the wrongs of my life. Feel good about myself. It is hard to think about this without David. He has been, until the last six weeks or so, the best thing since sliced bread for me. But these last couple months have illustrated to me how much I would rather than be alone that be a be a "better than nothing" relationship.
Oh, the sting.
Tomorrow I am going to start the day right by heading out to the airport to have a last minute visit with Christine, the neice who knows everything. When it comes down to it, your family is your real anchor.
This is going to be hard, hard, hard. I'm going through a period of unemployment. Trying to right the wrongs of my life. Feel good about myself. It is hard to think about this without David. He has been, until the last six weeks or so, the best thing since sliced bread for me. But these last couple months have illustrated to me how much I would rather than be alone that be a be a "better than nothing" relationship.
Oh, the sting.
Tomorrow I am going to start the day right by heading out to the airport to have a last minute visit with Christine, the neice who knows everything. When it comes down to it, your family is your real anchor.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
The Ides of July
The fifteenth came and went. Hot, hot weather.
Another application completed. Just need to know where my passport is.
I am spending an inordinate amount of time being productive.
I am not spending much time being sad.
I love the Non Sequitur.
Another application completed. Just need to know where my passport is.
I am spending an inordinate amount of time being productive.
I am not spending much time being sad.
I love the Non Sequitur.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Spilling out of myself
I just sent out this e-mail to about 50 people. I'm totally freaked out about finding a new job.
Hello my trusted friends,
I am so needing a new job that I am putting the word out in this forum that is less than conventional.
If you know of any positions that speak to what you know about me and/or what you find in my resume (pasted in below), please let me know. Ideally, I would like to start a new job at the beginning of October (after returning from my planned walk across Spain). If something came up earlier (between now and when I leave the 23rd of August), I'd gladly flex as much as I could to make a new job work.
Thank you so much for being someone I can confidently ask this of.
babs
My resume in a pasted in form:
Skills:
Strategic Planning, Budgeting, Employee and Volunteer Management, Marketing, Connecting People, Training
Work Experience:
Friends of the Multnomah County Library
Friends' Library Store • Store Manager • August 2005 to Present
Opened bookstore in the Central Library to create finance stream for non-profit. Recruited and trained volunteer staff of 30, set schedules. Produced marketing plan and budgets for increased profitability. Participated in staff and board meetings. Achieved dramatic financial improvement over previous years.
Oregon Health & Sciences University
Project & Fiscal Manager • Center for Ethics in Health Care • February 2004 to September 2004
Project Manager: Established and maintained database for project tracking, teaching activities. Arranged travel, managed files for the Program, generated reports. Fiscal Manager: Managed eight endowment accounts. Prepared and monitored budgets, processed human resource forms and payroll.
Clinical Neurophysiology • Administrative Assistant • January 2002 to January 2004
Supported lab of eight EEG techs, three physicians. Scheduled appointments for three labs, prepared patients and/or their parents with testing information, checked patients in; billed for procedures and maintained lab filing system. Processed new hire paperwork. Prepared payroll.
Temporary Assignments •August 2001 to January 2002
Project Assistant for Corporate Financial Services: Researched General Ledger items to identify out of balance accounting strings. Refined Oracle records for employee and vendor information. Interviewed and organized two managers on paper management issues. Production Control Specialist: Assisted in the Payroll, Accounts Payable and Managed Care check processing and reporting. Created reports and records for IT customers. Maintained documentation on procedural and operational functions.
Powell's City of Books
Ordering & Receiving Departments • Department Head • November 1996 to August 2000
Responsible for the processes surrounding New Book ordering for the Burnside Store. Developed yearly budgets, adjusted them to follow market trends, internal shifts in marketing and process changes. Most recent budget managed was in excess of $6.7 million. Set schedules for ordering (Burnside and satellite stores), receiving, and distribution and data entry. Managed and trained a staff of 20 in Receiving/Remainders and four in the Order Office. Management responsibilities included reviewing and re-training individuals, team building and engaging employees in project management. Set schedules for individual employees. Developed a training program for purchasing new books at the best discount margin. Worked as an in-house consultant for budget management, process management and personnel issues.
Price Task Force Department • Administrative Assistant • January 1992 to November 1996
Maintained book buy information, employee schedules, budgets and open to buy. Set up the DOS system for overstocked titles. Section head for the Parenting and Large Print sections. Arranged and managed projects as appointed including the annual Square Deal Sale in Pioneer Square.
Burnside Store • Bookseller • February 1989 to January 1992
Clerk and telephone operator. Answered phones, searched sections for books, assisted customers with special orders and out-of-print books searches. Managed the Books Sets Section. Assisted customers on the sales floor.
Volunteer work:
SCRAP: The School and Community Reuse Action Project February 2004 to March 2008
Board Treasurer and Grants Committee Member (2004 to 2006)
Chair, Iron Artist III (2005), Volunteer Coordinator, Waste Not Fundraiser (2006),
Board Secretary (2007)
CCC: The Community Cycling Center June 2001 to present
Currently Board Secretary
Five years experience on holiday bike drive support including bike cleaning, mailings and engaging financial and volunteer support. Acted as a consultant on database matters including new design. Responsible for data on all bike donations.
SUN: Schools Uniting Neighborhoods January 2005 to present
Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary Art and Home Economics Teacher
Planned and executed lesson plans for classes of five to eleven elementary aged students. Summer program (2005) and after-school programs (2005-06). SCRAPpy Arts class focused on creative projects with reused materials. Rule the Roost focused on empowering children within their homes with an emphasis on basic cooking skills.
Education:
Portland State University
Intermittent classes: Writing, Process Management, Database Systems, Geography, History of Portland Park Systems and Portland Transportation
Oregon State University
Elementary Education
Umpqua Community College
General Studies, Early Childhood Education
Hello my trusted friends,
I am so needing a new job that I am putting the word out in this forum that is less than conventional.
If you know of any positions that speak to what you know about me and/or what you find in my resume (pasted in below), please let me know. Ideally, I would like to start a new job at the beginning of October (after returning from my planned walk across Spain). If something came up earlier (between now and when I leave the 23rd of August), I'd gladly flex as much as I could to make a new job work.
Thank you so much for being someone I can confidently ask this of.
babs
My resume in a pasted in form:
Barbara A. Adamski
7734 N. Central Street• Portland, Oregon 97203 • (503) 421-5934 • babsia@gmail.com
7734 N. Central Street• Portland, Oregon 97203 • (503) 421-5934 • babsia@gmail.com
Skills:
Strategic Planning, Budgeting, Employee and Volunteer Management, Marketing, Connecting People, Training
Work Experience:
Friends of the Multnomah County Library
Friends' Library Store • Store Manager • August 2005 to Present
Opened bookstore in the Central Library to create finance stream for non-profit. Recruited and trained volunteer staff of 30, set schedules. Produced marketing plan and budgets for increased profitability. Participated in staff and board meetings. Achieved dramatic financial improvement over previous years.
Oregon Health & Sciences University
Project & Fiscal Manager • Center for Ethics in Health Care • February 2004 to September 2004
Project Manager: Established and maintained database for project tracking, teaching activities. Arranged travel, managed files for the Program, generated reports. Fiscal Manager: Managed eight endowment accounts. Prepared and monitored budgets, processed human resource forms and payroll.
Clinical Neurophysiology • Administrative Assistant • January 2002 to January 2004
Supported lab of eight EEG techs, three physicians. Scheduled appointments for three labs, prepared patients and/or their parents with testing information, checked patients in; billed for procedures and maintained lab filing system. Processed new hire paperwork. Prepared payroll.
Temporary Assignments •August 2001 to January 2002
Project Assistant for Corporate Financial Services: Researched General Ledger items to identify out of balance accounting strings. Refined Oracle records for employee and vendor information. Interviewed and organized two managers on paper management issues. Production Control Specialist: Assisted in the Payroll, Accounts Payable and Managed Care check processing and reporting. Created reports and records for IT customers. Maintained documentation on procedural and operational functions.
Powell's City of Books
Ordering & Receiving Departments • Department Head • November 1996 to August 2000
Responsible for the processes surrounding New Book ordering for the Burnside Store. Developed yearly budgets, adjusted them to follow market trends, internal shifts in marketing and process changes. Most recent budget managed was in excess of $6.7 million. Set schedules for ordering (Burnside and satellite stores), receiving, and distribution and data entry. Managed and trained a staff of 20 in Receiving/Remainders and four in the Order Office. Management responsibilities included reviewing and re-training individuals, team building and engaging employees in project management. Set schedules for individual employees. Developed a training program for purchasing new books at the best discount margin. Worked as an in-house consultant for budget management, process management and personnel issues.
Price Task Force Department • Administrative Assistant • January 1992 to November 1996
Maintained book buy information, employee schedules, budgets and open to buy. Set up the DOS system for overstocked titles. Section head for the Parenting and Large Print sections. Arranged and managed projects as appointed including the annual Square Deal Sale in Pioneer Square.
Burnside Store • Bookseller • February 1989 to January 1992
Clerk and telephone operator. Answered phones, searched sections for books, assisted customers with special orders and out-of-print books searches. Managed the Books Sets Section. Assisted customers on the sales floor.
Volunteer work:
SCRAP: The School and Community Reuse Action Project February 2004 to March 2008
Board Treasurer and Grants Committee Member (2004 to 2006)
Chair, Iron Artist III (2005), Volunteer Coordinator, Waste Not Fundraiser (2006),
Board Secretary (2007)
CCC: The Community Cycling Center June 2001 to present
Currently Board Secretary
Five years experience on holiday bike drive support including bike cleaning, mailings and engaging financial and volunteer support. Acted as a consultant on database matters including new design. Responsible for data on all bike donations.
SUN: Schools Uniting Neighborhoods January 2005 to present
Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary Art and Home Economics Teacher
Planned and executed lesson plans for classes of five to eleven elementary aged students. Summer program (2005) and after-school programs (2005-06). SCRAPpy Arts class focused on creative projects with reused materials. Rule the Roost focused on empowering children within their homes with an emphasis on basic cooking skills.
Education:
Portland State University
Intermittent classes: Writing, Process Management, Database Systems, Geography, History of Portland Park Systems and Portland Transportation
Oregon State University
Elementary Education
Umpqua Community College
General Studies, Early Childhood Education
Friday, June 27, 2008
In my mail there was a passport
But a different kind: the credencial for going on the Camino de Santiago.
I'm kind of excited. This week I am figuring out how to make it to an east coast wedding before flying to Spain to do the big walk at the end of August. 480 miles, 774 kilometers. 30 days. Think I can do it?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Way_of_St._James
I'm kind of excited. This week I am figuring out how to make it to an east coast wedding before flying to Spain to do the big walk at the end of August. 480 miles, 774 kilometers. 30 days. Think I can do it?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Way_of_St._James
Wake up!
A short trip to NYC put me on east coast time. Now that I'm back in my Portland life this means that I wake early, very early without an alarm clock.
This works fine as the battery in my alarm clock just died but it's not so great for getting something done after work. My garden needs much attention and I'm not there yet. However, I get to enjoy it early in the day when I'm waking up.
This works fine as the battery in my alarm clock just died but it's not so great for getting something done after work. My garden needs much attention and I'm not there yet. However, I get to enjoy it early in the day when I'm waking up.
Monday, June 23, 2008
I'm waiting
for the end of the fiscal year,
for the end of this training,
for the romance to bloom or die,
for better health insurance,
for a sign.
I am not good at waiting.
Alas.
for the end of this training,
for the romance to bloom or die,
for better health insurance,
for a sign.
I am not good at waiting.
Alas.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Alzheimers could be my friend
As a Buddhist-Catholic, one of my greatest desires is to be living, truly, in the moment and that the moment have some grace. Alas, it’s easier said than done.
There is some inspiration out there for doing just this. Even for being present in accidental ways.
This morning I heard a radio feature on some volunteering done by elders who were Alzheimer’s affected. At a charter school that has a mission to be inter-generational in their educational approach, there is one particular volunteer who spends hundreds of hours helping young children read. She doesn’t remember that she has been there before but she does remember how to help a child sound out a word. Although her memory of words in adult literature has diminished, a children’s book vocabulary is still in her reach.
I am trying this out in my personal life. The complexities of adult relationships sometimes seem overwhelming or painful. Thinking about how my mom’s health might progress or a romance might fade, I’m out of the moment. However, the activities that I did as a child (play, read, ride bikes) are still important to me. And they help me present. Alleluia!
There is some inspiration out there for doing just this. Even for being present in accidental ways.
This morning I heard a radio feature on some volunteering done by elders who were Alzheimer’s affected. At a charter school that has a mission to be inter-generational in their educational approach, there is one particular volunteer who spends hundreds of hours helping young children read. She doesn’t remember that she has been there before but she does remember how to help a child sound out a word. Although her memory of words in adult literature has diminished, a children’s book vocabulary is still in her reach.
I am trying this out in my personal life. The complexities of adult relationships sometimes seem overwhelming or painful. Thinking about how my mom’s health might progress or a romance might fade, I’m out of the moment. However, the activities that I did as a child (play, read, ride bikes) are still important to me. And they help me present. Alleluia!
Monday, June 9, 2008
I have the patience of a. . .
snapping turtle.
If one more person says, "I don't meant to be rude but. . . (fill in whatever it is that you really want to tell me)," I will slap them. Or snap them. Just say the rude thing you want to say and don't apologize.
If one more person says, "I don't meant to be rude but. . . (fill in whatever it is that you really want to tell me)," I will slap them. Or snap them. Just say the rude thing you want to say and don't apologize.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Sunday in St. Johns
I've been waiting for the sun to shine all week and now that it's out, I'm in. I'm having a heartache complete with pet guardian worry, a heavy list of things to do including work that I've brought home and need to send to the bookkeepers by 8 a.m. and weeding.
This is not an auspicious start for a blog! Cassandra, the store assistant, said, "Blogging killed journals." It seems that most of my new journals begin at some low point when I realize that writing is what makes me feel better.
Okay, I've had my whine of the day and now I need to go to the garden. Maybe things will look up when I've filled the yard debris bins. By the way, we have new ones in Portland. And uber-big recycling bins as well. http://www.portlandonline.com/osd/index.cfm?c=44752
And it's being promoted by my favorite Blazer, Channing Frye!
This is not an auspicious start for a blog! Cassandra, the store assistant, said, "Blogging killed journals." It seems that most of my new journals begin at some low point when I realize that writing is what makes me feel better.
Okay, I've had my whine of the day and now I need to go to the garden. Maybe things will look up when I've filled the yard debris bins. By the way, we have new ones in Portland. And uber-big recycling bins as well. http://www.portlandonline.com/osd/index.cfm?c=44752
And it's being promoted by my favorite Blazer, Channing Frye!
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