February 18, 2004

Busy busy busy!

Yesterday was my first day of part-time consulting at TCNJ, and it felt just great. It took me a little while to get settled in -- email account, phone access code, new ID card (with old picture, yay!), etc. etc. -- but once I did I was really motoring along. Left at 4pm because that's about as much kid-free time as I could stand, and of course he was totally fine when I popped into Laura's around 4:30pm.

I found that working in an office environment required much less stamina than full-time care of a toddler, but at the same time I was glad last night that I didn't have to gear up for another all-family exodus in the morning. Seems like this part-time thing might really help us all make the transition next fall.

Meanwhile, with my "I am working for money again" energy boost, I got a lot done this morning and afternoon. Sent out transcript requests to Brown and Penn, finished up a personal statement and submitted that along with my resume and cover letter to PDS, checked in w/ GB to thank her for keeping me in the Newtown Friends loop, sent a thank-you note to CD, and sent an email to Carney Sandoe to let them know that their "upload your stuff" feature isn't working for me. Still have more to do, but I'm definitely making progress.

February 13, 2004

A Positive Outlook

After having had several conversations with well-meaning friends that fell into the "Yeah, you had better get cracking!" category, today's meeting at the Pennington School with CD was a great relief. He came to the area late in the cycle last year, and although he had some help from the powers that be at Princeton, ended up getting the job he has through good old-fashioned work and luck. CD gave me the sense that the folks in the local independent schools communicate with each other regularly, and encouraged me to send him a copy of my resume because, "I talk to a lot of people, sitting here at my desk." Left feeling quite buoyed.

February 10, 2004

Talk Therapy

Went down to visit with BG today at Newtown Friends, a terrific and well-established preK-8 Quaker school which is just down the road from (and something of a feeder for) George School. They're not anticipating any administrative openings, but she gave me a great tour of the school and the name of someone I could connect with at George. During the tour, I got a chance to talk with a teacher whose immediate response to my situation was, "You should find some work you can do at home." I respectfully disagreed, talking about the excitement of being part of a team and a community, and it was good to have a chance to articulate that, to myself as much as to her. The more I talk to people, the clearer I become.

February 09, 2004

It's A Go

Worked out the details of my consulting work with TCNJ today, after having decided over the weekend that I wanted to go ahead and run with it. Grammy made a good point, saying that if nothing else, it would be helpful to have a trial run at a new, "everybody out of the house in the morning," routine. I'm mostly excited, and not too nervous.

February 03, 2004

Zero to Thirty?

I've been explaining to friends that part of our motivation to have Mr. D in care a few mornings a week this year was to reduce the "zero to sixty" effect of his otherwise having to go from no care to full-time care. Spoke this morning with the folks in the Business School at TCNJ about the possibility of my working there a few days a week for the next few months, and if it works out, it may help to serve the same kind of function in my life. Get used to the rhythm of work on a part-time basis so that I'm in better shape to ease in, come fall. The conversation this morning went well, I think, and it seems like it could be a win-win situation; they are very excited about the prospect of bringing someone in who they've heard good things about and wouldn't have to learn everything from scratch. BD didn't want to approach TP about the dollars and cents until he had a better of idea of my level of interest, so now I wait until they confer and get back to me with something that looks like an offer.