Work
17 Oct 2011 Leave a Comment
Taking a brief break from adoption. A lot of people who don’t know me personally are starting to read the blog. Even people who do know me personally don’t know what it is that I do.
I am technical writer. I’ve worked for Netscape, Microsoft (as an intern, contractor, and full-time employee), e-Travel, and Oracle. Right now, I’m a contractor. I have two main clients, sort of. One client is the company for which I used to be a full-time employee (AQ). The other client is a company that leases employees. So, technically, I’m a leased employee for a government-related organization.
I work solely from home. For the GRO, I go in once a month. I wish they were closer so I could go in more. The people are really great, and I enjoy the work.
My hours are flexible. For the GRO, I work after Jackson goes to sleep.
AQ hasn’t used me in awhile, though they wanted to. I’m on a long-term assignment for the GRO. It should end at the end of this month, but it might extend to next month.
I’m planning on taking a vacation over the holidays. However, if AQ calls me and needs me to do something quick, I won’t turn down the money.
What exactly do I do? Well, I have done a lot of things:
- Help for Netscape Communicator
- Help for Hotmail
- Customer service docs and internal docs for Hotmail
- SQL Server training
- Training and user’s guides for documentation tools – FrameMaker, SGML/XML, WebWorks, XHTML, doc processes
Right now, for AQ, I write user’s guides and help. I also wrote their style and processes guide. For the GRO, I’m editing a book about California Labor Laws. I just spent a month indexing it. It’s a long book. Very heavy.
I really love how documentation is produced. I love documentation tools, like FrameMaker. I’m a FrameMaker expert, and I take real pride in that. Oracle was on the cutting edge with XML. I wish I had kept abreast of that. I’ll have a bit of a learning curve – getting up to date – the next time I’m called upon to use it. But I’m sure it will all come back to me.
I didn’t plan to be a technical writer, but I do enjoy it when I work for the right company. Oracle was the right company for a long time, and I truly miss my earlier days there, before the CRPS (Complex Regional Pain Syndrome). My colleagues there were the very best.
I enjoy working for the GRO. I’d love it if they’d commit to hiring me even 8 months out of the year. I could plan then, and not necessarily have to supplement with AQ work. I like the people at AQ, but the work tends to be of the quick and dirty variety. I’m not really proud of anything I wrote there.
So that’s me. That’s what I do to make money. It’s a great gig for a mom.
Here. In My Head.
25 May 2011 Leave a Comment
in just a thought, not kids Tags: blog, tori amos, work
I have so many posts written in my head. If only I had some sort of recorder that would work in the shower. Or while I’m washing dishes. I’m always thinking of blog posts… a couple from the WordPress Post-a-Day topics, a couple responses to blogs I’ve read recently, my thoughts and feelings about our current adoption, updates about Jackson, why we’re not doing foster care, racist adoption fee structures, gender specification.
I’m currently listening to Tori Amos. I have 399 of her songs in iTunes, and that doesn’t include the Boys for Pele album. I have that album, but it’s my second-least favorite. Still, I thought I imported it in the great CD purge of 2009. (I kept all of my Tori CDs anyway.)
I hate blog posts about blog posts. I think, while I’m feeling like writing, I’ll write a couple and schedule them for the next couple of days. Not sure which ones I’ll do first. If anyone has any votes, I’d be happy to “hear” them in the comments.
Oh, and speaking of writing, I should mention that I’m working just about full time right now. Although my original contracting gig hasn’t paid me since February (and that was for December 2010), the gig I got in January wanted me back. I love them. But that’s (yet) another post…
Latest News from the Chittister Household
11 Jan 2011 1 Comment
in conversation, everyday, update Tags: daddy, house, job, profile, transformers, work
The latest news is, the Chittister household is very messy! Many of my friends and family have been requesting add-on pictures, and I will post some this weekend. We now have a room with wooden walls, and our dining room has an L-shape cut out of the ceiling. Firefly figured out how to get in there. Silly kitty!
Still no news on the adoption front. I need to update a few of our profile pics with pics from Christmas, and I want to polish up our small profile. I don’t like it as much as I could. It could be better. If anyone has any ideas, feel free to let me know. Oh, but it all has to be in color.
I have a new gig! I’ve been a contractor for Avanquest, the company for which I was a full-time writer. They’re light on projects at this time of year. Out of the blue, a wonderful recruiter called me and asked if I could interview for a short-term, immediate contract in Sacramento. The client wanted someone on-site, but that’s 70+ miles away, so I said no. After they saw my resume, they thought they might be able to accommodate me being off-site, so I interviewed. I really thought they were going to pass, because of the off-site thing. And I was bummed, because I really liked the client and the people with whom I’d be working. But I got the gig! I had to be in Sacramento today and have to be there again tomorrow, but after that, I don’t necessarily need to be on-site. I really like the people I’m working with, and I’m sorry that Sac isn’t closer. Hopefully, they’ll be happy with my work and want to continue.
In fact, the recruiter comes from a company, and I’m an employee now! This is a Good Thing ™. Although I truly like my Avanquest manager, I’m concerned about their lack of projects since a sort of re-org this past spring. It will be good to have more irons in the fire. The recruiter I’m working with is terribly nice and efficient too.
I’m going to finish with a story from Max:
Max and Jack were watching Transformers Animated. The character Bumblebee said that the human Sari had “followed me home”, so Max said, “Can I keep her?” just before Bumblebee did. Jack thought that this made Daddy smart. In fact, when Max recounted the story to me, I told Jack, “See? Daddy’s smart!” Jack replied, “He’s friggin’ cool!”
Now, I know the use of the term “friggin’” is controversial, but Jack’s use in this instance really was, well, friggin cool!
Our little boy is getting bigger every day!
Random Thoughts from the Last 2 Months
05 Jan 2010 Leave a Comment
in update Tags: birthday, Christmas, twilight, work
New Moon, The Movie
I went to see this with my friend Christy the day after Thanksgiving. I actually liked it, for the most part, until they got to Italy. (I know no one except ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=3){kind=small}
donnajean2277 cares about this, but still.) However, there were certain plot points missing from the first half that bothered me. First, Bella hit Paul without hurting herself. Probably my favorite part of Eclipse is when she hits Jacob and breaks her hand. Can’t really do that now, if they have any sense of continuity. Second, we never hear Bella tell Jacob about the Cullens’ gifts. Once they get to Italy, it’s all crap. Edward is supposed to be a much better fighter. Alice should try harder to restrain Edward. Bella just friggin’ stands there. It’s just all bad.
Jack’s Birthday
Is January 17. We were going to have it at the crepes place, which has a play area. But the crepes place closed. When I told Jack, he reacted with more sadness than he did when my mom died. He got a stricken look and lied down on the couch. He said, “That makes me upset.” Poor guy. We’re going to have the party at our house, so we have to move out most of the furniture.
Work
Sucks. I’m documenting PowerDesk, which is a file manager, like Windows Explorer. It’s the most boring software ever, and there’s a ton of legacy stuff in there, like support for products that haven’t been released since 1995. That’s 15 years ago. That makes me old.
Christmas
Is a whole other post. Max’s aunt, grandmother, mother, and father all came down with the stomach flu. We didn’t. But we only got to see Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Clyde for about 4 days of the 7 we were there. Everyone was very upset. Jack got a ton of *stuff* though. We have very generous friends and family members.
I also got my purple earrings from lindalee , which made me very happy. A proper thank you is forthcoming. (Yes, I actually ordered thank you cards for Jack’s present, and I will write mine at the same time.)
I got $50 in iTunes gift cards, $150 in Target gift cards, $25 to Starbucks, $15 to Jamba Juice, some New Moon trading cards, a Jack-made ornament, the first season of Charmed, the third season of Gilmore Girls… I know I’m forgetting something. We also hit a Borders Express that was closing, so I got the book Philosophy and Twilight. (Obsession? What obsession?)
I created a tribute scrapbook of my mom’s life for my dad, grandmother, and sister. I finished it on December 30, so Ann doesn’t have it yet.
I created a 4 hour long movie of Jack’s first four years for Sandy & Clyde and Jack’s birthmom. I finished it at 4am on Christmas, so S doesn’t have her copy yet.
Sing Off
Max and I are listening to the Sing Off on his computer. I know the Bubs don’t win – sigh – but I don’t know who does. I’m just glad that the SoCals are gone. Honestly, they were awful!
I think I’ve been very productive this year so far. It’s my goal (not resolution) to remember people’s birthdays and to keep in better contact.
So, I think that’s enough for now. Happy New Year!
Dear People
13 Oct 2009 Leave a Comment
in not kids Tags: twilight, work
(originally posted on LiveJournal)
Dear Contractors,
You get paid $55 per hour, which is at least $20 more per hour than I make. So why am I awake until midnight fixing your mistakes?
Sincerely,
The Only Actual Technical Writer Employed by The Company
Dear US Manager,
If you want your projects done on time, I have a few suggestions:
- Fire the contractor you just love. She doesn’t know FrameMaker, and she’s belligerent.
- Hire my husband. Why? Because he’s a damn good writer, an even better editor, and he knows FrameMaker almost as well as I do. And, because it’s insulting to have to do other people’s work when I know a more than competent individual who can do the job.
Sincerely,
The Only Actual Technical Writer Currently Employed by The Company
Dear Husband,
You really are a good writer, and I’m sorry people suck. I love you.
Love,
The Only Wife Currently Enjoyed by You
Dear Stephenie Meyer,
Please write Midnight Sun. Trolling the Twilighted fanfic web site is beginning to feel a bit desperate.
Sincerely,
A Recent Heroin Addict
My Job and Another Jack Funny
07 Aug 2009 Leave a Comment
in funny story, general Tags: humor, Jackson, twilight, work
(originally posted on LiveJournal)
I love my son.
I hate my job.
I’ve been up til about 2 am most nights working. All of our products are released in August and September. They pay me to do the job of less than one person, and I’m doing the job of three.
The annoying VP who makes my life difficult won’t be a VP anymore. He’s going to work for one of my managers. My French manager thinks that will be the end of ex-VP. I’m not so sure, but I really hope so.
We finally hired another contractor. This one is about my age, and has 2 kids. I like her. If she lasts through this, I might even friend her on Facebook. (She found me, but wrote that she would understand if I didn’t friend her.) As I’ve been so punchy from stress and lack of sleep, she’s gotten a very candid rundown of Avanquest.
Oh, and the utility she documented ate her computer. So she bought a new one. Yeah, I like her.
Anyway, I have to go. I’m very tired and still have to shower. I have something like 200 pages to finish by Monday. I don’t know if I can ask New Contractor to do more – she’s working on the last 50 or so pages of the book I’m working on. I don’t know how fast she works, or how thorough she is. I can be fast or thorough, but not both, and it’s practically killing me. This new book is almost worse than Greeting Card Factory. I’ll have some really crappy writing to share when I’m all done converting it all.
Oh, and I just read a 4 chapter story about Emmett, Jasper, and Edward (from Twilight) going hunting and quoting Monty Python, The Princess Bride, and Shakespeare, respectively. It’s completely gratuitous, but it’s funny. Very, very funny. It would probably be funnier if I liked Monty Python.
- Location:home, Antioch, CA
- Mood:
exhausted
General Update
12 Sep 2007 Leave a Comment
in my kids are great Tags: abcs, chemicals, counting, elmo, fluoride, gDiapers, mommy, reading, scrapbooking, signing, singing, smart, talking, work
I’ve been using digital scrapping software to create pages, including an entire custom storybook for Jack.
Business and Mom…
I’m lucky if I get 18 hours of work done in a week. I have no idea how I’m supposed to work with a child. I can’t plunk him down in front of TV – not that I’d want to do that anyway, but it’s just not an option. Multi-tasking is all well and good, but when you have a kid pushing at you saying “pick up Mommy pick up” (he means “stand up”) or putting his stuffed animals in the water table, multi-tasking isn’t what you need.
I said to Max a few days ago: My job is to be Jack’s mom. That’s why I’m here. When Jack is awake, I need to be with him. That has to be my first priority. That means that business comes second and anything else comes third, fourth, etc. I have a baby-sitter but she has been rather flakey the last 2 weeks. Even at $5/hour, we can only afford her for a couple of hours a day, a couple of days a week.
Mom…
Jack, is, of course, the smartest boy in the world. Until I met ![[info]](http://stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
sm00bs, I thought he must be the smartest child, but her daughter has more signs and words than Jack, so I’ll just have to qualify the statement with boy. He speaks sentences. Newer words include helicopter, I love you, I like X (where X is puppy, doggie, star, etc.), star, everybody, great-grandma, starlight/starbright. New signs are doll, water, and mouse. He’s getting more into signing now, but we can’t always tell what he’s signing, esp. since so many of the signs are similar. He signs “Signing Time.” Our TiVo just deleted our Signing Time stash, which Max unhappily said was a sign to buy the entire 13 DVD, 4 CD set. With shipping and tax it’s $202. A steal yes, but hardly cheap.
Jack also sings. Here are excerpts:
“e-f-p-nnnnnn-p”
“e-i-e-i-o”
“row row row boat… stream… maymaymaymay…”
“donny… sprites… donny… sprites”
He is very much into letters and numbers. Before his grandma came to visit, he could count 1-2-3. Now, he counts 3-4-5. Sometimes he remembers 1 and 2. I put some alphabet window clings on the office window and he loves to look at them, un-stick and re-stick them, and to look out the window.
Jack can also recognize many books by their covers, and also asks for books by name. His favorites are “Peef” (Peef The Christmas Bear), “Elmo”, “Chick-Chick-Boom-Boom”, “Chick-Chick 3″, “Hop Hop” (Pat the Bunny), and “Mimi”. A friend bought him a book that is also an Elmo puppet. The book is really the song “If You’re Happy and You Know It”, which is now known as the “Elmo song”. Everytime he sees Elmo in a store, or really anywhere, he exclaims Elmo Elmo! Do they put subliminal messages in these things? Narcotics? I don’t think it’s lead-based.
Speaking of lead-based, OY! I’m now going out of the way to not buy toys from China (so hard to do!). Also, we’ve gotten – OK Max installed – a reverse-osmosis water filter to take out the fluoride. And I’m hoping to get Jack off the bottle sooner rather than later because his bottles are made with plastic that leaches not-so-good chemicals into the fluid. We’re using gDiapers, a cloth/disposable hybrid that is much better for the environment than disposables (and 12 cents per diaper more expensive, but they’re so cute!). I need to post about all the green, granola stuff I’ve been moved to do since becoming a gDiaper parent. I’m driving Max nuts, I know, but so far I haven’t insisted on eating only food grown within 20 miles or only buying organic everything.
Today, Jack played with sidewalk chalk (or “Cray” as he calls it, for crayons) and loved it! He has a water table with rocks and water, but it used to have seeds, so he calls it “sees and wawer”. He started trying to brush his teeth seriously in the past few days. That’s a battle! I could post about that too. I wonder if it would be as boring as this probably is. If you read to the end, you should put a comment as to why. This is very long.
