Wednesday for a Change, a Little More Nothing

WOKE UP SLOW THIS morning, due to bone-chilling cold. I was short on time last night, so I didn't clothe my bed in the flannel sheets, as I may do tonight before conking out. Instead, I draped a second comforter over myself. I felt like I was sleeping in a ski lodge. It was heavenly being beneath all of that warm weight. The alarm clock was lucky to have survived its interjection.

I hate sounding like a broken record, but work was thankless today. I spent all of 5 minutes helping my supervisor out with something. I missed nothing at all yesterday. Had I taken the bus back home at the North Hackensack train station, where the conductor had to disembark to examine a wheel for trouble, I easily could have slid by at the cheap price of a vacation day. I have two left before the end of my stay, which I would like to reserve for interviews or employment counseling, or else just take as cold hard cash on the way out the door. Taking them both would not deflect the trajectory of my labors there one jot, as I am currently doing nothing.

I am thinking of informing my boss and HR midmonth that I would like to sign my severance on that day, rather than waiting until the end. At this stage, it seems as though we will be able to exit on schedule. The outsourcing company still needs a certain amount of handholding, but we have been told they will switch back to the software in which we did the work, rather than their using a more cheaply licensed package that mishandles typefaces and PMS inks. At this point, I am willing to leave all of these problems squarely in the laps of those who were stupid enough to choose these slop artists without inquiring deeply into their capabilities or asking those who do the work for advice on any pitfalls. Ah, but that would entail assigning value to me and my fellow designers, which would be a first.

Seeing as things have gotten calmer, I have been able to resume looking for work while in the office. My supervisor had gotten some interesting leads from the representative of a staffing agency for those in the creative field. In searching on CareerBuilder, I found the name of this agency, and looked up its other postings. This revealed that the agency is a subsidiary of a major international recruiting firm where one of my oldest friends works! He is in the legal recruiting arm of the operation, so I don't think he would have any influence over the area where I and my super are looking. I did mention the fact to him, though, just to share the surprise. Besides, you never know, he might have some useful facts or tips to pass along.

I did find a couple of attractive positions on MediaBistro, so I need to invest some time tomorrow in getting the resume finished with a specific objective for these jobs. I will actually have some layout work come in — the one weekly title that we don't trust the outsourcing folks to turn around in an evening — so I won't run the risk of growing morose over the course of a workless work day. Also, I have a trip to the gym planned, in the morning or evening, preferably the morning, so I can look back on the beginning of the day and gloat that I was able to bust my ass so early and live to tell the tale.