Working for the Weekend(s)

Because I am not quite busy enough (sarcasm), I decided to get a second job, at least for the summer but hopefully something I can keep a few occasional hours year-round. Luckily for me, Jonathan Edwards Winery happened to be looking for a couple people to work in their tasting room at the same time I was looking for a part-time job.

The winery - which produces both Napa Valley and estate Connecticut wines - is located on what is probably the most beautiful piece of property I have seen in southeastern CT. 20 acres planted with Gewurztraminer, Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc, and Pinot Gris - what's not to like? Plus, it's fun. Even when it gets busy - which it defnitely does during the summer - you still get to socialize, talk to people about wine, answer questions about wine, and drink wine. What's not to like? It's hard work, but I really enjoy it.

These are some pictures from a recent event, the Spring Festival, held on June 6. Noe actually worked this event with me - with over 1600 visitors, the winery needed a lot of volunteers (and nothing warmed my heart more than seeing him pour himself a glass of Sauvgnon Blanc on his own free will - usually when Noe drinks wine, it is one sip and it's because I have stuck a glass in his face and said "try this.")

These photos were taken by Susan Denice, who works in the tasting room and does outside sales - she's an awesome photographer.

You can also check out what's happening around the winery at http://www.jedwardswinery.blogspot.com/ - or just come see me if you're bored some weekend.

Petite Sirah, waiting to be opened

The crowd outside

Noe working the tasting bar under the tent

Me working the cash bar inside

Jon giving a tour of the vineyard

A week or so in review

As you may or may not know, I recently accepted a new job. The good news is I am loving it so far. It feels great to be creative again, and to be appreciated by my coworkers - who seem to be a great group of people. The bad news is that I don't get as many blog posts up because I am not on the internet during work hours! However, I'm starting to adjust to the new routine, so maybe I'll be better about it from here on out (the laptop and/or iPhone I plan to buy with my tax refund may help the situation as well..)

Anyway, here's what I've been up to this week:

Gardening


The seedlings have sprouted, and the cucumber half of the greenhouse is out of control! The pepper half was slow to sprout, but now everything is pretty much ready to be transplanted. Now I just have to talk Noe into going to Home Depot or Lowe's and buying some of those little pots and some soil...

Whale-Watching (well, playing)


I just had my second session on the Whale Enrichment Team at the aquarium. I think if I were retired or unemployed I would be at the aquarium every day. I still can't believe that I get to be this close to beluga whales and sea lions.

Hangin' Out at the Coffee House

Up until now I've been more partial to Muddy Waters than I have to the Bean & Leaf here in New London, but I haven't been frequenting coffee houses like I used to in Michigan, either. And while I still prefer Muddy's for a cup of morning joe, the Bean is a fantastic evening spot. For one thing, they're open (Muddy closes in the afternoon); two, they have an amazing selection of loose-leaf tea (I don't like coffee after 11:30 AM) and three, they have a jazz quintet on Wednesday nights. It's like the best elements of the Food Co-op and the Firefly Club in Ann Arbor combined - you can even BYOB to jazz night at the Bean. There aren't many places where you can enjoy a cup of tangerine-ginger followed by a finger of Lagavulin. (The crowd reminds me of Ann Arbor, too - thanks, Loree!)

Snake-Wrangling


You may remember a November post about a snake in my house. Well, we had another. Only this time we didn't find it in the house; Noe found it outside and chose to bring it in. I let the Bun chronicle this one on her blog, The Buns-Eye View.

Being a Local Celebrity

Just kidding. Sort of. Read the New London Main Street newsletter if you want more details about that.

In addition to all this, I've been working on my mysterious writing project, which I hope to make some real progress on in the near future (once again, the laptop/iPhone will probably help). There's some good stuff going on over the next few weeks, though, and we're supposed to be getting a new bar and a new restaurant here in New London pretty soon, so check back - I promise I'll post more regularly!

My mind on my money and my money on my mind...

With all the depressing economic news and awesome things like pay cuts and job losses going on all around us, Noe and I have obviously been looking for some ways to save money. Seems like money saving is all the rage right now - every day on CNN or MSNBC there seems to be an article from a financial expert of some kind telling us how to cut costs, protect our savings, etc.

I did a post a couple months ago on cost-cutting and money saving. In it, I mentioned Noe and I carpooling to work. That has indeed proved to be a money-saver and we have kept doing it, even though Noe is no longer working, because it's still only a two-mile drive and it's more worth it for him to get up and drive me than it is for us to lose the $55/month (particularly after my pay cut). The good news is the job I am starting in a couple weeks is even closer to my house and it's almost warm enough/light late enough to be bike riding weather.

The never-turn-down-free-money-by-contributing-to-the-401K plan proved to be successful for several months, until our company match went away. Now there is no free money, just my contribution. Luckily, after several months at the new job I'll be eligible for another plan with a match again.

I started using Mint.com recently to track my spending and maybe help me budget a little bit better. Mint is a great website that pulls info from all your accounts (you can have it pull any checking/savings data; 401K and investment account data; credit card accounts; student loans, etc). Because it is pulling data directly from your accounts, any bills you pay automatically or any check card purchases are categorized and accounted for with minimal work on your part (sometimes you may have to re-categorize, as Aaron Beiber and I figured out - A&P was getting categorized as 'groceries' when Aaron and I both knew it was booze being purchased there). This lets me see very clearly the appalling amount I spend in bars and restaurants (and grocery stores) as well as how little money I actually have, and offers suggestions for allocating and budgeting the funds. It also breaks it down by month so you can see spending trends, etc. I have always kept a very balanced checkbook, but being able to see all this data and break it down into charts, graphs, etc is much more helpful in my mind.


So, once you see where you are spending, it becomes time to find places to cut. Noe and I both liked the This Young House (great blog; check it out!) "Dollar Dinner" suggestions. At any given time we have cheap items like boxes of spaghetti, jars of Newman's Own sauces, and packages of hot dogs and biscuit dough in our cupboards and refrigerator. We figured we could easily adapt one night as "dollar dinner" night, or simply "make dinner out of stuff I already have" night. Part of the reason I spend so much on groceries is I tend to spend the day dreaming up some elaborate dinner and head straight to the store after work to buy the ingredients. I don't mean to imply that Noe and I are wasteful with food - we are not. We always eat our leftovers and use the things we buy eventually. But we definitely plan on a one-meal-at-a-time basis, and if we cut just one or two of those out per week...you catch my drift. By just using leftover stuff or stuff we already have one or two nights a week, we could probably save some dough.

In fact, I'm going to be ambitious and do a little experiment: I am going to attempt to make EVERY dinner this week out of stuff we already have in the house (this has more than a little to do with a car repair bill that unexpectedly set me back almost $700). We started last night by making homemade chicken noodle soup in the crockpot. Here's the ingredients breakdown:

• Carrots and Celery - leftover from bolognese sauce (almost to the point of wilting, but since we were cooking them for eight hours, we used them anyway)
• Half a White Onion - leftover from Pork Adobo
• Two Chicken Tenders, cut up - unused from Friday night's Chicken Cutlets Meuniere
• Six or so cups of Chicken Stock - leftover frozen stock from when I roasted a chicken a couple weeks ago
  
• Cup or so Egg Noodles - left over from some casserole LONG time ago
• Various herbs and spices from the spice cupboard

The result? Pretty decent tasting homemade soup. I'll probably make simple drop biscuits tonight and Noe and I will finish this up for dinner (he has basketball, so I wouldn't have made a super-elaborate meal tonight anyway). I'm thinking tomorrow's dish may be spaghetti with fresh cracked pepper and lots of grated Parmesan (leftover from bolognese and alfredo sauces). I'll keep you posted on how my week of economical eating progresses!

I'm Mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore (OK, yes I will because I have no choice, but whatever).

I try to keep overly personal stuff - especially whining - out of this blog. But since 90% of the people who read this do in fact know me, I'm going to diverge from my normal policy for a post and allow myself a moment to recap what has been going on around here.

The reason Noe and I uprooted our life in Michigan and moved to Connecticut was because the pharmaceutical company he works for closed their Ann Arbor labs. At the time I was a contracted worker at that site but had already taken a new job. The company offered Noe a job in Groton, CT and bought his house for the appraised value, paid for a moving truck, and several months later we were out here.

It was a hard transition. I am sure most of you know from reading this blog that I have built up a certain amount of affection for New London itself, and I do enjoy the monthly or so trips two hours north or south to New York City and Boston. But coming from a happening college town, southeastern CT was a hard sell for us. It was much harder for us to find things to do and even when we found them, we did not have as many choices on how to do them. I essentially gave up tennis and didn't find a soccer team until two months ago. It took Noe that long to find a tennis league. It appears that you can't see a movie after 9:00 PM. We're limited in our choices of restaurants. (I won't go on about these things, because the point is we got past them - but they sucked for a long time and some still kind of do.)

We did - and do - love our house. We paid WAY more than we thought was an acceptable price, but it was about on par with Connecticut in general (there was major sticker shock the first time we looked at houses out here). We eventually made some good friends that we spend a lot of time with.

Now, the same company that moved us out here has laid Noe off, and not for anything performance-related. Just part of general downsizing. Which would be depressing and discouraging at any time or place but is especially so when you moved 750 miles and gave up a house and life you really liked to get here.

Even worse? There's no jobs anywhere right now but there definitely are not any for a pharmaceutical chemist in this area of the state. And it's not like I make enough money to support two of us.

So essentially, it looks like we get tasked with trying to find two decent jobs in the midst of what is turning into the next Great Depression; we get to sell ANOTHER house we both like for way less than what we paid for it; and we will probably have to move right after we finally got to a semi-decent quality of life out here.

Awesome. Suffice to say, I have been in a terrible mood for the past week and a half. I am not even depressed about the job stuff - I am just mad. Mad that we went through this whole process. Honestly, I don't know why Noe's employer didn't just give all the Ann Arbor employees severance when the closed the stupid site instead of relocating 800 of them only to roughly that amount of people a year later. Classic move on their part, yes, but nonetheless extremely irritating.

I'm not even worried about us, per se; I am just livid that I have to A) give up my house and B) do this all again. Even if we end up moving back home - and let's face it, with Michigan not exactly being a hotbed for economic activity, who knows how likely that is - it is still going to be a long, drawn-out, pain-in-the-ass process.

So please forgive me the lack of blogging, hanging out, and general pleasantry over the past couple weeks. I have not been the most fun person to be around. And I promise I will not turn this blog into a rant on all that is wrong with my life. I've accepted it; I'm getting over it (well, not really, I'm still pissed beyond belief but able to conceal it publicly at this point); and I am fine. You do not need to worry or send "it will be OK" messages (although I did appreciate them).

It is what it is. I'll keep you posted on what we're going to do.

Life in the Carpool Lane

This week, Noe and I started our newest cost-cutting initiative (which I mentioned in a previous blog): car pooling. While many couples would probably consider saving gas the primary motivation behind such a move, we have a slightly different angle. I only work two miles from our house, so I'm not saving that much gas. What I am saving is $630 a year in parking.

During the summer I was able to ride my bike to work quite a bit, but that's not so practical during the winter. I know the hard-core bike riders are groaning as they read this, but they need to accept that I am NOT a hard-core bike rider and do not have "gear." As in cold-weather biking gear, reflectors to protect me in the dark, or even a backpack to carry my stuff in (this limited me on severely hot days as well since my work does not have showers and I would have to ride in clothes that I could wear all day).

Since Noe has to go through downtown to get to the highway to go to work, dropping me off/picking me up really is a matter of just stopping for a few seconds while I get out of or in to the car. It requires no fancy detours and we don't even really need to leave any earlier for Noe to still get to work on time.

Of course, when I say "we" don't need to leave earlier, I really mean Noe. Since I don't have to be at work until 9:00, I was in the habit of sleeping until 8:15. I have made a few adjustments in my daily routine. This includes showering at night instead of in the morning so we are not fighting for bathroom time as well as resigning myself to the reality that if I want this arrangement to work I need to suck it up and get used to the fact that I am going to be downtown by 7:15 a.m. and that is just the way it is.

It's really not so bad. Right now it is working out well because I have projects to work on while the office is nice and quiet. I could also go to the coffee shop down the street and read my book for an hour or so. And let's not forget quality time online shopping, updating Facebook, and - naturally - blogging.

Plus, Noe makes my lunch while I am putting on my makeup. Awesome!

We're only three days in, but so far this arrangement is working really well for us. Hopefully it will save us some noticeable cash, and hey, even if the monetary savings are minor, at least we're "being green", right? I'll keep you posted on how this works out.

Let's Give 'Em Something to Blog About

I had to give up a lot of things when I came to Connecticut - indoor soccer team, my best friend, Sidetrack burgers, and Bell's Oberon all come to mind.

I also had to give up my tennis lessons. In Ypsilanti, I was extremely spoiled in the sense that the township had hired Ryan Rooney and Gary DeGuzman to teach the six week tennis courses, and they subsequently decided to independently host pay-as-you-go, $15-per-session Tuesday night and Saturday morning clinics all summer.

Here in Connecticut, I guess the only people who actually need tennis lessons are middle-aged housewives, because the clubs only teach them on WEEKDAY MORNINGS. And they definitely do NOT cost fifteen bucks.

I complain all the time that I have nothing to do here (meaning Connnecticut). While this is somewhat true, it's not entirely true. I recently realized that I have inexplicably given up hobbies that I could very easily be doing here - even more easily since I have no friends now.

Take running, for example. Yeah, I never LIKED it, but I DID it. I ran three half-marathons between October 2006 and June 2007 (Detroit, Nashville, Indianapolis). Why am I not going out for a run every night? It's not like I have a soccer game or tennis lesson to go to.

Or knitting. I had my movers move an entire Rubbermaid storage tub of yarn and knitting needles from Michigan to Connecticut, and what have I completed since we've gotten here? Nothing. Not even a scarf. Not even a potholder. So much for this being the winter I learned to knit socks.

See the writing blog below. I should have written a freakin' novel by now. I have no excuse not to bang out a few pages every night - it's not like I'm going out. At the very least, I should be a prolific blogger.

Pretty much the only hobby I have kept up with since I have moved is wine tasting, and I am pretty sure that when you are doing that by yourself in your own home a bottle at a time that they just call it "drinking too much."

(I don't actually drink a bottle of wine a night, just for the record.)

I have decided that it is time to change some of these things. Yet instead of checking things off one thing at a time like a normal person, I signed up for a half-marathon, knit three feet of a scarf, and blogged two rather lengthy entries all in one evening...and drank half a bottle of Australian Chardonnay (NO, it was not Yellow Tail, and YES, I have an excuse - it's Valentine's Day).

At least this should give me something to blog about, right? (Y'all better read it!)

Selling Out?

Something happened today that hasn't happened to me in over a year and a half - I did not read one single online news publication while at work. I did not even scan the New York Times headlines while at work, because I did not check my personal email at work.

That's right - I was busy. All day. What a change of pace from the last 18 months!

To be fair, when I was an in-house pharmaceutical journalist (you know which company) I scanned the headlines every day as part of my job - I was looking for stories relevant to the company or the pharmaceutical industry that I might be able to use in my own line of work, which was writing and editing an internal company newsletter. I have no excuse for every other job since then except for the fact that I have not been busy - or happy - in any other job.

At least I have busy covered now. However, I still feel like I am moving farther and farther from my skill set and what I intended to do.

For instance, I haven't written a feature story since I left pharma. I wrote some lame press releases in my nonprofit life, but let's face it - my psychotic boss wasn't letting me do a lot of work, and after awhile I lost the will to try.

Now I'm not writing at all. I'm kind of sad about this. I really enjoy researching,writing, and editing a piece. I get immense satisfaction in seeing something through from start to finish. I know I said I never wanted to be a reporter, but to not be writing at all just seems a little odd. A bit disheartning. It kind of makes me wonder why I did all those unpaid internships and wrote for our crappy student newspaper. Why I worked my ass off for eight bucks an hour in Advancement Communications at EMU (OK, THAT I actually did because I loved it. I did not love making eight bucks an hour when freelancers got paid $0.50 - $1.00 per word, but I loved the work itself).

Can I really not find another writing gig or am I not looking hard enough? I suppose I could find freelance work, but I feel like I'd have to start at the beginning again - unpaid assignments for little-read publications. Do I want to spend my nights drafting promotional copy for tourist rags? Provided they even want my copy, that is.

Maybe I do. Maybe I don't. I haven't decided yet. But until I do, I guess blogging can fill the void.