It’s a few weeks since I started my new job, and I am having some odd reminiscences. Mainly about cats wandering around on computers.

Back in 2005/2006, when I worked for Arts Hub (online arts publication), half of that time was spent working from a home office. The CEOs had set up the office in their lounge, and five of us - staff - worked from there. It was a nice environment, although I did used to hate doing cold calling and phone interviews, because there was always my editor and others who could overhear and judge. But because it was a home office, there were also the home cats to deal with. They weren’t nasty in any way, but as cats do, they tend to climb all over computers.

Well, my new job is not much different - except the home office is now my home!  Lately I’ve taken the habit of going about lunchtime into the lounge, which helps me work and eat at the same time. My cat then decides he needs cuddles and spends the rest of the afternoon on my lap. Sigh… 

Of course, there are benefits and trade-offs with this new job. Not having to deal with driving anywhere (or take PT) is good, and so is being able to work from bed if I feel like it. Having a short shift per day means I’m done by late lunch and the rest of the day is mine. Having the kitchen close by is good too, although not really any different than having shops or a cafe at an office building. One thing I am grateful for is the wireless internet. It means I can change where I work depending on my mood, and I’m quite enjoying sitting on the futon in the lounge - or even lying on it whilst I work.

The work itself is slightly dull, but only because I’m not familiar with the legal ins and outs of the genre. Trying to wrap my head around migrating to Australia is tough, especially since I’ve never migrated anywhere before.  And the other downside is losing half my day, which means things are going slower than normal - or, as usual, slower than I’d like - on my other projects.

Of course, I’m sure none of you are really interested in this stuff… but my real explanation is how things are going with PIM and SOP. Because of the work, I am finding myself going slower in some things and faster in others. In an effort to move over the moppet patterns as soon as possible, I’ve been trying to power through some related posts and have been happily getting a couple done every few days or so. The new site design is working well, and I’ve recently discovered that using my special code for ‘pagination’ - having sections of content on the same page and swapping between each via special links - works just as well for multi-part posts. This means convergence of posts like the three-parter on human puppets. Despite still having a huge amount of content to migrate over, I’m pleased with the way things are going and with the improved functionality and navigation; getting new content written is slower because of course that takes more time to do. I am aiming to do one new piece each week until I have finished other things, at which point I may speed up the process.

I’m making some decent but slow movements on something else entirely, which I’m not going to reveal until it’s ready. I know I always say that, and then the surprise disappears, but actually this is completely to do with the PIM redesign and has to be done anyway. I’m probably a week or two from finishing the first bit, at which point I’ll be releasing it for viewing pleasure.

I have also made some small but substantial cleaning near my new desk space (or rather in, around, under, between…), which has been good. Because I’ve rearranged the desks, I now have more access to shelving and drawers, and have cleaned one shelf so it now houses my sewing and laminating machines, tools (handsaw, drill) and wooden frame pieces. This is ideal, because now my machinery is out of the way, but still in easy access - and I finally have enough space on one desk to do some actual building. … Unfortunately, I haven’t cleaned away any space around the chair, and have to climb over a big pile of stuff in order to get to the desk.  But hey, I’m getting there!

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