my sources tell me peyton manning will play for the broncos next year, thus bringing the whole elway not playing for the colts thing full circle or polygon, or superimposing two semi-circles over top of one another.  my neck hurts just thinking about it.

actually my neck does hurt.  I think it’s because of how my backpack was positioned during biking.

I started co/ntract.

very solid yet airy weekend in this pattern: bike rides, lots of food, napping hard, a little drywall, lots of quiet, no renovation next door, cleaning.  ear buds.  scrambled eggs and mexican food.  avocados.  beans.  store bought enchiladas.  ‘s famous 3 pepper salmon salad.  black tea.  7/11 cookies.  social things outside the apartment on friday and then a lot of cleaning, scrambled eggs and mexican food since then, and lying down.  the room wall mud is 95% ready for sanding.  85% of the ceiling is 95% ready and 15% is 50% ready.  the places that needed building up.

writing poetry.  reinstatement of income leads directly to more writing.  that’s typical.  it won’t be possible to write my master work until I am making at least $500,000/yr.  I hope to buy a second house nearby with a carriage house where I can keep a small catamaran.

I don’t usually have a rogue mocha porter at 9 a.m., but it’s my last saturday of funemployment.  and I had just a smidge of hangover to eliminate.  oh, and there’s coffee in it.  right.  that’s what mocha means.  it’s really a good beer, I’m realizing.

the k/ontract became more solid.  I start Monda/y.

of course I think about the fact that it’s the day.  it’s a saturday.  it’s going to be nice out.  it already is.  I took the trash out.

oh , this is something I’m proud of:  I researched smart phone plans and prices recently and after I dont know 30 minutes decided not to get one and it was a pretty easy decision.  they cost 1000 dollars a year.  just to have the internet when you’re walking around.  I pay about 100/yr for my pre-paid phone.

I am starting to relax.  I was a spaz today.  really keyed up but also indecisive, unfocussed.  an annoying person to be.  it was a struggle.

I am intense and paranoid.

this goddamn renovation.  it has been really noisy this week.  today they are removing the concrete foundation below where the chimney was formerly located over there.  it can’t last forever.  the renovation is finite.  it will end at some point.

[I have a feeling like "I don't have to job search right now" but also like "I don't exactly have a job yet".  this should be regarded as a good thing.  but I don't really have a formal con/tract yet and yes, now I'm remembering that it's always like this.  there are always a couple days, or more, where you are crossing the rubicon.  you have what you think is a pretty solid verbal agreement but you still wonder.  it is an in between time.  I told them I want my start date, for pay purposes, to be this monday and have not yet gotten a rousing affirmative type of response.  but this is just my usual paranoia when I'm in the rubicon.  it is made more poignant, tho, by the three interviews I turned down in the last couple of days.  like, maybe I should have been a hard ass and told this org that until I have something written, I'm going to keep interviewing.  but for various reasons that doesn't work.  you have to manage their paranoia as well.  telling them I'm going to keep interviewing would stoke their paranoia and the whole thing would not settle into place.]

to return, this goddamn renovation.  man, it will never happen again, right.  both neighbors will have renovated dwellings.  never again, right.  I CAN”T WAIT TIL IT”S DONE.  LORDY THAT WILL BE GREAT. O M G.  I don’t get the economics.  that house was solid.  are they really going to make more profit from gutting & renovating than they would have if they had just remediated any serious nastiness and then painted, remodeled baths and kitchen, and re-done the floors.  then again those items are probably 3/4 the cost of the whole renovation, so I guess you might as well gut.  I guess the economics makes sense somehow.

arnold is here with me up in the office.  he got freaked out about the neighboring noise and he usually does not freak that easily.

the supplies do have a way of diminishing as they are used.

supposed to be quite nice out this weekend.  guess I’ll do a lot of drywall repair today.  it’s not nice out, so.  I need to go out there at some point.  even if it’s not nice out.

I guess I got that kontract.  I also got two new invites to interview today.  I got one invite in voicemail while I was talking to the kontract guy.  so the last couple of days were good.  I heard back from almost every company to which I applied recently.   I told those people I would get back to them later this year.

20cent will attribute this onslaught to her resume edits.

it occurs to me that it’s all about targeting.

I’m going to head over to gallaud/et in a bit to observe some bik/e polo for a spell.  maybe bring a thermos.

interv/iew thurs in the burbs.  the near burbs.  home state.  never thought I’d have another jo/b there.  it would most likely be a driving commute, if.  though there is a half decent transit option.  it would not involve the beltway.  not directly.  the drive would likely be shorter in duration than a bike+transit trip from here to dupont.  scooting would be an option in fair weather.

they said the process would start with a phone talk, but then after they saw my cod/e sample they invited me in, sans phone talk.  that’s perhaps a good sign.  I guess the fact that I can get an interview after someone sees a code sample is at the very least proof that my code isn’t conspicuously bad.  I will never not feel like I somehow snuck into the profession.  I struggled with the number of negatives to include there.  for a while I had I will never not feel like I didn’t sneak.

my search engine disoptimization practices have slackened.

as predicted back when the ceiling was open, each phase is easier than the one before.  I have already skimmed 90% of the ceiling in a rough way, after earlier today removing the last 1/3 of the popcorn.  the walls are ready for sanding.  a few more iterations of mud and the ceiling will be ready for sanding.  sanding the mud will be much, much quicker work than was sanding the popcorn.

I may be at that phase where because I’m getting several nibbles I decide they all add up to a yes somewhere.  but in fact that might not be the case.  could be that none will add up to a yes.  probably something will, I think.  fascinating.  I wasn’t being sarcastic.  I actually think this is sort of fascinating, the blindness.   today the search front was a bit quiet and I was a bit quiet as well.  I did not look for more prospects.  I should blindly proceed with seeking prospects as if I have none.  I should get back on that tomorrow.

a very dim grey day in the dc.  certain pieces of the weather were cancelled.  its color and sound among them.  I think it is football related.

there is one recruiter whose emails I have not been answering and it’s entirely due to grammar.  I should get past that.  could be ESL.

the popcorn is DEAD.

I killed it with the orbital sander.  it was pronounced DEAD around 2:04 p.m. EST.

my home is now a popcorn-free school zone.

it was a deltoid workout.   a patience workout.

dust floats in that room right now.  it is the spirit leaving the popcorn, stubbornly refusing to pass into the beyond.  it will settle to the floor, then I will vacuum it up.  then I will dump it in the back yard where it will get rained on and join the earth.  then probably microorganisms will eat it.

next step is to skim coat the whole ceiling in there.  shouldn’t be too hard.  120 sq ft.