Sunday, May 11, 2008

Changes

Last Friday, May 9, was my last day working at the vet. Tomorrow, May 12, I start my new job, as Administrative Assistant for a large construction company, LCI2. It will mean more money, more hours, and normal hours -- Monday through Friday, 8 to 5 (with an hour for lunch). The 11-hour days at the vet were really getting to me, as were some of the more psycho clients (I loved the animals, but some of the owners were difficult to deal with). I will miss all my co-workers. We were a great team, always helping each other and always thanking each other, particularly after an especially hard day. We all dreaded the same psycho clients, and some of us were better at dealing with some of them, others better at dealing with other ones.

I'm working on another project, too, a freelance editing project. This time it's for a private individual, a retired history teacher from Illinois. He has written his memoirs, for his children and grandchildren. As he explained to me in his first e-mail, he didn't write it for publication, but he wants it to be up to publication standards. He also wrote it "to learn things" so I explained about Microsoft Word's "Track Changes" feature, so we're doing it that way, so he can accept or reject my changes. So far, it's been fascinating. He was born about 1930 and grew up in Baltimore. I'm still in the chapters about his early childhood and the details he remembers and writes about are very interesting. His use of language is great, as well (much better than mine is today). There's one brief paragraph describing an old wooden rowboat that is absolutely one of the best pieces of writing I've read in a long time. I'm looking forward to the rest of it.

What's new with everyone else out there? Let's see some more contributions to the family blog.

3 comments:

Elle said...

Dear Beth, Congrats on the new job! I do understand about the psycho owners...when I worked pediatrics we got some parents that were like that :)

And even more CONGRATS on the editing job. He sounds like a super interesting person...lucky you to get to read his his story!

Hope to have some photos and writing about Molly's visit on the family blog soon.

Hugs!

Anonymous said...

Wow, that memoir sounds really interesting! You've piqued my curiosity with what you said about the rowboat. How did you connect with this guy? Well done, however it was!

Thanks for the reminder about the family blog. When I got the e-mail about it, I was snowed under with everything that had piled up while I was in Taos, and it slipped my mind. I'll have to go sign up.

How is the job going?

Elle said...

Dear Beth,

Have been away in LA, but home now. Hope the job is going well. Will be adding a link to your blog and mine to the family blog ASAP. Have you and ROn had a chance to get out to the Ranch lately? Bet the wildflowers are lovely!