Hvert, I love your continuation of the dating metaphor. That's kind of funny. It really does feel like every place is nuts these days though, doesn't it?

With the ironing, it wasn't feeling overwhelmed, but just *exhausted*. But, strangely, I DO have a history of migraines! And I'm having more headaches (some migraines) lately - I think because of the crap I'm eating (it was much better when I was eating super healthy consistently.)

Do you have a history of migraines? For me... it feels like the inside of my head is being scraped out, it's a huge amount of pain that can not be easily ignored (though I thought I read about their being a type of migraine that isn't as noticeable?) I tend to get nauseous as well, and not want to move at all to try to control that. So not fun.

re: Jobs - Yes! It does need to look better! This may be the "depression" talking, but I can't even begin to imagine getting the energy together to do everything you have to do to get a new job for a job that doesn't seem like an improvement. If it's not better, why bother? I can stay where I'm at and be perfectly miserable (but well-paid and with good benefits).

And, wow. That's CRAZY that they have you driving an hour to go plug something in. There's really nobody on site can handle that? Can you walk them through it on the phone, or on skype, or something? That just seems ridiculous, and not at all what you were hired to do. Had they tried to put this in your contract, would you have still taken the job?

I still kind of wonder if you could hire minions! I hear that contracting companies usually make as much as the employees that they rent out... so if you had someone that you paid $40/h, you'd actually charge the company $80/h and keep $40 for yourself. Crazy, but it's also probably a huge management pain if that's not your thing. It's just hard not to think about how nice it would be for you to be able to work on the strategic parts, and send your minion out to plug things in! (OK, let's face it, I am very long overdue for a minion of my own!)

Ugh. I got invited to a social networking site for my condo community. The person who invited me is using a pseudonym, so I did too - because I don't want my info online (otherwise I wouldn't have joined). So, some person immediately pipes up with a comment about not realizing we're allowed to be "incognito". Ahem. The guy who invited says that he invited me, but that he'll check to make sure I'm somebody from the neighborhood. I wrote him back, told him who I was and that I hate social networking and this isn't a good fit, so I'm done. I also posted a msg to that woman (not sure if it went through since I then cancelled my account) basically saying that I was in fact invited, I don't feel comfortable sharing my information on a social networking site, and clearly this wasn't a good place for me, so I'm cancelling my account (all very politely said, but you know...) I made a point to thank the person who actually did post a "welcome" to me without the snide remark.

I thought about you when I did this, and what you said about being irritated by everyone. I found this whole thing to be so incredibly irritating - to the point that I just want to sell the stupid condo and move out already! Really beyond what is probably normal, but definitely very very irritating.

And, the people I work with were a bit irritating today too. The big presentation is tomorrow, and the things that I thought were going to be handled in my absence were not, of course. So I scrambled around trying to figure out who was doing what and get things put together for this presentation. (I did have bourbon-ice-cream to get through it. So much yummier than I expected, given I don't drink!)

Anyway, sorry... I feel for you (about not wanting to do the type of work that you're getting dragged into, and not wanting to be on call 24/7). I know you didn't have an end date in your contract, is there anyway to renegotiate any of it? I'd be very tempted to say, "I didn't sign up for this, and it's not covered by our work agreement. However, for an extra $XXX I can support you in this specific way... " then I'd specify things like NOT being on call, maybe just picking one day a week to be your "travel day", or something similar? But mostly, pushing for more money to cover this work (you could say that your initial price wasn't including things like wear and tear on your car and gas!)

Sorry for the ranting. Just... wow... kind of a crappy first day back after vacation. I want to go curl up in bed now... even though it's only like, 6pm!

Mountain Human good luck with the new job, I hope it works out for you!