I borrowed the title "Disaster Nearly Averted" from a Grateful Dead performance of Jesse Fuller's song The Monkey And The Engineer which they came close to introducing as "another in our long line of tragedy nearly averted songs", catching themselves just in time to correct it to "tragedy narrowly averted" which has given me many chuckles over years of listening to the recording. If they hadn't caught their mistake, it would have been a minor tragedy nearly averted after all. Apparently no one was able to avert the tragedy that befell the crushed car ramps you see in the picture above, though I don't know how close a thing it was, since I wasn't around to see it happen and no one is home now to tell me about it. If I learn any shocking details I'll pass them along later.

My new job is going well, better in fact than I expected, and I have no complaints, except that I am getting hooked on coffee again. I just hope I can confine the habit to work hours- if I can, then it won't cost me anything but my freedom from addiction. The work is grueling, but satisfying, and has had a slightly unexpected side-effect: after eight hours of intensive computer mousing the LAST thing I want is to sit down and blog for an hour, so that's why the entries have been getting shorter. I'll try to be a little more creative on my weekend blogging, but for now the weekday space is probably going to be somewhat perfunctorily filled.

What else is new? Well, the garden plot is still ready for planting, and still unplanted- I guess I got too early a start. More news later on the potato and other choices I am pondering for when it's finally time to buy some stuff and stick it all in the ground. Want more news? OK! The last fleece cap I sewed for myself is a little too tight around the forehead for comfort, so if anyone who has a head smaller than twenty-two inches around would like a green/black plaid fleece cap with a goofy patch on it, just let me know and I'll drop it in the mail. Like everything I sew, no seam is like any other, and all details are somehow a little off. It has never been smoked in or around, and was worn for only five agonizing minutes- I didn't sweat blood into it, but I couldn't keep it on any longer.

My first Monday at the Internet giant, and they sent us all home after four hours because the computer tools are broken. Phooey! How can I get any momentum at this rate? Besides, it's depressing to wake up at 4 AM and leave the house by 5, only to be back home by 1015 with nothing to do. I haven't even finished drinking coffee and my work day is over. Grumble, grumble, mutter. I can't go to the beach (no money for gas) I don't want to go to the library (would make me drowsy- see next complaint), and I can't take a nap (would mess up my sleep schedule and make me late tomorrow)- I can't even garden because it's still a couple of weeks too early to plant anything, though my beds are well-prepared. Worse yet, I have to wake up at 4 AM again tomorrow despite a very good chance I'll be called and told not to come in anyway- they think this computer problem may last a while. What can I do today? Somebody think of something and contact me right away, willya? I'm desperate and willing to consider anything that doesn't involve wearing latex or operating a deep-fat fryer!

Though I worked Monday and Tuesday at the online bookstore, my first week at the Internet giant ran Wednesday to Friday, a mere 24 billable hours. And instead of $15/hr it's only twelve. Still, I'm happy to be working at all, and delighted to be working in a field I thought I'd seen the last of years ago. Here's hoping I can make the grade and stay on the team! My first section of database is in the review queue, and should have some feedback by Monday. We've been told to expect the axe if our quantity and quality aren't in the top 30% of our hiring wave, and I'm sure I'm a bit slow and foggy, so we'll have to see. Judging by the workplace chat I think this is just a job to some of the people trying out, so if they would be just as happy filing papers, typing transcriptions, or answering phones I hope some of them will fade away and leave a little elbow room for me, because I really dig this stuff. Sad as I was to leave the bookstore, and reluctant though I was to join a temp agency, I'm just ecstatic at finding myself in the digital mapping racket again. I did not expect a chance like this to come around a second time in my life, and I certainly never dreamed this "image correction" temp job would be it. I'd like to work on this project for as long as I can, and I know I can get up to speed if they give me enough time.

I don't work at the online bookstore anymore- I got the call to take up a "digital image correction" contract at the Internet company that did NOT lay off 1000 people today, and to my extreme surprise I found myself doing a digital mapping job that was very, very familiar to me from a four year stint I did at Etak, Inc. in the mid-90s. Back then, I worked on mapping LA, Detroit, Atlanta (96 Olympics), Washington DC, two counties of New Jersey, the five boroughs of New York and parts of San Francisco- today I began on Italy, and I think I can move through that terrain more rapidly than the Allied forces did in World War II. Rarely, indeed never, have I landed so squarely and firmly on my feet in a new job. Day one, which should have been bewildering to say the least, and probably even terrifying, was sheer bliss. Within a few minutes of arrival, I sat down at a very nice computer workstation with the biggest LCD monitor I have ever seen in real life- well over 2 x 1.5 feet- and began to learn some mapping software that was not even slightly strange to me, in essential functions. Before long, I was far ahead of the machine- to be fair, the network was a little slow today because of repairs/replacements, and is usually much quicker, but I was pleased to take a leaf from John Henry's book on my first day- and even cautiously grumbling about that fact, though extremely quietly and circumspectly. After all, braggarts are always challenged- if one's peers don't do it, fate will. Anyway, this is exactly what I used to do, only simpler. Much simpler. I signed a bunch of agreements saying I won't talk about what I'm doing and I won't, but I was doing much more in-depth work ten years ago, so I can say with some confidence that I expect to excel at this job. I don't know what the chances of getting from a contract position to a permanent position are, but I would bet I have as good a chance as almost anyone around me, maybe even significantly better. Or maybe not. Time will tell. I'm going to work hard, brown-bag my lunch (ignoring the hard-elbowed scramble for the catered hot lunch) and volunteer for anything out of the ordinary that comes my way. I'm going to be modest about my experience, but I'm not going to hide my light under a bushel, and maybe the fates will smile upon me.