And the living is easy…
In spite of our passive aggressive weather, it looks like summer is finally here. A few signs:
- The hotties of beach volleyball are at Alki, wearing board shorts and upturned visors, surf betties squeezed together on a blanket nearby.
- We ate fresh raspberries and lemon sorbet for dessert.
- J. is not wearing his felt slippers around the house.
- Hay fever is here with a vengence.
- We sleep with the windows open – at least until about 430am, when we have to close them because the birds are too damn noisy.
- We’ve eaten dinner nearly every night for a week on the front porch.
- We scheduled a BBQ evening and it was rained out (a sure sign of summer in Seattle).
- I’m toying with the idea of shaving my legs.
- I get up too freakin early because of all the daylight.
- Late in to the night we can hear the neighbors having garden parties all around us.
What’s opera doc?
Carolyn, along with a few other collegues, has started an opera theater ensemble here in Seattle. Yesterday afternoon we went to the Black Box Opera Theater Company’s preview recital at Teatro Zinzanni. At the risk of sounding like a total philistine, I don’t know much about opera, but I know what I like, and I like this. When that guy Gino sung, the hair stood up on my arms. Plus, that number by the gal in the red dress? Very amusing. As was the Kurt Weil song. I can never believe it when Carolyn sings because I know her in a whole other context, so it’s stunning to hear her amazing voice fill a room. Wow. Keep an eye out on these people and if you get a chance, go support them.
The Half-Blood Prince
We picked up our new Harry Potter last night at our local supermarket. They had a few extra copies and they were marked down pretty deep. J, our household halfblood prince, is, as I type, on page 5.
41 Percent
An agent is a person who is sore because an actor gets 90% of what they make.-Alva Johnson
Last week I finished negotiations on two contracts, one a short trial, the other a longer term proejct. I found both projects on my own and brought them to the door of my agency. After a number of unneccessary delays, the agency presented the hiring manager with a bid for the project that included a 41% markup on what I’d earn hourly. Now, I’ve been around long enough to know that the agencies take a huge cut out of my pay for writing me a check. Even though you know and I know I’m not supposed to be able to, I’ve also been around long enough to know how to get the infomation that lets my calculate the agency’s take. “I ain’t paying for their trip to Vegas!” said the hiring manager. We eventually went with the lowest bid (duh) not only because it was the lowest bid, but because it came with the lowest take. This means I get a small raise and the client pays less. Hello!
While all this was in the pipes. I started working back in the Microsoft group that builds brains for home entertainment electronics – the kind of code that makes your TIVO do what it does, for example. Pretty nerdy stuff, but I like it and I really like the people I get to work with. And for now, I really like my new agency, though I regret that I had to switch reps yet again.
I have a rep at another agency that I really like, but they weren’t able to match the numbers – or the speed – of the folks we went with. And the folks I had been working with, well, it felt like they just kind of dropped the ball. It was disappointing and made me crabby. Plus, if I really want to wallow (I don’t) I can say I feel insulted by the whole thing because they acted like we weren’t very smart. I guess my 10 years of contracting and the hiring manager’s 13 years of hiring contractors and our 4 years of working together count for little over the experience of the agency rep who’s worked with us before – um – never.
Okay, I’m done bitching about that. I’m really delighted to be back to work.I’m working at home, except for meetings, and I couldn’t be happier to be working with that team again. Plus, summer is here. And the livin’ really is as close to easy as I could want it to be.