Photo by Donna J Morton

I went on vacation last week and had a wonderful time with my girlfriend and her family in San Diego. It wasn’t as warm as I thought it might be, but warmer than here. My friends are a complete joy to be with; no pressure to DO anything. Consequently, I did nothing but enjoy too much wine, too many dark chocolate Milky Way bars, and just way too much good food. What I didn’t enjoy too much of was sunshine in my face and the warmth of it on my skin. I also didn’t enjoy too much relaxation. I don’t think I could ever get too much of that stuff. I love how rested and emotionally lighter I feel when I return from a visit with them. However, I heard from them this afternoon, and it was 76 degrees on a sunny deck at their house.

Looks like I picked the wrong time to quit San Diego.

I took very few pictures this time. I did nothing more than vegetate. I think maybe that’s exactly what I needed, as completely useless as it felt. I remembered yesterday afternoon I had not even gone to the beach to look around. My friend says when she went back to work Thursday, she saw the whales running. To see those would have been cool. But, in our ignorance of what was going on within sight of her office, we were just content to sit in the sun and enjoy each other’s company. The most difficult decisions we had to make (I think) was what to order in for dinner.

I came home a bit more optimistic and quite rested, despite having to RUN through the airport at Salt Lake City to make the flight to Grand Junction. The plane I was to board at San Diego was close to an hour late. I’d about resigned myself to waiting in SLC for seven hours to get home. I had noticed, on the way through the week before, that the SLC airport has free WiFi. So, while I wouldn’t have liked to sit for that amount of time, I could have and it would have been just fine; some forced relaxation. Between headphones, a computer, and an iPhone, and an unrefrigerated chicken sandwich I’d been carrying since 8 am, I’d have been completely entertained and rather an island of “me” in a busy airport. It isn’t as though I’d have had a choice, but WiFi made acceptance of probabilities a lot easier.

Since I’ve been back, I’ve filled out more job applications that took quite a long time to complete. That whole process, as well as the amount of time it takes me to get through it, makes me wonder about that “learn fast” and “find solutions, not problems” thing that I keep thinking I’m all about. Maybe; maybe not! (I’m decisive, too!)

I did figure out how to use a non-interactive PDF in InDesign so any prospective employer wouldn’t be introduced to my handwriting too early in the process. I thought that was pretty clever. But to burst my bubble, my girlfriend asked why I hadn’t simply used the available Word file; it was, in fact, designed just for that. I had no explanation, but I (creatively, I think) came up with a couple of excuses. I had downloaded it. I had even tried that handy “typing” feature while it was open. 🙂 I believe I simply forgot about it as an option once I’d zeroed in on the InDesign possibilities for typing in lots of “pertinent” information.

This is going to get interesting if I don’t get the process streamlined a bit. After three or four weeks it may be too late in the game to say, “I’m just so new to this!” I should have it figured out.

Even going the long way around, I got the job done. I also suspect my workaround will be helpful in the future. One interactive PDF I used a couple of weeks before was apparently designed by an individual who didn’t think all my information was as pertinent as I thought. Now I can give it to ’em whether they want it or not. See? Solutions!

About the picture: Because I took few pictures in San Diego this time, I thought I’d post a photograph I took last year. I took a few nice ones last year, and this one was particularly nice, in my opinion. This photo came directly from the camera. I did no editing at all—not even the removal of the little petal-ends on the left side of the picture. It’s even the full-size image.

Another thing I’m trying out is using a link to my album on Flicker.com. So, this photo links to my Flickr account. That works pretty well once I learned how to do it. And that brings me to the really excellent tutorial I’m viewing at lynda.com. The name of the tutorial is WordPress 3 Essential Training. (I also learned how to link text to a website in my blog.) It’s a beginner course. I’m not even a third of the way through it, and I’ve made a lot of discoveries and will begin to implement what I’ve learned. How to include a photo in my blog that links to an outside source is one of those things.

How’s your 2011 so far?