Check please!

First and foremost, I am happy to say that it appears I do not have a cold--I'm just extra-sensitive to climate changes, and we had a doozy of a change this weekend. So hooray and thanks for the well-wishes.

Now then.

When I started my 20-hour-a-week-not-a-part-time-job gig, I also started using their payroll system to track my hours and the amount of time spent of each of their clients' projects. Logically, I assumed that because I was using their payroll system, and submitting weekly time sheets to accounting, that meant I would be paid via their payroll system rather than invoicing them like I have in the past. Three weeks into the project, the accountant needed me to change "accounts" within the payroll system, and asked me to create an invoice for my first two weeks. I did, and I got a check.

Fast-forward to late last week, when I realized I haven't seen another check since that first one. So Monday I asked the CEO when I could expect to be paid for the rest of October and the first week of November--and boy am I glad I spoke up! Apparently, they were expecting me to invoice for all my hours. They use what I enter into the payroll system for billing their clients, but aren't paying me based on that.

As if I needed further proof what a great client this is, the CEO offered to cut me a check right then and there. I told him that wasn't necessary, and that I'd just go ahead and submit an invoice.

Achoo

One of the less talked-about benefits of working from home is that I have less contact with other people's germs. I used to get at least one cold a year--but I've been freelancing full-time for about a year and a half, and haven't had a cold (or flu, or any other communicable illness) in all that time.

And now, in my 2nd month of working on-site with one of my clients, I'm starting to feel the once-familiar signs of that sneaky little bug. I cling to the hope that I'm just having a wicked allergy attack, but that hope fades a bit with each sniffle, sneeze and cough that aren't assuaged by my daily dose of Zyrtec.

*sigh*

When I go in to my client's office today, I'm taking a bottle of hand sanitizer. They may have given me a cold, but I don't have to return the favor.

All of the glory, none of the entry fees

There's a possibility that one of my clients may decide to enter some direct mail pieces (on which I did the copy) in a competition. I think they stand a good chance of winning, because the pieces are really good and they've gotten positive feedback from recipients.

I don't typically enter my work in competitions because I just can't bring myself to spend what is usually several hundred dollars on the entry fee. If I'm paying you $300 to critique my work, you darn well better give me an award!

But if somebody else is footing the bill, heck yeah--I'm all for it. You cut the check, client of mine, and I'll do everything else--read the fine print in booklet, write the 2-5 page "work plan," fill out the entry form, and make sure it's in the mail before the deadline.

Rockin' the vote

During the primaries, I took pen in hand with the intention of gaining myself some YouTube stardom. Sadly, once the following spoof was written, I had trouble coercing my friends into helping me record it, so the project lost steam and eventually died out.

Now that election day is here, I thought it fitting to dig out the lyrics and let you see what could have been:

"I Choose Barack"
sung to the tune of Tim Curry's "I Do the Rock"*


Primary race heating up for Pennsylvania Ave
Three are frantic’ly campaigning for what one can have
Some will vote for McCain
Some for Hillary
Me, I do the only thing that still makes sense to me

I choose Barack
I choose Barack, ‘rack

John and Clinton raise a stink to defame Obama
Sometimes they start arguments on the Senate floor-a
Hillary’s a lady, McCain’s really frightfully old
But something else ‘bout both of them just leaves me feeling cold

I choose Barack
I choose Barack, ‘rack
I choose Barack, ‘rack, ‘rack
Hey, it’s time for change!

Clinton spoke out vocally against Gitmo’s prison
Saddam’s six feet under but Bin Laden still is missin’
McCain’s war could last for 10 decades, but I just think that Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan aren’t places we should be

I choose Barack
I choose Barack
Hey, it’s time for change!
Change we believe in!

George and Matt and Will and Oprah
Brad and Angelina
Stephen Colbert and Madonna
Gov’nor Schwarzennegah
FOX, CNN, MSNBC and People Magazine
Reporting who the celebs pick for the presidency

I choose Barack, myself

Hammas and the Taliban
Christians, Jews and Muslims
Can’t we all just get along?
Our differences are puzzlin’
Dogma, Fatwa, and Jihad make global warming not so sad
Screw the polar bears and just bring our troops home safely

I choose Barack
I choose Barack
I choose Barack
I choose Barack
Choose Barack
Choose Barack
I do I do I do I do choose Barack

*If you've never heard the original, I'm sure it's out there on YouTube or elsewhere on the Internet for your listening pleasure.

Quickie

Okay, quick post and then I have to get back to work (I just published that "business plan" and I'm already deviating from it!).

In hindsight, I really should have done some work over the weekend, but I did not and I haven't perfected my time machine yet.

My not-a-part-time-job-20-hours-a-week client asked me to continue on through November. Exciting, but also part of what has me thinking I should have worked a bit this weekend. I also have 3 Requests for Proposals for another client, and am hopefully finishing up the poster and postcard for the neighborhood business association. I say hopefully, because there is a charity involved and nonprofits make things a little more complicated than necessary.

Okay, enough . . . to work!