Summer plans, version 4.2

I found out Thursday that I won't be teaching this summer -- there were only 5 students who registered for the class. Guess no one wanted to take a 3 hour class three nights a week. Originally I had been signed up to take a grad-level multimedia class but dropped it when they asked me to teach. I thought about signing up for it again when my class was cancelled (especially as several of my school friends are taking it), but decided not to. Instead I will focus on my thesis, writing the proposal and starting research, and reworking a couple of my papers to submit for some conferences.

At Blanc & Otus, Sarah is going to be induced on Thursday. For the time being, it shouldn't impact the number of hours I work. However, some things are in the pipeline and if they happen, I might get more hours. I'm not too worried about it -- such is a life of a contractor. And for the agency, it has to be tough too. It's hard for them to know when to hire a permanent staff or not. Also, because I already have teaching commitments in the fall, it's more difficult for them to introduce me to a client when I will be leaving the account in a couple of months. There is one account I've been working on that the client doesn't even know I exist. But still, I was able to kick tail and get them some good analyst briefings.

The key, I think, is to remain flexible. Three months ago, I was just going to take one class this summer -- negotiation. Then I was going to work part-time and take multimedia design (because it was at night, while negotiation was during the day and really intensive). Then I was going to work and teach, and with working it looked like it might be close to full-time. Now it's just work. I think the fluidity might drive other folks crazy, but after the last few years, I'm just happy to have the options.