…new job started on Monday, and ONE of the things that make up my job description is to regularly fill the company’s blog with fresh content – how frigging cool is that??? How many people do you know that get paid for doing what they enjoy most? First post was about one of the web’s favourites: geospatial mashups – woo yay!

I got the job I wanted! Part-time! A good addition to my PhD topic! Starting on Monday!

Isn’t that sweet? My boyfriend and I had our last mandatory appointment with the unemployment agency on the same day, and today both of us are having a job interview

I have only ONCE in my life included the URL of my blog as a reference in an application – and regretted it the moment I had hit the ‘SEND’ button. Negotiating ones need for privacy and ones needs for communication is difficult enough with any blog – I still avoid to put my full name anywhere on this blog as I do not want everybody who knows my name to be able to have a daily update on my life and whereabouts at his fingertips.

Also, I am a bit wary of the influence that using this blog as a job reference might have on my blogging habits: I don’t want to end up writing self-censored and streamlined posts that would be fit to endorse a CV, but wouldn’t make sense to my friends and family. One of the main purposes of this blog is to serve as a repository for the things and ideas that cross my mind in a day, and blogging is a good instrument to add that layer of reflection that draws the line between an idea and an opinion, or an idea and a plan. Also, it helps me keeping my English in shape:-)

photo by jenna77

What I DO mention occasionally is that I am a daily blogger – for instance when I applied for the editor training that I did in October/November. So far, however, nobody has ever asked for the URL – until today, that is, when I received an email from a consultancy who are looking for someone to take care of their Online PR (part-time!). I hesitated for a moment – then sent them link, also because I appreciated the fact that they had actually READ my application (is there anybody among you readers who has never been in a job interview where the people opposite you didn’t even know your CV?)

Nonetheless I added a little disclaimer: I am not a business blogger, and I am not using this blog as a PR or advertising tool. So whatever you may find here is a reflection of my personality, but it is not intended as a showcase of my PR skills;-)

And to finish the story of that other company, the first and last ones to have received my blog URL in an application: Well, they turned out to be one of those unreliable parties who don’t even bother to send you a either notification of receipt or at least a letter of rejection. I wonder why these things still happen – if marketing and advertising is all about establishing good relations with potential clients, shouldn’t an advertising agency know better?

UPDATE: Lent is of course still on – it’s day three today, and I’m already having a craving for sugar. Looks like it’s going to be a bit tougher this year – but I will not waver, falter or compromise on this issue!

Last Friday I had my first encounter with my self-employment coach – I am only now beginning to realize HOW much work it all is going to be, yet I have to take one step at a time… I am still undecided whether it wouldn’t be wiser to get a part-time position – but unless you want to be a secretary, it is difficult to even find interesting vacancies that one can apply to.

This week is dedicated to prototype building: In order to realize my digital storytelling project, I need to have a few stories to put on display. I am lucky to be in touch with the folks at reflect.at – their project leader/creative director/facilitator gave me a few pointers today to help me find the proper direction.

Also, I received a nod from a professor for media studies to be my adviser on a planned doctoral thesis. The title changes daily – I have three weeks to finalize the focus. Here is the title of the day: User-generated Video. Von Viral Video bis Digital Storytelling.

I am lucky to be able to build on excellent work in a related field that has already been done by Lenina [um - may I link to your thesis or would that expose your identity? btw, the contents are only available via Google, but the index file only says 'test'] and I still think she should tour a few conferences with her research which she hasn’t done yet.

Good news! I am back on social security, including health care. Since I quit my last job itself, I expected to be barred from benefits for a period of four weeks – hence I was hesitant to go to the doctor, because the lady on the hotline told me that I may not take for granted that I’d still have health care (although she couldn’t tell me what the criteria were).

At the unemployment office today I learned that I’d normally be banned – but not if the quitting occurs within the probation period AND if you happen to live in the federal state of Vienna (my place of work was in Lower Austria, but apparently that didn’t matter). In other words: I do have health care, and I am also immediately entitled to unemployment benefits I guess I owe this to the decades of social democratic rule in this lovely city.

Since 1919 (!) the city’s mayor has been nominated by the SPÖ!

I’m off to the doctor now. Even though I am a bit of a hypochondriac, I only go to a doctor when I am really worried. My degree of worrying, however, is not at all related to the outcome of a doctor’s diagnosis. I once went because I was afraid that itchy patch on my neck was a bacterial inflammation of the skin (I had once had one on my thigh, and it had felt the same) – yet the doctor diagnosed it as pretty much nothing, giving me a sample of Russian-looking coldcream. That was kind of humiliating. There were other instances when my worries turned out to have a serious reason (e.g. a thrombosis).

But I cannot recall having gone to the doctor for coughing in a dozen of years. Ive tried treating it the way I always treat a cough for a week now, and it normally always works, but not this time. Unfortunately, I have been terribly unproductive this week, as I’m easily overwhelmed by fatigue or start feeling dizzy. The last thing I need right now is an illness – anything that stops me from being productive is a potential show-stopper for hammering out the details of my professional future.

Also, it’s not quite certain whether I have health care at the moment or not – which is actually the most annoying part.

Illnesses are a disease, really.

Update: Well, lucky me! Today and tomorrow my health expenses are still covered by me former employer! And antibiotics it is – what a surprise. Mine taste like vanilla and are really hard to swallow.

Upon passing by the announcement board near the platform where the locals trains serving the North-East leave I thought: “Good riddance!”

That was the same platform where I hopped on at 6:51 am a month ago. Quitting a job can be a good thing. Quitting things in general is as important as starting new things.

Think of the sad, long-gone days when people started a job at 15 at only quit to retire – some 45 years later!

Or at least the layout thereof. One has to admit that vistaprint’s business cards are dead ugly. About as ugly as Powerpoint templates. They have silly motifs such as horses, flowers, palm trees, beaches, even bare female breasts.

The one I got is also darn ugly, but with a twist. A German can never fail with a business card featuring a calf and a football!

…are beginning to become more concrete – I have got a name and a solid idea. Now I need funding. First appointment tomorrow