It’s been a busy summer with a significant amount of stress on a number of fronts. The upshot for me has ended up being that I’m once again unemployed – this time because the wider environment introduced by current US government policy has created a bottleneck in contract awards, and therefore also reduced the number of people currently required with my skill set. According to my bosses and mentors (i.e. people who are interested in (re)hiring me), this could resolve in the next month, and more than likely by the end of the year; in the meantime, I’m shaking the trees for any additional connections who might be aware of a reputable company in search of their next digital program manager.
I’m also taking advantage of the unstructured time I have to continue writing. Gayla and I are over 26,000 words into the first book of a new paranormal cozy mystery series. We’re anticipating completing it and releasing it in the next month. Having a writing partner definitely improves accountability… and the fun of embedding insider references and jokes. Once that’s done, I’ll continue chipping away at the final Planet Seekers book. And/or Gayla and I will push forward with more collaborations. We’ll see how things play out. And you might well be seeing a sneak peek snippet in the near future.
I’ve also gotten back into research reading… beyond gardening. The news about processed foods‘ impact on health, and its likelihood of increasing colon cancer in even young people makes me happy I’ve gone so heavily into gardening, and can harvest fresh tomatoes, squash, and herbs daily. Even more peculiar is the analysis of why American young adults are dying at alarming rates. And then there’s the American “people shortage.” And increasing awareness that even just OTC painkillers… can be killers. Also, as we face the semi-annual joke of jumping our clock to a different time zone, yet more evidence that this practice is BAD for our health. Of course, I’m also being targeted with generational reporting; this one about things Gen Xers thought would always be true… seemed more of a lean toward Boomers’ attitudes than anything I’ve heard from my peers, but was entertaining nonetheless.
It’s always fascinating to read about how researchers are deepening their understanding of canine cognition. This study showed how dogs are able to classify toys by function – something we’ve seen our huskies do time and again. On the other hand, reading about a dog having gone viral … and failed to find a forever home in several tries despite that, was a difficult reality check. Maybe having a hermit crab is the answer? (Certainly my uncle would agree…)
In scientific reporting, research on time crystals caught my eye, as did reporting that the Internet Archive is now a federal depository library. Practical application of math means scientists have solved traffic jams, and I wish policymakers would listen to their recommendations. (Though, from the track record with daylight “savings” time… I’m not hopeful.) Then there was the archeological finding of pyramids in Poland that date back 5,500 years.
Meantime, I continue to focus on native plant biodiversity in my garden, even while my husband and I are having to resort to spraying Neem oil on the invasive spotted lantern fly, which has heavily colonized the (also invasive) Trees of Heaven we have on the back half of the property. Interestingly, when I walked the forest path down the back half of the property this afternoon with KouKi, I didn’t see any of the pests on the native trees. I’m grateful for the dogs and the garden for their ability to rebalance my stress levels, and am crossing my fingers (and doing all the practical things I can) to make sure my day job situation sorts itself out swiftly.