Halfway through 2006

219.0

As my title notes, today marks the halfway point for this year. I set three personal goals on January 1st:

1) Play fewer computer games
2) Organize home
3) Resume exercise & healthy eating to lose weight

What steps have I taken toward achieving these goals? What have I accomplished so far?

• I do definitely play on the computer less. I am averaging only 1-2 a week for less than 30 minutes each time. I have accomplished this through setting a timer when I play 90% of the time and reading more.
• I subscribe to flylady.net and get daily email reminders from them. My kitchen is cleaned before bed probably 5 nights out of 7, on average. I make the bed 2-3 days out of the week (up from zero on January 1st). I have begun s-l-o-w-l-y decluttering our guest room.
• On January 1st, I weighed 197 lbs. While on Zoloft, I gained a lot of weight; when I rejoined Weight Watchers last Tuesday (after stopping the Zoloft), I weighed in at 224.8. (That's 27.8 lbs gained in six months)
• On the positive side, I did rejoin WW last Tuesday. I have been following the program faithfully since then and lost 4.4 lbs my first week back.
• I have been exercising sporadically since January: I'm gung-ho for a week or two, then let the exercise slide. In the past 2 weeks, I have worked out 5 times (walking or elliptical trainer). I hope to continue to increase the frequency of my workouts.

Being on Zoloft has set me back tremendously on my third goal: rather than losing weight the first half of 2006, I gained almost 30 lbs! It is frustrating, but I am putting it behind me and focusing on the present & the future.

I still need to do more on getting organized, too. I have a couple of incentives now, too: I have mentioned my 10-year-old friend's visit 3 weeks from today, and that is one incentive. As of yesterday, there is another as well. . . .

About a month ago, on a whim, I noticed that one could apply on-line for a job in a neighboring municipality's prosecutor's office. I have been pretty content at work since December and not actively seeking other employment. When I saw how simple the application process was for "Other County," I sent in a resume.

I received a call yesterday from Other County's HR department asking me to set up an interview. I now have an interview on Thursday, July 20th at 2:00.

Before I write more about this, let me first clarify: I am NOT "counting my chickens before they're hatched" by thinking ahead. It's my nature to plan things and think them to death before they happen.

Having said that, if I get a job offer from Other County, I will probably take it, provided it is doing what I want to do (more on that in a minute). Which will mean a move of approximately 100 miles from my current home. By all accounts, Other County is a better office in which to work than the office in which I currently work; in any event, it is definitely a much larger office in a much larger city. Additionally, Other County's base salary is $4500/year more than my current salary. . . and I know I would make more than their base salary because I have been practicing law for a year-and-a-half and have done 19 jury trials and almost 100 bench trials. Because of the differing cultures & policies between the two agencies, it takes most lawyers in Other County 5-6 years to do that many trials.

I have several close friends in the county seat of Other County, too, including my best friend K. All would be thrilled for me to move there. I also lived there for a year when I was still a nurse, and I liked it. Where I currently live, I have several friends at work, but only 2 non-work friends. Most of my social life here consists of doing things with SL.

So we'll see what happens. SL & I have talked about it, and if I get an offer from Other County, he will seek employment there, too. But we will probably have to live apart for at least a couple of months if I get an offer and take the job. It'll take him time to find a position somewhere, and he will have to give a 30-day notice to his current employer.

Even though the salary in Other County is more than I currently make, I am not going to take a job there unless I can immediately handle felony trial cases, as I am already doing here. I spent a year of hell trying misdemeanor cases in the worst-possibly-imaginable work environment. I have no intention of returning to that, even for more money. I hope they won't want me to do that, but we'll see. If they do, I'll be declining any offer made.

Who knows? I may not even get an offer, but I think the odds are better than even that they will want to hire me: many of the attorneys Other County hires are straight out of law school, and compared to them, I am an experienced prosecutor. I also interview well. BUT I am just thinking ahead, not getting my hopes up. If I don't get the job, I will very contentedly stay in my current position and won't have all the hassle of relocating.