[thechat] What do you *really* do?

Michele Wandrei michele at inthree.com
Tue Apr 10 11:44:06 CDT 2001


Interesting thread.  I lurk more than I post (must be an introvert), but here
goes...

Two years ago my husband and I sold our small business (software VAR) for just
enough money to pay off the IRS.   Up to that point I was officially an
accountant (shudder) with a passion for web design.  When we sold the company
I knew there was no way I could live with another accounting job, so I decided
to try the freelance thing.

My husband travels a LOT, so most days I doing the part-time single mom thing.
I have two wild boys, 7 and 9 (Paul and Neal, pretty outdated names for kids).
My typical day is (slightly) similar to Nicole's.  Get the kids up, dressed,
fed, and on the bus.  Wave to the kids as the bus pulls away, then check my
email.

If I have any paying work (rare these days), I might have the luxury of
spending the entire day working for money.  I'm a sucker for a good cause, so
I've been giving away a lot of work these days.  It's been a very good
opportunity to learn new things, but I do need to focus on finding paying
clients.

Most days include lots of family life stuff.  Meetings at school,
doctor/dentist appointments, kid activities, field trips, etc.  Evenings are a
lot of work.  Get dinner on the table, work with my ADHD son to get his
homework done (someday his homework is going to kill me!), get the boys to
karate, cub scouts, or whatever the activity of the day might be.   It's not
the life I ever expected, but it's good.  With my husband gone so much I try
to spend as much time with my kids as I can.  I'll have plenty of time to
myself when they're grown and gone.

On a typical "working" day, I hop between email, Netscape (4.72), Photoshop,
Homesite, Dreamweaver (only when I absolutely have to),  telnet, and sometimes
Visio if I'm working on a database.  I live for PHP/MySQL!  Call me a geek,
but a truly fun day for me consists of creating database driven sites -- lots
of PHP coding, working with MySQL (command line), designing the database, etc.

I do miss going to an office and talking to grown ups every day!  Sometimes I
force myself to dress for "work," even if that means I'm sitting in my dining
room office all day.  I need to get out more!  Anyone here in the Southeast
Michigan area (I know there are 2 or 3)?

Oh, by the way Norman, you're not THAT old!
___________________________________________________
Michele Wandrei
inThree Design
www.inthree.com








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