The Subaru is, yet again, and for real this time (I hope!!), fixed. Turns out there’s an invisible little button on top of the steering column, that you can switch on, and when you do so, the parking lights stay on no matter what. (Not sure why this makes the brake lights stay on too, but, okay.) Also, there was *another* bulb burned out on the gear shift; that is now replaced.
So in the removing-and-putting-back of the dashboard, apparently the little button got pushed, and, well, there you go.
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Here is news: on December 1, I’ll be going to work as a real estate broker, for John L. Scott Realtors here in Portland. I’ve met with the principal broker there several times, and like him a lot; he’s showed me around the office and introduced me to all the staff. I feel very welcome there, and confident that they are prepared to give me the support I need to make this work.
And they are entirely on board with me being part-time, so I can still do all the other stuff that’s so important to me: writing, and freelance work, and the rest of my life. I’m very excited about this. (And, well, if you want to buy or sell a home in Portland, let me know!)
I’m not sure what my blogging about the real estate work is going to look like. The principal broker (my new boss, essentially) is thrilled that I have a blog; but, of course, so much of a realtor’s work is confidential, dealing as it does with people and their money and banks and all. So, of course I won’t be blogging about any particulars like that. But I trust I can manage to pull interesting stories out of this without compromising anyone’s privacy. I did fine with that when I worked at a medical school, after all–there’s no privacy policies scarier than HIPAA policies. 🙂
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But, as I say, nothing is simple. It had occurred to me that I needed a local cell phone number, for this new endeavor; but I didn’t want to give up my old cell number, which I’ve had for years, and which is still a San Francisco area code. Also, having a separate line altogether for my business will make the accounting so much simpler and cleaner.
Also, unrelatedly, my cell phone is ancient and creaky, and beginning to whine about available space and things, and a new upgrade has come out recently, and, well, yeah.
Lo, the company that provides my cell phone service sent me a letter recently offering me a free android phone if I activate a second line. Perfect!
I set the letter aside for when I’d have time to deal with that.
This evening was that time. I settled in at the phone with a glass of wine and no commitments….and, well, good thing. I will not trouble you with the details, which were boring even to me; but, the upshot is, BOTH my problems were solved (they’ll be sending me an upgraded personal cell phone as well as the free business cell phone), I have a local area code for the new phone (though not 503, darn it); and, it only took an hour and a half and some hundreds of dollars.
Sigh. This is the Month of Spending Money, oh yes it is. But, I truly needed to do this, and that was probably the best deal possible for my specific needs, and….yeah. I’m glad that’s dealt with, anyway. Even though nothing is simple.