This is the most on-topic post I've made in this thread in awhile. Sorry that it will likely ramble. Year and a half ago my friend from college hired me to do work from home project management on the corporate split of the huge international company he worked in accounting for. I didn't really want to do it and tried to talk him out of it, but he was adamant. Since he is a good friend and what I had lined up wasn't a sure thing, I agreed. I was really more of a project coordinator, but they got the split done fairly smoothly and were happy with my contribution. I know basic accounting. I do the accounting for my business, but I couldn't even comprehend the chart of accounts for a company of that size. I'd sit in on conference calls where they'd be trying to figure out where money was going and be totally lost. I did rely heavily on my friend and the people on his team--2 of them in particular.
Awhile back he wanted me to come in to cover for 1 of those 2 while she was on maternity leave. Since I'd depended so heavily on her, and what she did was much more technical than what I did on the last project I objected even more strongly. Luckily, the person they'd planned to have cover (but was hedging) stepped up and I got let off the hook. Well now he needs someone to do some short term part time work on some enterprise databases. Given that I'm trying to *stop* working, not work more and given that I've tried several times to learn Microsoft Access and it (along with Google Sketchup) is one of the few programs I was never able to learn, I initially refused. I offered to set him up with another project manager I know. But as I got to chatting with her, the more I thought it through, the more I realized I owed it to my friend to help him out if he wanted me. Besides, it was relatively short duration and for large piles of money, I called him back and said I'd do it.
Truth be told, I was hoping he wouldn't get the money approved for it, but he did and I'm officially starting Monday--although my laptop hasn't showed up yet, so I may get a temporary reprieve. Today I'm supposed to read up on the databases as well as watch an 8 hour YouTube video he sent me (not on the clock, of course, he hired me under the premise that I actually know what I'm doing) and I really don't want to work with databases over the summer. What I want to do is frame up and drywall a divider in my back dining(?) room. Right now I've got a 2 bedroom house but the back was added on and it really isn't defined. The back door used to open into the kitchen (with a tacked on little bathroom just to the right of the back door). When they extended the house they shot the basement steps down behind the bathroom (just building more house around the little bathroom) with the new back door opposite the door to the basement. Since there really wasn't anything to do with the space to the left of the basement steps, they put another door there and stuck a long narrow closet along the other side of the basement steps. (so there's a "C" shaped group of 3 doors. Looking at the closet door, the basement door is on your right and the back door is on your left. And behind you is a big open room with the bathroom door and the doorway to the kitchen. That's why I say it's supposed to be a dining room. It's either a dining room or a second living room. But who needs 2 living rooms in a 2br/1bath 1,000sf house?
Who needs a dining room, for that matter? Yes, if I had a big family, I would. The table in the center of the kitchen comfortably seats 2, maybe 4. But on the other hand, how are more than 4 people going to live in a 2br house? I suppose for holidays and entertaining, it might make sense. And times have changed. My aunt's house that was built in the early 1970s only has 2 bedrooms and has a small dining area (as well as a second living space up on the top floor, but that's beside the point. The point is that I can frame in a hallway without much trouble and now I've got a 3br house (which is worth a lot more than a 2br house--both for sale or as a rental--say 25% more). Now I do have concerns that it will make the space claustrophobic, so I'm planning to put a pair of 36" sliding doors on it for access. It will also need a very basic closet. Technically, by building code, a bedroom doesn't need a closet, but most people--and even a lot of actual licensed Realtors think you can't call it a bedroom without a closet. The Plan is to tuck a little closet in a corner but actually stick a nice old looking wardrobe in the room. I also plan to add an electrical outlet on a wall that inexplicably lacks one and put an electric fireplace there.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. Electric outlets and furniture--even doors--can happen later, along with a stainless gas range for the kitchen. For now I just want to get the room put in so I can finally paint that last bit of the interior. Shouldn't take me terribly long--a month leaves a safe margin--but I don't have a month. And I won't have any time for several months now. Because I agreed to do this stupid job. And since my friend is on Facebook, I can't just pretend I've died. I'd have to screw him over and back out after he got everything lined up. Ah well. Such is life. Sometimes you have to do things you don't want to do.
Which reminds me of an analogy from a job awhile back. I was technically a supervisor, but if we were shorthanded, us supervisors would wind up jumping in and working. I always said it was like being the receptionist for a porn company: "Bad news, Jenny. We're all set up to shoot and the girl we had lined up for 'Anal Gangbang Sluts 17' no-call/no-showed. Strip down, get lubed up, and get over to the studio. We start shooting in 30 minutes."