By the way, the term free refers to my employment status not to my pricing. Little joke to start off Thursday.
Ok, so it’s obviously after July 29 and I mentioned my life was changing. It changed. Hopefully you have read my about me section here–the photographer in the body of an IT geekette yada yada yada. I might have to redo this now. I am a self-employed photographer full time. That means accepting more clients that I have had to turn away and it means devoting 150% to Pam Biasotti Photography instead of the 105% I was devoting my time to!
For the first time in 22 years (uh oh now you can figure out how old I really am) I am not working for a big corporate company answering to the pointy hair bosses or evil human resource directors as to how much more productivity they can squeeze out of me while cutting expenses more and more each year. (Disclaimer: My last manager was really none of those things and I love her to death and only stayed in the corporate hell hole for as long as I did because she rocked and was the BEST example of what a manager should be) For the first time in 22 years I won’t be walking into an environment where Lumbergh is asking me to work 24/7 on an outage that is really the application side’s fault or the business side’s fault. I won’t be toting hardware from one building to the next or re-imaging a desktop. I won’t be on my hands and knees disconnecting equipment. I won’t be sneezing repeatedly at all the chemical crap in the company carpet. You get the picture. The people who were on the same contractor account as me were awesome. I will miss them all terribly but I won’t miss the days of Dilbert like absurdities that plaque every corporation.
I have done it all. From college I worked in banking as a Customer Service Manager/Ops Quality Control person with an Assistant Vice President title (which is REALLY NO BIG DEAL cause everyone is an AVP in banking), managed call center employees (ackkk fancy word for babysitter of the disgruntled), worked as a Help Desk admin (How many times are you going to forget your password? Sheesh!), Data Security analyst, Network Engineer, IT Consultant, blah blah blah
I went through the motions, did my work as well as I could, gave it my best but something died in me after my youngest came along and I just couldn’t forge ahead the way I used to. I lost my spark. So, anyway, the outsourcing company I worked for outsourced me one last time on Tuesday the 29th. It was a good ride but it’s time for a change and for Pam Biasotti Photography to be a top children’s and dog portrait photographer. I have some big plans and changes coming my way and I look foward to sharing them with my past, present and future clients. Here’s to the next 22 years of doing what I #$%()$%$#’n LOVE!!!
Speaking of love, Riley’s got some new cousins.
Hello, I am Riley. I am a male Golden Retriever and am entering my golden years at the age of 8 and half. I have been living with Pam since the age of about 8 weeks when I was comfortable enough to wean from my mother (may she rest in peace). Pammy is my alpha–the woman treats me better than her own children. Probably because I give her unconditional love, I don’t leave my clothes all over the house and I usually stand by the door to be let outside when I have gas (unlike her own kids.)
I am going to appear on this blog from time to time, giving you a dog’s perspective on things when Pam is busy with clients. I have a simple life here. Usually I am at Pam’s feet while she works at her computer. We used to do obedience training and agility training and I think I overheard Pam mention that we might be doing the obedience thing again soon. She wants to put a CD title on me before I pass on. One of the reasons she picked me out of the litter of my three other brothers was that I was rated the smartest for obedience. I do learn quickly and love to please. My mistress’ husband–who I refuse to call my master (Pam is my master) thinks I am a knucklehead. He’s just jealous that I love Pam over him. The only time I ignore her versus him is when he has a slice of cheese or apple in his hands. Or a leash. I dig walking with him because he doesn’t make me do the obedience thing like Pam does. Pam expects me to stay at her left side, not pulling ahead or sniffing the ground. Pam will stop suddenly and then I am expected to sit when she stops. I am expected to heel again when she starts walking with her left foot. If I encounter something delightful to smell, she tells me leave it and I have to stop. When her husband walks me, I have the power to pull ahead, sniff and confuse myself with any training that Pam has done previously with me. So, yeah…I get excited when the old man takes me out for a walk.
I am somewhat a famous dog. Well, at least in my own mind. When I was a puppy, my breeder took my brothers and me to a photographer and we were photographed for some ads. You might see this popular shot on specific items that are sold in pet stores.
That was my brother and me. Don’t we look awesome? So, if you see this photo around, you can say “Hey that’s Riley!”
So what did I do today? Caught up on some much needed rest from the day before. I had a leisurely breakfast of Iam’s restricted calorie food ( I need to watch my waistline) which had a topping of Potassium Bromide on it. (Unfortunately I am an epileptic). I took a tennis ball from son #2’s possession and slobbered all over it for about 10 minutes before settling down for another nap. Yeah, my life is really boring right now. I so need to get back in the ring and prove to everyone that I am capable of becoming an AKC Companion Dog.
Okay, then. I must go for now. I look forward to joining Pam with my thoughts on this blog. She’s not terribly exciting–I feel I can bring so much more to the table with my charm and humor. Later.