[Paisleychick-lj] work work work

[Beatrice M's blog]

[![][1]][2]  
[Eight rooftop cats][3], originally uploaded by [blmurch][4].

People wonder what I do down here in Buenos Aires. For the curious, I have four different jobs and I'm actively juggling two or three at any given time.  
  
Kragen and I successfully launched [Distributed Expertise][5] in 2009. We jumped through many bureaucratic hoops to get the business up and running. We're just covering our expenses, but hope for more success this coming year to pay back our debts. Kragen provides software to our clients and I do the admin work to see it all through. This is a familiar hat for me, but navigating Latin American bureaucracy is something else entirely. That stereotype isn't there for nothing. However, we recently received the golden ring as we now have our temporary residency visas which are valid for one year!!   
  
The job that takes the bulk of my time these days is a the photo editor for [The Argentimes][6]. I work with a team of photographers and we all fulfill assignments and then publish the illustrated articles. This has been a rewarding job and it's very interesting to see how publishing works.   
  
I also freelance taking photographs for various clients. I did a couple of assignments for [Time Out Buenos Aires][7]. Those won't get published for a while. They were two interesting and very different assignments, one on Tango and another on bus route 152. I also just shot a series I hope to show in a year's time around the holidays.   
  
Lastly, I have been overseeing the refurbishment the back guest unit of the place that my parents bought in San Telmo. Over the holiday break I had two weeks off from the Argentimes, so I got it into my head that I'd have time to paint the back apt. I am almost done with the kitchenette and bathroom and the counter and cabinets arrive this week.  
  
Last week I spent one afternoon with a friend and he helped me work on the house. We painted for a bit and tried to debug a leaky faucet in the main kitchen. I followed the instructions the men at the hardware store gave me as I bought a new faucet mechanism to replace the other one that was completely worn out, but the drips still haunt me. Maybe the plumber who comes to install the kitchenette sink can take a look at my not-so handy work.   
  
I made several trips up to the top of the house to shut off the kitchen water as were working on the faucet. On my fourth time up there I looked around and noticed a heard of cats lounging in the shade trying to escape the heat. They started to scamper when I stared at them and then took photos. At most I counted eight cats and four of them were black! There might be more than just one black cat who comes and visits. See the photo slideshow from that day below. Not sure why, but LJ strips out that code, so [click HERE][8] to see the slideshow on flickr.  
  
I like doing all this work, but sometimes I feel a little harried and worried that I don't give my best attention to any of them. I know that some of these projects have end dates and so I feel alright about what I have going on. I want to make an effort to be a better communicator this year and update my blogs more often and write return emails instead of just reading them. It's just a question of juggling my time and at the same time giving myself time enough to chill out.  
  


   [1]: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4056/4267384423_ec3e40390b.jpg
   [2]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/4267384423/ (Eight rooftop cats)
   [3]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/4267384423/
   [4]: http://www.flickr.com/people/blmurch/
   [5]: http://www.dist-exp.com
   [6]: http://www.theargentimes.com
   [7]: http://www.timeout.com/buenos-aires/
   [8]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/sets/72157623192983170/show/

URL: http://paisleychick.livejournal.com/367069.html