Shilling sausages

Money's tight, and freelance work has been tough to come by. So, thanks to a Craigslist post, I actually took on a job scheduling sausage samplers for a California-based sausage company. Mostly in Safeways and Costcos in the greater Denver area, though once I had to drive damn near to Pueblo (which is a LONG freakin way) to cover for someone who couldn't make their Safeway gig.

It's a bizarre job -- but it covers a chunk of the monthly expenses. I roll into Safeway or Costco, strap on my khaki apron, set up my little folding table with red-checkered tablecloth, lay out the crock pots and set in samples of Chicken Apple, Andouille, Jalapeno, or other types of sausages to heat up and start smelling yummy. Then I waylay shoppers-by with sausage samples.

When I worked at Carme, selling Mill Creek shampoos and Allercreme cosmetics, I remember hitting some of the American Academy of Dermatology annual conferences. The docs would all be "in sessions" while their wives (mostly male docs = mostly wives) would hit the trade show exhibits trolling for freebies. The Safeway shoppers are usually polite -- but the Costco foragers make the ridiculously greedy doctors' wives look like saints! Don't these people EAT before they go shopping? And can't they learn to control their damn kids?

Anyway, mostly I help to hire and schedule other folks -- but in truth, working the "store events" is actually kind of fun. Plus, it's certainly helping me to learn my way around the Greater Metropolitan Denver Area -- I know Castle Rock from Westminster or Evergreen now.

The things we do for love...

Still getting used to the differences between here and the West Coast. I'm sure I will at some point. But I imagine it will take a LONG time.

It's strange here, even after a year, foreign to my ocean-grounded sensibilities. The buildings are mostly new and beige (VERY beige) in the suburban enclave where we live. The people more slower. And they are so... very... NICE. I'm not used to that. I miss big trees, and redwood forests.

The Borg vendor gig ended -- I was hoping to squeeze a couple more months out of it, but that' the reality of their "internal processes".

So, I'm getting on with it. Plus, it's summer, it's lovely, and I'm overall pretty happy. And, thank GOD, Marty's doing SO much better, it's just about amazing. Thank god he has incredible healing capabilities. Not sure what's next, but I'm both job-hunting with a frenzy, plus trolling for freelance work as much as I can.

Stranger in a strange land.