My husband and I were talking recently about how when we first started looking for work, my friends and I really didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about what we wanted. The pattern seemed to be this: apply for all kinds of jobs; take the first one offered to you; count yourself lucky.

Gradually, things changed. People thought more about what they wanted to do and where they wanted to work. They researched companies to find the ones who treated employees and the environment with respect. Commuting is horrible, so location made a difference. Money was important, but so were attempts to offer work/life balance.

Not long after that conversation, I ran across a post by Seth Godin talking about that same thought of choosing your employer. He notes,

“There are plenty of books about getting a job, but no books I know of about choosing a job. There are hundreds of sites where job seekers can go to find a new job, and virtually none where you can find reviews of bosses or companies or jobs.”

Now here we are in a (near?) recession. No doubt it will be tempting to go back to the take-the-first-job-offered method of job hunting, but I hope we don’t panic. As Seth says,

“If you want to become the kind of person that any company would kill to have as an employee, you need to be the kind of employee that’s really picky about who you align with.”

Don’t you think that’s worth shooting for?

This week, I received what I consider to be a threatening e-mail from my Internet service provider:

“In the next couple of weeks, when you log into your Bell Mail [an aside: always known as Sympatico; are they changing it?] using your Internet browser, you’ll experience a simpler, cleaner design, along with many new features and improved functionality. This initiative is just one of the many ways we make sure your experiences with Bell are the best they can be…We’re sure you’ll enjoy the enhancements we’ve made to your email service.”

Seems harmless enough, doesn’t it? But the last time Bell promised an “upgrade” to my mail service, it made it worse. I got more spam. Messages from friends got tossed into the junk folder. The service did not play nice with the mail program I use; sometimes it lets messages through, sometimes not. When I reply to a message, I have to scroll down to see all of it. If I check off messages in the junk folder and indicate I want them deleted, the system doublechecks - “Are you sure?” But if I check off a message in the in-box by mistake, it’s gone without hesitation.

So I’m not expecting to be as thrilled as Bell thinks I’m going to be. It’s a good example of why a company’s execution better live up to its promises.

UPDATE: Today, the folders list shows nine messages in my inbox. When I click on the Inbox icon, nothing happens; I can’t see the messages. Nice “enhancement”!

UPDATE2: OK, that’s fixed. Still doesn’t play nice with my mail program, though.

Some of the writing I do for Big Client #1 goes to American readers as well as Canadian. All along, the articles have gone on separate pages, so we stuck to American spelling with things written specifically for the U.S. page and Canadian spelling for the Canucks. Now the pages are going to be combined, so we’re discussing how to deal with the pesky extra “u” and the other ways in which the spelling differs.

Our plan is to follow the principles of inclusive language and look for the alternate word that does not shout out to one reader or the other, “I’m spelled wrong!” For instance, inclusive language related to gender suggests “firefighter” instead of “fireman,” and “humans” instead of “mankind.”

It remains to be seen how successful this will be, because this has the potential to be more wordy (”people next door” vs. “neighbo(u)rs“). Also, the choices aren’t as obvious. I mean, what are you going to say instead of “colour“? “Hue” might do in a pinch, I suppose.

Anyway, I’m keeping my eyes peeled for examples. If you think of anything, let me know! I’m starting a list.

While Jake and I were out walking the other day, a bird crapped on my head.  I’ve heard it’s good luck and maybe that’s true. In my mail that day was payment of an invoice that had been outstanding for months. In my e-mail, promise of more money.

Most freelancers aren’t the best at bill collecting. And unless you are living from payment to payment, when you’re busy, you tend to let slide things like hounding people for payment.

In case #1, my client was a small design firm, so I had cut him some slack. I figured he was waiting to get paid by his customer before paying me, although that’s not how I operate. I had billed in two installments; one at the start of the project, and one when my part of it was done. When the client paid bill #2, I realized that something must have happened with bill #1. So I sent a polite request to look into it, along with a copy of the lost invoice.

Some time passed before I got an apologetic note from  Mrs. Client, the bookkeeper. Long story short (computer crash, files wiped out, painful manual hunt), my lost invoice was finally paid.

In case #2, my regular client had paid an invoice by direct deposit. When my bank statement came in, it showed two deposits for the identical amount. A call to the bank assured me they never make mistakes like that (or was it they never make mistakes?), so I told the client’s Accounts Payable group they had made a duplicate payment. They said not to worry, they would take it off the next invoice.

Well, you know what happened, don’t you? They took it off twice. They have since promised to correct the overcorrection.

Anyway, out of all this, some lessons to take away:

• Pay attention.
• Be polite; don’t assume evil intent where there may be simple human error.
• Try to keep a float of money so you aren’t desperate for an invoice to be paid promptly.
• Back up your files.

From Babble, “the magazine and community for a new generation of parents” (and I have no idea how I came across it), a link to the 50 best Sesame Street moments.

The one my two guys and I enjoyed when they were little is #49: “It is I, Captain Vegetable, with my carrot and my celery…”

#8 is adorable; a little girl is singing the alphabet song with Kermit, and keeps blurting out “Cookie Monster” and giggling. At the end, she says, “I love you” to Kermit and kisses him on the head.

#1 is Ernie’s classic rendition of Rubber Ducky.

Hello, all you lurkers! Over the past couple of weeks, I was pleasantly surprised to find out about several people who are following my blog. Even if you aren’t necessarily saying anything, it’s nice to know you’re out there.

When my friend Gloria launched her Escarpment Views blog, she said, “Publishing a magazine is a bit like putting a message in a bottle. It’s surprising where it ends up.”

Blogging is a bit like a message in a bottle, too. You have no idea what shores it’s going to land on and who is going to pick it up.

Hey, if you pick up the bottle, drop a message in it yourself and send it back!

Christmas catalogues are starting to drop into the mailbox about as fast as the two maple trees next door dropped all their leaves last week. Today’s specimen: Lee Valley Tools.

The company is based in Ottawa, but they have a dozen locations across Canada and a thriving mail-order business. I love these guys for two reasons:

1. You’ll find useful, interesting, unique and environmentally friendly tools, garden gizmos, toys and gadgets. For instance, there’s the FireFork(TM), a bent piece of stainless steel that clamps onto any stick to convert it into a campfire fork. If you go camping with your kids, you’ll totally want that! Then there’s the Rimroller (TM), designed to neatly unroll the rims on paper coffee cups so you can enter the enduring Tim Hortons contest known as Roll Up The Rim To Win. (Sorry, it’s done for 2008, but it will be back. Oh yes, it will be back.)
2. The writing is as down to earth and quirky as the product line. Take this description for clamshell scissors: “We added these scissors to deal with the miserable and dangerous welded plastic clamshell packaging that supposedly adds security to a product package…For use only on other companies’ products, as we won’t sell a product packaged that way.”

I’ve ordered a few things from Lee Valley over the years, and looks like I will have to drop by again to check out some of the additions.

In a recent column talking about the panic generated by the state of the economy, Andy Wibbels said, “You only have so much control of the chaos swirling around you - how can you batten down the hatches and still lay the groundwork for something new?”

His answer: “When sales are down and leads are disinterested, start working on the Next Thing.” To find it, he says, “Go back to what inspires you.” And that led to advice on timing: “The best slogan for networking I’ve ever heard is, ‘Dig your well before you’re thirsty.’” Isn’t that a great slogan?

(The post also includes a link to the funny “Brokers with hands on their faces blog.”)

From the “glad I didn’t write that” files, some errors spotted recently in prominent places:

…aged to a  natural petina (patina)

…receive a complementary gift with test drive (complimentary)

…being completely wreckless with your future (reckless)

…his tenant was on the lamb (lam)

…prepare your pallet (palate).

November is Crohn’s and colitis awareness month, or as the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of Canada likes to call it, “Get Gutsy Month.” (There is a similar foundation “of America” but they don’t appear to be going gutsy this month.) So this is my public awareness message for an autoimmune disorder that hits not just close to home but right inside.

We’re very familiar with Crohn’s disease in our house because Son #2 was diagnosed with it at age 14. Basically, the immune system attacks the gastrointestinal tract, causing abdominal pain, diarrhea or constipation, vomiting and other fun stuff. Symptoms can be unpredictable, uncomfortable, tiring, embarrassing and disruptive. Stress makes them worse. Young people with Crohn’s — and it’s often diagnosed in the early teens and twenties — may grow at a slower rate and may appear younger and smaller than their peers. Isn’t that just what you need in your high school years?

Crohn’s has no “cachet;” who wants to talk about something that happens to your bowels? There’s no cure. Doctors and scientists don’t even know for sure what causes it, although they think there are both genetic and environmental components.

Diagnostic tests are invasive, the kind where people say, “Oh the test itself wasn’t too bad because I was sedated, but the preparation…!” Treatment options basically control the symptoms, attempting to put/keep the disease at a low level that interferes as little as possible in your daily life. When you read the fine print on all the various medications, you find that possible side effects are similar to the condition, and worse.

So if you find yourself with a few dollars you would consider putting towards a good cause, here’s one that deserves some support. Thank you. End of public service message.