I love my job. I’m a Gantry crane operator, I work 9 hours a day in this construction site, operating my crane, lifting all those heavy objects and moving them to their place. This is what I’ve been doing over the past five years. I was happy, but today I’ve got the bad news: I’m going unemployed starting January 2009. The constructions sector has been extremely affected by this economical crisis, so all buildings have slowed down big time. I’m a bit concerned, because I don’t have other trained skills that may make me money, but I’ll try to find new job opportunities, so I’ll see what are the most wanted trades. Then I’ll probably take some courses, get a diploma or something, then go out there are get experience. Of course, if I can find something related to my actual job, I’ll take it. For example, I can operate a forklift or any other heavy equipment. I’d be happy to find a job in this area.

Last but not least, I’m considering to start working from home. I can easily arrange a nice home office with unfinished furniture, which is rather cheap, so I have all conditions to not look for employment anymore.

As I don’t have money to call those cleaning Merry Maids services, I’m looking for cheaper ways of getting my house cleaned for the New Year’s celebration. This is how I discovered that a good housewife needs only very few equipment to get things done in an excellent manner. With only a vacuum cleaner, some detergents, clothes and dusters, a house can become squeaky clean in less than one day. This includes also washing the windows and the doors. The easiest to clean are the kitchen and bathroom tiles, while the hardest to clean are, in my opinion, the carpets. There’s always so much dust deep inside their fibers, that it looks almost like being impossible to get it out of there. In such cases, portable steam cleaners may be the best solution. They use only water and the power of vapors to clean, so such devices are very good in case one of your family members is allergic to cleaning chemicals, or to those tiny acarians. Because the steam is extremely hot when it comes out the nozzle, it instantly kills and blows away micro-organisms and germs. In order to have more fun, my friends and I are doing a sort of a cleaning game: we gather together at each other’s place and do the cleaning together. In this way we can have fun, chat and laugh, tell jokes and have our homes clean and shiny for the year to come.

This is what I’d call private social cleaning.

One of the cities I liked most during my travel in Europe was Amsterdam, in Netherlands. It looks so elegant, with its old, wooden buildings, with its canals spread all over the place, with its famous Red Quartier, where ladies sell themselves from shop windows. When I’ve been there, the weather was a bit against tourism, as it was really windy. Winds were blowing from everywhere, making walking very difficult, or extremely easy, depending on the direction you needed to follow: with or agains the wind. Amsterdam is a place where history speaks volumes about its inhabitants, about their way of living and about their mentality. From Anne Frank’s house, to the Tropaeum Museum, everything was so new to me, that I was very impressed. Hotels were not very expensive, and we got good quality for the money we paid. The food was good, but I can’t remember something specific. Sea food is everywhere and it is fresh and tasty. If you go to Europe, take a tour in Amsterdam. You’ll see it is worth.

DIY is a concept which supposes that you fix all kind of things around your house, without making use of specialists to do those jobs for you. Since early childhood, I’ve admired our dads, how they used to meet at some do-it-yourself sessions around their cars. Fixing and cleaning the car was an excellent reason for a talk and many times, why not, for a social drink. Moreover, repairing a garage door was one of those difficult tasks where you really can’t manage by yourself, thus you need to call a neighbor or two. Hence, some more socializing before, after and in between the job of fixing those springs and cleaning that opener.

There’s no wonder that I have to outsource all similar things, as I hate socializing and I don’t even know my neighbors. Besides, I’m not sure I ever want to. They probably think I’m peculiar, but who cares, anyway?

There are so many people graduating from those massage therapy schools everywhere in the world, that even if you live under a rock you still can call a massage therapist to come at your place for massage sessions. This is good, because now even those of us who simply hate socializing can enjoy the benefits of a massage well done, without having to endure all that small talk that usually goes on in the massage therapy and wellness centers. The regular clients of such centers are usually spoiled ladies who keep on talking about the latest Coach bags collection for late spring or early summer, or about what Paris Hilton’s dog had for supper the day before, or about famous couples divorces. When you are not that type of person, even listening to them for one-two hours seems a torture much bigger than the benefits you get from that massage. So, instead of getting relaxed, you find yourself at the end of your session very tired, nervous and exhausted, and you wonder why did you pay that much if the benefits aren’t there?

For you, my dear, there are the private massage therapy specialists who come home and keep silent.

Allergy facts show us that many times, people can live with allergies and not be aware of that for most of their life. It is true that in the beginning, the symptoms can be mild, thus misinterpreted like being just rebel colds, which go away with ordinary over the counter medication. This is why allergy testing is very important in screening and finding the allergies when they are young and not so severe.

But when you are allergic to something else than common allergens, how do you proceed? For instance, I’ve discovered that I’m allergic to social networking. Each time I need to network, I feel like postponing those moments forever. I don’t have any social needs. I don’t want to communicate my dirty blue widgets with lots of people, I hate chats and public profiles. Maybe this is why I decided for this new concept, of private social networking, as the way to go for those who are too shy, or too bored to be able to use the regular social websites.