When Those Winds of Change Blow . . .

It's like the Santa Anas . . . taking the cold chill out of the air and replacing it with warm, balmy wonderfulness.

Take, for example, my new company. Today, I'm wearing a hockey jersey and jeans. Yesterday, I wore shorts and a t-shirt (stupid, since it was kind of cold, but just because I could . . .). The company provides snacks and drinks of all kinds—from Rockstar to Mt. Dew. Office hours are basically from 7 am to 6 or so pm, but you can take your laptop home with you and work on what you need there too, if you have other pressing matters, like a doctor visit. Everything here is run on a wireless network. For meetings, we drag our laptops with us. We check email, send files back and forth, we have SKYPE installed for instant messaging . . . I don’t know. Maybe it’s the environment in which I worked for 4+ years—isolated, locked down, button-up shirt and slacks, no cell phones, cameras, video devices, pdas, wireless ANYthing . . . the contrast between there and here is so stark.

Don’t get me wrong—I understand the reasons for the lock-down in my old position. The level of security in that building was high. But here . . . it’s just different.

I do miss my old friends though. That's the biggest down side to working here: no one I've known for half a decade. I'll give it some time though. I've only been here . . . what? 7 full days? All in good time.

Humor at its Best (sort of)

Funny moment the other night: Weef and I were watching “The Holiday”—a movie that’s been on our watch-list for a while, but we hadn’t had the time to sit down and watch. Saturday night, we remedied that.

One of the characters was a real gung-ho cleaner . . . keeping her house all tidy and organized. Weef was watching this and taking note. At one point, she said, “Ya know, I wish I were a neat freak.” Without skipping a beat, I replied with a smile, “Well, if it makes you feel any better, I think you’re a really neat freak.”

My right shoulder and arm still sport the results of the ensuing beating.

I's been taggified!

A: Attached or Single: attached
B: Best Friend: WEEF!
C: Cake or Pie: What about pie cake? You know . . . something with a crust, but all cakey and icingy.
D: Day of Choice: Saturday. It's a special day.
E: Essential Item: ipod
F: Favorite Color: blue
G: Greatest Accomplishment: getting married.
H: Hometown: Good question. I moved to Utah from Buffalo NY (GO SABRES!), but I spent a lot of time in southern Ohio before moving there, so . . .
I: Indulgences: Right now, pudding.
J: January or July: yah, not so sure on either.
---Where did K go? Did .
L: Life is Incomplete Without: weef
M: Marriage Date: May 11, 2000. Best day EVER!
N: Number of Siblings: 1 brother, 2 brothers in law, and 3 sisters in law
O: Oranges or Apples: Oranges
P: Phobias or Fears: failing
Q: Quotes: "Whenever I'm about to do something, I think, 'would an idiot do that?' And if they would, I do *not* do that thing." DKS
R: Reason to Smile: WEEF!
S: Season: Fall. Halloween. 'nuff said.
T: Tag Four Friends: By "friends," I'm assuming this means other bloggers. I tag all y'all that actually read this pathetic global offering.
U: Unknown Fact about Me: I was almost born in Japan.
V: Very Favorite Store: Best Buy, followed closely by Gray Whale, but EARLY Gray Whale.
W: Worst Habit: They're all equally bad.
X: X-ray or Ultrasound: I would have to with x-ray, based upon gender and chromosomes.
Y: Your Favorite Food: right . . . like i have a "favorite." how about a favorite food group: red meat.
Z: Zodiac: Aquarius.

King of My Domain!

There's something extremely satisfying about troubleshooting your sprinkler system and fixing it yourself. Everything is up and running with the exception of one zone in the back that doesn't even sound like it's coming on (read: good news--no busted pipes!), so I'll have to take a look at that later. Right now, I'm just excited to have the sprinklers up and running. Happy happy joy joy!

What To Do, What To Do . . .

Well, it's official. I'm officially "unemployed". My last day was last Friday, and my new job doesn't start until 5 May. I have off THE ENTIRE WEEK. HA!

Ironically, here's a list of things I'd like to do this week:

- Weed (by "things to do" and "weed", I mean pull the weeds in the front yard--not smoke . . . just so we're clear)
- Check sprinkler system
- Mow
- Paint
- Patch holes and paint
- Test-run drive to work
- Doctor (again--same issue)

I'm pretty sure I'll get to all of them . . . it's just a matter of when. There'll be other things that come up too, but for now, that's the list.

I'm so stoked. This is going to be an awesome week, and then I start my awesome new job. I'm already excited for it. A whole new adventure is just a week away. That's pretty cool.

Out the Door

Well, this is the good news I was talking about last time. See, I applied for a new position with this other company a couple of weeks ago. I spoke with the recruiter last week, and he said that an offer package is on its way. Meanwhile, a verbal offer was proposed, salary and benefits were discussed, and after the discussion, the recruiter asked if that sounded acceptable. I said, "Yes sir, it indeed does!"

And acceptable it is! $17k more a year, 12,500 stock-option shares, great environment . . . I'm stoked.

I had felt that I've needed a larger change for several months. After the debacle in February, I though that maybe it was time to move on, but moving over here and working with a really close friend made everything okay. Yah, it was still difficult to deal with, but I survived.

Let's just say that is no longer "okay" and leave it at that.

But I'm SO stoked! We've been praying for an "out" for weeks. This one literally fell in my lap. It's a wonderful, great opportunity to clear my head and make a new start. I couldn't possibly be happier.

The Early Bird Can HAVE the Worm

It figures. On my one scheduled day off, girl 2 gets up early. I was comfortably coccooned in my warm bed, right on the verge of falling back to sleep, when I heard it--that faint, sucking of air sound that is so distinct as the precursor to a 2-year old yawn. Following that were the little whimpers of discontent about being alone on the stairs. So I got up, took her back upstairs, and put her back in bed. All the while, she was wailing and sobbing, "NO!! I WANT MOMMY!"

"Well, sweetie, mommy's still asleep. Daddy would be too. Your sister is asleep . . . heck, honey--the SUN is still asleep. Do you really want to be up right now? It's dark outside." She went right back down.

I, by way of comparison, am stuck awake, semi-alert, and somewhat conscious. It's an unpleasant sensation--teetering on the edge of sleep, but being yanked back from the brink JUST as I'm about to step over that edge and fall into wonderful slumber.

No. I'm very much awake.

Oh well. There's a lot to do today anyway, especially given some pending news that I'm waiting to become official before I make any grandiose announcement. Stay tuned for some exciting updates about our little corner of the world!