New Job--Day 1

It's time for everyone's favorite game, Better, Worse, or The Same!

New cube: The same. Less space, more walls. Fewer drawers, better chair.
Departmental Amenities: Worse, but not much worse. No sink, no water cooler, but a giant area that gets stocked from Sam's Club where one can buy a pop or candy bar for 30 cents.
Cafeteria: Better
Cell Phone Reception: Way worse! I have to pack a lunch, just to trek to a place where I can get a signal! This sucks when one's Poltergeist desk phone does not work (see below)
Lunch companionship: Worse--it's just me, myself, and I. Booooooo.
Building: Umm, better? It is nice to see sciency things here and there again. It reminds me of AP32 at Abbott Park. Part nicely carpeted office area, part dark scary cave.
Parking lot: Better. More trees, closer to the picnic area.
People (so far): Worseish? Really, different, I guess. They're really nice, but they act more grown up than I. (Must work on loosening them up)
Network and email: The Dark Ages. I mean really, we've had email at work as a standard for, what, 10 years? And how many people change jobs every year? Millions.

So, why is it that I have to call the help desk to set up my own stuff only to hear them say, "Oh, wow, that's weird". Last week, they turned my email off too early. This week I've got 2 emails and 2 network logons. Oh--3 of those 4 do not work.

And, my phone, which worked just fine at my old job, now has no dial tone. BUT, don't let yourself think that that means people can't call me. Because they do. And the phone answers by itself.

On speakerphone. And I can't do anything but listen to the callers say, "Hello?!? Hello?!? Hello!?! Hello!?!"

Then, the Help Desk, which was actually trying to be helpful, kept disagreeing with me on my old login names. I mean, I've been known to be wrong*, but I have had 4 months of practice successfully logging on. Like, I'm probably right about my login name.

So, then I ask the HD how I will receive the login name and password I need to have in order to be able to read my email. The answer? They'll send it to me via email. Sighhhhh

As the HD ineloquently said, I'm "jacked".


*rarely, of course

My cousin's baby can HEAR!

My cousin M and his wife J had a baby boy yesterday! His name is Jeffrey Ethan and he was 7 lbs-something. The most exciting thing (aside from his very existence, of course) is that while M and J are both deaf, Jeffrey just passed the hearing test with flying colors! Which is what they were both praying for.


Yay Jeffrey!

And sometimes I ask myself...

...why did I not take a nap in my car for lunch? It's warm...and nice...and quiet..

Nope, instead, I had the experience of nodding off at my desk and waking up when I had one of those napjerks and flung my mouse across the desk.

...summer hours are kicking my arse...

Phone Dan, Phone Dan, and Phone Dan

I forgot to mention one of the best parts of our trip! One night (Saturday, maybe?), we were playing the board game version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? with about 10 members of Dave's family.

For those familiar with the game, you'll remember that there are 3 "lifelines" one can resort to in a trivia crisis: 50/50, poll the audience, and phone a friend. Well, as we played, we wondered who we should phone, if needed. I volunteered my dad, who knows everything (okay, not really*). So, we now had 50/50, poll the audience, and Phone Dan.

So, along comes the first lifeline use, and we Phone Dan on my cell speakerphone at 9pm with 10 raucous people in my in-laws' living room. It was so fun! My dad thought it was great, we laughed our tails off, and SuperDan got the answer right!

So we play more and the next lifeline use comes up, but we realize that 50/50 really isn't helping and that there isn't an audience to poll (I'm still not sure how that one works when playing at home...) So, we decide that the lifelines will be Phone Dan, Phone Dan, and Phone Dan.

So we dial my dad again and this time it's some Jerry Rice question and he's right again! Yay--more raucous yelling!

We had so much fun (and I suspect my dad did too!) When the game was finally over (Big A and I won, by the way), I called my dad to say goodnight and he says, "What's the question?!?"--rather eagerly, I would say.

So--I volunteer my dad for any lifeline needs (call me, I'll give you their number). He'd be tickled pink.

And you'll win.

*yes really

Dave has his adoption doctor's appt on Monday...

...we're gettin' there!

Things we still have left (off the top of my head) are:
Dave's medical forms
Filling out of the financial forms
Background check for Dave
And for me
Passport for Dave
And for me
More fingerprints for the both of us (set 3 of 3)
Putting together a set of pictures for the dossier

That's all I can think of without my list...

Things that are new since May 3rd:

• 5/3: Had an interview for a permanent job at Healthcare Company Y
• 5/7: I have a sore throat, hmmmm
• 5/9: I have a cold! Boooo!
• 5/10 pm: I fall down the upper inside stairs at home. Land on the dog. We're both okay, but she's worried and licks me until I get up
• 5/11 am: I fall down the garage stairs. Land on my left arm (ouch) and right knee (ouch). Dog doesn't even make sure I'm still alive.
• 5/11 pm: Intended to fly out to North Carolina
• 5/11 pm: Stayed the night in Schaumburg. In a Comfort Suites--quite nice! I'd recommend it.
• 5/12 am: Actually flew to NC after having our flight cancelled by a plain ole' rainstorm
• 5/12: We arrive in NC to beautiful weather! All my inlaw's ducklings and ducks-in-law are here :)
• 5/13: My sister-in-law graduates from Nursing School. She's an RN now! (Good thing, since my leg is about to fall off from the knee down).
• 5/13 pm: We hit Dave and Buster's NC with a group of 6 (Dave, me, SIL, SIL's friend, and UT and Big A [both uncles]). We bowled (well, except me. knee's feeling better, but who wants to tempt fate?), played air hockey (man, I love me some air hockey), and played a few other games. I have only one thing to say--Big A is a ringer. Never let him tell you otherwise ;)
• 5/14: Went to Landmark Church w/ MIL and the rest of the wee ducks
• 5/15: Went to the coolest place ever! NC has a drive-thru wild animal park! You get a bucket of feed, open the windows to the car, and drive in. There are emus, various wild deer/sheep/goats, potbellied pigs, more emus, wildebeast, oxen, waterbuffalo, emus, rhinoceroses (locked up), zebras, llamas, emus, emus, emus, and giraffes
• 5/15: The Emus. Emus are giant birds in the ostrich category. Their faces look like dinosaurs. They would stick their entire head and 3 foot neck in the car window to get the food, and then would peck so hard they threw food all over the car!
• 5/15: The Giraffes. We got to hand feed giraffes! They were in an enclosure so they wouldn't kick anyone, but they could reach over to get the food. Of all the animals we handfed, these giants were the gentlest. The had soft mouths, but big giant strings of spit! I put food on Dave's head and they ate it right off the top of his head. Yep, we've got pictures. The baby giraffes were too small to reach their heads over the fence and so kicked it in protest (we fed them through the bars and they stopped kicking).
• 5/15: The Other Animals. They would all come-a-runnin' when they heard the feed buckets being shaken. Little pigs, big sheep, llamas, the crazy giant white deer-horses--everybody would come trotting over to be fed. Awwww.
• 5/16: An uneventful flight home and a call from an HR person at Healthcare Company Y. A job offer!
• 5/17: I accepted a new (and permanent job). My knee still hurts, but not as badly. The cold is almost gone.

An accidental adoption

Honey, sit down. I have some news for you.

-What is it?

Well, I don't know how to say this, so I'll just come out with it. I went out to the mailbox today and ... well, we got an I-171H.

-A what?!? An I-171H? As in , we're going to have another baby?!?

It looks that way.

-But how? We've been so careful! I put away all the blank I-600A forms. Didn't you hide our homestudy update?

Of course I did. But don't forget, there was that one night ..

-What night? (pauses) Ohhh, that night. But it was only once. We were just messing around. I didn't print clearly. I didn't even use ink! (pauses again) But it was kind of fun.

(giggles) It was, wasn't it? I'll never forget how cute you looked getting your fingerprints done.

-So now we've got our I-171H, eh? But that doesn't always mean you'll adopt, does it? I mean, shouldn't you see the agency or something, make sure everything's okay?

I already did.

-And?

I'm five documents along.

-Five documents! And they're all notarized, certified and authenticated okay?

Just great. There was one small scare when the agency couldn't see the notary's middle initial, but it showed up just fine under the magnifying glass.

-Thank God. And you, honey? Are you feeling okay?

I'm feeling fine. As long as I know you're happy about this.

-Happy? I'm thrilled! It's always a shock at first when something like this happens, but of course I'm happy.

Baby Ping Pong

So, irreverently, and for a lack of something to call her, folk in my family call our baby-on-the-way "Ping Pong".

As in, "Oh my gosh, baby Ping Pong would look so cute in that dress!".

At my cousin-in-law's baby shower last weekend, my aunt Mimi gave me a wonderful present. Apparently my mom had told her about "Ping Pong" so she, being an artist, made a little doll head with a lace bonnet for us.

It's hand-painted with a beautiful rosy complexion and sleeping eyes. She's got little baby black hair and her adorably round head is made from what? A ping pong ball!

She's so cute! I'll have to take a picture and post it!

Our baby, by the way, might be born already! Sine it takes about a year to get them, and they're about a year old when you do, our Ping Pong might be born already! How exciting!