Sunny Days (Quantity 2)

It's been a while, and we've been busy. This is what happens when Karen doesn't post.

This past weekend was really nice. Yesterday was 75 degrees and today hit 81. Quite a far cry from the 40 degree weather we are used to having. Karen and I played tennis with some friends. We didn't have tennis racquets so we bought a 2 from Costco and returned them for a full refund when we were done. Keep your receipts always people.
The picture is from our window and it was taken at 7pm.

Late last night, our kitty managed to tip over one of our IKEA lamps. The damage was $3. We will pass out a collection plate later to help us deal with the trauma. The chinese part of me couldn't throw away the whole lamp, so I put it to use. That's an empty kleenex box with a clear plastic lampshade from discarded trash. I call it Derelique!


Saving the best for last, I was recently hired at a communuity college as an academic advisor. Now this just rocks for a few reasons:
1) It's a state job: state benefits, state holidays, state mentality, state dress code. My trainer wears crocs to work.
2) It's not the previous for-profit institution I was at: I'm not stressed at all, departments don't hate each other, and I have to remind myself to work slower.
3) My focus population is the categorically at-risk students; develeopmental education, non-native english speakers, GEd people, etc. It's definitely foreseeable that I will feel okay about this job versus the for-profit industry.

I'm just really lucky/blessed (choose your word depending on where you sit on Sunday) that I'm in a profession that isn't destoryed by bad economies (enrollment is up 20%, should be 14,000 by next Fall). It's the job I wanted and it's the environment I hoped for. That's not to say that I applied for almost anything and almost took the job as the hotline operator (how you doin?), yeah, it was quite a day when I got the call:

10am: spent morning rationalizing my lukewarm interview for the advisor job.
12pm: still felt bummed, looked for more jobs to apply for.
2pm: got call from community college, asking for my references contacts
4pm: was offered position, was asked to start the following Monday (it was Thursday that day)
6pm: ate celebratory dinner with the Changs at Thai Ginger. Cheap food, good company, and a relieved soul.

Interestingly, happiness was not my primary emotion... it was relief. Phewwww... "we're going to make it after alllllllll..." (Mary Tyler Moore)