Another chapter closed

Friday was my last official day with MoDOT. I don't say goodbye well but luckily it was also Bev's last day. She was retiring and having a party and a dinner so most of the attention was on her. It made it a lot easier to slip out under the radar. On the 26th I've got my medical physical and my work steps evaluation for the new job. I also have a lot of "homework" to do between now and then. I've got a stack of papers one inch thick to read through and initialize. They'd like them back by the 26th as well since the HR lady is going on vacation after that.

We had a meeting with them Wednesday night to go over benefits and such. Then, we got a tour of the facilities and I got to see where I was going to be sitting. She opened the door to an office and said, "This is where you'll be sitting." I then asked her how many of us sat in that office. She looked kind of puzzled as she said "Just you." I then explained that I had never been in an office of that size by myself. At most tech places I worked, numerous techs shared one room and a few tech benches. At MoDOT, when I first started all four of us were in one room. Later, we split 2 and 2 with the room next door. But even then, our room was the server room and had two tech benches, storage shelves and the servers. This will be my first real office all to myself. It's kind of scary in a way. I was worried about having enough room to set my picture of the girls. Now I'm worried that my office will look bare for the first few months as I try to find pictures worthy of my new office.

95% moved...

Like the title suggests, we're almost moved. All we've got left is the misc "stuff" left in the corners of the rooms. Then a good cleaning and we'll be completely done. We're hoping to get over there on the 27th to do this if we can find someone to watch the girls so we don't have to take them with us. I'm sure they wouldn't sit still and would just be in the way.

The worst part so far about the new house is the lack of Internet. When they came out to re-establish our service they couldn't get a signal from the Palmyra tower. They're coming back on the 26th after the snow has melted from the roof so they can climb up there and try again. If they still can't get a signal I've got one other vendor I can call. If they can't get it, I have no idea what we'll do. Pray that the signal is strong from the roof. Yea, I know, I'm asking you to pray for Internet access.

We're almost moved

We moved most of the heavy stuff yesterday thanks to the large group of friends we have. Today, we're eating lunch and then running over to the new house to vacuum and move in what we can. As soon as I hit "Publish Post" I'm going out to cut our life line (I mean Internet connection) so I can move it over to the new house. The technicians should be on site tomorrow at 9:00 to hook us back up. Of course our first night in the house won't be until Tuesday. I'm hoping I can go two days with out Internet access. I guess I'll get more work done this way. We've got most everything at the old house moved downstairs into what used to be the living room and dining room. We're hoping to get the mattresses and tv / dvd moved over Tuesday night and be officially in the new house as of then. Keep your fingers crossed.

Signs from the road...

I stopped in a gas station to get a cup of coffee while I was on the road today. While I was paying for my coffee I noticed a small scrap of paper taped to the counter. It read:

98% of drivers say "Oh Sh*t" when they hit an icy patch. The other 2% are from Missouri and say "Hold my beer and watch this."

I think I went to high school with those 2%.

The dreaded sock basket....

Since we're moving we decided to put an end to the sock basket once and for all. We're finally caught up on our laundry, which means every sock should be clean and in the basket. We ended up with an entire basket of socks for me, Melissa, and the kids. That's right, we had enough mated socks to fill an entire laundry basket for each of us (well the kids split a basket). I went through my entire basket and picked out probably 1/4 - 1/3 of the socks and pitched the rest. Melissa did the same. Then we let the girls pick 21 pairs a piece. We ended up filling at least one trash bag if not two with just socks. This move is definitely going to help us with our purging. It's almost embarrassing how much stuff we have laying around that we don't need / use. Hopefully with all the changes in 2007 we can use this move to re-evaluate or lives and get ourselves back on track.

What are we teaching our kids these days?

While we were shopping for a friend's birthday party we came across these:




All I can say is that farmer better have a strong fence. That's the biggest dang cow I ever seen!!

Job update III

Well, yesterday was my second interview with North East Power. My interview was at 8:00am and they called me at 4:00pm and offered me the job. They gave me until this morning to talk it over with my spouse. I called them back this morning and told them I'd accept their offer. Now the fun part begins. I hung up with North East Power and then went into my supervisor's office to give him the good news. He kind of knew it might be coming but it didn't make it any easier. I've never done this before so I was looking for some guidance on what the appropriate way was to give a letter of resignation. I assumed MoDOT had a form somewhere I could fill out. We've got a form for everything else. After he talked to HR he was told that just a simple email was all I needed to do. Just something showing that I was leaving of my own free will and what my last day would be. As of December 21st I am no longer a government employee.

This has been a big decision for us as a family. It's closer to home, so there'll be less fuel costs. It has me on the same hours as the rest of the family, so we can take one car to town instead of two. It'll be more desk work and less "grunt" work. Oh yea, and it's more money. Those are some of the positives. Of course with every change they'll be some negatives. I'm leaving some really great friends behind. I'm sure I"ll still see them but it won't be on a daily basis like it is now. I guess the other big positive is that since my last day at MoDOT is the 21st and I don't start at NE Power until the 2nd I've got a little mini vacation between jobs. Of course I'll probably just spend it unpacking boxes, but I'll dream of spending it on the couch in a semi-conscious state.

December's already been a big month...

Let's start with Renae. She's started to walk and she's finally to the point she prefers upright to all fours. Tomorrow marks birthday #1. Tonight, as we were fighting to get her into her car seat we realized she really needed a new one. So, in 30 degree weather, in the K-Mart parking lot, we upgraded our car seat. She's officially "forward facing" and has her own cup holder. Before long she'll be driving me around.

All of our girls when they hit the age of four could discuss getting their ear's pierced. With Maryn it was almost the exact day she turned four. Paige showed no interest what so ever, until tonight. As we were walking through the mall she decided tonight was the night. She practically dragged us to Claire's and once in the door broke down and cried. We asked if she was alright. She assured us she was. She just really wanted to get them pierced but was afraid it would hurt. She calmed down and got a couple of holes poked in her head. As she was looking at ear rings, Drew decided that she should also get her ears pierced. I think it had a lot to do with every one else getting to buy new earrings and she wasn't going to get anything. But, since she's technically four we couldn't really argue with her. She took the seat, squeezed the Claire bear and in a matter of seconds she had crossed over into ear ring land.

Needless to say it was an eventful evening. And I'm not just talking about the "car payment" that I wrote Claire's for ear piercing. My babies are growing up and there's nothing I can do to stop it. How depressing is that. I can hardly type just thinking about it. Nothing left to do but start eating dinner at 4:30 watching the 6:00 news and going to bed. Before long I'll be eating milk toast and listening to Lawrence Welk.

Another Flight of the Conchords

I've seen it called Jenny or Hilarious Misunderstanding. Either way it's funny.

Remember when your day planner

was the Farmer's Almanac? I can remember my grandparents referring to it on all sorts of occasions. They'd plan when to cut their hair, when to plant their crops, even when to wean their cattle.

This thought kicked it's way to the front of my head this past Wednesday night as my wife and I hid in the church office so we could synchronize our calendars. We've got one kid in Jr. Singers at Palmyra and another in the Middle School play. Plus Melissa is a cheerleading coach and there's two tournaments and numerous practices coming up. Fifteen to twenty minutes later we had December caught up. We figure if we make it through the holidays, we'll worry about getting January to match up. And this is with only two "active" children. I can't wait until the other two get older.

Job update Part Deux...

I had a second interview scheduled and then they called and had to move it. My new second interview time is December 4th at 8:00 am.

Which word would you take offense to?

I had the pleasure of overhearing a conversation of High School girls here lately. I'll run it down for you and you see where you'd take offense.

They were getting ready for a ball game and some of these girls had changed into their cheerleading uniforms. I refuse to call them skirts because really, they're a wide belt. Anyways, a particular cheerleader had on leg warmers that ran from her heels up to about 3 inches below her uniform. One of the other girls looks at her and says "You look like a slutty Catholic school girl." My wife over hears the comment and says "Ladies, we don't need to use that word." There's a bit of silence and one of the other girls goes "Yea, why'd you have to say she was Catholic school girl?"

I only know of a few types of schools that wear uniforms and honestly the first one that came to mind was the Catholic school. I'm sure there are others but none as prominent. So I guess, if you want to compliment a high school girl, call her a slut. If you really want to tick her off, call her a Catholic.