No more Intrepid!
Friday, April 29, 2005
Change is Good!
Well, it's been quite the week for adjusting. New job, new car, new schedule - WOW! A little weird and overwhelming, but it went well and it seems to be working fine for all. I'm also posting a picture of the new car. I can't post a picture of my new job but their site is www.eqt.com if you're interested in more information about their business. I'm learning more and more about it each day now too.
The folks I'm working with only moved into this new building just four weeks ago so it's quite "new" to us all. It's beautiful with lots of windows around to see downtown just across the river. When you walk in or out of the building you are right next to PNC Park (new baseball stadium) so it definitely has the city flavor of Pittsburgh. I haven't had any problems with traffic, parking or navigating my way around either. It's only five miles away from home too and the first day I was already parked in only seven minutes. I feel quite appreciated and there seems like a lot of potential within the organization so I remain optimistic about my decision and new road being traveled so far.
My youngest son wants to "Find Elmo" in a book now (although we both know he already knows all of his hiding spots) as it is his desire to "read a book." Although I am still quite tired in the evenings after work, I am finally sleeping better and surely glad it's FRIDAY!!! Happy Weekend to you!
The folks I'm working with only moved into this new building just four weeks ago so it's quite "new" to us all. It's beautiful with lots of windows around to see downtown just across the river. When you walk in or out of the building you are right next to PNC Park (new baseball stadium) so it definitely has the city flavor of Pittsburgh. I haven't had any problems with traffic, parking or navigating my way around either. It's only five miles away from home too and the first day I was already parked in only seven minutes. I feel quite appreciated and there seems like a lot of potential within the organization so I remain optimistic about my decision and new road being traveled so far.
My youngest son wants to "Find Elmo" in a book now (although we both know he already knows all of his hiding spots) as it is his desire to "read a book." Although I am still quite tired in the evenings after work, I am finally sleeping better and surely glad it's FRIDAY!!! Happy Weekend to you!
Saturday, April 23, 2005
Change is in the Wind
WOW! A possibility of snow (up to an inch) for tomorrow! Cold, wind & rain has moved in now with a bleak weather forecast. This is going to have to be a QUICK update as it is a very busy time of transition at present. Eric's performance on Thursday went GREAT! He did an absolutely wonderful job and was very excited about it as well. I posted a picture but we videotaped his act as well and if you get the chance to see it, that will surely provide you with the proof (and quite a few chuckles probably too!).
I MADE IT! My last day at SAE was Friday. It was bittersweet but mostly enjoyable saying goodbye to the old and looking forward to the new. My supervisor greeted me with a dozen longstem yellow roses which looked and smelled wonderful. They also bought bagels as morning treat and took me out to lunch so it was a nice farewell. It hasn't completely sunk in yet but surely will soon. I also received "confessions" from co-workers having intentions of moving on soon so surely SAE is in for some more significant changes in the near future. Not all of this news was new to me but surely will be for others.
Anyway, we're hoping to tie up some loose ends this weekend with deck work (even in bad weather) and possibly a car purchase thrown in there too (!?!) so we'll keep you posted as to our other updates as they happen time and time again it seems.
I MADE IT! My last day at SAE was Friday. It was bittersweet but mostly enjoyable saying goodbye to the old and looking forward to the new. My supervisor greeted me with a dozen longstem yellow roses which looked and smelled wonderful. They also bought bagels as morning treat and took me out to lunch so it was a nice farewell. It hasn't completely sunk in yet but surely will soon. I also received "confessions" from co-workers having intentions of moving on soon so surely SAE is in for some more significant changes in the near future. Not all of this news was new to me but surely will be for others.
Anyway, we're hoping to tie up some loose ends this weekend with deck work (even in bad weather) and possibly a car purchase thrown in there too (!?!) so we'll keep you posted as to our other updates as they happen time and time again it seems.
Thursday, April 14, 2005
Progress
Below are some pictures of the progress made on my spring projects. I successfully extended the life of our picnic table for another season or two after removing some rotting wood. Eric picked the new color of blue. What made it that much nicer is that it was completed with resources already at hand, costing us $0.00!
The next project is removal of the small deck behind our house and reuse of the wood to extend the even smaller deck on the front of the house. While I don’t yet have a picture, I actually completed removal of the rear deck already. It should be nice to have a slightly larger yard in the back and enough room to sit and enjoy the view in the front. I thought that grandpa would be interested in the picture of how I fastened Tuckers pole to the house. He had previously helped me attach it to the deck for stability (that dog is just too strong!). The plank is bolted to the wall and the pole fastened to the plank.
Stay tuned for more pictures.
The next project is removal of the small deck behind our house and reuse of the wood to extend the even smaller deck on the front of the house. While I don’t yet have a picture, I actually completed removal of the rear deck already. It should be nice to have a slightly larger yard in the back and enough room to sit and enjoy the view in the front. I thought that grandpa would be interested in the picture of how I fastened Tuckers pole to the house. He had previously helped me attach it to the deck for stability (that dog is just too strong!). The plank is bolted to the wall and the pole fastened to the plank.
Stay tuned for more pictures.
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
NEWS!
Well, I got an offer I just couldn't refuse. Believe me, I really even tried once (to refuse it) too. I took a position where I will be working in a brand new building right next to our baseball stadium. It is a career move to apply what I already know and expand this further with new backend systems and a wider ranged toolset and user base at a very stable utility company. That's as technical as I'll get on it for now. I'll have a colleague that knows the same kind of stuff as me as a point of reference - we engaged in techie talk for about 2 & 1/2 hrs straight when we first met. This should buy me ramp up time alot quicker than I ever had where I was for the last five years. It's a bittersweet move as in the ups and downs of my five years at my current workplace, there was comfort in both the job and the staff. There is alot I took for granted and much that I'll miss, but probably just as much benefit in making this move. The opportunity presented itself more than one time to me and my perspective had changed a great deal over this time too. Whether it amounts to a short term or long term endeavor (I will be a consultant at least through the end of this year), I believe that I will gain valuable knowledge and experience in the next few months to carry me through whatever comes next. Anyway, that's basically the scoop. I'll be starting there in less than two weeks! I hope to be able to stop my mind from swirling and get some sleep sometime between now and then but to date have not been too successful with this. I had expressed many times now that I had no intention or reason to burn any bridges with my departure. As my boss phrased "oh no, remember where you live now, we NEED bridges" - HOW TRUE!!!
Monday, April 04, 2005
Spring-ing WHAT On Us?
Apparently SNOW! It’s been a long time since we’ve seen snow in April. Eric claims someone is playing tricks on us as we are not supposed to have snow in spring. In hearing from those north of us though, we are thankful we did not get pounded with the lake effect snow as they got quite a load -much more than us. Although we got more than three inches, most of it was gone within just one day with the temperatures staying above freezing and going up (hopefully a firm trend now).
In other news, we got a piano! Free….well, we rented a $17 piano dolly and bought supper for our delivery team, but that’s just about the best price you could get for such a gift. Someone that a family member knew didn’t want it anymore and knowing that I’ve ALWAYS wanted one, my mother went and looked at it and then went back to haul it from there to our place. It’s about 80 yrs old – considered an upright grand piano (as Jon did some research on it). Ironically and I’ve (sort of) been teasing in saying that I can play almost as well as I did in 6th grade. Some of the songs in the books have stamped “approval” from my past lessons - one of those being a past-time favorite of mine - a smurf. It’s funny – because those that knew me back then remembered that I could actually play fairly decent (and frequently performed) at that young age so they thought that was a good report. We teased about the “old dog, new tricks” theory. However, this is just an old dog relearning old tricks. Relatively speaking, I know I’m not THAT OLD – just feel it trying to recall the ability I had nearly abandoned about fifteen years ago. Now with Jon and Eric’s guitars, Jesse with some maracas and the piano, we might eventually have quite the band one day! I’ll probably drive the rest of my family members nuts with the refinement process, but it’s quite nice to welcome that aspect of music back into my life.
In other news, both boys have had recent success too – Jesse with an entire “dry day” and Eric with a “dry night.” Let’s hope the success continues! On the other end of the spectrum, two more friends of ours had babies just this past week – a girl early on Wed, boy earlier on Fri! That’s A DOZEN new babies that we know of just in this new year – WOW! Tending to be a ‘girl’ year, they’re “ahead” so far, 10 – 2, including three sets of girl twins! Amazing, eh? No – none for us though, the male imbalance in our household is permanent and we’re quite fine with that!
In other news, we got a piano! Free….well, we rented a $17 piano dolly and bought supper for our delivery team, but that’s just about the best price you could get for such a gift. Someone that a family member knew didn’t want it anymore and knowing that I’ve ALWAYS wanted one, my mother went and looked at it and then went back to haul it from there to our place. It’s about 80 yrs old – considered an upright grand piano (as Jon did some research on it). Ironically and I’ve (sort of) been teasing in saying that I can play almost as well as I did in 6th grade. Some of the songs in the books have stamped “approval” from my past lessons - one of those being a past-time favorite of mine - a smurf. It’s funny – because those that knew me back then remembered that I could actually play fairly decent (and frequently performed) at that young age so they thought that was a good report. We teased about the “old dog, new tricks” theory. However, this is just an old dog relearning old tricks. Relatively speaking, I know I’m not THAT OLD – just feel it trying to recall the ability I had nearly abandoned about fifteen years ago. Now with Jon and Eric’s guitars, Jesse with some maracas and the piano, we might eventually have quite the band one day! I’ll probably drive the rest of my family members nuts with the refinement process, but it’s quite nice to welcome that aspect of music back into my life.
In other news, both boys have had recent success too – Jesse with an entire “dry day” and Eric with a “dry night.” Let’s hope the success continues! On the other end of the spectrum, two more friends of ours had babies just this past week – a girl early on Wed, boy earlier on Fri! That’s A DOZEN new babies that we know of just in this new year – WOW! Tending to be a ‘girl’ year, they’re “ahead” so far, 10 – 2, including three sets of girl twins! Amazing, eh? No – none for us though, the male imbalance in our household is permanent and we’re quite fine with that!
Sunday, April 03, 2005
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