What a First Week!

So last week was my first week at my new job! Monday was crazy busy. Within an hour of my being there, I had to attend my first Administrative Council meeting (1 1/2 hours long), then I had to meet with my supervisor, set up my desk, etc. By the end of the day, my mind was exhausted. As my sister said, "You go from knowing everything to knowing nothing." And, boy, do I agree.

Then came the ice storm. I missed work both Tuesday and Wednesday, and IU actually closed the campus for half of Wednesday. As you can see from my picture, our poor pine tree suffered quite a bit of damage. Many of its front limbs fell off Tuesday due to the ice. We lost power for about 1 hour Tuesday morning and then we lost cable for another hour Tuesday afternoon. We were lucky! Our neighbors, who are on a different electric company than us, were without power all day Tuesday. It took Lee 1/2 hour to get into his truck to go to work Tuesday night. By Wednesday, the roads were really bad, but the sun cleared many of them by afternoon.

So, for Valentine's Day, we went to Olive Garden for dinner. It was very nice and wonderful. We decided to rent a movie and just stay in the rest of the night. Little did we know our power was going to go off for another 2 1/2 hours due to a tree on the power line. So, there we are sitting by candlelight on Valentine's Day. Not a bad prospect, except that we had no heat either. My husband used his noggin and set up our portable DVD player with our battery charger kit, and we got to watch a movie anyway. It was an interesting but wonderful Valentine's Day!

I went back to work on Thursday and Friday and kept busy as well. I went to an IT Career Fair and got my first taste of recruiting. I think this job is going to be challenging, interesting, and a great opportunity for me. I can't wait to experience more.

Then Saturday came more snow. It wasn't that big of a deal except that when I pulled into our driveway, I kind of missed it. I got hung up in our ditch. I went inside to get Lee to help and before we got back outside, a slew of neighbors came out to help. They got me out - I love having neighbors!!

Well, down with one week and many more to go!!

Reflection

Okay, so I hardly ever post this close together, but I have a lot of things on my mind.

Yesterday was my goodbye party at my current job, and it was a lot harder than I thought it would be. My office took me out to Irish Lion, and we had a great time...until Jim stood up to say a few words. Jim has always been a big supporter of mine. He wrote one of my recommendations to get into grad school; he was at my wedding; and he is just an all-around great guy. He said some great things. Then I had to say a few words, which I didn't get through without crying (and if you know me - I never cry). Whew! Now, I just have to make it through Friday!! Tonight my grad assistants are planning on taking me out for food and drinks at Cheeseburger in Paradise. That should be a good time.

This weekend I went to visit my parents on Saturday to go through some items I still have at their house. To my suprise, I got a little treat. My great-uncle passed away last month, and my father had received some old family pictures on Saturday. It was amazing to look at some of them. I had never seen a family picture of my father's family. Wow!

You see, I never knew my grandparents on my dad's side of the family. My grandmother died from ovarian cancer just weeks after my dad graduated high school. My grandfather died six years later in 1966. My parents didn't even start dating until 1967, so we never had a chance to meet them. So, these pictures were wonderful.

In addition, for those of you who know me and my family, you know my father has a prosthetic leg. It was amputated in 1950 when he was 7 years old due to cancer. Well, some of these pictures were taken before that time when he still had his leg. To see my dad as a little boy was just wonderful! I love that stuff.

Anyway, enough for my sappiness. It has been a rough emotional week already, and it is just starting. What a good time for reflection!