Archive for February, 2007

So, you’d think what with being unemployed, that I would be able to write a post every single day this week! Alas, I’ve actually had a lot to accomplish. I have a lot of photos to post as well, but I seem to have lost my camera cord. As soon as I dig it out of the remaining pile of mess in our office, you’ll have all the promised pictures. Andy is also using this convenient reason as an excuse to not update his website. Sorry people! I know how rare an Andy post is, and I’m diligently trying to find the lost camera cord. I, however, did manage to find all the missing manuals on all our fancy appliances. Now maybe I can figure out our very complicated microwave oven!

Let’s start with Valentine’s Day last week. I felt bad that Mr. Andy had to spend the holiday by himself. So, I sent a very nice Valentine’s Day fruit package to his work. We received an enormous chocolate covered fortune cookie from our very dear friends Kat and Josh. I had some trouble trying to figure out what to do with it! It’s so pretty, but in the end it was smashed and enjoyed by all. My very beautiful and charismatic date, Ashley, and I had a full blown girl’s night. We went and got make overs at the Clinique counter at Nordstroms. Seriously, it’s a great idea. You get the advice and help of a real trained makeup artist, and you don’t have to buy anything if you don’t want to. Of course, to be polite, I did purchase this. It’s a concealer AND a zit reducer, what a terrific idea!! Why didn’t anyone come up with this fabulous idea sooner? We had a wonderful time making fun of all the poor forgetful husbands/boyfriends that ran up to the counter in a panic trying to find a Valentine’s gift for their significant others. The Clinique lady told us she loves working holidays like V-Day. She can package almost anything up for sale, and desperate guys will pay any price to avoid getting in trouble. We then had fantastic dinner at Korma Sutra, a local Indian restaurant. As of late, I’ve discovered a great love of Indian food. Ashley and I had a terrific time, and a girl couldn’t ask for a better Valentine’s date.

On Friday, we celebrated Cathy’s birthday (21 on Saturday) by going to the Peppercorn Duck Club.  Which for years, I have been calling the Pepperidge Duck Farm. So, when I went online to find a phone number to make reservations, I came up with nothing! Very confused, I started looking around for fancy restaurants in Crown Center that had the word “duck” in them. No wonder I kept getting strange and confused looks everytime I mentioned it! Anyhow, lunch was really excellent and very special. The food was terrific, the variety was endless, and the dessert bar (the whole point of going) was heavenly. Three kinds of chocolate cake, cheesecake, tiny fruit tarts of every kind, and truffles everywhere! All of this was paired with a very strong cup of coffee. Ahh…folks, it just doesn’t get better than that!
After spending a week in snowy, freezing cold Kansas, I have to admit it was very very nice to get back home. I missed Andy, Schnitzel, and of course our adorable puppy girl (who is at the moment staring out the front window at all the passers by with her toy in her mouth). Andy’s parents drove up from Austin to visit last weekend. Andy’s dad was helping him build a workbench for the garage. (He took all the photos with my camera, hence him not being able to post anything until I find my camera cord) It’s a very nice workbench, and Andy’s very proud of it. We had a wonderful time chatting and reminiscing. I’ve been trying to take this week easy, relax, enjoy my time. However, things and errands keep popping up randomly. I don’t think I’m very good at relaxing, I’d much rather feel productive. With that said, I’m going to go and try to relax, but I’ll probably end up finish cleaning up the office. I do hate clutter.

Okay folks, I am officially unemployed and I really couldn’t be happier. I am taking a week long vacation in snowy Kansas. I’m really just here to hang out with my parents and be here for Cathy’s big (21st) birthday! The last week at my job was really quite horrendous. I had too much to finish and stayed WAY too late on WAY too many days (till 11 on Thursday and 9 on Friday). I know people don’t quite understand my previous job or my previous boss. Why stay late? Why not just leave on Friday and have that be the end of it? After all I did resign and worked my two weeks.

If you have met the professor, you would understand so much better, but there is no end. If I didn’t finish my work, he had already suggested that I sneak (meaning without pay) in the following Monday to complete everything. I certainly can’t leave without handing in my notes, files, and experiment conclusions. Being a decent laboratory technician, I knew that there were certain things that I did during my time that if I didn’t hand in documentation, it would set the lab back. Yes, I’ve been told I don’t owe the lab anything. But many of these people are my friends, and I can’t bear to get them in trouble, make them squirm, and make them do more work on top of their massive loads of projects if I can help it. So, in addition to finishing out my experiments, I began organizing my huge amount of files. I go to turn in my files, and I find out I have to redo them because I didn’t put the file names at the top of each document. We’re talking 1 year and 8 1/2 months worth of data, notes, protocols, orders, and databases I have generated that need to be changed, reprinted, and refiled with the file name at the top. Fun!

Then I find out that in addition to the paper copies of everything I own, I have to organize my computer files and burn them on to two separate cd’s. Why two cd’s? The professor says that cd’s are an unreliable source of data storage. Forget the fact that our lab still uses ZIP DISKS!!! Talk about an unreliable and stupid form of data storage. On top of all that nonsense, being a somewhat organized person by nature, I already have all my files in order by date. Of course, my order differs from the professor’s order. He won’t accept my data in any other format but his. So, there I sat for 3 hours on Friday night clicking and dragging files into different places. Just thinking about last week really does make my blood pressure rise a few points. But you know what? I’m done and I’m never looking back. At the very least, I did learn some interesting scientific techniques, I met some awesome people, and I have good “bad boss” stories out the wazoo!

In much happier news, Mary and Dave came to visit us last weekend. We had a marvelous time, they are both a lot of fun and they make me laugh. It’s been too long since I’ve laughed so hard. On Saturday,  there was a huge barbeque party (put on by me) for my goodbye party/Ethan’s birthday party. We had burgers (made and masterfully executed by Andy), canoodle (provided by Angela G.), chips and queso (thanks to Ethan), potstickers, and a ton of dessert (thanks to the Paynes). We had a lot of fun playing Cranium Turbo, chatting, and swapping horrible-est lab stories. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that our paths will continue to cross. I’ve come to really enjoy my time with the lab folk. I suppose we’ve bonded due to all our bad experiences with the professor. It really is quite a unifying experience.

For now, mom and I are just hanging around Overland Park, running errands, and going for marathon sessions at the gym. There is a lot of snow on the ground. It snowed 5 inches last night! I’ve managed to be very careful and have yet to slip once. Of course, pride goes before a fall. I was fine walking around on all the ice and snow. But I go over to Ashley’s house to watch a movie, and I manage to fall down a full flight of stairs. My bum is quite sore from that death defying experience. Ah…I am always so full of grace. (sarcasm intended) I am wishing all you loyal readers out there a fabulous Valentine’s Day! May there be lots of romance, sweets, and snogging!

Okay, I know that I promised to post big news last week. Alas, everything was so busy that I completely forgot. Sorry for the delay, but here is the much anticipated news! Last Monday, I officially put in my resignation and two week’s notice to the University of North Texas Health Science Center. It is simply time to move on and try something new. (plus if you’ve heard my stories, then you completely understand my need to get away) From my experience in the lab, I can conclude that it’s not really something I enjoy doing. Everyone’s next immediate question is…what are you going to do now? Truthfully, I’m not entirely sure. Andy and I have examined our finances, we’ve got plenty saved up for me to sit down and really decide what I want to do. With that said, anybody have any ideas on what I want to do? ^-^

On the lighter side, Andy and I discovered that our cell phone contract was up and we wanted to upgrade to a plan with more minutes. Verizon also does this thing where every two years you get a new cell phone. Turns out I was eligible for a new phone back in July! So, Andy and I both got free Razr phones (mine is in pink, of course). AND since we were already there, we decided to finally get Texas area code phone numbers. If you haven’t received an e-mail from either of us (probably because we don’t have your correct e-mail address) and want our new number, just leave a message here! (or at Andy’s website, though I’m slightly more responsive) Andy and I are currently in the process of trying to clean the house. We vacuum almost every other day, since Jabber has decided to start shedding for the season. Yet, the house is completely covered in carpet fuzz, Jabber fur, and dust. Here’s the question of the week, where the heck does all that dust come from??