Baby It's Cold Outside!

Holy monkeys, is it cold out today! It is currently 19 with a windchill factor of 4. When I left this morning to go to work, it was 1. I was all bundled up with my wool coat and fleece accessories, which I am again thankful for. Even so, my earlobes were peaking out from the edge of my cap, and by the time I got to the T they were so cold I thought they might fall off! Obviously they didn't, but still, they were extremely cold. Poor little earlobes. Thus began my last day of work. It was mostly uneventful. I went through my drawers and threw away all the random stuff that needed to be tossed and organized the rest for the next person, whoever that may be. They still haven't found a replacement for me. One of my (now former) co-workers has his birthday today, so the boss-lady took him and me out for lunch. We went to the steakhouse around the corner from the office. It was nice and I got to have prime rib. Mmmm. An hour or so later we had cake for the guy's birthday, and it was really good. There's a little bakery across the street, and that's where they got the cake. After that, I just finished cleaning up and organizing a bit, played sudoku a couple times, and got ready to go. My boss assured me a couple of times that she'd give me a good reference for my next job if I need it. That's nice, at least. I was a bit hesitant to use her, for fear of what she would say. There's no telling with her, sometimes. But she said three or four times to definitely use her as a reference and gave me her business card, just to make sure I don't forget her contact information (as if I would. I had to say the phone number a million times over the last four months). One of the guys told me that I had to email him updates. So, I guess I'll be missed, at least by a few people. I'll definitely be missed on Monday when there's no one to answer the phones! (Perhaps I shouldn't be so gleeful about that. I can't help it, though. It cracks me up.) The boss isn't too concerned. "They'll just have to answer the phones for the month of December until I can find someone else," she said. "It's just a few weeks, and I want to find the right person. I don't want to rush into anything." Ha ha...good luck to them. Anyway, it's back to the lovely warmth of blankets and my book. One week from today and I'll be home!

Penguins!

As promised you can all see the photos I took of penguins and other aquatic animals at the New England Aquarium on Sunday. Above is a picture of some Rockhopper penguins enjoying the sprinklers on their rocks.



This is one penguin enjoying the sprinkler. They use the sprinklers to clean off the "rocks" (they're fiberglass) periodically. Apparently the penguins enjoy standing in the spray. I can relate...I enjoy taking showers as well.



These are African penguins. Aren't they cute!



This is a Little Blue penguin swimming around. They apparently only go up on their rocks early in the mornings and at dusk. During the day they spend all their time in the water. This prevented me from getting as good of a picture of a Little Blue as the others because we were there in the middle of the day.



This is Myrtle. She is a Giant Green Sea Turtle, is about 70 years old, and weighs around 600 lbs. There are a few other turtles in the Giant Ocean Tank (as well as about 600 fish and four or five sharks), but they're a different variety and nowhere near as big.

Here are some more interesting creatures of the deep.

Tropical fish tank.


Mandarin Fish


Scuttlefish


Starfish and Sea Anemone


Lion Fish


Sea Dragon (from the back)

Well, I hope you all enjoy the photos! I have some more, but these are by far the best. Only 1 more day left at work and 8 days until I leave!

Thoughts On Moving

Well, I'm sitting in my living room and it sounds like there is a washing machine strapped to the ceiling of the apartment below mine. A washing machine with an unbalanced load. I think it might actually be the ceiling fan, because when I was going up the stairs the door to the apartment below had a wet paint sign on it. The ceiling fan might help speed the drying process. Nevertheless, it's a bit annoying and the TV doesn't really drown it out. I'm comforted by two things: a) I can't hear it in the bedroom, therefore it won't prevent me from going to sleep, and b) I'm leaving in 9 days and won't have to deal with any emanations from dwellings below mine, as none shall exist. Since we are rapidly approaching the big Day, I've been thinking more about moving, and comparing this move with the last one. For one thing, I'm way more excited about moving back to Coeur d'Alene than I was about moving here. It seems kind of strange to me for this to be the case. When I wasn't accepted into graduate school for this fall we considered moving back there, but I didn't really want to because I was afraid I'd feel like a failure. I already felt like a failure and that seemed like it would just be admitting defeat and taking two giant steps backwards. It no longer feels like that. Also, when I left Abilene I was sad. I had friends in Abilene. Granted, most of them had moved away already because they had graduated, but I still had a few people that I did stuff with. Also, I enjoyed what I was doing for that semester that I wasn't in school. I got to teach private lessons and I helped out at two school orchestra programs. I was actually doing something I had studied to do. Now? Not so much. Leaving here isn't very sad. I know two other people in the entire city that I might actually ever do anything with, but we don't see each other ever, and, though we've known each other forever, it's always been an effortless friendship. We didn't have to try to see each other, we just did in the course of our normal lives. Now, here, we have to try and neither of us do so. That's kind of sad, I guess, but it happens. Other than that, I'm not leaving anyone behind here that I might actually miss. I don't like my job, and haven't for a while. Instead, I'm going back to where I have friends. I have family. I have people that currently miss me, and whom I also miss, and I am incredibly excited to be able to see them again. I will get to see my dad on his birthday. That hasn't happened since 2001. I will get to see my mother-in-law on her birthday, which has never happened. We can throw Michael a birthday party this year, and actually invite friends. It'll be so nice.

D - 10 days and Counting

We're now in the official countdown mode. Only 10 days left until we leave. And only three days left of work. I could stand it if it were Friday already, though. Today has been slightly less boring than usual...I actually had a few things to do today. (But, Jessica, I hear you say, if you have things to do, then why are you blogging at work? The answer, dear friend, is that I had stuff to do, and it is done.) My boss yesterday was acting all sad that this is my last week. Oh, puh-lease. Just a few weeks ago she was all ready to fire me, and now she's sad I'm leaving? Give me a break. It just confirms my earlier diagnosis that she is chemically imbalanced. Also, she's a racist. A girl came in last week and interviewed with a recruiter who thought she'd be a great candidate for my position. So, she had her take some computer skills tests while we waited for the boss-lady to arrive. When she got here, she took one look at the girl, didn't even look at her resume, then went up to her office. She called down to me a minute or so later to tell me she wasn't going to meet with this person. She didn't "have the right image." What, you ask, was wrong with her image? Nothing as far as I could tell. If anything, she looked more polished than I did that day. She was wearing a suit, a nice top, her hair was pulled back - I've never worn a suit to work. Occasionally a blazer, but not a suit. I don't even have one. The difference? She was black. You do the math. This makes me yet more glad that I am leaving.

On a happier note, Michael heard from the Post Falls PD today about the dispatch job. It looks like he has a very good chance of that working out. The person in charge just got his application yesterday and called him today, and he is supposed to call as soon as he gets into town to set up an interview. I can only hope that I get something good quickly. (The key word is "good." I don't want a crappy job like the one I currently have. I would actually like to do something where I might be able to use the skills that I've spent so much time and money developing. Wouldn't that be nice?) Anyway, only about an hour left of work today, so I will update everyone later on the things that require updates.

Birthday

Today was my birthday. I am now 24 years old. Today Michael and I went to the New England Aquarium. They have a penguin exhibit there, which is currently their main attraction. In it they have three species of penguins, the African penguin, the Rockhopper penguin, and the Little Blue penguin. I took quite a few pictures, which I will post at a later date. Let me just say, for now, that I have a wonderful husband who buys me fun stuff on my birthday. I like gift shops way too much for my own good, and, today, my desires were lovingly indulged. After the aquarium we headed to the Cheesecake Factory, where we stuffed ourselves with Hungarian Goulash, then ordered cheesecake to go. I got the Godiva chocolate kind, which is extremely rich. I only ate about half of it, but that leaves half of my birthday cheesecake for tomorrow! We ate at about 4:00 and it's now 11:30 and I'm still full. I suppose this makes up for my lack of gorging myself on Thanksgiving. Well, I must go to bed, as it is rather late and I still do have to go to work tomorrow. However, it is my last week of work, and, as my brother put it, what better birthday present could I ask for?

Bafflement

There are things in this world I will never understand. Racism, blind hatred, random acts of violence, politics, mullets, and why it takes CVS two hours to fill my prescription. I understand that they are occasionally rather busy, but two hours to fill a birth control prescription? It comes from the manufacturer in a little foil package all ready to go. All they have to do is slap a sticker on it, put it in a little paper bag, and staple it closed. I understand that the automated thing allows an hour for the prescription to be filled. It's computerized and has no way of knowing how busy the pharmacy is, so it automatically allows an hour. That's fine. But in order to use the automated system, you have to have the prescription number, which apparently got thrown out in the last four weeks. So, I ended up speaking with someone in the actual pharmacy. I called at about 5:15 and asked for it to be ready at 6:30, thinking that and hour and 15 minutes should be more than enough time, to which she replied, "Oh, it'll take at least two hours." I just don't understand how a process that should take five minutes, tops, can take two hours. When I finally went, there were no other customers anywhere even near the pharmacy counter. Why, exactly, does it take two hours to put a ready made thing in a paper bag with a pre-printed label? I just don't get it.

Happy Friday

We've reached the two week mark. I actually left work early today. My stomach's been hurting all week, and today it was hurting really bad. Not much was going on, and the boss lady was out of the office today, so I didn't feel too badly about leaving early. Only one more week of work left, and then I am home free. Literally. We still have a good bit of packing to do. I keep putting it off. I'm planning on packing the kitchen next weekend. I will need to go by the liquor store and get some boxes and go get some more bubble wrap. FedEx did a nice job of breaking most of my dishes. I'd like the few that remain to make it to Idaho intact. So, I am looking forward to a rather leisurely weekend of doing not much. Sunday we're going to go do something, since it will be my birthday. Yesterday my brother turned 27 and in two days I will turn 24. Well, back to lying on the couch watching CSI reruns on SpikeTV.