I'm still here

It's been a crazy (crazy good!) week back. I came home depleted. I caught about an hour of sleep on the red eye (after hiking ALL DAY with Sara) and had to catch the bus to South Station and then the train home. I was so tired and lugging my nearly 50 lb. suitcase and my 10 lb. briefcase. Then I had a reality check. In the elevator at South Station I held the door for a man in a wheelchair. He may have been mentally impaired...he was speech impaired and had the sunniest disposition I may have ever seen. He asked where I was headed and I said home. He asked where that was, and when I told him, he said, "Well that's not so bad! You can do it!" He could see I was tired, and despite how I was feeling I had nothing but smiles for his earnest inquiries. He wished me a great day when I got off of the elevator. And I realized...as tired and cranky as I was at that moment, it all was nothing compared to his daily challenges. He managed to get around and do his thing with a giant smile on his face. When he asked me how I was, I could see he actually cared about my answer. I want to go back and hug him.

I made it home and collapsed into bed. Then I went to bed again about 6 hours later at bed time. By morning I felt rested enough to start my new job!

New job, same company. I've been "asked" (I must use that term loosely) to move to a different department and head up the effort for my application to seamlessly move existing customers currently operating on our "old" systems to our new system that I just helped build for the past four years. In that four years I was pretty focused on one particular piece (though a large piece), and so there's a lot I don't know. Also, I haven't worked in the old technology for 3 years now. I'm pretty rusty. This is going to be challenging, but luckily for me I had predecessors built all sorts of useful tools that will make things easier. I guess the deal for now is we have four months just to determine how long the whole effort will take.

Overall, I'm excited about it. I feel the need to change things up every three years or so, and my company does everything they can to make that possible. I was ready, just taken by surprise. I found out two days before my vacation about the new job, and when I returned I was there! Still, there seems to be plenty of transition time so far, which I'm glad for as I have loose ends to tie up.

The rest of the week went smoothly at my old desk, doing my old job...

Most importantly, on Saturday, Laurie and I booked our tickets to go to CaleeFORneeahh to see her sister, and my Aunty Jeanne (hi Jeanne! hi Laurie!). It a lovely thing to come home from one amazing vacation and be able to book another one right way. God bless frequent flier miles.

Lastly, I made a few shopping trips and invited the rents over for dinner on Sunday, something I'd like to make a tradition while the weather is foul and we can't go out and play. My new Julia Child's cookbook took me through the steps of roasting a lovely pork tenderloin, and it was easy and yummy. A good time was had by all.

Getting sleepy...time to rest up before meeting the new boss again tomorrow. Goodnight!