well damn
it's been a lot longer than i realized since i've been 'round this way!
husband finally moved out here in August with two of our critters. we had to rehome two others, unfortunately, because we could not find a rental that would take four animals. as it is, finding a place that would take a 50lb sheppard/rottie mix was...difficult.
i flew back to pittsburgh and drove back across country with husband and critters and it sucked. we couldn't leave the critters alone so we pushed it and did the drive in 3.5 days. it was really kind of miserable but we didn't die during it (a fear i had going into the process) so yay.
i spent all of 2015 in a department where i had no leadership (AKA Boss) and was basically the last manager standing after a series of unfortunate reorgs, and my workload was out of control and required a lot of 65 hour weeks. but i acquitted myself well and lots of kudos came my way. like, no joke, TWO people in my college (NOT EVEN in my dept) went to my exec vp for the express purpose of singing my praises. and high level folks at a government funder legit put an item on the agenda of a recent site visit to talk about me being amazing. !!!
because of all of this, the vague talk of a promotional opportunity is pretty much a guarantee, backed by my upper leadership, and omg that would mean a $17K increase woohoo.
right before holiday break, we hired staff to fill all but one open position. not gonna lie, i'm glad to have a boss again, and a manager to take on a major project i didn't have capacity for. i mean i'm still supporting a project we need to hire for but work is like 80% better.
i've met with port commissioners and gone to meetings with mayors, been invited to a convening by a major metro transit org, and testified before a state senate committee. i feel accomplished in my career path, and like an actual ADULT.
husband is still looking for work so things aren't entirely ideal but even with only one of us working we're still better off financially than we were in pittsburgh.
in 2015 i traveled for work to...san francisco, dallas, portland, baltimore, and san diego (x2),
i also went to ft lauderdale 3 times. i hate ft lauderdale, fyi. the last trip (a few weeks ago) coincided with my 40th birthday and it was actually the only BAD trip i've had since i started this job. 15 hours of sleep in 5 days, missed flights, painful meetings, terrible hotel, and the loss of my tablet on a plane. FYI, American Airlines' lost and found SUCKS ASS. i'm never seeing that tablet again, ugh.
in the last year my previous employer, which was...hrm. i had problems with the org and the leadership, let's just leave it at that. anyway, they've upheld their tradition of being terrible and complete assholes by firing people for no cause. so glad to be away. i mean, my job is 1000% harder and more stressful, but i'll take this over racist, classist and hypocritical bullshit any day.
i started classes again to keep on working towards my degree. signed up for 4 this semester (completely on line) and last night had the sad realization that 4 is too many for me to manage. will probably be dropping 1. still! keeping on the path to completion though!
to sum up...husband and critters are here, work is going excellently, and life is good!
husband finally moved out here in August with two of our critters. we had to rehome two others, unfortunately, because we could not find a rental that would take four animals. as it is, finding a place that would take a 50lb sheppard/rottie mix was...difficult.
i flew back to pittsburgh and drove back across country with husband and critters and it sucked. we couldn't leave the critters alone so we pushed it and did the drive in 3.5 days. it was really kind of miserable but we didn't die during it (a fear i had going into the process) so yay.
i spent all of 2015 in a department where i had no leadership (AKA Boss) and was basically the last manager standing after a series of unfortunate reorgs, and my workload was out of control and required a lot of 65 hour weeks. but i acquitted myself well and lots of kudos came my way. like, no joke, TWO people in my college (NOT EVEN in my dept) went to my exec vp for the express purpose of singing my praises. and high level folks at a government funder legit put an item on the agenda of a recent site visit to talk about me being amazing. !!!
because of all of this, the vague talk of a promotional opportunity is pretty much a guarantee, backed by my upper leadership, and omg that would mean a $17K increase woohoo.
right before holiday break, we hired staff to fill all but one open position. not gonna lie, i'm glad to have a boss again, and a manager to take on a major project i didn't have capacity for. i mean i'm still supporting a project we need to hire for but work is like 80% better.
i've met with port commissioners and gone to meetings with mayors, been invited to a convening by a major metro transit org, and testified before a state senate committee. i feel accomplished in my career path, and like an actual ADULT.
husband is still looking for work so things aren't entirely ideal but even with only one of us working we're still better off financially than we were in pittsburgh.
in 2015 i traveled for work to...san francisco, dallas, portland, baltimore, and san diego (x2),
i also went to ft lauderdale 3 times. i hate ft lauderdale, fyi. the last trip (a few weeks ago) coincided with my 40th birthday and it was actually the only BAD trip i've had since i started this job. 15 hours of sleep in 5 days, missed flights, painful meetings, terrible hotel, and the loss of my tablet on a plane. FYI, American Airlines' lost and found SUCKS ASS. i'm never seeing that tablet again, ugh.
in the last year my previous employer, which was...hrm. i had problems with the org and the leadership, let's just leave it at that. anyway, they've upheld their tradition of being terrible and complete assholes by firing people for no cause. so glad to be away. i mean, my job is 1000% harder and more stressful, but i'll take this over racist, classist and hypocritical bullshit any day.
i started classes again to keep on working towards my degree. signed up for 4 this semester (completely on line) and last night had the sad realization that 4 is too many for me to manage. will probably be dropping 1. still! keeping on the path to completion though!
to sum up...husband and critters are here, work is going excellently, and life is good!