Heat Wave / Val's Big Surgery / New Boss and Coworker
For about five weeks now, the Portland area has been experiencing a sustained heat wave. Most of the days since June have been at or above 90 F. Tomorrow, Monday the 11th, is supposed to be above 100. We're not used to this kind of summer heat, so everyone is pretty much begging for our muggy cold rain and overcast skies to return. Sun and clear skies and a little heat are great but this is excessive. Global warming sounds about right! It's so bad that Nicole and I purchased our first air conditioner (A wonderful portable one that we can put anywhere) and it's been a life saver. We've also just about completed putting up window treatments and curtains on all our new apartment's windows, so it's nice and dark inside when we need it to be, especially in the bedroom. This heat kind of saps my energy most days and even though I get home from work at 3 PM every afternoon ready to tackle any projects we have, I feel like I can't expel any energy when the heat comes on. I rarely get much accomplished on those super-hot days except to sit in front of the AC unit with Nicole and spend the evenings watching Netflix. Truth be told, I'm not complaining. It is nice to spend that couple's time with her and we both know the heat wave will end someday. It's depressing to see the seven-day forecast and see that the heat will continue unabated into the near future. Ugh.
My sister, Val, has been trying to get a gastric bypass surgery for years and it finally happened last week. After months of approvals and setbacks and consultations and meetings, it actually happened. This is made even more remarkable considering her thyroid cancer less than six months ago. She's already home and enjoying a three week vacation from work. It'll be fascinating watching the results appear but I just hope she can stick to the diet for the rest of her life. You hear so often about people (Including celebrities) who have the bypass and lose weight for a year but gain it all back and then some. It's going to be the greatest challenge of her life.
The changes at my new job continue. A few weeks back, my department was relocated to a new area built just for us but outside the cleanroom, which makes it tougher to help people inside the cleanroom. We're adjusting. We've also got a new boss and my department has been officially transferred to being under a different class of employee. My coworkers claim that the minimum wage for people in this class is higher which could mean an automatic increase in pay for me, but my new boss said it's not for sure and that I'll just have to wait to hear what the decision is on that from higher up the food chain. I would appreciate the extra cash and it would seem fair, but I don't have a whole lot of faith in the company just yet. I've given them 100% so far and this would be a good opportunity for them to show me how valued I am and how much they follow their own rules about internal minimum wages per department. Let's see how that goes...
Also, in my last entry, I mentioned how my department was moving to the compressed work week schedule. Well, the big changeover happened last week but my department only has two employees including me, so we wouldn't have the coverage to move to the new schedule unless we hired two more people (Four people to cover four shifts). This means that we're not moving to the compressed schedule until we get some more bodies up in this. Surprisingly, they moved quickly on hiring the first of two new coworkers and she seems to be picking up the material very quickly. I expect she'll be in training with us until late September, at which point we'll probably hire our fourth person who will be training until around Thanksgiving. Then, ultimately, we'll finally all move to the compressed work schedule. I'm thankful that for the time being I get to remain on my Monday-to-Friday 6 AM-to-2:30 PM schedule, so I'll continue to soak that in and enjoy it until it's gone.
My sister, Val, has been trying to get a gastric bypass surgery for years and it finally happened last week. After months of approvals and setbacks and consultations and meetings, it actually happened. This is made even more remarkable considering her thyroid cancer less than six months ago. She's already home and enjoying a three week vacation from work. It'll be fascinating watching the results appear but I just hope she can stick to the diet for the rest of her life. You hear so often about people (Including celebrities) who have the bypass and lose weight for a year but gain it all back and then some. It's going to be the greatest challenge of her life.
The changes at my new job continue. A few weeks back, my department was relocated to a new area built just for us but outside the cleanroom, which makes it tougher to help people inside the cleanroom. We're adjusting. We've also got a new boss and my department has been officially transferred to being under a different class of employee. My coworkers claim that the minimum wage for people in this class is higher which could mean an automatic increase in pay for me, but my new boss said it's not for sure and that I'll just have to wait to hear what the decision is on that from higher up the food chain. I would appreciate the extra cash and it would seem fair, but I don't have a whole lot of faith in the company just yet. I've given them 100% so far and this would be a good opportunity for them to show me how valued I am and how much they follow their own rules about internal minimum wages per department. Let's see how that goes...
Also, in my last entry, I mentioned how my department was moving to the compressed work week schedule. Well, the big changeover happened last week but my department only has two employees including me, so we wouldn't have the coverage to move to the new schedule unless we hired two more people (Four people to cover four shifts). This means that we're not moving to the compressed schedule until we get some more bodies up in this. Surprisingly, they moved quickly on hiring the first of two new coworkers and she seems to be picking up the material very quickly. I expect she'll be in training with us until late September, at which point we'll probably hire our fourth person who will be training until around Thanksgiving. Then, ultimately, we'll finally all move to the compressed work schedule. I'm thankful that for the time being I get to remain on my Monday-to-Friday 6 AM-to-2:30 PM schedule, so I'll continue to soak that in and enjoy it until it's gone.