Tales from the Flip Side

Well, I started my new job today, and I suspect that, if nothing else, it may provide for some interesting blog fodder. I base this suspicion on the fact that my new co-workers spent the morning "planning a coup" because of some remarks made by our new boss, who's only been with the company for three weeks. I don't know if they'll actually carry out their plans or if it's just wishful thinking to add a little drama to life.

I had lunch with another guy who is working the same sort of gig that I am (i.e. hourly pay, working 4 days/week) but he's only been there for two weeks now, so neither of us are really sure what we've gotten ourselves into. I think we're both hoping that we'll have the advantage of observing the drama with some detachment because, for us, it's just a JOB, not a career.

At any rate, it's going to be a major change to go from working for a company with >1,500 employees in Cincinnati (and >150,000 world-wide) to a company with 15 employees. (And that's counting me!)

• More causual? YES. I finally get to wear jeans to work! Woohoo!


• Less bureaucratic? Oh, you'd better believe it.


• More flexible? Yes, BUT...

...the question becomes: Which is better-- a rubber band or an iron chain? I think it depends on what you're trying to accomplish.

What I did over my summer break...

It's been a long while since I've written anything here. There's a really good reason for that. First of all, this spring has been a really rough period for me at work, and I was working crazy long hours. That came to an abrupt end in June, but I've been waiting to write until I got some things resolved...

Not everything is resolved yet, but maybe that's just how life goes.

So here's what I did over my summer break:

• Went on vacation. We spent a week at Longboat Key with my mom and my sister. We also had a sort of progressive familiy reunion with my aunts & uncles, cousins, and cousins' kids. (Three of each, as it turns out.) The first tropical storm of the season made the first half of the week pretty rainy, but at least it was restful. And we got to go snorkeling with manatees, which was pretty dang cool.


• Lost my job and found a lawyer.


• Mourned the loss of a good friend, who died while scuba diving in Mexico. We don't know what happened, and it will never make sense to me. We miss him.


• Had several job interviews and worked out a win-win situation with one of them. Starting Monday, I'll be working about 30 hours a week, which will keep me busy (but not too busy to pursue other opportunities) and keep some money coming in while I figure out what to do with the rest of my life. I may find another job, I may go back to grad school for my PhD, I may go to school to do something completely different, maybe a Physical Therapy program. Only God knows...


• Speaking of Physical Therapy, I've also spent a couple of days observing at the Sports Medicine / Biodynamics Lab at Cincinnati Children's Hospital. (One of the prerequisites for applying to PT programs is to spend 50-80 hours observing/volunteering in a PT setting.) It's been interesting, and I'm learning lots of new stuff along the way.


• Painted the kitchen / dining room, two bedrooms, and a bathroom. (OK, I'm still working on the 2nd bedroom and the bathroom, but they'll be done soon.)


• Played a lot of Sudoku and Lost Cities. What can I say? I'm hooked.

You know you're an adult when......you hire a lawyer.

The negotiations are still going on, so I can't discuss any details here. But it's definitely an adult moment when you go downtown and sit across the desk from someone to discuss legal issues. It's also one of those moments where you think to yourself, "I never imagined I'd be doing this. This is not in my plan for how my life was supposed to turn out." But you find yourself doing it because it seems like it's the only way to get someone to acknowledge that the situation is just completely and utterly not right.



(PV31W and I have both experienced this particular YKYAAW moment.)