Settling In

We have now been in Victorville for two and a half months and it feels as though we are settling in as well as we can.  The girls are doing well at their school.  It feels like we have found a home church.  We have a dog.  We've gotten to know the area a bit better and the girls are signed up for soccer.  It's definitely not Whittier, but it will do for a while.

There are a couple of things we are still getting used to, mainly weather-related, besides the area in general.  We have had snow twice now.  We actually have a decent chance of snow this weekend, which will be a nice change since the last two times it snowed, I was at work for one and it was at the girls' bedtime for another.  It barely stuck the first time and accumulated maybe a half-inch the second time, although it did last overnight that time.  We'll see what happens this weekend.  Also, the winds are crazy.  It seems like we are always under a high wind watch or warning.   There have been at least 1 a week since we've lived here

My job is keeping me plenty busy to say the least.  I haven't worked this much with any job in the past, except maybe for teaching.  While I typically have tried to leave around 5:00 each day, it is becoming increasingly hard to do so.  The main reason for that is that I have been in so many meetings with suppliers lately that I haven't had much time to do much work.  I'm working on 7 difference contracts right now, with the largest one being worth about $20,000,000.  The bright side is that I'm learning a lot about what can and can't be negotiated withing the contract.  From that standpoint, this job is a great experience.  It is a little frustrating because everything is "urgent".  I don't know if it's a Spain thing, but I know Chevron wasn't like this.  We knew what was coming up and it was our responsibility to make sure it happened on time.  At my current job, it's different.  We know what we are responsible for, but the expectations for the timeline to complete it as well as the actual scheduling of the project seem to be out of line with what I've experienced so far.  Maybe it's just part of the learning process, but I am adjusting as well as I can.  Don't get me wrong, it's a great job and I enjoy working there.  Some aspects of it are just frustrating, which I think is the case with any job.

Although today (and this week) ended in a very frustrating way, it was a good week and today was nice overall.  Since our two assistants were helping me with stuff I needed to get done while I was in a meeting, I treated them to lunch, which they seemed to appreciate.  It was also fun since Traci and the girls met us at Red Robin, where we ate.  My co-workers are definitely one of the reasons I really enjoy my job.  They are very fun to work with; probably the best group I've ever worked with.  We are always helping each other and having a lot of fun in the process.

On a good note, since my little stint in the hospital a month ago, my heart has been fine and I haven't had any issues.  I am very thankful that we have had insurance since January.  Without that, we would be screwed financially.  I've seen the charges from the hospital.  All of the doctors have been between $300 and $700 each, and I dealt with about 3 or 4 doctors while I was there.  Then there is the actual hospital charges which are just over $11,600.  Fortunately, our plan has a $2,500 deductible, $1,500 of which I can get reimbursed for.  So really, we have to come up with a $1,000, which, all things considered, isn't bad.  There are still plenty of follow up appointments to go to, including some blood tests and a nuclear stress test. 

One thing that is frustrating is how many pills I have to take every day.  Each night, I take out and open 7 bottles for a total of about a dozen pills.  The breakdown: 3 antidepressants (5.5), a multi-vitamin (1), and for my heart...low-dose aspirin (1), vitamin/supplement (Magnesium, 2), and one other medication to prevent the A-Fib (2). That's a total of eleven and half pills a day!  Anyway, life goes on.  Hopefully eventually those will all be gone, with the exception of the multi-vitamin.

It's almost midnight and I've got a couple days of weather watching coming up, so I suppose it's time to head to bed.  Plus we have some fun stuff planned for St. Patrick's Day tomorrow.