Here we go...

Well, I survived my conference. You know, it always seems like there SHOULD be time to get real work done at those things, but every break is taken up with making connections and then in the evenings you go out with friends... I barely had time for sleep, let alone keeping up on e-mails.

Now, we are all packed (and the cat is pissed). Tomorrow at o'dark-thirty we leave for leg #1 of our LA/Wichita/Melbourne trip. I'm pretty excited. I've ALMOST got all the holiday cards done, but right now it's time for "The Amazing Race."

Surprise!

So in our shower (unlike every other shower in the known universe), the little lever that switches the stream of water between the tub spigot and the showerhead does NOT automatically drop back into the default (tub) position when the stream of water is turned off. You have to manually push it down. At the risk of sounding like a woman complaining about toilet seat lid positioning, I will note that sometimes (like yesterday) The Husband neglects this detail. Here is the split-second conversation I had in my head yesterday upon turning on the water:

Why is no water coming out? I hear water running, but nothing's coming out of the spigot... Uh oh, the lever is up. HOLY ####! Here comes that friggin' freezing water, all over my back.

Just another argument for an on-demand hot water heater, I guess.

In other news, I leave in an hour on Greyhound. I am going to a conference for work this week, and the bus was something on the order of 10% of the cost of either flying or getting reimbursement for mileage, so... This will be the first time I've taken the bus since we moved up here. Everyone warns me it's all felons being released from the local penitentiary, but I think that would be preferable to some other possibilities.

Well, that worked

The last two days were a blur. I told a friend: "The interview either went really well or really badly; I'll know in about six months. Either way, I got the job." Very thankful that tomorrow is a holiday; I'll need the time to catch up. At first it seems weird to have a day off on Wednesday, but you know, in some ways it would be nice to have every Wednesday off. I have some non-work stuff to do, too. A friend who teaches elementary school got me involved in a project for her class. I need to go take pictures, but it's supposed to rain tomorrow. And at some point I need to pack for the work trip that starts this weekend, prior to our big trip. Overall, though, things are good.

Butterflies

Okay, reality just sank in: the next time I show up for work will be the day I interview to succeed my boss (who is retiring). I've been trying to play it cool, but that realization just hit me like a ton of bricks. Oh well - we have a busy weekend, so I won't have much time to dwell on it.

The other thing that hit me this week is my age. On my birthday, the folks in the office were much more interested in it than I was. They kept asking if The Husband was taking me someplace special. To me, it was just another day. That is, until I saw someone's profile online saying they were 40 and it struck me: that's not a couple years older than me, that's less than 12 MONTHS older than me. Whoa!