but, it's cold outside....

Life has been hectic and I suck.  Those are my only two excuses for not posting lately.  I promised Aunt Lynne a post on Tuesday.  It is now Sunday and I'm struggling to get my thoughts together. 

I will begin with my very needed transition out of hospitality.  Last night I worked my last shift at the Sheraton and after the 8 hours of non stop badgering, I knew that I made the right decision to take a break from the industry.  I have had a lot of horrible nights working front desk, but this was by far the hardest and most taxing.  Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong.  The only positive to the whole event was that by the end of the night the whole staff was just laughing.  We couldn't believe it was even possible and we weathered it.  The manager on duty compared the operation to the sinking titanic.  Luckily, I was not the captain and when 11pm rolled around I abandoned ship.  I came home to a nice glass of wine and that's where my story at the Sheraton comes to a close.  I am beyond happy to be pursuing something different.  Although my new job is still customer service oriented, it is a completely different beast.  Here is the skinny.  I began working at Goodman Campbell Brain and Spine on Monday as the phone operator.  My position involves a lot more than answering and directing calls though.  I also work closely with medical records to get charts to and fro to wherever they are destined.  If you ever need to request your records, please be nice to the medical records people, those things are heavy and typically not where they are supposed to be.  I also put together and mail out new patient packets.  It's actually kind of fun.  I look up the patients upcoming appointment, read the scheduler's notes, and determine what kind of new patient paperwork they need to fill out.  Most of the time it's decipherable, but I do have a neat medical dictionary to look up terms.  It's like an investigation, and it's fun.  My hours are 8:30 to 5, Monday to Friday.  No weekends, no holidays, no  more unpredictability.  Oh, and I get to decorate my office.  When have I ever been able to do that?  I have my own space.  Totally feel adult-y.  I only have one week under my belt at Goodman Campbell and I feel like it's going to be a great fit.  I'm glad I listened to myself and decided to take my job in a new direction.

Outside of work I've been doing the typical activities; getting drinks with friends, eating out, shopping, etc.  I hate to say that I haven't experienced Indianapolis the way that I was hoping to by now.  It's cold!  I did go to Christmas at the Zoo where I saw my first dolphin show and pet a shark.  A live shark, my friends.  It was slimy and I would do it again.  The superbowl is approaching quickly and I get the feeling Indy is not ready for the onslaught of craziness.  I don't know how a city can prepare for such an event, I just hope it survives.  I'm lucky enough to have several friends who live downtown.  You better believe I will be taking advantage of the free sleeping space.  Parking may be an issue though.  With my Sunday off I think I'm going to venture to Broadripple and check out several vintage shops I found online.  I'm on a hunt for vintage photographs for my latest craft project.  I was going through my old postcards and letters from my time in Garmisch and stumbled onto the picture I bought at the flea market in Brussels.  It sparked some creativity and now I'm on a mission.  Going though my old cards and letters was harder for me than I thought.  I had so many thoughtful words from my friends and family laying in front of me.  If that doesn't choke you up, I don't know what will.  It's still hard being away from Germany and what I left behind.  A day doesn't go by when I don't think about how things would be if I would have stayed.  Like I have said before, I think I made the right decision by coming home though.  Sometimes you just have to know when to throw in the towel. 

The living situation is still going really well.  I haven't murdered the guys yet, so I take that as a good sign.  I'm not saying it hasn't crossed my mind though. I love them and they are tons of fun, but being house mom isn't always as fun as it sounds.  Actually, I'm not even really house mom, I feel like I left that role some time ago, but I do feel frustrated and disappointed when they don't clean up after themselves, so I have the feelings of a distraught mother with no reward of having lovely little children.  My kids are all grown up and a bunch of jerks who don't put their dishes away.  Not fair.  Living with Bret has been great, not that I expected anything different.  And he's not one of my children.  In fact, he's kind of like the house dad.  We've had the chance to have some really good conversations while living together and I'm happy that we've been given this opportunity to be even cooler siblings.  It's hard to believe, but it's happening, folks.

I have to get one thing off of my chest.  What the heck is going on with TV programming, specifically reality shows?  There are programs about towing trucks, garage sales, storage facilities, and the list truly goes on.  Who is watching this?  Can there really be a story behind this?  It's ridiculous.

I'm going to wrap this bad boy up with a promise.  Not only am I promising to update more regularly, I'm going to put a nix to this blog title and begin a new one.  It's time to put this beast to rest.  My European travels are at a stand still for now, so I will get something else going within the next week.  Maybe....