New House, Old Snake

It's been a long time since I posted, but there are good excuses! We got a house, and we're moving this coming Saturday, so we've been pretty busy packing and planning, etc. As soon as we have our house full of stuff and organized, I'll post some pictures. It really is a beautiful house! We have a ton of people who are going to help us move, and we'll have conference playing on the TV and pizza ordered so it will be like a moving conference party, I guess.

I was down at Mim's a little while ago. I went for Jorgen's birthday, so I spent almost all of Saturday hanging out with him. We went shopping and saw a movie. While I was there, though, I helped my mom get things put together. She's moving back to her big house, so we painted and got floors ready to be installed and stuff. Anyway, she doesn't have a place to keep Roach (her boa constrictor), so she's giving him away. Before he left I got some pretty pictures of him. He was HUNGRY. I would get close to the cage and he would coil up as if to strike me through the glass. But, when we tried to feed him, he wouldn't eat! Weird. Anyway.



He's gorgeous. Six feet long! It's sad to see him go, but it's very expensive to feed a boa constrictor! And dangerous. We always had to keep weights on the top of his cage because even though it supposedly locks he can still muscle his way out. He could have strangled someone easily.

Up And Running

So my toes are healing. They are healing slowly, but healing nonetheless. My feet still hurt, which makes me not want to walk around anywhere. Oh well, there aren't that many places to walk anyway.

I finished a baby blanket for Mim's friend Lisa's granddaughter. It took me about two weeks or so to make it...nothing compared to the one I'm working on now for Scott's sister's baby.

I'm rewatching Gilmore Girls, because it makes me happy.

I got my stuff up and running again at work.

That's basically all the news for now. More later this week, I think.

Intentional Chemical Burns

So yesterday I went into the doc to have him look at some ouches on my toes. I expected him to look and then schedule a surgery, but he did it right there! So, my toes are gross, and wrapped up and swollen, and it was fun to drive home yesterday without being able to feel most of my feet...Hello gas pedal! Hello brakes! I went to work today anyway, since I figured I could figure a way to be sitting most of the day, which I did successfully. Anyway, the procedure was pretty simple, since he just had to work on two of my toes. He got in there and basically gave me chemical burns with sodium hydroxide intentionally, and in specific places, and then put acid on it to neutralize it, and over the next two weeks it will heal and I won't have ingrown toenails any more. Hopefully. Crossing the fingers.

We had a lab meeting today, and they ordered Chinese food, and since I'm on Atkins I couldn't have any and I was so sad because it smelled ridiculously good. And everyone kept trying to get me to eat. It's getting really annoying telling people every single day that I can't have carbs. I explain what I can eat and what I can't, and people still ask every time, and are all like, why don't you eat, blah blah blah? People should mind their own business and stay out of it if they've been told ten times.

I did something difficult today. My boss was talking about a woman at my work yesterday. He was saying things about her weight and eating habits and how she's so fat, blah blah blah. Well, I overheard and was completely offended and very hurt. I mean, if that's how you feel about one fat person, is that how you feel about others? I'm overweight...I hope people don't talk about me behind my back. Anyway, I went into his office today to call him on it. I was so nervous...I didn't know how he would take it. For all I know, he could have gotten mad and said something mean. Anyway, I just went in and told him how I felt, and that it isn't fair to say things about a person behind his/her back, and how if she had heard it she would have been devastated. I said how I was overweight and have a sister who is overweight, and told him he can't understand what it's like, since he's never been overweight. For all we know she could have a thyroid problem or an eating disorder. You just never know. Anyway, he was very gracious about it. He said he wouldn't talk about it any more and that he was glad I was honest enough to just tell him.

New House and Mim

So this weekend was busy, fun, and interesting. We have been looking at this house a few blocks from here. It's a rent-to-own, which is pretty much what we're looking for. We don't want to take out a home loan yet, but we want to start building equity. Anyway, this house is a perfect first flip. It was funny: the first thing we thought when we saw it was, "Hey, it looks like my Mom's house!" Then, when we walked in, we noticed that it had the same layout on the main floor. So we called it Mim's "mini-me" house.

The house is in a good neighborhood, just off the main road we live near. It's close enough that we're still super close to the stores and restaurants and such, but far enough that you can't hear the traffic on that road. It's blue with stony-looking brick accents on the outside and has a reddish-brown fence for the backyard. It has three bedrooms and one bathroom, but hookups in the unfinished basement for another bathroom. It is in really good shape, too. We talked to the owner today and filled out an application and made him an offer, which he took. We talked him down $100 from what he wanted for rent, and we talked him into cutting the security deposit in half! It will basically be a lease for a year with a portion of the rent going toward a down payment on the house, and at the end of the year we have the option to buy, and we are pretty sure we are going to buy it, assuming we can get the loan in a year.

Upstairs there is a wall between the living room and the kitchen that we want to knock out and build a nice island there instead. The way into the backyard is on the side of the house, with this little deck that really looks kinda silly, and doesn't flow. So we're thinking we'd like to put a double door in the dining room leading out to a deck we want to build. Also, we want to finish the basement and add that second bathroom. We figure we'll live in the house for about three years total, doing one project at a time to update and renovate, and sell for a profit. Then we can move to another home and do the same thing. Eventually, we would like to build up enough profit that we could buy a house to live in and buy another to flip, so we could stop moving. We'll see.

We had a three day weekend, and on Friday there were only five samples to test, so I'm betting tomorrow there will be quite a few and I will be there a long long time. Oh well. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow to look at my foot and hopefully we can figure out why it's been hurting and swelling.

Scott and I had Mim up this weekend, too. She came up Sunday evening, and we took her to see the house, and we had steaks on the grill for dinner, and we watched TV and talked and had a lot of fun. Then today we all went to look at a different house (for comparison purposes) and we went shopping a little bit. We watched some Stargate and did pedicures and we all slept in today, which was nice. I don't mind getting up so early as much, since it's straightened out my sleep schedule and now I have more energy and don't feel tired during the day as much.
Tomorrow I will go back in to work. That will make three straight weeks of not working a full workweek, so next week will feel so long in comparison! That's ok, I like my job.

I can't believe we're getting a house. I feel like I'm a grownup all of a sudden...it's weird.

Bye Li, Hello AA!

AA does not stand for Alcoholics Anonymous. In fact, it stands for Atomic Absorption. Here is my graphite furnace (Pb, As, and Cd):And here is my cold vapor (Hg):As you can see, they're both sooooo nice. We went through a very difficult time this week.

Mercury needed a new computer, since the air inside my AA room is so moist and full of acid and such...yeah, the computer corroded itself to death. So that was replaced...fun times. Mr. Graphite Furnace had a bad week, too. First, he wasn't getting enough power to his circuits, and his magnet failed. It turns out that the silly men working downstairs turned off my power while I wasn't looking. Apparently the switch is right next to the switch for their swamp cooler. Oops. Next, the computer decided that there just wasn't a furnace at all, nor an autosampler. So, the repair guy came out and fiddled and poked and prodded and came to the conclusion that he couldn't fix it unless he could get schematics and the service password. SURPRISE, Thermo wouldn't give it to him, so we had to have a Thermo technician come out, and of course, that costs a lot of money so the boss wasn't too happy. SO. The Thermo technician came and fiddled and poked and prodded, and said we needed a new part. THEN, all of a sudden, it worked! For no apparent reason! So we sent the technician home. The next day, the lead sequence ran just fine, but when it came time to play Arsenic, it died. Again. SO...the Thermo guy came back (His name is Freeman. I don't know if this is his first or last name.) and it turns out he had to recalibrate the alignment on the arsenic lamp, which he should have done the first day, so he only charged us for half an hour of work this time. While all this was going on, we had to get the samples tested somewhere, and the lab we normally contract out to was broken just like we were, so we had to find a place who could do it fast and that means lots of money. So, to sum up:

Travel expenses to have the Thermo guy come out:

3,300.00

7 hours of labor:

1,960.00

Getting 5 days of samples run at an outside lab with a rush priority:

12,000.00

Finally having my freaking instruments back:

PRICELESS.


Li is gone and I'm a little sad. We had so much fun. I took some pictures of animals at the zoo...we intended to go to Lagoon but it didn't end up happening because we forgot to check the schedule and when we remembered it was too late. Oops.

Li! Panda!

Work today was cool. Everything worked perfectly the first time, so I got done quite early. I came home and tidied up a bit because LI IS COMING! I'm so excited. I haven't seen her in over a year, so it will be nice to catch up and do all our fun things. We're going to hit Panda, since that's something we did together quite frequently during college.

So we went through our shed and some of our closets today and got rid of a lot of things. I feel less cluttered...so relaxing. I still have odds and ends around the house that I need to find places for, or put them where they're supposed to be.

Scott has been trying to sell some old games and paintball gear, and of course the Jetta, and people keep calling, saying they're interested and that they will come at x o'clock, and they never show up. This has happened like ten times. It's getting old. But what can you do? We have it on KSL, and we bought window paint so we can put a note on the window that it's for sale.

Yesterday we went to get groceries and when we came out to the car, the tire was flat! It had a big hole in it that looked like we had run over a nail. So, we went to the only tire place that was open (Wal-Mart) and spent a few hours wandering around while we waited for our car to be better. Our other front tire was close to bare, so we had that one replaced while we were at it. This car is turning out to be more expensive than we thought...one of the headlights is out and the dealer said it would be $400 to fix it...and we tried to get another mechanic to do it, but he said it was beyond him, so we HAVE to go to the dealer. Snakes, the lot of them.

I love my new phone!!!

So, when I turned eight years old, my mom bought me a ball of yarn, a crochet hook, and a little book about how to crochet. Here is a picture of the first thing I ever crocheted: Clearly, I've come a long way. Right now I am making a tablecloth/centerpiece for Naomi. Here is one of the pieces:And of course I'm making all my scarves for the homeless shelter (except this year I learned how to make hats!), and I think I might make myself another purse sometime. Here is a picture of the tree I crocheted onto the end of one of my scarves.I think I will go do logic puzzles for a little while. Then I will sleep. My favorite!

Pink!

So after seeing the receptionist at work with her adorable nails, I decided I wanted them too! And, since I don't work with organic solvents, they won't dissolve. Turn yellow from nitric acid, maybe...but they won't dissolve!

Anyway.

Work today was ok. There weren't many samples, but outside companies contract with our lab to have testing done, so I ended up testing lots of samples on FTIR. Also, I couldn't get the graphite furnace to behave while I was trying to test for cadmium so I had to replace parts and take it apart and fiddle with it for like an hour...at least I'm becoming a pro at fixing the darn thing!

Now let me vent/brag for a minute. I'm venting because the guy training me is annoying. I'm bragging because everyone at work already likes me better than they like him and they think I am doing a better job. SO. Maynard is his name. Actually, it isn't. His name is Kirk. But he doesn't go by Kirk because someone once told him he looks like the lead singer of TOOL (which he doesn't). Anyway, so Maynard. He's a jerk. Straight up. Nobody likes him because he's just mean to everyone's face and talks trash about everyone behind everyone's back. Nast. But, tomorrow's his last day, so I think I might survive. It's funny how I totally had the wrong impression about him. I guess I just want to like everyone.

Here's the braggy part: so, apparently, Maynard is a lazy bum. He doesn't clean up after himself, he doesn't refill things when they're empty, he won't help anyone out, and he leaves work for other people to do that would be easy for him to do. He plays all day on the internet and talks on his cell phone, and, though his purpose in still being there is training me, exhibits obvious distaste for any questions I ask. All that is to say: I am so better than he. Everyone has already said so. I get results to people in a timely fashion, I fill things if they're empty, even if I didn't empty them, I go the extra mile. That's how my Mim taught me to work, so there. I just hope everyone likes me. I try to be nice to everyone and I don't say mean things about people behind their backs.

The end.

My stomach hurts.

Mercury and Sugar Free Candy

GOOD NEWS: Lamictal went generic! Now, instead of paying at least sixty dollars a month for it, it's ten! I win the race!

Today went ok. I had 23 samples, which isn't too bad...the other analysts think it's too much but it doesn't bother me as long as everything runs smoothly. BUT, after my 23 samples, I had another 14 because every month at my company the water from every faucet has to be tested for heavy metals, and, oh, look, that's my job. OH WELL. It wasn't a problem. The problem was, the mercury AA didn't want to play nice today. I checked everything and replaced the tubing and everything, and it still didn't work. I thought maybe it was something to do with my prep work, but after about an hour of messing around with it, it just all of a sudden started to play nice. Everything came out just as it should, so I'm sure I'm prepping right.

Last night I took Nyquil, since the last few nights I haven't been able to sleep. I felt terrible this morning, since it doesn't wear off for me in six hours like most people. For me, it's more like 12-14 hours. So, about eleven this morning I started to feel not dead. I had to take a break this morning and run to the gas station and get a diet Dr. Pepper (mmm, favorite) to help wake me up. You can't be messing with concentrated acids and be sleepy. Bad mix.

The Atkins diet is hard because I crave carbs. Mostly, I just really want a biscuit. I had a dream about biscuits the other night. The diet is easy in one sense: I have a problem with portion control. Instead of seeing Oreos and thinking, oh, I'll just have one, I have twelve. So, on this diet, I know that if I take even one bite of forbidden food the whole diet will crash, so I just don't. And there are cravings, but no temptations. However, I do have a sweet tooth so I have bought stuff to make low-carb fudge and the other day I tried to make low-carb chocolate mousse, but I whipped it too long and it turned into chocolate butter. But, I have bought some sugar-free candies (which are meant for diabetics, but some of them are ok for this diet, too), like Yorks and chocolate covered caramels. HAPPY DAY!

Right now I am listening to the soundtrack for Prince Caspian, and it makes me so happy. I grew up with the stories in the Chronicles of Narnia, and I was so afraid that when they started making them into movies that they would butcher them. They didn't! They did such an amazing job! I know that some people were disappointed that they changed the storyline of Caspian, but as long as I look at them as different stories, I don't mind. The music is beautiful, they chose perfect actors and actresses, and the costumes and computer imagery...wow!

I better get some sleep. Work is early. I don't like early. Boo.

Atkins and KBr

So I am getting into the rhythm at work. Monday I was a little out of it so I made a few mistakes but other than that everything turned out splendidly. Today I did all my stuff and was done a little early, so I read some literature about a patented way to measure percent chelation in a chelated mineral sample using an ICP and an FTIR. The problem is, we don't have the right equipment to use with our FTIR. We would need a die set, press, amalgamator, and the inner setup that allows for the use of KBr pellets. So, my task is to find a way to make it work without these extras, and I'm thinking it isn't going to work. Oh, well, something to work on while my 5 zillion samples run through the graphite furnace.

That is a very nerdy paragraph.

I'm on a regular sleep schedule now and I think that combined with the new diet (Atkins, or some personal variation thereon) is giving me a lot more energy. And, I got my logic puzzles in the mail yesterday so I am energetic and sharp as a tack. I could do those for hours. Actually, yesterday I did.

So I'm eating weird, since that's the definition of Atkins. It isn't so bad. Atkins makes some products that are portable, so I can take a shake or a bar to work for lunch. I also got lots of sugar free sodas, some sugar free candy, and string cheese. I love it. I did a test, and I'm already in ketosis, so I should start seeing some weight loss soon. I hope I lose a million.

New Job

So, I now have a new job. My company manufactures chelated minerals for use in nutritional supplements. I work in the quality control testing lab as "Analytical Scientist".

So yesterday was my first day. It was a little hectic, seeing as I had to learn how to use two new instruments, one of which didn't work so we spent about an hour trying to get it to work, and of course a whole day of new routines is just a lot. I am training with a guy named Maynard. He's really funny because he walks around trashing people all day. He's totally kidding, which is why it's ok and funny and I don't think he's just some jerk. Anyway, I'm to be his replacement, so I have to learn everything I possibly can in the next few weeks before he skips off to grad school.

Today was a bit better but still crazy because the first day Maynard just showed everything to me and explained what, why, how, etc. Today he made me do all of it, which is fine, except he kept saying "OK what comes next?" and sometimes I got it right and sometimes I just had to smile and say "I don't know what button to push." But I wrote everything down today and I can review it tonight and make a list so I know exactly what all I need to do tomorrow. He isn't going to be there tomorrow, so I will be on my own. My supervisor will be there in case I have questions, but mostly I'm alone. I think I'll do ok, unless something superbad happens.

I like it there so far. The only thing is, I'm not used to standing all day since my last few jobs have been quite sedentary, so my feet are killing me. After yesterday I thought that if I wore my shoes with the squishy inserts they would hurt less, but apparently I was quite wrong. I'll probably get used to it.

I'm so glad tomorrow is Friday. I worked all last weekend since I had the paperwork mountain, so it'll be nice to have a weekend. Speaking of paperwork, Andrew called me AGAIN and said, well, we found more papers, so you should do them for us. And I had the satisfaction of saying, NOPE! I got a new job! I win!


I've been toying with the idea of going on Atkins again. I would have to be super careful about it though, I don't know if my stomach could handle it. Maybe if I did it with more broccoli. I just really want to lose about 50 pounds.


Anyway. I'm off.