Sunday, May 30, 2010

Today I visited an apartment complex...the only one who's really seemed interested in meeting my needs. The gal in the office was absolutely sweet and helpful. The apartment is a one-bedroom (I was hoping to find a 2-bedroom, but they only have availability for some on the third floor and I can't do that). There was a great amount of storage for an apartment. The living room was good sized. The kitchen was kinda' small and outdated (with the exception of new and somewhat cool blue counter tops). The bedroom seemed small. The tub/shower was good sized and there was the perfect place for the litter box under the huge amount of bathroom counter-space. The buildings are older than me, so they are a little bit rough. No laundry room in the apartment. Would have to wander down the hall to a creepy little $1.50/load laundry "facility". Don't like that idea. And the patio was tiny and not enclosed, so I wouldn't be able to let Al wander. She is going to find out if I could put up a little temporary "fence" to solve that problem.

I definitely have more looking to do. She said all properties under that management company allow dogs, so I think I will start there.

I'm sitting outside. Pretty breezy. My school stuff is flapping all over. I'll go in when my battery dies or it's time to prep for supper. I'm going to grill some steaks tonight for Sandra, Branden, and myself. Jello's already in the fridge. :-)

I sang in church all morning. I think it went well. It was freezing in there! I had goosebumps the whole time!

I've been having a lot of trouble with my right arm and hand. So far today it has been tolerable. The elbow is worse than the hand and luckily I don't type with my elbow...but the pain has a tendency to move down my arm and vice versa, so hopefully it will hold out between work and school. That has me very nervous.

Speaking of work...I start on Tuesday. I'm somewhat nervous about it. Haven't had to follow a schedule in a long time, so that will take some getting used to again. Then there's the hour or so drive each way every day. That could take a serious toll on me physically. And there's school to take care of and an apartment (or something) to find so I can get that drive shortened. I'm still going to do the music director thing, so I also have to consider the drive to church. Lots to think about.

And on the music director front...I worked with Joyce Saturday to figure out what I would take over when. I will be starting with the contemporary worship services come about the end of August. That means I will be working with Pastor to find and select music. I will also be working with vocalists and accompanists to get ready to lead new and newer songs. That should be interesting. Then, about the end of the year when they start planning music for the choir for January through summer of 2011, I will start helping and then taking over that part as well. Sometime during all of this I plan to take some courses to refresh my memory of the technical side of music (music theory and directing) so I feel more prepared for taking over directing the choir by next fall (2011). It will be a very gradual process. They will start paying me when I start working on the contemporary services. We (Joyce and I) still need to talk to the elders to let them know what we came up with. Not sure if they will be cool with the long time frame, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

My work with the census is officially done. I turned in all my stuff today. It is nice to have that responsibility off my shoulders, but I will definitely miss the really awesome people I worked with. I hope the people at the new job are as nice to be around as this group was - especially the boss!

Well, I think that pretty much catches everyone up. I really should be working on homework.

More Apartment Hunting...

It sucks! Have looked for apartments, townhouses, condos, duplexes, houses that will work. Have resigned myself to the fact there is nothing to rent between Omaha and Lincoln. Can't find anything on the Northeast side of Lincoln that will take pets like Samson. Have found about 5 places on the Southwest side of Omaha that take dogs. Still waiting to hear back from two of them.
I worked on the budget some today to try to guess what I can afford. It's looking grim. I don't know what I'm going to do.

Apartment hunting

Haven't had to apartment hunt in a long time. Kinda' sucks...especially when you are looking for places in small towns in the boonies. They just don't advertise on the internet. So far it seems like all I can find are either all the way in Omaha or all the way in Lincoln. If anything comes up more in the middle they don't allow dogs...or dogs Samson's size. Don't really want to go anywhere without Samson. Also, I haven't found any that would allow more than 2 pets. I'm starting to think my kitty, Dusty is going to be staying at the farm indefinitely.

Well...the Lord will provide, they say. We'll see what happens. Surely something will turn up.

FINALLY!!

After more than a year I finally was offered (and accepted) a job!!

I will be working for Nelnet (of student loan fame, for those of you who aren't sure who they are). It will be very similar to what I did for Comtech, but it will be on the HR side of things instead of the production side. The people I met who will be training me and with whom I also will be working seem very nice. I was comfortable from the minute I walked into the office and wasn't even very nervous! That never happens!! Everyone there was smiling and seemed happy to be there - even on a Thursday. I go in tomorrow to do paperwork and my start date will be June 1. I am excited, somewhat nervous, and also wondering what I have gotten myself into by going back to working on gov't contracts when I wasn't really having that much fun doing that in the first place. Sounds like there will be a slightly higher level of responsibility once I get settled into the job, too. I will be making less than I was at Comtech, but good for Nebraska and more than they originally quoted. It will be hourly, so I'll be able to get some overtime pay if I have overtime hours. They are also willing to work with my school schedule and give me time off when I fly to Florida and drive back with Chris when he moves here. The benefits package also looks perfect for my needs.

Oh...and did I mention the job is in Lincoln? Downtown, to be precise. So...I'll be looking for a place somewhere between here and there. I want to keep the music director thing at church since that is such a passion of mine. Also, I think being any farther away than that from my nieces will make me more than miserable! Mom says I should go to Greenwood so she can buy chocolates when she visits me because they are cheaper at the factory than in the stores. (Priorities, you know.) Everyone else I talk to says "Ashland," so I will be trying to find time to drive out there and scout around a little bit. No Wal-Mart, though. That will be depressing. I will go through withdrawl not having a Wal-Mart down the road. As "terrible" as it sounds to have to commute 30-45 minutes either to work or church, I'm not really bothered by the idea. When I lived in Phoenix I drove about 30 minutes to church, 30 minutes to work, 30 minutes to friends' homes..."Well ain't this place a geographical oddity!" ("O Brother, Where Art Thou") Hopefully I can find a similarly odd location. :)

As for the census...still working with that. I only had to go out once and that was to an apartment complex that was still under construction. Piece of cake! As of yesterday I don't have to go out at all. "They" (as in my boss's boss's boss) are "disbanding" and/or reassigning members of the group I am with. It is pretty much over for our group once the team has finished the work they currently have. People can transfer to other groups at that time if they want to do so. We are not expecting it to last much more than maybe the middle of next week. Might stretch out to Memorial Day, but we doubt it ("we" being my boss and me). So, the timing is perfect!

I think that pretty much sums up and fills in everything for everyone. I'm in for an interesting end of May and month of June! Perhaps July will see my life finally getting to some semblance of normal again...after more than a year!!

Yet another update...

Have to go to a census meeting in about 20 minutes. It might be a fun one because we will be reconciling binders full of addresses to great big maps. It's the kind of thing I enjoy. (Yes. I'm weird. Just remember, some of you, it probably runs in the family.)

Received a phone call from Nelnet (they do student loans and have a contract with the U.S. Dept of Education) Tuesday. She did a little phone interview and then set me up for a two-hour face-to-face interview Thursday. I thought that went really well. A few hours later she called to set up another phone interview - this time between me and her boss-boss who works out of the Denver office. Had that interview this morning. Not feeling so confident now. He says I should hear something early next week. The job would be in Lincoln. Commence the nail-biting until we hear something.

My presentation for Linguistics received an "A"! I am very excited about that. :) Have the final test Monday including a take-home 750+ word essay and the paper. I have basic format and some notes for the essay and paper, but have yet to get any serious work done. Meanwhile, I have to find more resources for my Master's project. This week we had to create a survey, send it out, and then we have to write a summary of the results. I finally got the survey sent out last night. Here's hoping people answer it soon. Those are due Sunday. I still have the 4 discussion question responses to do as well. They are due tomorrow.

So much to do and so little time! Wish the weather would make up its mind! Today is beautiful. I'd like to keep it. :)

Brief update...

...because I'm exhausted!

Census work started with training last week (with the exception of fingerprinting training on the 14th of April). I was chosen to be a "CLA" or "Crew Leader Assistant" - which means I get to collect paperwork, review paperwork, deliver paperwork, review more paperwork, assist the CL ("crew leader") in other ways if necessary such as taking the paperwork to his boss (that's not happened yet, but will next week). Tonight he told me there is an opportunity for overtime if I want to go down to the local office and help clean up forms. Some people don't have good handwriting apparently, and the computer can't read them. He's not sure how long that will be available. We'll see if the schedule allows. The office is open 24/7 he says, so I could do it overnight if I wanted to. Don't expect me to be that crazy! :-p He also said I did a great job and that he told his boss that and that I was a good candidate to be a crew leader if his boss ever asked him to suggest one of us for the position. I don't think I could handle that. CLA-ing is "fun" enough! I have lots of meetings and have my own binder full of addresses to visit. I think there's plenty to keep me out of trouble.

Speaking of having plenty to do, I started my second attempt at that class for my master's project on May 4th (Tuesday). I'm trying not to freak out. The instructor seems to be cool...but she hasn't really helped me yet. I'm getting worried. Hopefully she give me some sort of direction tomorrow. I only have until Monday to get this thing right. Otherwise I'm in the same boat I was last time. I don't like that idea at all!

On top of that, a couple weeks ago after choir I was asked by a couple elders if I would consider taking over (after a "training" period) the music director position at church. I said 'yes' of course. So far we've only managed to meet once. My schedule has been so hectic! Right now I'm just helping her plan music for summer. That is one of the things she wants to give me first. The other is helping other vocalists learn the "contemporary" music so I don't end up leading songs every Sunday (which I almost am now). In fact, I really should check with her one more time to make sure I know which songs I'm leading on which Sundays. I have some things written down, but I'm not sure I trust my notes. Anyway, I'm really excited about it. Yet another example of God putting people where they need to be. It won't be a full-time job, but there will be modest pay involved and it is something I love to do. Eventually I will be directing the choir, but that's a long way off yet, I think. Their biggest problem is finding an accompanist for the contemporary service.

If all that wasn't fun enough, I still have to keep looking for work and dealing with the whold "unemployment" thing every Sunday. Only a couple weeks of that money is left unless they give me another extension.

And, my friend Chris is moving to Nebraska in June...only a few weeks away! Crazy, crazy, crazy!

My linguistics class ends on the 17th with one last test...oh, and a paper. I keep forgetting about the paper.

Choir goes until the end of May and then it's the random quartet and frequent song-leading and random solos for me. Choir will restart in August. Auditions for "Scrooge" are in August. My master's degree should be done in August. I don't know the exact start date, but my next class for my English degree starts at the end of August or beginning of September - not sure which.

...This is going to be a crazy summer...