Wild

Wild, wild week. Busy. Exhilarating. Challenging. Sad. Happy.

Let's see - where to start. We had busy days with jobs and school and busy evenings with kids and church. I'll try to hit the highlights documented here for all eternity.

Wednesday evening, we attended a meeting at church about the kids being confirmed. Classes start in January. For H. (8th grade), classes are every Wednesday for 3 hours and every Sunday for 1.25. WOW. But he will be confirmed in May, 2007. B. got off easy - there are only a couple high school students that are wanting to be confirmed so the pastor is allowing them to attend the 'adult' class - one Friday evening and one Saturday. That's it. Guess they figure if the young men are coming to church every weekend, they don't need as much 'book lessons' as the younger kids? Anyway, that's the plan. Makes no sense to me in terms of the difference between the 'kid' confirmation process and the 'adult' confirmation process...but a lot of things about this church often don't make sense and it all works out OK. The new pastor is great but I get the feeling that he's wanting/trying to 'change' things - he talks in very broad terms and things don't feel really 'nailed down' procedurally. But it's been fine and we have no reason to think it won't work out. We like the new pastor a lot and he seems very 'impressed' with the boys. So that's nice to hear.

On Wednesday, we had our regularly scheduled Town Meeting - first Wednesday of every month. Mandatory attendance for faculty and staff. And my boss came out into the audience with a microphone, stood near my chair, took my hand and said 'follow me up on stage'. He then told folks that as they knew from his email, I was leaving - moving onto my new role as CBO in my kids district. He said that when they went out for my position, they were looking for someone who was good with numbers and proficient in many things. And he said 'and what we found was Mindy, who has done such a wonderful job for all of us. So I'd like to take this opportunity to thank her and to have all of you join me in thanking her'. And the entire auditorium of people stood up and gave me a standing ovation. It was so amazing. I was so overwhelmed. I put my hand over my mouth for a bit and then over my face for a bit - and I cried. And then I composed myself and took the microphone from him and said 'thank you for making my 4 1/2 years here so amazing. I will miss all of you very much and I'm sorry to be leaving - but it IS a really great job and it's TWO MILES FROM MY HOUSE'. And I thanked everyone again and then said 'and I have a couple 'parting gifts' I'd like to give out'. And I had put backstage (good planning, huh?) a box which held hard hats. And I explained that recently, my boss had tasked me with finding hard hats 'cuz we have an acute shortage. And we're going to have a lot of new buildings (one is almost finished and doing the walk throughs is what highlighted the hard hat shortage) and we needed more. So I pulled out bright pink hard hats for our 3 female Senior administrators and presented them to the 3 of them. And everyone loved them! And then I said 'but Bob is way too cool for an ordinary hard hat'. And I pulled out a Stetson hard hat - tan color. And the place went nuts. And THEN I pulled out a 2nd one, gray, and explained 'he needs two colors to match his suits'. Bob gave me a gigantic hug and a kiss on the forehead and said 'I'll miss you'. And I know he will. And I will miss him and everyone. It is honestly such an amazing place to work. The whole Town Meeting experience made me sad all over again - but I reminded myself over the rest of the week that there will be a lot of changes there in the next year and who knows what it will be like going forward? And I have a new group of really neat people to get to know - and if I end up hating my new job (which isn't likely), I will still be only a few minutes from home and only have 9 years to work. I can do anything for 9 years.

And the winding down continues - one week left. I have so much to do. I am planning to work tomorrow. And may even work next weekend, 'after' my official last day but that's just less vacation time I'll have to dock for my time off the week of the 18th. And I am really, REALLY trying to get things nailed down before I leave. I made a lot of progress this week and will get a lot more done in the upcoming days. I hope.

Thursday was quite an adventure. I had some tests at UCSF Medical Center - so I got up at 4AM to do the 'prep' (I'll spare you the details), left the house at 6, got to BART in Pleasanton around 7:15, was on the train into the city by 7:30, in the city hailing a cab by 8:14 and at the office (via cab) by 8:30. The cab ride was 'wild' as most cab rides are - I didn't look out the front window at all - I just stared out the sides. I had to argue with the driver that the building he was trying to drop me at was NOT the address I had given him. Thank goodness I had a map and had just looked at a street sign and knew I was on Sutter Street, not Post. So finally got there. Checked in and was in the waiting room when the fire alarms went off. The receptionist was very nice and said 'Mrs. M., I know this is a drill so technically, I can leave you here. But the alarm is really loud so if you'd like to evacuate with us, please follow me'. And I had a nice 'coffee break' out on Post street with the entire office of people - including the RN who was assisting with my procedure, so we had a brief 'consult' out on the sidewalk.

The procedures went well. I was amazed and a bit relieved to find out that a LOT of women have the kind of issues I've been having. And I was amazed to see what they can 'do' in terms of assessing the workings of a persons 'poop functions'. Incredible. Good thing I gave up being modest upon having children. And while surgery is almost always what most OB/GYNs recommend, it is not the 'only' approach. The RN spent more time talking to me about my issues, and 'poop' in general and I got some good information and things to try to help the situation. AND the tests supported the no surgery approach - the muscles that the surgeon says are torn are actually intact and fine, though there are issues, created by childbirth and the two corrective surgeries I had last year. But they are in 'working order' and the Dr. at UCSF said she really didn't think a third surgery was going to make the situation that much better. So she sort of recommended against it but we'll see what the surgeon says when I see him on the 20th. I have a new fiber to try - very expensive but has twice as much of the kind of fiber I need as the cheaper, more commonly known brands. And I will be trying (still, always, forever, again) to modify my diet more. Seems like my entire life revolves around pooping (or not pooping, depending on the day). And I need to 'relearn' how to poop. To give myself plenty of time, not rush, etc. Fun, huh? So the no commute will be a big help - get up at my 'usual' time (6ish or earlier depending on when I wake up) and then have breakfast and give my system time to 'work'. Which I don't do enough now 'cuz I'm rushing out the door between 6:30 and 7 to get to to work in Livermore.

I'm glad to have the 'testing' over with. So many appointments all over the bay area. The nice thing though, was an excuse to visit San Francisco. I got to visit J. at work, meet some of his coworkers, see his office (really COOL set up and furniture and a nice 'look'. Really modern - IKEA like. I loved it!) and I also shopped a bit for some Christmas gifts at L'Occitane. Could have spent a FORTUNE there. But used restraint. J. called to say he was in a meeting and I told him 'call me back when you're done but you'd better hurry 'cuz the longer you take, the more it's going to cost us'.

I love SF. LOVE IT. And I think my introduction to cabs will free up my desire to go there more often. BART is so great and there are so many places to go - and it's all do-able with cabs. Call 415-333-3333 and a yellow cab will be there within two minutes. AND THEY ARE THERE IN TWO MINUTES and they call your cell phone to tell you your cab is here. And there it is! Great! If I could just get over the 'control freak' in me that can't handle not being behind the wheel. They are a scary bunch of drivers but they manage to get a lot of people to and from. So cabs it is!
We may take BART into the city for dinner with my sister and just take a cab to the restaurant. And maybe take a cab or two to shop a bit. LOVE post-Christmas shopping ESPECIALLY in San Francisco.

Got home after an exhausting day - needed a nap. But resisted 'cuz we didn't have any plans that evening (for the first time in a few nights) and then decided to take Dani to the vet - she was having 'issues' and it turns out she's got a cracked (down to the gum) back tooth that needs to come out. But they wanted to redo all the bloodwork, etc. (which came back fine - $250 worth of fine) before scheduling the procedure (planned now for the Friday before Christmas). So I took her in and on the way there, H. reminded me that he had to be back at school for his Winter Performance. I won't repeat the profanity that came out of my mouth. H. said 'nice, Mom'. I said 'sorry, Hunky (that's one of my many nicknames for him), but I'm really tired and Dad said we had NO plans for tonight and that's apparently not correct. So we leave Dani there while they do bloodwork and get an updated chest xray - then have J. pick her up on his way home while I got H. ready to go and out the door. Met H. & B. at school - B. saved seats (it's sure nice to live close enough to school that they can walk there) and waited for J. In the mean time, the vet called to say the xray machine was broken and they couldn't get the xrays. So I had to call J. to tell him to be sure NOT to pay for them. And that was a smart move 'cuz now we can wait awhile - why pay $200 more if we can wait on that. I crashed into bed around 9:30 and don't think I moved an inch until 4. Then dozed until 6.

So, that was the week. Received my first (and probably last, ever) standing ovation - how many jobs on the planet do you get a crowd of people giving you a standing ovation? And they're having a huge party for me next Thursday - that will be a pot luck lunch which I'm sure will be lots of fun!

Heading up to bed shortly. I need to catch up on some sleep.

Weekend activities to include: trimming the 12 foot Noble Fir in our living room. Wrapping some gifts. Shopping for more gifts. Getting cards ready. Tidying up the house. Assorted laundry. Etc.

Stay warm. It's stormy here. Cold, windy and a bit of rain.