Thursday: almost Friday

Yay! It's almost Friday. I'll admit, this week hasn't been that bad. But it is rather depressing packing everything up for the possibility that it'll never be looked at again. The tension is high because everyone has their own idea for how things need to be done (which will really, really matter if we start working again down the road) and because there is a limited amount of time to do things.

The weather has turned warm though, which has been wonderful.

The layoffs were on Tuesday. Neither Ben nor I nor any of our friends got laid off, but we both know people that did, which is sad.

Last night I was in rough shape...two cankersores and two foot owies. They all seem to be better today.

Tuesday: movie night

Tonight we had a movie night with our bible study and watched "yes man." It was actually a pretty funny movie. And everyone brought snacks and we chatted a while afterwards...it was fun.

Monday: rumors, take 4

Today, rumors were dispelled as the stop work came through. It actually came through on Friday, but everyone was nice enough not to tell me over the weekend.

Everyone, at least in my small department, seemed in good spirits though. We sat around until 2pm, at which point we finally got some direction. It looks like we are going to have two weeks to close everything up and get documentation in order, and I expect we'll need most of that time. My tech lead thinks it'll be easy to place us in other jobs for now, although my manager seemed rather silent today (silent as in not around) so it's hard to know for sure.

In some ways, this might work out for the best...management doesn't want to get rid of us in case we get to go back to work, but if it is a termination then we will hopefully all have other jobs that we're already doing to get us through this uncertain time.

Also, in some ways it's nice that it happened so everyone can stop being on an emotional roller coaster.

Saturday: annivesary weekend day 2

Today was a very relaxing day. Our plan was to read by the two finger lakes that we were seeing this trip, and we did read at one. But it was so windy and cloudy that if you sat still for long you quickly got cold. So we kept changing our location until finally the sun came out for 15 min. Then we decided it was time for lunch.

Friday: happy annivesary!

Today we celebrated our 5th anniversary by taking off from work and then going up to a bed and breakfast.



On our way to a nice dinner we saw this sign! We tried getting a pic with both of us in it, but it didn't quite work out.

Thursday: good rumors

Today there were a few good rumors for once. The rumor is that the stop work was a false rumor that got leaked, and for some reason people thought this one was valid.

I proceeded to get the rumor weed song stuck in my head for the rest of the day.

"I'm a rumor weed
(he's a rumor weed)
I'm a rumor weed
(he's a rumor weed)
A tiny little story is all i need to make a big mess
( he's a rumor weed)

(So what is a rumor)
Starts as a story
maybe it's true, maybe not
but once you repeat it
it's hard to defeat it
now look at the mess that you've got" ~The W's

And in case you're keeping score, which I am, the optimists in my group are up 2-0 to the pessimists.

Wednesday: work, what else

I've been in kind of a downer mood this week. There are rumors flying everywhere of a stop work for our program, although exactly what that would entail is unknown. I've been getting used to the fact that it might happen and leaning on God and such, but I was about ready to smack the next person that asked me about it today. I can be ok when it's just in the back of my mind, but start getting depressed when people start talking about it. And last time it seemed more sure and it didn't happen!

I also need to remember that a complete stop-work doesn't mean a job-loss, although that is maybe the hardest thing to remember.

And so my Biblical heroes of the day are Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from Daniel 3...
"16 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."
My version: My God can keep me employed. But even if I lose my job, I will still serve him.

Monday: 40 hours?

Today an e-mail was sent out telling us to only work 40 hours/week. This doesn't really mean anything except that it might be harder to get work done...it isn't a good or bad sign right now.

Last time this happened though our manager told us to ignore it. I'm wondering if that will happen again and wouldn't be surprised.

Sunday: Happy Mother's Day

Friday: get-together and star trek

Well, some of the mechanics and engineers got together at a bar after work yesterday after work. It was a lot of fun. We played some pool, some fusball, and just had a good time.

Then after dinner Ben, Dusty, Laura and I went to see Star Trek. It was really good. Funny parts, scary parts (Ben's hand almost got broken because I squeezed it too hard), and exciting parts.

Thursday

Hmm, it's already Thursday and I haven't written in a while...

Work has been fine.

The president's proposed budget removes my project. :( It made for a little stress this afternoon, but I kept reminding myself that God is in control. And listened to some songs too. And took a nap once I got home, and that always helps!

Ben cleaned his desk today, including removing all the Flurry hair, so the next thing Flurry did was sit there. She never sits there.

Sunday: He hasn't failed me yet

Deep thought #2: God hasn't failed me yet.

Jess and I were talking a few weeks ago when all the job stuff started happening, and one of the things I remember hearing/saying is that God hasn't failed us yet. While this week has been a good week for me, I was looking back at all the other stressful times in life and reflecting on that statement...

1) My freshman roommate and I had differences. God brought a new roommate into my life for the second semester.
2) Mom died. I still don't really have a good reason, but God didn't fail anyone in my family. We have grown and changed but pulled through ok. Personally, He put Amy and Ben in my life to support me.
3) Ben and I needed a job after grad school. God provided a job for both of us.
4) Ben and I needed a place to stay in NY. God provided a place to stay. Just long enough for us and then for our friends to stay, but there was a place.
5) Various house things. We have a house and appliances.
6) Changing phones. This was oddly stressful for me, but in the end the phone numbers switched correctly and we didn't have to pay the extra fee.
7) The announcement that the program was going to have a stop work. I know I prayed that it wasn't true, but by that time I was rather doubtful. But the announcement wasn't true and I still have a project.

Saturday: Flurry

Wednesday: another good day

Today was another good day! I had an inspection of the last thing that I signed off yesterday and only minor problems were found - all fixable- so that's awesome. I was able to get several other people started on some of my stuff today too, which is exciting.

In other news, here is an interesting article

Tuesday: a good day

I'm actually going to start with the good from yesterday. Sometimes I get so caught up with the bad/stressful things that I forget the good things...my promotion was announced on the work website. Everyone seems to look at these because they're fun to look at...you never know who you know that may have gotten promoted. Anyway, I received a lot of"congrats" and "you really deserved it" and so forth. It was really nice to hear. And Ben got several congrats for me over in his department. I guess it helps to be the only ones with our last name in the area.

Then today. I got the projects done that I didn't get done yesterday. I got one tiny project done that I wasn't expecting to get done. (And when I say I got them done in this context it means I directed them...I didn't do the actual work. Kudos go to the mechanics that have to put up with me.) So I signed all three things off, which means I have ALL my stuff signed off for this first aircraft. Yippee!

Then we divided up girls/boys for Bible Study and that was good. I usually feel more like talking in a smaller group, so everyone seemed to have some good prayer requests that came out.

Monday: a stressful day

Today was stressful. I knew it would be due to what I was trying to do in a short amount of time. It was a better day than it could have been, but there were other things that could have gone better too. Hopefully by tomorrow the work issues will be resolved, at least for a few days.

We also found out that 5% of the workforce is going to be laid-off/transferred. Ben and I don't think we'll be in this group, but we also would be surprised if this was the end of the layoffs. We've been doing a lot of thinking, but not a lot of decisioning. :) We'll find out more Tuesday/Wednesday.

Saturday: various things

Today's post is a collection of things that I meant to mention throughout the week but didn't because I was busy/stressed/etc.

I have a new niece! Scarlet Grace was born early Wednesday.


My dad was featured in a nice article in the Hope Connection flier. You can read it here. I also really like the picture of him.

Owego was voted the coolest small town in America. I think it is because of our road construction:


My quilt is still going:

Wednesday: ups and downs

Oh, today was an up and down day. The down was job stuff. The up was that I got a ton of gifts for making Smart Suggestions at work: a cool mouse pad, a desk picture frame/clock, a car visor, and a garment bag. Some of which may be gag gifts in the future...

The records department also started putting up files in .pdf format. Previously the loaded every page as a separate file and it was in a .tif format and they were about 30MB. All of which lead to a lot of frustration by everyone because it took about 30 minutes to print your average document. But now I can do it in 30 seconds and the zoom works! I was pumped.

Monday: dentist

I went to the dentist today and it was one of the best appointments I think I've ever had. It only took 25 minutes, no cavities, the sonicator thingy didn't hurt my ears, pain was at a minimum, etc.

Yay.

Friday: toes and moving

I had a toe appointment today. I was a little on the edge about getting some nails removed again, but then two days ago one was bad so I think I will get them removed. It might be a bit yet as the recovery time might need to coincide with what's happening at work.

We also helped move some friends into their new house as they needed to move out at the last minute. It's a cute house that they moved into.

Thursday: better than expected

Well, I kind of dreaded going into work today based on yesterday. However, a lot of stuff got figured out the first hour or so that I was there...and some of it made me so excited! It was a rather dumb reason to be excited, yet I was. Then I got several complements today on work that I've done recently, so that was nice. And then some work was done and my estimated time was a few hours under what the actuals were, but not too bad.

Ben and I are raiding in a new instance and we just got the first boss down on the first try. It was rather exciting!

Wednesday: work

Well, we're back at work. The day went ok until the end, when it stopped going ok. Oh well, something to deal with tomorrow I guess. I think Ben is still working too, which is sad, but it at least sounds like stuff is going ok.

Oh shoot. I had a deep thought I was going to post but forgot it. It was brief, but good. Maybe next time.

Tuesday: home

We made it home without significant problems. The flight to Detriot was bumpier than most flights, and by the end I was feeling slightly sick. The feeling left pretty quickly once we were in the terminal though.

Flurry was happy to see us, and a big patch for Warcraft just came out so we're enjoying playing that.

Monday: wonderful life

Today I got to eat donuts while being in the pool. Could life get better?

Sunday: Happy Easter!

Happy Easter. We went to a church down here and one of the reasons I love going to churches in different places is to be reminded that there are people all over the world that love God.

Besides that it was a nice relaxing day.

Saturday: Florida

We traveled to Florida yesterday without any problems! The flight leaving Detroit was about 20 minutes late, but that isn't so bad. Yesterday we just hung out around the house, but today we went on a boat ride to get lunch. On the way there we saw a dolphin jumping! That was cool. A little later we saw a dolphin just surfacing, but it was a lot closer and I was able to get a good picture.




Ashlyn and I also painted our toes last night. I found out later that it was Ashlyn's first time, but we both enjoyed our pretty toes.
In other news, on Thursday we had a department meeting with my manager who said he is working on finding other jobs at the site for us should the program be canceled...obviously if there is a site mandated something he can't change that, but it is nice to know that he is thinking about it to try and let us keep our jobs.

Thursday: memories

Today is the 7th anniversary of Mom's death. It's been so long...so many things have changed. This year I was really hit by how much I took her for granted.

Well, that first month or so after she died I wrote down as many memories as I could think of...there were several I repeated, like how she would pull her turtlenecks over her mouth when she was cold and when we were camping in the UP she would pile on the beach blankets to stay warm. But there were others like how her e-mails to me in college always started with the day of the week (ah ha! That's where I got it.) and how we would move her decorative animals in the bathroom and she would get mad and how the decorative turtles would migrate inside during the winter and outside during the summer.

Tuesday: my job II

I still have my job!

There were some e-mail sent out last night that said there was a stop-work order on the program, so everyone went into the meeting expecting to not have anything else to do. Well, apparently someone who thought they could stop the program tried, but the person who can actually stop the program wouldn't. So what we're seeing now is the middle of budget debates, which we usually don't see. And the program has a lot of support in congress and the white house. I expect/hope to keep this job until at least September.

So we're plugging away, trying to show people that we can actually make progress.

Monday: my job

Well I think my project is probably going to be canceled or put on hold tomorrow. There's been a lot of talk that the current project was canceled, and we have a big meeting at 8am. Since a lot of you will probably hear about it, here is my thought process:

*The site tries really hard not to lay people off, so I still expect to have a job at 9am tomorrow.
*I'm not in a department that is only the helicopter, so that might help.
*I had an important meeting with the customer tomorrow at 8am. It was rescheduled for 9am (not canceled!) which I take to be a good sign.
*Ben and I redid our finances on Saturday and can survive on one income.
*It might be nice to go back to working 40-44 hours/week.
*I don't actually know what is going on...maybe it's better than expected.
*God's taken care of me financially so far, so why stop now?

But I'm still a bit stressed.

Sunday: impromtu grilling

We went to a last-minute cook out with friends from church today. What a great idea! Once the sun went down it was rather cold, so we played four-on-the-couch. The girls won both times with the same order. That should count for about twenty wins.

Sunday: waking up

So I set my alarm for my nap today. Ben happened to come down between the third and forth buzzes so I yelled for his help, "I can't get up! Nicely help me get up!" meaning, tell me I can go back to sleep.

He goes to the kitchen. Ooo...chocolate is coming. "How long till your alarm goes off again?" "One minute." "Give me your phone." So I give him my phone. He puts it on the dresser with some chocolate. "But how am I supposed to go up and get it?" He consoled me with a piece of chocolate and walked out of the room as the alarm went off.

I was so preoccupied with the chocolate I had forgotten that I'd actually have to get up to turn the alarm off. I realized this rather quickly as the annoying sound wouldn't stop. It got me up. But I'm not happy about getting up.

Friday: sleep

So I think I worked a record number of hours this week. I (think) I also managed to not be a zombie around the house in the evenings. Both of these equal crashing last night.

I took a nap right after I got home. I almost feel asleep again going to the restaruant. I made it through half a movie, and was out again. I was awake for a little longer, but then sleep claimed me again. Ben made me wake up to go home, where I feel asleep for the final time of the night.

Thursday: living room

The living room like it was...
The living room with a simulated two couches ( just trying it to see if we like it or if it feels too crowded.)

We haven't decided on much yet, but we did decide on the fabric.

Wednesday

Well, I worked a lot again today. This is one of the weeks where I don't really feel like I'll ever be caught up, but I do at least feel like I'm making progress which is nice.

I went to a girl's night out with someone from work and her friends. It was fun. We just sat around and ate and talked. Well, I didn't really talk because I don't the first time I meet people, but I've decided that's ok.

Tuedsay

Not much new over here, although both Ben and I have been working a lot. The thing that I was frustrated with on Friday got resolved yesterday in two ways...it got delayed and a slight wording addition. Both of which relieved my stress level a ton.

Sunday Sunday

Let's see. Ben played drums again, so during second service I got my hair cut. I really like how it turned out. I might even try to style it in a similar manner. Maybe.
Ben and I also looked at living room furniture after lunch. We saw some stuff we liked and brought home sofa cloth samples to look at. This place is nice because they will do custom entertainment centers, so everything could fit well.

Saturday: nice day/ bonfire

Today was a nice day out. We didn't do much outside, although I did walk through our little forest and pick up some trash. Oh, we also had some windows open.

We went to a bonfire tonight.

Friday: work and intestines

Well, I finally found out that something I've been waiting for at work for over a year finally came through. Yay! I'm not really sure it changes anything right now though.

I had a very frustrating time with someone at work.

But after work I went home and took a nap. Naps cure all stress.

We went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. Laura was able to join us!

I got these killer cramps afterwards so we canceled our plans of renting a movie. I've been having intestinal problems almost all week after dinner...always to different degrees and only after dinner. I'm not sure what's going on but if it keeps up over the weekend I'll go to the doctor I guess.

Wednesday: joyful day

So yesterday at Bible Study Jess prayed that I would have a joyful day today (it hadn't gotten much better since last week) and it was! I got a nice e-mail from a co-worker, someone else was willing to do something without being cajoled, and other stuff was figured out.

After work we had a group "party" at a local bar/pizza place. That was a lot of fun too...it was nice to see people outside of work a bit.

Tuesday: chicken and rice soup

Ben and I went out to dinner before Bible Study and he ordered chicken and rice soup. It came, and I got a sip...yum. Well, then Ben found mushrooms in it so I got to eat it! Then Bible Study was prayer and game night, and we played a round of gestures. My favorite was the flamico dancer...we had had a ventriloquist a bit earlier so I thought it was this guy dancing and stomping with puppets (instead of castanets).

Monday: Happy Birthday Aaron

Today was Aaron's birthday! We had a small surprise party for him...Here are the surprise people hiding.

Sunday: happy spring?

It snowed today. Not really unexpected given that it is only March, but still a bit sad.

And what I know you've all been anxiously waiting for...the four basic quilt blocks and another Flurry pic.

Saturday: Welcome Spring party

We had a few friends over for a "Welcome Spring" party.

We grilled and had a picnic inside. Note the wild animal that visited us during our party.


It ended up being cool, but still nice enough to play our outdoor spring games. We played two games of croquet and some frisbee golf and a walk around the loop. Then we ended up having dinner (pizza) and playing Shadows over Camelot too. It was fun to be with them for such a significant part of the day...we haven't done that in a while.

So in Shadows we played with a traitor for the first time, and I was it. I was hoping I would get it, but didn't think I would. Anyway, it was rather stressful, pretending to be good but really being bad. Ben found me out near the end of the game, but the rest of the people didn't realize. And I was super close to being able to use the white cards against them, and possibly winning. Oh well, I guess it's good that the good guys won.

Friday: the week

Well, I realized that I hadn't posted in a while. Here's a quick synopsis...

Tuesday: work - blah. Small group party were all the boys hid in the half bath at one point and all the girls hid outside staring into a window.

Wednesday: work - blah.

Thursday: work - goodish. Ben and I went on a date to see Watchmen. It was...dark, but interesting. Could have been a little shorter.

Friday: work - blah. Hung out with Dusty. Laura is still busy at work. :(

Monday: quilt

Flurry trying out the fabric to make sure it is good for lazing around on
The colors

The first squares put together.

Sunday: frisbee

Today was a beautiful day! Clay and Jess called at 4 and we ended up playing ultimate frisbee with a group of friends. We probably ended up only playing ultimate for 20ish minutes though because we were all really out of shape. Then we played a nice game of frisbee golf around the playground (which was rather swampy).

I also got some cloth for my quilt and even cut a few pieces and sewed them together. Pictures tomorrow because I also finally got our picture from church and so I thought I'd post that since it is Sunday after all. I think it turned out pretty cute.

Saturday: happy Pi day!

This year for Pi day we wore circles and Pis,
Ate Pie,
played poker,
and generally enjoyed circles and spheres.

Friday: promotion

I got a promotion! Woot! My manager announced it at the group meeting, surprising myself and the group. I mean, I've been expecting/hoping for it for a while, but after my last conversation with him I really thought it would be a little bit longer. Ben and Dusty and Laura (in spirit) went out for a nice dinner to celebrate.

Thursday

Hmm. I was again late at work. It was weird...Ben needed to stay late these two nights too. It worked well.

I was thinking that this has been a good week hours-wise (as in a normal amount) and then I realized I was just working on the other side than normal. So I'm only a few hours (2-3 hrs) less than normal at this point of the week.

Unfortunately, that's about all of the exciting news. Hmm...Maybe more news than exciting.

Wednedsay

Hmm...it's been longer between posts than I like. All the days sort of feel the same though. I have been "sleeping in" this week though, because I don't feel quite as out of control at work as I have the last several weeks. Although I guess today was a long day again because there is a window between 3:30-7:30pm that I have to work on some specific stuff, so I was there until 7 tonight with that.