I wish

I wish I had access to my photos on a computer that also had internet. I took the best picture of Ryan and Gus over the weekend.
The background was great - blue skies and prairie grass. Gus was even looking straight at the camera. Too bad I can't post it....
Sunday we took Gus to a wetland area a few miles south of town. It was a great day - a little windy but given the cloudy skies lately I have no complaints. We threw the dummy and let Gus play in the water. He was a muddy mess by the time we left, but he had a lot of fun. We did too - it was entertaining just watching him.
He's really catching on to retreiving. We threw a few blind ones - Gus had no idea where the dummy landed making him use his nose to figure out where it was. He's still just a puppy - one year old in a couple days actually - but he's doing really well.
It was a great afternoon. I'll post pictures when I get a chance.

you never really know

For all of you who are inquiring - the interview went well I think. They interviewed four or five people - I was the first. I feared my biggest competition to be another temp in the department who has been working here for five months already. I just heard she took a permanent position on another team within the department so no worries there. Now I'm wondering if another communications specialist interviewed to move laterally into that position to gain more knowledge about another team. But even if that's the case, it would provide an opening on another team! I should find out in 2-3 weeks if I got the job. Personally I think the interview went well, but you never really know about these things.

A different perspective

Recently I decided to start reading again - now that I can actually enjoy reading something other than a textbook. I just finished "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold. It was... bizzare in the best sort of way.
Written from the perspective of a young girl (13 or 14) watching the world from heaven after being murdered, it turns the typical murder plot line on its head. Susie watches as her parents relationship falls apart and her mother takes off. She sees her sister become the support holding her entire family together. She watches as her younger brother has a terrible time dealing with her death and his mother leaving. She watches over her father who has become obsessed with discovering his daughter's murderer and when he does there's no evidence to prove it.
She watches her crush and a random girl from school who she accidentally touched when she was transitioning to heaven.
Susie also shares what heaven is like - how her heaven is different from anyone else's. Eventually she meets all of the other women who died by the hand of the man who murdered her.
It's pretty graphic through out the book detailing the events surrounding Susie's death - so be cautious if you get squishy about that sort of thing.
It was incredibly creative and unique, giving the reader an idea of what it might be like after death. Hard to believe a book surrounded by such ominous darkness could end with a shred of light.
While there were parts that drug on and some parts seemed like the writer was trying too hard to be literary - I liked it.

long time, eh?!

My lack of internet access has made it impossible to update my blog. We finally got moved down, although some boxes have yet to be unpacked. We like where we are, especially now that we're so much closer to family and friends.

My new job is going well so far. It's so hard to believe I've been here for a month now. The first couple weeks were "practice" for when the piece we're working on went live the end of February. There were a few kinks to work out in the process early on, but things are going more smoothly. I'm still learning a lot about the company, the department and my position.

It took awhile to adjust to corporate america. I'm not used to seeing hundreds of unfamilar faces at my office. I don't even know everyone in my department and I certainly won't get to know everyone in the company - there are five buildings downtown! It's not better or worse than my previous experience, jut different. I'm getting used to it.

I'd better be I guess. I have an interview for a full-time permanent position with this company next week. So cross your fingers for me! I never expected to potentially move into a permanent position after a month of being here. I'm excited for the opportunity. I think I can really learn alot about the marketing and communications world here. It's going to be great experience - so hopefully it works out. It comes with some pretty awesome benefits as well.

Ryan is doing well also. He likes his job, although he's not real crazy about having to do it on the weekends. I think he's afraid it's going to cut into his hunting time when season opens. But he's in the world of prescribed fire so he's enjoying himself.

Side note - we went to my parents house last weekend for my friend Jazz's wedding. It was a lot of fun. Very untraditional - but very Jazz! :) She was so beautiful - she's always been goregous! I wrote a poem for their program - all of twenty minutes before we left for the wedding. Not my greatest masterpiece... We got a chance to hang out with some old friends from high school, even one guy who moved away in middle school. Ahhh... good times!