Still Breathing

It's been a while, folks. If I don't post now, I may not post til the girls are in high school.

In January, I started high blood pressure medication.  Yay genetics.  It's so high, that it's dangerous if untreated, especially with the history of heart problems on my dad's side of the family.

In February, I flew home for a few days to help my mom finalize her move -- as some of you know, after 40 years, the new greedy owners of her building bought her out.  She put up a good legal fight--two years--but she eventually ran out of steam and decided to take the pay out.  Unfortunately, my stepdad is so disliked by the family, no one stepped up to take them in, and thus, they're in El Salvador while they wait their turn on one of two waiting lists.  (We would have taken them in, but our lease is very strict.)

In March, I found out that one of my very good friends has a softball-sized tumor on his brain.  The surgery was unable to remove it all, and he suffered some facial paralysis as a result.  He's just finished his second round of chemo.  We met when I worked at SFSU --he'd been there since the late 80s (he's in his late 50s), I think, but we instantly clicked.  He has a fabulous sense of humor, and we even met up in Provincetown when I first went.  We are both fans of the Kennedy family and Madonna.  He's such a generous, giving person, that it was such a blow when I found out.  He's hanging in there; we text or email from time to time (he had just gotten an iPhone when he went into the hospital!), and he still makes me laugh, despite his situation.

So thanks to that and to all the other stuff going on -- work stress, homework stress, getting-used-to-a-new-place-still stress, I'm now on my third mental health medication.  Generic Paxil, which I started shortly after Art started the new job, made me gain A LOT of weight--even more than I had ever gained when I was pregnant.  So I switched to Wellbutrin.  BIG MISTAKE.  After a week, I had been experiencing headaches and mental fogginess, not to mention some SERIOUS crankiness.  Now I'm on Zoloft, and I actually feel chipper.  Not 100% better, but definitely tolerable.  I haven't lost any weight yet, or at least not that I can tell, but I'm hoping the warmer weather will help me do so.  The worst part of this--officially classified as anxiety and moderate depression--was not caring that I was going to be late to drop off the girls.  It got to the point where for 1-2 weeks, Artie was 30-45min late to school every day.  I couldn't get out of bed when the alarm went off, and at night, I found solace in watching the news and then "@midnight with Chris Hardwick", because I needed something to make me laugh.  Throw in the 45-60min commute in to Greenburgh, NY, where their schools are, and it made me feel even worse about myself. And so the cycle continued.

That's it in a nutshell.  The girls are attending summer camp at the Y in Danbury, which is 5-10 min from our house, and since they've been taking different lessons there this spring, they know a few of the counselors and kids now.  Plus, NO HOMEWORK.  So Art and I are carpooling together in the Prius, listening to "Pod Save America" and catching each other up on the insanity of the current administration.

Thanks for reading.

From The Farm to The Yard to the pharm

I cannot believe it’s been 5.5 months since our move to Connecticut, and since I began this job.  To make this easier to digest, this update will be in 2 separate posts: Residence/Job and Schools.

•    The new residence

We were lucky enough to find a condo (really, it’s a house) in a very friendly community in Danbury, Connecticut, only 10 min from the NY border.  The one thing that has taken getting used to is that Danbury feels like a small town, yet we have a Starbucks, Home Depot, and Michaels/TJ Maxx/CVS/Walgreens/Bed Bath Beyond/Costco/Five Guys literally 5 minutes down the street.  Go down the other way, and you have an AMC within 5 minutes too, along with Lowes, Best Buy, and Applebees.   I couldn’t figure out why I still felt lost, til I realized that Connecticut has no major sports teams—save for UConn or Yale.  So you’re either a fan of one of the New York teams, or the Boston teams. The girls and I miss Boston dearly--who would've thunk that it would grow on me--and so I still read its news online.  Sometimes, Vivi starts bawling that she misses Boston, and Artie will cringe and say, "aw, there goes a Massachusetts license plate..."

•  The new job

As you may recall, if you saw my last post, I was hired at temp status, with the goal of making me permanent by January (has not yet happened).  I work with two groups at Art's company, Nerve Growth Factor and Respiratory syncytial (sin-SISH-uhl) virus.  Additionally, I send out the calendar invites for Protocol Review Committee meetings, which is trickier because there are certain people that have to get invited, depending on the molecule being discussed (uh, what?).  Though the work is all admin--scheduling meetings, processing invoices, ordering office supplies and lunch as needed for meetings--it is literally like learning a new language.  It's even harder when scientists are very socially awkward; I literally sat in a meeting 5 minutes after it ended because the folks I was meeting with never thought to say "hey, since we finished early, my colleague and I will quickly discuss xyz in here" or anything to that effect--they just stared at me and smiled! The hardest part is realizing that what you do has to comply with FDA rules, and that the timelines are very fast due to time sensitivity of studies. I can't complain about the culture--for the most part, it's laid back and no micro-managing.  But I would go back to higher ed in a heartbeat.  I really miss being in the thick of international relations, especially in today's world....

The Final Countdown

At last, an update:

As planned, I left Harvard on May 27, the day after Commencement, so that I could focus on packing up the house (in addition to saving money on before/afterschool for Artie and daycare for Vivi.)  Our house went on the market in early May, but we didn't get an acceptable offer, just over our asking price, until June 24 (one offer was less than what we originally paid!).  Then the rush was on to find a place to live, but first we had to see where I would land a job.

Art finally got my resume into the right hands after someone left, so I interviewed with his company in mid-June.  In late July, I was finally offered a position as an admin assistant in the Clinical Development & Regulatory Affairs division.  However, since the department apparently has met its hiring quota for the year, they can only offer me a temp position through December--but assuming all goes well, I'd get a signing bonus upon becoming permanent in January.  (Art wonders if they used that as an excuse to avoid giving me relocation benefits, since his own were extended an extra 3 months past his original deadline.  But whatever--I think it gives me a chance to see if I like it, and if I don't, I can look at what is out there in higher ed.)

As for housing, timing was too tight to search for and close on a house; we will be renting a condo in Danbury, CT.  It's about 45 min from Regeneron with traffic.  The girls and I have not seen it yet, because after seeing 4 properties, our first choice was taken by the time we tried to submit an application, and the second was rejected (they didn't understand we were in the process of selling our house--GRRR).  So Art saw a couple of properties after work one day, and liked this one.  (Fireplace, 2-car garage under the house, community playground and pool--I'll take it!)

And why do things the easy way? We get the keys AND I start my new job this coming Monday, the 15th.

It's been a rough 14 months, and I'm ready for this move to just be over with.  My anxiety levels are through the roof, especially since the girls fight more than they play together, and Vivi has severe separation anxiety--she shadows my every move and wants to "help" with everything.  So now it's crunch time; today Art stuffed the Corolla with boxes and I followed behind with the girls, Little Susie the guinea pig, and her cage.  After setting up Susie's cage in Art's current apartment, we had dinner, and then the girls and I drove back to Boston.  Whew!  See you on the other side...

A Long-Overdue Update

"Whatever happened to the Contreras's move to New York?" you might be asking.  Well.  The obstacles have been nothing short of a novel, so I'll try to summarize with bullet points:

• I was lucky enough to land interviews with two places.  One of them was a perfect fit, though the position was rather entry-level; after a great interview and the beginning of reference checks, I found out the salary was 50% of my current one. The other position was put on hold after I went through FOUR interviews (one of those via Skype).  After that happened, the academic year had kicked in and I had no energy to start all over again.
• We tried to buy a house, but our offer was declined because we still own the Boston one.  So we tried to rent an apartment, but since my salary is currently paid in Massachusetts, they would only consider Art's salary, which did not qualify for the monthly rent.
• Once we were turned down for the apartment, it was the beginning of the school year for Artie, so at the last minute (since we had withdrawn her from private school) I had to apply for a spot in Boston Public Schools.  As luck would have it, she got into one of the most sought-after elementary schools in a fantastic neighborhood near our house.  She loves it; her teachers say that she fits in so well, it's as if she has been there since pre-K.  
• Art was connected to someone at work who needed a roommate, so together they share a 2BR apartment about 10 min from Art's work.  Between the executive housing that ended in August and November 1, he had been AirBnB-ing.
• Meanwhile, work has been insanely crazy: the Dean stepped down after 11 years in June, so after that, I was assisting the Acting Dean and Incoming Dean, in addition to the Chief of Staff. In August, I was the last woman standing with the Chief of Staff (one colleague went to another department, and the other moved to Atlanta).  Luckily we gained a replacement for one of the former staff in late September, who has worked out phenomenally.  I really can't thank the Chief of Staff enough for being so understanding with having to shift my schedule for drop-off/pick-up with the girls, since I'm single-parenting during the week.  After giving it some thought, I asked for a pay increase for all the extra work I've been doing in exchange for agreeing to stay through Commencement (May 27). Luckily, that's been agreed upon.  
• Art continues to enjoy his new job--they were just named in the Top 100 Places to Work.  He recently went 2 weeks without having to bring lunch: he was told that if a room looks like a meeting has ended, and there is leftover food, then it's up for grabs. He joined the bowling league (free beer and food) and the softball team.

Needless to say, it's been a stressful time.  So stressful, that when we went to Florida for a week-long vacation in mid-February, I spent a day and a half in bed with a bad headache.  The Monday I went back to work, I went to the clinic to get it checked out.  My blood pressure turned out to be dangerously high, so they called a cab and had me taken to the ER, where I spent 6 hours resting with an IV to treat a combination migraine-tension headache.  Yay me.  Art had to drive back from NY to pick up the girls, who were understandably scared to meet mom in a hospital room on a gurney :(  

I'm feeling much better, and have slowed down since that incident.  I think we might end up renting the Boston house.  Family friends mentioned that co-workers are moving out of the city due to excessive rents, but that makes commuting a nightmare, so perhaps we can get one or two of them to rent the house.  We'll likely be in NY come hell or high water by July 1.  Stay tuned!

On the road again...

Well, it's official.  Big Artie has a new job, but sadly, it is not in California.  He has been pursued since the fall by a company called Regeneron Pharmaceuticals in New York.  After flying out to interview with Stanford Medical School (on his own dime, with less than a week's notice), he was asked to go to Tarrytown, NY for an interview with Regeneron (they reimbursed lodging and mileage).  Despite following up, he never heard back from Stanford (nor was he reimbursed--which he knew when they asked him to interview--those bastards).  Meanwhile, Regeneron is a good fit for what he wants to do; at the moment, he's frustrated with the lack of challenges and resistance to change/modernize at his current job at Beth Israel.  Plus, his boss is rarely in anymore--he had back surgery last summer due to an old injury sustained from a kick by an elephant he used to train.  Not only was that surgery not needed, as it turns out, he also sustained damage to his neck, so now, he has seizures caused by activities such as driving (not good when he lives one state over!).  So it is very likely he won't be with the hospital much longer.  He was genuinely happy for big Artie when they spoke today.

Because Regeneron wants Art to start on June 1, I will stay in Boston with the girls until at least July 1, since Artie's last day of school is June 19.  I am also hoping I have a job by July 1, as we really can't afford to pay for mortgage and a room/apartment for Art, even if Regeneron is picking up the tab for the move (they have contracted a company that assists with relocations).

Needless to say, I was not happy when he got the job-- sorry, I know that's very selfish. I am not looking forward to moving 3 hours south where we will not only have to start all over, but where the weather will still suck come winter.  Little Artie is happy to move (for some reason she LOVES New York, probably because "Madagascar" made her aware of it, even though that is technically NYC!) but her school is so fucking amazing that I was willing to stick it out til at least 5th grade here.  And despite the fact that my own job is not really guaranteed after the new dean is announced (what if the new dean wants to bring in his/her own staff??), I was hoping to transfer into HKS's Alumni Relations & Resource Development office, especially since I now know the head honchos in that department and the Director of Engagement (who runs all the stewardship and events, which is where I'd like to end up).  My only two consolations at the moment are 1) it's one village over from Sleepy Hollow (yay Halloween) and 2) our neighbor's mom lives in Tarrytown, so she's offered to stay in touch so that her girls can still play with ours when they visit Grandma (which is quite often).

So that's the news and now you know.  Haven't told my dad yet, so I won't post this news on Facebook yet since he's on there and so are my cousins on that side of the family.

How's It Going To Be

Well, that was fast.

After much deliberation, I took big A's advice and applied to an Exec Asst position at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.  As in, assistant to the Dean.  I really don't want to stay in this line of work.  I am very anxious to return to the donor stewardship/alumni relations world.  But, as luck would have it, the timeline went like this:

Submitted resume late Sunday night, 6/28.

Got a call Tuesday, 6/30 from HR, asking if we (HR rep and me) could schedule a face-to-face meeting for that week.

The following week met with the three other staff in the dean's office.

The week after that, met with the dean.

I was offered the position last Thursday, which I've accepted!

I am very curious how this will pan out, mainly because of my most recent experience. The dean seems very very low-tech; he admitted to rarely using his work-issued cell phone, and to carrying an index card in his pocket with the day's meetings (!).  I asked whether I'd be expected to check/return emails after business hours, and was told absolutely not!  I'm so used to checking my current work email from the moment I wake up until I go to bed, that this will feel very weird.  Imagine all the books/magazines I'll be able to read!

Logistically, we have yet to figure out some things (most importantly, DAYCARE for V), but let's hope it works.

And no, this in no way means we are putting roots down here.  I just needed a job because my contract was ending (see previous post)!

Summertime Blues

Well, changes are afoot again here.

Last Monday (June 16) I had a call scheduled with the admin manager at work.  I had a feeling I knew what was coming, and I was right.  As of August 30, my contract will end and I will no longer have a job.  Though my boss is director of the center in NY, he's also heavily involved with a think tank in DC.  He was on sabbatical last academic year and spent 3 days of almost every week in DC starting this calendar year.  Now, he's launched a new program there, and they've asked him to join full-time.  He tried to take me with him but they won't let him; the nice thing is my boss totally apologized for that.

Obviously, I've launched into job search/resume-sending mode.  The more stressful part, if I am able to find something, will be finding full-time daycare for V.  Big A is finding positions for me to apply at hospitals around him, but sadly, they're all executive assistant positions.  I can't tell you how much I hate admin work; I am very anxious to return to event planning in the Development/Alumni Relations world.  But since I've been doing assistant stuff for the past 2.5 years, it's probably going to be my best shot at just landing anything at all.  And Big A keeps reminding me that chances are very very slim that anybody will be as demanding/high-maintenance as my current boss.  (That is very very true.  Who else would email me "Are you up?" at 11:30pm on a Saturday night from Beijing to ask if I can cancel his hotel reservation for 1.5 days from then? Or need a text message reminder 10-15 min before all scheduled phone calls?)

In addition to this, one of little A's first friends is moving to New Jersey next week.  We met him when little A was 3 and he was almost 2.  I get along great with his mom, and she had another little boy 2.5 months after V was born.  In the summer, we used to have twice-weekly playdates, so this will be hard on little A.  She's got a couple of other friends she wants to see, and V is more mobile and entertaining now, so hopefully it won't be too bad!  At least she is anxious to see her cousins in SoCal, so we can tell her "Well, if you want to see more of them, we're gonna have to move back..."

So please send good vibes (and any job leads you think might be up my alley!), my friends.  We'll need them.

I dressed appropriately for the call, no? Good thing it wasn't Skype.  (Seriously, this is the shirt I chose to wear that day.)

Old Man

Yes, I know.  It's been ages since I've blogged.  I have SO MANY posts in my head.  But I can't simply ramble, and I rarely have the time nowadays to post them, but soon!  I promise. I'll make time.

Let's start with my dad's visit.  His first visit was March 2012, 2 years and 3 months after we moved. It was a good visit; the perfect amount of time--4 days, Friday-Monday.  This time, he booked tickets without checking with us first.  He booked a solid week, right before Halloween.  A week during which I was supposed to have jury duty, but luckily, you're allowed to reschedule once out here.  (And you pick the new date!)

There are only 2 things that I will share about his visit:

1.  He's old.  Proof:

--"Do you guys get Pandora here?"

--[peering at MacBook on desk] "So that's a Macintosh?"

2. Sadly, my dad is a magnet for bad customer service.  He's been bugging us about getting a newer car, so he helped us get a 2008 Prius when he was here.  When we bought the car, he and I were waiting for the finance guy to come talk to us.  When he finally came over, my dad mentioned that he is a banker, basically so the guy would know my dad's familiar with the lingo.  And then, just out of curiosity, he asked how long he estimated the paperwork would take.  The guy actually responded as follows:

"It's not like buying a hamburger sir, you're buying a car."

!!!

I'm sure my eyes doubled in size.  To my dad's credit, he didn't take the bait, but calmly responded that he realized the size of the purchase and his reason for asking.  I'm not sure why, but something made him tell the guy again that he's a banker, to which the guy then snapped,

"I know, you're a banker, you've said it like five times already."

!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This finally set my dad off. Keeping his voice at a remarkably low level, he went off on the guy and how rude he was being, what kind of customer service is this, blah blah blah.  Luckily, the manager happened to be walking by, so he stopped and smoothed things over.

So naturally, the rest of his visit, that was my new line to him.  "You know, dad, it's not like you're buying a hamburger."

Boston

Life has been surreal since the Boston Marathon Bombings.  It was creepy knowing that I had been in the area of the first bomb little more than 24 hours before; I had complained about being stuck in detour traffic.

About 3 days after the bombings, the entire city was shut down as they hunted for the suspects.  Luckily, we had planned to head to Baltimore to see the Dodgers play the Orioles, so when we awoke in Baltimore that Friday and saw the news, we were SO THANKFUL we were not in town.

It's odd--you see "Boston Strong" everywhere, and the news has an item about the bombings almost every single night.  To me, it feels like I'm a guest at someone's home, and something happened to that someone and I'm just going about my daily business.

There is one big signal that people are still on edge, though.  Sometimes, when I pick up big A, I wait in a side alley where I won't get kicked out of the "No Parking/Waiting" areas in front of his building.  If the baby is super fussy, I'll sit in the back with her while we wait.  It's not obvious I'm in the back because of the tinted windows.  And as people walk by, they can hear the radio on or see that the front windows are slightly open, and they'll quickly glance at the car and realize someone is in the back seat.  This didn't happen before the bombings.  I wonder if they realize they are doing this?

Hello

Life since baby V's arrival has been a wild ride.  My mom was here for a month--from 3 days before V arrived.  Silly me, I forgot to ask the doctor how long my recovery would be, so at the end of her visit I asked if she could stay an extra two weeks but she couldn't (she's so old school, she still pays bills with checks and in person and thus was worried about paying them.  Even though I told her we could do it from here).  Though it was probably good she left when she did--little A figured out how to get sympathy from my mom, so there was lots of drama, with my mom convinced we were just these horribly emotionally abusive parents, especially since you can't tell when big A is joking!

Since our stuff was shipped out from our storage unit, our place now looks like we're planning to move.  We still have a box in the corner of our living room with random crap hanging out of it, and near the door we have 3 boxes of books stacked.  I have two big shopping bags full of stuff I am Freecycling.  I Freecycled some stuff a couple of months ago and was shocked at what people will take!!

Today Little A and I attended the 3rd birthday party of a little Swedish girl we met through a friend.  It was a small party--only 2 or 3 other families attended--but very nice.  The dad heated hot dogs in a pan on the stove.  The only part that was kind of annoying was hearing about Sweden's phenomenal parental leave (400 paid days off, plus optional unpaid year).  It got to the point where I wanted to put up my hand and say "YES I KNOW FOR A DEVELOPED COUNTRY OUR PARENTAL LEAVE LAWS SUCK, THANKS FOR REMINDING ME."  But I digress.

One Swedish custom we learned was the distribution of party favors.  Apparently the kids go "fishing", but since it was so cold, the dad hung a sheet between a bookcase and the wall, and the mom would help the kids fish for a prize.

And yes, the home was predominantly furnished by IKEA.  :)

So I still dream of moving home within the year, before little A starts kindergarten but then I start panicking: could we afford the rent? (I very much doubt we'll be able to afford to buy.) Logistically, how do we ensure we don't go through the same madness that we went through when we moved here? What if deep down little A thinks this is truly home, though she often asks for family and misses her cousins? And how on earth could we ensure that we find renters for this house, let alone decent ones??

I think too much sometimes.

Stay tuned for another post on my new relationship with little A...

I'm Shipping Up to Boston

And just like that we're back from a 10-day trip home.

At first, only big AC was supposed to go, after the yearly Vegas trip (which he actually missed last year, but this year, I didn't mind him going because we are both so homesick and burnt out).  But he and a friend reminded me that with Kid B on the way, there may not be a chance to go home for a very long time (DEAR GOD NO).  So we got tickets, big AC headed to Vegas on a Thursday, and little AC and I headed to LAX that Saturday night (big AC met us at his sister's the next day).

The main goal of this trip was to empty our storage unit, which we'd had since 2003!  It was bittersweet but needed to be done; 95% of maternity/newborn/baby items were in there.  And through the whole process, we saw signs that this move is cursed and something (someone?) doesn't want us here: our flight to SFO was canceled due to weather, and thus we had to fly into OAK and be bussed to SFO; big AC barely made it by 8:30 the first morning to get the quantity of our stuff assessed for an estimate; and, despite the 1-3PM window we were given, for once the movers were on time and showed up at exactly 1PM, when we were still taping up boxes.  This meant that my mom shipped a large USPS flat-rate box, and we FedEx'd one 40-lb box and one flat 29-lb box with artwork--all of which could have gone with the movers if we'd had even 1 hour before they got there.  (Don't ask me what happened. I honestly couldn't explain our time lapse!)

Highlights:

• Taking two nephews (brothers) to dinner at Panda Express and having non-stop (though hardly serious) conversation.
• Seeing my very good friends for dinner our first night in SF, and meeting baby Cody.  
• Hanging out in Hayes Valley, and stumbling on Off the Grid before hitting La Boulange and Timbuk2.
• Eating at Darby Dan's (an AWESOME sandwich shop in SSF) and In-n-Out.  
• Watching little AC play SO MUCH with her cousins.
• Getting a chance to catch up with my sisters-in-law.
• This will sound mean, but watching big AC make 2 of 6 siblings from one family miserable: one by scaring his 2.5-year-old niece to tears by simply pointing at her, and the other by horsing around with his 9-year-old nephew and pretending to stuff him in the cat tower...on his birthday...only for everyone, including his parents, to learn that he's allergic to cats!
• Watching big AC hold and feed his second-newest niece without being asked.
• Hearing 2 of my nephews say "please take me with you! Don't go!" :(

Despite having shipped the last of our stuff , this does not mean we are moved to Boston permanently.  Not by any means.  Especially since the day after we came back, I got an email from Stanford, telling me that the last job for which I applied (and phone-interviewed) had its description changed, in case I wanted to apply again...

Oh, and the last sign that we don't belong here?  Our flight back was scheduled to leave LAX at 11:30PM. It left at 12:30AM, after the crew decided to save time and SHUTTLE everyone across the tarmac to meet the plane after it refueled since it had arrived late!

California Dreamin'

Watching the Red Hot Chili Peppers' latest video reminded me of a dream I recently had.  I was trying to sneak in a few more minutes of sleep when this dream started...

I was sitting in a lifeguard chair-type loveseat (same height and style) with Anthony Kiedis and some other chick.  I was wearing my new maternity bathing suit (SEXY, I KNOW) and Anthony was singing while we watched the waves, which were soooo close and big that I almost got dizzy following a surfer in the middle of one.

...and then I was woken up by big AC with some totally unimportant question as he left for work.  Sigh.

Speaking of California, we are coming home for a very quick visit!  Big AC is joining the annual Vegas trip in mid-July, and we will then meet him in L.A. for a couple of days before heading to the Bay Area for just a few days to figure out the best way to get baby and baby-related stuff to the Bay State from our storage unit.  At first, I told him to go by himself, but he and a fellow non-native (and also pregnant) friend reminded me that it may be a very long while before I can go home again before Kid B is born.  It will be an interesting trip for sure...more than anything, I hope I get a chance to see close friends *points at CBC and LAM* :)

Working Girl

This has definitely been the most interesting person I've worked for in a long time, to say the least.  These have appeared in my inbox over the past 3-4 months:

"Tell [colleague] to tell them to go fuck themselves."

"Oh good f*** lord.  Okay call me at home."

"Looks like I'm speaking at 9am.  Fuuuuuuuuck."

(Obviously, as someone who has to watch her language due to the constant presence of a preschooler, I'm loving all these f-bombs, even if they are only over email.)

I had the chance to go into the office a few weeks ago, as we couldn't let a pre-paid hotel room go to waste.  My biggest fear was hiding the baby bump, so I'm sure I looked oddly layered, because it wasn't that cold out.  But cold enough, and it worked.  There had been a chance I could join the boss on meetings at embassies, but it wasn't confirmed till late afternoon the first day I was there.  My only option was to run into the Gap across the street and pick up a blazer, scarf, and--only because of an awesome sale--a trench coat.  Now, I normally don't support the Gap companies because of their awful labor practices, but I forgot what cute clothes they have...

So the next day I walked from the hotel to the first embassy.  I was nervous, and almost got lost as the entrance is around the corner.  Well, my boss and two colleagues arrived with someone we were to meet with, so they got to go in the secret entrance.  Meanwhile, I did not know this, and neither did the receptionist.  She kept telling me I was the first one to arrive.  I kept checking and finally, after I waited for 40 minutes, I was escorted to the meeting with apologies and "I have no idea how they got in!"  By this point, I did not want to interrupt--it was a videoconference, on top of that!--so I texted my boss and went to the office.  He was upset they didn't let me up to the meeting room and was nice enough to apologize.

The next meeting went better; my favorite part was having to turn in our cell phones to guarantee confidentiality.  They went into a little locker and my boss got a key to retrieve them at the end.  And it was kind of cool to see that the meeting kicked off with some gossip from a retreat that my boss attended but the embassy folks couldn't attend.  Afterwards, I headed back to the office with a colleague. A good-looking one with an Aussie accent.  Nice.  ;)

Sounds like they want to renew my contract, but I'm sure that might change once I reveal I will need to take a month or so off for Kid B...as crazy as this job is at times, the flexibility is great, and I love having contact with the international community.  Stay tuned!

Video Killed the Radio Star

I have been having some bizarre dreams lately.  Cool dreams, just bizarre.

It all started with Eddie Vedder.  (I think I saw Pearl Jam Twenty on the coffee table, and realized I should renew it since I wasn't going to finish it as quickly as I'd hoped.) I dreamt that a friend of mine invited me to a friend's house, and it turned out to be Eddie Vedder's apartment, near my mom's house!  I was so shy, and Eddie was really cool, but I kept walking around just trying to see the cool guitars and not break anything.

Next was Billie Joe Armstrong.  We were spooling yellow embroidery floss or yarn onto plastic flat spools.  He had bleached hair.  We were at my mom's.

Finally, I dreamt that I was at John Krasinski's studio/loft in New York, and we were hanging out while he was mixing drinks and I was checking out his wife's glasswork.  In my dream, Emily Blunt was into glassblowing!

I think my favorite dream out of those three is the Billie Joe Armstrong one.

Work It

It's only been a month and a half since I started my new gig, and I'm wondering what I got myself into.

First of all, after my trip there for the "interview" (it was basically just to meet everyone; they'd interviewed two other people to fulfill the HR requirement), I tweeted something about working from home.  A few weeks later, I got a vague email from my friend (the one who hooked me up with the job), asking for a good time to call me.  It turns out HR must have done a search and found my account, because they threw up some type of warning, so I was warned not only to avoid social media (or at least make my posts as private as possible), but that the university also screens everyone's email!! Anything that goes through their servers!!  And apparently the dept. I work for had been audited for something before so they are under particular scrutiny.

So it's been very hectic since my start.  The job was "sold" to me as doing scheduling whenever I wanted.  NOT TRUE.  I feel like I'm checking email early in the morning till the evening.  I'm in charge of calendaring as well as booking/researching travel options, the latter which are very nerve-wracking.  For example, the director is to go to the Persian gulf next month, with three cities involved, but I've had to research different departure dates, return dates, extra cities, etc.  That has been such a clusterfuck of a project, that the Persian gulf is no longer on my bucket list.

I went down for a day and a half this past week to see the center in action.  I keep getting warned that the director is just like a toddler:  "GIMME GIMME NO I WANT IT THIS WAY NOW!"  (He's only 42.  But still.) Which explains the ludicrous requests for researching bizarre flight options.  And the fact that he asked whether my availability 24/7 would be any possibility at all.  (Um, NO.  I'm only supposed to be 60% time!!)  Though I must admit that being back in the international cooperation arena feels nice.  I'm privy to funny anecdotes regarding foreign diplomats, and former US officials.  Plus I get to hear cool accents and talk to staff at the UN missions.  (Though when I called the Aussies, the staffer and I started talking at the same time and he said, "whoa! I think we've got a bad connection...I totally just heard another person talking on the line..."  IT WAS ME.)

My friend asked a few weeks ago to get some options for a CA trip, but I neglected to forward them, so by last week the prices had gone up.  OOPS.  Director had to use miles to book the trip on his own.  I should have known better, but I didn't ask about hotels until yesterday.  Turns out his preferred hotel, just minutes from The Farm, is sold out for some event, so the one that my contact booked him in is about 15 minutes away.  I put the confirmation number on his calendar, and was going to email and explain, along with other updates.  But I thought, it's the weekend, I'll do it Sunday night.  Well, I just noticed I had some new mail on my Gmail (which I'd been using till my office address was set up), and there were 3 messages saying how annoyed he was, that's not his first choice, we shouldn't be booking on short notice, he'll stay in SF instead, blah blah blah...all totally valid.

Juggling all this so far has been pretty hectic.  My big chunks of time are M/W/F mornings when little AC is at school; otherwise, I feel bad because she's even started asking "Mama, are you done?"

Stay tuned.  Not sure how much longer I'll last.  I've only done scheduling once before, and it was only for a year, 25% time.  I wanna do what I'm good at!!  :(

2011 in Review

This year has felt like a long one, likely because it was the first year that we weren't completely new to Boston.  Some memories of the year:

• We had lots of snow.  LOTS. OF. SNOW.  Even on April 1.  
• First big milestones: little AC aged out of playgroup and her early intervention home visits when she turned 3.
• My mom came to visit for A WHOLE MONTH.  We had lots of fun and the weather was great to her: she experienced chilly rain, hot days, humid thunder-and-lightning rainstorms, and even a tornado watch.  (That last one was REALLY scary for all of us.)
• Little AC started nursery school in June.  
• Also in June, I met a woman from New Orleans whose little boy had just started playgroup--my mom and I met her in the parent's lounge while observing our kids' transition into this new scenario.  We now have almost-weekly playdates, because we get along so well and our kids play together wonderfully.
• We got to see several friends from/at home, which very much brightened our spirits: Ms. M in June, in Quincy because a conference brought her here; my former colleague/good friend from my days on The Farm (he's a Mass native); and almost all of my closest friends when we went home--made even more special by the fact that one of them waited till we were in town to announce to the others (and us, of course) that she's expecting!
• Little AC started swim lessons in July and August, and I got to do weekly yoga for a while.
• I re-entered the workforce in a most unlikely fashion!  Who knew it would be ideal yet top-secret? (More on that in another post.)
• And finally, a memory from today: I found out that in order for us to get the first-time homebuyer's tax credit, we had to promise not to move for 2 years--I thought it had to be 5, but that's how long we simply have to own it!  YAY!!  That means if we could, we could rent it out and move back home next summer!

I enter the new year with hope.  Hope and gratitude.  My friend from New Orleans said to me as we left her apartment after a FIVE-HOUR playdate yesterday: "I told my friends that you are the best thing that's happened to me since we moved here."  WOW.  Time to bloom where I've been planted, if only till the next repotting.

Pax, friends.  May the new year bring all of you health and happiness.

This is Halloween

On Halloween, I got the most random surprise: a job offer!

The timing could not have been any better.  I had been applying to several schools and heard nothing (other than that Farm phone interview).  I was getting desperate.  Not that I want to go back to work outside the home, but it's starting to get a little tight with just one income.

So there I was, sitting in the car, having just pulled into the Target parking lot.  I opened my email and saw a former colleague's name, with the subject line "Random Question."  Oh geez, I thought, she must be tasked with coordinating one of the events I handled at my last job.  Imagine my surprise when after a brief, nice greeting (even spelling little AC's name correctly!), she basically said that she knew it was a long shot since we hadn't been in contact in almost two years, but her office at NYU was looking for someone to work from home part time, with a sense of humor and with basically grace under pressure!

After learning more about the job (and that the office is a peer institute to the one I worked for last), I expressed my interest in becoming a candidate.  Two weeks later, I was heading to NYC on a business-class express train, with the ACs on a different, non-express train (since obviously they only paid for me). It was the most bizarre experience ever: my former colleague had basically decided I was The One and had already started marketing me to the staff as her mini-me!  When I arrived, she ushered me back onto the elevator to go meet the director (who's on medical leave) at a nearby coffeehouse, where he simply asked what it was like assisting the former director of national intelligence and how I planned to work with a toddler in the house.  This took all of 15-20 minutes.  Next we had lunch at a funky, clubby Thai place with his chief-of-staff, which consisted of lots of laughter and descriptions of other staff.  Not being able to find the next person I was to chat with, we headed back out to another coffeehouse.  Finally, a quick chat with someone from the Afghanistan regional project, as I might be helping them coordinate conferences and events, and I was done.

Since I'll be hired as a research assistant (otherwise the school makes me join a union), the paperwork and bureaucracy has pushed my start date to December 16 instead of December 1.  I'll be basically helping book travel for the director, who has a heavy travel schedule, and other appointments as needed.  Then, sometime in late January/early February, I'll head back to  the office for a few days to see the action in person.

A little nervous as December 14 marks the two-year anniversary of my last day on The Farm, but excited to start making money and using my brain differently again!

Time

A brief interruption from my tales of the west to bring you a message about a wonderful company.

In late August, we attended the Boston Green Fest.  As the name suggests, the festival had vendors promoting green living.  I was delighted that one of the vendors was Sprout Watches, which I'd learned of from Nordstrom last year.  The exhibitors had brought a nice variety of watches, and the prices were surprisingly reasonable, so big AC bought me a simple, black, organic cotton watch.  To my disappointment, the second loop on the band (the strap keeper, if you will) broke off when we were in Southern California--about a month and a half after I'd gotten it!

I'd been meaning to either glue or sew it back on, until I decided to check with the company on how to do so.  I emailed their customer service department this morning, and AN HOUR AND TEN MINUTES LATER, I'd received a message saying that they were sending me a complimentary replacement strap! The message, from a manager, was so down to earth that I couldn't believe it.  So if you're in the market for a new, eco-friendly watch, or simply want to add to your timekeeper collection, please check them out.  (I'm in love with this model, especially because of the conflict-free diamonds, but the bracelet is too big for my wrist. :( )

How I Spent My (Indian) Summer Vacation, part deux

We arrived late in the afternoon at LAX.  Little AC fell asleep before the plane even took off, which was nice.  But due to a miscommunication (*cough BIGAC cough*) our ride didn't know we were landing around 4:30, so we had time to peruse the Int'l terminal.  After being picked up, we got stuck in LA traffic (of course) but managed to have dinner with friends that I hadn't seen in several years before arriving at our final destination, big AC's sister's house.

In SoCal, we toured by public transportation because big AC was too scared to rent a car for fear of another accident.  Luckily, LA has made great strides in that area.

USC-season-ticket-holding friends gave us their tickets for the game against Arizona; little AC decided she wanted to stay with her cousins so big AC and I had a date of sorts.  We arrived early, and had planned to leave early so we could make it in time to our niece's 3rd birthday party, but due to construction and bad schedules it took us TWO HOURS to get across L.A. via bus...all so big AC could have some free food at the party.  (Taco truck.)

The rest of the trip: we went to the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History...

...Chinatown's Phoenix Bakery, Plaza Olvera, and Little Tokyo (the pics must be on my phone!), where we scored more Hello Kitty stuff and my favorite tea, Genmaicha by Yamamamoto, on sale at Nijiya...

...the Los Angeles Zoo, where my little one finally saw elephants (the zoos out here don't have elephants!)...

(this sure made me wanna buy a Rep-Tile!)

...and ate as much yummy food as we could.  I also had a phone interview with Stanford, which went okay. (Despite the woman telling me that she'd let me know either way where I stood within two weeks, I still haven't heard anything, and the position is still posted on the website.  Also, if you are interviewing someone on speakerphone, you might not want to keep zipping and unzipping your agenda or whatever near the mouthpiece AS IT IS MUCH LOUDER IN THE PERSON'S EAR and quite distracting.)

The biggest highlight of the LA trip was seeing how much little AC enjoyed playing with all her cousins (except the 7-year-old that was annoyed by her, which caused A LOT of friction). Hard to believe he was bummed to see us go (he was asleep when we left for the airport) when just a couple of days prior he asked, "Next time you guys visit, can you just leave her with a babysitter?"

How I Spent My (Indian) Summer Vacation, part 1

It feels like we were gone forever, even though we were only gone for 17 days.

Our first stop was San Francisco, where CBC kindly let us crash for 2 nights.  Our first day there we saw an A's game--little AC's first.

During a trip to Golden Gate Park, little AC got her first skinned knee while walking on a curb looking at pretty flowers with big AC.

We then rented a car so we could head to Vallejo for our next stop.  We'd requested the cheapest car at $9/day, but not only was our reservation pushed back due to lack of cars (drivers were delayed from Monterey), by the time we showed up our only choices were a Mercedes SUV or a Mercedes sedan.  Big AC explained those were way out of our budget.  So the representative actually gave us the sedan for $14/day!  Sweet, right?

While in Vallejo, little AC made 2 new friends, though there were many tears and fights with the youngest one.  :(  We went to the Sanrio outlet (our hostess is a HUGE fan; you've no idea how bummed she is that Sanrio is not really a boy thing, since she has 2 sons).  Later that evening, my friend, Pablo, came over, since it turns out he only lives about 10 minutes from them.

Her first real tea party, with new Vallejo friends.  Needless to say, she now has her own set.

That Sunday we left and headed to the Raider game.  We parked at a BART station (no WAY did we dare drive that car to the Coliseum!!) and tried to find big AC's cousins before the game but were unable to do so.  After the game, we found them, said hi, were kicked out by CHP clearing the lots to avoid mayhem, and headed to BART.  We discovered we'd parked rather close to Jack London Square, so we decided to drive there and find a place to eat.  On our second go-around trying to decide where to park, we got into an accident.  A minivan flew into the intersection and CRUSHED the front end of the car.  Luckily, no one was hurt.  Being the good passenger that I am, what did I do?

I FROZE.

Big AC got on the phone and began calling the rental company's insurance line.  The other driver and one of his two passengers got out and made sure we were okay, and kept apologizing.  They were in their 20s and also dressed in Raider gear.  The only thing I did was get the plates off the minivan and location.  I had the camera in the trunk and did not take any pictures.  WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME???  The driver and passenger were waiting to talk to big AC by leaning on the driver side of the car, when I heard the passenger say, "I'ma say my neck and my back hurt."  Their minivan, a '97 Dodge, had a white scrape across the passenger side, but that seemed to be it.  A few days later we learned, sure enough, that the passenger was filing an injury claim, and a few days after that, the driver claimed his car was no longer drivable.  (They drove away from the scene before we did.)

We turned the car in the next day; luckily, big AC had gotten insurance on it for fear of something like this happening, so we are not responsible for the car damage.

The rest of the trip we stayed in the only available room at a Good Nite Inn in Redwood City, which was a nasty smoking room, and not as close to Caltrain as we'd thought (we relied on public transit for the remainder of our trip).  Thanks to CBC, we went to the Conservatory of Flowers with my mom; saw our friend Mr. Duncan briefly; and had dinner with my dad--who arrived toting a paper Starbucks cup filled with white wine (!!!).  We even managed to have lunch (Japanese food, how I've missed you) with some of Art's former co-workers before heading to SFO.  And at SFO, while waiting for our flight, I received that email from Stanford expressing an interest in my resume....

(to be continued)