changes here & there

i have had a difficult adjustment back to work from my "summer break" schedule. even though i worked a lot this summer and was very busy, my teaching load of 4 courses this fall has me feeling incredibly bogged down. i have to take it a week--or really, a day--at a time in order to keep from losing my mind. add to the situation that i have a new boss, who while great, still requires some adjustments. the semester has had a bit of a rocky start from my perspective, but i think each semester begins this way, i just tend to forget the initial challenges.

after passing my licensure exam in july, i now only have 5.5 hours of supervision left until i can submit my paperwork to become a fully licensed social worker. while i am eager to complete this process, i will miss my once-a-week visits with my supervisor, who has been so incredibly kind and supportive. 

the midwives changed our due date once again, this time to christmas day. to make a long story a bit shorter, the lovely midwife/cattle rancher told us that any changes to a due date should be based on first trimester measurements because there is too much variability in second trimester ultrasound measurements. she was agitated that it was changed inaccurately and it felt nice to have someone else acting as my advocate in a medical setting, considering that is often my role at the hospital. i really hope we get the chance to deliver with this particular midwife, because she is so comfortable to be around. i like them all, but i feel especially at ease with her.

how far along: 24 weeks

total weight gain/loss: not sure.

maternity clothes: almost entirely. 

stretch marks: still none. (yet.)

sleep: pretty rough after 2AM, so by 2PM all i wanna do is nap, but on tuesdays and thursdays i have to teach introduction to social work. i'm sure my teaching evals are going to be less-than-stellar this term. poor students.

best moment this week: getting out on my mountain bike today with brandon and being able to climb up some steep ascents that i can't always complete when i'm not pregnant.

movement: i feel her wiggling around just about every time i sit still and brandon finally got to feel her move, which was awesome.

food cravings: i had to do my glucose test on friday afternoon, so i work up friday craving every fruit and sweet thing i saw. in general i crave fruit, but having it be off limits that day made it especially appealing. 

gender: female.

what i miss: being able to get up off the floor without having to flip over onto my hands and knees or have someone give me a hand.

milestones: i realized today that our baby has passed through the "viability threshold" so, heaven forbid, she comes early she now has a pretty good chance (50-70%) of surviving life outside of my body. mind blowing!

gender neutral

first of all: i passed my licensed clinical social worker exam this week. it was a huge hurdle in this 2 year process. although getting my LCSW is important, it doesn't have major implications for my current  jobs. never-the-less, having this done will make me more employable down the road and will allow us to move to another state without me having to start the process all over again.

- - -

baby o seems to be doing well, as far as i can tell. he/she hasn't been moving a whole lot, but as soon as i got in the car after finishing my exam on tuesday i felt a ton of movement. i think i had a lot of stress hormones coursing through me in the weeks prior to the test, so i am sure that kept a damper on his or her activity.

we find out the baby's gender on monday. i am excited to see that little peanut bouncing around on the screen again, this time without the fear we had last time (at 13 weeks we had to have an unplanned ultrasound because the midwife couldn't find the heartbeat with the doppler). hopefully baby o won't be too modest, because i would really like to know what direction we need to go in terms of a name.

although i don't put too much stock in the "old wives' tales" of gender prediction, they are kind of fun to consider. here is the breakdown for us:

• chinese gender chart: girl
• bump height (neither high nor low): either 
• heart rate: girl
• sour or sweet cravings: either
• mayan even/odd rule: boy
• acne (no changes): either
• ring swing test: girl
• morning sickness: girl

from that list, the deck seems pretty stacked for girl, but i feel like this bebe is a boy. i guess we will have to wait and see what vida, the ultrasound tech, can reveal on monday!

satisfied, not settling

things are about to settle down in my work shuffle. finally. i can't wait to hash out the details and share them with the world (i.e., this blog). let's just say, i went to test if the grass is greener on the other side and found out that the grass over there is actually quite bitter and unpleasant.

so, three cheers for 1) getting clear about what you want, 2) asking for it, and 3) getting what you worked hard for.

and just because at least three people (which is probably 75% of the people that read this blog), will get a kick out of this silly image, i am sharing it.

around these parts

i have been a bit of a single lady this past month+ as brandon has been gone on multiple trips for field work for his PhD. it stinks to be without him, so i hope we have a nice, quiet, stay-home kind of winter. 

he was in jackson for the first three weeks of september, back for a bit, off to the middle-of-nowhere-wyoming for a few days, back for a bit, down to denver, and then off to minneapolis. in minnesota he is getting to "play" at this big fluvial lab on a controlled river where they can add sediment to see the river reactions. it sounds like a giant wet sandbox to me, but he seems to be learning a lot. he comes home saturday. for a week. then he is off again. sigh.

while brandon has been traveling around we have had a fair amount of activity around these parts:

-our close friends in laramie had baby #2. 

Anjali Bliss

we are so excited for heath, emily, and bloom to have ani in the family now too! she is adorable and adaptable and snuggly. i ensured her hipster status by making her a onesie with a bird on it. that's right, you gotta put a bird on it. even on a wee babe.

-i was offered a fourth job, but turned it down. i am having a hard time managing my three jobs, so i let this one pass. i should note that i did not apply for this job, but the nursing home in town specifically created a job with me in mind and tried to hire me. so flattering, but not quite right for me now.

-we bought a house! well, we are buying a house on thursday. we started looking towards the end of the summer and saw about seven duds until we landed on this bungalow and my heart skipped a beat. let me tell you, our price range was not providing that many appealing {or safe} homes in this area so we were quite thrilled to find this gem!

brandon was out of town when i found the place so he had to put in an offer on the house site-unseen. when i called and told him i found the place and wanted to put in the offer he said, "ok, i trust you." it was a good marriage moment. and when he finally saw the house he was just as stoked about it as i was! 

it has a kitchen, living room, two bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs, with beautiful hardwood floors. in the basement there is potential for two more bedrooms, a den/office, and a bathroom, plus the laundry area. we are really excited about the place and feel like we got a good deal. the house just got a new roof this weekend, so it looks a bit different than in the photo above. the covered porch, blue spruce in the front yard, back deck, and apple tree are my favorite parts about the outside. once we close i will post more interior pictures and i am sure the blog will be taken over by home improvement projects.

-i tried to go ikea denver a couple weeks back {which includes about a 3 hour drive}, but got there in time to be turned away by an announcement over the loudspeaker that they weren't admitting customers as the water main to the store had burst. so we waited about 3.5 hours for it to be fixed before giving up. brandon and i are gonna try again this saturday. hopefully we can score on some sweet swed swag!

-my dad and aunt diane came to visit for a long weekend. it was awesome to have them out here and to show my dad the new place. he and brandon actually put in a new back fence together, so they got to bond a bit. in addition, we saw my dad's cousin and 92 year old aunt, who inspires me to keep up my mischief. she is a whoot!

i look forward to a bit less chaos but am so happy about all that has been happening in the past few months.

hibernation preperation

wow, summer has flown by so quickly & i have yet to post. somehow i thought grad school was the culprit; turns out i am just lazy. or busy. let's go with busy.

i am continuing to work at the hospital, which i am head-over-heels in love with. seriously, this is my place in the world!

i am also working at the university, as a faculty member for the division of social work. the title feels a little fraudulent as i am certain i don't know enough to be a faculty member, but apparently they thought i was qualified. i haven't been on campus much this summer due to vacation, visitors, & lots of hours at ivinson. i hope to catch up and feel a bit more competent soon.

in other news... we are working hard to buy a house. we know we are going to be here at least 4 more years so paying rent for that long seems like a waste of time & money. based on mortgage calculators we thought we could get into something soon for a reasonable monthly payment. turns out those calculators don't factor in insurance, taxes, etc. so we are further out in the process than we hoped. we are going to do a dave-ramsey-overhaul of our budget in order to squirrel away a bit more money for our down payment. hopefully there will be lots of free things going on around us in the next few months.

one of the ways we decided to save money was to disconnect our home internet service. it jumped to $60 a month so it felt ridiculous. hopefully we can put that extra money into our home savings account each month. in addition, we both have bad habits of spending way too much time on the internet in the evenings & on the weekends. we are optimistic that eliminating this distraction will result in more productivity, interaction, & time outside. it is quite embarrassing to admit how much time we spend on the internet. plus i have an iPhone now so we can check emails regularly. we may blog even less {is that possible?} in the next few months but by the time we are back on the internet at home we should be into our own house so we will have lots to blog about.

any advice from those who have venture ahead of us on this long strange trip of home buying is welcomed!

awesome day

i had a great day at the VA today! i have enjoyed it so far, but i have been longing to have the experience of conducting the mental health intake and assessment process on my own. today, that happened. it went well and i feel much more confident having that under my belt. no longer do i have to agonize over my first therapy session. it was rewarding and affirming. 

one of our class assignments recently was to do a cultural competency assessment of the agencies where we have our internships. in my department i noticed some important questions were missing from the forms we use to make mental health diagnoses--we never asked about what cultural groups people identify with or how their values/beliefs influence their ideas about mental health treatment. 

the second part of this assignment was to conduct an "intervention" that would respond to the problems we identified. i dreaded this part. i feared it would feel like i was judging the department. i didn't know exactly how to introduce this intervention in a natural, comfortable way. but today, my opportunity snuck up on me in a staff meeting. how convenient! i presented my intervention, got a round of support, and the staff decided to include it in a report about ways our department is improving patient care. wohoo!

if only the mass amounts of homework awaiting me would pan out so nicely.

VAMC OMG!

i started my training at the veterans hospital today. i am going to be working as a social worker in the mental health unit. for the next two days i am just training (which thus far equates to filling out 50 pages of forms and taking online modules about computer security and diversity).

for a rural area, the hospital does a lot and actually serves a lot of people in "VISN region 19". we learned a lot about the (negative) history of the VA and how the whole system changed for the better in 1996.

everyone in my social work program is required to do a field practicum placement, 16 hours per week, usually unpaid. i landed this sweet gig for my internship and i am getting paid! wohoo!

my one fear? that my vocabulary is going to be taken over by acronyms (see title).

the front is the original building--with an floor added on and a labyrinth of new wings extending out. still a cool building to look at though!

quick confession

we haven't posted much, because there hasn't been much worthy of sharing.  life feels like work, work, work, time with harvey, maybe time with each other, and then comes wednesday. wednesday is our one full day off together and so far each week we have carved out time to go to breakfast.  it is a new tradition that we are treasuring.  there is so much less pressure on breakfast--the food is cheaper, the dress is more casual, the talk is more lighthearted and silly. plus, if the food wasn't that great or the server treated us less than cordially, we have a whole day to redeem our date instead of a date night ruined.  

my job at the nordic center has a rhythm to it that is comforting, although the afternoons tend to pick up too much speed.  my coworkers are mostly all laid-back and sarcasm abounds so i am content.  i even get paid to ski every now and again.

a few weeks ago there was a little boy who kept peeking his head around the door into the "kitchen".  i caught him and told him he better watch out or i would put him to work.  this lead to an extended conversation on the merits of each gift he received for christmas, his favorite television shows and movies, and stories about his dog.  with each topic, he would become more and more excited. harrison is his name and he is about 4 years old. he promised to come back and visit me on the weekends and since then he has made good on his promise, coming to see me three weekends in a row. according to his mom, during the week all he talks about is going to the ski place so he can see the "burrito girl" (such a prestigious title, i know).  

today his heartfelt confession took the cake: he came up and ordered hot cocoa with his dad.  i poured the chocolate and turned to him and said, "would you like whip cream?".  his response, which came pouring out at rapid speed was, "i love you!"  with that he ran off with his hands over his mouth and left his father and i standing at the counter laughing. looks like next weekend when he comes to visit i might have some explaining to do about my heart belonging to another equally adorable and sweet guy.  

federal throwbacks

a few friends who didn't have the opportunity to visit us in jackson this past summer have requested to view photos of me in my uniform.  as you can imagine, the forest service green "pickle suit" wasn't exactly flattering.  so here it is, sorry for the excessive delay:

my friend megan here managed to get cute shorts, along with the rest of the women on the crew.  instead, i ended up with the frumpiest shorts ever.  and i do mean ever.  yes mom, i do know how stupid i look.  :)

and in the next photo we are actively working, on a full-fledged river patrol. notice the canoes in background?  they were full of boy scouts.  (note: even if necessary, we weren't going to rescue them.  rescuing one of those boys would be unethical.  i am pretty sure no scout has ever gotten a badge for being rescued by the forest service.  no, you get patches for doing it yourself, like rescuing yourself from an upturned canoe--now that's a badge i would like to see!)  

for some reason this photo wouldn't scan in very well so we look disgustingly tan.  both megan and i were dark, but we weren't  crispy-skinned river rangers.  i promise.

gf goodness

here it is folks: my best gluten-free creation thus far!  i can't take too much credit, but i will say i made this loaf a little fancy with rosemary and whole garlic cloves.  mmm.  we loved this bread and managed to put a good dent in it before dinner.  this is going to have to make a few more appearances in the future.

in case you thought we were living painfully dull, boring, unemployed lives, you are wrong.  we are baking our own bread!  :)

snow update: it is on its way and i got a call from my boss that i start sunday--the day the mountain opens!  wohoo for working!  i am going to have a busy schedule, but i think it is going to be full of variety and good people so i should enjoy the hectic pace...

• fri-mon days: bachelor
  
• fri-sat nights: typhoon!
  
• thurs morns: volunteers in medicine
  
• tues & weds: adventures with brandon & harvey

getting snippy

what with us searching for jobs, a house, and having recently adopted a new puppy, it seems only suiting that i would plunge into another big change.

i've had long hair for a long time and thanks to an old friend and a brave hairstylist, i no longer do. out with the long, drab, hippy hair and in with the new, chic, bob. here is the photographic evidence of the big change. some of you may think, "who cares about a little haircut?" well, when it comes to big hair changes i have always been a little timid, so this is a big deal to me!

i really like it, although i haven't styled it yet, so that may change my feelings drastically. it should go well with my job at the hospital, don't you think? speaking of that, my interview went really well. they seemed to feel bad that they couldn't give me enough work, but hopefully that doesn't deter them from hiring.

add to the resume

yesterday was a gloriously chaotic day on the river and i loved every second of it. normally i have to work in town on mondays, but on this labor day i was needed on the river because we were short-staffed. the morning ticked by at a snail's pace until we got a call that a 40' log was stuck across the river, blocking boaters from getting through. megan and i investigated and we made the call to close the river until this hazard could be removed (well actually we told our boss to make that call, but we influenced his decision).

brandon happened to be working on the fire engine and they offered to come help us cut the log out. they came down with the chainsaw, we fitted them up with pfds and tied them to a safety rope, and the cutting began. they cut the root ball off the tree and we assumed the tree would then break free and float away. no such luck as it was royally stuck. they then began working to pry the tree out by using the leverage of another tree. eventually it broke free and floated down river.

the man with the chainsaw, chip, got onto the search and rescue jet boat and they followed the tree downriver where it got stuck for a second time. they then cut the tree into four pieces and let those float away to meet their fate in the reservoir.

chip and brandon sizing up the task at hand

needless to say, this was a very exciting day and i loved having an important task to help with. however, the best part of the day was that the photo i took made it onto the cover (that's right, the COVER!) of the jackson hole daily paper. you can read the story and see the photo here. that means that i can modify my resume to include "professional photographer" as i was getting paid while taking those photos. not a bad gig!

you can check out all the photos on our picassa album which is a new photo album program we set up for sharing our pics. (the link is now also on our sidebar under "more photos".)

shipping out

i'm off this afternoon to work as law enforcement for the fire burning 70 miles from our place. we are hoping that brandon gets in on fighting the fire soon also, but that will have to be after the boy scouts depart.

i am sure to all you blog readers, it is a funny thought that i will be law enforcement, but indeed that is part of my job. i have even written my first ticket (not to a person so much as an improperly parked car, but who's keeping track?).

in other big news, i finally kayaked the canyon. it is sad that i waited until 2 month of working here to conquer it, but alas the initial run is behind me and went well. i even managed a stern squirt (a basic-level play move i have never done before) and had a combat roll in the largest rapid on the run. all-in-all, a good run on the snake!

just wanted everyone to know we are happy and healthy and enjoying life in the wild west.

back from the void

"finally!" you all say. i know we have been seriously lacking in the blog post department, and especially in the photo department. hopefully this will redeem us a bit!

we have had a lot happening in the past few weeks. i went to the river ranger rendezvous in salmon, idaho. we got to go on a day-long raft trip on the upper section of the salmon which was awesome. i have spent so much time on the lower section, down near riggins, it was a nice change to see a different part of this river.

after that we went to pocatello for a week for forest protection officer (fpo) training, completion of which allows us to write tickets. so now we are unarmed and not all that dangerous, but we can write tickets of up to $5,000!

while we were at fpo training we celebrated our 3rd anniversary. it wasn't the most special, but we won't forget it. pocatello doesn't have a lot of nice places to eat so after driving for a couple of hours (and both of us edging on food-deprived crankiness) we settled on texas road house. if it is ever your anniversary and you find yourself walking to anything with the words "road house" in the name, return to your car and go anywhere else.

this photo is from when papa came to visit--it is such a treasure of a picture! we had a wonderful time rafting and it was certainly a memorable father's day. i work with two guys from the czech republic, ondra and jirka. we took them on a hike last week and accidentally mentioned our hopes of reaching a mountain lake. i say accidentally because when these two set their mind to something there is no chance of stopping them. the map we had wasn't detailed enough and therefore we weren't on the correct trail for reaching the lake. after a couple of hours in the heat brandon and i had to insist on turning back. ondra and jirka were terribly disappointed, but we could have hiked all night and never found this elusive body of water.
this photo sums up our life: brandon hitting something big and me tentatively going along side him. i swam shortly thereafter on this shallow creek, banging up my chin, nose, helmet, and legs. i think this trip solidified my discomfort with "creeking". for now, i'll just stick to deep rivers--ironically they are much safer.

and this photo is from the (steep) hill behind our house. this is also the hillside where the local elk herd are spending their summer. we live in a little compound of sorts and are having nightly bonfire gatherings with our neighbors. the river is about 300 yards past the yellow house, so we are within walking distance, which brandon has been taking advantage of daily.

into the wild

we have had a lot happening here in jackson these past few weeks, but at the library you can only use the computer for 15 minutes at a time (without a reservation and those are hard to come by). anyhow, please understand that it is lack of internet time--not lack of stories--that has kept me from posting much here.

my job is shaping up well...mostly due to the fabulous people on my crew. i think it is going to be a low-drama staff. a couple of the guys are from the czech republic so it is fun to learn about their country and a little czech along the way. i am finding myself doing a lot more with aquatic invasive species protection that i anticipated. unfortunately i don't know much about it, but i am quickly learning and trying to put that new knowledge to some good.

brandon is at fire camp currently (in the SNOW in JUNE!!!) so i'll have to leave it to him to update on his job. overall, i think he enjoys it and the guys he works with are all really easy going and good-natured.

in more exciting news i had my first (and i pray last) run in with a grizzly last week. my friend megan and i were hiking and this "city family" coming down the trail told us there was a grizz just ahead on the trail. neither of us believed them, but the dad insisted on showing us and was gracious to take us to the location so we wouldn't surprise the furry creature. according to the ranger we ran into later the bear was recently left behind by its momma and was learning how to navigate on its own.

i had my birthday present out and ready to go (bear spray that is) should he take interest in us. however, he looked at us and basically shrugged his shoulders as if to say "whatever". i was relieved that we didn't look appetizing and we gave him plenty of space in case he changed his mind. we were both stoked and completely freaked out as we continued on our hike. as we walked away i realized i had forgotten to breathe for the entire time we where thinking "nice bear" thoughts. oops! i certainly learned to never leave home without the bear spray.
we have also seen lots of moose, marmots, elk, and bald eagles. i even saw a pine martin for the first time.

in other news, papa arrives tomorrow! i am really eager to show off our new little home and to introduce him to the tetons--which he has never seen. i'll try to get some photos to post of his visit.

in the meantime, i hope each of you get to planning your trips to jackson soon as we always welcome visitors!

a new rainy place to live

we arrived saturday night in the midst of a thunder & lightening storm--so far we haven't seen much else. we are both eager for those mountains to come out from hiding.

on saturday we went to a bbq and met quite a few of the folks we will be working with--awesome, chill people! we also managed to get almost all the way settled into our cabin within a few hours (making heavy use of disinfectant wipes). here are a couple of photos:during a mid-afternoon nap yesterday we also were introduced to the previous (current?) tenants of our cabin: a family of bats. one curious one came out to visit and we chased him around the place until we finally got him in a blanket and out the door. as soon as he flew out of hiding i hit the deck instantaneously. i am sure i won't live that one down all summer. we then proceeded to fill all the cracks of our cozy log cabin with expanding foam. hopefully we are the only remaining occupants, although neither of us are too confident in that.

the kayaking around our house is incredible--we are certainly going to be real live river rats this summer. brandon hit "lunch counter" wave yesterday and fell in love. we also checked out kings wave and are both excited about that as it is a 5 minute drive from our place. brandon on "lunch counter"

we'll try to post as often as possible. we have no cell service or internet access at our house, so don't feel neglected if we don't keep in touch this summer.

good news... finally!

we haven't had a lot of good news these past few months, but today we both heard great things. each of us got jobs in jackson, wyoming for the summer! i will be a river ranger (aka: low-level, non-weapon packing cop) and brandon will also be working for the forest service maintaining campsites, doing trail clearing, enforcing campground regulations, etc.
we are both eagerly looking forward to a summer in the tetons.
they have us set up in "rustic cabin" along the river (includes running water, electricity, and potentially a bat family) which is great. we start on may 27 so we will get some time at home with the family before we take off for the rocky mountain range.
if any of you decide to come visit, be sure to check the events calendar for concerts and other exciting things. we would love to have visitors!
if things go according to plan, this will be our view:we have this requirement that we have framed art/photos from each place we have lived up around our house. this won't be a hard location to take stunning photos from!
in other news, brandon had a wonderful birthday (the news of the jobs coming through was a great gift!). he got a zero degree sleeping bag and was able to share a nice steak and potatoes dinner with some of our best friends. to top it off we got to see erik and kayla last night. we are a blessed couple indeed!
i also broke down and went to the doctor this afternoon: sinus infection! wohoo! i am on antibiotics right now and eager to begin feeling better. brandon is being really patient, but i have been whining for the past five days.

the countdown has begun

...may 5th is the day when i finish up at my job. the remaining 26 work days will be jam-packed with candidates on campus interviewing for my position, the family housing carnival, the community yard sale, and saying goodbyes.

i have had a lot of unpleasant feelings about living here these past two years, but just as we are about to leave the tides have shifted. now we have a thai restaurant! that really changes everything for this asian-food-loving-girl! i think i could be happy here for a bit longer, but the time has come for us to move on.

still not a lot of news in the way of graduate school. i called CSU this afternoon to see where they are at in the process, but only reached voicemails. grrr. more waiting is in store it seems.

in other news, i now have permission to look on petfinder.com and checkout possible additions to our little clan. we are really hoping to find an australian shepherd-poodle mix. i know, i know, 'a poodle?' you say, but the lack of (or limited) shedding factor is huge. plus, i love the curly hair look--it just makes dogs look a little more scruffy. by the way, 'scruffy' is the primary characteristic we will be basing the pet selection on. so if you hear of any aussiedoodle puppies in need of a great home, please let us know!

spartanburg here i come!

life has felt out of balance these past few weeks with traveling, challenges at work, losing papa overstreet, waiting for grad school news, homework galore, and the like. we have been chugging along through it, but because of all that has been happening, i failed to post exciting news: i am going to spartanburg, south carolina for spring break!

i was chosen to be the "adult leader" (haha) for a group of 11 students for the alternative spring break the university sponsors. we will be working on a habitat for humanity build over the course of the week, making our home on the floors of a local church. it is going to be a lot of tiring work, late nights, and emotional reactions but i am excited to be part of it! i rarely get to work with "traditional" students as most people in the apartments are older of have families, so it will be rewarding for me to build relationships with an entirely new demographic of students.

one of the bonuses about being a leader for the trip is that i don't have to use vacation time as i will still be working for the university during that week. i don't have heaps of annual leave hanging around so it will be nice to get out of dodge without using any. plus i don't have to pay for the trip either!i leave at the ridiculous hour of 2:45AM next saturday and return at the equally ridiculous hour of 2:00AM a week later. i have a strong feeling that upon my return i will spend many hours with my eyes closed under the covers! i will appreciate prayers in the following ways: that i can be competent to deal with whatever comes up, that our group meshes well and has little drama, that we have safe travel, and that are lives are forever changed by the experience!

surprise attack

last night around 9:30 we noticed that it was snowing like crazy. the weather report had said nothing of snow, so a blizzard was certainly not on our radar. indeed, a blizzard it was! huge flakes were whizzing sideways past our window and within 30 minutes the freshly shoveled sidewalk was covered in 6" of snow.
then the calls started coming in. (i am on call for work now.) over the course of the night i received 26 phone calls and i was up until 3:00am! multiple transformers around town blew up into blue arcs of energy, generators petered out mid-way through the night, a handful of folks required rescuing from downed elevators, and i schlepped my way through feet of snow to calm everyone down. when i went to my car at 2:00am to solve yet another crisis, my doors were frozen shut. i swore a bit and climbed through our back hatch. at that moment i thought about quiting my job.
now it is the next afternoon and the snow is beautiful, a true wonderland. i am sure most people woke up to be surprised by the winter beauty around them. i however watched the flakes fall all night and fought the wind gusts as i ran from building to building. maybe i am lucky to have witnessed the whole winter attack.