may wrapup

What an amazing month it’s been. Between buying a house, moving, going on vacation, Albuquerque Beer Week (actually lasts two weeks…), and a Biblical-grade infestation of grasshoppers, May just flew by in an instant! The next couple of months will be full of good things like visiting friends, fixing up our new house, getting the rest of the awesome furniture we ordered, my birthday, and maybe some more regional travel. We found that now that we have a good bit of gear and some knowledge, camping can be a lot of fun!

Even though work continues to annoy me at times, I’m professionally satisfied overall. The awesome teacher training project I was involved with wrapped up last week, and I was asked by one of the teachers to join him on a research project involving gifted education. I got roped into teaching an online course for my current university, even though I swore repeatedly I’d never teach online again. I think being here and teaching a fairly easy undergraduate course will be better than teaching a graduate course for a university 1200 miles away. Also, I’m getting asked to join in on some really cool projects at work that really take advantage of my skill set and in some cases force me to learn new things. Now I’m just hoping that my hard work and initiative will be recognized with a bit of a raise and even a promotion. I passed my probationary review with flying colors, so I could in theory be eligible for a promotion and up to a 20% raise. Certainly not a bad thing.

 

 

america’s best idea

Our trip to some of the National Parks of southern Utah was really something, even if we did cut our visit short by a couple of days. Hiking and camping in rain and lightning just sounded less than pleasant.

We began our trip staying in Moab, Utah as a base for visits to Arches and Canyonlands National Parks and Dead Horse Point State Park. All offered beautiful vistas and lots of lovely red rock.

Park Avenue, Arches NP

Delicate Arch (4 stories tall!), Arches NP

Grand View Point, Canyonlands NP

We then made our way over to the southwestern corner of Utah to visit Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks. We did Bryce in a day on the way in, and were treated to spectacular views and an amazing hike among hoodoos.

Sunrise Point

Navajo Loop

Zion was just phenomenal. Even the drive in to the park from the east entrance inspires a continual stream of, “Oh….WOW! Look! Duuuude!” We did the hike I mentioned a while back, and it was fantastic. The last bit was fairly challenging, but the view was so, so worth it!

View from Angels Landing

Sadly, the weather turned against us and we did not get to hike the Narrows. That and other things will definitely bring us back to the area soon.

feeling fidgety

The last couple of days of work before a vacation are a special kind of torture for me. I tend to ramp up my productivity a week or two before I know I’ll leave, so by the time T-2 days or so comes about, I have nothing left to do. I feel like I’m just here to say I’m here, and it frustrates me to no end. My house is literally a 5 minute walk from my office, and I’d so much rather be there doing things that need to be done. The problem with that is I have to conserve my leave for this upcoming trip. First-world problems, to be sure.

Also, work has been kind of stressful because all of us are picking up the slack for a (supposedly) senior colleagues who does not have his act together at all. I’m talking “urinates on himself and doesn’t bathe” kind of dysfunction. We’re all working on multiple projects with tight deadlines and high demands, yet he can’t seem to get out the one project he’s been assigned and he was supposed to finish over 6 months ago. It’s frustrating to see that I’m doing the work of 2 senior colleagues, and yet my pay is on par with lower-rank employees with lower credentials. I applied for a better, higher-paying position in a related department, and I wasn’t even interviewed. That stung. I initially wasn’t going to apply, but my colleagues urged me to. They said the search committee would have to be delusional not to consider me, given that my experience and credentials were exactly what they said they wanted. Even worse is that I may be expected to provide significant support to this person who is hired for the job. Add that to the fact that my boss has been out of the country for nearly 2 months, and it’s really hard for me to care too much. I figure as long as I get my work done well and on-time, I’ll be fine. That minimal standard seems to be too much for most of the people I work with.

The overachiever in me gets so demoralized when I operate on my typical schedule/work ethic, and don’t see any rewards. It’s exacerbated by seeing others underachieve and get the same or even more incentives than I do. I realize life isn’t fair and all that jazz, but it seems patently absurd to not do everything in one’s power to keep a good worker happy. I’ve already started considering applying for other jobs in hopes that I can use them as leverage in my current job (or an escape hatch if/when things get really bad).

I feel bad even posting this, given that it has so little do with the awesomeness of life in New Mexico. If anything, it makes me appreciate my time away from work even more. This vacation is going to be great!

rboc: homeowner edition

• Our move went surprisingly well, all things considered. We hired the movers for 6 hours and they miraculously finished in 4. That is some kind of hustling there. Our past experiences with movers have been riddled with sloth, inefficiency, or sheer incompetence. Not these dudes. They had our entire house loaded up in about 90 minutes, including some of our heavy-ass furniture. Impressive!
• On Saturday night, when the dog was having itchy ears and needed a warm cloth, we discovered that there was no hot water. We texted our contractor the next day, and he so generously came by to tinker with the water heater until it worked. After a day and a half of dealing with dust and boxes, that hot shower felt awfully nice.
• Our house is more or less coming together nicely. There are a few more projects that need to be completed before we can truly move in.
• This week is nothing but setting up the new house, cleaning out the old house, and preparing for our trip to Utah. I’m going to need that vacation something fierce!

home is wherever i’m with you

And we are now officially homeowners. This weekend and during the week, contractors will be in and out making repairs, installing flooring, etc. I did some minor projects (take down a tacky door, remove shelving from bathroom, install new deadbolt) on Saturday, in addition to bringing in and unpacking boxes. We move officially on the 10th, and I hope to have things in order very quickly.

Work has been good, but quasi-stressful. That is really a post of its own.

Also, mulberry bushes are welcome to die in a fire. My allergies are in rare form. Between the dust in the current house and in our new house, I am seriously considering wearing a mask. I feel like absolute crap, and even left work early because my asthma was flaring up. And to think we moved here in hopes that my allergies would be better…