Friday, September 28, 2012

Celebrate !

Wooooo! I can't even begin to describe how happy I am right now. Except if you looked at me, I wouldn't look happy since I'm tired, so tired, wearing bum clothes and a hat. But really, inside I'm freaking out !

I got the job offer for the tech position in the school of pharmacy ! YAY! I really couldn't believe my eyes. "This isn't happening!" I finally caught a break. Only took a year. Goodness. It really has been a year since I started looking. Perseverance people !

So my notice was in within an hour of getting the offer letter. I'm done Oct 12, 2012 ! Start there Oct 15, 2012! No pay cuts (no raises either, but hey, I'm seriously not complaining!). Stability, no more insane drama. Seriously. Drama. And it's not even the girls causing it. What is this ! No more lab meetings. No more applications, resumes, all that. I'm done. I'm so ready to be done. Normal 8-4 Mon-Fri with a normal boss, and normal coworkers and normal work.

I am happier than a bird with a french fry! (I've always wanted to use that, but was never that kind of happy!)

So happy day. Good times. Oh October is going to be a great month ! There is finally a light at the end of the tunnel. I can start my last official countdown to get outta here. And this time its real. And I'll really be leaving. Almost bitter sweet. Definitely a LOT of sweet, and a teeny tiny smidgen of bitter. YAY!

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Old post #1

This one is dated June 25, 2010 (cute I just got married. Aw!) and is titled When Thou Are Converted. It's a good one ;] Enjoy !

So we had the missionaries over last night. Which isn't too much of a surprise because they're always over here. But they shared a spiritual thought with us that I've decided to share as well because it was very profound, touching, I liked it.

The scripture was from Luke 22:32:

But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not:
and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

This is Christ talking to Peter. And the part the Elders focused on was when Christ says "thou art converted." If you think of all the things that Peter was a part of, all that he saw, and Christ is saying when you are converted. He was there for the Sermon on the Mount, the fishes and loaves, he walked on water to Christ, he was there when others were raised from the dead by Jesus. He was an apostle of Jesus Christ and was there for so many miracles and amazing things. Yet, Jesus still says when thou art converted...

This makes me think of questions so many have asked about those that saw angels, witnessed miracles, and still rebelled from the Church, or turned away and denied the truth. Just because they saw an angel or witnessed Christ raise someone from the dead doesn't necessarily mean they'll be granted a testimony. They still had to work to believe, they still had to be converted regardless of all they had seen.

So what do you believe? Are you converted? Are you one of those people that have seen miracle after miracle and isn't committed? What do you need to do to be converted? Do it. Don't wait.

And once you are converted, follow Christ's counsel to Peter: Strengthen thy brethren. Once you know, once you have a testimony, you are told to go out and find those that are struggling, those that are weak and those that are still discovering for themselves.

Find it for yourselves and then help others. Thanks Elders.

Wake me up...

Whenever September is almost over that GreenDay song always goes on in my head about wake me up when September ends. And then I wish I could sleep through September. I love September, but I want to sleep a whole month and then have someone wake me up later. Ah, wouldn't that be nice? To sleep for so long. Bears don't know how lucky they got it ! Dang bears !

Nothing is really going on. I'm not really sure why I'm updating. I kept trying to come up with someone to write about and then just didn't... and before I knew it, I had a new post page open. Oh well. Life is being the same. Nothing really new going on. October should be fun.

We find out about BYU (I know, I put that in here every post) and next weekend is General Conference, which I love dearly more than almost anything and if you ever get the chance to get me to talk about it in person I'll probably cry. Just like I'm getting that knot in my throat just typing this. Man do I love Conference. <3

October also means pretty fall ! I love campus when the leaves change cause they have enough random trees everywhere that the colors are amazing. I'm pretty sure last year I just went on walks and collected leaves. Huge leaves the size of your face. That are pretty yellows and oranges. Talk about awkward when you're waiting for everyone to be gone so you can discreetly pick up a leaf. Silly Haley, no one cares what you're doing picking up leaves.

And Halloween. I really want to actually dress up. Last year there was a medical emergency and we ended up visiting church members who unexpectedly were at the hospital when their son was in a bad motorcycle accident and I'm the only Relief Society leader that they could get in touch with to go visit them and touch base (Relief Society is the women's organization within the church. See more here---->http://www.lds.org/callings/relief-society/getting-started/introduction-to-relief-society?locale=eng). So we didn't have the chance to dress up since we met wonderful people and were busy doing service. (I hope that sounded modest!)

So it should be an exciting month. Yay October. I know I'm wishing away my time and I'm really not. I love September. I've still got lots going on these last few days. Tara's Baby shower, then Saturday is the Relief Society Broadcast and Ice Cream social (oh yeah, church and ice cream, bring it !). Anyone else excited for the new Presidency to speak as I am? Did you remember we have a new RS Presidency? Just kidding ! Don't feel bad. I'm crazy.

And then the final episode of Doctor Who until the 50th Anniversary Christmas episode which in itself is enough to make you want to cry. But its the last episode of the beloved Ponds. CRY ALL THE TEARS ! I am not looking foward to this moment. Except that I am. Sorta. Such a sad day.

So now that you know my life plan for the next 4 weeks feel free to tell me I'm a loser. But yay for wasting time! Enjoy your last few days of September!

Oh. PS. as a preface for my next instantaneous post. I reread the posts from my other blog (you have another blog!? why yes, yes I do) All 5 posts. And my one follower and yeah. It's sad. I really like some of them tho. That blog was more, religious, here's what I realized while reading scriptures, or this fun fact someone in church shared. It was really good. But kind of died away. Anyways ! So now that I have actual readers (Shocking!! I know) I might copy over the posts periodically (as in the next 5 posts will be those lol) because I really liked some of the things I shared (sound modest?). So... don't stop reading my blog. It won't last for long.

Monday, September 17, 2012

Monday...Mundane

Monday sounds an awful lot like mundane... just saying. Coincidence? I think not!

Why not write another update ya know, instead of actually doing work... weird. Maybe I like the excitement of procrastination, the rush of realizing everything I have to get done in less than an hour if I want to get outta this place by 4. Oh silly me.

I had a fun birthday weekend. A little low key, which is probably good, ya know, since I'm getting old now. Came to work for a few hours and felt so horrible for leaving early, especially since I got laughed at when I asked if it was ok. Whatever. My boss said he interviewed for a company that gave employees their birthdays off and he likes that idea. Noted. Finally opened my big present that had been torturing me. It was full of fun !  I got my own personal spinning floating T.A.R.D.I.S. I give you full permission to be jealous. It will eventually make it to my desk at work and keep my company in my little cubicle. So I can stare at it as it spins and dream of the day when the Doctor will tumble into my life and take me (and Chris if he wants to ) away in his blue box.
Don't laugh at me until you watch the whole series, and love it like me. Then you'll understand. 

The rest of the box contained the present I was secretly planning for and was going to be really sad when I didn't get it since I was already acting like it was a done deal. I finally got some Project Life stuff (see www.beckyhiggins.com if you need some info. It's wonderful!)
I'm so excited ! I got the Cherry Edition starter kit. Love it. I need more stuff. Oh wait, I already ordered some from Amazon and spent the better half of Saturday running around with Mert getting more things. I love it ! The only thing is I have to return the binder. Chris thought the turquoise edition binder would be more "family" looking. Which, he does have a point. Except his OCD wife can't put Cherry edition stuff inside a Turquoise edition binder ! Ah ! It hurts my brain thinking about it. So I'll eventually return it and get the plain black probably. Simple. Goes with everything and I don't have to worry about it getting dirty like that white one. 

I did start the title page. I'm not super thrilled with some of it. If only my dang cricut (the mat actually) would work then I'd be fine and dandy. So some of the stuff was handwritten. Gross. Usually I don't mind it. But in this I do. I'll fix it eventually. So far, thats it. I've got ideas for the next 2 pages and hopefully stuff happens during the week so I can have two pages worth of stuff. We shall see. Chris is kinda already regretting getting it for me when I kept snapping pictures yesterday. Oh well. 

So presents, dinner with my dad, Tracy and Josh. Yummy mexican, and off tune serenades. Then cookie cake <3 love it. Shopping for craft supplies (date stamp, markers, paper, etc). Then MU game, where we should have won, but hey who doesn't want to score when you're down 3pts? I think I'll throw an interception.. COOL. 

Then church. The usual. 

I love birthdays. I got to hear from a few people I don't usually hear from. It's nice. I miss my family. 

All in all, 26 is good so far. Except that I'm tired. Full of fun, presents and surprises ! <3

OH and I'm pretty sure (but trying not to get my hopes up) that I've kinda got that job. The PhD emailed me again (horrible I know!) for a 2nd reference letter since she hasn't gotten a 2nd response. So I emailed Eric, he said he'd have it in tomorrow. Told her she'd have it tomorrow and she said good because this delay has caused them to put off doing an experiment. Why? Do they need me to do the experiment? Word? I'd love to not hate coming to work again. Not sure how I feel about the animal work. We shall see. Lots of things coming up in the next few weeks. Job? BYU? who knows what else !


Thursday, September 13, 2012

Twice in one week !

I'm on a roll ! I want a roll. A buttered Wawa roll with a hot turkey bowl... yummy. Its almost lunch time. A Reese's cup didn't cut it for breakfast. Yummy Wawa...

So I've had this thought. And I keep thinking it, and thinking I should blog it and yada yada, but never do. And I think its a pretty good thought. 

Almost a year ago, for our area in our church, our Stake President (he's the leader over a group of congregations, so here, some in Kentucky, Ohio) he got really excited and starting pushing Indexing. If you don't know what it is (because I sure didn't!) go here---> https://familysearch.org/volunteer/indexing . Basically the Church has scanned all these different types of historical documents, ship manifests, censuses, birth records, marriage records, you name it. And computers can't extract the info, so they get nice volunteers to spend their time going through the records and pulling out information about people: name, age, where they live, parents, etc. This is a HUGE help when it comes time to do your own family history and you can't find something online for your great great great (etc) grandparent. Once these records are indexed, the information is published and all of the sudden you can find information on your great great great... grandparent. Its happened to me. It was a really good moment. (I have a feeling I might have talked about indexing before here, but I'm not sure...Sorry!) I love it. I love seeing all these old names, from all these crazy places. I have an insane imagination so when I was doing the 1940 census and there'd be a family (husband wife kids) and then random sister in law, or mother or whoever staying, I'd come up with this huge story in my head as to why that person was staying with them. Stuff like that. I'm weird. 

So lately, I've picked it up again. It helps pass the time at work when I'm bored, or just plain procrastinating. I feel like its an ok trade off since I'm doing a service ! The new project I've been working on now since the 1940 Census was done forever ago is ship records from the 1800-early 1900's. All these different people coming from everywhere, literally, to come to America. Some of the records have a place written with how much money they have on them. Some only travel with $10 (which back then was probably amazing!) but it makes me think, they left everything, their homes, their country, their culture, everything, to take what little they could and get on a ship and show up in America.  There was hope here. There was a dream they had, and they could make it happen here. So when I've been grumbling about how much I hate my situation and how much I hate this job drama I have to go through, I see these people who sacrificed so much, so much comfort, stability, a life they'd built, to come here. And I have it. People are still trying to come here to live their dreams. There's a quote I see sometimes that hits me to the core when I'm grumbly: "Someone else is happy with far less than what you have." Ouch... that really makes me think. Haley, shut up. You have a wonderful husband, a great (ish) job, a great salary, wonderful family, the Gospel, a warm full apartment, food, love, friends, etc. So much. I have what people want. What people dream of having. Of what people used to come to this country for.

I don't want to say I'm living the American Dream and this is what I've been after my whole life, but I'm not far from it, and I'm still young. Of course I haven't reached it yet. But this whole indexing thing really put things in perspective for me. If these people were still alive today and heard my griping about what I'd do, they'd probably hit me. Or give me a good talking to (something I think old people would say). I should be grateful. And I really try to be. Sometimes, it's just so much easier to be grumpy. And, honestly, the second I had this "ah-ha" moment, I got an email from the PhD. She wanted to request references and me follow up and hope our collective efforts would produce action. And the next day, she got a letter. One more ! So we'll see. Things have been looking up. Even in my current job. Its still not my favorite, and it still has its issues. But its working out better.  

Happy Thursday !

Monday, September 10, 2012

[insert witty title]

It's Monday. Cut me some slack. No desire to be at work [ya know, since I work so hard!], actually no desire to even be awake. But I'm here.

I can't seem to catch a break lately. I keep thinking it will happen, and then it doesn't. And I'm not really sure why. I have a plaque and I'm sure I've shared this before, that says "Faith in the Lord includes faith in His timing." I love it. So simple, so true. Such a good reminder. But seeing the "why-is-this-taking-so-long" is pretty hard sometimes.

As usual, I'm complaining about my job. Shocker, I know. I keep thinking I'm getting out of here. Oh is that the light at the end of the tunnel. Oh nope. Just more dark tunnel. I am grateful to have a job, benefits, a really good salary that more than takes care of my family. Please don't get me wrong and think I'm not noticing how fortunate I am. But, what the heck ! I never saw the job posting my dad kept telling me about. Must have missed it being posted when I checked the website every day for weeks upon weeks. The few job interviews I have had got my hopes up and then crashed and burned. Most recently was a job interview 2 floors up [still at Marshall] in another lab. Very quick interview. The PhD was fun, kinda quirky. I think I could really enjoy working again. One of her two lab techs [just two! they need me!] said it's not the most fun job, but he doesn't hate coming to work everyday. And I'm like that's nice. What's that like? It's been so long. So I'm pretty excited, waiting for the appropriate amount of time to follow and thank-you-for-the-interview-email. And she wants reference. Not just name and phone numbers, which I have. But letters. Which I thought I had a few from a few years back. No clue where they are. So I email 5 people. Two can't do it. Stupid company policy. and the other 3 haven't responded. I'm freaking out ! I want this job so much I really don't care about my work now [yeah, I know, did I ever care about the work I'm doing now?] and I just want to leave. Put in my notice and be gone, well, "gone" to a lab two stories higher. But what can I do? I just want letters that say I'm awesome to work with, I get stuff done, I'm reliable, efficient, yada yada. I just don't understand why this waiting game.

The way Marshall HR works by the time I'd even get the letters in, it will be weeks before we can even do anything about it. Marshall HR... I loathe you. And reference letters. I loathe you too. Hopefully something happens soon. I just worry how this is reflecting on me to the PhD. Where are her letters? Will no one write one? Is she that bad of an employee? Maybe we shouldn't hire her... Yay! Another light extinguished.

On a happy note. In 3 weeks will be the BYU deadline and we can see again if Chris got accepted. Then there's a whole other big decision to make. I'm convinced they'll all happen at once. Cause that's how it works. For me at least. Oh BYU, Utah, decisions.  And my birthday is Friday. Pretty excited. Mostly because I have a big box sitting on the desk that's been taunting me for a week. I want to open it. It's got lots of presents in it. Not just one. Yay for turning 26 ! Yuck !

And on a not so happy note, my sweet angel of a great grandmother passed away last week. She really was an angel. The world has lost such an amazing sweet daughter of God. Her and my great grandpa are on my top 5 list of most amazing people to walk the earth. Jesus is on that list. That's how awesome they are. I'm so lucky to have had her example and now to have [and had to read for a long time. I'm a slacker] a copy of her personal history she wrote years ago to read and hear her voice as I'm living her life with her. I'm so lucky to have the Gospel in my life that seals and binds families together across generations so that she's still my great grandma when we're in the next life. And her and my great grandpa, together for over 70 years will still get to enjoy that love and devotion they had here. I love that love stories don't have to end at death. What happier thing is there?
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