12 Days On

... in my new job.  The "drinking from the fire hose" part is past now and I believe I am absorbing things.  My boss has passed a few things my way to own (with careful supervision, of course) by way of a couple of projects to lead and a couple of regular reports to create, and I'm already out of things to do.  I'm at a hard stop while I wait for him to answer questions and provide feedback.  So in an effort to keep me busy while he figures out what to give me next, he is going to sign me up for on-line training for a professional credential.

This is one of the issues with reporting to a high-ranking executive.  He's busy!  As he passes me things to take off his plate, he will become less busy, but to pass me things requires that he take time which he doesn't have to show me what he wants done.  Classic Catch-22 scenario.

In other news, it's much snowier up here.  Daily brushing & scraping of the car windows is required.  Fortunately by mid-February I will be in an apartment with underground parking.  Yay!  But until then I scrape. 

The Hamburger Helper routine is going well.  One batch makes two dinners, alternating with pre-cooked sausages (brats, cheddarwurst) on the off days. Maybe I should branch out into frozen pizza...  Of course there is a side salad, maybe some cottage cheese as well.  All to be able to enjoy eating ice cream right out of the container at night while watching the local news & weather.  Mint chip.

Breakfast is a rotation of 1) gruel (steel cut oats, chia seeds, frozen fruit steeped in almond milk & plain yogurt overnight), 2) grits and a protein shake, and 3) eggs & toast.

Subway is my destination after work, to pick up their daily footlong for lunch the next day.  On the weekends, it's Chunky soups or ham & cheese on multi-grain.  When I get into the new place, I will be able to walk to work and walk home for lunch, so Chunky soups every day!  Woo.

I have to say, thank God for video calling (Google Duo).  I thought I'd hate it as I don't like phone calls very much.  But it's a Godsend, literally.  We couldn't have done this 10 years ago, but with that technology, the 7 hour drive separation is bearable.  I think we actually talk more now than we did when I was at home.  :)

Oh, and I guess I failed to state that since my last post, we did decide to try to finagle keeping the house in Des Moines.  It's an experiment, that's for sure.

And that's the news from up north.