Real Job

Since the second semester of my second year in optometry school I've been hoping for a "real job". It has taken 8 years to obtain said "real job".

The jobs Swell and I are moving around the world to take will pay well less than half of what we could make being optometrists here in North America but to be honest we haven't really been making a whole tonne of money the last two years. Working very part-time will do that to you.

I work on Saturday. I haven't worked since October 8th.

We leave Atlanta on December 13th to drive to Edmonton, Alberta for my brother's wedding/Christmas. During the 4 weeks between now and then I work 7 times and Swell works twice. Not a lot of fill-in work to be found in these terrible economic times.

After Edmonton we're going to drive to Washougal to spend some time with Swell's folks. I was very fortunate to find 4 days of work in Washington while we're there visiting. Rather than sit around doing nothing I'll be spending four of my days working for one of my classmates (we worked for her before we moved here to Atlanta). If our departure for the South Pacific is later than we expect I may be able to pick up a few other days from her as well.

This work, in the words of the lovely Martha Stewart, "is a good thing". We need the money to pay for 2008 taxes and to cover our moving expenses (for much of which we'll be reimbursed).

On Thursday, a week from today, I have to go to our condo's HOA meeting as I've submitted an application for the ability to lease our place under the undue hardship clause. I'll just be there to answer any questions and hopefully move the process along quickly. As soon as we have official permission we'll be listing our place for lease furnished. If it is not wanted furnished we'll have to move a bunch of stuff into storage.

Well first we'll have to rent a bigger storage unit and move our already stored stuff into the bigger unit and add our not yet stored stuff to the same unit.

Fun.

We hope to rent it furnished.

Our new jobs come complete with job descriptions. Mine is four pages long.

Swell's is three pages long.

Each description comes complete with a "reports to" section.

Swell reports to me.

I've already put her on notice.

I consider this my first real job as it is organized. Requires specific reports to be written and things to be done.

The job description has words like "liase", "implement", "monitor", "evaluate", "capacity building", and "collaborate" in it.

On the surface these seem like buzz words but they are words that are important to me. They are public health words.

It was in the second semester of my second year of optometry school that I went to rural Honduras to do an eyecare "mission". We stayed in tents and worked in unlit school rooms doing rudimentary eye exams and distributing recycled spectacles.

An eye opener for me.

I don't think its necessary for me to again espouse my disdain for eyecare missions. Suffice it to say this trip, in addition to my first trip to the occupied territories and reading about social justice, started me down the path to my first "real job".

It won't be easy but I feel very fortunate to be stepping into something that has a lot of groundwork already laid. I can do good work while learning from people who have already been doing good work. I can take what I know and apply it to a job that specifically states that it is designed with a public health perspective in mind.

I asked the group we're going to work with for a copy of the curriculum and was sent a 60 page document outlining the how and why of not only our jobs but the entire program. It is well written and it quickly becomes evident that this is not a fly by night operation but rather something that is designed to leave lasting change.

Better than that is that they ask themselves if what they are doing is working and if it isn't they hope to learn why not and make changes.

I've been communicating with a fellow who quit his optometry job here in the US to go to Haiti to start a clinic in an under served area. I applaud his intention but the more I think about it the happier I am that Swell and I are not off doing that somewhere. I have absolutely no desire to run a clinic in a developing country. This guy will be doing good work and I'm sure it will grow into something that helps a lot of people but I'd much rather try to teach 10 people to go out and do what I know how to do so that my efforts can be multiplied.

Not only do I not want to have a clinic in a developing country but I'm very happy to be taking a break from seeing patients here in the US. Its a tedious career. Tedious simply for the type of work Swell and I have been doing. In other situations optometry is less tedious but our opportunities have really been difficult. In only 6 years I've probably worked in more than 20 offices in 4 states. I'm burned out even though I had a 6 month break when in Palestine and have worked VERY part-time the last year.

I think Swell is to.

This will be a great change of pace.

We're both excited but a little wary at the same time. Worried about money. Worried about being so far away from home.

We expect a lot of visitors and hope to be in North America next December and January.

I'm sure I'll write a lot more about this "first real job" in the coming weeks. I hope you all don't get tired of it. This is more than a job to me it's the realization of a dream that started 8 years ago.

Not much else to talk about as we're just packing and wasting time.

The Boss

We got our job descriptions for our new jobs the other day. Today we're trying to get a bunch of stuff done so I finally had a chance to download said job descriptions and read them over.

Only important thing in the documents:

I am now the boss of Swell Mu ha ha ha

Catch up

Sorry for the poor quality pictures. We both forgot our cameras and had to use our phones

I’m sitting here in the “customer lounge” of our auto mechanic with nothing to do. We’re just doing routine maintenance on our car and getting it checked out as we will probably be driving the car across country in mid-December. I figured that while I wait I might as well use my time to update you on the going ons in our lives.

As most of you know we were recently in San Diego for the American Public Health Association’s annual meeting. We arrived on a Saturday afternoon but not before a startling realization, which I’m not allowed to talk about, the previous day.

We arrived to a beautiful sunny day and would soon learn that San Diego is synonymous with beautiful, sunny days.

From San Diego

We ended up staying at the Hard Rock Hotel which was beautiful. Swell being Swell was dissatisfied with our first room – it was a handicap room – and had us moved to a different room on the same floor. The second room was right across the hall from the elevators and we had to deal with very, very loud music 24/7 but were very happy with the room. Swell was especially happy with the amount of lighting the room had. I don’t know why that made her so happy but lighting was paramount in her decision to say “this is the best hotel ever”.

After checking in we ran across the street to pick up my final program and other conference paraphernalia. We could see the conference center from our window and were very pleased that it was so close. Unfortunately (fortunately?) most of my events were at the opposite end of the conference center than our hotel was on so I still did a fair amount of walking.

First night's dinner across from hotel:

From San Diego

When I looked at my final program I was aghast. The program was the size of a large phonebook. It was somewhere around 500 pages. There was so much going on over the four days of the conference it was difficult to decide what to do and what to miss.

I really enjoyed the things I did. Very interesting scientific sessions. I also attended all of the business meetings for the Vision Care Section of the American Public Health Association. These meetings were on the dull side as I had no frame of reference for the discussions but very important people (especially as related to domestic public health eye care policy) were in attendance and it was important to show my face. I’m going to try to get involved with this group over the next year. It was difficult to volunteer for anything while there as Swell and I don’t really know what our coming year is going to look like.

It was very interesting to listen during the general opening session as well as to the tone of some of the scientific presentations. The APHA is a group that promotes public health policy in the US. It is a very liberal organization. It brought a lot of great joy to this Canadian living in the US with a wife who is unable to get individual health insurance when a very large crowd of Americans erupted into applause and cheers when a Thai doctor/policy maker wished that “you too will have a universal single payer health system soon”. This idea resonated throughout the meeting and I am sure the vast majority of attendees are on cloud nine with Senator Obama having won Tuesday’s election.
I’d love to be able to go back to the APHA meeting but as it’s held in November it may be somewhat difficult. We’ll see.

Swell spent a lot of time wandering the streets of San Diego. She was, of course, able to find a mall that she window shopped at.

We also ate out together once a day. We tried very hard to not spend money so we ate at the cheapest places we could find (still not that cheap) and also went to a grocery store to get some snacks for breakfast/lunches.

We did treat ourselves to the cultural phenomenon that is Pink Berry. And we were not impressed. Its just very sour frozen yogurt. Not that good. A little on the pricey side.

From San Diego

I skipped the entire last day of the conference and Swell and I took a ferry across the bay and explored Coronado.

From San Diego

From San Diego

We had a lot of fun and were sad to leave.

From San Diego

Since returning we haven’t been up to much. We created a long list of things we have to get done before we leave Atlanta. We’ve been trying to figure out what the best plan of attack is for getting to my parent’s place and her parent’s place. We’re trying to decide what we need to bring with us and what can go into storage. We applied for the ability to rent our place under the Undue Hardship clause in our HOA documents. We had a phone conversation with some folks that we will be working for/with when we relocate in January.

We’ve both had nights where we haven’t been able to sleep due to concerns with moving. We’ve both had days where we are really excited about moving. I think the excitement outweighs the concern. Our main concern is money. If we don’t get our place rented for a good amount we’re in trouble. If we get it rented for a good amount we’ll be able to pay my student loans and take care of our mortgage with enough money to pay our taxes for 2008 and 2009 and still eat.

Our lives are quite boring and we have very little work over the next 6 weeks.

Looking forward to the Christmas season and visiting family and friends.

Well that’s that.

Request

Since our family is in the business of changing dates of holidays, we'd like to request the postponing on "FUN-DO" for Halloween. We don't think we should miss this important holiday tradition because we are far away now, since we'll be there for a long time come December...so we expect an evening of "FUN-DO" come December.

Swell

Update pentru tine

So lil' Swell and I met up again in Edmonton in the very early morning of October 10th. I had arrived in Edmonton in the early afternoon and promptly went to my parent's place and had a nap.

Eventually I had to wake from my slumber to go and get Swell from the airport. I got to use Edmonton's version of a fancy dandy ring road for the very first time. Being directionally challenged like my mother I was worried when she said; "Whatever you do don't take the ring road. I always get lost when I take it." I, being brave, ignored her advice and took the ring road. I, luckily, didn't get lost. I, unluckily, took the ring road. The ring road, being a ring road, allowed me to reach my destination, the airport, much, much quicker than I anticipated. Not having to drive through the city really cuts down on drive time.

Who knew?

My early arrival coupled with Swell's slight delay allowed me a lot of sit down and wait time at the bustling metropolis that is Edmonton Interantional Airport.

I people watched the other three people in the airport while they returned the favour.

It was a great time.

I eventually saw Swell through the security doors and in her great excitement of finally being in Edmonton she nearly fell down the stairs. I saw her do this and I laughed as she looked around sheepishly wondering if anyone else saw her.

They didn't.

It was great to see her and her first request, being in Edmonton and all, was to go to Tim Horton's.

So we did. And we talked and we felt fuzzy feelings being near each other again.

For those who don't know Tim Horton's is a chain of doughnut/coffee/sandwich/soup shops in Canada. No matter what time of day you go you will stand in line. This line standing is despite the fact that there is a Tim Horton's on every corner. If you don't like the length of the line at the Tim Horton's you can try to go to the other one down the block.

Its line is probably longer.

This wonderful gift from God is spreading to the US. If there isn't one near you drop what you're doing and drive to Canada.

Now.

By the time we were done our Timbits and Chili and "half-and-half" (half coffee half hot chocalate - a poor man's mocha) and Chocolate milk (a man can drink chocolate milk and still be a man!) it was 3 am and time to go home.

When we awoke it was time to drive to Drayton Valley, Alberta (a rural town about 2 hours from Edmonton - my sister married a cowboy) to decorate the hall for my Sister's wedding. So decorate we did. (We'll leave out the unfortunate family drama that usually accompanies weddings. I will note, however, that the RCMP were not called although they were on speed dial.)

Pictures of Decorating

From Wedding

From Wedding

Decorating was "fun" but took a long time. I got to build an arch. You're welcome sister and cowboy.

After hall decorating it was time for the rehearsal and church decorating.

Rehearsal was also "fun" although nobody but my father and non-getting-married sister (who looked really hot in her maid-of-honour dress by the way) understood my very valid concerns/points about the ceremony/seating arrangements etc.

My getting-married sister has three boys so as part of the wedding ceremony they did a Sand Ceremony. I had never seen this before (having attended all of four weddings in my life - two of which were in languages I do not speak and one of which being mine). Its basically a unity candle dealy but for blended families. Each member has a vase of sand and during the sand ceremony part they mix the sands together in a single vase representing the blending of the individuals and all their parts (the grains of sand) into a single family composed of the individuals and all their parts.

The boys in front of the sand ceremony stuff at rehearsal

From Wedding

Rehearsal done it was time for rehearsal "dinner". Hot dogs and beans. My sister married a cowboy.

The next day was, of course, the wedding. Yippee! I got to be an usher and say a marriage prayer. My brother was also an usher. He took a "short cut" to the church. We were a "smidge" later than we probably should have been. As my brother, who can't help but quote The Simpsons, said "let us never speak of that shortcut again".

On my arm at the wedding was this lovely and beautiful lady (I'm lucky, no?)

From Wedding

My brother, the groom's brother and I ushed like nobody has ever ushed before. We sat those people down like nobody's business. I, knowing nobody but my family, only tried to seat one group of people inappropriately (mostly because it was a sit where ever you want wedding except for immediate family).

The groom's family was quick to point out that they were, well the groom's family, when I tried to seat them not in the front row.

The wedding ceremony was very nice. I got up and said my marriage prayer and then something completely unexpected happen. We will never speak of the unexpected again.

Except lil' Nicles. She will speak of it again as she keeps making fun of me regarding the unexpected. What can I say? I'm a big softy.

After the ceremony was, of course, pictures. (Note to Romanians - most "normal" people take their pictures after the ceremony. Not before. This is because the guests are "patient" and don't need the food to be served 2 minutes after the kiss like all y'all do. Really!? Pictures before the ceremony? Harumph.)

I rode to the picture taking with my father who "knew" how to get there and didn't "need" to follow the groom's brother.

I remain surprised to this day that he didn't just know to turn down the "road" that said "No Vehicles". Good thing we came across the bride and groom's big truck (my sister married a cowboy) after we had long passed the proper turn, eh?

From Wedding

From Wedding

From Wedding

My sister married a cowboy

From Wedding

Seeing as how my parent's still live in Alberta and my sister married an Albertan in Alberta in October the operative word for picture taking was neither fun nor enjoyable rather it was, predictably, freakingcold.

Note in the above pictures the distinct lack of a giant Coca-Cola stain on the bride's dress. This lack of a Coca-Cola stain is not due to a lack of trying. The sister-who-did-not-get-married tried her hardest to stain the dress when she spilled the Coke down the front of it while on the way out the door to the ceremony. But the chick-crazy-enough-to-be-marrying-my-brother was talented enough to take out said stain with shampoo and water while only delaying the wedding for 15 minutes.

It should be noted that when we (those waiting for the wedding party to arrive so that we could finish lighting candles, get the runner ready, seat the parents, i.e me and my bros) were told that the wedding would be delayed due to Coke spillage we both knew who did it. If you ever hear the words "coke" and "spillage" in a sentence rest assured that Zumi is nearby.

Yes, yes Zumi we know you have a "disorder".

After pictures it was time for "dinner" (not very good) and other assorted wedding things.

We will not talk about these things because I don't enjoy them and I was outside "helping" my father and brother set up a big inflatable movie screen and sound system to entertain "the kids" (read my family who don't drink or dance or much care to talk to "people"). It was Alberta and it was night and it was cold and we will never speak of that night again.

The wedding wrapped up. We went to bed. We woke up in time for brunch and gift opening. "Fun".

We cleaned up and we went back to the hotel.

The next morning we drove back to Edmonton dropped off a bunch of stuff and then headed to Calgary.

I had a meeting in Calgary on Tuesday with an NGO that works in blindness prevention in developing countries. I also wanted to show Swell the city as we might end up there some day.

We arrived in Calgary in time to go to a Thanksgiving dinner buffet (yes it was Thanksgiving) which was good but lacking in key things. Like Turkey and Potatoes. They "ran out" but were making more. Turkey eventually came (we think it was deep fried because they didn't have time to roast more) but potatoes were not seen until we were leaving.

The next morning we went to the Calgary tower which was fun.

Swell met a moose.

From Wedding

We went up the tower and were scared.

From Wedding

From Wedding

From Wedding

After the tower I went to my meeting. I wrote this organization out of the blue and was surprised to get a response. They had no jobs available but thought if I was in town I should drop by to speak with them. I made a point to be in town. I sat down with a few of the higher ups and we spoke and it was ok and then they handed me off to a lady who gave me a sales pitch for a different organization I know very well. It was awkward as I think they misunderstood my intentions and gave me a sales pitch to donate to a group we already donate to. I was also told by the others that I should really speak to this person and this other person whom I've already spoken to and met. In fact one of them has called me a wanker and then I stalked him in Florida to give him my resume. Anyway they now know my name and thats what I wanted.

After the meeting (during which everyone else was eating some yummy food) we went exploring ending up at the farm my Grandpa (who died four years ago) used to work at. We used to go out to the farm quite often when I was a kid and I have many, many fond memories of this place. I hadn't been out there in years and years as Grandpa retired from farming after he got sick (he was probably in his 70s when he stopped farming). It was quite emotional but an awesome albeit brief-hurry-up-we're-trespassing visit.

From Wedding

Grandpa and Grandma's house

From Wedding

From Wedding

That other guys house. You know the one that didn't do anything

From Wedding

Cow

From Wedding

We went from the farm to Bragg Creek where we used to go and get penny candy when we were kids. (The farm was a vacation spot seeing as how we lived 4 hours north). We bought candy which I then forgot back in Edmonton so somebody has to go find it and eat it.

After Bragg Creek we drove to Banff and looked around all the while freezing half to death. It was fun.

From Wedding

From Wedding

We drove back to Edmonton following Banff. A long fun filled day.

The next day Swell and I had an appointment with an immigration lawyer who said "Its super easy to immigrate to Canada as an American married to a Canadian. Should take six months. Now give me $100."

Then it was back to Atlanta.

While Swell was in Romania I spoke with a woman about a job in a place. She wanted me to talk about said job with said Swell when Swell and I were in the same place at the same time.

Swell and I spoke. Swell emailed said woman with some questions about said job.

Said woman emailed said Swell with some answers to said questions.

We then asked what the remuneration would be for said job.

After a few days a different woman emailed us back with those details.

The pay was more than we thought it would be but still FAR less than what we could make working as optometrists here in the US (or Canada).

This job, however, is something that is very attractive to us. It should leave a lasting impact on populations across a large geographic area of the world. This job is in a resource poor area.

Note: this job is in a resource poor area. I know those of you who know where we're going (See previous post) are saying "they're going to a paradise." While it may very well be a paradise it is still poverty stricken and considered a developing country. Whats more is our job will train people from other developing countries as well.

We accepted the job the other day. We are waiting on details/further information.

A few points:
1. The previous post is the only one in which our location will be divulged. We do not wish for people to be able to do a Google search and find our blog based on our future location. This is simply to protect our future employer and ourselves. We have nothing to hide and won't speak badly but we think its best to use discretion.

2. Our employer will not be listed on this blog. I am not sure how they would react to our "blogging" and don't really wish to ask them. It is immaterial who we work for and we don't wish for people to Google this organization's name and find our blog. Suffice it to say it is a very professional, large, active organization that is doing good work and research in the blindness prevention/treatment world.

3. Both Swell and I have accepted jobs. We will be working in the same place at the same time although my position MAY require some travel within the area.

4. We will NOT be seeing patients rather we will be training people to see patients in their home countries/cities/towns/villages.

5. This may all fall apart still. We hope it doesn't. We're very excited about the possibility and think that its perfect for us.

6. As I've written in the past we kind of fell into this position as I wrote the organization about a different (and temporary) position and was then offered this one.

7. We believe we'll have a two month break every year (December and January) where we'll travel back to the US/Canada.

8. We will welcome visitors at anytime. And gifts. And money.

9. We have not sold our condo. Our condo will, more than likely, not sell in the next two years. We are not allowed to rent our condo as the buildings 25% rental capacity has already been filled and there is a 15 unit wait list to get on the approved rental list. HOWEVER, there is a clause in our HOA bylaws that allows for an Undue Hardship rental agreement. This will allow us to rent our place OUTSIDE of the 25% rental capacity. We will apply for this ability at the next HOA board meeting. They will approve it because of the three possible reasons to allow for an undue hardship rental we meet two. The third will not be met as neither of us plan on dying anytime soon.

10. We believe that our job will be starting at the end of January, although we'll probably go in mid-January.

That's that. If any of you have questions about anything feel free to ask. I know some optometry students read this at times so you can feel free to ask questions as well.

We're off to San Diego on Saturday. Will post from there if not sooner.

Moving

As of 2009 we'll be moving to Suva, Fiji for at least 2 years.

Details to follow.

Reunited

So my sweet lil' Nicles will be back with me before too long. As I've said before we both leave at the same time tomorrow (accounting for the time difference) and we arrive in Edmonton exactly 12 hours apart. Poor little Swell has 20 hours of traveling ahead of her.

Not a lot of fun. Especially by yourself.

I don't think I'm speaking out of turn when I tell you that she had a lot of fun. She was able to visit everyone that she wanted in the Bucharest area but wasn't able to get out to see some other relatives in other parts of Romania. I'm sure she'll post more pictures or stories when she's back in town. She ran out of internet time and didn't feel that it was important to buy more just for a couple of days so she's been out of contact with the world for the last little while (although I've spoken with her by phone).

I had an interesting phone conversation yesterday with a woman who works for a large eye care "charity" ("charity" because I'm trying to be as non-descriptive as possible as I don't want to say anything inappropriate).

It was an awkward conversation and I'm not sure if I heard all of it. Anyway I had sent in my CV for a temporary "consulting" position after having the job description forwarded to me by a colleague/friend.

I was then contacted via email by someone I met last year at the conference in South Africa. He was given my name and contact information by another colleague/friend and was writing to encourage me to apply for a job he had available. Turns out it was the same job I had already sent my CV in for.

Small world.

So I said we were interested and that I had already "applied".

Well I end up getting an email from the person in charge trying to set up a time to speak by phone.

We spoke.

But we spoke about a completely different position that she thought Swell and I would be a good fit for.

Rather than temporary this one would be a two year contract.

It is doing basically what I've always wanted to do in a very nice place. It is with a big enough "charity" that there is room for advancement/other opportunities and will look good on my CV in the long term.

Swell is less excited than I because of "money" and "safety" and "family" but she's excited.

Its an interesting opportunity and Swell and I will have to sit down and talk it out but we are interested enough to say "we're interested now how much can you pay us?"

Not that we're after money but again - student loans.

Well short update. I'm looking forward to seeing my family in Edmonton this week.

REALLY looking forward to seeing my little wife and having her back full-time.

That's that. May not be any updates for awhile unless the hotel in Drayton Valley (the "city" where my sister is getting married) has WiFi.

We want to wish Gilda a good, safe, fun trip (she's leaving on a Greece, Turkey, Italy cruise on Friday).

Picture Update

I meant to blog about the trip, but the internet here wasn't reliable and I really didn't make the time for it either. It's a rainy day here in Sinaia today so I have a little more time on my hands.

It's been a great trip so far. My mom and I had Geta (my aunt, mom's sister) with us the first 3 days of our trip. She's mentally ill (and then some) and is quite a handful sometimes, but most of the time she's very funny and good to be around with. It was nice to have her alone with us without my grandparents so we could focus more attention to her. The first day we went to the mall she got quite sick though (her eyes got stuck in upward gaze, for about 30 minutes, then 4-5 more times just a few minutes...so weird, apparently it's been happening since she was young), so we went home early. The second day we visited my dad's dad in the city center. He's very old (83?) and doesn't talk much, but likes to have visitors. Then we visited my cousin Robert and his family. We had a good time and enjoyed yummy grilled meat and veggies from their garden. Geta got to come with us for the first time and met his 4 kids (she LOVES kids). She got to hold the baby a lot, that was very fun for her.

We're currently in Sinaia, which is a mountain town here. Just about 125 km north of Bucuresti. It's Geta's first time here and my grandparents haven't been for over 20 years. It's nice witnessing a lot of firsts for them: first hotel room, first buffet breakfast (watch out!), first I Pod video demonstration, first Peles visit, first time vacationing as a family :) It's been a good time. I'm lucky to be able to be here with them.

I'm trying to think of a good story for all y'all... but I can't right now! Maybe the pictures will inspire me! Until then, just enjoy the pictures for now.

Tomorrow we'll hopefully go on the Telegondola.

We leave on Tuesday and I leave Romania on Thursday. It's been a great time, but it feels like I've been here FOREVER and I'll be ready to leave Thursday!

I couldn't decide what pictures to post, so here's a link to most of them so far! (sorry, just copy and past, I'm don't know how to do it fancy-like)

Edited by Matthew because he's so nice. Clickey Clickey

And here's a sample:

Oh how I hate this place!

From Romania2-2008

Geta

From Romania2-2008

G-Pa and me

From Romania2-2008

The kids and me

From Romania2-2008

Other G-Pa and me

From Romania2-2008

On the train

From Romania2-2008

From Romania2-2008

At Peles Castel

From Romania2-2008

Resting

From Romania2-2008

Sheepie

From Romania2-2008

Don't forget to look at the rest of them here

Romania2-2008

Mildly Excited

So I'm mildly excited as I have a phone meeting next Tuesday regarding a job (for both Swell and I) in Papua New Guinea and/or Fiji.

This is a temporary, short-term/medium-term position. Its a consultant position and we have to learn a lot more about it but we'll see. At least someone is expressing a little interest in me/us.

More later.

Life update

So I'm sitting here in Panera. I just came from a close by mall where I was looking for some dress shirts. I was looking specifically for one for my sister's wedding. I was somewhat successful but completely unsuccessful in finding pants. I'll just end up wearing a pair I already own.

I was unsuccessful because all the styles I liked were apparently European cut = tight. I don't like tight pants so I didn't get any.

That was a weird thing to talk about. What I was really tying to write is that I'm sitting here at Panera listening to a table full of High School Girls "study" for a test. They've been here for 45 minutes and have yet to open their books, yet I keep hearing at least a couple of them say "I can't fail another test". I have so much advice for them not the least of which is stop getting together to "study".

I'm sure they'll go home all proud that they "studied" for three hours tonight...

Swell is still doing well in Romania. She was going to do an update today but her internet connection was poor and she was unable to upload pictures. She hopes to be able to put up an update tomorrow.

She is going to be in Pantelimon (Bucharest) for another couple of days and then they'll be heading to Sinaia. Very exciting because all of her relatives (Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt) will be going. They have rented a couple of hotel rooms and will spend a few days eating out. Going on the gondola. Visiting Peles Castle. Eating out and just having a vacation. I think Nicle's is really looking forward to it.

I noted something I found very fun. I was preparing my life and looking at the day and time I leave for Edmonton. I leave Atlanta at 7:35 am on Thursday, October 9th. Swell leaves Romania at 2:30 pm on Thursday, October 9th. There is a 7 hour time difference between Romania and Atlanta. This means we leave at the same time (but I arrive 12 hours before her). I thought it was interesting.

I'm really, really looking forward to tomorrow night. Its the one and only vice-presidential debate. It is going to either be a coming out party for Sarah Palin or she's doing to go down in a ball of flames. I hope its a bitter debate with a lot of he said/she said. I'm hoping for this just for sheer entertainment value. My prediction is that she's going to embarrass herself, John McCain, conservatives, and Christians. I hope I'm wrong (not that I necessarily would vote Republican if I had the chance - in fact, given this year's choices I'd look outside of the two main parties or spoil my ballot if I could vote). It will be must watch TV.

Not much of an update but a life of waking up, working out, working (sometimes) and watching TV doesn't lend itself to exciting stories.

I get it already, I'm ugly, quit telling me!

Setting - I'm walking into the mall today for work as I walk through the doors to the mall I hear the pounding of feet behind me. It is apparent someone is running. Little did I know that not only were they running but they were running after me.

Random running guy Hey sir!? Sir!?
Me Huh?
Random running guy How'd you like a free haircut?
Me Crap.

Home Alone

So with my beautiful bride far away in Romania I'm left home alone. Pretty boring being home alone. Luckily I keep getting more and more work. I had five days of work lined up during the 16 days Swell is MIA but in the last 12 hours I've picked up another day and a half. We can really use the money so I'm happy although I really don't want to do the work.

Tomorrow I get to drive 34 miles to a Wal-Mart in Hiram, GA. It breaks my soul just a little every time I park in a Wal-Mart parking lot and walk into the optical there. I HATE working at Wal-Mart. It is the worst. I went to school for 10 years to work in Wal-Mart. I don't think anyone should have to work at Wal-Mart in any position but tomorrow I'll be there.

I wonder if I'll get roughed up by the greeter like I did when I worked at a Wal-Mart in Salem, OR. He literally grabbed me, which they are not supposed to do, thinking I was stealing something. After grabbing me he gave me a quick stare down and discussed things in a hushed tone. I told him what was what and from that day forward he referred to me as the pharmacist. Idiot.

I'm driving these 34 miles in the midst of a gas shortage. What is a gas shortage you might ask.

Well a gas shortage is when 9 out of 10 gas stations have NO GAS! Those stations that do have gas have cars lined up 5 deep at every pump snarling traffic on the nearby roads. They limit the amount of gas you can put in your car and require prepayment inside the store - no using the card machines on the pumps.

Yesterday I drove by a station that was just getting a shipment of gas. Cars were already lining up and the delivery truck was still pulling into position. I went back there a few hours later as my tank was nearing empty. They only had regular gas (like I'd pay for anything else) and it was a zoo. The cashier was not having a good day as it was so busy. I got the maximum allowed $40 (which filled my tank) and was on my way.

Driving by the station today I made the startling realization that they have no gas again. I've heard it might be a couple more weeks before our gas shortage is over.

Zambia.

So it was Zambia that I was hoping to go to. It was the fastest rejection of my life. I found the job. I emailed the person it said to email. She emailed back saying that she forwarded said email to her US counterpart. I waited a week. I emailed the US counterpart ensuring she received my CV. She hadn't. She phoned and said position is no longer available. They filled it? No. They just aren't going to fill it. Oh well. I'm slowly resolving myself to the fact that I'll be working commercial optometry (read Wal-Mart and its ilk) for the rest of my working life. The woman asked me to resend my CV and she would distribute it to see if anyone else within the organization needed someone with my skills (of which she didn't seem impressed).

C'est la vie. If I didn't have these astronomical loans I could take an entry level grunt position but someone with as much education debt as I have (three degrees of which only one left me in the overwhelming debt) can't be the gopher for an organization for $15,000/year (to be completely honest I pay more than that to service my loans every year).

So I'm disappointed to not even get an interview but not devastated. When Swell comes back we have a week in Edmonton, a week in Atlanta and then a week in San Diego.

While in Edmonton we are meeting with an immigration lawyer to learn what emigrating to Canada would entail (the US is about to implode and probably wouldn't be a great place to open a practice although the greater Seattle area is still in the running). We are also going to spend a couple of days in Calgary to see what its like there - I think Swell would prefer Calgary to Edmonton - its far enough from and close enough to my crazy family. (No that's not really the reason. Mountains. Chinooks. Etc. is the real reason).

While in Atlanta we'll decide whether or not to slash our condo price or just take it off the market.

In San Diego we'll decide what the next year will entail.

So that's it for now.

Tomorrow its Wal-Mart, Saturday the Mall, Tuesday the Strip mall, Friday back to Wal-Mart with more strip malls and malls to follow. Good thing I don't care that I'm a "doctor" - in fact I don't even introduce myself as doctor to patients anymore. I just don't care and neither do they. I could be a rabid monkey as long as I handed them a prescription at the end of the exam they'd be happy.

What I won't do for money!

I made it!!!

I'm here sitting with my grandparents and mom. I just ate a big bowl of soup, of course. Just wanted to let everyone know I am safe and arrived just fine. It was just a very, very long way - the taxi took 1.5 hours to get here, but it felt even longer. Tomorrow we might be leaving to go to the country house.

Everything seems fine here and they are all just so giddy to see me, and I them :)

Swell

From Swell

I'm currently in Frankfurt and paid a fortune to use the internet for an hour. But I am typing this post while logged out, so I’m not wasting any minutes!!! I got here about an hour ago and I have about 4 hours until I get to board the plane…that’s a long, long time of just sitting here. I’ve got nothing better to do, but to bore all who read this with a post about not much! Ha! If I’m bored, you too must join me and be bored along with me!

Lucky for me, there’s a McCafe!!! Those of you privileged enough to have been to a McCafe in Europe understand my jump for joy when I arrived at the B gates. So here I am, with my Grande Hot Chocolate (it’s 4:00am back home, I’m not crazy enough to get a coffee drink…I might regret this soon) and a chocolate croissant. This is the good part of my layover. This McCafe/McDonald’s has a HUGE sitting area, and really the only sitting area that I could find.

You see, I had to get through security to get here. I tried going all the way to my gate just to check it out and you have to go through security yet again to get there as well. So, I’ll be sitting here probably until my computer battery needs to be recharged. I’m looking around, but don’t see any plug-ins in the sitting area.

The flight over here was actually not bad. Had an aisle seat and nobody right next to me. Just a stinky guy in the other seat. Why are there so many stinky people here? We didn’t even get to Europe yet, but I could smell it from Atlanta.

To my surprise, there was only 11 movies to choose from! Of those, about 4-5 were foreign. Of the rest, there were only 3 that I have not yet seen! I watched Drillbit (unsure of the name), which I enjoyed – funny and entertaining kid movie. Then I watched Nim’s Island, which was okay – young kids movie. I tried watching some of the TV shows, but the only one I was interested in was a Two and a Half Men one. I never watch this show on regular TV at home, only on the TVs on planes. I never fly Lufthansa since they are usually more expensive. The episode they had was one I already had seen! I watched it anyways.

It was impossible to sleep since I had nobody to rest my head on! Oh, I miss Sheepie so…but I’ll try to keep it together for this post. I tried so hard to fall asleep, but some part of my body was always uncomfortable. I did just close my eyes and put my scarf all the way over my head (to block light from others’ monitors) but I don’t think I fell asleep at all. Soon enough it was time for breakfast and I started to watch “What Happens in Vegas”, but didn’t get to finish it (which is fine, we all know how it’s going to end anyways). I tried watching it once before, but got bored. It seemed more tolerable this time around.

I’m kinda mad I didn’t try to get an earlier flight back while I was still at home. I thought I could just try to just get on the earlier flight (which just left now – would’ve made it no problem) when I got to the gate. However, I forgot about the luggage fiasco I would face if I landed earlier… I asked if they could get my luggage if I went on the earlier flight, but they said NO!

I think I’m looking forward to this trip finally. Actually, I’m just looking forward to being there. I hate waiting in an European airport, especially one that makes you go through security AGAIN to get to your gate! It’s so stupid. I had to get through security to get here, so why do it again? This also makes it impossible to just sit by your gate for a while, leave and walk around, go back, etc. There is really no sitting areas here, except for the restaurants. Of course, I think it’s all a conspiracy. The airlines LOVE to give you long layovers so you have plenty of time to shop and spends lots of money in the airport. It worked for me. I spent money on internet, food, and that’s about it since there’s no German sausage in sight! Sorry Grandpa, I wanted to get you some meat from Germany, but the duty-free stores don’t carry any.

So, back to the trip. I think all who read this blog know that I’m going to visit my family in Romania for a couple of weeks. My mom had wanted to go back, and I wanted to join her. She had planned this right after she went in May – she didn’t feel like she had enough time with the family. It’s never enough for me either, so I’m happy to go back. I’m bummed out that Matthew won’t be there, but we really couldn’t afford both of us not working.

I don’t think we’ve been away for this long ever since we got married 6 years ago! Hopefully the time will go by fast and I won’t cry everyday…just kidding, I won’t cry at all I hope.

Anyways, I guess I should post this before my computer dies. Oh, I’m actually close to windows…I can see Germany. The most I’ve seen of Germany anyways. It’s cloudy and wet and looks likes Portland.

Oh, one more thing: I MISS YOU SHEEPIE!!!!

To write or not to write...

So still not much going on with us. I'm sitting at work doing nothing. I have three days in a row of fill in work after having not worked since August 30th. Swell works tomorrow and the next day. So we have some money coming in! That is very, very good. We've been living off of our savings but spending quite rapidly (see the post about buying many a plane ticket) so our savings are dwindling and we have to pay taxes still. We're living on the edge.

Our place was shown again the other day but no offer has been made yet. *sigh.

We'll keep hoping and praying that we can dump our wondreful condo on someone who would be happier in Atlanta than we are. Again, we love our condo. We love Decatur but there is no opportunity for us here. A lot of jobs but no soul satisfying careers.

I spent the better part of a day last week looking up potential employers and sending out my CV. I've gotten some response back but for the most part its; "Thanks, we'll keep it on file." I'm happy that they acknowledged me but that doesn't help pay the bills or further my career/life.

While searching for places to send my CV I ended up at a well known multi-national nongovernmental organization (that shall remain nameless). By this time Swell was standing over my shoulder and said; "Aren't you going to send it to them?"

"Well, I'll look but they don't tend to hire optometrists. Maybe I can get a solely public health job."

Clicked on job vacancies and what do we notice but the second job listed states they are looking for a coordinator for refraction & low vision services. Continuing to read the job description it states that they are, indeed, looking for an optometrist.

As I continue to read the description, skills and experience needed it seems like this job was written by looking at my CV. To my biased reading it seemed to require every single experience that I have. It was like every thing that I've done was to lead me to this job. Even the times in my career where I felt like I was a failure because I was doing a job I never wanted to do was a requirement for this job.

Obviously I sent in my CV, photos of my diplomas and my professional references (all the things they asked for). I haven't yet heard back.

Why do I title this post "to write or not to write". Its because I hate to feel foolish. By telling you all about this job I'm setting myself up to be a failure. What if they don't even call me? What if they don't see what I see in my CV? What if they do call me, I interview and they reject me? Its no longer a secret. Y'all will ask "what happend about that job?" and I'll have to say "I suck".

I don't think there are many optometrists in the world that meet the requirements like I do. Of those that do I don't know how many would apply for the job.

One of the requirments is to be a believer as this is a Christian organization.

Why do I write this? Well despite my not wanting to look like a failure we sure could use prayer from those who pray (and positive thoughts from those who don't). To me (and surprisingly to Swell) this seems like the perfect opportunity to change our lives. To stop talking and to start doing. To start anew.

It is a two year contract.

It is not in North America.

Short Story to Let You Know We're Still Alive

We haven't written anything in some time for the simple fact that not much goes on around here.

I roll out of bed at half past whenever I want. Put on my shoes and go to the gym. I come home and get right to doing absolutely nothing followed by getting my sweet Swell ready to go back to Romania.

We did have a really fun time in Las Vegas with my folks to help me Ma celebrate her birthday. Swell is going to write a little about that later but long story short - food, Hoover Dam, Stomp, gambling WITH winnings, shopping, food, comedy show, more food.

The next few weeks will be potentially exciting and some will probably end up disappointed.

Short Story:

Location Local grocery store down the street from our home

Setting Standing in the check out line. One person finishing up in front of us. We have a few things. Young woman behind us is a store employee obviously about to go on break. After hearing her speak a few words it becomes evident that she is developmentally delayed.

Swell is looking cute as usual. She is wearing basic clothes. Shorts, a T-Shirt and a hat. I'm also wearing a hat and t-shirt and shorts.

Young woman to Swell What's for dinner tonight? Oh that sounds good. You gonna save me some? I looove your hat. It's so cute.

Swell Thank you. I didn't wash my hair today so I put it on.

Young woman to Swell Ha ha. You're having a bad hair day today!

Young woman slowly turns her head toward me saying You must have A LOT of bad hair days.

Me to this day !!? ?!! ???

Happy Birthday

Happy (undisclosed very big number)th Birthday Mustard!

Have a great day and an even better year.

Life is kinda boring when you don't have a job...

So Swell and I have been back home for a couple of weeks now. In those two plus weeks I've worked once and she hasn't worked at all.

I work this Friday and Saturday and she works this Saturday so it will be a nice change of pace and more importantly we'll have positive cash flow.

What have we been doing with no work to go to? Sitting in front of the TV and watching the Olympics of course!

It was fun to be able to watch as much as we wanted although the coverage left a lot to be desired. If I never see another swim race it will be too soon. The only things shown live were swimming, beach volleyball and water polo. Every single track event other than the marathons, and race walking events were taped. The premiere events of the Olympics are all track and field and they were taped and delayed. Stupid. I didn't get to see any steeple chase, or hammer throw, or triple jump, or... the list goes on. I wish they had a channel devoted just to athletics.

During our time off (as if working twice in the next month counts as NOT time off) we also spent a bunch of money.

"What buy you!? What buy you!?"

Plane tickets.

Lots and lots of plane tickets.

Our life is as follows over the next two months:

Leave September 4 for Las Vegas to help my Mother celebrate an important birthday.
Return to Atlanta on September 9 .

I work on the 19th and 20th while Swell works only on the 20th.

September 23rd Swell leaves me for Romania. She'll be so lonesome. She's gonna cry. I'll probably be a little lonely as well but at least I'll have two days of work to keep me company.

On October 9th I leave Atlanta for Edmonton to attend my sister's wedding. The same day Swell leaves Romania for Edmonton. We meet up 12 hours after I arrive and then will probably head to Drayton Valley, Alberta shortly after her arrival.

We both leave from Edmonton on the same flight on October 16th and have no work currently scheduled. (Crossing our fingers that something pops up).

On October 25 we both get on a plane and fly to San Diego where we'll be staying in the Hard Rock Hotel and I'll be attending the American Public Health Association's annual meeting.

I have a group meeting schedule for Monday, October 27th where I'll receive job coaching. (This is how to market yourself and get a very hard to get public health career started type stuff). The rest of the time I'll be trying to break out of my shell and meet people and network. Scary stuff for someone as shy as me. We come back from San Diego on October 30th.

For my birthday Swell bought me a bunch of books that I had on my Christmas list for the last couple of years. Mostly books about public health, social justice, etc. She also came across a really funny one called:

Swell is mad at me that I paid so much to go to school (cash, no student loans for my MPH) and I keep telling her that I'm gonna end up being an optometrist anyway so I think this is her way of telling me something. I'm not quite sure what she's saying though...

So I've been reading that and trying to find a new job. We're still trying to move back west but are running into some problems, mostly a condo that isn't really selling. I expect it will take a few more months to get an offer. It shouldn't matter after today because we're going to win 114 million dollars on the mega millions today. (I got some scratch lotto tickets for my birthday and we parlayed my winnings into 5 quick picks for mega millions).

That's our life for the next two months. A lot of travel, very little work. Its a perfect life, no?

"Hey mister can you spare a dime? We're cold and hungry and we've lost our minds." Blenderhead

Few pictures

Thanks for visiting!





My birthday prince :)



Funny looking cake, but pretty tasty. The Dairy Queen lady took it to the back to write on it, and was SO excited to show it to us, exclaiming: "It's my first time!!!" Yep, it sure is...and maybe it should be your last...



How old Sheepie thinks he turned:



One last one:

HaPpY BiRThDaY To YoU!