2008
Hello. It’s the middle of February, and this is my first 2008 Blog update.
Ken’s 50th birthday was last Wednesday. Rob’s 51st birthday was yesterday. Mine is coming up toward the end of this month, so we’re knee-deep in angel-food birthday cakes this month!!
I was planning a trip to the SF Bay Area right about now, but I’ve postponed it for a short time. In my 2007 Blog entry, I mentioned that VECO had been purchased by CH2M HILL. I did go to Denver in January of this year with several of my HR team from Anchorage. The meetings went well and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting everyone. I was energized and excited about the changes we’d be making in the HR organization in Anchorage. But there were some overall organization changes in Anchorage that I found made moving forward difficult for me. I resigned toward the end of January to pursue other opportunities and worked through Friday 8 February.
I was looking forward to taking some extended time off. I moved to Anchorage from Baghdad and jumped right into the new job without taking any time off. And since spring last year I’ve been working long hours since CH2M HILL began the due diligence to acquire VECO. I was really exhausted and burned out. But this past week, my first week off, I received and accepted a job offer from ASRC (Arctic Slope Regional Corporation) in Anchorage. Website: http://www.asrc.com/home/home.asp
The position is at an equivalent seniority and salary level, and I’m excited about it. There are some consultants who begin about two weeks of meetings on Tuesday 19 February. It will be important for me to participate in these meetings, so I’m starting work. But I have an agreement to take some extended time off soon, and I am still planning to take my trip to California.
The cell phone I had belonged to CH2M HILL, and I returned it when I left the company. So delete the cell phone number you had for me. I’ll get a new cell phone soon, but don’t have a number yet. Alaska has it’s own time zone which is one-hour earlier than California. If you’re confused, here is a good website link for time zones: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/results.html?query=Anchorage
This is my third winter in Anchorage, and this one is the coldest and has had the most snow so far. Though it’s been cold in February, the sun has been out a bit more and so I haven’t minded it too much. The first ten days of February, we had lows from -5 degrees F. down to -15 degrees F. Ten days of really cold weather. It’s snowed just about all day for the last three days but our temperatures warmed up to 27 degrees F. today and during the next ten days we’re supposed to go up to 32 degrees F. It’s a heat wave ! (smile)
The weekly class to study for the HR certification started last week. I had started the class last January but dropped it because I was working too many hours to study effectively. So I’m starting it again. The class goes through June.
My brother’s been off work since the middle of January due to a slowdown in the Construction group. He’s still employed, just not getting paid right now. He’s hoping that he starts work again soon. I talked to him today about painting walls and changing out the countertop in my small half bath off the living room. It has dark wallpaper and a small sink with white countertop. I’d like it to be painted a lighter color and maybe some small glass iridescent tiles would be pretty. We’ll head out to Home Depot and Lowe’s in the next week to look around and see what might make sense. I don’t want to spend a lot of money, but would like to brighten the small bathroom up quite a bit. Sitting around watching it snow outside will make you begin to think about home-improvement projects!
Well, that’s about it for what’s going on this year so far. More later as the year unfolds.
Ken’s 50th birthday was last Wednesday. Rob’s 51st birthday was yesterday. Mine is coming up toward the end of this month, so we’re knee-deep in angel-food birthday cakes this month!!
I was planning a trip to the SF Bay Area right about now, but I’ve postponed it for a short time. In my 2007 Blog entry, I mentioned that VECO had been purchased by CH2M HILL. I did go to Denver in January of this year with several of my HR team from Anchorage. The meetings went well and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting everyone. I was energized and excited about the changes we’d be making in the HR organization in Anchorage. But there were some overall organization changes in Anchorage that I found made moving forward difficult for me. I resigned toward the end of January to pursue other opportunities and worked through Friday 8 February.
I was looking forward to taking some extended time off. I moved to Anchorage from Baghdad and jumped right into the new job without taking any time off. And since spring last year I’ve been working long hours since CH2M HILL began the due diligence to acquire VECO. I was really exhausted and burned out. But this past week, my first week off, I received and accepted a job offer from ASRC (Arctic Slope Regional Corporation) in Anchorage. Website: http://www.asrc.com/home/home.asp
The position is at an equivalent seniority and salary level, and I’m excited about it. There are some consultants who begin about two weeks of meetings on Tuesday 19 February. It will be important for me to participate in these meetings, so I’m starting work. But I have an agreement to take some extended time off soon, and I am still planning to take my trip to California.
The cell phone I had belonged to CH2M HILL, and I returned it when I left the company. So delete the cell phone number you had for me. I’ll get a new cell phone soon, but don’t have a number yet. Alaska has it’s own time zone which is one-hour earlier than California. If you’re confused, here is a good website link for time zones: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/results.html?query=Anchorage
This is my third winter in Anchorage, and this one is the coldest and has had the most snow so far. Though it’s been cold in February, the sun has been out a bit more and so I haven’t minded it too much. The first ten days of February, we had lows from -5 degrees F. down to -15 degrees F. Ten days of really cold weather. It’s snowed just about all day for the last three days but our temperatures warmed up to 27 degrees F. today and during the next ten days we’re supposed to go up to 32 degrees F. It’s a heat wave ! (smile)
The weekly class to study for the HR certification started last week. I had started the class last January but dropped it because I was working too many hours to study effectively. So I’m starting it again. The class goes through June.
My brother’s been off work since the middle of January due to a slowdown in the Construction group. He’s still employed, just not getting paid right now. He’s hoping that he starts work again soon. I talked to him today about painting walls and changing out the countertop in my small half bath off the living room. It has dark wallpaper and a small sink with white countertop. I’d like it to be painted a lighter color and maybe some small glass iridescent tiles would be pretty. We’ll head out to Home Depot and Lowe’s in the next week to look around and see what might make sense. I don’t want to spend a lot of money, but would like to brighten the small bathroom up quite a bit. Sitting around watching it snow outside will make you begin to think about home-improvement projects!
Well, that’s about it for what’s going on this year so far. More later as the year unfolds.
posted by Jeanne | Monday, February 18, 2008
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