From Good to Better

You may know that I started a new job a couple months ago. It was good, and I was lucky to get it, and I was glad to have it. Nice perks, because although I didn't work for A Redmond Software Giant, I worked at A Redmond Software Giant, and therefore got all kinds of nice stuff like free drinks (of more than just coffee and tea) and a great cafeteria with a perfect salad bar, Orca Card, all that kind of thing. The job itself was fine; not my best thing as it's not a people-interaction job - I was part of the team that makes sure your movies and TV shows are available on your XBOX.

The commute was a problem, though, as I live north of Seattle, and this place (at a satellite campus of A Redmond Software Giant) is south and east. Sixty to ninety minutes one way, and that's with my carpool buddy, and with the Orca Card it was even worse because that is dependent on bus schedules from one suburb to another. When +Laston Kirkland and our girls picked me up for our trip last weekend, we joked that the only convenient thing about it was that when we go to visit his parents, I'm on the way out of town. As we only visit them once or twice a year, this is not a considering factor.

So I was looking for something closer to home in a desultory fashion - no urgent need, but it would sure be nice. As it was, we were getting home from work between 6:30 and 7PM, and as Lizzy's bedtime is 7:30, that meant either huge loss of family time, or Late Nights For Lizzy (which never go well). Every night. So, again, looking in a casual sort of way, not applying for everydamnthing I'm remotely qualified for anymore; now I can be a little picky about it.

And I got one!

It's customer service (way more my thing). It's better pay (always nice). Most importantly, it's about a fifteen minute drive from my house (or my mom's house, which - since she is my child care provider - is equally important). This not only saves me money (less gas and wear-and-tear on the car), it saves me time (about two hours a day) and sanity (not quite so rush-y in the morning or the evening) and gets me better grades (as that's not so rushed either). And this may sound silly, but it's customer service and technical support of medical equipment - a surgical laser - and therefore I feel like it's important. More important than making sure you get your back episodes of your show on time in any case.

I probably start Monday - their HR department is doing its new hire thing - and fill out paperwork tomorrow. I'm excited! I'll spend tomorrow doing that and laundry and housecleaning and faxing off my grant application... with breaks between as I'm getting over bronchitis. Again. Long story, with spring and asthma and travel and such.

I had fun at the XBOX movie gig. But think how much more fun I can have given two more hours of the day with my Gamers' Babes.