It's hard to believe that I have been living here for a little over a month now. Sometimes it doesn't seem like it could possibly be that long already, but in other times it seems like I've been here for much long. I think I tend to "settle" into new places kind of quickly; I'm quick to make a new place home.
It was brought to my attention recently by a friend *cough cough, John* that my blog posts so far have made Arizona sound like a different planet, it in some sense, I think it kind of is. Let's face it, ways of living are different in every part of the country, and Arizona is no different. Before I moved here, I must admit, I was a bit naive about the looks of this part of the country. It had been over 10 years since I visited Arizona, and I mostly remember things about the northern part of the state, so I was expecting to move into a desert. Sand, lots and lots of sand, and a cactus here or there, that's what I imagined. But actually, it is very pretty down here. From my window at work, I have a great view of some mountains (and by mountains, I don't mean Rockies style). From my apartment I also can see mountains from two different directions. Even more impressive, though, was the sunset I briefly witnessed a week or two ago. As much as I love the Midwest, this sunset (orange, red, yellow, over a mountain) was one of the best I have ever seen. It's actually quite beautiful down here. Once summer it over, I hope to be able to go out and see more of the beauty this place has to offer.
One really cool thing that I witnessed last week was a dust storm. While it wasn't as big as the one we had a few weeks ago, I actually got to see this one, so it was more exciting. It started while I was at work. As stated about, I can see mountains out of the window by my desk. During the afternoon I noticed that it was a bit hazy around the mountains. At first it wasn't surprising, because after the dust storm a few weeks before, it had been hazy with all the dust particles in the air. But as the afternoon went on I noticed that the haziness was moving closer and covering more of the mountain. Then it really seemed to be moving. Luckily I got off of work when I did. As I drove home on the interstate (one of the quickest drives home since I've been here!) I was able to get a great view of the storm. When I finally got home, the storm was still moving in and at first it was dark; it felt like it was getting to be night time, not dinner time. But as it got closer, you could see just what it was: dirt. It was pretty fascinating to see it move in right towards me, so I snapped a couple pictures before taking cover inside. To make matters even more memorable, right after the dust storm came through, a huge rainstorm directly followed. I swear it poured for 20-30 minutes straight, it was so loud. I think my area got anywhere from .75-1 inch of rain, and it was noticeable by the partial (and only temporary) flooding outside. It has been a while since I've seen rain like that. It reminded me of a certain night last summer where it rained so much to completely flood the streets around my apartment, and I do mean flood, not just big puddles. Just ask some of my friends what happened to their cars that night, it was crazy.
As for work, things are still going well. A couple weeks ago got kind of busy with conferences calls and meetings, but then last week was meeting free, giving me time for more background reading and software tutorials. I did get some data to play with and will hopefully get to map it on GIS this week, which I am really looking forward to. I will also (officially) be traveling in a couple weeks. I get to go to Flagstaff for a couple days for some meetings. I'm pretty excited because the last time I was in Flagstaff (long ago), it was beautiful... and it's cooler! But I'm also kind of nervous about the drive. As some of you may know, I haven't had to drive much in the last 6 years, so I'm not used to driving trips on my own, and Flagstaff is 2-3 hours away (probably 3 with the way I drive). At first I thought my co-worker and I would be driving together, but it sounds like we'll be driving ourselves... even though we're going the same place for the same amount of time, just different hotels. But it's not just the distance of the drive, it's also the fact that Flagstaff has real mountains, real enough that they get snow up there. The elevation difference between here and Flagstaff is a lot, and apparently there are some... cliffs... that I will have to drive by. As stated in a previous post, I'm not a fan of heights (STILL haven't gone on one of the loops) so the idea of driving by cliffs... terrifying. So we'll see... I just might be that granny driver (even more so than usual) when those cliffs come up.
Other than that, not too much going on here. I'm still settling in (if you saw my apartment you probably wouldn't guess I've been here a month already, I really need to get my butt in gear and pick this place up).
I hope you all survived the heat and are doing well!
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Road rage and Haboobs and Babies, OH MY!
Well what a week! Maybe it's because I'm new to the area, or maybe because I don't do much besides work, or perhaps I just leave a boring life (all are great possibilities... multivariates?) but this week has held a lot of excitement for one week... at least I think so.
We'll start with the road rage: as I've said before, drivers down here suck. Tailgating, cutting people off, last minute blinkers, and more commonly, lack of blinkers. Now, I may be biased because I tend to be a defensive driver, but trust me, they aren't good (though already I'm getting used to it). Generally, I'm not one to express my road rage tendencies to others, I don't give people the finger or yell at them or creepily following them, I usually just make comments about their poor driving, and occasionally say a few choice words directed towards them, but not so they actually know that I said such words. I would never ever do what this one guy did to me. Imagine this: It's 7:33am and I'm driving to work, singing to the music, cruising in the right lane. Up ahead there are flashing lights from a truck and cars ahead of me are trying to get into the (busy) left lane. I find a way into the left lane as cars continue to whiz past me in the right lane, which has cones closing it. Now, usually I try to be nice and let at least one car in to be nice (because, hey, who doesn't appreciate someone letting them in instead of sitting for 5 minutes waiting for an opening?) but I refuse to let in the folks who buzz to the front of the soon to be closed lane only to expect to be let in to the already bumper to bumper lane. Seriously, I feel no guilt what-so-ever not letting those people in. Why should I? The lane was clearly closing (cones, flashing lights, every other car ahead of you in your lane moving over). So naturally, I continue to follow close to the car in front of me so this moron doesn't get in. Things we going good, my plan was working, the car to my right wasn't going to get it, he accepted it and just sat there, until I was right next to him, then he decided that I was going to let him in. Considering he almost side-swiped me to get in, I naturally honked my horn at him. As we sit at a stand still, I see the driver's side window roll down and out pops the upper 1/4 of a person, who looks back at me and yells some obscenity, probably because I honked. Of course, then I get even more upset (windows up, don't worry). And we both drive away. So anyways, I continue to make my way to work, still upset at the nerve of that guy to blame me (I know, I know, I could have let him in and I didn't have to honk, whatever) and I could help but think about the fact that I was rather lucky that the guy only yelled something at me. These days you hear about the people with serious road rage who follow people or even shoot people all because they were honked at or because someone shut them off. Am I sorry I honked? No, but this is a good reminder that we should all pick our battles carefully, because you never know if you might piss off the wrong person at the wrong time, and next time they won't just be yelling curse words.
Next, I'm sure what many of you may be most curious about, the dust storm, or what some people are calling it, the haboob (check it out on wikipedia). In case you didn't hear, a major dust storm hit the city and the surrounding area on Tuesday night. Some of the numbers thrown out there by the local media/weather channel are this: it peaked at about 1-2 miles high, as anywhere from 50-100 miles wide and had winds reach the speed of 60mph, which from what I hear (don't quote me on this) is about the wind speed of a category 1 hurricane. If you haven't seen pictures, here's one for you:
To be honest, I didn't know what happened until the news the next morning. I knew a storm had passed through that night, but having never been in a dust storm before, I didn't realize what it was. I was in my apartment that night (luckily) and I heard a weird noise. After realizing it was coming from outside, I took a look out of my living room window and saw that it was super windy outside. The small trees where blowing like crazy and it was kind of hazy. Naturally, I thought it was a rain storm, because that's all I've ever seen. Plus, earlier that evening, on my way home, I saw a big storm cloud (rain storm) in the distance. I checked outside a couple more times, on my last check a little while later, it was calm and looked like the ground was wet. Imagine how surprised I was to find out the next morning that I was in one of the largest dust storms that the locals can even remember. Again, luckily, I didn't get the brunt of it where I live. My car is still dirty from the storm, it's nothing compared to what other people's cars looked like (people who live on the East side of the Valley... I live on the West). Even on Friday (remember, the storm was on Thursday) while looking out my window at work, the mountains in the distance were still hard to see, when I can normally see them clearly, that's how much dust particles were still in the air. To top of the weather stories, last Saturday we broke the single day heat record. It was the hottest day in about 10 years. The airport downtown recorded about 118F while the city near me (I'm closer to there than I am to downtown) reached a whopping 123F. Thank goodness for AC.
In other news (exciting news!), I'm an Auntie again! (That makes three!) I got the call late Thursday my time. My brother and sister-in-law had a beautiful little girl, whom they named Lexi. I can't tell you how excited I am. The first two kids are hilarious and absolutely amazing, and I'm sure this will be too! Ahh, I can't even begin to explain how excited I am! And I can't wait to see pictures.
Now on to work news... since this is getting lengthy, I'll just give a quick summary of what went on this week. I will be learning (soon, hopefully) more technology stuff, including Microsoft Access (I started a bit on this), SPSS (a few things at least), and GIS. Although it may not sound cool to some people, I'm actually excited to learn how to use these programs and join in on the nerdiness (right Anna?). It also sounds like I'll be starting on a project soon, which is exciting. I'm beginning to socialize a little more at work too, which is nice. On Thursday they had a little going away party for someone who works in my bureau, which was a good opportunity to chat it up with others, including the Chief of the bureau. Did she really want to chat with me? Maybe not, but if she didn't she was still a good sport about it. While some people may not feel comfortable initiating conversation with someone in her position, I say, why not? It shows initiative, and we work together so we should be able to talk, right? Besides, we actually had some stuff in common, including geography stuff (she's from WI too!), so that was pretty neat. Next week I have a 1-on-1 meeting with my boss to discuss what will be expected on me, etc, etc. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. Despite knowing that they knew very well my work history and experience history when they hired me, I still can't help but feel that I might not live up to their expectations... at least right away. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
To everyone back home, I hope things are going well for all of you. Keep me updated on what's going on!
We'll start with the road rage: as I've said before, drivers down here suck. Tailgating, cutting people off, last minute blinkers, and more commonly, lack of blinkers. Now, I may be biased because I tend to be a defensive driver, but trust me, they aren't good (though already I'm getting used to it). Generally, I'm not one to express my road rage tendencies to others, I don't give people the finger or yell at them or creepily following them, I usually just make comments about their poor driving, and occasionally say a few choice words directed towards them, but not so they actually know that I said such words. I would never ever do what this one guy did to me. Imagine this: It's 7:33am and I'm driving to work, singing to the music, cruising in the right lane. Up ahead there are flashing lights from a truck and cars ahead of me are trying to get into the (busy) left lane. I find a way into the left lane as cars continue to whiz past me in the right lane, which has cones closing it. Now, usually I try to be nice and let at least one car in to be nice (because, hey, who doesn't appreciate someone letting them in instead of sitting for 5 minutes waiting for an opening?) but I refuse to let in the folks who buzz to the front of the soon to be closed lane only to expect to be let in to the already bumper to bumper lane. Seriously, I feel no guilt what-so-ever not letting those people in. Why should I? The lane was clearly closing (cones, flashing lights, every other car ahead of you in your lane moving over). So naturally, I continue to follow close to the car in front of me so this moron doesn't get in. Things we going good, my plan was working, the car to my right wasn't going to get it, he accepted it and just sat there, until I was right next to him, then he decided that I was going to let him in. Considering he almost side-swiped me to get in, I naturally honked my horn at him. As we sit at a stand still, I see the driver's side window roll down and out pops the upper 1/4 of a person, who looks back at me and yells some obscenity, probably because I honked. Of course, then I get even more upset (windows up, don't worry). And we both drive away. So anyways, I continue to make my way to work, still upset at the nerve of that guy to blame me (I know, I know, I could have let him in and I didn't have to honk, whatever) and I could help but think about the fact that I was rather lucky that the guy only yelled something at me. These days you hear about the people with serious road rage who follow people or even shoot people all because they were honked at or because someone shut them off. Am I sorry I honked? No, but this is a good reminder that we should all pick our battles carefully, because you never know if you might piss off the wrong person at the wrong time, and next time they won't just be yelling curse words.
Next, I'm sure what many of you may be most curious about, the dust storm, or what some people are calling it, the haboob (check it out on wikipedia). In case you didn't hear, a major dust storm hit the city and the surrounding area on Tuesday night. Some of the numbers thrown out there by the local media/weather channel are this: it peaked at about 1-2 miles high, as anywhere from 50-100 miles wide and had winds reach the speed of 60mph, which from what I hear (don't quote me on this) is about the wind speed of a category 1 hurricane. If you haven't seen pictures, here's one for you:
To be honest, I didn't know what happened until the news the next morning. I knew a storm had passed through that night, but having never been in a dust storm before, I didn't realize what it was. I was in my apartment that night (luckily) and I heard a weird noise. After realizing it was coming from outside, I took a look out of my living room window and saw that it was super windy outside. The small trees where blowing like crazy and it was kind of hazy. Naturally, I thought it was a rain storm, because that's all I've ever seen. Plus, earlier that evening, on my way home, I saw a big storm cloud (rain storm) in the distance. I checked outside a couple more times, on my last check a little while later, it was calm and looked like the ground was wet. Imagine how surprised I was to find out the next morning that I was in one of the largest dust storms that the locals can even remember. Again, luckily, I didn't get the brunt of it where I live. My car is still dirty from the storm, it's nothing compared to what other people's cars looked like (people who live on the East side of the Valley... I live on the West). Even on Friday (remember, the storm was on Thursday) while looking out my window at work, the mountains in the distance were still hard to see, when I can normally see them clearly, that's how much dust particles were still in the air. To top of the weather stories, last Saturday we broke the single day heat record. It was the hottest day in about 10 years. The airport downtown recorded about 118F while the city near me (I'm closer to there than I am to downtown) reached a whopping 123F. Thank goodness for AC.
In other news (exciting news!), I'm an Auntie again! (That makes three!) I got the call late Thursday my time. My brother and sister-in-law had a beautiful little girl, whom they named Lexi. I can't tell you how excited I am. The first two kids are hilarious and absolutely amazing, and I'm sure this will be too! Ahh, I can't even begin to explain how excited I am! And I can't wait to see pictures.
Now on to work news... since this is getting lengthy, I'll just give a quick summary of what went on this week. I will be learning (soon, hopefully) more technology stuff, including Microsoft Access (I started a bit on this), SPSS (a few things at least), and GIS. Although it may not sound cool to some people, I'm actually excited to learn how to use these programs and join in on the nerdiness (right Anna?). It also sounds like I'll be starting on a project soon, which is exciting. I'm beginning to socialize a little more at work too, which is nice. On Thursday they had a little going away party for someone who works in my bureau, which was a good opportunity to chat it up with others, including the Chief of the bureau. Did she really want to chat with me? Maybe not, but if she didn't she was still a good sport about it. While some people may not feel comfortable initiating conversation with someone in her position, I say, why not? It shows initiative, and we work together so we should be able to talk, right? Besides, we actually had some stuff in common, including geography stuff (she's from WI too!), so that was pretty neat. Next week I have a 1-on-1 meeting with my boss to discuss what will be expected on me, etc, etc. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. Despite knowing that they knew very well my work history and experience history when they hired me, I still can't help but feel that I might not live up to their expectations... at least right away. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
To everyone back home, I hope things are going well for all of you. Keep me updated on what's going on!
Friday, July 1, 2011
One Week Down
Well, I officially survived my first week of work and they liked me so much they gave me a 3 day weekend! Ok, so maybe it also just happens to be a Holiday weekend, but a girl can dream, right?
Not surprisingly, I was nervous on Monday. I was in a new city, driving on a new road (to avoid the interstate... more on that later) and I was just plain nervous to start. This is my first 'big girl' job and I wasn't sure what to expect. I got to my destination for orientation early (thank goodness) and went to find the building where I had to go. I was pretty sure I knew which one it was, but I proceeded to walk all the way around just to verify the address. Just my luck, the doors on that side of the building were for employees only, so I went back around to where I saw the first set of doors. Unfortunately, these doors directed me somewhere else, but I wasn't sure where it was, so I went back to the employee entrance (because I'm an employee now, right.). Wrong. Of course the doors were locked and of course I felt like an idiot (hopefully no one saw!). The only good that came from my feeling like a fool was that I could see the security post at an entrance on the OTHER side of the building. Once I almost reached the door, a woman (I met here a few weeks ago) was waiting for me and gave me a mini-heart attack because she acted like I was late. Of course I got a little panicked, but she reassured me that I wasn't late for orientation (heck no I wasn't, I was 20 minutes early!), apparently my boss thought I would stop in at the office before orientation (I emailed him about it too the Friday before and he said not to worry about it, so I guess he forgot. He is crazy busy though, so it's understandable). Besides, the other girl wasn't there yet either.
Anyways, Monday was your typical day. Paper work, paper work, more paper work. Office tour/intros, mini chat with my boss, etc. There were some highlights, though. The first is I found out that the other girl they hired started on the same day, which has worked out great so far. She and I are essentially the same position, but working on different projects. We seem to get along pretty well and it sounds like we might be able to help each other out on things. It has been really nice having someone else in the same position (starting a new job there and all) because we can ask each other questions and we are in the same boat. Since neither of us knows anyone we work with, we have been chatting with each other. Everyone else in the office seems really nice too. I mean, I know it will take time to get to know everyone and to not feel so new, but so far people have been friendly. Another highlight on Monday was that my boss took the other new girl and I (and another co-worker... the four of us make up the office of assessment/eval people for our bureau) to lunch, which was super nice. It was a good opportunity to have a little office chat. I also got my cubicle on Monday, which is pretty cool. Not only does it make me feel more 'working girl' like, but it's also the window slot... and yes, I can see the State Capitol from my window. :-)
On Tuesday things felt slightly more official when I got my new work email. I also started some actual work. Right now we are just doing some background research/reading on the projects we'll be working on.
Wednesday: even more official yet, I got my employee ID number. Plus, I got to do some 'shopping.' Since my cubicle is pretty empty (not even a stapler) I got to go through a Staples catalog and pick out some office supplies.
Thursday: I can't really remember if there was too much excitement on this day. It was either Thursday or Wednesday that the project manager for one of the projects I'll be working on said that I might be doing a bit of traveling (in state) in the future. But since it's not finalized yet, no details. :-)
Today. Again, a pretty typical day, except for one thing... I got my first official business cards. While this may not be a big deal to some, I have never had business cards before, so it feels pretty awesome to have some.
Now getting back to the interstate and why I'm avoiding it for commuting to/from work. At first I thought I would try the side streets (aka: not the interstate) this week because 1) I don't know how long it would take during rush hour and 2) they have some scary looking loop-do-loops to get from one interstate to another. While I am sure they are perfectly safe, I am not a fan of heights so the thought of the loops freaks me out a bit. I intend to use them someday, but not yet. But now, my reasons for not using the interstate to get to/from work is even more solidified because there have been some major, and I do mean MAJOR, accidents the past two days. I saw footage on the news and it was sad and horrifying. So needless to say, I'll stick to my route for now.
As for the Holiday weekend, we are in an extreme heat warning (it is supposed to be at least 116 tomorrow), so it seems like a perfect excuse for me to stay in and finish unpacking/organizing my apartment. I hope the rest of you have a wonderful 4th of July!! Watch some fireworks for me! And how about some updates on your lives, huh?
Not surprisingly, I was nervous on Monday. I was in a new city, driving on a new road (to avoid the interstate... more on that later) and I was just plain nervous to start. This is my first 'big girl' job and I wasn't sure what to expect. I got to my destination for orientation early (thank goodness) and went to find the building where I had to go. I was pretty sure I knew which one it was, but I proceeded to walk all the way around just to verify the address. Just my luck, the doors on that side of the building were for employees only, so I went back around to where I saw the first set of doors. Unfortunately, these doors directed me somewhere else, but I wasn't sure where it was, so I went back to the employee entrance (because I'm an employee now, right.). Wrong. Of course the doors were locked and of course I felt like an idiot (hopefully no one saw!). The only good that came from my feeling like a fool was that I could see the security post at an entrance on the OTHER side of the building. Once I almost reached the door, a woman (I met here a few weeks ago) was waiting for me and gave me a mini-heart attack because she acted like I was late. Of course I got a little panicked, but she reassured me that I wasn't late for orientation (heck no I wasn't, I was 20 minutes early!), apparently my boss thought I would stop in at the office before orientation (I emailed him about it too the Friday before and he said not to worry about it, so I guess he forgot. He is crazy busy though, so it's understandable). Besides, the other girl wasn't there yet either.
Anyways, Monday was your typical day. Paper work, paper work, more paper work. Office tour/intros, mini chat with my boss, etc. There were some highlights, though. The first is I found out that the other girl they hired started on the same day, which has worked out great so far. She and I are essentially the same position, but working on different projects. We seem to get along pretty well and it sounds like we might be able to help each other out on things. It has been really nice having someone else in the same position (starting a new job there and all) because we can ask each other questions and we are in the same boat. Since neither of us knows anyone we work with, we have been chatting with each other. Everyone else in the office seems really nice too. I mean, I know it will take time to get to know everyone and to not feel so new, but so far people have been friendly. Another highlight on Monday was that my boss took the other new girl and I (and another co-worker... the four of us make up the office of assessment/eval people for our bureau) to lunch, which was super nice. It was a good opportunity to have a little office chat. I also got my cubicle on Monday, which is pretty cool. Not only does it make me feel more 'working girl' like, but it's also the window slot... and yes, I can see the State Capitol from my window. :-)
On Tuesday things felt slightly more official when I got my new work email. I also started some actual work. Right now we are just doing some background research/reading on the projects we'll be working on.
Wednesday: even more official yet, I got my employee ID number. Plus, I got to do some 'shopping.' Since my cubicle is pretty empty (not even a stapler) I got to go through a Staples catalog and pick out some office supplies.
Thursday: I can't really remember if there was too much excitement on this day. It was either Thursday or Wednesday that the project manager for one of the projects I'll be working on said that I might be doing a bit of traveling (in state) in the future. But since it's not finalized yet, no details. :-)
Today. Again, a pretty typical day, except for one thing... I got my first official business cards. While this may not be a big deal to some, I have never had business cards before, so it feels pretty awesome to have some.
Now getting back to the interstate and why I'm avoiding it for commuting to/from work. At first I thought I would try the side streets (aka: not the interstate) this week because 1) I don't know how long it would take during rush hour and 2) they have some scary looking loop-do-loops to get from one interstate to another. While I am sure they are perfectly safe, I am not a fan of heights so the thought of the loops freaks me out a bit. I intend to use them someday, but not yet. But now, my reasons for not using the interstate to get to/from work is even more solidified because there have been some major, and I do mean MAJOR, accidents the past two days. I saw footage on the news and it was sad and horrifying. So needless to say, I'll stick to my route for now.
As for the Holiday weekend, we are in an extreme heat warning (it is supposed to be at least 116 tomorrow), so it seems like a perfect excuse for me to stay in and finish unpacking/organizing my apartment. I hope the rest of you have a wonderful 4th of July!! Watch some fireworks for me! And how about some updates on your lives, huh?
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