Breaking News

There have been a couple of major changes around here recently. The first involves my job. I don't think I even mentioned anything about this, which is odd, because it wasn't something I had to keep secret.

There has been major restructuring where I work. Normally, the word "restructuring" is a different way of saying "downsizing" or "pink slips", but in this case, it's actually just restructuring! I won't go into the details of how it all works, but the bottom line is that it is supposed to improve communications and make processes faster, because the people at Step 1 and Step 2 and Step 3 will all be working closer together. Literally closer.

My whole department moved to the other side of the building, and the people on the other side of the building stayed there, but got shuffled around, and now we're all mixed together. It's interesting. I don't hate it as much as I thought I would. My department is used to being in our own room, where it's really quiet, so that will take some getting used to. It's louder out here, with people on the phones, people chatting between cubicles, people walking by my desk because I'm pretty close to the bathroom.

I also have a desk mate now, but at least it's someone I know, from my department. And not only is she from my department, but she's one of the more skilled and experienced from my department, so that will make training a lot easier.

For me, one of the reasons this restructuring is such a big deal is because my "job" was actually given to someone else. The duties I used to perform will now belong to another group. When I first heard this, I was worried that I would be let go, but my manager assured me that I would be doing something different. Of course, that means that right now I'm in limbo. My old job is no more, but I don't yet know how to do my new job, and since the big move, I haven't heard anything about training.

I realize that there is a lot going on, and a lot of things still need to be figured out, but I don't like feeling as though I've been left behind, like they've forgotten about me. I feel somewhat useless, but my coworkers assured me that as long as I'm learning (because I spend my days watching them do what I will eventually do), I'm not useless.

Plus, this is a great excuse for me to get an iPod! I've been wanting one for a long time, but I could never actually justify the purchase, because I've never felt as though I needed it. Now that there are so many more distractions around me, I'm going to need a way to shut it out. A fun way. Earplugs are not that fun. They don't play music.

So that's one big piece of news. Another major recent event is that we bought a car! I still can't believe that it's our car, because Art is the one who is driving it, and he's making all the arrangements with the payments and insurance and all that. But it's ours!

I don't remember if I wrote about this, but back in May, Art's car broke down. Stopped working completely. And it's so old, it's not worth fixing. So we've been borrowing Art's dad's truck since then, while looking for another vehicle to buy. Art wanted to get a jeep, but of course, we know now that we need a family-friendly vehicle. And we can't keep borrowing the truck, because we can't put a car seat in it. It's a small truck.

I don't know what year the car is, but it's a Honda Accord, and it's in pretty good condition, so I have no doubt it will last a long time. Our friend hasn't had any problems with it thus far. At some point I might actually take some pictures of it to show you!

What's really funny to me is that I'm not so much excited about the new car as I am about the fact that for a little while, we have two vehicles! We need to find a time to return the truck to Art's dad, so in the meantime, I get to DRIVE! I don't have to take the bus to work! I don't have to walk home! I can go grocery shopping without Art! This is a really big deal to me. I had no idea what I was missing. We've just gotten used to only having one vehicle. We've made it work. And we'll have to go back to that, probably in a few weeks.

But right now, I have transportational freedom and independence, and I'm going to enjoy it to the fullest.

And speaking of family vehicles and car seats (a few paragraphs back), a friend of ours gave us a car seat! His one-year-old outgrew it, and they asked us if we had one, and we didn't. So he brought it over yesterday, and I'm equal parts grateful and confused. Maybe confused isn't the right word. He explained to me how everything works, but it was a really quick explanation, and after he left, I thought to myself, "I still don't understand how to work this thing. How will I know if I've placed it in the car correctly?"

I'm totally going to look up a How-To video on YouTube.

So those are some exciting things that have been happening lately. The end!