Feels good to be home...

It always feels good to come home again. Especially after being gone for around 10 days, and 6 of those days were "for work." We left in early June to go to our niece's graduation in Texas. She graduated at 4pm (central), and due to work constraints, we couldn't take a flight out until 6a (mountain) of that day. Graduation went well, it always makes you proud to see someone accomplish that in their lifetime. Paul stayed through the weekend and came back on Monday.

I meanwhile, left Sunday morning (after being in Dallas for around 25 hours) for the LEAD experience. After the months of planning and preparing, the week has come and gone. The experience was incredible. I made 14 new friends, and was pleased to get to know some of the facilitators better through the week. I have to admit that I feel pretty inspired to do some good work around town and the office after going through that experience. Last' year's class labeled it as "life-changing" when they went. Whether that is/will be true for me remains to be seen. Ask me again in at least a year, then feel free to ask me again in increments of 5 years. I believe I learned about elements of myself I wanted to change which may have a positive impact in those around me. I look forward to getting back to the office to see what can be done.

Paul met me in Denver on Friday evening after the experience, and we spent the weekend in the Denver/Fort Collins area. It was a great weekend and I was incredibly happy to see my husband and puppy (he brought Clouie with him for a multitude of reasons...number one being that I missed the pup!) when he got into town. We went to Bass Pro Shops on Saturday morning and made our way up to Fort Collins. Turns out that Fort Collins is a very dog friendly location, so finding a hotel that let us have Clouie was not an issue, and we were actually able to stay our our favorite place. After watching the Mets game and taking a nap, we took the pup out to some pet stores so she could walk around, and then hit up a local sports grill for dinner. A dog park was right around the corner from us, but we never got a chance to take the pup there. Today we got up and went to IHOP for breakfast. They had their strawberry festival going on, and I tried their strawberry pancakes. Incredible. After breakfast, we went to a fly fishing shop for Paul, and then to Target for me. We left soon afterwards and got back a while ago.

It was a great weekend after a wonderful week. I feel very well rested and ready to get back to work. I can't wait to see what the next year brings with LEAD and am hoping for a lot of positive advancement in both my personal and professional life. Take care all.

10 of 11 Over!!

So when you rotate and have a short break in between strings of shifts...more often you end up referring to it as blah out of blah. Last week I worked 5 shifts (Tues-Sat), had Sunday off, and then worked Mon-Fri....so yup...my 10 out of 11 is over! I would say it was bad, but that would be a lie. Usually, during these stretches when I have a very short break (<= 1 day) it honestly feels like 10 of 11. But I had such a great day off. I was able to not think about work at all, and I was outside the whole day... it was fabulous. For those few who work with me (who read this) and know the sagas of last Friday (regardless of apologies the next day) know that having that day off was incredibly important. The last five days were fine. I was given permission by the powers that be to switch shift duties with one of our interns so he could work on the short term forecast and I would be on aviation. It's great experience for him and (hopefully) will eventually lead to him becoming a forecaster. Regardless... my 10 of 11 is over...the sagas and dramas are over (for now)...and I'm on to enjoy a 3.5 day weekend (which means I start evening shifts on Tuesday night). It's really like a whole other language when you rotate. 

Friday evening has been great so far...Paul and I took the beagle for a walk, then went out to run some errands. We came back and an HD version of the Piedmont concert for Dave Matthews Band is on the music channel. It's as close to a concert of theirs as I'm getting to for a while, so I'm livin' it up. They'll be down in Denver the weekend of June 5th I think, but that's the weekend of our niece's graduation and my LEAD event...so no go. And trust me, I'd rather go to the graduation and the LEAD training than go to a DMB concert any day! :)

So only around 3 weeks until the LEAD conference. I'm really excited about it. I'm not so excited about the flights, but that's alright. It'll be worth it I'm sure. Plus, I don't think either of the flights are very long, which is a plus for me. We finally got the flights arranged through the government for my flights to Louisville. I have to change a portion of one of them so I can go to the niece's graduation...but it'll be worth it. That's in the plans for next week.

Anyhow, we're catching up on DVR shows are an awesome dinner of grilled hamburgers (Paul is still the king of the grill!!) and fresh fruit salad. Yum! Have a great weekend anyone who's reading this!

Ohio Vacation & Updates

After being home for a week, I figured it was about time to go ahead and update the blog. About a week or so after our last post, Paul and I went on the road for a trip to Ohio. We drove this time. Paul's parents gave him their 12' Boat (ask him if you want more details) so we took the Silverado to pick it up. The nice thing is the ability to avoid airport chaos...and more importantly, it allowed us to take Clouie with us! She did very well on the drive. On the way to Ohio we were fairly good about using her harness which kept her more in the back seat. But we would unhook her for a couple hours at a time so she could curl up in the passenger's lap and/or look out the front window to find "big dogs" (aka cows, horses, etc). She was even really good in the hotels, which was a great improvement over the last time we took her anywhere. I give part of the credit to reading up on the Dog Whisperer site on how to introduce her to a hotel room. We made sure to enter the room first, and didn't make a big deal out of anything. She sniffed around a bit, but seemed more content to cuddle up on the extra bed, chew a rawhide, and relax. As is always the case, she got  little more upset when Paul left the room, but I usually got her to relax but just having her lay back down on the bed (no coddling like normal). 

Ohio was a great time as always. We pulled into Paul's parents house Saturday evening, and had mine come over for some grilled food. After being in a car for 2.5 days, Paul and I didn't feel like going out to a restaurant. The steaks and such were great, and of course we loved seeing our parents! It was nice to be in town for Easter Sunday, though again - Paul and I could convince ourselves to get out of bed to go to a church service. We were still on mountain time, and 8am eastern time for church just didn't happen for us. I feel bad about that, but not much to do about it now. Easter dinner and such at my folk's house was great...especially since my sister's crew came over. It feels like it's been forever since I've seen my nieces...they have grown like weeds.  Paul worked on the boat Monday & Tuesday and I believe him and his Dad finished it up Wednesday morning. I had a lunch date with my Dad at our favorite place...Carsonies...a small italian place that he only goes to when I'm in town (or so he claims). Tuesday I had a small procedure done, so I rested much of the morning. But I did go out to Bob Evan's with my folks for a late breakfast (early lunch for me... can't get enough of their Turkey Bacon Melts!). I felt better by the afternoon, so Paul and I and some of our family members went out shopping. We bought a good amount of stuff. Wednesday was my niece's 2nd birthday party...she was adorable. Thursday we went out to dinner with some high school friends that we haven't seen in years. Friday we left to come back here. We pulled back into Riverton Sunday afternoon. We were hoping to get back Saturday night, but the roads weren't cooperating, and we had a little trouble with the boat once we crossed into Wyoming. Sunday morning I woke up with a little bug, but thankfully its symptoms ceased after the early morning hours, so the 5 hour drive back to Riverton wasn't too bad. 

We brought back a ton of stuff since we had the truck. Included in this list are my alto and soprano saxophones, and a bunch of yearbooks and such. So next on my list is to get some reeds and gear for those to play with them a bit. I've barely touched the instruments since high school...so it'll take me a bit to remember things. 

I continue to work on my books and such for LEAD in June. I'm a little over halfway through the Courage book. It's interesting and has a lot of good information. I might flip through it again before June. I've read it in chunks and I think I would get more out of it if I were to read it through more solidly like I did The Servant. But for now, I just want to get through it once. 

So baseball season is back upon us...my favorite sport. My Mets have been holding their own...though they haven't demonstrated the "force to be reckoned with" attitude that the projections were trying to bestow upon them pre-season. I blame the Sports Illustrated curse...I wish they wouldn't have published that they thought the Mets would go really far this year. They're 8 and 10 as of this note, having dropped a game to the Nationals (who were 3 and 13 coming into the game) this afternoon. We still need some adjustments to our starting pitchers (the relievers seem to be performing fairly well) and it would be really nice to see some run support when Johan takes the ball. And of course there's the Murphy, Church, Sheffield fiasco which I won't go into here. 

Overall Paul and I are doing well. Work goes well...play time goes well...animals are well and happy... and as much as we miss our families already, it's nice to be home. We hope everyone is doing well. Paul's R/C stuff starts up soon...so expect more posts to his R/C blog  as the weeks go on. It's linked on the right side somewhere. :)  We hope things go well for you too. Take care, folks!

Not too much to report...

Well, there's not a whole lot going on with us these days. I just got done with a string of 7 evening shifts, and am now in the middle of a 3-day, much needed break. It was a fairly stressful string due to winter storms. There were a couple instances where it all worked out where we wanted, but there were, and continue to be, a few places that we struggle with. This time of year is rough for forecasting sometimes. I know it frustrates a lot of our public, but rest assured that we actually are doing the best job we can. :)

I did just finish a book for my LEAD class this morning. I started it last evening when I went to Paul's flying event at the middle school. After 7 evening shifts, there was no way I was going to hang out alone in the house. Let me just say how impressed I was/am with that book. It gave me a lot to think about. I keep hoping this is reflective of the type of course I'm going to in June. I continue to look forward to that event. I'm nervous about it, but excited. Anyhow, the book was The Servant...and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for something to read that is leadership-oriented. 

Let's see... on the lighter side of things, I activated my Twitter account the other night. I find it interesting, and amusing at the number of celebrity's that are actively utilizing the program. And animals! Including ours. Yep...yesterday I set up an account for our beagle Clouie... she can be found @clouiethebeagle ... today I set her up so she's following some other dogs. It just amuses the heck out of me. 

I'm sure Paul has some more updates, but I'll let him post his thoughts. Between work and sleep, there's not much interesting for me to talk about...outside of that book. Anyhow, I should go get ready and get some lunch made for Paul and I. Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato, and Cheese sandwiches...can't wait!!!

Katy's Good News

I tend to keep quiet when I apply for anything regarding work. Be it a position at a new office, promotion at my current office, or a selective program. In late January, I completed my application to the Leadership Excellence and Development (LEAD) program. It is a selective program to enhance/develop leadership skills for people in the Central Region in the weather service. Within a couple weeks, I'd heard they were about to send out the "Dear John" letters to those people who didn't get interviews. I hadn't received a phone call, and assumed I would be getting my letter soon. During a curiously busy period of a rather benign weather day, the phone rang. I answered and was greeted with "You're just the person I wanted to talk to...Congratulations!" Now, we had just hired a new administrative assistant named Kathleen, so I assumed that this person actually wanted to talk to Kathleen about the new position. Then the person on the other line introduced herself as a higher-up with Central Region Headquarters who was associated with the LEAD program. I lost every ounce of air that was in my lungs, and immediately my hands started to shake. She informed me I had gotten an interview! We set it up so that it was the day after I was done with my evening shifts the following week, and in the later afternoon hours to ensure I would be awake and alert. 

Oh man did I sweat that interview. It's been a while since I have done so much to prepare for an interview. I contacted 3 women that had been selected for the LEAD program in 2008 to ask them about their interview experiences. They were all very nice and told me what they could remember. I went in to work the day before the interview to meet with our Warning Coordination Meteorologist (WCM) just to see what kind of questions he thought I would get. We chatted for about an hour, and at the end he gave me 5 and told me that he thought I would do great. I was iffy on my shift the night before the interview. I worked on some notes on topics in-case I lost my train of thought during the interview. I stared at my application (and found a couple grammatical errors!) and felt my stomach do flips. Amazingly, I fell asleep quickly when I got home at 3a. I woke up fairly early...probably around 930a or so, and couldn't get back to sleep. I got up and showered to wake myself up more so I wouldn't be sluggish during the interview. I cleaned up areas of the house I would be looking at so I wouldn't be focusing on the neglect the house was under during my time of stress. I put out my notes on the table with a pen so I could take notes. Paul came home and we had a nice lunch while he watched me stress. :) After he left, it was around 1p, and my interview was around 2p. So I called my Mom and chatted with her for the majority of that hour. She helped calm me, and when I hung up with her I felt ready for the interview. The interview went well... 6 Meteorologists-in-Charge were on the call, along with a regional union steward. I stumbled during 1 of the questions, and had to come back to another one... but they seemed happy with the answers. I felt ok after the interview. Then the waiting period began. I was a tad jumpy Friday, Monday, and Tuesday whenever the phone rang hoping it was HQ telling me I'd been selected. No call...and I started to think I didn't get it. I was driving to meet a couple girl friends for dinner when I received a text message from one of my coworkers. He congratulated me on being selected, and let me know that our regional director had sent out the announcement email!!! I couldn't believe it! Dinner was great with good friends and good conversations. You know as soon as I got home I checked to read the email myself just to make sure. I can't believe I got picked! Overall, there were 91 applicants of varying positions. In the end, 30 people got interviewed...and 15 people get selected for the program.  

So, now another chapter begins. It's a year long program from what I understand...though it seems that the last couple months is really helping to prepare offices for getting their employees to apply to the program. I have a week long, intensive training session in Kentucky in June, and after that I believe it's quite a few teleconference calls. It looks like some interesting people are in the class with me, I recognized a couple names on the list...and was told by our WCM that a couple other people from the list are outstanding people. I think that's a good sign. 

Maybe 2009 won't be such a bad year afterall.