A day in the life of the Grinning Geek.
Posts tagged Job
Life goes on
Apr 10th
Lots has happened since I got pregnant. Time seems to be just flying by! On the downside of things, Jesse is having some trouble with his whole work situation and cut hours and such, and I just got told my teaching contract for next year is not being renewed unless the financial/educational situation in our state changes. So that’s a little stressful because it wasn’t really where I expected us to be when we first got pregnant. However, there’s never really a perfect time to have a baby, and we have friends and family that will help us make things work, so we’ll get by.
On a more positive note, we had a really awesome visit with lots of friends during my Spring Break. Scott, Carrie, Bill, Leah, Mikey, and Beak managed to come hang out with Jesse, Devon, Rena, Bacon, and I. Good food was eaten, lots of Magic was played, and general geekitude and good times with friends abounded. I had the experience of being one of the designated drivers for the week which was definitely an interesting experience. Nothing like a car full of drunk geeks singing at the top of their lungs. 
I really enjoyed having everyone out here, and I missed those of you who weren’t able to make it. I am grateful that we have such awesome friends who are always happy to come out and spend some time and make some good memories.
On the baby side of things, I’m over halfway there! I’m am excited! And nervous. 
I have to admit I was a little disappointed when we found out we were expecting a girl because I really really wanted to have a boy first. And I’m still not quite sure what to do with a girl, because I’ve never really been girly, but I am definitely excited to be welcoming Elizabeth Diane into the world in a few more months! It’s been fun to watch how excited Jesse is about having a daughter too. In the past two weeks, I’ve really started being able to feel her kicking a lot! At first it was mostly after dinner when I sat down, or when I got ready for bed, but over the last week, she’s definitely been a lot more active, and I’ll feel her moving around at random times during the day. It’s really amazing to be able to feel her and know that there’s actually a baby in there! I know this might not last as I get bigger and the weather gets hotter, but right now, I am really enjoying being pregnant. Regardless of any setbacks we’ve been having, I know I am truly blessed. As Jesse’s dad says, in the scheme of things, any of these things are simply annoyances, not problems. Life goes on, and I’m along for the ride. 
Patch 3.3, A Storm, & Work
Dec 10th
First, let me start off today’s post with my feelings on patch 3.3. In the last 36 hours, that is since patch 3.3 went live and the realms were playable, I’ve ground through enough badges to buy my tier 9 gloves and legs. This is pretty incredible, and Blizzard is really working to open up the end game to everybody, a fact I do appreciate. Now, admittedly, the value of epics, and tier pieces in general is dropping faster than a …thing.. which drops fast, but I think that’s okay. The reason I say this, is because of Icecrown. If all of these “free” epics get me and my friends geared well enough to get in to Icecrown, well, there’s our reward. We’ll get t10 and high iLevel gear in there, and the nubs will still be rocking iLevel 219 and 232 gear. So there you go. Raiders will still have slightly better gear. But for a guild like mine, that got to the raid game only 2-3 months ago, the ability to fast forward through 6 months of grinding a specific raid to try and get everyone their obscure drops is much appreciated.
So far, the new LFG dungeon feature works like a breeze. Admittedly, being a tank I suspect I have an easier time finding a group than a DPS may, but I am really enjoying it. I enter it, I get in to an instance, we do our job, and we’re out. Wham bam. We ran the new instances last night on heroic, and that was pretty cool. I got a new tanking axe that looks pretty awesome. I still need a new shield. The idea of entering Icecrown, wearing an iLevel 200, one step up from Blue shield drives me insane. But, enough WoW rambling, how bout that storm eh?
We got hit pretty hard Monday night with a storm. Well, all day Monday and in to the night. (Which added quite the sense of urgency to repairing my broken window, let me tell you. Good thing I did too – the winds picked up so bad Monday night it’d have blown the cracked window in had I not.) We got a good amount of rain which is still keeping the dust down. The wind sucked, it blew over my hybiscus, but I think I’ve saved him. I admit, I don’t like winter storms as much as I love a good monsoon. The warmth of a monsoon makes it feel much more alive. Winter storms seem to almost draw energy out, it was so cold and damp on Tuesday morning I tried not to even leave the house. Which, ironically, leads to my next point…
Work. I have known business was slowing down for my boss for quite some time, and without getting in to too many details I think I want to jump ship before it sinks. the truth is, I want to get in to an IT field and this current job offers me nothing in that regard. The advantage of course, is that working from home on my own schedule I can handle schoolwork in any fashion I so choose. I also spend next to nothing on gas, and don’t put a lot of miles on my car. But, those don’t outweigh the stability and medical/retirement benefits of an actual office job, so once the New Year rolls around I think I’ll start looking. I hate searching for a job. Ugh. But such is life.
Anyways, I hope December is turning out well for all my friends and loved ones and anyone else reading this. Christmas will soon be upon us, my brother will be in town, and hopefully I can manage to not stress about all of this for awhile. Take care all!
-J