Working for a Living

Last week I started my new "job" in Yakima, WA. School seems to have gone by really fast now that I am no longer in it.

First though a little about the move.
I drove cross country twice in less than 10 days. Not very impressive if you do that sort of thing for a living, but for us civilians it is a long time on the road. Each trip was 2500 miles and 40 hours of driving. My first trip was uneventful but for running out of gas in the middle of the night in La Crosse, WI. at 0100 and -16 degrees outside. It really sucked, but I was saved by a timely phonecall with some great advise from my friend Gene in North Carolina. Back on the the road with only a short delay I made my way to Buffalo, WY. where I spent the night at the Edstroms. The following week we made a detour and went through Rawlins, WY. where we were stopped by road closures due to blizzard conditions. 3 Interstate highway closings later we arrived in Boise, ID. to spend a night with the Buchanan's, arriving in Yakima on Wednesday the 30th of January. We spent the first night on the floor, and unloaded the truck the following day. Adam really pitched in and helped with the work and we were done by 1700 hrs.

Work is everything I had hoped. Some days I feel very stupid and suffering from a case of the "all thumbs", and others go very well. The practice here is very independent, and I am treated like a professional. I am very happy and excited to be working in this type of environment. Much different than what I experienced at Shadyside. I really disliked that place.

I am very satisfied with the education and training I received at the University of Pittsburgh. I have always prided myself as one who is able to "hit the ground running", and I really think that I have been able to do that here. My orientation was brief, but I think that its because I was able to show I know what I am doing. There are a couple of older guys, but for the most part the group is young and relaxed. Very happy so far.

Greg stopped in last evening and had dinner "with" us. We had actually already eaten, and he finished up the left overs.

I have 5.5 weeks of vacation to use this year. Does anyone have any suggestions??