Cross all appendages!

In the continuing saga of my professional life, I am becoming pretty successful at finding things to like about my job. I like the families (for the most part), I like the flexibility, and I like playing with babies and kids. Do I want to be a preschool teacher, though? No, not really, not in the long run. Do I want to always make little bits of money? Also no, not unless I feel like I'm doing big deal social justice work, which this most certainly is not.

Last night I listened to my high school friend Jessica (who I think is one of my biggest cheerleaders) go on and on about how smart I am and how I need to get back into academia and be a big fat nerd forever and ever amen. So on a whim, last night when I got home I applied for this Assistant Data Coach job with Boston Plan for Excellence (which involves public education reform). In my previous life (pre-social work), I was a researcher with a small grant-funded research organization inside the University of Maine College of Education, where I got paid very little but got to write reports and stuff. It was kind of like the cool parts of being a student without the annoying homework parts, plus paycheck. And I got to tool around the internet quite a bit, and sit in an office. How novel!

The real reason I applied for this job is not some overwhelming urge to dive back into research, but the $45K-$55K salary range. Dear god in heaven, to make that kind of money. It would solve some MAJOR financial woes /and/ give us a lot of leeway to save a bunch of money for Baby Fever. If I could score $50K, my god. I don't even know. That is so much money to me. So yeah, last night I e-mailed a resume and cover letter, and today there was a message from them on my home answering machine wanting me to call back to schedule an interview! Woohah!

The one real downer of the thing is that it's only guaranteed for one year (grant-funded, like my last research position)... although the short attention span part of me thinks that's even better. HA! (And the part about having to be available Sept. 10th... I think my current job would wig a little bit. Yup.)

One hydrated mofo

I did a really dumb thing today and let myself get dehydrated. Remind me to never do that again.

For starters, I imbibed quite a bit at the wedding yesterday, thanks to my two favorite wedding words: open bar. I did drink water when I got home, but it was really hot and I probably sweated half of it out overnight. And I got really crappy sleep, so when I went into work, I had a cup of coffee. No water. Just coffee. I went to my 10:00 appointment, and from there to my 11:30 appointment. The latter was to accompany a client to a doctor appointment, so I was with them until 1:30 when I promptly went back to work to eat my lunch. I forgot to bring my water bottle in the car (dumb), and couldn't find a water fountain at the doctor (aggravating), so by the time I got to the office at around 1:45, I was quite nauseous. I slammed a bunch of water but as we all know, that did little to help the nausea.

I had a 2:30 appointment that I had to race to, but at least I brought my water bottle. I cranked the AC in the car because I was seriously going to vomit. I got back to the office around 4:00, drank more water, went to my 5:00, got home at 6:30ish, drank more water. Water water water. I'm on my 3rd class since arriving at home, and plan to have more and more!

I am going to be one hydrated mofo.

Okay, so this is the REAL reason why I like my job:

TaterTard: So last Thursday I went to a client's house and they were watching Billy Madison.
lichkingricko: yay!!
TaterTard: It was the best home visit ever.
lichkingricko: no kidding!
lichkingricko: did you get to quote lines at them?
TaterTard: Absolutely. We all (me, Mom, and her 12 year old niece who put in the tape) were saying all the lines.
lichkingricko: that's awesome!
TaterTard: Later, an aunt came in and was like, "Do you need me to turn the tv up?" and we were like, "Nah, we got it covered."
TaterTard: I'm sure the Dept. of Public Health would not like me to be billing for watching Billy Madison.
lichkingricko: I think they would
TaterTard: Really?
TaterTard: I should have written the progress note in jibberish.
TaterTard: caladeesay
lichkingricko: you should have borrowed something from frank
TaterTard: When they played "I tumble 4 ya," I picked up the baby I was working with, and made him dance around on the floor.
TaterTard: His mom must think I'm a total nutjob.
lichkingricko: Prolly thinks you're the best social worker ever
TaterTard: I hope so! I'm hip! I'm fun! I don't pass judgments on crazy families!