Watergirl: I am 1/3 of the way to meeting my medical deductible!

Co-worker: But it’s only January 2nd.

WG: Well, I am an overachiever.

Hi. I am in Gainesville. It’s warm here, but not much warmer than Raleigh was. I took a cab to the airport this morning. He was late because he was looking for my street on the other side of town. (There is a similarly named road, albeit one that includes an entire extra word, on that side of town.) The dispatcher did ask me which street I was off of. That street is nowhere near where he was.

I just got off of the phone with someone at a competing company- I was providing a reference for a friend. As we ended the call, she said, “Well, you’re with the Raleigh office of (my company)? Are you happy with your current position?”

One of the biggest issues with not having a car is that I have to conform to the guy’s schedule. They both like to work out in the AM (also, they like to work until 5:30 or 6). I am not a morning workout person. It is absolutely not what I want to get out of bed for.

But, right now I have no choice. So, for the past 2 days I have been on a treadmill before 6AM. I don’t run- I’d like to, but for some reason, running on a treadmill hurts. I think I must do it wrong, which would seem impossible, but I can run on roads. I mean, I was working on becoming a runner this fall. (I hurt my knee, which was a setback.). So, I walk. And then I hop on the bike.

I’d like to lose weight, and truthfully I could stand to. However, the travel is a stressor, the long hours are a stressor, and I can’t add to that thinking about every bite that I put into my mouth. I’ve decided I’ll watch quantity- I feel a little guilty because I leave a decent amount of food on my plate and never take it home, but it’s not really practical to do so, and set my goal at not gaining any weight. Not the loftiest, but achievable.

Friday night we headed out to an oyster bar for happy hour. Is there anything better than oysters and $0.99 Yuengling? I think not.

One of my co-workers (sidenote: must come up with nicknames for them. Since I will be spending most of my time over the next few months with them, they will probably make a few appearances.) headed down to Tampa. This worked, because I am allowed to rent a car for the weekends. So, one of our co-workers from here took two of us to St. Augustine. We did not go in the fort, which I would have liked. We did go to the beach, where we saw a woman with a pet monkey. (Probably a marmoset, but also maybe a squirrel monkey.)

Today, they went rollerblading. I walked. Tomorrow, back to the grind.

But, the problem with traveling with two male co-workers is that they do not understand that. At all.

It started off when I asked, “When are we going to lunch?” Answer, “I’m not hungry,” which is not what I asked. We finally did go (the not hungry one didn’t come, and I had to point out to him that he’d need to give me the keys) and I explained that 1:15 is way to late for lunch for me, and I have otherwise conformed my schedule to theirs, so I’d appreciate it if we could at least eat lunch earlier.

I came back to learn that I am losing the cube I sit in here, and will be relocated to the cube that serves as a library. So, not really a lot of room to work. Why would we want to make things easier on the girl working away from home 2/3 of the time? No reason to do that at all- she’s already proven she’ll put up with most anything. Except late lunches.

Today I heard my co-worker, the one who is keeper of the car keys, say, at noon, an hour into a phone call, “No, I’m ok. I’ve got a can of peanuts I’m snacking on, plus I have some baby carrots.” I went over, got the keys, and took the other co-worker to lunch.

I am going home tomorrow. I am very much looking forward to it. I have plans with many of my friends, and I’ll get to ride, and I’ll get to see my boys. The boys I have here are not the same.

However, it does make it harder to avoid a situation I’ve been trying to avoid. A situation that has been bothering me for over a month now. I’ve been mostly successful at avoiding it, and I can do so for the next week without a problem. At some point I’m going to have to figure out either how to deal with it, or how to let it go. The biggest problem is that I feel like I’ve been made a fool of, all warning signs pointed to the eventual outcome, and I ignored them. To top it all off, I tried to salvage the situation and ended up saying things that I didn’t want to, things that were not necessarily true, but that I can’t take back. So, there’s an entire group of people that I am not yet ready to face.

On a less whiny note, I will be shopping for a new purse. Something large enough to hold a book and my iPod for when I travel, and yet small/stylish enough to be used as an everyday purse. Currently, I am carrying my Healthy Back Bag through airports and switching to another purse that I’ve packed in my suitcase. I’m trying to pack less. I left my brown boots home this time. I’ve missed them.

Friday night I landed at RDU. Two of my friends picked me up, and we went out to dinner. They took me to an Italian restaurant near their house, and I've finally found good pizza in Raleigh. So good, in fact, that I briefly thought of moving back to that area, even though I hated it when I lived there.

As we were ordering, my friend started telling me about a dream he'd had. I looked at his wife and said, "Did he just say 'wombat'?" She confirmed that he had.

Once they dropped me off, it was difficult for me to refrain myself from running around the house yelling, "My couch! My bed! My kitchen!"

Cdub dropped the boys off yesterday. They spent a good portion of the day mad at me. I felt guilty that I hadn't been home, so I let them sleep with me. Around 3:30 AM, I woke up because I was being stared at. (Mom: Ha! Payback!) Jasper was standing over me. I realized I had a splitting headache, so I got up and took some Tylenol. When I got back into the room, Jasper was sound asleep. I had to go sleep on the couch because he was snoring.

Phone call.
TRgirl: Wait, why did I call you?
Watergirl: If I knew, then the call would be unnecessary.

She was calling to tell me when her baby shower is. Which is good, because I am flying back from Gainesville the day before. I did some checking, and it is actually cheaper to fly back to Richmond rather than to Raleigh. She and Randy will drive me and the dresser they are giving me home on Sunday.

Yesterday Stewie came over to re-measure me for my riding boots. The company owner walked her through it. Then we went and played pub trivia. We did way better than last time. Some of the answers: Hammurabi, Rome & Carthage, India, Secretary of State, The Netherlands, and Guinness.

Stewie also bought me coffee filters at TJ’s, because I have been to the grocery store twice this week and forgotten them.

Conversation during a haircut today.

Watergirl: So, a little while ago, I wanted to dye my hair brown.
Hairdresser: Instead, why don't you just stab me in the heart?
WG: See, when I was thinking of doing it, I was talking to someone, and I can't remember who, but I was telling them that I didn't want to do it myself, and they said, "Why don't you just call your hairdresser?" but I told them you wouldn't do it.
Hairdresser: See? You do know me!

I had a meeting with my boss this afternoon. It was the beginning of the year goals meeting. I mentioned that I’d like to travel less. Unfortunately, the projects in the discipline I most want to work in are not here, so that means travel or possibly even relocation. I told my boss I wasn’t opposed to the idea of relocation, but I don’t know that I’d say yes. The selling point is that if I move somewhere now for project work, the experience I’ll gain would mean that the next move could be based on location. The irony is that I was starting to think I could settle down here.

I did say that there was no way in hell I was moving to Atlanta.

I have, on at least 2 occasions now, answered a question in such a way that my psychiatrist was shocked. You would think that would be a difficult thing to do, but no.

About 2 months ago:
Dr.: You’ll be working in Gainesville? And what will you be doing there?
Watergirl: Designing a wastewater plant.

Tuesday:
Dr.: When you’re back in town, do you do much socially?
Watergirl: Definitely. I went out to dinner with friends Friday night, had a pizza/movie night with another friend on Saturday, and tonight I’m going to play pub trivia.
Dr.: Any dating prospects?

Apparently he did not expect that question to be answered with peals of laughter.

A friend was e-mailing me a story today, and it included the sentence, “He YELLED at me about the pot when I confronted him about it.”

My first thought was, “You left a dirty pot in the sink?!”

I could not have been more wrong.

I’m back in Gainesville. It is cold here, which is unfair. I mean, if you’re going to send me to Florida, at least make sure it’s warm. I brought flip-flops! (On a barely related note, I need new flip-flops.)

While I’m down here, I have several things I need to do. I need to write up a final project report for a Jaycee project (CPG in Jaycee lingo). Most importantly, I need to catch up with some people I haven’t caught up with in a while.

I got an e-mail on my birthday from Caroline, and I still haven’t written back. She told me she was moving, but I don’t know to where.

I also got a Christmas card from Erica last week. She doesn’t have my new address, and the post office has been dreadful with the mail forwarding. I have no e-mail address for her, so I have to write her a snail mail letter.

This brings up an interesting point. I started this blog as a way of keeping up with people. I’ve not been doing a good job of that. So, if you read this and we haven’t talked in a while, leave a comment! Send me an e-mail! Also, my cell phone number hasn’t changed in 4 years.

Project Assistant: printing off color brochures
Watergirl: Oh, a golf tournament!
PA: I’ll bring you one
WG: I can’t play golf. I can drive around in a golf cart and drink beer.
PA: I like to drive around in a golf cart.
WG: I like beer.
Other PA: That’s my girl!

Later:

Phone rings
Watergirl: Hello?
Flygt pump rep: Hi, it’s [Flygt pump rep]. What can I help you with?
WG: I’m looking for some pumps. Some teeny-tiny pumps. But I can’t find them using your software.
FPR: Well, how about we make them bigger? Just teeny pumps.