Ignorant Historian

See the boxes waiting so patiently for a cabinet to go into?

As much as I wasn’t liking the task before me at work a few weeks ago, I’m loving what I’m doing right now.  Organizing, shopping, dreaming…right up my alley.  I’m afraid though, that this work move as zapped me of both time and energy to blog.  Give me a few days before I’m back on top of things!

Now that I’m in the new office, I’ve been able to see that the colors I picked out were fine, but I wish I had picked something a little lighter for the walls, since this building seems naturally a bit dark.  I hadn’t been inside this building before I picked out, so I was a bit handicapped.  Oh well…they certainly aren’t bad.

I’m still working on getting some non-florescent lighting into my office (yet another one of my pet peeves) since mine doesn’t have a window.  No, it does have a window, but the window is just out into the lobby (which I’m very glad to have…nothing can get past me without my knowing it).  I think having a lamp in here will help make the walls look more warm, rather than just dark.

My window to the world, I mean, lobby.

I think this is definitely the oldest building I’ve lived, worked, or schooled in (well, with the possible exception of a couple of buildings on OU’s campus I may have had a class or two in).  I’m guessing it was built in the 50s or 60s, but I don’t really know.  The bathroom tells it’s age the best, I’ll have to get a picture of that, too.  At least our suite looks pretty snazzy with it’s fresh coat of paint and new carpet.

So anyway, that’s what I’ve been up to when I’ve not been around here.  Hope to be back to my bloggy self soon!

What have you been up to?

Today’s our last full day in our old office.  We’ve been here 2 1/2 years, which seems both short and long.  The mere fact that I’ve been with this company for over 4 years amazes me…I had no idea I’d stick around this long, especially with no plans to leave for some time.

Since we’re leaving, I thought I’d reflect on what I’ll miss and not miss about this old place!

What I’ll miss about the old office:

The people. The office (there’s many different companies in these corporate suites) is overwhelmingly male, but I have had the opportunity to make friendships with a few women.  I’ll miss them.

Having someone to answer the phone. Likely, this will be my new/old responsibility at the new place (I was originally hired as a secretary, and way back when that was my sole responsibility).

Proximity to some good restaurants. I’ll definitely miss the Chinese place nearby, which has some of the best fast food Chinese I’ve had.  I also like having Chick-fil-a and Sonic handy, but it’ll probably be a good thing not to have them.  At the new place the Cheesecake Factory is close by, so I could develop some new fatty/expensive tastes…

What I won’t miss about the old office:

The longer commute! I’ll have 2 1/2 days a year that I can do something else other than sit in traffic.  And $300/year (at today’s gas prices) to spend on more exotic traveling.

Being cramped like sardines. As convenient as it is to ask a question by simply turning one’s head, I’ll like the more private offices.  Though mine will still be the central location, no one else (until our volunteers come in January) will be regularly working out of that space.

The clutter. Since my office will be mine, I set the rules on how much clutter will be allowed.  It won’t be much!

So, it seems like this is definitely a good thing.  I’m excited for tomorrow!

These boxes are just a few of the ones that I’ve already packed in anticipation of next week.  (And yes, I’ve taken it upon myself to do most of the packing because I don’t want us hauling a bunch of junk to the new place!)

Right now, probably the thing I’m most excited for is our organization’s move next week.  One week from today, I’ll be enjoying (or at least as much as anyone can) a commute cut by 5-10 minutes.

I haven’t seen the new place, but I know that I’m going to like it better.  Not only is it a shorter commute, I’ll have an office the size of the one I’m in now (that I share with 2 others) to myself.  Well, and our tax volunteers, come tax season.  I think that the new place will be better suited to our needs.

Sorry for the boring post, but this is what I’ve been thinking about lately!

Excited to help a friend move!

Some people have expressed surprise that I’m excited to help out my friend.  Jen’s a good friend, and I feel like I’ve taken this stressful journey to homeownership with her (though it’s admittedly less stressful in my seat!) as I looked at houses on paper with her, talked through whether this was a feasible option, sat next to her as she made an offer and as she closed.  Now I get to help her move and organize (my speciality, not hers)  as she sets up this place as her own.  God is good!

Bonus: Barring hell or high water (or marriage), it’ll be my home too come May!  Now, if I can just convince her to paint the buttercup upstairs blue…

I have now lived in North Carolina for 4 years.

Note to stalkers - I no longer have a KS tag

For the life of me, I can’t exactly remember what day I moved here, or the timeline of that move.  My parents and brother helped drive me and my belongings out here: my dad and mom in the Budget truck, Riley in my parents’ Explorer, and I in my week-old Toyota Camry.  We took 3 days to get here, stopping by Mammoth Cave and generally enjoying the miles and miles of construction zones…without a single construction worker.  We never quite figured out why there was no one working in any of these places, when it was not a normal weekday during normal hours.

Unlike my first blind move (to go to school in Oklahoma), I knew this time that I had hard times ahead of me.  I had an apartment (with roommates I had never met) and a school that I would be attending in the fall, but that was all I knew about my future life.  Sure, I had already applied for the job that would soon be mind, but I had no idea at the time that that would be the case.

I moved to North Carolina in order to attend seminary.  My thought at the time was to get a seminary education, and then head up a women’s or children’s ministry somewhere in the West (my top choices were Phoenix, Salt Lake, and Portland). Instead, I’m happily staying in North Carolina, working with the children at church as a layman, and working a secular, non-profit job in a field I had no prior experience in.

Little did I know that day 4 years ago that God was bringing me home.  Sure, my real home is in heaven, but that heaven-on-earth, my church family, was right here.