Sunday, February 17, 2008

New Job

I get to wear scrubs!

I got a new job. The chocolate shop wasn’t working out. So, I abruptly quit and spent 5 days searching full time for a new job. I focused my search (craigslist.com) on finding a job as a dental assistant and also applied to some bakeries and restaurants because my resume just doesn’t support my ambition to work the field of dentistry. (I just felt so guilty for what I was doing to people's teeth by creating sugary temptations I felt I had to make up for it by working in a dental office...just kitting). Later on one evening right before going to bed I checked craigslist one last time and found a position open for a dental receptionist very close to our apartment. I quickly created a cover letter and e-mailed that along with my resume. Matt told me I should stop in just to show that I was serious about the job. This turned out to be good advice. The next day as I was thinking about the job I felt good about it and prayed I would get the job. I went out and found the place and stepped inside. I introduced myself to the current receptionist who in turn introduced me to the dentist. He was very surprised and said to me, “But I haven’t set up any interviews yet; I just posted the job last night…” I reassured him that I was just stopping by so that when he saw my resume he would know who I was. He decided to interview me and set me up to do a working interview for the next day for the full day. Yahoo! So I worked/observed the next day and talked to the dentist several times to touch base. At noon he expressed desires to still interview other candidates to see what his options were (which makes sense since I have no experience whatsoever in dentistry or being a receptionist). By 5:00 he offered me the job saying he felt good about me. He gave me a dollar increase from my last job. Now I work 8:45 to 5:15 M-F and I have benefits, better working environment and hours, a genuinely nice boss, and am learning the “family business”. Matt was very happy. He asked me: “So, how does it feel to be starting the job you will have for the rest of your life?” There is a lot to learn and to be totally honest I really would rather be doing assisting, hands on stuff, but I feel very blessed to have gotten what I got. It is strange to have a job sitting all day though…my feet are like haaaa. It has been difficult being the new girl in a small office of only 5 employees total but it is working out. Now Matt and I can discuss dental stuff and he doesn’t have to hear me go on about crazy people and chocolate. The Lord will help us as long as we do our part.

Yummy Mess

I was whipping some cream for a dessert on Sunday using my new hand blender which is SO handy and I wasn’t paying attention and got cream everywhere!! Matt helped me clean it up…with his tongue!

Thursday, February 14, 2008

It's Official!

This afternoon I met up with Julee in Times Square and officially signed away my life to Uncle Sam! If you didn't know, I have been in the process of signing up with the Air Force for the last several months now. Today I took the Oath of Office in the center of times square. How exiting! As I did it I knew that I was doing the correct thing. Not having an idea of what I would be swearing to I thought the oath very powerful:

I, [name], do solemnly swear, (or affirm,) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. (So help me God.)


After that it took only about 50 initials and 20 signatures and now I am US property. I will finish school normally and then afterwards will be a dentist for the Air Force for the next 20 years. Just kidding only three. They will be paying my tuition and giving me a stipend for the last three years of school. After that I don't know where we will go other than it will be where they tell us to. Maybe we will luck out and go to Hawaii or Germany. But then again maybe we will be sent to Mt. Home Idaho.

After all was said and done I was so exited, it made me feel very patriotic.

For those of you who have never heard of the oath of office (probably everyone) this is what it says on Wikipedia:

The Oath of Office is a solemn oath taken by officers of the United States Uniformed Services on commissioning. It differs slightly from that of the oath of enlistment that enlisted members recite when they enter the service. It is statutory (i.e. required by law) and is prescribed by Section 3331, Title 5, United States Code[1]. It is traditional for officers to recite the oath upon promotion but as long as the officer's service is continuous this is not actually required.[2] One notable difference between the officer and enlisted oaths is that the oath taken by officers does not include any provision to obey orders; while enlisted personnel are bound by the Uniform Code of Military Justice to obey lawful orders, officers in the service of the United States are bound by this oath to disobey any order that violates the Constitution of the United States.

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Pets

I have almost always had a pet. They are fun and make things seem more like home. The only problem is that pets and Manhattan don't mix well, and I didn't want to add to the mess on the sidewalks. So I did the responsible thing and got a fish tank for my birth day.

We went to the pet store with Chandler (we were babysitting him, he is five) and bought five gold fish. I am not a big fan of gold fish but they were cheep and I needed some fish to get the pH right before I got more expensive fish.

One fish though didn't like being taken from his 150 other buddies and went on a hunger strike. I have never understood why people (or fish) do hunger strikes. How does going hungry make people give you what you want? Well I wasn't going to take any attitude from a fish and so I had to let him go...