You're hired!

Wow, what a whirlwind! The economy is down, and technology jobs are slower than 6 months ago, but I was optimistic. The recruiters that I have worked with were equally optimistic. Scott at Ampian Staffing had a client that received an offer from a company in SLC, Orbit Medical. But Scott's client's company countered and he stayed put. This left the position open to me. Two days later, I met with the development managers; this was the 15th. The interview went well, I liked the people and the office, and felt good about the company. Scott called me Tuesday (the 20th) and asked if I was available today for a second interview with Orbit's CEO and the two development managers I had previously met. My last day was Monday, so I had nothing better to do! Well, I could play Guitar Hero all day. ;) We met for about 30 min this morning and an hour later I had an offer; a good offer especially in this economy. So, I am now a Senior Software Developer at Orbit Medical (www.orbitmedical.com)! This is a really exciting opportunity, and I can still ride FrontRunner into SLC.

To celebrate, Dana and I have decided to go to Hawaii next week. Now to make arragements for the kids while we are gone...

Kimberly Tickling the Ivory

I think it is safe to say that piano lessons seem to be working!! Kimberly asked me last summer if she could start learning how to play the piano, so I gave her a simple book she could tinker around with over the summer break, and tinker away she did! She would often plop herself at the piano and learn the simple songs. By September, I was convinced that she was interested in learning how to play the piano. The real question then was, would she respond to piano lessons taught by her mother, or would I have to outsource the instruction?

She was excited about her first lessons, even reminding me about them when I forgot, and here is the absolutely amazing, mind-boggling thing I discovered...she actually enjoys practicing!! I hardly have to remind her to practice. I know this is a miracle, so I'm soaking it up for all it's worth while it lasts.

What's funny is we've even argued over who got to play the piano...hehe. There have been a couple times where we both wanted to play at the exact same time! I do have to say, one thing about having a piano player in the house is getting to listen to the same songs over, and over, and over again - especially her favorite ones. We've had to start limiting how many times she plays the William Tell Overture, because she was starting to get real creative with it - how loud can she play it, how many different octaves can she play the song, how many different keys can it be played in...you get the idea. I think she has definitely found one of her talents. Piano and horse riding. Hmm...what an interesting combination.

It's a Boy! by John

Its been a week and about time we made our announcement! Our family grew by one on Jan 10th around 5:00 PM. He's 7 inches long, weighs 4 ounces, and his name is Orion. He was a little on the chubby side, but that won't last long. Orion is an American Kestrel Falcon. Kestrels are by far one of the most colorful raptors, as you can see by his photo. They are the smallest falcon, and one of the smallest raptors.Despite their size, they are the most common raptor in North America. There's one or two in your neighborhood.

After three months of trying to catch a Red Tail Hawk, Kimberly talked me into trying for a couple of Kestrels the evening of the 10th. She desperately wanted to fly our Red Tail Hawk, Athena, last year, but Athena was too large for an 8-year-old. Female Red Tails have a 4 foot wingspan and weigh 2 pounds.

We saw a couple of female Kestrels, but I drove right past them. There's enough estrogen at our house! We were out on the west side of Farmington headed home when I saw another male Kestrel up on a telephone wire. Kimberly set the trap on the sidewalk of a new neighborhood development. Before she made it back into the van, Orion had already flown at the trap. It is very unusual for any raptor to come so close to people so quickly. Since the trap was setup for a Red Tail Hawk's feet, it took a couple of tries before his small feet were caught. It was a little humurous watching the mice (bait) in the trap run from one side to the other as a little Kestrel jumped from side to side trying to get a meal.

We've had him a week now, and the Vet has given him a clean bill of health. It's always fun to go to the vet with a raptor because so few people have ever seen one so close. When I take a Kestrel, I get hear lots of "He's so cute!" When I take a Red Tail Hawk, little old ladies tell their Toy Poodles and Yorkies to keep quiet because that bird could eat them for dinner!

He's a very calm bird; reminiscent of the laid-back demeanor of a Red Tail Hawk. He doesn't even make a fraction of the noise of other Kestrels that I have cared for. We look forward to having a lot of fun with him. Kimberly even fed him dinner tonight.

Tribute to a Job Well Done

My hard working husband has been working at Applied Materials for nearly 12 years now. Sadly, this is his last week working there. The company has been part of lives for our entire marriage, so it is with a heavy heart we have to say goodbye to a company that has seen us through thick and thin all these years.

John began as a tester the summer after we got married. We lived in the rat's nest up by the U. while I did my pr internship in Salt Lake, and after dropping me off each morning, John would head up to his testing job at what was then AutoSimulations in Bountiful. We moved up to Logan that fall to attend school at USU and the job went with John. They let him work from our apartment while he finished his schooling - thank goodness for the internet!

After we graduated from USU a couple years later, he received a nice offer from the company, and he began work as a software engineer. I remember they were so patient with John the first few months of his full-time employment because he was so darn sick all the time! At the time, doctors were still trying to diagnose his chronic illness, which of course we eventually learned was Crohn's Disease.

Eventually, he worked his way up the food chain, or I guess I should say work chain and became a senior software developer, and then eventually the manager of the group he was in. He worked with some great people. I remember the economic slump in 2001 when we had to take a pay cut, as did everyone else at the company. John simply enrolled in the MBA program up at the U of U, which the company (at the time it was Brooks Automation) paid for, and thus enabled us to put our student loans on hold helping us weather the pay cut storm.

Over the last few years, I enjoyed our trips to Johns work so we could see the baby ducks out on the lake next to his building. I also enjoyed the annual Halloween trick or treat from cubicle to cubicle. I was always amazed at how much candy the kids could amass in just a few short minutes! Far superior to walking from house to house - you know, more time consuming!

A year ago, he was asked to be a part of a new group that was created to work on some new projects. He was excited for the change and thoroughly enjoyed his new group and the work he did. However, with another economic slump upon us, this group with about 90 some odd people was dissolved. Additionally, the company is currently in the process of cutting 10% of their workforce, which affects approximately 1,200 of their employees worldwide. John was asked to participate in the voluntary acceptance program. After a lot of consideration, he decided to accept, though this saddens him a great deal. Now I get the blessing (or is it a curse?) of having John home for the next who knows how long while he searches for another job.

We never expected to be in this position, but now that we are, we have simply decided to count our blessings, of which there are many, and move on. John is discovering numerous job opportunities, fortunately, and with luck he will find another company as good as this last one has been for him. Until then, thank you Applied Materials for giving our family 11 1/2 wonderful years.

All for the Love of Cooking?

I am not really a cook. I only pretend to be a cook. I actually prefer baking, or so I thought until this weekend. I have since changed my mind. I am just pretending to be good at baking since most of my recipes are the quick and easy ones. I encountered a normal cinnamon roll recipe thinking to myself, "I am a good baker. I can make these cinnamon rolls." In response, the recipe laughed at me and said, "little does she know what she is in for!!"

My sister-in-law, Marian, made the most wonderful cinnamon rolls on Christmas Day. I asked her for the recipe, and she emailed it to me. I quickly scanned through the recipe, then did a double take at the words scald the milk, and then, add dissolved yeast when the mild is tepid. What!?! I don't speak cookeze, so I had no idea how to scald milk, or even for that matter what tepid meant. Yes, I am a journalist and should know these things, but because I am only a pretend baker, I don't.

Anyway, I decided to jump feet first and go for it on Saturday night. Of course after chores and shopping, I did not start until 9 p.m. No problem, I said because the recipe only indicated 2 hours of prep time. I figured I'd be in bed by 11:30 p.m. at the latest. I got directions from Marian on how to scald milk and what tepid means (it means cooled down - why can't they just say that instead!) and started mixing ingredients. I had a small breakdown when I got to the kneading part. I realized I have never actually kneaded anything! (I have a bread maker, so why in the world would I need to know how to knead?)

I finally stumbled my way through the kneading and let my dough rise. After an hour, the dough was not rising!! Time check: 10:15 p.m. Well, I was running out of awake time, so I heated up the oven a little bit and gave the dough a jump start. Success! By 11 I was rolling out the dough and putting on the yummy parts. I had the rolls into the casserole dish and went back to the recipe to see how long I needed to cook them in my already preheated 350 degree oven. Oops, I missed a part - reread...uh-oh...I had skipped the part where it said, "let the rolls sit and raise for an hour. Aahhh!!! It was 11:15 p.m., and I had to wait another hour before I could even put these stinking rolls into the oven! I was starting to get a bit disgruntled because I was getting tired.

Okay, I mustered up some extra energy and told John the bad news. Finally, 12:15 a.m. rolled around and I got the rolls into the oven. At 12:40 a.m., I enjoyed my yummy, ever so cinnamony rolls - then crashed into bed by 1 a.m. just a few hours before rolling out of bed for early morning church!

I love baking, but I have decided there is a limit to how much I can bake. I will be using my quick and easy recipe from here on out. Anything that requires kneading will not be found in my cookbook. I will simply wait for someone else to do the kneading, and then I'll enjoy their hard work. In return, I'll bake them some yummy chocolate chip cookies (the non-kneading kind anyway).

Roller Derby Dolls

Ever heard of a Roller Derby Doll? I hadn't until just recently. A friend mentioned to me that there are some gals that skate as part of a club at a nearby roller skating rink thinking it might be a good story idea for me. I thought it sounded interesting, so I got the go ahead from my editor and met with them last night. I was expecting a group of fluffy girls that just skated around the rink a few times, maybe racing or something of that nature. I really didn't know what to expect.
I do know that I was not expecting a group of Harley looking women - tattoos and all decked to the hilt in protective gear - wrist and elbow guards, knee pads, helmets, and mouth guards! Yikes. I had no idea such a thing existed! After warming up, the real action began...they started racing around the rink whizzing by me as I was desperately trying to take pictures. In a nutshell, you skate against another team in packs of four, while the jammer girls have to try and get through pack. For every roller derby girl they pass, they get a point. Yah, I can see now where the protective gear comes in handy!! The gals are actually proud of their battle wounds!

Well, I can now say I have met a roller derby doll, and now you as my readers can say you have heard of them.

My Wednesday Workout

In order to add more eating points to my daily allotment, I have to exercise. So, that is my incentive to exercising each morning. Sunday is when I am usually starving since I don't exercise on Sunday, therefore, no extra munchies that day! I like to use my library of exercise DVDs, which include the ever popular weight training, aerobics, and all-around sweat inducing fun. I usually go about the whole process a bit begrudgingly, but on Wednesday I was excited to exercise because I knew I was going to earn a whole boat-load of extra eating points.

I went skiing up at Snowbasin with my good friend, Heidi and we had a wonderful time. Of course I spent some of my hard earned points eating a nice hamburger from their cafeteria, but other than that...maybe I'll actually get to splurge on a chocolate ice-cream shake this weekend from Jakes. Yum.

I learned how to ski when I was 12 and my mom signed me up for ski lessons. She grew up in Utah and loved skiing. However, when she moved up to Seattle and began having kids, skiing wasn't really an option. When we got old enough, she decided it was time to get back on the slopes doing something she loved, and in the process brought us along. I have many fond memories of skiing with my mom and siblings - my mom, the pro skier helping us with tips, Christy, who was always very graceful and fast, my brother who was just interested in getting down the hill as fast as possible, and then me - the slow, but working on my form skier (or so I kept informing my siblings). Unfortunately, I didn't get to ski much with my youngest sister, but it sounds like she and my mom might be coming out in March to go skiing with me. Yay!!

Skiing is perhaps the only form of exercise that I actually look forward to and I can't wait to go again...sore calves and all!

Winter Fun

So, we are getting more snow today, which is fairly normal for us Utahns. What is not normal is seeing my back porch turned into a sledding hill. I do love the flatness of Utah, especially when bike riding. Can I tell you how many hills we had to traverse on a single bike ride growing up in Seattle? You couldn't avoid a hill even if you tried! However, all the hills came in handy on the rare occasion snow graced them for our sledding escapades.

Not a problem for Utah...snow is everywhere! But where are the hills when you need them?!? My kids have had to get quite creative trying to sled around here, which just so happens to be in my backyard. The back porch actually works out quite nicely as a sledding run. There are enough stairs that get iced over and the sleds go right down. It took awhile trying to train the kids and their friends to avoid hitting the new tree right next to the fence, but other than that, at least the sledding keeps them busy for awhile and out of my hair. (That is until they come in and dump all of their wet winter gear on my nice clean kitchen floor.)

New Year

We have spent most of the day taking down the Christmas decorations, and now our house is back together again, albeit a little bare without all the extras. John is complaining about the sap on his hands that will take him three days to clean off. I love that he still puts up with my desire to have a real tree each year. He is hoping that one of these years I will give in and go for an artificial tree. Until then, let the sap on hands continue!!

What a fun holiday season. We were able to spend good times with our little family, extended family and friends. I love the holidays and am always a bit depressed each January, especially since I begin my annual diet on Jan. 1st to get rid of the excess pounds I always manage to acquire during the holidays - what with all the fudge, Santa cookies, and extra treats laying around. Rather than depriving myself of the yummies, I merely accept that I go back to counting my points in January.

One thing I like to do to get over the January blahs is buy a nice big bouquet of fresh flowers. It is really the only time of year I splurge on flowers. I put them on my kitchen table and enjoy them for several weeks, especially since I don't have any fresh flowers from our garden during the winter. It is definitely worth every penny. I hope all of you are having a happy New Year!