[insert witty title here]

Things are moving along at work well. I'm now training to do two different jobs so I keep busy which makes the days go by faster. I finally got out of the hotel and officially moved into  my new house. I still have a ton of stuff down in Alabama, so I've been going back and forth every weekend. It's exhausting, but that's my life for the next few months. At least I have a more comfortable car to spend the time in. Anyway, that's not really the point of this post.

This week another person from my first project showed up at work. Apparently she's been on nights but switched to days when her man got transferred to another project. Anyway, she's sitting next to me now and we pretty much picked up where we left off when I last saw her a couple years ago. She's the only one I feel that really understands when I talk about chronic pain. She knows what it's like when people say "you're too young to hurt like that" because she's hurt since she was a kid too. I was updating her on the various things my different doctors have tested, tried, or said. She shook her head and said "You have fibromyalgia, like me." It was like everything clicked into place. I had heard of it before, but figured that if I had it, wouldn't one of the doctors I've been to have brought it up? But then I realized my doctors were too specialized/focused. I never went through ALL my symptoms with any one doctor at any one time, so how could they have seen the whole picture??

Apparently there's no cure and really no treatment. My friend said she manages it with diet. She did an elimination diet to see what caused her to hurt worse and what made her feel better. She gave me some foods that cause her symptoms to flare up as a starting point for my trials. So now I start my own elimination diet and hope I can get my symptoms under control. She suggested processed sugars, caffeine, soda, flour... That'll be fun. I'm also going to research some and see what other people have found. Off on another adventure I guess!

Well, That Was Special

Today was my first real experience going into the plant. It was... Special. With a capital S. Just to get into one section we had to badge through at least five different doors. We also had to ask Operations for permission to enter another room before badging through again. At least all of this was in a mostly air-conditioned space, and fairly quiet, at least for an industrial space. Then came the fun part.

First we had to talk to Radiation Protection and get our EDs, or Electronic Dosimeters. Then we entered the Radiation Controlled Area, RCA. In here it was hot and loud. Oh and the possibility for radiation, always fun. This is where it got really special. I had no idea what we were even looking for, I was just along for the ride. Apparently my cohorts hadn't thought to bring any drawings that showed where we were going. One of them had never been there, and the other had been there once. We went to the stair that the one guy used the last time, but it was locked. We then spent over an hour riding the elevator up and down, climbing stairs, wandering around, opening doors, and generally getting lost. Finally, when I was ready to give up, we stopped for directions. With directions in hand, we found whatever it was that we were looking for.

To get out of the RCA we had to get full body scans, it took me several tries to get in the stupid machine properly. Let me just say that the scanners were not made for women to begin with, and especially not the chunky girl I've become. All in all it was a very uncomfortable experience. Drenched in sweat and out of breath I returned to my desk and guzzled some water and made a resolution: I am GOING to lose weight. Diet is going to be tricky until I get my new kitchen functional, but I can at least boycott the vending machine. And there's a Y not far from my new place with an aquatics center. I'm hoping to check it out and that they'll have good lap swim hours. It's not going to be easy, but I think I've finally found my motivation that's not going to disappear: work is hard enough without being so uncomfortable!

A Week In Crazytown

Is it possible for things to be crazy and boring at the same time? Now that I’ve gotten through all the paperwork and training and met my official end date at my old project and start date here, things are kind of blah. At work anyway… Despite most people working 6 days a week here, there’s apparently nothing that anybody wants to give me to do. I hope this doesn’t last long ‘cause I will totally lose my mind if I don’t get something to do soon.

Anyway, so here’s how my last couple weeks have been. The week of the 4^th my man came to visit. His first flight was cancelled and they couldn’t get him on another one until the next day. Then his last flight that day was delayed several hours, so he got here quite a bit later than planned. But he got here and that’s all that matters. We hung out for a couple days and he helped me get started with my packing. I apparently had my head in the clouds ‘cause I didn’t see a red light until it was too late and smacked into the side of a big pickup. Poor Winnie was totaled. There wasn’t so much as a scratch on the truck, go figure. The guy I hit seemed nice enough (although he filed an injury claim a couple days later) and the cop didn’t give me a ticket. Overall it wasn’t too bad, just a minor injury to my toe (don’t ask, I don’t know how it happened). The only problem was I now had a wrecked car and we were supposed to go visit friends/family for the holiday. Yet again my ‘Bama family came through for me: they had a car they were trying to sell and hooked me up with a good deal. They also sent me to a real nice guy at a body shop who got me a good price on selling Winnie. So, happy birthday to me, I got a “new” car!

The rest of the holiday weekend went without much excitement, except the 6” of rain we got in four days. That was insane! The road to my uncle’s cabin was just about washed out at one point. Of course my time with my man was way too short and it seemed over before it began. It was good to see my family too, at least part of it. The last day he was here, my man took me out for my birthday dinner to The Melting Pot. We ate WAY too much food, but it was SO good! The next morning I dropped him off at the airport, drove the hour home, changed into work clothes, and headed to my last day at my old project.

My last day consisted of cleaning out my desk, filling out some paperwork, reading my book, and saying goodbye. Most of my coworkers will be joining me at my new project, so the goodbyes weren’t too hard. The paperwork was annoying, as was cleaning out my desk. Beyond that the day seemed to just crawl by, but it was finally over. I took the last of my things and headed to my home for the past few months.

Tuesday morning I made sure all the furniture was empty and accessible for the movers to come and load everything up. I felt kind of bad, but since I didn’t sleep well I kind of passed out on them and took a little nap while they were working. After they got all of my furniture packed up, I felt rather lost and adrift. I took a nap on my little air mattress, then packed what I needed for a week in the hotel up here, and headed out.

The morning of my first day was so foggy I couldn’t even see the cooling towers to orient myself. I was following half-remembered directions to the parking lot and ended up in the very farthest one I could have. Again, not knowing which direction I was headed, I followed the other folks towards what I hoped was at least a familiar landmark. Thanks to my friend who provided a satellite image of the area, once I got to the fence I knew where I was. Unfortunately that was on the far side of the site from where I needed to be. So I walked through the fog all the way around to the opposite gate where I got to sit and wait for somebody to come that could do my hand geometry baseline.

Just getting to my desk is now quite a process, kind of like getting on an airplane, but more. First you go through a metal detector, and put your bag through an x-ray machine. Then you go into a bomb detector which poofs air at you then sucks the air in and tests it for stuff. Of course the first time I was so nervous I was staring at my feet and stepped out of the thing as soon as it poofed at me, so the alarm thingy went off. Luckily the guard was feeling friendly and there weren’t too many people around, so I just had to back up and do it again. Then you have to scan your badge and then scan your hand. It’s not really fingerprints I don’t think, it’s more the shape of your hand (which gets messed up depending on if you have your rings on or not!). So you scan your hand, often several times, then you finally get to go through the turnstile. Then you have to scan your other badge to tell Them that you are at work. Finally you hike to your trailer. If you get to work early enough and there aren’t too many people in security yet, it probably takes about 15 minutes from car to desk. If you get to work on time, it can take upwards of 30 minutes at least.

Anyway, after I went through all that the first day, I had to walk all the way back over to the other side of the site ‘cause that’s where my trailer is. After all the introductions and whatnot I found out that while I was over on the other side, before security, I should have gone in this other building to get my dosimeter. *sigh* So after lunch I went back out through security (which involves a radiation monitor, badge scan and turnstile, another metal detector, and another turnstile) over to HR which is in a maze of trailers, and then all the way back to the other side of the site. I sat in the waiting room there for 25 minutes before they told me that they don’t process day shift people that late in the day and I’d have to come back the next day. Really?! So I trudged my sorry behind, once again, through security and back to my trailer.

All of this was in 85 degree weather with 100% humidity and off and on rain. And my poor toe not being ready to be shoved in a boot. By the time I got back to my hotel I figure I must have walked 3-4 miles. My feet HURT. And I got to do it all over again the next day. Well with slightly less walking. It was clearer so I was able to get into a closer parking lot. And I could go straight through security since my baseline was done. I still had to walk to the other side of the site, but only once that day.

Friday I got to actually be useful by spending several hours in the “library” making copies of data sheets that were used by a particular piece of equipment that had gotten damaged preventing its calibration test from being completed. We had to justify why the equipment was accurate before being damaged. Not exactly mind blowing stuff, but it was work and I got to move around a bit. I also got to go in the plant a little bit. It was kind of scary! It’s big and loud and hot with lots going on. Everything is color coded so it’s bright and chaotic, and nobody loiters like they often did at my last job.

After my first Friday worked in almost four years, I went to the hotel to change and relax for a bit before heading to the city for dinner with my friends. And a lovely dinner it was! Saturday I slept in, longer than I had planned, before heading back down to the house to pack more. Thus ended my first week at my new project.