News news news and change

So I took the leap. I went and applied for a new job with a couple of companies that work all around the world. I figured if they have offices in Germany I may at some point be able to get transferred there. I had two offers and decided today to go with P.are.xel. I will start April 4th with a week long training in Raleigh, NC followed by training at home. Yes AT HOME. I shall stay put for at least a couple of weeks. I can hardly wait. While I will be doing the same thing so after my training period is over my schedule and travel will most likely be similar to what its now but I figured it can't be any crazier than it is now and at least with this company I get to head toward my long term goal - heading back to Europe.

Well let me get some rest I am in NYC all week and forgot to check the weather. Its been nice and cozy down south but its still cold up here and I forgot to bring the right shoes/clothes :( guess I'll be cold.

To much to do

I know I know its been a while. I am in Charlottesville this week. Its been busy since I have a new coworker with me that I am training. I think its kind of cool that I have only been doing this 4 months and I am training people already. My boss okay'd it which I take as a big compliment. My trainee is doing okay. I had her watch me today and yesterday and then I had her do stuff tonight when we got back to the hotel.

She also got to see some AP drama today. Grumpy is waiting as we speak for the AP who will be crashing with us. Poor Grumpy I don't know he knew what he signed up for when he married me ;) I had tried to see if the girl can crash with her boyfriend for the night but HQ veto'd it. Poor thing to top things off she is allergic to cats so she'll be miserable in my house.

Well back to work - I was so busy I didn't even get go to the gym today. I actually forgot my gym shoes and ended up working out barefoot yesterday.

Out cold

man the post that I still need to finish keep piling up. I have this illusion that I will get to it all next week while I am in Tampa for training. But I just wanted to post at least a teaser

Here am I with one of my furry assistantsas you can see I do on occasion work in my PJ's - I am totally loving my new job and not just because I can finally pay my bills when they are due and still have money afterwards.

This waited for me when I got home from Charlottesville yesterday.Grumpy was nice enough to open it and make sure it arrived completely (I know some of you think he did that to get the first pick but I promise he was not after my treats!)

Otherwise I am happy to announce no new speeding tickets despite that my rental car was bright yellow and a sports car. I had ever fricken cop tailing me marked and unmarked but luckily it had cruise control so there was nothing they could do.

I am still sick - seems like everyone is sick. I got the bronchitis version so lots of coughing up green yucky stuff.

mhhhh what to say

I know I have been scarce and I haven't visited/commented as much as usual but who knew I was going to have to work this hard ... ;). Actually I am loving my new job - whats not to love I get up, let the dogs outside turn on my computer and am at work. I get to go play with the pups in the yard. Fix meals when I like, take a nap when one is needed and so forth its awesome. Hell I didn't even leave the house once until Wednesday!!! And they gave me cool new toys - here is my office - note the 2 computers I have my private one in the office so I can watch Tivo and chat if I feel the need
They also sent me this cool Xerox workstation and a leather bag for the laptop. My docking station is coming Tuesday as is my security token.

I loved not having to go to work at night - well I did work the past 3 nights but thats not going to be that way. I had told the Germany place when they had asked I could work Valentines day, well I also worked there Friday which is my usual day and then today at the Italian place. I had tried to get out of it as I really wanted to get some more training classes for my new job out of the way but the girl that said she'd work for me couldn't oh well. I have to say it was a very lucrative week hell I made a bit over $180 just tonight!

Anyhow Grumpy and I spoiled ourselves this week. We got a few cool things including something for vacations. We also got this water purifying system hooked up to the house. It even has this reverse osmosis thing in the kitchen so its like getting bottled water from the tap. Well I got a headache so I am turning in. I'll try to come around and visit tomorrow.

PS this is the hotel I'll be at for a week while training in Tampa - niceeeeeeeeeeee.

my "American Dream"

Today was a bitter sweet day while it wasn't my last day at the doctors office it was kind of my official goodbye. I got my goodbye card signed by everyone in the office and my poem. My manager is really good with poetry and writes a poem when someone leave. Here is mine.


I had a hard time not to cry when she had me read it out loud. Then when I got back to my desk I had a huge present sitting upon top. A bag - one like all the monitors have it was the goodbye present from my manager and a sweet card. I am glad that my new boss gave me the okay that I can help out until the Doc is settled so its not an abrupt change. Not sure if I could handle that since the office had been my home for 7 years.

I would have never thought that this would be where my life was heading kind of funny how a small decisions impacts your entire life.

When I came over in the summer of 1999 - I had a student work visa and J. had proposed to me so we were planning on getting married after he finished tech school in Wichita Falls TX. I came over a month before he was finished and worked in a English Pub in Old Town Orlando. The owners didn't like Germans so I was used as dish washer while they were at the place - but as soon as they left they the bartenders had me come out of the kitchen and wait tables. In August I took a flight to TX where J. picked me up. We had planned on getting married Friday after his graduation but since I was not allowed on base unless we were married we moved it to that Monday. The wedding is another story - after his graduation we left for Illinois from where we left via car for Virginia where his orders landed us here in Newport News in a dingy apartment less than 2 miles from my current house. After we got settled I opened the phone book and saw that there was a German Restaurant and decided to call and see if they need a German waitress. I worked there throughout the years while also working at Busch Gardens and even as a bill collector for SEARS.
One night in November 2000 I had this couple that ended up being one of my last tables. We were talking and while telling them how I ended up in the US and so forth it turned out he was a doctor that worked mainly in the field of HIV and infectious disease and had founded the AIDS foundation here. It was interesting as I had grown up in the AIDS foundation my mom had founded back in Germany and ran it up until I left to come here. At the end of their dinner this guy offered me a job to work for him as research coordinator. I thought he was nuts - I mean come on who is going to offer a waitress they just met a job as research coordinator??????

I didn't call him for 3 months. But eventually I got tired of the bill collector gig and people yelling at me and cursing me for doing my job and I called. Turns out timing was everything as one of their coordinators just handed in her 2 week notice. My manager wasn't all convinced that I could do the job and the two other coordinators made sure that I knew I wasn't as good as they were as I did not have a college degree - but long story short I was the one that prevailed.

Turned out I was good at being a coordinator I did well with the patients and the people the Pharma companies sent to monitor us. I met a lot of people through out the last 7 years and when I finally finished my degree one of those people sent my resume to her HR department recommending to hire me. Two of the three people at the interview that followed were people I had worked with over the years too - that and my work record got me my new job.

So here I am getting ready to start the next step in a career I never even knew existed and all because I chatted with one of the tables I served dinner to. From dishwasher to Clinical Research Site Manager for Pfizer - not bad for 9 years in a new culture/country.

so much to do so little time

just a quick note. thank you for all the warm wishes. I am very excited about my new job. I was hired as a new CRA for P.fiz.er - and no can't get you samples of this (everyone is trying to hit me up) The cool thing about this job is not only am I home based and am in the immediate vicinity of my sites but I start out at 15K more than what Grumpy and I had made together last year. This means I can pay off my credit cards and other loans and I have money to pay all of our bills. My new job starts on 2/11. Right now I have a ton of paperwork to do.

Then there is my new office - i need to clean it and get it set up and so forth. Have you noticed there are never enough hours in the day

I have three posts coming - the long overdue vacation post, my American dream from dishwasher to CRA and memories of 2008. it may be awhile ... for now I have to play with my new toy - Garmin nuvi 350

I GOT ITTTTTTT

I GOT THE JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I HATE waiting

Got this picture is an email from my mom titled only in Wisconsin

I can't stand this. See I applied for a new job before Christmas and they called and did the phone thing after I got back from Germany. Everything went well so I was asked to interview in person last Friday. I had 3 interviewers - 2 of them were people I knew and had worked with. I thought the interview went okay but it seems it went really well. I had sent the main interviewer a thank you email as well as to one of the ones I knew. Well the lady that I knew emailed back saying everyone loved me and I was wonderful and so forth. The main interviewer had said she'd call the company back today and give them her recommendations today. So here I am waiting by the phone.

I had a missed call from them this morning but it turned out to just be the recruiter wanting to be sure that my boss knew of all this as he was going to call him for a reference. I just talked to my boss who confirmed that he just spoke to them about me for about 10 minutes.

This would be a huge opportunity for me, my career and our bank account - why can't they just call and say yes or no this is driving me nuts!!!!!

Wish me luck

sorry for not having posted awhile.

I was going to write Friday but I was still to annoyed. See some time ago a friend of mine said she'd give us tickets to her cousins show. Which I thought would be cool but by no chance ever thought to ask for. Anyhow she had said she asked for 20 tickets and it shouldn't be a problem. Well as the concert date came closer I asked her about it and she said the is still waiting to hear. Thats cool. But then I talked to her the week of the concert and found out she had gotten the 20 tickets but is waiting to get more. So for whatever reason she gave our tickets to someone else. Well long story short she never got any (more)for us and we did not go. The thing is I would have never expected tickets or asked for them. I mean I think her cousin has a lot of talent but frankly its not our type of music so it never occurred to me. It just annoyed me that she would invite us and then give the tickets to someone else.

Anyway Saturday was okay I had crappy tippers but what else it new.

Sunday Grumpy and I were both off which is a rare occasion so we decided to head to the Omni Hotel near by for brunch. Grumpy used to cook for them and has been telling me about it for years but one of us usually worked so we could never make it. So we slept in and then headed there. While the hostess is seating us someone calls both of our names. I see this short lady walking up to us that looks vaguely familiar and turn to him to ask who it is. When I turned back she is in front of me hugging me and I read her name tag - its Grumpy's old girlfriend. (she claims I stole him from her the truth is when I was still married and we were just friends I used to spend ours defending her and sending him back to her! Crap so the hostess sits us in her section. So we just look at each other like "great". Well aside from that Brunch was good. I had two Mimosas and lots of food. She did do a good job and I do not think she put something in our food. She also let us use a buy one get one free coupon so we paid 20 vs 40. Very nice indeed. The rest of the day was spent doing homework for me and Grumpy went to go by a new microwave and detailing the truck. Later on we had a pretty bad storm and we noticed water dripping from the ceiling. After some investigation we came to the conclusion that the water must have come down to hard for the gutter to handle so now we need to find out where it comes in and how to patch it up.

as for the title of this post. I got an email Friday from someone whom I worked with for years on G.S. K trials. Anyhow it was an empty email just the subject saying G.S. K is looking for C.R.A in your area apply on the website. I couldn't find it Friday and emailed her back. So she emailed me what to look for and I just sent of my application. It would be so awesome if it worked out but I don't want to get my hopes up.