Ooh, and I forgot to write…

On my way home from my usual Tuesday night activites (wings at Shooter McGee’s) ,  I was cruising home…headed down the Dulles Toll Road and suddenly saw a cop.  I knew I was toast instantly.  I’m not sure how fast I was actually going, but I was definitely speeding.  He pulled me over and said he had clocked me doing 78.  He did the usual "Do you know why I pulled you over?"  And I said, "Probably for speeding…"   He disappeared for about 4 minutes while running my registration and license.  I thought for sure as this was VA State Police that I was going to end up with a very expensive ticket.  He returned, handed me back my license and vehicle registration and said that he was going to let me go with a warning and to be careful pulling back out on the roadway.  I said thank you and wished him a safe night….and proceeded home.  Man, it was hard to stay at the speed limit after that, and I don’t think I’ve ever driven that slow on the Toll road when not sitting in traffic.  Phew.

I found out last Friday that my promotion finally came through!  My title now is "Sr Analyst, Operating Systems"….yeah,  I’m still not sure exactly what that means either….other than a bit more money.  It was announced on Monday, and the funniest part is that several people remarked to me that they were shocked I wasn’t already at this level.   Apparently quite a few people thought I was at the Sr level all along.

In other news, I have a new couch!  No more sitting on the uncomfortable futon!  Yay!  It’s so comfy and pretty.  It’s microfiber, overstuffed, and olive green/brown in color.  Soooooo comfy.

It was one hell of a day in the state of VA today….

First, I want to take a moment to honor those whose lives were cut tragically short in Blacksburg VA this morning.  My condolences go out to all of the families and friends of the 33 that died at VA Tech this morning.  I can not imagine what you will be going through now in dealing with this.  I really hope you are given the answers you seek.

Thankfully, the one person I know that goes there is fine.  Although he rides with VA Tech Rescue, so, odds are pretty good he saw quite a bit of today.

And if that wasn’t enough tragedy,  Prince William County Fire had their first line of duty death this morning:

Firefighter Kyle R. Wilson

RIP FF Wilson.  Your sacrifice is not forgotten.  Thank you to the firefighters and police that still go on to work in spite of all this tragedy today.

The weird part is…all of the above has brought back some memories of the day of 9/11.  I sat at work hearing about the VA Tech thing and I couldn’t help but think of all of the parents that are freaking out upon hearing this news about their son or daughter.  I then remembered how on 9/11, my parents went through something similar with me.  I remembered hearing my dad’s voice when I finally was able to get through to them and actually hearing the tears and relief as his voice cracked.  His voice cracking during that conversation made me cry.  I hadn’t cried at all during the conversation with my mother, nor when she broke down…I guess I expected that.  I hadn’t expected my father’s reaction. 

I am now officially registered for 9 credits at NoVA Community College.  I may register for another 3 credits this summer depending upon how I test on their math placement exam.  Work has a tuition reimbursement plan, and after some other work related things are finalized, I’ll submit for that   The tuition benefit is up to $2500 yearly, so that will help out tremendously.

I’ve given up going for the Disaster Management Degree and I’ll just go the "easy" route and go an IT degree.

So, I’ve had to start over with the blog.  Synopsis of the previous entries:  Worked as a police officer for a federal agency, had insult and injury during my entire time there.  So, after 2 years, I went back to the world of IT.  I’ve been working for that same company since Dec of 2005.  That sums it up for the most part (in a very sterile way admittedly.)

Thankfully, while I hate being back in IT, I’ve very much lucked out with my current employment.   I have a great boss, and his boss is just as great.  I am afforded a lot of flexibility as far as my hours, working from home etc.   I had a very uncomfortable situation with a coworker who was having some issues in his personal life.  He took some time away and seems to have gotten a lot of that worked out.  While I do find the pay lacking for my experience, there IS something to be said for having a good work environment.

I recently moved to a new apartment sans roommate.  Just me and my dog   It’s been great.  It’s a gorgeous apartment in a GREAT location in Reston.   I have a 2.3 mile commute to work and I am within walking distance of the Town Center as well.

Unfortunately, I’ve had some problems in my knee again and I’ve gone to a new orthopaedic surgeon who is recommending surgery this time around.  So, now we wait while Dept of Labor/Office of Workers Compensation takes it’s sweet old time in approving it.  We are talking 6 months potentially….that’s not an exaggeration sadly.   I can relate to how veterans of the military feel when they try to use their health benefits.  Wow.  Dealing with WC the first time was not an issue at all and was extremely painless…since I still worked for the agency.  But since I no longer am a federal employee, I apparently am now at the bottom of the list and not a priority to them.