That last 31 days was definitely a month.
It was a normal day at work for me until there was a gigantic BOOM outside our window and computer screens went dark. My very first thought was that a car exploded or a bomb went off, but we looked outside and a power line pole was on fire. Turns out the transformer blew up, there wasn't going to be power for the rest of the day and so we all went home. Luckily our servers and other equipment suffered no damage and we were able to recover all the data. This was a learning opportunity for company about the importance of having battery back up. That's is actually one of the reasons I can stand working there, because I feel like I'm part of this very young companies learning and growth. I've learned many things that I'll be able to use if and/or when I run a business of my own.
Emily has started learning an interior design and modeling program called Sketch Up using Lynda.com, and education website that I have free access to through my work. Decorating and designing rooms and houses is something she loves doing, and I bet she's going to be really good at it.
I got to play corn hole at Emily's work party. It was...fun.
Turns out Emily's boss is afraid that we're going to up and move and he's going to lose her. Funny thing is, we were actually thinking of moving. I started applying for jobs all over the place. Mainly in Arizona and California, but most of them would require Emily to quit. He gave Emily a raise and said there was more coming where that came from. We basically said FINE, I guess we'll stay. But really, there's no complaints. It's really nice here, but we thought it might be fun to try somewhere new like Tucson, Arizona or somewhere in California.
We visited the Botanical gardens early in the month, and I kind of love that place. I'll have a tons of pictures here in a minute.I also went paint balling out in the desert on Saturday morning with my brother and a bunch of his friends. It was a foggy morning which was weird but actually pretty cool. I shot some people. Lots of people shot me (I'm not very good). It was great.
I interviewed for a job, and I received notification that normally they would have me come in for a second interview, but they were willing to hire me right away. I then proceeded to talk to my boss at my current job/internship, told him I was thinking of taking the job, and they gave me full time position. Whoopee!
Highlight of the month goes to Christmas vacation. Emily's family rented a house for a week out in Buckeye, Arizona. We quickly found out that there are no Christmas trees out in Buckeye, Arizona. We drove around and around on a quest for a Christmas tree. We found this sketchy van selling tiny, crappy, withered Christmas trees. Um..no, we have standards.
We asked around and eventually got the scoop on a Christmas tree lot out by some farms. When we arrived, there were trees, but there was no one there. We contemplated climbing the fence around the lot and leaving some money. We tried for several days to save Christmas by going out and checking this lot, and there was never anyone there except for...that sketchy looking van? At that point we were desperate enough to buy their stupid awful trees, but they just sped off and left us to the lonely tree lot.
Finally on Christmas Eve, in a last ditch effort, we drove out to Avondale, the next town over, and finally found some decent looking trees. We put a tarp in the backseat of our little Toyota Camry, and drove with the top of the tree poking out the window as we barreled down the freeway.
Other things we did: I even got to stab everyone in the back during a zombie apocalypse board game (Dead of Winter) because I was the betrayer and that's what betrayers do. In a later I got stabbed in the back so I got what I deserved.
The house had a hot tub in the back yard so we were able to sit out there and check out the stars.
Annnd we went to the Botanical Gardens..
(some pictures are from a previous visit)
