It’s going to be a hectic three days here at work before I leave again on Thursday to head to Auburn via Atlanta for Daniel’s wedding. I found out on Friday before we left for Greece that my intern pitch will be next Monday, so that leaves me today, tomorrow, and Wednesday to write the pitch, practice it, show it to my boss, and show it to my boss’s boss. Next Monday I’ll present to my boss’s boss’s boss, along with Becca and Jason. All three of us have our pitches on the same day, so that will be fun.
(Note for the curious: it’s called an intern pitch not because I am an intern, but because for the first year or two of a person’s full-time work here, they are in the “technical intern” program. Basically, it’s a test-out time just to make sure you’re a good employee, and as such, you can be fired without the normal difficulty of firing a government worker. After this pitch I’ll no longer be an intern and thus will have even more job security, but by far the best part of giving the pitch is the sizeable pay raise that goes with it!)
I also found out that next Wednesday I’ll be receiving my 5-year government service award, which I get, despite having only been full-time for 16 months, because of all my co-op time. My first day as a co-op was in 1997, but my “adjusted” start date is August 1998, so I’m finally receiving the 5 year service award (they only do the ceremony quarterly) that I officially received back in August of this year. Yes, it’s unnecessarily complicated. But still cool.
Anyway. Becca and I got back to Houston yesterday afternoon just after 2:00 and I was back at my apartment by 3:30 after a lonnnnng plane flight. The more long flights I take, the less I like them. I get so stiff and sore; if it’s like this at 25 I can’t think about how much I’ll hate it when I’m 75. Our trip was great, and I will post some pictures soon. I have 28 good ones that I will get online sometime this evening; take them as a preview of a bigger posting that will probably have to wait until I get back from the wedding and have finished my intern pitch. I’ll also try to post some journal entries.
In the meantime, the highlight list goes like this:
- Two nights in Athens with visits to the flea market, the Acropolis, and the ancient agora
- Three nights on the island of Santorini with beautiful sunsets, whitewashed, blue-domed churches, black beaches, red cliffs, tons of sun, incredibly blue water and (of course) an update on Game 6 of the NLCS
- Two nights in Meteora with a day of walking all over tall pillars of rocks and the 6 monasteries perched precariously atop them
- One more night in Athens and a lot of souvenir shopping
- SOOOOO much good food
Having to come back to work was definitely tough…
