First of all, happy #sharkweek!
Wow...... well I am just blown away right now! Last night I finished purchasing flights for quite an adventure! This is clearly a story that I have to share with you all.
+Hannah and I decided to go to Winona fairly spur of the moment this past weekend. With +Josh leaving for medical school, we decided it would be a good time to visit back home, and him specifically, before we move back to MN. We did a bunch of fun stuff, but one of the highlights was the Big Brothers Big Sisters "Taste of Winona" event Saturday night that my whole family attended.
I had been looking forward to this event all day! But right as I was about to walk in with my family, I got a phone call from a strange number. Since it was such a weird number, I decided not to answer it, mainly because I was just about to walk into the event. But immediately after dismissing the call, my phone began to ring again from the same number. I figured I had better answer since they were calling again right away....... And thank goodness I did!!!
It was +Paul warneke calling me with the offer for an adventure of a lifetime! He had explained to me that, quite randomly and suddenly, the boat he works on was in need of a helping hand for their swiftly approaching voyage! They will be setting sail from the Galapagos Islands to take the boat back to a harbor in Panama, sailing through the Canal. And he wanted me to come and help! He explained how he knew it was out of the blue, but they were willing to "sweeten the deal" if I could make it. These are crazy times right now for Hannah and me, but at the same time, this was an offer just plainly too good to pass up on. So, in the end, I'm packing my bags for a sailing trip!
So what does this all look like? They are disembarking on Monday (the 18th), so I have to get down there before then! Unfortunately, this means I have to leave my recently acquired position with the Eye Bank earlier than I had wanted (aka this Friday already), but it's something that I just have to do! And also a huge bonus to this particular trip is that I will be back in time for Hannah's graduation, her parents getting into Chicago, and to help get all our stuff packed before we move. So it's almost perfect timing! I will, although, be missing a wedding this weekend that I was very much looking forward to attending......... but I feel as though this trip will make up for it.
I cannot believe I have been given this opportunity! It almost feels like a miracle in a way. In my opinion, I feel as though I have responsibly passed up several other chances to visit Paul. With saving up for our wedding, traveling to visit Hannah while at school, not having a job for all of last summer, and for other various reasons, I have seen many other trips on this boat "drift" away from me. So this trip almost feels like its a reward, and I feel tremendously blessed. Thanks Jesus, you trickster you!
SO! This Saturday I will be flying out of Chicago to San Salvador, then from San Salvador to Guayaquil Ecuador, and then taking a smaller flight from mainland Ecuador to the Galapagos Islands where I will meet up with Paul! To be honest, I'm not entirely sure the exact day I will be returning yet or the rout I will be traveling home, because we have to lock through the Panama Canal and Paul was a little unsure of how long exactly that would take....... but he was sure I'd make it home by the 25th at least. So I'll get it figured out!
Again, I feel so blessed for this chance. I really need to give a HUGE shout of thanks to my incredible wife for being so accepting of me going on this trip and basically telling me I had to go on it. It's in no way easy for her to have me going away for a week right now, especially since she has to stay here an finish school. But I have been SO amazed by her loving support and her sincere encouragement. I really do feel terrible for being asked to go on this trip without her, but unfortunately there is just no way around it right now. I just wanted to publicly praise her understanding of it all, or at least her incredible performance in deceiving me!
I am so excited and yet so nervous at the same time for this trip. Traveling all that way by myself is kinda nerve-racking! Especially traveling through these countries where I don't speak the language! And yet, with true adventure there are always risks, and I'm confident that all will workout in my favor. As long as I don't leave any of the airports and just sit and wait for my flights I should make it there with few troubles....... I hope.
Well stay tuned everyone! I will absolutely be writing again in a little over a week with all the details of my crazy adventure!
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
Monday, August 4, 2014
Some new adventures
Hello once again everyone! I know its been awhile, but there hasn't been much to report from the Chicago Degalliers lately. Although I do want to give a quick shout out to +Alli and Matt Wagner for coming to visit us!!! But what I mainly wanted to share were the events of last Wednesday (the 30th).
I was at work and around 9am I got a very exciting e-mail saying that I have been selected for a dental school interview! I was and still am so excited about this news and feel so blessed to have been selected so early in the interview process, for at least one school. I'm obviously hoping for, and expecting, more interviews to come, but it is an incredible feeling to have even one chance to get into dental school.
Dental schools are usually proceed with a rolling admission process, so for me to have an early scheduled interview is a huge bonus! I hope I can make it count!
So back to Wednesday, I was obviously riding the high of knowing I had an interview most of the day. That was until I received a very disheartening e-mail from my manager at work. I was notified that I will no longer be keeping my intern position at the eye bank. In fact, I was notified that my last day would be Thursday..... the 31st! Big heads up on their part. I had heard mixed reports from my managers as to what my role would become beginning August. I was in a tricky position for them at the eye bank. I was obviously brought into the eye bank as a lab intern, doing random tasks and assignments to help out with daily flow of the place. But more recently, I have been trained to do donor recoveries, to procure corneas out in the field. This, I believe, put me in a unique place of being an intern in the lab and yet holding an actual employee position with the recovery team.
When the option of getting my recovery training was first presented to me, I had come under the impression I was doing the eye bank a favor. I had been led on to believe I would be continuing my intern duties in the office while also be given the flexibility to help pick up cases when the recovery team needed me. Well, it turns out this isn't the case even if it had been when they first described it to me! Evidentially my two managers made a decision to just have me be part of the recovery team only. And I was pretty much notified of this with only a single day notification before I was "done" with the office. So just to clarify, I have not been fired or punished, I've just been shifted into a new position.
So what now? Now I am a "full time" field tech. I skeptically say full time because I have no set hours to work. I am basically 100% of the time on call, without pay, and have to pick up cases when I am called in order to actually work. While this is not exactly ideal, I think I'm alright with the whole outcome. I honestly do enjoy the recovery work! It's extremely interesting and exciting, and I'm very thankful they have given me the opportunity to do it. Procuring corneas is way more fascinating than sitting at the office doing paperwork all day. It'll certainly be tricky not having a "guaranteed" income for this month, but honestly, with +Hannah and I getting ready to move back to MN at the end of the month, I'm not going to be working with the Illinois eye bank at all soon anyway. So we'll make it work.
I'd also like to mention that while it was extremely unfortunate that they only gave me a one days notice about me ending my time in the office, I'm really not that mad about it anymore. Wednesday night I was upset, but my Thursday morning I had realized this isn't going to be the end of the world. The communication with me over the regards of my role has been sloppy, but I forgive them. Like I said, I was a tricky employee for them I believe with the mixed jobs.
I should also quickly mention that I've already been out on two cases all on my own over this weekend, so hopefully I'll continued to get calls!
I have to admit, I'm going to miss working in downtown Chicago a bit. I have always had such mixed feelings of enjoyment and hate for riding the green line everyday to and from downtown and walking all the way along Clinton Street. But despite those mixed feelings, its hard to know I won't be doing it anymore. I won't be seeing all the people I've come to recognize on the train or from my walk to work (who I make up various life stories and scenarios for), won't have to deal with walking through the hustle and bustle of Union Station people anymore or gazing up at Willis Tower while I work. I had some fun with it while it lasted, and I'm glad I can say I did that in my life (work in downtown Chicago that is), but it's time is up! But maybe I got out of doing that just in time, with two shootings happening within two blocks of work my last week there........... yeah I won't miss it that much!
Aside from all of that and back to Wednesday night, I went to play tennis with my neighbor to try and get my mind off of work and school stuff, and another tragedy befell on me. My wedding ring broke! It had been coming and I obviously knew a wooden/antler ring would break eventually when I bought it, but it was still sad. I'm also unsure if it is even salvageable, so I'm currently looking into replacements. I'd definitely like another wooden ring though!
Well, as for the rest of this month, Hannah will be finishing up her last rotation and then be graduating from PA school!!!!
I was at work and around 9am I got a very exciting e-mail saying that I have been selected for a dental school interview! I was and still am so excited about this news and feel so blessed to have been selected so early in the interview process, for at least one school. I'm obviously hoping for, and expecting, more interviews to come, but it is an incredible feeling to have even one chance to get into dental school.
Dental schools are usually proceed with a rolling admission process, so for me to have an early scheduled interview is a huge bonus! I hope I can make it count!
So back to Wednesday, I was obviously riding the high of knowing I had an interview most of the day. That was until I received a very disheartening e-mail from my manager at work. I was notified that I will no longer be keeping my intern position at the eye bank. In fact, I was notified that my last day would be Thursday..... the 31st! Big heads up on their part. I had heard mixed reports from my managers as to what my role would become beginning August. I was in a tricky position for them at the eye bank. I was obviously brought into the eye bank as a lab intern, doing random tasks and assignments to help out with daily flow of the place. But more recently, I have been trained to do donor recoveries, to procure corneas out in the field. This, I believe, put me in a unique place of being an intern in the lab and yet holding an actual employee position with the recovery team.
When the option of getting my recovery training was first presented to me, I had come under the impression I was doing the eye bank a favor. I had been led on to believe I would be continuing my intern duties in the office while also be given the flexibility to help pick up cases when the recovery team needed me. Well, it turns out this isn't the case even if it had been when they first described it to me! Evidentially my two managers made a decision to just have me be part of the recovery team only. And I was pretty much notified of this with only a single day notification before I was "done" with the office. So just to clarify, I have not been fired or punished, I've just been shifted into a new position.
So what now? Now I am a "full time" field tech. I skeptically say full time because I have no set hours to work. I am basically 100% of the time on call, without pay, and have to pick up cases when I am called in order to actually work. While this is not exactly ideal, I think I'm alright with the whole outcome. I honestly do enjoy the recovery work! It's extremely interesting and exciting, and I'm very thankful they have given me the opportunity to do it. Procuring corneas is way more fascinating than sitting at the office doing paperwork all day. It'll certainly be tricky not having a "guaranteed" income for this month, but honestly, with +Hannah and I getting ready to move back to MN at the end of the month, I'm not going to be working with the Illinois eye bank at all soon anyway. So we'll make it work.
I'd also like to mention that while it was extremely unfortunate that they only gave me a one days notice about me ending my time in the office, I'm really not that mad about it anymore. Wednesday night I was upset, but my Thursday morning I had realized this isn't going to be the end of the world. The communication with me over the regards of my role has been sloppy, but I forgive them. Like I said, I was a tricky employee for them I believe with the mixed jobs.
I should also quickly mention that I've already been out on two cases all on my own over this weekend, so hopefully I'll continued to get calls!
I have to admit, I'm going to miss working in downtown Chicago a bit. I have always had such mixed feelings of enjoyment and hate for riding the green line everyday to and from downtown and walking all the way along Clinton Street. But despite those mixed feelings, its hard to know I won't be doing it anymore. I won't be seeing all the people I've come to recognize on the train or from my walk to work (who I make up various life stories and scenarios for), won't have to deal with walking through the hustle and bustle of Union Station people anymore or gazing up at Willis Tower while I work. I had some fun with it while it lasted, and I'm glad I can say I did that in my life (work in downtown Chicago that is), but it's time is up! But maybe I got out of doing that just in time, with two shootings happening within two blocks of work my last week there........... yeah I won't miss it that much!
Aside from all of that and back to Wednesday night, I went to play tennis with my neighbor to try and get my mind off of work and school stuff, and another tragedy befell on me. My wedding ring broke! It had been coming and I obviously knew a wooden/antler ring would break eventually when I bought it, but it was still sad. I'm also unsure if it is even salvageable, so I'm currently looking into replacements. I'd definitely like another wooden ring though!
 |
| The two bands you see in this picture were very recently one whole ring! Now they are separated wood and antler. |
While we are obviously looking forward to moving back to MN, we have a lot of things we want to do in Chicago still before leaving. It'll be an exciting month!
Thanks for reading and I'll be sure to post again soon!
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