Working 9 to 5...

Okay - I don't technically work 9 to 5, but good ol' Dolly started singing in my head as I tried to devise a clever title for this little work related blog post.

This month has brought with it a couple of changes with work. One change I'm excited about and loving and the other I'm completely on the fence about.

Change #1

I've started riding my new bike to work! I finally got a bike after not having one since junior high. It's purple. I love it. I feel cool when I ride it (haha). I'm not able to ride everyday because I have to go in to our Salem campus 15 miles away for meetings pretty frequently, but plan to ride at least 3 days a week. This was my first week wanting getting to ride in a couple of days. The first week with my bike came with some unusually cold and wet days and it made me nervous to start my bike commute in yucky conditions. My house is about 2 1/2 miles from the hospital. Getting there is a pretty easy 10 minute ride. Getting home is a little less easy and takes a few more minutes with the majority of the ride home being uphill. I enjoyed riding this week and am looking forward to doing it as much as possible.

What makes this bike situation even more awesome was my dad chipping in for it as my birthday present AND going shopping with me for it. Heart him.

Change #2

I'm taking on new responsibility for the summer. In Salem. In the Finance department. Working on budgets. Why all the incomplete sentences? Imagine me catching my breath between mildly dramatic sobs. A lot of people don't know the details about what I have actually done in my career. This is mostly because I work in healthcare, but I'm not a clinician. It's usually hard to describe in a short elevator pitch, and quite frankly to most, it is probably boring to hear about. Don't get me wrong, I've loved what I've done, what I do, but it isn't cool chat about the details over coffee kind of work. I've spent the majority of my summers during my 20's working crazy long hours trying to bust out over 700 department operating budgets totalling over $1B with my fellow budget-warriors. Budget seasons for healthcare organizations with a fiscal year starting in October are short, intense, and run their course from June thru September. You pretty much kiss your summer goodbye.

Regardless of the direction I've moved my career in, moving away from Finance departments and budgets, they always seem to pull me back. Analysts in healthcare are hard to come by. Well, good ones. Our Finance department is short half their analyst crew, are swamped with work around analyzing our operations due to revenue shortfalls this year, and need help. I'm a bit rusty doing this work, but I'm told it's like riding a bike (ironic choice of words this week). I do hope I'll be of some help, but this does mean more work on top of my already full schedule.

I really don't want to say goodbye to my summer, but I think it is going to happen....UNLESS....a baby comes our way sooner rather than later. Just sayin'... :o)