My terrible decision is a kitten named George! He is orange and from a barn and super friendly!

I realized I haven't posted in several weeks....and things have happened!

For starters, I lucked out in the break room at work one day when the quality people were talking about a possible opening in their department on 2nd shift (the shift I currently worked). They mentioned how they didn't think anyone would be interested. One of the quality ladies saw me and asked if I was still interested in a job (since my interview with them back in December or so). I said yes. At this point I was off the line and working in containment. This means that I double checked everyone else's parts for defects. At any rate, within a couple days I got a letter saying I had gotten the job in quality! Fantastic! I am now just finishing my 3rd week of training and will be on my own starting Monday. It is a nice step up since the pay max is the highest in the factory (hourly) of unskilled labor. The only people whom make more are certified electricians. So, with my advancement I got a 30 cent raise right away and will be getting another raise in 3-4 months. 

My job is now pretty much auditing the people whom handle the parts and helping to deal with customer complaints. My day is pretty much filled with staring at people, collecting parts for testing, testing parts for size deviations, making notifications on defective products, etc. 

I really enjoy the job so far! I seem to be doing well, and am still slightly uncomfortable making some of the notifications (because they stress the importance of not screwing them up in any way), but my coworkers say that is normal and will go away as soon as I make a couple on my own. 

Hrmm. The only other news right now is two items of interest. The first is that I am getting a riding lawn mower. I can hand mow the yard, but it takes quite a while. My parents suggested it (firmly) after I tell them I spent several hours outside mowing the yard on my only day off a week.

The other item of interest I can't say anything about until next week. I know two of my friends will really hate me for this for a little bit, but I am sure they will eventually forgive me for it. Of course, my mom, sister, and dad really could not care less because "I am an adult now in my own house and can make my own decisions"...sigh.

I was starting to get close to it yesterday. The reason? On the last day with the last dose of my antibiotic treatment, I broke out in hives across my whole body. I didn't know that it was the medicine since it took so long to get a reaction to it (10 days). At any rate, I had been getting all the severe allergic reaction warnings from the label (joint/neck pain, neck stiffness) and all the regular side effects as well (nausea, vomiting, etc). I was able to explain all of those away with other, more likely, causes. If I don't get enough sleep I get nauseous, I took the meds on an empty stomach, I just started a new job at work that does cause some neck and joint pain (standing on concrete for 8 hours looking down). I thought the hives might have been a reaction to the cat or dog getting in my bed sheets (didn't make it the day before). That last one was a stretch, but I couldn't be sure. So, I went to work. And then the hives got worse. They started moving up my neck, onto my face, and my neck started swelling. When I realized my neck was swelling I called it quits and left work for the doctor. It took two hours....but they got the swelling down. I also was running a temp. First they gave me a giant shot of Benadryl in the butt. Since that didn't do much I got a giant steroid shot on the other side of my butt. And then, because the swelling was still not going down as much as it should have, they gave me a shot (in the arm) of epinephrine (adrenalin) along with some oxygen. That did the trick. My swelling went down from major to slight, the fever went away, and I started to cool off. Based on that reaction the doctor said I was just starting to go into anaphylactic  shock. 

So, I now know a few things. I am very allergic to sulfa medications. I get to be on major steroids or the next 10 days as the antibiotic works out of my system (during which time I can't be in the sun for more than a few minutes at a time). And, I get to carry an EpiPen from now on.

The hives are slowly breaking up (the very large ones) while the smaller ones are starting to fade. Luckily, the hives don't itch. Unfortunately, that means that they are still hot and make it hard to stay comfy during sleep.

I also have to stay home from work tomorrow since physical activity could cause another anaphylactic attack.

Posted via m.livejournal.com.

Originally posted by bambu345 at The shaming room

So, I have a friend that has been making a lot of limericks...and they are awesome! So, I posted them to my tumblr. Go and read them!

http://cambreesranch.tumblr.com/

So, while I love the sleep I have been getting on second shift, I have found I get very little accomplished with my free time from work broken into before and after. In other words, when I get a chance, I am going to see if I can get on 1st. In other news, I tripped overdone styrofoam at work and fell to the concrete. Luckily, I took the majority of the impact on my left shin with my elbow and wrists takin the rest. I am fine (except a possible bone/muscle bruise) and although stiff, I am already feeling better. 

I should get tv and Internet on Friday if all goes well, but I don't know how much I will get a chance to use it. Work let us know that we will be working pretty much every saturday from now until new years to cover for all those days off we will be getting. Ah well, I guess I am working for Sunday instead of the weekend.

So, I have been absent in posting on here for a while. This is mainly because my phone and the Livejournal mobile site hate each other. Every time I comment or post using my phone....it doesn't. So, since I have been living in Newaygo for the past month (with no computer internet access and 1 bar on my phone at the best of times), I have been online for a little amount of time. Work is going well. I have once again found a job where I don't dread going to work, nor do I think "I wish I didn't have work today"...in other words, well. I am out of training, but am still in the introductory period and so am the low person on the rank scale (or high person on the totem pole). Work frustrates me at times because the company doesn't have a proper training protocol and so every week or so someone tells me I have been doing things wrong (when I was wrongly taught or never taught to begin with). I also get frustrated with all of the "man children" that populate the factory. You know the type...the high school graduates that haven't yet realized work is for working and not socializing/playing. On the bright side, my supervisor called me into his office to ask if I was interested in a supervisory job in human resources...I answered yes! I gave him a couple copies of my resume and am hoping I have a chance at least at an interview. The reason the supervisor knows me? He found out last week about my B.S. and 30 credit hours of M.A. work. In other words, he has made it his job to get me up the ladder and out of the factory. It is really nice of him, especially since I seem to be doing a good job at inspecting and I have only worked around 30 days or so for the company.


In other news, I bought a house! I was able to get a mortgage and move tomorrow (but my stuff from Saginaw arrives on Monday). The house is only 7 miles or so away from the factory and will drop my daily commute from an hour each way to 10 minutes. The house is a 50's ranch and in great shape with a great layout. I had the bedroom floors refinished this week because it looks like they had never been refinished since the house was built. There is a wood fireplace in the basement along with a firepit in the backyard that are just begging to be broken in (and I have a dead tree in the front yard that will supply all of the needed wood for the next couple years).

What else has been going on? My Mom has become a crazy person with the chance to dump all the stuff she doesn't want on me (decorations, furniture, etc). Me? I am just excited to have my own place again.

Well, I think that is about it. I'll give you guys some photos once I am living there and have an internet connection set up.

 So, I haven't posted in a while....this is not really  big deal since I am often sporadic with posting stories from my life. But, this time it is different. I actually have news that is exciting and will take a few lines to tell.

As you all know (or are about to learn), I have been job searching in the Grand Rapids area for a job since the end of March/beginning of April. I would get a response here and there with the main result being "Saginaw is too far to commute...so NO". This was slightly depressing because I had stated in my applications that I was moving to the area and would not be driving from Saginaw every day. In mid April I made it to the last round of interviewing with a large insurance company, but was ultimately not hired. So, I did what I always do when I have nothing else to do and want to be active....I began working at the zoo again. Now, several months later, I am pretty much completely healed from surgery (I can start running in September) and have been doing keeper work at the zoo. Every day I have had off from the zoo has been spent driving to various locations around Ohio and Michigan. Yesterday was just like one of those days. 

I drove to Grand Rapids for a job interview at a veterinary clinic. While I was wasting the extra hour I had reading in my car, my mom called to tell me that her friend had an opening at the factory she worked at. So after the interview I had I promised to go in and fill out an application. My first interview went extremely well. Well, while I was filling out the factory application this family friend's boss came out and took me back for an interview based on the recommendation he received. After the interview he offered me the job! I was shocked! I don't fit the factory worker profile at all, and the interviewer didn't seem to really like me as a candidate, but was willing to take a chance because of that recommendation. So, I have a job (assuming drug tests/physical goes well)! I start the 29th and work 2nd shift (2-10). I am nervous because I don't want to let the family friend down, but I also am sure I should be able to perform this job perfectly. I called my boss at the zoo to give them my 2 weeks after the interview and broke down during it. I couldn't help it. I normally don't cry, but working at the zoo was my first job back when I was 16, and I have worked there on and off since doing various jobs. Although, I now also wonder if I started crying because this was not just leaving an old, and beloved, work, but also because that moment was me leaving my childhood behind. This is the first fall that I can remember that won't result in me heading to school. It also represented the point when I would really say goodbye to the family I have lived with. Before I would come home over the summers to work...but now? now I am moving on to a new point in my life. 

Goodbye childhood. I will miss you.

 Quick update!

I am done with doctor appointments (after surgery) and can start riding asap (jog in a couple months, play rugby next year)!

I have been working at the zoo in the commissary (diet prep) and at the end of July will start keeper work again (assuming I don't get a job elsewhere).

I have been looking for housing in the Grand Rapids area and found a couple places that I like (and many that I don't).
I  am officially the last of my cousins to get married (unless I elope to Vegas or something in the next couple months). YES.

In some ways I wish I  didn't have a job because then I could use the employment agency that the state runs....and they could do some of the dirty search work for me.

Ummm....I think that is it for now!