Long Time No Blog

It's been four days since my last post, and I've been asked what's up. Well, I started back to work on Monday. I have day shifts all week, which isn't too bad. Hope Y doesn't get used to it, because I work mostly Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday evenings and Friday/Saturday mornings. It seems I will be working most Sunday mornings as well doing overtime. I will try to get switched to evening shifts, but who knows. I hate missing so much church, now that I've found a wonderful Unitarian/Universalist church to attend. Y goes with me now, but only because he knows he won't get to play ping pong later that afternoon if he doesn't go to church first. Bribery works.

We're doing fine here right now. No one has swine flu or anything. There was TAKS testing (TX Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) this week in school. Y does not have enough English yet to take even the modified test, so they sent a note home with him last week saying he did not need to attend school on Tuesday or Wednesday. Needless to say, we received automated phone calls each day telling us that our son was not present for school on either of those days. Another right hand not talking to the left hand thingy, I guess. So, I had to email an "excuse" to someone at the school. I forwarded the message they sent about Y not attending, and then asked why I needed to send an excuse if they asked that he not attend. Ridiculous redundancy, I think.

Work is going splendidly, I'm still assigned to the training office because I've been gone so long (84 days to be exact). They had to re-educate me on the new airspace changes that took effect last March, then I had to get all the face-to-face briefings that I would've received for the last three months, then I had to do all my computer based instruction that I had missed. That took almost three days. Now I am waiting for the Air Traffic Manager to decide if I need additional training hours on each position or if the supervisor can just give me what they call an 'over the shoulder' (where the supe watches me for about 30 minutes or so and then certifies that I am okay to work under general supervision again). I sure hope they don't impose more training hours. That would really (insert profanity here). I've been doing this job for almost 18 and a half years, ten and a half at this exact location. I think I can remember what needs to be done. Heck, I was training someone else to do the job the week before I left!

Gotta go see what they want me to do now.

Natalie
TX