Killer Work Day!

I just had a great work day.

I think just about everyone knows that work has been difficult for me lately, which is why I feel like today's awesomeness is worth sharing.

As soon as I arrived this morning I got word that a HazMat shipment that needed to be in California this morning, was stuck in Idaho - it didn't get shipped, rendering the sample expired and therefore useless and forcing us to repeat thousands of dollars in testing at our expense.

I call the shipping office (I won't say which company but they have a clever arrow worked in their logo); they admit the responsibility for the failed shipment is entirely theirs.  The manager of the store apologizes profusely, and gives me an account number for all future expenses related to this project.  When was the last time you had a corporate entity admit responsibility and then give you an open expense account to fix it?

After hours of coordinating how to make this retest work, I call our analytical lab and see if there is a possible back up plan.  As it turns out, I didn't have all the information, only part of the sample is expired (and even then it is still usable), the rest of it is still good.  This means that if I can get the client and the local agency to be ok with less than perfect data on a portion of the test (which is only locally, not federally required, meaning the local agency has the authority to waive it), then we don't have to retest.

I call the client and we decide we want it in writing from the local agency.  I can do that.  So, I track down the agency contact on his cell phone and get in writing that they are ok with us submitting the locally required data as expired but usable so long as the federally required data is in perfect condition - which it is.

BOOM!

I just saved the company thousands of dollars by researching federal regulations and coordinating across four states between six different interested parties, meanwhile getting an open account from a major shipping company.

All that is going through my head right now is this song.  And how they wrote it about me.

FAIR WARNING:  Swearing is an integral part of this song


Every now and then it is good to toot your own horn.  Right?

Puerto Rico

Josh and I are headed to Puerto Rico on May 10.  We are going to spend some time working with sea turtles and hanging out with my Dad and his girlfriend.  Aside from the turtles, scuba diving and swimming in the bio luminescent bay are on the top of my list.  We have been looking forward to this trip since before we got married and we are super excited!  Now that it is almost here, it is still hard to believe. Thinking about our plans and the idea of seeing a 6ft sea turtle seems surreal, we can hardly believe it is really happening!

Every time I tell someone about it, I have to stop and think - is it Puerto Rico or Costa Rica?  I have ties to both, Jim goes to Puerto Rico annually, and Belle's Godfather has a place in Costa Rica that we talk about all the time.  I think what really gets me is the fact that their names are practically the same!  I retained enough Spanish to know that both are "Rich water/land interfaces", and somehow that is enough in my head to confuse the heck out of me. 

Hopefully, writing this post will cement in my mind: WE ARE GOING TO PUERTO RICO!!


We will provide all the details for you when we get back!

Step!

I've started taking a step aerobics class at the gym Josh and I use. It is super fun and every time I go I have a blast. This is what I looked like when I got home from class yesterday.

Josh says the headband makes me look like I mean business. It is a great work out, and my brain is challenged by trying to figure out all the choreography and the different moves. Have you ever tried a step aerobics class?!

I pick up a little more every time I go, but right now I'm at about 75% of actually hitting all the moves. The instructor, Koko, introduces at least one new move every class.  I'm completely lost on the "four corners, half skip turn, knee-walk away" combo, and I still don't know what the heck the "mambo cha cha" is.

I can dance, but when I'm trying to count out the steps in class I feel like I have the rhythm of a Republican senator. Thank Goodness for the "basic left", I totally get that one.