Climate changes

Its August already?! Damn. It has been a while, again, so I thought I'd say a quick hello and recap a little while...

About a month ago, I was presented with the opportunity to go work out of one of our domestic sites in Roseburg, Oregon for a while. At the time, the only thing I could think of was the fact that an assignment like that would get me out of Texas' notoriously hot July and August weather, and I was quick to jump at the chance. Of course, there were a slew of other things, both personal and professional, that I considered as well when thinking about the move: my parents live up in Seattle now and I'd be closer to them, working in a new site for a couple months would give me a chance to show what I can do and really help another site out, boyfriend is a teacher and July/August is when he's finally out of school and we'd be able to spend some real time together, etc., etc... But ultimately, I decided to take the leap and move for two months.

So far, my entire existence here has been a whirlwind. From the minute I arrived my senses have betrayed my previously allergy-less utopia. I've been reduced to a sneezy, sniveling, red-eyed mess of a woman, which is definitely not fun, or attractive. And the real bitch of it is that I was so excited to get to a place where one can do things outside, in the middle of the day, without melting into the 115+ degree heat index that I've ignored my misery and have been bicycling and hiking through this snot wallowing haze. Allergies really suck.

Anyway, the job has been going well, although honestly I'm learning more of what NOT to do than things to take with me back to my office in TX. I can't help but think of how funny it is that sometimes we think that we're in such hell... until we're thrown into a different situation which is way worse than our own. It isn't all bad, though, by any stretch of the imagination. I've met some great people and there are actually other women around this office who are cool to hang out with, so that's great. And there's the whole pacific Northwest thing that's pretty f'in cool too. A couple weekends ago I went kayaking down the South Umpqua river for five hours with a girl from work and her husband, which was awesome - not a regular occurrence in Tejas, that's for sure. I'll try to be better about posting...