TGIT?

Thank God it's Thursday. Apparently working for the government means that you get Good Friday off, so I don't have work tomorrow. Yay! I know more about Medicaid after this week that any one person should know. Especially since all the information is completely unnecessary for my actual job. But hey, at least I'm getting paid. Today our trainer actually just stopped teaching us at 2:30pm and had us do "independent study" until it was time to go home. So that was $34 I made for listening to my iPod and doing the crossword in the City Paper for 2 hours.

lazy netflix sunday

I have spent all afternoon watching Netflix movies. One more and I can mail them all back tomorrow and have a whole new batch for this week. What a great way to spend a Sunday: sleep until noon and then watch movies on the couch.

I forgot to say last time that I got paired with a little sister for Big Brother Big Sister. I did a drive-by in her neighborhood (because I'm supposed to make sure I'm comfortable going there regularly), and I should be meeting her sometime soon. I'm really excited about it but nervous too.

Also, I read this article recently: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/02/opinion/02thu4.html?em. I'm definitely for BIGLAW finding a happy medium. I don't need $160K, so I'd love to not have to work 15 hour days to be part of it. Closing the gap between government/public interest and BIGLAW sounds like a great idea to me.

Not that this has anything to do with my or anyone else's employment status, but I totally blew some dude off today. It was quite satisfying. Apparently, he's not very good at handling having a life outside of work. He is constantly telling me he misses me after not calling for a week. Cry me a river. You don't have to devote your time to me, but if you don't, don't think I'm going to drop everything to hang out with you. Silly boys. This is why I should stick to the ladies. Or just not dating at all.

too sleepy for a title

Today work was downtown for the first time. I was able to have lunch with my dad at my favorite cheap Greek place (really not Greek at all since they use ranch dressing instead of yogurt--yum!). We, of course, had more training, which mostly involved me restraining myself from surfing the internet with the computer I was parked in front of the whole day and also occasionally taking notes on eligibility requirements for Medicaid.

I am utterly exhausted. I can't imagine what it's going to feel like after a whole week of getting up at 6:30am. Yuck. They're easing us into it though. This week we had 3 days. Next week, we have Friday off, so we're only working 4 days. Who knew that government employees got Good Friday off? Weird.

I should be looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow, but I told my dad I'd go on some run/walk thing with my little sisters. He's picking me and Jeff up at 7:45am. Obviously, my boredom is making me crazy when I'm agreeing to Saturday morning jogs just to have something to do over the weekend. Tonight Jeff and I went to dinner at the Gold Rush and then to see I Love You, Man. Seriously funny movie, but part of me wishes I had just come home after work and gone to bed. I am becoming one of those little old ladies with knitting needles that I fear. Help me. On that note, I actually have to get some sleep, so I can keep up with a 6 year old and a 9 year old tomorrow. Wish me luck.

ah the joys of government work

Turns out this job though low-paying compared to BIGLAW might be much more enjoyable. Government inefficiency + the South = spending 7 1/2 hours doing virtually nothing. We started at least 20 minutes late after every break. We spent an hour and a half doing "introductions"--100 plus people standing up and saying something witty about themselves. We had at least an hour of testimonials of people who had worked on previous projects--"Everyone's so nice! We're like one big happy family!" I also now know EVERYTHING about the structure of the Department of Human Services. Okay, that's a lie. I was playing with my phone during those 2 hours. Regardless of the inefficiency, everyone is ridiculously friendly. Might have something to do with being so thrilled at the idea of a paycheck since most of the people hired have been out of work for months. Also, could be the Southern factor.

We have another day of training in the hotel ballroom tomorrow, and then Friday we're splitting up into 3 groups and meeting downtown. Looks like we'll be training for quite a while, and we'll all be stationed downtown, which I'm happy about. Besides the parking problem, which is a non-issue since I'm forcing Jeff to drive me to work every morning, downtown is awesome. Great places to eat within walking distance, great bars for happy hours, and not far from my house. Maybe this won't be so bad after all.

Oh, one more thing. Did I mention that I got off work at 4:30pm? Unbelievable. Another benefit of working for the government.