A Series of Unfortunate Events

Following a nice visit at home and a hearty Thanksgiving meal at Andrea's, I was out on the road again.  I got to the end of her street, phone charged, gps navigating, and ipod ready for me to press play.  I took a deep breath, the road trip to Houston, Texas had begun.

Just kidding - I had to turn around and go back because I forgot my boots...I said another set of goodbyes and then was off for real.

I decided to leave in the evening in hopes that I'd miss out on some traffic.  I figured I could at least get to West Virginia and then meet up with Becky in Knoxville the following day.  Thankfully the rest of that portion of the drive went off without a hitch.  I made it to the hotel, got some sleep and was at it again in the morning.  I was trying to get away from the snow and sleet from the north, unfortunately, however, it seemed to follow me for a while.  When I arrived in Knoxville and lifted my bag up from the passenger seat floorboard, I realized the entire bottom of it was soaked.  Looks like the leak in the Jeep that was "supposed" to be fixed that previous week didn't go so well.  Little did I know, that would be the first of many mishaps...

Our first day of orientation was the Monday after Thanksgiving so we had quite a bit of driving to do in a short amount of time.  I stayed with Becky's family for a night and then we headed out toward Houston the following day.  Once we reached Texas we were greeted with sunny weather and temperatures in the 70's.  I was enjoying Texas already.

We unloaded our cars and unpacked the essentials as we mentally prepared for our new job.  Unfortunately the first few weeks of this assignment didn't go as well as we had expected.  The good news was the hospital and job itself were quite enjoyable.  The unit was constantly buzzing and the crew that staffed it was second to none.  The care and knowledge they provided to their patients and families was evident in every decision that was made.  It truly was a privilege to work among them.

Now for the continuation of the mishaps...unfortunately when we arrived at our apartment there were a few kinks that needed to be worked out.  One of which was the furniture - with this assignment we had taken the housing that our company provided which meant the rented furniture would be there when we arrived.  It took a few days and multiple phone calls to get that squared away.  The next issue, which was a bit more important was the construction.  I've said previously that Becky and I always find places that are being renovated or are closed - well again, no exception here.  Creating a new building right next door to our three month lease wasn't really okay.  It's something that should have been discussed prior to our move in, but unfortunately it wasn't.  Needless to say we moved out of there as soon as we could.  Perhaps we were asking for a lot, you may judge if you like, but nobody likes hammering on the wall next to you at 2am every day.

We moved into our new place and got settled rather quickly.  It was now mid December and the hospital was gracious enough to give us time off for Christmas.  Becky and I were each able to fly home and be with our families.  Two days before we left however, there was a ridiculous rainstorm.  Becky woke up to a dripping sound coming from the living room.  The up side of living on the top floor of an apartment building is that you never have a heavy footed person stomping above you...the down side - leaks...

Thankfully our apartment complex was on top of their game and the ceiling and roof were fixed by the time we got back from our Christmas vacation.  After that things seemed to start falling into place and we were able to enjoy Houston and surrounding areas a bit more.  I think we definitely made up for some lost time in the next couple of months and took advantage of every day off.