Things are changing so fast around here...

... that I'm behind on processing it all mentally, never mind blogging about it.

I worked my last day with Webmedx/Nuance on Tuesday. It was bittersweet, logging out for the last time; I have enjoyed the work, and especially enjoyed the people with whom I worked. I was pleased to work with one of the finest supervisors of my working lifetime, Dina Joseph. She's a fair minded, highly intelligent and hilarious person who is amazingly adaptable and rolls with punches that would leave most of us sniveling in a corner. I'll miss working with her. The Webmedx platform, when combined with M*Modal, was excellent for transcriptionists and I will be hard pressed to be convinced that anything else can beat it. Anyway, I leave on good terms, and have no beef with that company at all.

It's just that... *insert sound of trumpet fanfare here* I got a really GREAT JOB with Mayo Healthcare in La Crosse! I'll be one of two transcription supervisors. Yep. Back to middle management. I said I'd never do this. So here I am. It's the right time. I'm at the point in my career where I need to make a change. This particular opportunity came along at the most perfect moment that it had to have been God-sent. They created this job just when I was reeling at the thought of adjusting to a new management style with Nuance, plus my pay had dropped significantly over the past year for a combination of reasons and we really needed for me to be earning more. I applied for this job, got an interview, fussed and fidgeted for three weeks after that interview, nearly gave up, then got called in for a second interview - and then was offered the position.

I finished out my 2-week notice period on Tuesday. Mayo only starts people on Mondays, so that gives me a few days to catch my breath and get organized for a new adventure. Barry and I are planning on commuting together at least some of the time: Viterbo University is literally across the street from Mayo, and whenever we can coordinate our schedules, we plan to drive together. And maybe even have lunch together. Britta and I are already planning to meet for coffee after my first day of work. No more home office, no more working barefoot (I'm taking a lot of teasing around town because I'll actually have to wear SHOES to work from now on). Excellent insurance. AWESOME insurance. That alone was worth making the change.

I can't wait to meet the transcriptionists with whom I'll be working! Most of them work from their homes, so it may be awhile before I find out what they actually look like. I hope that, having been a transcriptionist for so many years, I can empathize with them and help them problem-solve in a way that increases their productivity and their job satisfaction, and serves everybody: Patients, physicians, the hospital's bottom line, and the transcriptionist team. It's exciting. My thoughts are just racing, my head full of ideas.

Okay, so, three days off, one and a half down already and I'm barely scratching the surface of my to-do list (which I admit was really unreasonable). But one thing that I did get done was to make a messenger bag for Lil Miss A. She needed/wanted something to carry her music to her piano lessons in. She helped me pick out a beautiful batik fabric of black on white in a piano keys print. I was going to just make a simple tote, but you know how these things go: I had a neat pattern for a messenger bag, and one thing led to another and I basically spent most of yesterday making her a messenger bag to carry all her music stuff in, for piano AND percussion. I figure since I made it non-kiddish-looking, and strong, she can probably use it all through high school.

The drumsticks slip into sleeves just under the flap.

Hard to see here, but the inside has 

pockets for her cell phone, a pencil,

 and a little notebook to keep track 

of assignments and practice time.

I've gotta get hopping here. I think the next thing to tackle will be the last of our ripe tomatoes.