March 2014 – Page 2 – Andelin Adventures

Ethan’s Scouting Skills

Ethan came home from scouts yesterday with some homework: to set up and take down a tent twice. So this afternoon I got out a tent and sent him out in the front yard to do his assignment. I let Jeremy go out to help him, but I stayed in the house and refused to do any of it for him. I really wanted HIM to do it, and I didn’t want to risk taking over.

The other kids watched excitedly from the front door. Adam really wanted to be outside with the boys. He was totally smashing his nose against the door just to get that much closer.

The hardest part of Ethan’s assignment, was getting the tent back IN the bag. We brought the tent into the house to refold it to see if we could get it to fit better.

Excitement

I previously mentioned that when Wendy and John delivered Grandma’s piano, they also brought my parents trampoline. Dad was so excited to get that out of their backyard, but it does make me wonder what the kids are going to do the next time we go to visit them….

I really want to have the trampoline set at ground level in our backyard, and the kids really just want to get it set up. Today I looked out in the backyard and found several of them trying to dig a hole for it.

Dog Sitting

Kyle’s mom had to go in for some surgery because they found some lumps in her breast that needed investigating, so we get to take care of her dogs while she was in for that and while she is recovering. Her dogs, Darcy and Ziva took a little bit to warm up to us, but they seem to be enjoying their stay here so far. They are licky dogs though, anytime someone is sitting on the couch they will cuddle up next to them and just start licking their arm or their hand or something. One night after we put the kids to bed, we heard Lydia just start laughing and then she said “The doggy’s tasting me!” sure enough, Ziva was sitting there on her bed just licking her. 😛

Chewy and the cat were unsure what to think of our house guests, and watched them cautiously. Chewy seemed to hide more than usual to stay away from them I guess.

Ziva, on the other hand, wasn’t sure what to think of Jango, Jango being so much bigger than she is.

We had been told that Darcy and Ziva tend to fight a lot, but I didn’t see them fight once. In fact they seemed to like to cuddle with each other.

They got to spend a lot of time playing outside with Jango, which is a huge contrast from what they do at home. At home they are usually kept in a small pen in the kitchen, and are only let out when Karen feels like supervising them, and they rarely ever go outside. I just didn’t want them inside during meal times. The kids tend to be messy eaters and all kinds of things end up on the floor. I didn’t want the dogs cleaning that up and end up being sick from it. It was funny though, anytime Kyle or I were in the kitchen and we opened a wrapper or a package of something Darcy came RUNNING. If we were eating she would just stare at us, watching the food go to our mouths and back. Ziva didn’t seem to care if we happened to be in the kitchen, but Darcy made sure to be right there waiting for any possible handouts.

Crazy Cat

Kyle and I were sitting in the living room, having our nightly ice cream after the kids were in bed, when the cat started doing some exploring on top of the kitchen cabinets. I happened to get a picture of her in mid-air, jumping from one cabinet to another.

Job Shuffle Continues

So, I was sitting at work one day when my mobile phone rang. I looked at the caller ID and saw it was my old manager from Symantec. Wondering what he could want, I quickly stepped away from my desk to answer the call.

He explained that he was talking to his fellow managers at Symantec, and one of them mentioned I had expressed an interest in coming back. I confirmed this, and he said he had an opening on my old team again, as they had put an offer out to someone who turned it down, and he was wondering if I would be interested. I answered that I was, and he asked what I was making and how much I made before I left. He then said he would look into it a little more and get back to me.

When I next heard back from him, he ended up making me an offer to return to my old position at roughly the same pay as before. He added that if I returned within a year from when I left (back on 8 March), I could resume my time off accrual, getting more per year than if I were to start over. Although sorely tempted, I didn’t accept just then, as I needed to discuss the situation with Rebecca. He said his manager wanted to talk to me about it, too, before I decided.

Instead of going in to meet in person, I ended up talking to him on the phone. He explained that although there were rumours about Symantec closing down the Lindon location, they reversed course on it and were trying to build it up, keeping some of the best talent in the company here. Compared to what I had heard previously, this sounded promising, so I decided to accept.

However, I did not tell my manager at EMC yet. We went to California for Wendy and John’s wedding, which felt ironic since last year I changed jobs during a different family trip. Fortunately, my EMC manager was supportive with whatever decision I would make, and I began the paperwork to return to Symantec. It was a bit of a hassle to get all the paperwork in, but it worked out and now I’m back!