The Past 72 Hours

What a busy 3 days...

On Friday, we had a full day of training sessions, across multiple tracks.  It was called "Vista Ed," and it was just one more bit of evidence of how my company is devoted to training its employees.  At session two, I won a company t-shirt!

After picking up my t-shirt at the marketing department, the receptionist, Lydia, stopped me because I had a package that had been delivered.  My care package from Bobby!  Its main purpose was to transport all of my required documentation for the residency application.  But Bobby added lots of fun stuff too - mardi gras beads, my little stuffed gargoyle, the framed photo of our house in a snowfall - and the new red converse sneakers he bought for me for an early birthday present!  Plus, cards from him and our kids.  They made me tear up.

Continuing the day, we converged on the ground floor for our catered lunch.  I got mine, and I went  to where several of my team members were already congregating.  I opened my box up, and there was a slip of paper.  I read it and it said the recipient was the winner of the laptop to be given away that day....  WHAT?!?  I really was in shock and disbelief for a few minutes.  Everyone around me was cheering, which caused the development director and organizer of the training day to come my way with my new laptop!  I'm still in shock about it.

At the end of the day, we had our normal post-work-week beers, wine, and snacks.  After that, I returned to my apartment, made a grilled-cheese-and-ham, and packed for my weekend away.  At 10:00 pm, I was on board the bus to Rotorua, where my friend Martin was waiting for me to transport me to his bach ("vacation home") on Lake Rotoiti.  It was such a nice relaxing weekend.  Eating, reading by the fire, napping - repeat.  It was so nice.

We got back into town this afternoon (Sunday).  And I immediately headed downtown for some errands.  I had prescriptions to fill, and passport photos to get made.  I also got some highlighters, binder clips, and paper clips.  There are two types of stores that I love - hardware and office supplies.  For some reason they're like toy stores to me.  I got my prescriptions, my photos, my office supplies - and returned home to shower and take myself to dinner at my favorite weekend place, Galbraith's Ale House.  Bangers and mash for dinner, and a couple of in-house-brewed XPAs to accompany.

What a great weekend. I hope the week ahead, when I finalize all the packaging of my residency app, doesn't erase the wonderfulness.