work

Our week in DFW was full of fun (well, for one of us, at least.)

Sunday-drive up. We got a late start, but got there just fine. The hotel next to Emil’s class building was really nice. The only thing we missed was a mini-fridge.

Monday-While Emil had his first day of class, complete with his first night of studying, I spent the afternoon and evening with JJ & Becky and their kids. What fun we had with games, and supper, and trains, and more.

Tuesday-While Emil took his first test, I spent the day with Leanne. She was on vacation before her new job started. We had a great day making Challah and prepping for Friday services and the meal that would follow.

Wednesday-While Emil studied for the 2nd test, I spent the day with Sue and Bero at their home in Weatherford. We worked on her blog, traded Photoshop tricks, and picked gargantuan veggies from her garden. Vine-ripened tomatoes! Yum!

Thursday-While Emil took his 2nd test, I had no plans other than some editing to catch up on. I was a pretty disappointed in my food and WiFi choices for the day. If Las colinas is going to be such a corporate park—and with the construction of the Irving Convention Center complete with a light rail—they need to get with the times.

Friday-While Emil studied for his third test, I buzzed over to Fort Worth to hang with Jordan. I edited photos while she worked the UP desk at her real estate office. Then, we went to lunch and then spent the afternoon co-working before she had to leave to meet clients and I had to leave to get back to Leanne’s. I met Leanne at her Synagogue and attended services with her. She then welcomed me and several friends into her home for a proper meal for Shabbaz complete with blessings of the bread and wine and washing of our hands. It was a wonderful experience; I checked something off my bucket list.

Saturday-Emil’s last day of class and final test. I spent a good deal of time editing, but also carved out some time for myself at the pool.

Sunday-We slept in, had a yummy brunch, and made our way back home. Purrrrl seems to have zen’ed all week; she was bothered that our home arrival interrupted her nap. Thanks to our friend Cathy for checking in on Purrrrrl and Turtleor.

Well, today is Emil’s first day of work. I made us a sausage and eggs breakfast so he could eat well for his first day. It was cool this morning, so we had a lovely breakfast on the balcony.

He planned for 45 minutes of driving, but it only took ~20. (yay @bennrosales and @laniar for helping us find the right place to living and for knowing how long it would take. We planned extra time for insurance.) So, he can tweak his leave time by a few minutes once this week for the school year and again next week after Austin ISD schools are through for the year.

I did quite a few things around the house and spent a large chunk of time changing more addresses. With owning a small business, changing the mailing address is almost as time-consuming as changing my name when we got married! When I needed a creative outlet from that monotony, I worked on As You Wish’s new logo. It’s not finished, of course, but I have GOT to order Austin business cards, so I brought it to a stopping point. It meets most of my criteria: (simple/elegant/edgy, color yet easily convertable to b/w, and watermarkable) and misses some elements (a “picture/icon/image” and the website). Feedback is welcome.

I took care of some errands and hit the gym (I think I might have mentioned the 11,000 sq ft gym at our complex…? It’s the largest private gym in all of Austin.) and had a healthy lunch and a nice afternoon break…..at which I met not only an employee of Apple, but also a recruiter. Austin’s Apple campus is closer to our apartment than front office. The recruiter I met is not only interested in seeing my resume for potential moonlighting work while I expand As You Wish into the Austin branch, but also about to get engaged!

I haven’t had such a productive day in a long time. Well, that’s not true, moving day is productive, but it’s not fun-productive, even with the help of @roybragg and Sandra and two of their kids.

So, I’m leaving, now to meet @emil285 for a quick/light dinner and then to a Board Game Tweetup with @bennrosales, @laniar, @conniereece and several other Austinites who Tweet.

We are excited to share some great news with all of you!

After quite a few months of research, house projects, listing our house for sale, job hunting/interviewing, and narrowing down what we do/don’t like, we are finally moving to Austin!

Emil has accepted a job with the Travis County Clerk’s Office and starts work there on June 1st.

Lori has been promoting her photography in the Austin area and plans to expand As You Wish to that part of our fine state.

My co-worker, Anup, ordered some lenses and mounts for one of our systems. He spent about $100 at ThorLabs, Inc.

When the box arrived, it was much larger than necessary. Inside, he found a box about the size of a kids’ shoe box full of treats and goodies: twizzlers, cheezits, peanuts, power bars, etc. The red box has an image of a green monster/lizzard/dinosaur eating a hotdog and says “Lab Snacks: A Treat For Humans“.

What a clever and smart marketing technique. The box has the ThorLabs logo on all sides and has been sitting on a table in the middle of our office all week. Everyone has talked about it.

http://www.twitxr.com/loriluza/updates/14793/

The best Aggie jokes are the ones the Aggies play on themselves.

Just hours after we learned that our new President, Dr. Murano is removing the the VP for Communications (Steve Moore), today’s edition of the Aggie Hotline comes out with a giant typo: “Aggoe”!