I'm now at palm springs airport waiting for my first return flight back to boston. I decided to stay a few extra hours and take the latest flight out of here, so there's a red eye flight in my near future. Tomorrow's gonna suck no matter what; it usually takes a few days to adjust to the time changes.

My sister and I attended The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival this year, all three days.

It is going to be a return to the routine, but I'm glad I was here for vacation. No idea when i'll be coming back to visit. My married sister and her husband have asked I come when they have a kid, but I've been assured that it's not anytime soon. Go figure.

Alright about to board first plane.

written on 2/17:
Haven't updated in a while. Quick update: I did not leave my other job since I still need the benefits, and it would also be silly to be willingly unemployed these days.

My hours were reduced to 32 and I now have three days to dedicate to job hunting and interviews. So far I have gone to two interviews and about to go in for my third, all at different places.

Two of the interviews are at visiting nurse agencies, the third is a complimentary health clinic. I was told about the clinic job by the director of nursing herself; she and I went to school together. I did ask her to let me know which way things turned out. One of the home health agencies was pointed in my direction by a friend who works there; the last one reached me through a recruiter.

Written on 2/24:
The last interview went well, so well that I was offered the position yesterday evening! Woohoo!

This company works the same area I currently cover. The company is a larger company with facilities in a few other states. The workdays are monday through friday, so no more weekends; supposed to me business hours, but we'll see how those really turn out. The benefits are better than where I currently am, not to mention an increase in pay. I have to say that the salary wasn't the main primary reason for taking the job, but it didn't hurt.

At the interview last week I only met with the director of professional services who informed me that she did want me to come back for a second interview.

I know that all of my references were called within a few days because all of the people called me back to tell me, which according to the recruiter "were great references." It also doesn't hurt that one of those people they called knows the executive director of this agency. Wow, so much in such little time.

I will be starting next month; have to work my last two weeks and then I want to take sometime off before I start the next one.

Who knew this would happen so soon.

it's no secret to my friends that i've had some issues with the company where i work for sometime now. i have given the company many opportunities to make the changes they continue to promise. i try to give the place where i work the benefit and hope for the best. silly in this day and age.

however, these past few weeks, more like months, have been odd and it's mostly in my office. i guess a bit of background is needed....

i work for a small home health company with two offices, the main office and the office where i work. twenty or so miles separate the offices, and both offices have different and wide territories. the main office is large and has more staff; where i work has been a smaller group of people.

great nurses have been lost due to management issues, three or four. i go and do my work and do what's needed.

a member of the non-nursing staff has been let go each of the past two weeks, a marketer and a receptionist. before them it was another nurse and a private services supervisor. yeah, exactly.

i have been with the company for over two years and i have learned and grown greatly during these years. i am grateful that they took a chance on me, since they did hire me after graduating from nursing school.

i gave learned quite a deal. in this time I have overlooked issues because of the experience i have gained through them, it is also why i have been patient. the past two yearly reviews have gone well and i accepted the small raises that really did not cover cost of living, thinking things would improve (foolish in retrospect). except this most recent review.

the reviews are supposed to be done on the anniversary of the hire date, but my supervisor didn't do it until after two months of the anniversary; she accepted that she forgot and we did go over the review in late fall. i was given a $1 raise and was informed by her and the HR director that it would be given to me retroactively to the anniversary of my hire date. two months later I have yet to see this retroactive pay.

every pay period i was hoping to see it in the paycheck, but nothing. finally, annoyed at all of this i went to the HR director and basically asked "wtf, where's the pay i was to by you and my supervisor i would get" and her response has varied. one week it was "we're working on it" and last week she even promised i would have it by friday. nothing.
friday came and there wasn't a change in the check. i called her on friday and left voicemail and messages for her to call me, which she didn't.

i called her today and after she found out who it was,she asked to speak with my supervisor. all I heard during those five minutes was my supervisor say "that's just not right." they spoke on the phone once more, after which my supervisor said that the chief operation office (COO) couldn't be reached to approve of the retroactive pay. wtf?

before my supervisor left, i asked her flat out what the issue was. her response was that the COO needed to approve, but that she (my supervisor) would just write me check for the amount i am owed, which i declined.

"no, that's not right. i won't take your check because the company owes it to me, not you. i also won't take it on principle." the supervisor then asked me if i would be quitting if i didn't receive it, to which i told her I didn't know yet. at least she now officially knows.

the more i've thought about it, the more i think it is time for me to move on. i have already spoken to a few people about job opportunities and may even have an interview soon. i'm meeting with another nurse friend tomorrow evening to discuss opportunities, and another friend mentioned the opportunities for clinical trial nurse openings which she'll let me know of...

this was a tough choice but i think it's time i move on. too much bull to handle. i had been very hesitant to consider quitting because i didn't want to be stuck with bills, rent, and car payments, as well as loosing my health insurance, but it's a risk i need to take. i am in a field where it's not tough to get a job, but this big step is scary. fuck it, it's time i take it.

the HR director is in my office tomorrow and she will be seeing me there. should i not end up getting the pay, i'll give my notice.

*deep breath*

all of this bull for $416 that i am owed.

anyway, i have been knitting socks lately and this is the pair i'm currently working on!

nighty!

Haven't updated in quite some time now. Right now i'm on the red line heading home after hangin out with my friend Matt all afternoon. He wanted me to teach him how to knit...

I haven't had a chance to update since last August, but I've just been busy.

Let's see, I've decided to take the opportunity to goback to working 40hrs a week, so that takes up quite a bit of my time; i've found myself working more than 40hrs a week, yet I won't complain about the hours.

This holiday season isn't so bad as previous ones, I guess having good friends is key in this frigid city. In any case, should anyone of you should be in town, we're having a holiday party on the saturday between christmas and new years please come to the party!! Fun will be had by all!!

I spent all afternoon with my friend Matt, which was a bit cathartic; I can safely say that he's one of my closest friends in this town. He and his boyfriend will be attending the holiday party at my place.

One of the things that's been on my mind lately has been relocating: my roommate has been applying to grad schools out of the area (she's been having problems with Boston University) and chances are that she, her husband, and their dog Frank, will be moving to another state. Sure, I would love to remain their roommate, but what are the chances she'll get into Harvard? So I guess chance of me moving to another city in this state are kind of high; part of me wants to relocate to another city entirely.... not sure what will end up happening. I do know that some of you want me to move to where you live, but we'll see.

Anyway, I'm alive. Hope to talk to you all sometime soon!

Happy holidays to all.

Today some friends of mine got married at "the top of the hub" at the prudential center. Amazing view of Boston and surrounding area. This was my first gay wedding.

Now don't get me wrong, I already have some friends that were married in lands where gay marriage was allowed way before it was allowed in Massachusetts.

It was held at a very nice place with an amazing view of Boston and the surrounding cities (52nd story, I had to worry about popping my ears on the ride up and down). I'm very, very happy for them; they've been together for over eight years.

One of the grooms had his family attend all the way from Argentina, while the other only had friends share this occasion (but that's another story).

The family I met from Argentina were really, really nice. My friend's mother already invited me to visit Buenos Aires! I only spoke to her for a while, but she's amazing (now to get the funds to visit Argentina). I've never felt such warm-hearted welcome from people I hadn't met previously.

One of the few couples I met were a gay couple getting married next month. It turns out one of them is a visiting nurse, AND one of his current patients is a former patient of mine! Small world.

The ceremony was great, the dinner was amazing, and it was an open bar. Enough said.



In any case, the vows my friends had were very touching (and funny at times). Many hugs were exchanged and I told them that I was very happy for them.

It's a little past 3am and the flight that was supposed to land at 10pm from chicago made a safe landing.

We were allowed to board the plane sometime after 9pm, but shortly after we pushed from the gate another portion of storm came and shut down the airport. We must have been on the tarmac at least an hour. And unfortunately the direcTV stopped working because of the weather (we flew jetblue). At least I had books and music to read.

In any case, i'm finally home and wide awake. Off to attempt sleep!

So much for going home, there's some nasty weather outside and it's not getting better.

Lightning and thunder and wind and all. The plane that was supposed to take us to boston had to land in milwaukee; we may leave here sometime, but I hope we don't get stuck at the airport overnight.

So it's time to head back to boston after a fun-packed weekend of food, music festivals, and phood.

Right now i'm on the bus route 81 to jefferson park via lawrence avenue. This has certainly been an eye-opening experience: so many different cultures right next to each other. Just on this road there were mexican supermercados next to salvadorean beauty salons, next to korean bakeries, even an albanian grocery store!

It was also a nice change of pace to hear spanish being spoken with a mexican accent. It was great using words and phrases that are typically mexican and not have to explain myself.

Even the gay parts of town were a complete change from what i'm used to seeing in boston! boystown reminded me of my teenage years I spent haning out in est hollywood. People were walking about late at night, they'd say hi to you (hell they even look you in the eye, unlike the place where I live). hell, even the people on the stree in boystown were diverse: I saw people of all shapes, sizes and colors, the mexican lesbian cholas (chola is a female gangster), the gaggle of dramatic ( possibly transgendered) black kids talking up all sorts of drama. If only boston were this diverse, I would go out more.

my friend booked our stay at a bed & breakfast in the edgewater neighborhood. It was a nice place, clean, as well as hip and somewhat trendy; it wasn't too expensive, I think I paid more for the same amount of time in toronto. The neighborhood itself was a mixture of cultures, awesome restaurants as well.

will I be back to chicago? Most definitely. But not sure when.

Adios, chicago! Hasta la proxima!

No milti-day outdoor music festival would be complete without a falafel... At least in my book!

Brazilian girls!!! Thank you for introducing them to me, Joe!!