A Guy, Two Girls and a Pup

You probably already know our latest big news and have been checking in vain day after day for the big announcement to show up here. Well, your prayers have been answered! Yes, it’s official — Kevin and I are expecting our second child. Meredith’s little brother or sister will be joining us March 9, 2010 (at least if they stay in there the whole time this time!)

Checkups so far have been sporadic but good — the heartbeat is strong and the ultrasound showed that as of September 16, we are at 15 weeks and counting! (Ultrasound picture to be posted as soon as I find the power cable to my scanner… :P)

We will continue to post progress and pictures as our new addition develops!

I am now, verbally, the newest employee of Cray Inc.

It was a difficult decision, which they did not make any easier by refusing to negotiate on anything from their initial offer. But, I picked the job that I found myself daydreaming about potential issues and solution sets for, despite the inferior compensation package… I think that will be the right choice, as it’s still certainly enough for us to be solvent and prospering on — just not on par with the other offer. I should be starting next week sometime - date not yet determined.

OK, I’m going to go have a minor stress relief breakdown now.

-K

… but I don’t know where.

I have had a crazy week of smashingly good interviews, with four different companies. One I’ve only done the second interview with, so I cannot count them in… and I’m not sure I would want the job there, anyway. But I smoked their rapid-fire, unexpected, technical interview out of the water… one of the questions was, much to my amusement, the same as one I used at K-C to trip up people trying to pass themselves off of experts, but only knew the book work. Also? When asked “Name two security things you would Never do in an Exchange environment,” the proper response to a Director-type interviewer is “Nothing; every environment is different and while some activities are inappropriate for most companies, everything has a place Somewhere. But here’s one from my last company…” Heh. Technical interviewers do not appreciate that answer quite so much.

So. I have an offer from Company A, for a contract to Microsoft, which I totally did not expect. I turned down the initial verbal offer, as we didn’t think we could manage me working second shift indefinitely. So apparently the MS team I interviewed with liked me well enough that they went and CREATED a daytime position to match, just for me, which is extremely rare. The weird part is, I totally did not get that from the interview - they play poker quite well.

Company B has been my front runner for a long time now; a very interesting position that would let me develop both my technical and soft skills, on an international basis. I advised them of the other offer and found that they are waiting on the CEO to make the approval to extend an offer to me. Hopefully, I should that offer by the end of tomorrow.

Company C was a grueling technical interview today: five Engineering and Operations staff on one side of the table, me on the other. I think I did well, but got conflicting impressions from the review board members. I contacted the recruiter this afternoon to advise her of the time lines, as well. They have one more candidate to interview tomorrow, but she’ll touch base with me afterwards, to let me know what they are thinking.

Now, I pushed off the idea of the MS contact with Company A for a long time; second shift really lost points with me. But now it is a day shift, and the work sounds interesting and the opportunity is rare… but so is Company B… and C, for that matter.

Difficult decisions to be made this weekend… but it’s a damn nice problem to have.

-K

It’s been an interesting few days here…

M’s stitches are out, to no real trauma. We’re putting vitamin E on the wound track no, to keep it supple and minimize scarring.

I made cheese yesterday. Mozzarella. Not bad for a first attempt, but a little bland and not quite holding together as well as it should. M likes it very much, though. On a directly related note, I am now looking for recipes that use whey.

April’s work moved downtown, so I can use the car in the afternoons to pick up M, instead of cramming her into the old car seat in my truck. Except, of course, that nanny is done at the end of the week… and we’re still looking for a new one. We met a nice family to nanny-share with, several blocks away. We just need to find a nanny… The nanny we’ve been talking to probably isn’t going to work out… more on that later in the week.

April is jobless, again. And Kevin still is as well. She has a discussion or two lined up already. He does not.

M is saying “Da doo” and “Dug” fairly consistently now, for “Thank you” and “Duck.” The duck is one of her new favorite toys; the nurse at the ER gave it to her when she was in for stitches. Even more adorable? “M, what does a COW say?” “MOOOOooooooo.”

And while saying it will probably destroy the magic, she’s actually had 4 nights in a row now where she slept mostly through… here’s hoping for that trend to continue.

Oh, and this evening? While Kevin held M up so she should play with the light switch (”Ight!”) he belched, rather loudly, deeply, and obnoxiously. M replied, “MOOOOOoooooooo.”

-K

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a joyous New Year!

Eat turkey, not crayons like Meredith does…

Mary, our terrific realtor, just left a little while ago after dropping off the keys to our brand-spanking new (to us) house! (Which is going to need a name, now, apparently.) She left goodies, too — gift certificates for lots of restaurants in our new hood and some cute keyholder things — a belt strap for Kevin and a little wrist purse thing for me. Yay gifts! We love her. AND she’s paying to have the floors and carpets cleaned. Yay!

Now for the fun part — moving in, positioning all our stuff and springing the rest of our stuff from storage. Can’t wait!

Betty Keller, 27 March 1918 - 9 May 2008. Rest in Peace.

Our credenza is here! Man, that’s a stupid word. Our new entertainment thingy is here! It’s on the truck Monday. Here’s a sneak preview of it. Can’t wait!

And now, the real reason you come here, I know…

A few new pictures up on my Flickr, more to come when I finish going through the 400 pictures I shot the other day…