Stand as a Witness

For the first time in my life I am feeling "different" than everyone else. I now see that growing up in Utah and attending BYU was like living in somewhat of a "cookie cutter world." Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of amazing people who I admire and look up to in these Latter-Day Saint dense communities. I knew that moving to California would be a major culture shock and thought I was pretty prepared for the utterly different world I was about to enter. It's a bit harder to adjust than I expected. You might call it a minor identity crisis--the vastly different environment has forced me to think about who I really am and rethink my priorities. Most importantly I've been able to analyze my faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I have realized that I do have my own testimony of the Plan of Salvation and that every aspect of my life reflects my devotion to Christ--the importance I place on my husband and family, how I spend my free time, how I dress, my language, how I carry myself, and how I treat other people. I look around and see so many people who do not have the gift of the gospel in their lives. I often wonder why I have been so blessed. I'm beginning to understand both the difficulty and importance of missionary work. Now more than ever I feel I need to stand as a witness of God (Mosiah 18:9).

My SUPERMAN

Well, after reading over many of my friend's blogs, I thought it was now my turn to spotlight my husband. He really is my Superman! Moving away from friends and family has reminded me how awesome my husband is. He is the most caring, spiritual, loving, handsome, intelligent, and loyal man out there. And I know he will make the best father to our children! He is my closest friend and my silliest playmate. I am the most comfortable and my best self when I am with him. I love my Mr. Handsome Turkeypants.

I got the job!

So I had my 2nd interview with the Department of Philosophy today, and they offered me the Administrative Assistant position! Wahoo! I'm excited, nervous, surprised, thankful, and relieved all at the same time! There are so many awesome things about this job. Good salary, full benefits (medical, dental, and vision) that start right away, a 15 minute walk/ 5 minute bike-ride commute, and a positive environment. Also, I found out I can take university courses for free! Finding a good job has been a roller coaster, but I think I have finally found the one for me!

I like to ride my bicycle.

About a week before we moved, our bike we bought the summer before was stolen! It was a total bummer because I was so excited to use my bike here in California. So, we started searching around on craigslist to replace it and found this baby. It was funny because we were looking for a bike for sale that was close enough to ride home (because we don't have a rack on our car to transport it) and we found this one someone was selling in our complex. It was a fair purchase and it came with all sorts of fun accessories including a basket, helmet, and lights.

One of the main reasons I bought this bike was in hopes that I could ride it to work. Now, you might be thinking, isn't that a little too far to ride a bike? For those of you who read my blog often, you'll remember that I got a new job last week that was about a 15-20 minute drive away and I'm not that ambitious to ride a bike like 5 miles to work and back everyday. Well, I already quit that job! It didn't pan out to be what I had hoped for. I quit after the first day but they asked me to stay until the end of the week. It just ended up being a bad environment and somewhere I didn't feel very comfortable. The manager took it really well when I told her.

So, now I am hoping more seriously for an on-campus job. I have a 2nd interview for an Administrative Assistant position in the Department of Philosophy at UCI. Now that job would really be a bike-ride away. I keep hearing that on-campus jobs are really difficult to get (this was my first interview after applying to more than 15 positions) but a 2nd interview seems promising! Keep your fingers crossed!

WICKED!

Miles and I attended the musical "Wicked" last night. We drove 2 1/2 hours through heavy traffic to get to the Pantages theatre on Hollywood Blvd in L.A., but it was worth every minute of travel. It was an awesome production. We were on the second to the last row at the very top, but we still enjoyed it. We got these "nose-bleed" tickets to save money, and I'm glad we did. We paid half the price of the people seated in the row right in front of us.

What I thought was "wicked" cool about the production (not in any order, because I can't decide):

THE MUSIC

Miles and I bought the CD months ago and we loved it even without seeing the production. The lyrics are whitty and the music is so fun.

THE STORY

I tried to read the book the play is based off of, but I don't recommend it--it's pretty crude. But in the musical production they clean it up really well. The morals of the story are inspriational. They cleaverly help you see the other side of the story.

THE SET

Grabs your attention and keeps you enthralled. The costumes were creative and eye-catching. The technology and lighting were, for lack of a better word, cool.

THE CHARACTERS

You get too feel what it's like to be in each character's shoes (no pun intended).

Well, as you can tell, I pretty much loved EVERYTHING about Wicked. If you get a chance, go see it!

Wink Blink

Miles and I are always teasing each other because neither of us can keep our eyes open when we take pictures. So here's the test...who is the worst at keeping their eyes open? I think from my calculations (from perusing through our computer images) Miles is the winner!

Independence Day/ New Job!

Hope everyone had a great 4th! It was strange to not be at home for the holiday. But, one perk was that Miles and I got to watch fireworks on the beach! It was awesome. Actually, from our location, we could look to our left and right and could see four displays along the coast at once. Just the two of us drove down to Laguna Beach at about 8:00 that night. We were a little worried that it would be way too crowded. Finding a parking spot was difficult, but it wasn't hard at all to find a place to sit. The fireworks themselves weren't the greatest I've seen, but the scenery was beautiful of course. I can already tell that living here in California (away from family and good friends) is going to help Miles and I grow together as our own family.

I spent this entire week looking for a new job. Initially I REALLY wanted to get a job on UCI campus, just because it would be so convenient. I applied for position after position on campus. It turns out that UCI is just like every other university, and their processing is very S...L...O...W. So, with no luck on campus, I searched craigslist.org for some openings. I submitted my application and was called the same day to schedule an interview with Barkley Court Reporting. The ad caught my eye because, for those of you who don't know, my mom is a court reporter. My first interview with the branch manager went great and I had a second interview with the corporate manager today over video conference. They offered me the Administrative Assistant position with good pay and full benefits 20 minutes after I left the office. So, I start at 8:30 on Monday. The office is about a 15-20 min drive away--I don't even have to take the freeway. Now I just have to get used to the idea of being strapped to a 8 to 5 job (as Miles put it "a big girl job"). It's just strange. I feel like a small town girl in a big corporate world. I'm not grown up enough for all this!

Farewell to Graduate Studies

Well now that we made it to California and have our computer set up I can finally post about a memoir that I wrote up about working at BYU's Graduate Studies office. I started there in December 2004 as a Special Projects intern (pretty much a glorified front desk back-up). When we got married, April 2005, they promoted me to Data Analyst. As Data Analyst I grabbed statistics from the University database and made up reports for BYU's administration. It was a great job and really pushed my limits. I loved working at Graduate Studies.

When I was getting ready to leave, Bonnie asked if I would be willing to write up something on my experience working as a student at Graduate Studies. It turned into a memoir…of sorts.

Working @ GS
A tongue-in-cheek memoir by Miles Pomeroy
My experience working with Graduate Studies has turned me into a nerd. At least this is the way that my wife likes to phrase it. I see it more as enriching my understanding of various algorithmic protocols designed to cultivate the extensibility of aggregate collaboration orchestration; with a few parties to spice it up.

If I were to ask myself, “Self, what is the best thing about working at Graduate Studies?” I would most enthusiastically respond, “The parties, most definitely.” The parties have brought us together as an office. They have introduced the lowly intern in the backroom to the perky secretary at the front desk. In a phrase, forgive me if I am being too cliché, we work hard but we also play hard.

The atmosphere of the office has greatly benefited from an abundant diversity. We have straight arrow, spartan types like Janice, Sarah, Meg, and Cathi; who are balanced out by easy-going, loquacious types like James, JeNeal, Jared, and Terilee. We also have quiet, benevolent types like Claire, Breann, Derence, and Christijan; who are balanced out by loud, vivacious types like Amy, Kevin, Bonnie, and Jolene.

Seriously though, I have been very impressed by the amount of trust I have been given as a student employee. Both James and Bonnie have let me take the reins on all of my projects. They have not micromanaged, but have given me a vision and then allowed me the opportunity to create the reality as I see it.

I have had the opportunity in this position to learn many skills that I previously did not have. My supervisors gave me time to increase my depth in Access, but also to explore mysql, html, php, and css. I believe that I have been able to use these new skills to improve my value to this office.

I have felt an equal with the full-time staff. I have been treated as such and believe that I have tried to perform as such.

A New Chapter Has Begun

We made it to our new home in California. The last couple weeks have been EXHAUSTING! California is beautiful, but there it much to get used to (including the crazy traffic!). We packed up the truck on Tuesday night, slept on a borrowed air mattress and had our last day of work on Wednesday. We left Provo at about 3:30 in the afternoon that same day. Miles drove the loaded truck and I followed in our car. Our plan was to stay in St. George Wednesday night to break up the long drive to California. We had to make a couple stops along the way to check and adjust the load. There were a couple scary moments on the freeway between Provo and Nephi like the time when the mattress on top literally folded in half! But after we put another tie on the mattress and took off the tarp, it was smooth sailing.

We left St. George at 5:00am Thursday morning in hope of dodging the traffic in Vegas and LA. I don't know if we hit "real" traffic or not, but I tell you there were times when my adrenaline was really pumping! It was intense trying to follow Miles through the maze of winding, merging, and speeding freeways! So, it was such a relief to finally make it to our new apartment with no accidents.

Now to tell you a little about our new apartment. My first impression was like "oh no," but little by little I am finding the perks--like, it's HUGE, much bigger than I expected. Andrea, Nate, Kia, Mikelle, Avery, and Danny all stayed with us for a few days to help us move in, and there was elbow room for everyone. Also, we have our own balcony, and we found out today that there are quite a few LDS couples living in our same complex. The ocean and the weather are probably the biggest perks living here. I'm really loving it more and more.

While Andrea's family and Danny were here, we went to Disneyland and Newport Beach (both are only 10-15 minutes away from our apartment). We still had a blast even though both locations were busy. Miles was like a little kid playing with the girls and in the ocean--he loves the water!

So, Miles starts his new PhD program tomorrow. He's a little nervous--not really knowing what to expect. I just keep telling him he'll do great! He's such a smart and likable person. As for me, I am still looking for a job. But in the meantime I have plenty of shopping and unpacking to do to get us settled in. A new chapter in our life has begun!