Back to the Same Old Grind

Vacation is over. Back to work. It's Monday. Yuck.

No exciting hail storms or any tornadoes on the drive home like last time I came home from Amarillo. The most exciting part of the driving actually came on Saturday night. I hit a coyote and tore up my front bumper. To tell the truth, I felt really bad for the coyote and was upset about killing a living creature until I saw the damage to the front of my car. Stupid coyote.

I'm going to go to the body shop today and a second one on Wednesday (have appointments for the estimates) to see how much damage was done. Then I'll call the insurance company to find out how much my deductible is and then I'll decide what to do about it. Probably nothing until Moma & Daddy get home from the UK. I did run it through a car wash when I filled up this morning to get the fur and remaining blood off. It creeped me out to see it.

It was a relatively uneventful yet educational vacation excluding the coyote. I found out so much about the actual JOB of court reporting and I also found out how much tort reform has hurt the field of court reporting. There are still jobs available and it is still a great career, but not as lucrative as it was say, 15 years ago. It was kind of scary while at the reporting firm in Amarillo because several jobs cancelled and it was a slow week for them. That and with the contract position not coming about, I was a little scared about finding a job when I get finished with school.

I may not get to move to Amarillo immediately, but Boss Reporter told me about a firm in Lubbock that had an opening, so I called them this morning. They had just bought another firm and are looking for at least one full-time reporter and a couple of part-timers. They took my name and phone number and told me to definitely keep in contact. He said that the firm is busy all the time and their reporters are super-busy. So, yay!! It's funny that their full-time scopist is a CRID student also. She's in her 180s.

I've got a million and three things to do at work today and don't feel like doing any of them. I really want to just go and practice on my machine to get my speed up. I really think that my internship, even though not 'official' per the school, has lit a fire under my hiney. It proved to me that I do want to be a reporter. I can do it. I am going to be good at it. I'm excited about it.

On a lighter note, I had fun visiting with all of the grandparents and A & D and the kiddos. Uncle J, as always, was a gracious host and let the kitties and me crash at his house. I got to paint small toenails (and am assured by many friends I've told about it that painting Little B's toenails green won't warp him irreparably). Miss A's toenails now are pink with a purple flower on the big toe.