Things I like about my job.

I have the best group ever. Really. And outside my group there are some very nice people.

Learning a lot of new stuff and having to remember things I haven't used since college and thought I never would. Figuring out how to do the analyses and what the results mean, as opposed to being limited to official methods that might have been stupid but allowed for no deviation. Having to think - that's probably the best thing. Not having to do a lot of tedious checking of other people's stuff b/c they are too lackadaisical to care about getting it right; see sentence 2 above. Being able to implement my ideas about improving processes in the lab. Working on the instruments - at my last workplace we had a person whose job it was to do that and I never felt properly bonded with them.

My job entails more than managing the lab, though. I'm supposed to do quality for the plant too, and that's ... hm.

I wonder if I will ever have a 40- or even 45- hour workweek again. Ever. I have to admit that long hours and weekends get a little old. At least I don't have a child at home. We are having some process issues that must be solved. Maybe things will settle down before long.

Tomorrow I'll be going back to the previous workplace for a potluck lunch for my old boss, Jane, who is leaving for her new job in Wisconsin. (Making chicken salad finger sandwiches for it.) Jane and I both were offered relocation to Kalamazoo, and neither of us took that option. I was fortunate enough to find something here, and fortunate that it turned out to be something I appear to be fairly well suited for. Wisconsin will probably be quite a culture shock for Jane, who like me is a southern girl. I imagine the weather will be a bit of a shock, too.