Bloggin' the midnight oil

a favorite single-pane comic by Mutts author, Patrick McDonnell

Buster and Lucy on the Cape Cod National Seashore

For the fourth year, I took the furmaly to Cape Cod for Christmas weekend and the dogs couldn't have been happier. Buster is more of a woodsy dog, and loved to stare out the window at a little patch of woods between the house we rented in Yarmouth and a neighboring golf course. Lucy was antsy most of the trip, but after a couple hours of running on the beach, today she seems to be wiped out. We pack the car with groceries for cooking small feasts and cheersing with seasonal beers. This year's unique treat we packed was Jeni's Xocorosa ice cream and after almost forgetting it in the freezer, this morning we shared it on the car ride driving back to Boston. We used the house's fireplace and rented Pixar movies on iTunes like Ratatouille for an added small dose of joy.

I tried to take my own advice and be here now rather than constantly instagram and facebook, but I couldn't resist at least once a day uploading a few pictures like a selfie of me and a R2-D2 lawn ornament found in Brewster near the Snowy Owl coffee shop!

This coming week off of work, I had vowed to paint a couple rooms in Waterbell, but I'm not sure I can follow through on it. Ever since Thanksgiving, I have had a hard time sleeping and wake up around 4 in the morning with a busy, rushing mind. Winter break is probably a good time to try and reset my internal clock and painting rooms is always one of those activities that you start later than you intended to, and finish a few hours longer than you thought you would so maybe I should put it off to another long weekend.

My wide-awakeness seems to be related to anticipation for my job change coming up. Since February of 2016, I had been feeling ready to move on from Facing History. The organization and my colleagues have my heart more than anyplace I've ever worked before, but they are in the midst of some drastic changes that were long overdue. On June 1st, they had to cut a few full-time staff in Brookline, and since I had been through lay-offs several times before, I saw all the signs it was coming, and the month of May was intensely gloomy. Each day that passed felt like a week in the final few days. Several times I was walking around Brookline Village thinking to myself "I wonder if this is the last time I'll enjoy this street, or this shop." When the names were announced, instead of relief, everyone who was "safe" actually just felt worse, and confused, because after letting go of four staff due to financial strains, FH also posted and hired four new positions by the Fall.

I knew I didn't want to change jobs unless it meant a shorter commute where I could bike to work at least a couple times a week, since the past few years, I've been gaining weight and developing ongoing health problems which my doctors and physical therapists credit to the amount of hours I sit at a computer five or six days a week and never go to the gym. Since that's not going to change, realistically, I might as well bike to work for some fitness as a compromise. At Thanksgiving, my latest health issue was an excruciating Morton's Neuroma in my right foot which is so far not responding to cortisone injections but acupuncture seems to be helping some. The only relief has been to wear Birkenstocks daily, so I found myself requesting creative warm socks for Christmas (which Jose took me up on!)

Thankfully this Fall, I came across a seemingly perfect transition to a job at Harvard Kennedy School in an area called Evidence for Policy Design, where they needed a grant manager to work with program staff on translating complex financials into activities and decisions for their program work. It sounded very familiar, but this work will be on only international grants and with a team of public policy and economics faculty, instead of program associates. I'm very excited about starting in January. As I told my FH colleagues in a farewell note, although lots of famous people show up at HKS, my highest hope is to run into the ghost of Howard Zinn while burning the midnight oil during the annual budget season!

I'm elated that instead of having to hire to replace my position at Facing History, my boss and I have collaborated to promote one of my colleagues, Jackie, and I'll have a chance to show her the ropes after the holiday break. Now if I could just kick this anticipation that keeps waking me up at 3 or 4 in the morning. Back to Zzzzzz.