Will this month never end? As much as it seems that November will never get here, it also seems that October never happened. I guess that's what I get for never being home.

I read "The Secret Garden" flying between OH and CO. I loved this paragraph from the Ben Weatherstaff chapter. I get what she's writing about. It's that brief, fleeting moment of perfection, of feeling that things are right in the world, of happiness without distraction.

Here's to those moments. Enjoy.

"One of the strange things about living in the world, is that it is only now and then one is quite sure one is going to live for ever and ever and ever. One knows it sometimes when one gets up at the tender solemn dawn-time and goes out and stands alone and throws one’s head far back and looks up and up and watches the pale sky slowly changing and flushing and marvelous unknown things happening until the East almost makes one cry out and one’s heart stands still at the strange unchanging majesty of the rising of the sun - which has been happening every morning for thousands and thousands and thousands of years. One knows it then for a moment or so. And one knows it sometimes when one stands by oneself in a wood at sunset and the mysterious deep gold stillness slanting through and under the branches seems to be saying slowly again and again something one cannot quite hear, however much one tries. Then sometimes the immense quiet of the dark-blue at night with millions of stars waiting and watching makes one sure; and sometimes a sound of far-off music makes it true; and sometimes a look in someone’s eye."

-Francis Hodgson Burnett
“The Secret Garden”

Dorothy had it right

There's no place like home.

Got back to my apartment last night around 10:30. It felt wonderful! Granted, I don't have much time to enjoy it and I'm avoiding my suitcase, but it feels good to walk on my carpet, sleep on my bed...

As much as I wanted to get out of Modesto, I'm kinda bummed to have left. Got alot of things accomplished and organized and set up, but I don't know who's coming in behind me and if they'll find things or if they'll keep things organized or just be messsy. I'll probably meet up with the labs in Yuma, AZ though if not sooner. I'll give them a one, two if they've dirtied my trailer!! ;P

But...I have a soccer game in an hour and I really should brush my teeth. Guess I have to delve into the suitcase.

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The sun will come out tomorrow...

...it always does. I'm working days again, but the days last 15+hours. But it's been good getting the chaos under control and getting the labs set up. I don't know if I've written about this before, but the area of the plant is lovely. Green fields set up against the mountains. Lovely.

I heard on the news the other day about a Romaine lettuce recall. Apparently their irrigation showed some E. coli. Granted, it wasn't O157, but I guess they're just being extra cautious. It was cool because I thought it could've been some water that I tested. I'm not just looking at spinach. I'm testing all sorts of lettuce, field samples and water samples. It's neat to be contributing to society in a visible way. I know that testing beef is a good thing, it saves people, but it's not like I'm a nurse or teacher. It's a behind the scenes type thing (which is fine), but it's hard to remember sometimes that what we're doing makes a difference, which sometimes makes it hard to do the job. So I know what has happened is horrible, but it's good to know that we do make a differnce. We're contributing.

I don't know if that makes sense. It's late and I should be taking advantage of the time to sleep! It's just that we've (boss-man and I) been talking alot about the food industry, our place in it, our contributions, etc.

But, the sun WILL come out tomorrow (or this morning) and I should grab some shut-eye.
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Modesto-->Gilroy-->Sand City-->and back

So I'm getting moved back to days which is great. One of my co-workers came out for the weekend so I didn't have to work as long this weekend. Late nights for training, but not full nights of work:) Another fella is flying in tonight for nights, so I'll be up later tomorrow training...but I could probably sleep in the truck on the way to Gilroy to pick up samples. Which is what I did today!

Hans and I got a later start Sunday, so I was able to get a decent amount of sleep. The picture is of me at "work". Pretty, ay? The scenery I mean. The plant is actually about 30-45 mins away, so we just headed to the beach for some quick R&R. It was nice. Very picturesque.

I have practically no voice. It didn't help that Hans and I played 20 questions and 6 degrees on the drive back to Modesto (about 2hrs). Then they made me order the pizza! I'm surprised the pizza guy was able to understand me.

So today was fun. But it's late and I have the opportunity to get some good sleep on tonight so I'm going to grab it!

Dream of beautiful places.
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My Sleep Number

9. My sleep number is 9. Not 8, not 10, but 9. 9 hours is the perfect amount of time needed for sleep. And thankfully, I got that yesterday! Feels great.

Other things I've learned in the past 20 odd hours: I.T.s tend to be named Alex. California smells good. If I want it, this new lab is mine. Snails are cool. But where do the snails go during the day? I have a week to find the answer to this one.

I can't eat salad anymore. I got one with a sandwich yesterday and I could barely look at it. Especially the spinach:) I ended up eating the veggies and tossing the greens.

Hmmm...nothing exciting goin on I guess. I spilt my smoothie in the rental. That was...something.

Sweet Dreams!

Day ??

I got called into the principal's office today. And by principal, I mean owner of JL. And, I got ratted out by the lab director.

I had just finished trashing the samples when teh lab director came out and asked where the samples were. "The trash", I reply. He shakes his head and goes tattle to the owner. Myself and the girl who helped me got called in over the lab intercom. I couldn't believe it! I was standing right near the office doors! They told me what I already knew about there being "critters" in the media. I told them that yesterday, I was told to just throw everything in the dumpster. More headshaking and lecturing.

Dumpster diving ensued.

It's been a LONG day and I can't sleep even though I'm tired.

One cool thing: the LD and another gentleman, Lucio, were the ones leaning into the dumpster. Lucio did NOT want to. I kept saying to "let me", "I didn't mind", "it was my fault", etc...but Lucio waved me away and said "No, you are a lady. I won't have it." He's Italian. :) I thought it was nice. He's been one of the few nice people. Alot of folks didn't like the IEH takeover and it probably doesn't help that Hans and I have commandeered parts of the lab and get priority. Whatever.

Since I couldn't sleep and I needed actual food I went to have an early dinner at Mimi's Cafe. Yum! Nice atmosphere too. It's kind of gawdy-cajun-bistro with 40s/50s jazz. Amazing muffins and bread with the meal. I had cajun spiced chicken with fresh fruit and salad (no spinach). Highly recommend it!

I'm getting sick, I'm already tired, and I don't like eating out so much. But overall, I'm having a great time. It's been extremely challenging and it's been great being at the beginning.

I'll try to type more about California later. Strange place this land of...

Day Two ?

I'm not sure if I'd consider this Day Two of just a long extension of Day One. I got off work around 11:30 this morning. For you math inept out there, and for those keeping up with the blog, that's 28 1/2 hours of work. Straight. In a row. No break. No naps. I was working on my 11th wind around 9am:)

Thankfully, I stayed extremely busy. No E. coli! Some suspicious activity going on, but no E. coli. I'm testing more than spinach too. We're testing all sorts of greenery. Makes me hungry.

Apparently the JL lab in Modesto is in a crime-ridden area. A few people were shot right outside the lab and they keep finding bums in their dumpster! So the FBI has commandeered one of the mobile units parked in the parking lot to keep an eye on things. I thought people were joking about getting me a shotgun and flak jacket! I told them I prefer throwing things though and that ninja stars would be more acceptable. We'll have to wait and see if they come through on that.

Boss-man said he'd call when he was ready for me to come in tonight. He called me at 2. I'd been asleep for two hours. Sucky part is, he didn't need me to come in! He just wanted to call and ask me to bring a box of stuff from one lab to the other! "Go back to sleep" he says. THE NERVE! He called at 3:30 to have me come in. Fine, whatever, but why couldn't he ask about the box at 3:30 instead of waking me up! It gets better. I'm on the road to JL and he calls to tell me "Go back to bed". Super-boss-man was having somebody else bring media and supplies to Hans. THE NERVE! I'm awake and "functioning" and he tells me to go back to sleep. Not possible. So I went for breakfast at Taco Bell and am now camped out at the hotel waiting for the call to come in. Good stuff!

I am having a good time though. If I had more energy I'd probably explore the downtown area a bit. Maybe later this week. I think the library is only a block or two away!

Get Your Sleep On <><

Day One

Day One

The moment I’d been waiting for was merely minutes away when we (my boss, Hans, and I) pulled up to the Modesto lab (JL) this morning. I was going to see the big rig. The mobile unit. The lab with wheels.

The best way to describe it would be to call it a UPS truck minus the UPS-ness. Nothing special to the untrained eye. Nothing special to the trained eye! It’s just an amaizing thing though. It’s a mostly functioning lab! (In a few days/weeks it’ll hopefully be a FULLY functioning lab.) We can start the tests, but we need to be at JL to finish the testing.

This plant is different from the one I work for. Obviously. Meat vs. greens. It still smells, but it’s not a gut-wrenching, puking smell. There’s a different vibe here too. I don’t feel awkward or threatened walking around here compared to the plant in Greeley. The plant is near Gilroy and Salinas (2hours from Modesto) and it’s surrounded by the mountains. They aren’t the grand, purple majesty type, but they’re nice. It’s cool to see the mountains with the lettuce fields at the foothills.

It’s going to be a long night. I got up a little before 7am, it’s 7pm right now, and I’m supposed to work through the night running samples. Yes, I get to sleep during the day tomorrow, but I have to get through tonight first! Ce la vie. I asked for more, so I’m getting more. I was also told/asked today to stay for two weeks instead of the one. Imagine how tired I’m going to be in a few weeks: Two weeks of working in California, get back on a Saturday night, run home, work a day, do laundry, repack, head back to DIA Monday morning, fly to Ohio, work on my Grandma’s kitchen for a week, fly home, work a long week, head back to DIA again to pick up a friend who is coming to visit (yippee!!!), give a band concert, go hiking, etc with friend, drop friend off at DIA, work a few more days, get the weekend off. Phew! I got tired just typing it!

So cry, cry, cry. Everybody feel sorry for Colleen! She gets to travel and work and do what fun stuff! Boo-hoo. I know. Suck it up. ☺

I’ll let ya’ll know how the night and next day go. Happy eating.