The Whole Wide World

Ninety daysssssss. Here we are. After sitting at the computer all day yesterday doing data entry that seemed to never end, today was the opposite. I was moving nonstop from the time I got up until now. Exhausted is an understatement. I got up early to make a little progress packing up my old room and then I headed to the store. I logged in and checked my email to see an email from my boss telling me good job so far(!) with the inventory and that they are reviewing all the data and will get back to me with a list of questions and recounts. Recounts? Noooooo. No more counting. Please.

He then went on to ask when the store is meant to be opening back up, and said he hopes Friday because the recounts and updated data will need to be taken care of tomorrow. Tomorrow is my day off. Sike, I guess. He also asked me to go look for a second time for some credit card readers at the bars. I drank a some coffee and then I went to look for the credit card readers. I found two hiding under a bunch of junk in one of the bars, so I asked IT to test them to see if they work. They don’t work. Oh, and in my hustle I managed to shut my middle finger on my right hand in a heavy storm door. It doesn’t look great, but it isn’t throbbing anymore. It is a rainbow of colors and swollen though.

This card reader nonsense is all a result of QuickBooks expiring in October. The National Science Foundation hasn’t approved the new payment system our company sourced. It’s in the works, but it’s the government so these things take forever. They were hoping to have the old card readers as a back up in case the approval doesn’t happen before the current readers expire, but looks like that plan isn’t going to work, which means the store might be cash only while this all gets sorted. The cash only thing means the ancient Wells Fargo ATM on station (the only ATM on the continent!) will be churning out cash til it can’t churn cash no more.

Knowing I will be working on my day off tomorrow, I decided to get the move over with today. So I spent the bulk of the day running back and forth between my old dorm and new dorm. Running isn’t accurate. More like shuffling, making sure I didn’t fall while lugging things back and forth. Moving is garbage. Even if it is only one rooms worth of stuff. Especially so, when it is -40F and the wind is blowing and it’s second floor to second floor. Wah. Wah. Wah. But it’s done.

My old room is all put back together in its standard configuration and I am typing from my nice little new room. The dorm I am in now is reserved for grantees/scientists so it is ‘nice’ relatively speaking. I have a sink in my room and a connecting bathroom, both of which are luxuries compared to the communal bathroom two hallways over in my old dorm. I’ll be in here for all of two months, but it will be nice while it lasts.

After a quick shower, I went over to my old building where the galley is and had dinner with a few people, including Pepper. I didn’t really have energy to contribute to the conversation and I also realized that in the chaos of the day, I forgot to go to a station wide meeting. Oops. They filled me in at dinner. Sounds like it was lots of questions about the upcoming permanent(?) bar closures and some kudos on a great season. After dinner, Pepper gave my hair a much needed trim and then Eleni joined us and helped me put a bed together in my old room and also shuffle some furniture back to its normal place.

I didn’t go to the gym, but I did my morning yoga and as soon as I finish typing this I am going to do my Yoga with Adriene. I don’t feel bad about missing the gym today, because I think all the moving was more of a workout than what I would have done in the gym. I am physically and mentally spent. It’s good though, I’ve been sleeping like a baby. Plus I am in a nice clean newly put together room so it feels good. Freshly washed sheets are also always a treat. The final trivia night of winter is tonight, but I am staying in. I brought some popcorn back to my room and tonight’s dessert which was flan. So it’s yoga, then a movie with popcorn and dessert and then a little reading and hopefully a good first night in my new room catching some ZZZzzzzzzzz’s.