Closure

Today was filled with a lot of closure.

I had a dentist appointment first thing in the morning.  Their main computer system was down, so they used their backup system which was a lot slower.  This created the opportunity for a lot more conversation than usual.  My dental hygenist apparently had grown attached to our conversations and said that she was going to miss them.  The dentist too seemed genuinely sad to know I was leaving.  They were both, however, very excited for my upcoming travel to Germany.  I signed a release form for dental information for Germany and got copies of my most recent records just in case.

This was the last day I officially trained my replacement into my position.  I discussed the option of using me as a consultant over the next month or so to complete my replacement's transition.  They like the idea, but did not finalize anything with me about it.  We'll see where that goes.

We had a very good farewell lunch at the Flame.  They've condensed their menu and created a very grandiose salad bar.  It was crazy good!  I also ordered a gouda juicy lucy, which was also a good call, and finished it off with a chocolate fondue dessert.  Everyone else chose to only order the salad bar, however, several people shared in the chocolate fondue.  That fondue was really good too.  I could almost swear it tasted like Ghiardelli chocolate.

After lunch, I write a letter of resignation, and confirmed that I will receive at least one letter of recommendation.  I was given the ergonomic keyboard (which I believe I purchased without reimbursement anyway).  That was hilarious in and of itself because I LOVE it, but everyone else at the lab hates it.  It does admittedly take several days to get used to, but it's wonderful for my wrists which were beginning to hurt using the traditional straight and flat keyboard.  I also took my last desk piece...a beanie bag mouse.

The mouse actually has a family history for me.  My first stuffed toy I can remember having was a beanie baby grey mouse.  When we moved out of the farm house, we lost it in the move and it was never found again.  My mom, bless her heart, tried to help by making a replacement.  It looked very much the same, but it was cotton stuffed and didn't have the bean bag feel that I really liked about it.  I carried that memory of the beloved lost mouse throughout my life.  I think losing it so early made the memory all the more dear to me. Roughly 8 years ago, my dad found a large key ring fob beanie baby grey mouse and got it for me.  It was such a sweet gift.  I kept that mouse on my computer monitor in college (I think) and on my computer monitor at work for at least 5 years.  I'll have to make sure I don't lose it in this upcoming move.

After leaving work for the last time, I took care of a few errands, slept about an hour, handed K custody of the canoe, and then headed to dinner with my immediate family.  We kept conversation casual.  Dinner was a good lasagna and salad with a low sugar apple pie dessert.  C-Pat also got some sparkling juice/nonalcoholic wine for me for the occasion.  We chatted some more, and then played Snake Oil, which is Apples To Apples except the judge is a target market instead of a subject by card draw, and the other players try to sell an imaginary product to the target market using two cards in their hand.  The two cards become the product.  It actually is far more fun and, in my opinion, a well designed game.  I may have to get it:)

My brother teared up a bit, knowing that he wouldn't see me stateside before Germany after I left.  He still wants me to get an XBox 360 for gaming in the future.  I told him I was more in favor of doing it via computer and would be willing to pay for the games in that event, so we'll see what the compromise is.  Could I have a poll from readers as to which is the better idea?

We all said our thank yous and our goodbyes.  Overall, I feel like it was a good day today.

On the Georgia Front, my wife completed her anti-terrorism course and proceeded with her classmates to their outdoor training stretch.  She has a shift of night patrol tonight.  I'll find out how that goes tomorrow, hopefully.  Given her situation, she is more restricted in communications, so information from her may be scare for the next several days.  I do get to see her again in a little over a week!  Yay!  She's almost done with her six months of training!