2.10.2016

The Big Three One

Today I turned 31.  It's extremely surreal to think about that, and I think that in the next couple weeks I'm probably going to get all up in my head about it, but today was a really good day so that's what I'm focusing on right now.

I was really excited for my birthday this year because after how horrible last year was, I figured there was nowhere to go but up.  And I was right!

Yesterday when I went to the gym I found a $10 Dunkin' Donuts giftcard waiting for me, and this morning, I checked my work email to find that my boss had sent me a $25 Dunkin' Donuts giftcard, so I'm going to be super caffeinated this week!  I was so touched that she thought to get me something, I seriously love her.  Almost ALL of my co-workers remembered my birthday this year, which was lovely, and I got a card and cupcakes from the billing department.  In the afternoon I got flowers at work from my sister and my nephew.  And Jerbs had the day off so she took me out for dinner.  We went to Beaver Street Brewery and I got a brewer's platter (pretty much my favorite meal ever), and we got a free dessert sampler because it was my birthday.  (They let you pick between a free shot of your choice or a free dessert).

So all in all an awesome day and just SO MUCH BETTER than last year when I was sitting in my car in the Michael's parking lot with the dogs because I was afraid to be home alone.

Here's to my 31st year!  I am determined to make it a good one.

2.05.2016

Lots of Good News From Work

So this week was one where things just kept going my way at work.  In particular, two really exciting things happened.

First of all, the issue of my raise got resolved.  We got our pay stubs emailed to us this past Tuesday, and when I looked at mine, I noticed that my raise wasn't on there.  So I emailed our financial controller and let her know, and she in turn told me that she hadn't known about my raise because, apparently, our HR person (who is one of my former billing co-workers) didn't get the paperwork to her.  Which was irritating, but not a super big deal.  My boss sent the paperwork to her and a little while later, the financial controller called me to her office.  And she basically told me that the raise my boss gave me in my eval was inadequate, and that my boss was only allowed to give me a specific percentage raise.  So it's now corrected, and my new pay rate is exactly in the range that I was expecting when I went into my eval.  I was so excited to get the raise I deserved, I've put in the work and time and now I feel like something came of it.

Then yesterday, the billing department had a meeting (we're going through some pretty significant changes personnel wise right now, so we were meeting to talk about all that).  As we were walking in, our practice manager said to me something like, "So, I hear you're going to be moving this year?"  So I told her that yes, I was planning to move out of state in September.  I was really apprehensive saying it because I wasn't sure how she was going to react, but I was super pleasantly surprised when her reaction was, "Are you interested in remoting?"  I was like HELL YES!!!

This means that if the hospital deal goes through, I get to keep my job and work from home as a full time coder after I move.  I am so unbelievably happy about this.  Being able to keep my job would be amazing, because I wouldn't have to job hunt from a different state, I wouldn't have to start over somewhere PTO wise, I wouldn't have to leave a company I genuinely love . . . AND to be able to work from home is basically my dream.  It also means that I won't have to pay back anything for my coding class since I won't be quitting, which is freaking awesome!  And the icing on the cake is that the practice manager brought it up.  The thought that I might be able to keep my job if the merge happened had crossed my mind before, but I figured I'd really have to fight for it and negotiate it, so to have it pretty much just handed to me is like . . . perfect.

Obviously the caveat is that if the hospital deal doesn't go through, a second coder isn't really going to be necessary, so if that happens I don't get to keep my job.  So at this point, I'm just crossing my fingers and hoping and praying and wishing that the hospital deal goes through.  I should know by April so . . . here's hoping!