Texas!

Do you every get so behind on something that you try to forget about it? Well that is how I feel about this blog. I meant to write about our move to Texas, our new place and all of that. It just got put on the back burner. The one attempt I made got lost before I could post it. So anyway, enough excuses.

We are here in Texas!

August was incredibly hot just like everyone said it would be. But the nice thing about heat is that it keeps bugs away for the most part. That combined with the fact that our apartment is actually pretty well covered in pesticides results in only a handful of bugs and most of them are small. I was bracing myself for lots of big bugs, so it has not been too bad. The weather now in October is pretty similar to Utah weather in June or July. It gets up to the mid 90s most days and cools off to about 50 or 60 at night. It is pretty nice, though it doesn't feel like fall. I mean what is trick-or-treating if you don't have to tromp through snow? Some of the trees are losing their leaves but I doubt we will get the fall colors until late November, if at all.

Tyler is working hard in his first semester in optometry school. It is challenging enough to keep him studying and working hard to get good grades. This week he is doing the second round of tests for the semester, so he is studying a lot. He is enjoying it though because he is finally learning things that will pertain to his profession.

We have made some great friends since we've been here. The ward is like a little piece of Provo. We live in an area with several apartment complexes and condos so it attracts a lot of couples going to grad schools or med school from Utah and BYU specifically. Almost every couple we talk to in our ward was at BYU before they came here. It is a lot of fun though to have so many people that are in similar circumstances.

A few weeks after we got here I started working for an optometrist that another girl in our ward was working for (her husband also just started optometry school). In the past this optometrist had used students from Tyler's school as assistants for their externships. However, there had been enough complaints about the way the students were treated that the University decided to not send their students to him any more. So he wanted to hire wives of optometry students because he figured we would be dedicated to learning the profession so we could help our husbands. I thought the students were probably just hyper-sensitive or something but it turns out he really was a jerk. Long story short, it was a miserable job and the only reason either of us stayed was because we felt bad quiting. Eventually he asked her to leave, when she asked if there was a reason he told her that legally he did not have to have any reason to terminate an employee. The next day I was expecting to be asked to leave also, but it did not happen until the day after that. I was planning on finding another job anyway by that point but I would have at least given him two weeks notice. So in a way it was a huge relief to be asked to leave so I did not have to keep working there. As with my friend, he did not give any reason for asking me to leave. It was one of those, "you can't fire me, I quit!" kind of experiences, though I did not actually get around to saying that.

Last week we noticed an add in the help wanted section for his office, he is still trying to fill two positions. It has been several weeks already. We don't know if he hired someone who quit or if he just can't find anyone willing to take the job. Oh well, too bad for him. Maybe he will learn to appreciate his employees, but I doubt it. I learned a lot through the whole experience. But I am mostly just glad not to be working there any more.

I had another part time job that I was only doing once a week while working at the optometrist office so I am still working for them. It is a health screening company called Health Solutions. Since I have more time now I have been taking more jobs and they are even sending me out of Houston for some of them. They pay well enough that even working one or two days a week I make just under what I was making with the other job. It is not very regular though. We'll see but for now I am enjoying the experience and the traveling. Last week I went to a city near the Mexican border and yesterday I was in Dallas. Next week I will be in Oklahoma for a few days so that should be interesting.

Well, I think that is all the main things. Most of you probably already knew all that anyway though! I will get some pictures posted here soon, I just want to post the writing before it all gets erased.