Trump train of crazy rolls. A national emergency last week–well, non-emergency. More bullshit from the man-child. Now the lawsuits are going in–alleging constitutional overreach.
Week one at the new job is done and dusted. Turned out a bit busier than expected for first day of school. My predecessor is interested in a comprehensive transition so scheduled a lot of time in meetings and just us. Then a few other meetings. I am slowly starting to put names with faces and roles. Figuring out who is CC and who is vendor. So far work seems like something that can be managed. Nice people. Earnest. Taking on a big challenge.
Meanwhile I was trying to deal with buying a condo by answering text messages and emails from the mortgage company, the realtor, and the inspector. Just a lot to do to make sure the condo in Columbus gets sold and the one here gets bought. But so far we are tracking on a journey to success. Working plan is to close on the Cleveland property on the 7th of March and then close on the Columbus property on the 13th. That is key because I can move out of the Columbus place on the weekend of the 9th and 10th. If for some reason we could not close in Cleveland before the 13th, I would have to move my things to a storage unit for the time gap between the closings. So we are pushing the bank and Title company hard to hold the line on the 7th for a close date.
Orientation finished up today. A snowy and cold day, but it was good. Lots of good context and history about the clinic. The main campus is 44 buildings and 166 acres. Worldwide is over 200 facilities and 66,000 employees. They are very focused on health and wellness which is cool. They do not hire smokers. A few years back they kicked McDonald’s and Pizza Hut out of the cafeteria’s. They provide membership to gyms and free immunizations and health check-ups. College tuition reimbursement and lots of job-related training. Interesting to work for an organization that really seems to care about their employees. It’s been awhile since I have witnessed that.
And an interesting fact I learned today. Nationally around 450,000 people die each year from preventable mistakes in the healthcare industry. That’s some crazy shit.
Orientation at CC was interesting. Good dynamics. They deliberately set people at the same table from all aspects of the organization. So at my table for example, there were several entry level call-center employees, me, a nurse, a doctor. We had an exercise to write down our most pressing questions to get addressed by the orientation team. The call center gals wanted to know 1) when do we get paid 2) how to get parking validated and 3) how long before they could get tuition reimbursed. I wanted to know the specifics of the gym reimbursement program and the doc needed to know about benefits as he is coming out of the Navy.
We had a nice family dinner at mom and dad’s house on Saturday night. Mom made turkey, corn, salad, and gravy. Larry and Melissa made rolls. And we had red barn cake for dessert. And of course drinks and cards and talk of family and politics. A lovely evening. I was very happy to see the little dog and I trust she was happy to see me. If not, she played the part well. Mom and dad spoil her and love on her constantly, so I know she has it good while I am going through this move event.
I left in a hurry this morning. And dressed quickly; and apparently somewhat distracted. I put on two different kinds of shoes. Both the same color, fortunately, but very different styles. Not one person noticed even though I was around ~100 people all day.
A realtor story. Funny thing. When we got the signed contract back from the seller, my agent swung by CC to pick up my earnest check. She was beaming and shook my hand like I was an old water pump and she was dying of thirst; and she said congratulations about 5 times. Do they really think buying a house is the equivalent of having a child? It’s just a house man. I was happy to get the deal done because I like the property, but it was a little over-stated. All I’m saying. Nice lady though and has really done a lot to make sure all goes smoothly. She went to New Orleans this weekend for a work event and I told her about Drago’s. She sent a picture on Saturday afternoon of a plate of char-broiled oysters and said they were amazing with a cold beer. They are. And glad she got to try them. Like I said. Good realtor. Very patient with my quirky view of buying real estate and a very hard working and nice lady.
Appraisal came back in line with expectations. The title company also seems to be performing and so does the mortgage folks. So far all is progressing on schedule–so fingers and toes remain crossed.
Last week was Naazeen’s birthday. She took Aneeka out for dinner and it looks like they had a nice time. I feel bad that Naaz has so few adult friends but at least
they have each other.
And from across the pond. Sjoerd sent through a photo of Bear in his first adventure in the ocean. Sjoerd and Onah are raising a dog.
Another Cleveland story. A few weeks back when I was driving from Westlake to Beachwood early in the morning for part of my interview series, I came across a crazy car wreck scene. It was a bit surreal as the car was burning like a wildfire. So a few pics of that–just for the hell of it.
The Martini Tales 