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When Richard and I left Benthic Creatures last year, I went straight to a fulltime job (which I still have, and still like quite a bit) while he went back into the temp pool for the university and was immediately placed in a technical position, wrangling databases and coordinating development. A few weeks ago the department finally got approval for funding to hire for the position he’s been doing, and there was extremely strong encouragement from all of his coworkers to apply.
Friday morning they finally told him he got the job. After nearly a year of temping, he’s back to permanent status. To say that we are both relieved is putting it mildly. And the main reason we’ve been hoping for this is that now he finally will have benefits of his own.
It’s not that we’ve been without benefits – we’ve both been covered by the insurance provided by my employer – but the insurance provider is one of the worst either of us has ever had to deal with. It’s not so much a problem for me since I’m relatively healthy, and usually only have to go see a doctor for that yearly exam that all women love so much. But for Richard, with his asthma and allergies and everything that goes along with them, the type and extent of the health insurance makes a huge difference. So – color me heaving a huge sigh of relief. ******** We started the day this morning by shrugging on our biking clothes and going out for a 6 mile ride. It was raining lightly and it’s still mostly dark outside at the time we were riding, and we had to ride into the wind on the way home, and the water from the rain kept dripping in my eyes and running into my ears (Cold! Cold!). But it actually felt good to ride again, if only because it meant that we’re both finally recovered from this winter’s batch of illness and ready to start racking up the miles to reach that 1000-mile goal.
Then I got to go do something that I've always really dreaded in the past. I got to go to the dentist to get some cavities filled. This is because I have horrible teeth, made worse by years of braces when I was younger, and they get cavities if you even think about decay in their presence.
This time, however, wasn't bad at all. For one thing, the dentist asked if I wanted to try without the Novocain, which took me completely by surprise because it had never even been an option anywhere else. But as he pointed out, they were shallow cavities, nowhere near the roots. So I figured why not, and they were the quickest and least intrusive cavities I've ever had filled.
Of course, as I discovered later in the day, there is one benefit to Novocain. The numb feeling in your jaw reminds you you've had cavities, so you do not accidentally try to chew on that side of the mouth later and get a sudden and rather painful reminder. But all it took was one bite of my sandwich to let me know that chewing needed to be more carefully planned, and all was fine.
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