LLNL Beginnings

Well, I am writing this post from my office at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.  I have been work here since January 12, 2015.  I was let go from Schneider Electric late June 2014, with a good number of other experienced/expensive employees.  It was quite the surprise.  Kristen and I had already booked vacation flights to Michigan to visit her dad in Ann Arbor.  We did what we could to have fun, and we did enjoy it!  When we got back, I dug in hard in trying to find work locally.  There were some openings at Children's Hospital and the school district that I was qualified (a little over) for, but they didn't work out.  In October, I found a job opening at the lab that I felt very qualified for.  I worked with LinkedIn, and found a friend of a friend at the lab, who helped get my resume to the hiring manager, and things worked out well.  I am doing a weekly commute, renting a room with James Fuller in Springtown.  He is a recent convert to the church of about 1 year, and a widower.  We get along pretty well, even though we don't see each other much at all!  He leaves for work before 5am, and I finish work after 9 or 10 most nights.  At the lab, I am on an Alternate Work Schedule (AWS), and work 9/80's, or 80 hours over 9 days, 5 one week and 4 the next, every other Friday off.  The group has been great, and I have been able to flex my schedule even more, so that I can almost always leave home on Monday morning, and head back early Friday morning, or midday Thursday, depending on the week!  Kristen and I call every night, and read scriptures together and talk.  So far, it has been working well enough, though we do wish we could be together more during the week.