Well onto the most exciting news first... I got my stitches out!!! Just kidding, that's not the most exciting news I have, but it is exciting. My finger seems to be healing well and I finally got the stitches out Monday. They had a really hard time getting them out, especially the odd angles they had to get at to get between my fingers, but all were removed. I still have tape covering the area so it limits my movement, but I can at least get it wet now. The tape should fall off on itself in a few days and then i'll hopefully be good to go. I still am not supposed to lift heavy things to keep it from breaking apart again, but I can feel myself able to do more and more things without agitating it. At the very bottom I posted a picture if you are curious. I left some space, so if you don't want to see it, at my warning stop scrolling.
After getting my stitches out Monday, I followed it with a second interview on Tuesday. The company is really cool and the manager I would be working for seems really intelligent and easy to work with. Wednesday morning I was offered the job (and our new couch got delivered, which has a sofa bed, so come visit!) and Thursday morning I accepted, so I am now officially employed. I start on Monday so I took advantage of my remaining free time and celebrated by doing absolutely nothing. My title is Sales and Project Coordinator which essentially means I am doing what I did at my control valve job, but I am more involved in the sales since I support the GM directly and the two of us are basically the sales team. The company builds inflatable boats and RIBs (solid boats with inflatable sides) and other random inflatable solutions. Their products were used to clean up the Valdez spill as well as the BP spill, and their boats are used by the US Coast Guard. They are constantly coming up with new projects so I am going to be able to use my design knowledge as well. I'm really excited about the opportunity and there is a lot of room for growth. Its also only about a ten minute drive from our house, which is nice considering how far away most of the companies are. I am extremely lucky as I continue to find out how many boat builders and designers are shutting down. The marine industry has it rough and I am so lucky to have found this. My recruiter said they are probably the largest marine company in NZ that nobody has ever heard of.
I celebrated last night by finally being able to return to soccer. We finally won our first game oddly enough against the team that is leading the league. We played well and it was a fun game. I also have joined an 11 v 11 women's team that starts in April. My knee hasn't bothered me one bit, so I'm quite excited about that.
Since Sean has decided to keep hurting himself too (he keeps pushing himself too hard in rock climbing and getting cramps), our weekend activities have been limited. This weekend we decided to do a scenic drive I had found. It went along the Waitakere ranges and looked over the whole city. It is only about 20 minutes from home. It was a bit overcast so the pictures didn't come out that great, but it was still a cool drive. We stopped at a winery on our way home (this region has quite a few) where they had live music and a bunch of people sitting on the lawn listening. It was quite relaxing and of course the sun finally came out. We went to our favorite fruit and veg shop (its far from home, but SUPER cheap, so we only go when we are nearby) and picked up a few steals on our way home. The pictures don't really do it justice, but ill post a few. Its really cool to look over the whole city and you can't even tell the city is there in the pictures.
 |
| The water on the left and right are two different coasts. This is definitely one of the thinnest points on the island, but shows you how how skinny it is. The blue sky was trying to come out!! |
 |
| Its hard to tell here, but this overlooks a large part of the city. Downtown is right in the middle of the two volcanic peaks in the background |
I also finished hanging things up in my room and thought everyone might enjoy this picture.
 |
| (thanks steph!) |
Now, if you don't want to see the gruesome picture of my hand, post-surgery, stop scrolling. If you do, keep scrolling to the bottom. Please keep in mind they extended the cut I made for surgery, so I'm not as reckless as this might imply.
 |
| A portion of the cut towards my fingertip was the original cut |
