Hello again friends and family,
Sorry it has been so long since our last post. We have had a busy week. We went grocery shopping and filled up the fridge which definitely made it feel more like home. Oliver is now officially a California resident. While we drove all of the way to the coast (only about 45 minutes), we didn’t stay long because it was raining and the DMV was kind of a buzz kill, who knew. Thursday Oliver experienced his first “12 hour cold” (an odd occurrence of his). So that was fun. We met one guy in the building from Colorado who just moved here with his girlfriend. We might try and get together with them this weekend (see, Mom! Making friends!). I think that the pool has been used more by us in the past 10 days then all summer but who knows. I have started to think of it as our private pool. We also experienced a lightning/rain storm that was crazy cool. There were HUGE raindrops and when cars drove past, it seemed like there were suds on the street. We also had an earthquake (apparently) on Thursday I believe but neither of us noticed. We enjoyed the weekend together and relaxed before Oliver’s first day of work. I am still not sure what I am doing but so far we are enjoying ourselves. We are getting more comfortable with being here and there are a few places we can get to without using GPS which is encouraging. We have had a few rough patches of missing family, friends, and the Northwest in general but we have been comforted by many letters, emails, texts, and phone calls from you all. Eventually we will get the hang of things down here.
Love and miss you all,
Hannah
Also, Oliver has been writing the blog titles. Not my doing.
Stardate 41153.7: Oliver's Log. Today was the first day of work. The Company is good to me. The Company is kind. The Company is loving. The Company provides. I will never do anything to harm the Company. But in all seriousness, it was a fairly good first day. The most notable parts were the skydiving (kidding) and the hour long African drum circle (100% serious). We came back from lunch and there was drumming going on in the room. We entered and three men were playing African instruments at the front. The one who looked like Sam Rockwell was playing xylophone. The one who looked like Don Cheadle was playing a large drum. And the one who looked like Orlando Bloom was on standing drums and cowbell. 27 chairs lined the room, each filled with their own drum. Sam Rockwell was clearly the leader. He stopped playing and hoisted a large drum onto his front, suspended by straps. He silently motioned for us all to lift our drums and play along with him. Then for the next hour, we all sat in rapture as he had us drum, shake maracas, and chant phrases such as: “I am committed to Cisco.”; “I am committed to the Network Intuitive.”; “I am committed to Rhythm.” And so we drummed. And we drummed and we drummed. The thundering beat burning in our virile hearts, connecting us, truly uniting us as one with the rhythm.
Anyway, that was teambuilding. But seriously, all of that is true. But all in all, I am feeling very positive about working for Cisco and I think it will be a fun experience. I believe I meet my manager for the first time tomorrow, so hopefully that goes well. As for the rest? Well, I am here with Hannah and there is little else I could ask for.
Oliver
