This post will be directed to my former coworkers and colleagues at Presbyterian Transplant Services, but serves well as a kind of one month progress report.
Here we are now a little over a month since getting to Iowa, and what an adventure it’s been!
The Arrival
After movers loaded up our 26 foot U-Haul, we left Albuquerque the afternoon of February 28th. I was driving the truck that was towing my car and Brandy followed in her car with Ash on board.
We drove for about 4 hours to Dalhart, Texas, where we stayed for a night, then got up early and made an 11 hour journey to Bethany, Missouri. The morning of March 2, we made the last leg of the trip pulling into Coralville, Iowa at about 11:00 am. Found out there is no street parking allowed anywhere in our neighborhood so finding the room for the truck, my car and Brandy’s car was a bit of a challenge. We finally got it straightened out, met up with our landlord, signed our lease and waited for the movers to come unload the truck.
We spent the better part of the rest of that week unpacking, shuffling stuff around and making our place feel like home.
Bi-Polar Weather
The day we arrived, it was a nice, warm, sunny day, probably in the mid-60s or so. Shorts and t-shirt weather, for sure.
Two days later, there were thunderstorms and tornadoes tore through the western part of the state, taking half a dozen lives. Very sad news to hear just after we got here.
Two days after that, we got a good 8 or ten inches of snow. There is a city ordnance that mandates that any snow more than two inches must be shoveled off of public sidewalks within a day, so I spent that morning shoveling snow from the driveway, the sidewalk in front of our house and all the way down the side of our house. We’re on a corner lot so I have about twice as much sidewalk that I’m responsible for than most people.
Since then, we’ve seen weather that’s included cold, wind, rain, snow, sun, warmth, cold, wind, rain, and so on. In fact, yesterday, it snowed a little bit (not enough to have to shovel, thank goodness, but it was still cold and dreary.) Today it’s sunny and warm again.
Make up your mind, Iowa.
Our Home
For the short-term, we are renting a two bedroom, 1.5 bathroom duplex. It’s a very lovely place. It’s on a corner lot with a lot of yard, none of which is fenced in. Ash has to be on a leash until we can put one in. We’ve gotten a couple of quotes to have one installed, but it’s super expensive.
We are responsible for maintaining the yard (i.e. mowing it and keeping it cleaned up.) We are buying a riding John Deere lawnmower from Brandy’s parents; that will be delivered here in the next couple of weeks. And none to soon, too, you can see the lawn is starting to turn green and will be ready to mow before too long.
There are a few very large, mature trees in the yard as well. The picture above shows the big evergreen with the swing hanging from it (not ours.) Beyond that are two more large deciduous trees that have not sprouted their 2022 leaves just yet.
Both bedrooms are upstairs and are very large. Our king sized bed takes up a small fraction of the master bedroom. In the master is a door that leads out to a small balcony overlooking the back yard.
The second bedroom is very large as well. In there is a queen sized bed along with Brandy’s hope chest, a small dresser for a TV and the treadmill. With all that, there’s still plenty of room to spare.
There’s one full bathroom upstairs with a door in from the hall and one directly in from the master bedroom. The bathroom is large too and also holds the laundry room (awesome, the laundry room is upstairs so we don’t have to cart it up and down the stairs on laundry day!)
The location is super convenient, too. The Coral Ridge Mall is right here and includes an ice skating rink and a Target (I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Target with an entrance in from the mall), there’s a Hy-Vee (the Midwest’s version of Smith’s/Kroger) just down the road, and plenty of dining options very close by. Just up the road in North Liberty is a Fareway Market, famous for their meat counter. We’ve picked up pork chops for $.50 a piece before. Sure, they were kind of small, but still, if I’m eating two, that’s only a buck.
Ash, I think, is adjusting well…
Work
I started my new job as an Epic Ambulatory Analyst for UnityPoint Health on Monday, March 7. UnityPoint is a large health group that serves Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin. On my first day, I made a 30 minute drive in to Cedar Rapids (after shoveling snow…) to meet up with my supervisor, collect my equipment and do some onboarding stuff: filling out paperwork, making sure my computer was loaded up with everything that I needed, and so on. The next day, I was set up and started working from home full time.
Our house is a two bedroom, and we have to have one bedroom reserved for guests (which we’ve already had plenty of) so my office is in the dining room. We never eat in the dining room anyway, so it’s not lost space.
It’s a second tier support position, which means users will call their help desk and if the IT Service Center can’t answer the question or resolve the issue, we get the ticket into our queue.
We have 20 analysts on our team, divided up into five “tribes”. Tribes rotate “day call” which means they watch the queue for tickets from 7:00 am to 5:00 pm. We divide the 10 hours up evenly depending on how many members are in the tribe. We currently have five tribe members so we each watch the queue for two hours on days that we’re on day call.
I’ve been on that job for a month now, and even after certification, it’s a hard job. I already knew there would be a lot for me yet to learn but this position has me reeling. I’m not responsible for any one part of Epic (like Phoenix or Cadence or MyChart) but rather I’m responsible for supporting ANY aspect for which we get a ticket. I’ve dealt with setting providers up to receive messages from MyChart and I’ve set users up to use Haiku and Canto on mobile devices. I’ve helped build flowsheets and preference lists and am still learning new stuff every day.
It’s been a challenge but I have an amazing team that’s happy to answer any questions I have.
Once I get my feet under me, likely some time in July, I will start taking night call. Each person is responsible for night call for one week every 20 weeks, so twice a year. They will be on call for any urgent tickets from 5:00 pm on Friday night until 7:00 am Monday morning, then every night from 5:00 pm to 7:00 am until Friday when night call switches.
Exciting Stuff.
Recreation
We haven’t done much of anything fun since we got here. We went into Iowa City one day (Coralville is to Iowa City as Rio Rancho is to Albuquerque.) We were trying to get our drivers licenses but there were issues, such as I don’t have my birth certificate, Brandy didn’t have her New Mexico drivers license yet, etc. Those are getting resolved.
While we were in Iowa City, we had breakfast at a place called The Dandy Lion, then drove over to the stadium where the University of Iowa Hawkeyes play football. It’s a pretty nice stadium, I guess.
I don’t follow football, or college sports at all, so I don’t really know, but you should DEFINITELY read about “The Wave.”
That’s about all we have done up until today.
But.
Today, we’re driving in to Ottumwa to see Hairball (an 80’s and 90’s hair metal tribute band). (edit: I’m wrapping this up the day after Hairball. I’m going to post about it later today, so read that soon!)
Next weekend, we’re making the 3 and a half hour drive to Chicago to meet and see Justin Furstenfeld of Blue October (Brandy’s favorite band) in concert. Just before we left Albuquerque, I got her tickets to the meet and greet. Needless to say, she’s excited. I am too, just not nearly as excited as she is.
We will have a couple weekends free that I’ll try to find some opportunities to hike (if the weather finally decides what it wants to do) then on May 7th, we’re returning to Chicago to see the Dodgers play the Cubs at Historic Wrigley Field. For those not in the know, Wrigley field is the second-oldest major league baseball stadium (after Fenway Park in Boston.) Seeing the Dodgers there has been a dream for as long as I can remember. We were going to see them in August of 2020 but there was some virus or something that shut down regular life for two years. We did manage to at least go to the stadium and walk around it that July, so that was at least something for me.
Possibly the week after our second trip to Chicago, we’re going to Pella, Iowa. Apparently, there’s an overabundance of tulips in Pella during the spring.
Also on my to-do list:
- The Amana Colonies, a community established by German immigrants in 1856 and still retains its historic charm.
- Tour the Bridges of Madison County. I did not know the bridges from the Clint Eastwood/Meryl Streep movie were in Madison County, Iowa.
- Visit Maquoketa Caves State Park, about an hour and a half northeast of us.
- and so much more!
Donate Life Flag Raising
I saw the livestream of the Donate Life Flag Raising on Facebook, then the follow-up story on KOB’s Facebook page. I’m glad to see it got raised, and seeing some of you made me miss y’all. 🙂
Wrap Up
In case any of you haven’t realized, this post is on my blog website that I’ve been running for a little over two years. now. It’s not really anything I’m trying to do as like a business or anything, it’s more like a travel diary for the adventures Brandy, Ash and I go on. I have write-ups from many of the hikes and camping trips we’ve taken as well as the lengthier road trips, like when we came to the Midwest in July 2020, the Colorado trips we’ve taken, and many more, with many more to come.
If you want to drop in from time to time, please feel free, don’t hesitate to drop a comment, or even sign up to get an e-mail whenever I make a post (visit the Home page for the form. Scroll down to the very bottom.)
If you’re so inclined, you can also follow me on Facebook or Instagram as well, or instead, or whatever.
That’s about all I have for you today. Like I said, I’ll be posting today (or maybe tomorrow) about our trip to Ottumwa and the Hairball concert, stay on the lookout for that, or don’t, whatever.
If you read back on any of my old posts, you’ll see I often sign off with the same line, something along the lines of.
As always, thanks for stopping by my little corner of the internet. I appreciate you.
-Phil