I just got home from work.  From my last day of work at the hospital.

Felt very weird walking out of there with nothing but my coffee cup…  I’m so used to making sure everything is locked up, and making sure I’ve got a laptop with me in case something breaks and I need to remote-in to fix something.

Received several phonecalls from co-workers today…  Got a few emails…  Ran into some folks in the hallway…  All wishing me well at my new job.  Some folks in management even stopped by to say goodbye.  It’s the folks like that, that I’ll miss.

I didn’t get my exit interview, which annoys me.  I really wanted to take the opportunity to explain what is wrong with the IT department, and why I’m moving on.  Not to be mean or burn any bridges or anything like that…  But because there are some very real, legitimate problems that will need to be fixed sooner or later.  The issues that drove me to seek employment elsewhere will do the same to anyone else who’s put in my position.

Went out to lunch with my boss.  Had a nice burger.  Talked a bit – mostly small-talk.  Chatted about the weather, family, our schooling, etc.  Kind of tried to avoid work-related stuff.  I haven’t been too careful with my words around him, so I think he’s got a half-way decent idea of why I’m leaving.  I just hope he’s able to do something about it.

So…  I’ve got a three-day weekend, and then I start my new job on Tuesday.  I really kind of wish I had more time off than that, but I am eager to get started at the new place.  Eager, and a bit nervous.  It’s always a little intimidating to start at a new job.

Today is my last day at the hospital.

After today, I’m really wishing I hadn’t changed my vacation plans for this week…

Today has simply dragged by.

Most of the calls, at this point, aren’t coming to me.  I’ve done a good job of directing everyone to my co-workers over the last couple weeks, and they’ve pretty much taken over all the day-to-day stuff.

Most of the projects, at this point, are out of my hands.  Everything’s been transitioned over to my co-workers, and they’re handling all the meetings and phonecalls and whatever else.

The main reason for me to show up, at this point, is to do documentation and train my co-workers…  But they’re both too busy for training, and I’ve largely run out of things I can really document.

This means that, right now, I don’t have a whole heck of a lot to do here.

Normally I don’t have a problem keeping busy…  There’s always something that needs doing…  But I can’t really dive in to a new project right now, as I’m supposed to be wrapping things up.

This all means that I’ve had a very long, very boring day today.  And I can’t wait to get out of here.

This is my last week at the hospital.

Yesterday was pretty nice.

Slept a bit later than usual.  Got up, had breakfast, played WoW for a while.  The rest of the family didn’t wake up until nearly Noon.  Then we opened presents…

Terri and I pooled our money and bought Christopher a new Wii and another copy of Skyward Sword – to replace the ones we bought him less than a month ago, that were stolen by his brother.  We’ll have to get him a replacement TV, too.  But that can wait a few more weeks.

I got Terri a Pinkie Pie figure, and a gift card to the Build-A-Bear workshop.  The idea is for us to take a weekend trip to Albany sometime soonish.  Spend the night, have a nice dinner, catch a show, build her a stuffed critter.  It didn’t look so impressive under the tree, but hopefully she’ll enjoy the trip.

Terri, I think, is trying to kill me with alcohol.  Tasty, tasty alcohol.

I’ve kind of acquired a stash of booze over the weeks preceding Christmas…  She got me some Guinness…  And then some Guinness Extra-Stout…  And then some Guinness Black Lager…  And I don’t drink that much, so most of that is still in the fridge.

And then she bought some Angry Orchard and some sparkling wine for the holidays.

And then, under the tree, I received a big ol’ Sam Adams Holiday Sampler box, and a bottle of Jim Beam Devil’s Cut.

After we were done with the presents, we went to see Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.  We went to see the first movie over Christmas a few years back, and I enjoyed it.  So we decided to give the sequel a try…  Thoroughly enjoyed it.

After the movie we went to a local Chinese buffet.  Normally we have a baked ham and all sorts of traditional stuff for Christmas dinner…  But this year Terri wanted Chinese – so, that’s what she got.

Got home somewhere around 5:00, played some more WoW, and then we went upstairs and watched A Ghost Story.  That movie is one of my Winter must-watch movies.  Very cold, dreary, depressing…  It just screams ”Winter” to me.  So that was fun.

I’ve got today off, so I slept late again.  Always feels weird to stay at home during the week…  Feels like I’m playing hooky or something.  It’s going to feel even weirder next week, when I’m going to work someplace entirely different.

Christmas Eve…  I don’t have the pager…  And I still got a call from work.

Was in the middle of baking Christmas goodies when they called.  Had to put that stuff on hold while I connected remotely to clean up a virus on a computer.

I can’t even begin to tell you how happy I will be to leave that behind…