New Jersey, armpit of the world....

I can tell Ive been delinquent in posting lately, when my readers have no clue where or why I am where I am. To remedy:

I work as a field employee for a company based in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. My managing editor, who also happens to be a personal friend, has been trying to figure out a good time for me to come into the office for training that can't be accomplished long distance. For many reasons, that occurrence has not taken place until this week. Last Thursday, he was able to figure out how/when/where on the booking travel issues and as of Sunday I was here. Although both of my sisters live in the general area, the commute to the New Jersey office from their homes is 2.5+ hours in traffic EACH WAY, so I am staying in a hotel near the office where I can be picked up and dropped off each day with minimal gnashing of teeth. I'll be heading to the city for the weekend, spending a couple of nights with each sis and attending the dedication of my nephew, Jacob, at church on Sabbath.

Its very different being in New Jersey instead of New York/Connecticut and even more weird feeling to be back in an office atmosphere after over 2 years of working "from home". I find myself both more and LESS productive -- more productive because I dont have the mail coming in, the doorbell ringing, the cats attacking crickets, the hubband home from class occasionally, etc. but less productive at times because unless I close the office door I find myself tuning into all the conversations in the corridors and staring at fly spots on the wall. I have automatically closed the office door upon my arrival this am. So far so good.

The hotel is pretty nice... it was recently renovated and so far my only complaint about the actual hotel location/amenities is that last night around 1 am some sort of building/car alarm was set off and continued noisily blaring its message of disturbance until almost 4. Beyond that... I actually slept much better last night. The first night, probably due to a combination of no Hubband, strange room, coffee on the plane, and tension, I only slept for about 3 hours. Coming to my first day at the office with bloodshot eyes and black bags under my eyes wasn't in the plan!

Tomorrow I have a meeting with the department head, which should be interesting. Ive actually never met her in person so it will be nice to finally put a face to the name.

Its funny that Hubband and I are both feeling this separation so much... you'd think after 7 months of deployment and umpteen weeks in a row of work ups while in the Navy we'd be used to it. We function fine. We even have fun. But it feels like something is missing and we're both just chomping at the bit to be back together. He sent me a picture of the kitties on my phone last night saying "Mommy we miss you". VERY cute. Its nice to be here, but Sunday's homecoming will be fun. Also... this gives us the opportunity to experience the "other side" of separation since usually it has been HIM leaving and me keeping the home fires burning. :-)