Two morning yays

Yay #1: The temperature is no longer in the 30s! Yay! Welcome, seasonal weather in temperatures I can actually enjoy walking around in.

Yay #2: I read an entire book in one day yesterday! Yay! Admittedly, it was a pretty fast read and wasn't very good, but still. It's the thought that counts.

At least it's not boring

Worked on a very fast file this morning (seriously, it only took about an hour). As I'm finishing it up, our coordinator asks if I can work on a super-rush project that needs to be translated and in tomorrow. It's a 24-hour turnaround sort of project. I say sure, because, y'know, why not.

Then I look at the sort of project it is. I haven't been trained on this type of file yet. It's not really all that different from the files I usually work on, but it's different enough that there is room for mistakes.

"Y'know," says I to my boss, "I haven't been trained to work on this type of file."

"I know," says he, "just do it anyway. It's super-rush."

So I waited until about 2:45, when the person transcribing the file had finished transcribing the file, and then spent two hours working on it. Hopefully it's not too bad. Because it's due at 4:30 tomorrow... London time. Joy.

An offer I can't refuse

So, HR just made the the official offer to hire me as a full-time employee. The benefits package is pretty much as explained to me during my interview.

I made two requests of them: first, to shorten the probation period from three months to a month and a half, since I've already been working part-time for over four months. The end of probation is when benefits kick in, when my pay increases (quite significantly, actually), and when the clock starts ticking for paid vacation time (which I receive a year after hiring date). We'll see what happens on that front.

Second, I've mentioned a few days I can't work in the near future (for personal and religious reasons) and noted the days I would like as holidays in 2009. Most notably, Pennsic will fall before my one-year anniversary (ie: before I would get my vacation pay), and I want to make sure that I can take those two weeks off, even if they're unpaid.

So the HR person is going to talk with the local Big Boss, and they'll probably have a contract ready for me on Wednesday. Yay!