Do Not Pass Go And Do Not Collect $200

Chicagoland is currently in the midst of a major winter storm.    The fun started Tuesday evening and left our area with on average over 10 inches of the white stuff.   It was nice being able to work from home at the new job and thankfully Dom's school made it an E-Learning day and he doesn't have to go to school on Thursday as well.

I didn't clean any of the snow today so I'll have the joy of cleaning it tomorrow morning before I officially start Day 4.   Part of the deal Dom and I made when living together was that I would be responsible for cleaning the snow and Dom would be responsible for taking care of the lawn.    As it is Dom is still recovering from his toe surgery so he's not in any condition to be cleaning snow.   He has helped me here and there in the past when the snow's been heavy.

My new job is going good so far.   It's pretty hectic and I'll need to be back in study mode to obtain some additional certifications.    There's so many tasks that I have to work on but thankfully my shadow buddy has made it somewhat easier to track our tasks by putting them all on a shared document.   I put updates and he's able to see how I'm progressing in the tasks.   It's a win-win.    

One thing I will say about my company is that my team is a lot more diverse than the ones I've been on at my previous jobs (Amazon excluded).    In the team I'm on, there's four other black members, two guys and two ladies.    I represent the gay black male segment as well.    My manager is an Indian lady and there's also a Vietnamese guy on the team.    In my previous jobs, I was always the token black person on the team with everyone else being either Caucasian or Indian.    It's a nice change. 

They seem to practice what they preach in terms of equality.  I look forward to seeing how things progress.   Hopefully I will be up to the task.

Getting back to Amazon, my plans to wait it out for their "Pay To Quit" program just fell to the wayside.    According to an article I found online today, Amazon basically decided to scrap the program this year for most of their employees, only keeping it for those who are taking part in their Career Choice program.    In retrospect it actually makes sense for them to reduce the scope of the program.   It seems that a lot of retail companies are having a hard time finding new employees.   So I can't imagine them wanting to pay the few they have that want to leave any kind of money.   So basically my plan now is to pretty much give a week's notice.    My last unofficial packing day will be this Saturday and I plan to take my last official packing day off the following Saturday and basically turn in my ID.    At least I don't have to worry about Amazon buying out my new company and risking losing my job.    The one bad thing is that I will lose the Amazon matching amount that was added to my 401-K since I won't be completely vested by the time I leave.   But that's fine as well since my new company has a lot more benefits that I can take advantage of.    So I'll lose some but potentially gain more.

Oh and I guess the groundhog saw his own shadow so there'll be only six more weeks of winter.   Not sure where they found a willing groundhog with the mess this weather is being.   But Hemingway...whatever!