Monday, October 24, 2011
Shaun T!!!
I didn't actually watch this video, but I'm sure it's great. I love Shaun T! These workouts are really fun and he makes it funny. It's my new work out plan! We've been doing the excercises for about a week now. I feel good! I highly, highly recommend it, especially if you like dancing!
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Well, hello!
It officially hit below freezing a few nights ago!! Ahh! But today was actually a very nice fall day- only a light jacket necessary.
Andrew and I are doing great. I've started working with my Atlanta counterparts, getting into some real work. It's a little intimidating but also exciting. I think we have a really great group and I have a really great supervisor on the Epic side. I'm AC and he's AM, so he's my direct supervisor for this customer. He guides me in the beginning and then starts training me to be an AM on my next customer, ideally. I really lucked out- my AM has been here 5 years, which means a lot of experience. Most ACs have a first-time AM. He's a really nice guy too! He's a newlywed, very kind, and funny.
He (I'll call him Tom) told me he has high expectations because my TL (boss- I'll call him Barry) said I was a really good one! That was nice to hear.
Andrew's testing away. He's found some really cool bugs that the developers liked, and some that got them really frustrated.
Andrew wants me to say that we're thinking about getting a dog soon. I'm not so sure he really means soon. But it's in the plans down the line. Things have definitely calmed down for us- most people are working longer hours and traveling, so we're at home a lot more. Plus, it'll be nice for him to have someone to cuddle with while I'm away on trips.
I'll make this a long post! This week is Madison's book festival, so we went to a few events- a poetry friend of mine from UVa is up here getting her MFA in creative writing, which is great, because she keeps us in the loop on interesting things going on at UWM. The book festival is actually not directly associated with the University, but largely supported by it. Anyway, we went to a reading by Jeffrey Eugenides, a novelist. He has three novels- The Virgin Suicides, Middlesex, and his newest which he read from, The Marriage Plot. We all enjoyed his reading and each of us bought one of his books- I'm going to start reading Virgin Suicides and Andrew's going to start Middlesex (after he finished Slaughter House 5). We got the books signed!
Then we went to dinner, just a cheap Japanese place on State, and went back for an fellowship alumnus reading. A fellowship is basically where the University pays you to finish a book and you teach one class. There was one fiction writer (we both thought he was awful) and a poet who got her MFA at UVa!! She now teaches at Virginia Tech. In the QA I had to hold myself back from asking "So, you wish you were teaching at UVa, right?" We did like her poetry, though. It was a nostalgic experience to hear her descripe so vividly the places we used to frequent. It was also a bit frightening to hear her poems on winter clearly composed during her stay in Madison... as they say in the Midwest, "Oh geeze.."
Today we did some clothes shopping. We're eating dinner now and then we're headed back out for grocery shopping. We got some good cleaning done today!
This weekend we've made some good progress- I've been really challenging myself not to work more than 40 hours a week, but it's still been a bit of a problem for us lately that all we do is go to work, watch some tv, and sleep. We used to have so much literature and philosphy to talk about! So, that's something we're working on now- Andrew's going to work on new recipes since he loves cooking so much, and I'm going to do some decorating in the apartment- we have some plans for painting! The book festival was a really great opportunity for us- we miss the academic stimulus. Like I said- we're working on the apartment- we've gotten a little too complacent with decorating and let it get kinda blah- I'm hoping to hang some pictures this week and we'll go shopping for some decorations in a few weekends- we've decided to devote the first Saturday of the month to apartment decorating! It will be fun!!
We also decided on Wedding Wednesdays! Every Wednesday we'll work on wedding planning. Of course, if something awesome comes up, we'll reschedule, but it's nice to have time planned out for it. We've been looking at alternate choices in Atlanta, but everything we've found so far is super expensive! Osthoff is just so right for us.. but we do want to be sure our family and friends can come.
More more!! On Wednesday, we went to see Seth Meyers (from SNL) do stand up- he was hilarious! And he talked to me! He asked for couples in the crowd- I raised my hand (we were second row!) and he asked how long we'd been together. We were not extactly what he was looking for material wise- he chose to focus on the couple that had been together one year and met at a frat party. It was so much fun though!
Okay, dinner is ready so I'm going to go now. I hope you enjoyed this rambling update. I've got more to come! There is a very exciting new man in my life that I'd love to tell you all about!!
Andrew and I are doing great. I've started working with my Atlanta counterparts, getting into some real work. It's a little intimidating but also exciting. I think we have a really great group and I have a really great supervisor on the Epic side. I'm AC and he's AM, so he's my direct supervisor for this customer. He guides me in the beginning and then starts training me to be an AM on my next customer, ideally. I really lucked out- my AM has been here 5 years, which means a lot of experience. Most ACs have a first-time AM. He's a really nice guy too! He's a newlywed, very kind, and funny.
He (I'll call him Tom) told me he has high expectations because my TL (boss- I'll call him Barry) said I was a really good one! That was nice to hear.
Andrew's testing away. He's found some really cool bugs that the developers liked, and some that got them really frustrated.
Andrew wants me to say that we're thinking about getting a dog soon. I'm not so sure he really means soon. But it's in the plans down the line. Things have definitely calmed down for us- most people are working longer hours and traveling, so we're at home a lot more. Plus, it'll be nice for him to have someone to cuddle with while I'm away on trips.
I'll make this a long post! This week is Madison's book festival, so we went to a few events- a poetry friend of mine from UVa is up here getting her MFA in creative writing, which is great, because she keeps us in the loop on interesting things going on at UWM. The book festival is actually not directly associated with the University, but largely supported by it. Anyway, we went to a reading by Jeffrey Eugenides, a novelist. He has three novels- The Virgin Suicides, Middlesex, and his newest which he read from, The Marriage Plot. We all enjoyed his reading and each of us bought one of his books- I'm going to start reading Virgin Suicides and Andrew's going to start Middlesex (after he finished Slaughter House 5). We got the books signed!
Then we went to dinner, just a cheap Japanese place on State, and went back for an fellowship alumnus reading. A fellowship is basically where the University pays you to finish a book and you teach one class. There was one fiction writer (we both thought he was awful) and a poet who got her MFA at UVa!! She now teaches at Virginia Tech. In the QA I had to hold myself back from asking "So, you wish you were teaching at UVa, right?" We did like her poetry, though. It was a nostalgic experience to hear her descripe so vividly the places we used to frequent. It was also a bit frightening to hear her poems on winter clearly composed during her stay in Madison... as they say in the Midwest, "Oh geeze.."
Today we did some clothes shopping. We're eating dinner now and then we're headed back out for grocery shopping. We got some good cleaning done today!
This weekend we've made some good progress- I've been really challenging myself not to work more than 40 hours a week, but it's still been a bit of a problem for us lately that all we do is go to work, watch some tv, and sleep. We used to have so much literature and philosphy to talk about! So, that's something we're working on now- Andrew's going to work on new recipes since he loves cooking so much, and I'm going to do some decorating in the apartment- we have some plans for painting! The book festival was a really great opportunity for us- we miss the academic stimulus. Like I said- we're working on the apartment- we've gotten a little too complacent with decorating and let it get kinda blah- I'm hoping to hang some pictures this week and we'll go shopping for some decorations in a few weekends- we've decided to devote the first Saturday of the month to apartment decorating! It will be fun!!
We also decided on Wedding Wednesdays! Every Wednesday we'll work on wedding planning. Of course, if something awesome comes up, we'll reschedule, but it's nice to have time planned out for it. We've been looking at alternate choices in Atlanta, but everything we've found so far is super expensive! Osthoff is just so right for us.. but we do want to be sure our family and friends can come.
More more!! On Wednesday, we went to see Seth Meyers (from SNL) do stand up- he was hilarious! And he talked to me! He asked for couples in the crowd- I raised my hand (we were second row!) and he asked how long we'd been together. We were not extactly what he was looking for material wise- he chose to focus on the couple that had been together one year and met at a frat party. It was so much fun though!
Okay, dinner is ready so I'm going to go now. I hope you enjoyed this rambling update. I've got more to come! There is a very exciting new man in my life that I'd love to tell you all about!!
Friday, October 7, 2011
Back from the Business Trip
You'll have to excuse the bad webcam photo- if I wait to post until I get all my pictures uploaded, I just never post!
I'm back home after 4 days in sunny California... or should I say, cold, rainy Fresno. Everyone kept telling me, "the weather is usually beautiful! I can't remember the last time it rained like this!" ....Lucky me!
Still, while Fresno wasn't a dream location, I had so much fun seeing palm trees everywhere, spanish-style architecture. And I flew over the Sierras and the Rockies! They are so beautiful! I have now added Yosemite National Park to my list of must do vacations (along with San Francisco and Greece).
It was also a great trip- a hospital was going live and I was on the floor, helping the users. I had fun helping people out and seeing what a real, live HIM department was like. Our company is really big on feedback, so I knew the AC and AM (the people in charge of HIM for that customer) would be sending back reviews of my performance to my TL (basically, my boss)- and I think it should all be good! I think they could tell how much I wanted to help the department succeed and be happy with our product. (at least I hope so!)
In ever better news, ANDREW JUST GOT HOME! He was off on a go-live too, out in some weird named town in Wisconsin, a bit outside Madison. He had a really great time and everyone at the hospital loved him... as always! He is such a charmer.
Warning: PDA ahead!
Our three year anniversary is tomorrow! We're going to go to the aboretum to see the beautiful autumn trees and then go out to a fancy dinner. AND we're going to call a resort we think might be THE ONE! It even serves free-range chicken!! Thanks to my momma for finding it!
Okay, time to go cuddle on the couch, have some dinner, catch up on our TV shows, and maybe see some friends after that. I love Fridays!
(Oh, and I also got staffed! To the place I wanted! It has direct flights, too! I am super excited!!)
They told us in PM Camp to cool it on the exclamation points.. but I don't think that's going to happen. It is part of who I am!!! I am exclamatory!!!!!
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Workin' for the Weekend
I'll update about work now, too.
It is going well. I'm almost done with my 6 month training requirements. I'm hoping to have them all done by mid October! I'm going to really have to push myself though! All I have left are two tests on the healthcare industry, one more immersion trip, and an HIM implementation training project. I'm taking the first test next week. It's been really interesting to learn the ins and outs of the healthcare industry and the history of its development. I feel like I have a much better understanding of the healthcare debate now. I'm not worried about the tests, but it's been hard to get this project finished. I like taking tests better because you set an exam time and have to stick to it. The project is all on my own... meaning if I push back the deadline nobody cares. Argh. But I am determined to have it done by the end of October at the very latest, so I can get my training-completion pay bump!
I'm also scheduling myself for training in other applications. In October, I'll learn all about Access- basically the front desk staff- admitting and transferring patients, gathering info, all of that.
I will be staffed to a customer on Monday! I am very excited but also a little nervous. It is 90% that I will get my first choice location- which Andrew will definitely enjoy. I'll post when it's officical :)
Andrew keeps on succeeding at work. This week we hosted all of our customers for a big conference including classes where customers share what has worked best for them and testing where they can give us feedback on new developments for our upcoming software release.
Andrew ran all the user testing for his application, writing all the scripts they go through and coordinating the entire thing- finding people on his application to staff the room with him and getting users to attend. He was so successful! He decided to hand out fliers during their application's classes, which lead to a crazy high attendance level. Everyone was really impressed with how many people turned up. They also found a lot of things to fix, so now Andrew is working on recording and reporting all of those. He is a star! He'll deny it, but it's true.
It is going well. I'm almost done with my 6 month training requirements. I'm hoping to have them all done by mid October! I'm going to really have to push myself though! All I have left are two tests on the healthcare industry, one more immersion trip, and an HIM implementation training project. I'm taking the first test next week. It's been really interesting to learn the ins and outs of the healthcare industry and the history of its development. I feel like I have a much better understanding of the healthcare debate now. I'm not worried about the tests, but it's been hard to get this project finished. I like taking tests better because you set an exam time and have to stick to it. The project is all on my own... meaning if I push back the deadline nobody cares. Argh. But I am determined to have it done by the end of October at the very latest, so I can get my training-completion pay bump!
I'm also scheduling myself for training in other applications. In October, I'll learn all about Access- basically the front desk staff- admitting and transferring patients, gathering info, all of that.
I will be staffed to a customer on Monday! I am very excited but also a little nervous. It is 90% that I will get my first choice location- which Andrew will definitely enjoy. I'll post when it's officical :)
Andrew keeps on succeeding at work. This week we hosted all of our customers for a big conference including classes where customers share what has worked best for them and testing where they can give us feedback on new developments for our upcoming software release.
Andrew ran all the user testing for his application, writing all the scripts they go through and coordinating the entire thing- finding people on his application to staff the room with him and getting users to attend. He was so successful! He decided to hand out fliers during their application's classes, which lead to a crazy high attendance level. Everyone was really impressed with how many people turned up. They also found a lot of things to fix, so now Andrew is working on recording and reporting all of those. He is a star! He'll deny it, but it's true.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Weekend In
I have been fighting off a cold all week. It is a perfect storm in Verona- the past two weeks are no travel weeks, so EVERYONE is on campus, about 7,000 cutomers came from all over the country- and most of them work with sick people, and the temperature dropped about 30 degrees overnight to kick off the second week of September and never came back up.
So, I wasn't feeling too great:
On our way home, we bought chicken, noodles, bread, cheese, and a pack of veggies to make my favorite sick-day meal, chicken noodle soup with grilled cheese!
Yum yum! Also, I got a haircut. Andrew's haircut is way better though. Everyone thinks he looks dashing, especially me :) I think our night in worked because I'm certainly not getting sicker like I thought I would.
So, I wasn't feeling too great:
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Saturday, September 10, 2011
It's September?!
As soon as September 1st hit Madison, there was a drastic change. I can't go out anymore without a sweater! It is BIZZARE to realize fall is coming! It's a little exciting, as I'd pretty much exhausted my summer wardrobe, but also pretty terrifying as fall will be a short prelude to our First Wisconsin Winter.
Well, what all has happened since we last updated y'all?
We have been working a bit harder on Wedding planning- we started making lists of songs we want (and ones we will NOT allow- I'm looking at you, Journey)- but then that got into a discussion of whether we want a DJ or a live band, and well, we just don't know. This is tough stuff!
In work news, we had some big accomplishments! I got certified in my application (with a (99% on my final test!) and Andrew has even bigger news--- he got the most bugs per software test out of anyone on his team for the month! It's a really big deal (even though he'll tell you otherwise) because he's the only new person on his team- everyone else has been there years- and he got a late start since he was still in training! Most new QA staff haven't even started doing real tests yet. He is a super star!
I just posted a lot of photos from August on my Facebook. Go check them out! I'll try to post some stories about them.
Tonight we are staying in, playing cards and watching movies.
Well, what all has happened since we last updated y'all?
We have been working a bit harder on Wedding planning- we started making lists of songs we want (and ones we will NOT allow- I'm looking at you, Journey)- but then that got into a discussion of whether we want a DJ or a live band, and well, we just don't know. This is tough stuff!
In work news, we had some big accomplishments! I got certified in my application (with a (99% on my final test!) and Andrew has even bigger news--- he got the most bugs per software test out of anyone on his team for the month! It's a really big deal (even though he'll tell you otherwise) because he's the only new person on his team- everyone else has been there years- and he got a late start since he was still in training! Most new QA staff haven't even started doing real tests yet. He is a super star!
I just posted a lot of photos from August on my Facebook. Go check them out! I'll try to post some stories about them.
Tonight we are staying in, playing cards and watching movies.
Monday, August 1, 2011
It's August!
I can't believe it's been a whole month!
In yet another excuse for our lack of updates, I keep wanting to post pictures, but it is a difficult process around here! I have a post about my birthday all saved up and ready to go once I insert those darn photos.
Well, starting today we are no longer the new people!! 265 new employees start today. I wonder how many will end up on each of our teams. It's kinda sad that we aren't the newbies with all the attention on us anymore. Sure is nice to have our first paycheck though!
The poker night went really, really well! So many more people came than we thought (we didn't think many people would want to come/stay out here on a Saturday night as opposed to going downtown) so we didn't have enough chairs! Nor enough room at the table for everyone to play... but after two overcrowded hands, the crowd that wasn't as serious about poker (including me) left the table and went to go chat elsewhere. The apartment looked fantastic and we got a lot of compliments! I took some pictures afterwards, so, maybe, sometime in forever, I'll post them (no promises).
I spent all day yesterday nursing a virtual patient, taking her vitals every 4 hours, checking pain levels, administering IVs, and on and on. More to do this morning before I discharge her, but then I'm done with the project! It will be a big relief to have that over with.
Alright.. early, early start today, so I've got to get going.
Love,
Michelle
In yet another excuse for our lack of updates, I keep wanting to post pictures, but it is a difficult process around here! I have a post about my birthday all saved up and ready to go once I insert those darn photos.
Well, starting today we are no longer the new people!! 265 new employees start today. I wonder how many will end up on each of our teams. It's kinda sad that we aren't the newbies with all the attention on us anymore. Sure is nice to have our first paycheck though!
The poker night went really, really well! So many more people came than we thought (we didn't think many people would want to come/stay out here on a Saturday night as opposed to going downtown) so we didn't have enough chairs! Nor enough room at the table for everyone to play... but after two overcrowded hands, the crowd that wasn't as serious about poker (including me) left the table and went to go chat elsewhere. The apartment looked fantastic and we got a lot of compliments! I took some pictures afterwards, so, maybe, sometime in forever, I'll post them (no promises).
I spent all day yesterday nursing a virtual patient, taking her vitals every 4 hours, checking pain levels, administering IVs, and on and on. More to do this morning before I discharge her, but then I'm done with the project! It will be a big relief to have that over with.
Alright.. early, early start today, so I've got to get going.
Love,
Michelle
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Quick Update
Hello! Andrew and I have both passed two tests now!
We are our on way to certification. Right now Andrew is learning all about QA and I just finished the basics of Inpatient care. Now I'm learning about our coding software and using the database to build customer's systems. It's fun! I love learning something that's totally new to me, plus I've really loved learning more about the daily workflow of hospitals, as my wonderful momma and sister Laura are both nurses.
I also found out I will be going on my first trip on August 22nd! It's just a shadowing trip with my mentor, as part of my apprenticeship, but it will be fun to get a glimpse into the traveling world. It's nowhere exciting, just a random city in the midwest, but my mentor says it has a great candy store!
It's been a crazy week! I have a ton ton ton of work to do for all these classes. I think I'm on a good pace though!
Last night we went out downtown, but tonight we are having people over to our place for a poker night! We have been busy all day getting the place spiffed up. We will try to take some pictures and let you know how it goes! Hosting parties is a really good way to make yourself get the house clean :)
Also, although going out downtown has been fun, a lot of the places get totally packed and I just can't fathom how crazy it will be once the 40,000 undergrads get back here. Hopefully we'll get our friends to come out to our part of town more often!
Alright.. back to work! We've still got some cleaning to do!
Love,
Michelle
We are our on way to certification. Right now Andrew is learning all about QA and I just finished the basics of Inpatient care. Now I'm learning about our coding software and using the database to build customer's systems. It's fun! I love learning something that's totally new to me, plus I've really loved learning more about the daily workflow of hospitals, as my wonderful momma and sister Laura are both nurses.
I also found out I will be going on my first trip on August 22nd! It's just a shadowing trip with my mentor, as part of my apprenticeship, but it will be fun to get a glimpse into the traveling world. It's nowhere exciting, just a random city in the midwest, but my mentor says it has a great candy store!
It's been a crazy week! I have a ton ton ton of work to do for all these classes. I think I'm on a good pace though!
Last night we went out downtown, but tonight we are having people over to our place for a poker night! We have been busy all day getting the place spiffed up. We will try to take some pictures and let you know how it goes! Hosting parties is a really good way to make yourself get the house clean :)
Also, although going out downtown has been fun, a lot of the places get totally packed and I just can't fathom how crazy it will be once the 40,000 undergrads get back here. Hopefully we'll get our friends to come out to our part of town more often!
Alright.. back to work! We've still got some cleaning to do!
Love,
Michelle
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Hello!
I know it's been a while since you've heard from me.
We're trying to get used to this whole "real world" thing. It seems like all we have time for is- get up, go to work, come home, rest our feet, make dinner, eat, meet some friends/study for tests/enjoy each other's company, and then it's time for bed!
I just got assigned 8 hours of "pre-req" online classes and quizzes before a training class I'm signed up for, on top of all these interviews and research for Implementation prep and 3 tests I need to take this week. Nuts!
Well, I have a test in exactly 51 minutes so wish me luck!
I promise, soon we'll get a schedule down and I'll get better about upating and calling.
Love,
Michelle
We're trying to get used to this whole "real world" thing. It seems like all we have time for is- get up, go to work, come home, rest our feet, make dinner, eat, meet some friends/study for tests/enjoy each other's company, and then it's time for bed!
I just got assigned 8 hours of "pre-req" online classes and quizzes before a training class I'm signed up for, on top of all these interviews and research for Implementation prep and 3 tests I need to take this week. Nuts!
Well, I have a test in exactly 51 minutes so wish me luck!
I promise, soon we'll get a schedule down and I'll get better about upating and calling.
Love,
Michelle
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Just Training Away
I wish I had more exciting news to report, but alas, this week has just been lots of training, shadowing other QAers, going to meetings, and studying. I do have a test tomorrow though. Things are going pretty well, starting to settle in, and all that jazz. That's all, folks!
Although, on Monday, Michelle, myself, and a bunch of friends did win bar trivia for the first time ever! It was very exciting! We got $30 for it, so that adds up to just about two free beers each for our team of 8 next week, same time, same place, and hopefully same result!
The one exciting thing I have to report about work is that my TL (team leader) pointed me in the direction of this pretty cool book, Oncology Nursing Secrets, a hefty text all about the functioning of an oncology department. I'll be able to get refunded for purchasing it, and hopefully I can make a bit of a niche for myself by teaching from it to the whole team (a niche besides my bi-weekly recipes, that is).
Hope all is well with you!
Cheers,
Andrew
Although, on Monday, Michelle, myself, and a bunch of friends did win bar trivia for the first time ever! It was very exciting! We got $30 for it, so that adds up to just about two free beers each for our team of 8 next week, same time, same place, and hopefully same result!
The one exciting thing I have to report about work is that my TL (team leader) pointed me in the direction of this pretty cool book, Oncology Nursing Secrets, a hefty text all about the functioning of an oncology department. I'll be able to get refunded for purchasing it, and hopefully I can make a bit of a niche for myself by teaching from it to the whole team (a niche besides my bi-weekly recipes, that is).
Hope all is well with you!
Cheers,
Andrew
Location:Madison, WI
Monday, July 18, 2011
Monthly Staff Meeting
Just a short post about today. Lots of early training things, intro classes, and the like. It's pretty exciting to be starting my role, but nothing too interesting to share.
Except that today was our first monthly staff meeting. As I mentioned in the last post, all employees are required to be there, in one room, so that's approaching 5000 employees in one auditorium. I think it's pretty cool that we do that still. We all get popcorn because it used to be held in a movie theater. I guess it's basically like having a shareholders meeting since we're a private company and it's all CEO/employee owned.
Anyway, obviously I can't say everything about it, but we got to hear about all of our newest customers and what they would be paying for our software, and several of them had videos about themselves, some quite funny (in a good, intended way). Plus, Epic just had its first European Users Group Meeting with our three clients in the Netherlands as well as prospective clients there. That's obviously our exciting new frontier.
We also spent quite some time talking about Joplin, MO and the tornado because the hospital in Joplin is our client. They had been live for only three weeks, so it was really amazing to see how our software made the disaster a little bit easier for the patients and staff there. With paper, all patient records might have been destroyed, but now Epic was able to print out all the current patient records within a few hours and have them sent immediately to the rescue workers and staff there on the scene.
Finally, we had a good one hour of speaking and Q&A with our CEO, Judy Faulker, who seems like an incredible woman. We voted as a company on certain things, and anyone could just get up and comment on anything. It was a pretty incredible atmosphere.
Plus, I'll just note that one client went live with Beacon, my application [oncology], in Hawaii, so.....let's hope for an immersion trip.
Alright, time to cook dinner and go to trivia. Hope all is well with you.
Cheers,
Andrew
Except that today was our first monthly staff meeting. As I mentioned in the last post, all employees are required to be there, in one room, so that's approaching 5000 employees in one auditorium. I think it's pretty cool that we do that still. We all get popcorn because it used to be held in a movie theater. I guess it's basically like having a shareholders meeting since we're a private company and it's all CEO/employee owned.
Anyway, obviously I can't say everything about it, but we got to hear about all of our newest customers and what they would be paying for our software, and several of them had videos about themselves, some quite funny (in a good, intended way). Plus, Epic just had its first European Users Group Meeting with our three clients in the Netherlands as well as prospective clients there. That's obviously our exciting new frontier.
We also spent quite some time talking about Joplin, MO and the tornado because the hospital in Joplin is our client. They had been live for only three weeks, so it was really amazing to see how our software made the disaster a little bit easier for the patients and staff there. With paper, all patient records might have been destroyed, but now Epic was able to print out all the current patient records within a few hours and have them sent immediately to the rescue workers and staff there on the scene.
Finally, we had a good one hour of speaking and Q&A with our CEO, Judy Faulker, who seems like an incredible woman. We voted as a company on certain things, and anyone could just get up and comment on anything. It was a pretty incredible atmosphere.
Plus, I'll just note that one client went live with Beacon, my application [oncology], in Hawaii, so.....let's hope for an immersion trip.
Alright, time to cook dinner and go to trivia. Hope all is well with you.
Cheers,
Andrew
Location:Verona Campus
Epicnic
So this Saturday was the Epicnic, that is, that Epic company picnic. And it was pretty freaking cool.
First off, the meal: free steak and lobster! And it was legit. I wish I'd gone back for seconds. So we got there, hung out and ate, caught up with some people, and then the main event of the afternoon was the annual Epic Tug-o-War tournament. It seems that tug-o-war is a big deal around here because we also have a big customer tug-o-war tournament at the Users Group Meeting in September.
If you look closely, you should be able to see the winning team there in black. Apparently they win every year: it looks like they're the Epic weight lifting club or something. No joke, they pulled an entire team to the ground, straight out of slapstick comedy.
After that, we enjoyed some time swinging up on the porch at Voyager Hall.
Definitely a beautiful afternoon. It's still hard to believe that we actually work at this place. It's so beautiful. Here's a quick look back inside Voyager Hall at the posters with the themes from all our past Users Group Meetings (UGMs).
Finally, we enjoyed some ice pops, and we took at a stab at the climbing wall.
This was the difficult side, and no, I didn't make it up. But I didn't see anyone else get any higher, so that's pretty cool.
Now it's bright and early Monday morning. We're trying to get to work by 715 to avoid traffic because today is the third Monday of the month, so we have our monthly Staff Meeting and home day. The entire company meets together for two hours at the Epicenter (our big auditorium in Voyager Hall), and no one is allowed to miss it, hence the home day designation for no travel. Should be exciting! It'll be our first chance to hear our CEO, Judy, speak.
Thanks for reading, everyone. Talk to you soon.
Cheers,
Andrew
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
First off, the meal: free steak and lobster! And it was legit. I wish I'd gone back for seconds. So we got there, hung out and ate, caught up with some people, and then the main event of the afternoon was the annual Epic Tug-o-War tournament. It seems that tug-o-war is a big deal around here because we also have a big customer tug-o-war tournament at the Users Group Meeting in September.
If you look closely, you should be able to see the winning team there in black. Apparently they win every year: it looks like they're the Epic weight lifting club or something. No joke, they pulled an entire team to the ground, straight out of slapstick comedy.
After that, we enjoyed some time swinging up on the porch at Voyager Hall.
Definitely a beautiful afternoon. It's still hard to believe that we actually work at this place. It's so beautiful. Here's a quick look back inside Voyager Hall at the posters with the themes from all our past Users Group Meetings (UGMs).
Finally, we enjoyed some ice pops, and we took at a stab at the climbing wall.
This was the difficult side, and no, I didn't make it up. But I didn't see anyone else get any higher, so that's pretty cool.
Now it's bright and early Monday morning. We're trying to get to work by 715 to avoid traffic because today is the third Monday of the month, so we have our monthly Staff Meeting and home day. The entire company meets together for two hours at the Epicenter (our big auditorium in Voyager Hall), and no one is allowed to miss it, hence the home day designation for no travel. Should be exciting! It'll be our first chance to hear our CEO, Judy, speak.
Thanks for reading, everyone. Talk to you soon.
Cheers,
Andrew
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Madison, WI
Friday, July 15, 2011
Catching Up
Hello, everyone!
We're both so sorry about failing to blog this past week. It has been so busy, with classes, our first test, and also making sure we meet lots of new people and build our relationships with them. So, I hope I haven't lost all of y'all, and here's a catch-up!
So, it's been since last Thursday that we updated y'all. On Friday, we finished up a successful first week at work without much ado, and went out that night to a downtown bar, and it was basically populated by the entirety of our orientation group. It was great fun, and we met even more cool people. We've gotten really lucky in meeting some great people really quickly.
On Sunday, we went down to Chicago to celebrate Michelle's birthday, which was this past Monday. I'll let her talk all about that and her day at work Monday though!
As for this second week of orientation, it's been another really successful week. Lots and lots of background on the healthcare industry, and we had our first test in that Thursday. Other basic orientation stuff all week. I've had several meetings already with my team, and everyone seems great. I brought in some of our family bean dip to bribe them for friendships today :) Success! And I've already scheduled two more tests and much more training time to keep up with my team leader's (TL's) expectations. Next week I start actually learning about my specific role, which will be nice after lots of basic stuff that often felt like a waste of time.
Tomorrow is the company wide family picnic, so that should be fun too.
That's a brief overview of what's been going on. I promise to be better about it from here on out. Always feel free to email with questions.
Love y'all! Talk to you soon!
Andrew
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
We're both so sorry about failing to blog this past week. It has been so busy, with classes, our first test, and also making sure we meet lots of new people and build our relationships with them. So, I hope I haven't lost all of y'all, and here's a catch-up!
So, it's been since last Thursday that we updated y'all. On Friday, we finished up a successful first week at work without much ado, and went out that night to a downtown bar, and it was basically populated by the entirety of our orientation group. It was great fun, and we met even more cool people. We've gotten really lucky in meeting some great people really quickly.
On Sunday, we went down to Chicago to celebrate Michelle's birthday, which was this past Monday. I'll let her talk all about that and her day at work Monday though!
As for this second week of orientation, it's been another really successful week. Lots and lots of background on the healthcare industry, and we had our first test in that Thursday. Other basic orientation stuff all week. I've had several meetings already with my team, and everyone seems great. I brought in some of our family bean dip to bribe them for friendships today :) Success! And I've already scheduled two more tests and much more training time to keep up with my team leader's (TL's) expectations. Next week I start actually learning about my specific role, which will be nice after lots of basic stuff that often felt like a waste of time.
Tomorrow is the company wide family picnic, so that should be fun too.
That's a brief overview of what's been going on. I promise to be better about it from here on out. Always feel free to email with questions.
Love y'all! Talk to you soon!
Andrew
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Madison, WI
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Fete de Marquette
It was so much fun! They festival is all this weekend up on Willy Street which is the hippy part of town, and this event did not disappoint. They had a "green bar" that gave you reusable mugs and the whole place was filled with dreadlocked dancing hippies hula hooping and grooving to the music. There were so many hippy mamas in their hippy sun dresses dancing with their little babies in their arms. It was very cute. This city just feels like a bizarre time-warp sometimes.
The festival is a celebration of French culture, so the whole line up is French influenced. The first band we saw was from New Orleans and the second was all the way from Niger! They were so awesome. Two electric guitars and the lead singer/guitarist was so into it. We loved watching him dance as he played. The first band was great too. I am a sucker for some good saxophone, and when paired with guitar and a hilarious front man with a solid jazz voice? Please.
We're thinking we'll head back there tomorrow night! Weekend finally!! It's my birthday on Monday so Andrew surprised me with tickets to Medieval Times on Sunday night and I could not be more excited. I've never been and I've been aching to go for years!
Do any of you have exciting plans for the weekend? We'd love to hear from you!
Much love,
Michelle
The festival is a celebration of French culture, so the whole line up is French influenced. The first band we saw was from New Orleans and the second was all the way from Niger! They were so awesome. Two electric guitars and the lead singer/guitarist was so into it. We loved watching him dance as he played. The first band was great too. I am a sucker for some good saxophone, and when paired with guitar and a hilarious front man with a solid jazz voice? Please.
We're thinking we'll head back there tomorrow night! Weekend finally!! It's my birthday on Monday so Andrew surprised me with tickets to Medieval Times on Sunday night and I could not be more excited. I've never been and I've been aching to go for years!
Do any of you have exciting plans for the weekend? We'd love to hear from you!
Much love,
Michelle
The Loft!
Finally, the camera is charged and we have some time.. so I'll give you a little tour of the place!
The front door is in this picture, so you walk in and the kitchen is to your left. It's not too big. Just a stove on one side and the sink on the other with counter space next to it. We're already replenishing our wine bottle collection!
Here's a closer view of the couch and balcony.
And here's the den from the dining area. Andrew's family gave us two pieces of art for his birthday. It's the text of the Iliad (bottom) and the Odyssey (top) printed and readable, but it creates negative space in the words to illustrate a scene from the work. SO COOL. You can see better detail at Poster Text.
Here is the dining area, as seen from the couch.
A close up of the table.. little cow cheese servers that we bought here in WI, our little birdy s&p shakers, and cookies!!
Here is a close up of the bookshelf against the other wall in the dining area. We have all our nice hardbacks here. And, of course, our TJ bust from Katie and Chairman Mao from Julia! We also have our signed Chipper Jones and Joe Torre baseballs.
Now, you can see the loft! Andrew's sitting up there getting papers ready for our first day of work. That's the edge of the breakfast bar and the couch in the photo, so you can get a sense of the space.
Oh, and just for good measure, here's a better shot of the guest bathroom you can see in the photo.
I didn't take a photo of the guest bedroom because the bed wasn't made (the Jehls just left and we haven't done laundry yet) and it's still got a bunch of boxes. That will be our weekend project.
The loft is the other space we haven't quite polished up yet. It usually looks better than this, though. Andrew was copying a bunch of materials we needed for our first day of work so he moved the chair out from the desk. We have a ton of office supplies but not enough places to store them. A file cabinet will have to be our our list of furniture to purchase.
Here is the view from the loft down into the living room!
Our bedroom is in a separate room off from the loft.
Here's another shot showing more of our new furniture from Andrew's aunt. We need a lampshade and light bulb on my side!
Closet and window. The bedroom is HUGE. We really don't know what to do with all the space.
And this is just to show you that the bedroom has vaulted ceilings too!
And finally, the master bedroom up in the loft.
I hope you enjoyed the little tour! Maybe I'll make a video this weekend.
I had a great day at work today. Andrew and I are off to some French fete Festival thing downtown tonight with a friend of mine from Monticello who is up here visiting family. Andrew read that Madison does it every year around Bastille day. Have a good night!
Love,
Michelle
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Disclaimer and Request
Hello everyone,
As you may have gathered from the invite, we decided to make this blog private. We created this space to keep in touch and give you a sneak peak into our lives here in Madison and our new jobs at Epic. Although we are going to be careful not to post any trade secrets, we want to be extra careful when it comes to sharing information about our work experience. We would really appreciate it if you would refrain from sharing anything we post about work without our permission. If there is anyone you think we missed in our blog invite, please let us know and include his or her email.
Thanks!
Cheers,
Andrew and Michelle
As you may have gathered from the invite, we decided to make this blog private. We created this space to keep in touch and give you a sneak peak into our lives here in Madison and our new jobs at Epic. Although we are going to be careful not to post any trade secrets, we want to be extra careful when it comes to sharing information about our work experience. We would really appreciate it if you would refrain from sharing anything we post about work without our permission. If there is anyone you think we missed in our blog invite, please let us know and include his or her email.
Thanks!
Cheers,
Andrew and Michelle
A View of Epic
Just thought I'd share some pictures from Epic on the blog. It's gorgeous!
This is the porch outside the cafeteria (which is delicious AND cheap):
This is also outside, facing the cafeteria:
Here's a view that is right outside the door to my office building, which is called Fomalhaut:
Here's us in the quad of the old campus (The one I'm on. Michelle is in Isis, on the new campus. By old and new, we mean building time. They're still connected):
Finally, here we are by the visitors' entrance with Humpty Dumpty:
That's all I've got for now. Will post more and tell more soon!
Cheers,
Andrew
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
This is the porch outside the cafeteria (which is delicious AND cheap):
This is also outside, facing the cafeteria:
Here's a view that is right outside the door to my office building, which is called Fomalhaut:
Here's us in the quad of the old campus (The one I'm on. Michelle is in Isis, on the new campus. By old and new, we mean building time. They're still connected):
Finally, here we are by the visitors' entrance with Humpty Dumpty:
That's all I've got for now. Will post more and tell more soon!
Cheers,
Andrew
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Madison, WI
My First Day
Up early again this morning with some extra time, so I thought I'd share about my first day.
Lots of orientation stuff, as you'd imagine, but it was pretty cool all around. First thing we met with our mentors, and mine is a guy I'll call Immanuel. He's been working at Epic for seven years on my application, Beacon--which is the oncology app--and we'll be working on the same team and actually sharing an office for some time. Luckily, he seems to be a really cool guy. By the end of the day, we actually had quite a bit of a rapport going. That was definitely the most exciting fact about the day.
Or shared office is in the building named Fomalhaut (pronounced foh-muhl-hawt), the New York City themed building, and we've got a large window with a view of a rooftop garden. It's pretty sweet. We're a pretty small application, so my whole team is basically in my hall and the one over, and my team lead is just around the corner. I'm the only new member of the team, at least on the Quality Assurance (QA) side, so I'll get to move into an already well-functioning team, I imagine, which I think is a pretty cool way to do it. I know Michelle and others are part of teams adding several members.
Otherwise, we started out the day with the basics you'd imagine, getting to know the companies principles, ten commandments, and it's culture. I can do a post on those later since I don't have much time now. Then we had an overview of how epic worked, followed by tutorials on system access, the training process, our computers and epic web pages, plus good times with tax and work ID forms.
That's about it really, but overall I was pretty stoked.
Hopefully I'll get to pass along more info soon. Thanks for reading,
Andrew
Lots of orientation stuff, as you'd imagine, but it was pretty cool all around. First thing we met with our mentors, and mine is a guy I'll call Immanuel. He's been working at Epic for seven years on my application, Beacon--which is the oncology app--and we'll be working on the same team and actually sharing an office for some time. Luckily, he seems to be a really cool guy. By the end of the day, we actually had quite a bit of a rapport going. That was definitely the most exciting fact about the day.
Or shared office is in the building named Fomalhaut (pronounced foh-muhl-hawt), the New York City themed building, and we've got a large window with a view of a rooftop garden. It's pretty sweet. We're a pretty small application, so my whole team is basically in my hall and the one over, and my team lead is just around the corner. I'm the only new member of the team, at least on the Quality Assurance (QA) side, so I'll get to move into an already well-functioning team, I imagine, which I think is a pretty cool way to do it. I know Michelle and others are part of teams adding several members.
Otherwise, we started out the day with the basics you'd imagine, getting to know the companies principles, ten commandments, and it's culture. I can do a post on those later since I don't have much time now. Then we had an overview of how epic worked, followed by tutorials on system access, the training process, our computers and epic web pages, plus good times with tax and work ID forms.
That's about it really, but overall I was pretty stoked.
Hopefully I'll get to pass along more info soon. Thanks for reading,
Andrew
Monday, July 4, 2011
What I Do When Not Working
Cook! So, hopefully to my family and friend's delight, I will often share what I've recently been fixing up. I'm pretty proud of what I concocted last night for Michelle and my parents, so here goes my first post. These recipes both came from the magazine Garden Fresh Recipes, which I just picked up from the grocy store the other day. It's wonderful.
Main Course: Fajita Chicken Breasts with Sliced Sweet Potatoes
Prep: 25 Minutes Cook: 35 Minutes
Makes: 4 servings
4 Chicken Breasts with (or without) bone, skinned [recipe called for 8 thighs, but we had boneless skinless breasts we'd picked from Jenehr Farms on Saturday]
1/2 t. (sea) salt
1/4 t. ground black pepper
1 T. Olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, halved and thinly sliced
1 T. grated fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup chicken broth [we actually left this out since it's hard to find free range broth, and I just added more olive oil]
2 t. Jamaican jerk seasoning [we substituted fajita seasoning, basically the same]
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled, halved length-wise, and sliced 1/2 inch thick (about 1 pound)
Snipped fresh cilantro
1) sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. In an extra-large skilled heat oil over medium heat. Add chicken; cook just until browned on both sides. Remove chicken from skillet. Drain fat, reserving 1 T.
2) in the same skillet, cook onion, ginger, and garlic in the remaining fat. Cook and stir about 4 minutes or until tender. Add broth [oil], stirring to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the skillet.
3) return chicken to skillet. Sprinkle chicken with seasoning. Return to boil, and then reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for 20 minutes. Add sweet potatoes, cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes more, or until chicken is done and potatoes are tender. Sprinkle with cilantro.
Side Dish: Green Beans with Lemon and Walnuts
Start to Finish: 20 Minutes
Makes: 4 side-dish servings
12 ounces fresh green beans, trimmed
1 T. Butter
1/4 cup chopped walnuts [be generous]
1 t. Grated fresh ginger
1/4 t. Finely shredded lemon peel (much much better if from a fresh lemon)
1 t. Lemon juice
1) in a medium saucepan, cook beans, covered, in a small amount of boiling salted water until crisp-tender. Drain.
2) meanwhile, in a small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add walnuts and ginger; cook for 2 to 3 minutes, being very careful not to burn your nuts. Remove from heat; stir in lemon peel and juice. Stir nut mixture into cooked beans.
And above is our finished product, served with a Rose from Saint Laurent vineyards in Washington state. It was delicious, and if you've never had sweet potato cooked in a skillet, you should definitely give it a try. Enjoy!
Cheers,
Andrew
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Hello world!
Andrew and I just created this blog so we can share with you all of our adventures in Madison, our work experiences, my travel, and all the rest.
Thank you for stopping in! Tomorrow we say goodbye to Andrew's parents who were here for the weekend (which was waaaaay too short!!!) and we start our jobs on Tuesday! The apartment really looks like a home now that we have real furniture and art on the walls.
BBQ tomorrow! Look for updates soon!
Love,
Michelle
Thank you for stopping in! Tomorrow we say goodbye to Andrew's parents who were here for the weekend (which was waaaaay too short!!!) and we start our jobs on Tuesday! The apartment really looks like a home now that we have real furniture and art on the walls.
BBQ tomorrow! Look for updates soon!
Love,
Michelle