Monday, Tuesday, now it's Wednesday...

Sunday was a good day, filled with getting stuff done and a visit with Mrissa and Dena and Mrissa's family. Things I learned on Sunday:

1. Squirrels build crap-ass nests deliberately, so that when you shove at them with a 10-foot pole, while perched precariously in an apple tree, you cannot get rid of the whole thing. You can only disarrange what's there, and they then can put it back together again.

2. My child always behaves well at Cecil's.

3. I'm starting to develop a Minnesooooootah accent. Fantasy of maaaaahners, indeed.

4. Joking around about asking people to marry me makes Mike faintly uneasy. ("What was that about?")

5. Roo likes the new toys at "Missa-house".

Monday was a LONG day, ultimately (I think) profitable. Got up at 6, on the road to St. Cloud by 7:15, got there by 8:45 and spent 15 minutes reading Mr. Ford's Star Trek novel. Much to my delight, I did indeed recognize Ilen and Davith and Pam, and I could clearly hear Pam, in my head, saying the things she said in the book. Davith, with less of a speaking role, less so. But still. :)

Then it was off to interview land for the next 15+ hours. Visited hospital, clinic, spent the afternoon going over fringe benefits (health insurance and dental for my entire family!, they pay for your movers/relocation!, life insurance for gossakes!), office nuts and bolts (four days of work is 100%!), salary (130K for full time and 97.5K for 75% time!).

And I had fun and I really liked the clinic, and I'm just dying inside because despite all the good things, It's In Saint Cloud. SAINT CLOUD! And that's a hell of a commute for Mike to go to school every day, even if we were to live in Monticello.

*bangs head on desk* Saint Cloud.

OK, so.

Having never held a 'real job', I need some advice.

Do those sound like /poor/ fringe benefits or *good* fringe benefits?

1. BCBS coverage for the entire family, with any visits to any doctors at any of the St. Cloud Medical Group clinics being gratis (imaging other than plain X-ray is not gratis, but is covered by BCBS)

2. 401 K which you are eligible for after your first year (okay, 17 months because of the enrollment period) with 12 funds to choose from, and the employer matches 75 cents to the dollar, fully vested after 6 years (0%, 20%, 40$, etc), plus any quarterly profits being placed in the 401K after the first year

3. Life insurance-- 20K worth.

4. Disability insurance-- 4-6K of portable insurance and then non-portable to 65% of your income.

5. All moving expenses paid for.

6. 5 paid sick days. 16 vacation days. 4 Continuing Medical Education days (count as vacation).

7. $3K toward continuing medical education expenses.

8. $1K to cover your choice of dental & optical plans for the year.

Maybe I'm just razzle-dazzled by my first job offer ever?

Watching Bubba-Hotep

Which has a deliciously surreal quality to it.

Still musing over the possibilities of doing in-house call, which would SUCK, but would allow for us to at least live within reasonable driving distance of the U of MN.

On the other hand, if moonlighting opportunities will cover the malpractice for same (unusual these days, I think), I could make approximately $65 an hour. Which would mean I could make about 150% of what my salary is in 80 hours/month.

Something to think about, anyway.