As I was cleaning off memory cards before going to Africa I realized I had pictures I'd promised to do something with that well... I'd done nothing with. So a quick summary of life before the trip...
I guess first I should say that I had a semi-surprise at the end of March when I was part of a group that was informed that we had been selected for the workforce reduction program at Myrexis - corporate speak for layoffs. I had a feeling for several months that I wouldn't survive the next round of layoffs, but I thought I had a few more months before it happened - therefore the semi-surprise. But don't worry about me... I was fortunate to get a really good severance package and so I have a cushion while I look for a new job. I'm hopeful that I'll be able to find something (and hopefully soon) in Salt Lake and be able to stay here - but prayers would be appreciated!!
You may ask what I've been doing with my free time ...
For a while I got into making cupcakes - these are Oreo Cupcakes (recipe from
BeanTown Baker)
And I've gotten a big kick out of watching the 4 legged creature... this was her napping position one day
And you know how when you move into a new place you have boxes that you say you'll go through later when you have time? Well, I have now gone through all of mine and cleaned out a couple of closets in the process (and once again I wonder how I manage to collect so many precious treasures). And I got a garden planted - I always have such high hopes going into gardening season and by the fall I'm thrilled if I get a pumpkin I can use at Halloween!!
I also had some visitors! Mom and Papsan came and spent Easter weekend with me. And Kirk and Luci and their boys came up for a day:
And then Marc and Ariane and their gang came! We first celebrated this little girl's 2nd birthday (how cute is she??! And she actually seemed to like me - for the most part at least.
The next morning she wanted her hair braided like her big sisters... didn't work too well!
We couldn't get the little miss to sit for a picture with Grandma and Grandpa, but look at her big brother and sisters! I just wish there weren't so many miles between us.
And before they flew home, we had some good times in the ottoman (of all things!)
How cute is this?!
Who would have thought when I started at Myriad 13 1/2 years ago when I was about employee 100, that Myriad would grow to almost 1000 employees, have spun off a privately held company Prolexys, and would soon spin off a completely independent, publicly traded company. I was there in the early days of the ground breaking genetic testing, helped to automate a protein-protein interaction system, helped automate and design the high throughput sequencing facility that sequenced rice, corn, and grape genomes, was in awe of the group that helped with the DNA identification of World Trade Center remains after 9/11, and had such high hopes for our Alzheimer's drug that ended up failing miserably in clinical trials. It's been a crazy, wild, and often a really incredible ride. Thanks Myriad and here's to our continued success...
Progess continues on the new building at work... but we found out late last year that Myriad Pharmaceuticals is going to be spun off into a stand alone company on July 1, 2009, and this building will be ours. It's hard to think that after 13 years I won't be an employee of Myriad anymore... As part of the preparation for this separation, after the Christmas and New Year's holidays we had a big layoff... Discovery Biology (which I'm in) went from 72 employees to 41. I have never been so grateful to have a job!! I figure we have about 1 1/2 to 2 years worth of money and the hope is that in that time we'll be able to get one of our drugs currently in clinical trials either FDA approved or find a partner to help with the costs of clinical trials. Work is really, really busy... which is good, I just hope it lasts!!
