Heading Down Under

My manager talked to the Vice-President of Operations yesterday about my proposal to "work remotely" from Australia. It went surprisingly well. While we were more worried about trying to convince the VP that my job is actually done more productively when not bothered by constant interruptions and meetings, what we probably should have been concerned with were the legal aspects of me living out of the country and still working for the company. Apparently, it can't just be treated as if I'm just visiting Josh and happening to do work. Huh, who knew? Our human resources woman is going to figure out what to do with me (most likely treat me as an independent contractor with some increase in salary to account for employer FICA/Medicare that I'll have to pay when we get back) and we'll hopefully get it all settled this coming week.

Just having that conversation out of the way takes a huge load off my shoulders. I might have kind of, just a little bit freaked out on the phone with Josh this past Tuesday (I was in Arlington) and cried for a good 30 minutes. Even just 5 days ago, there seemed to be a billion things that needed to be done and that we didn't have details on. Since then, we have figured out (from the Site Services manager) what exactly comes in the furnished house in Australia, discussed renting our house options with Beth and Scott, started the process of getting our roof fixed (it takes moving out the country to do that???), received Josh's passport, started our 2008 tax return, sent in my passport for renewal and took a visit to Wachovia today to get Josh added onto my accounts. There are now only about a million things left on the list to take care of in the next 7ish weeks.

Along with those items include making it home to see family. We are actually in LaGrange this weekend and next week we have a trip planned for Rochester to see Moesha (booked about 2 weeks before we found out about Australia). With an upcoming wedding and a new baby due, we want to see everyone as much as possible. It'll be easy for me since I'll be coming back to the States every so often, but Josh is basically staying abroad for the entire year. Luckily, it seems that everyone wants to make a trip to Australia!