I am leaving my unit...

Yesterday my unit and I went to lunch at the Dead Fish in Crockett. It was a goodbye lunch because I am moving to supervise a new unit. I have been in the unit almost 8 years! 4 as a Child Welfare Worker and 3.5 as a supervisor. It is time for a change, but it isn't easy to leave. For the first time since I have been supervising the unit, I feel like we are really bonded and cohesive. We also have the best assistant/clerk in the entire agency!
Anyway, it was a bittersweet celebration. We had wonderful seafood (I had a delicious crab louis and fried calamari for appetizer) and carrot cake for dessert. The Dead Fish is in a beautiful location right next to the Carquinas Bridge and with a 180 degree vista of the water. It was really warm on the patio outside, but it was worth the view. They gave me a lovely card and a couple of very appropriate gift certificates. One for my favorite Ethiopian restaurant and the other for a pedicure. They are the sweetest and I will really miss them all.
Happily, I know they will be in good hands when I am gone. We finally found out who is going to take over the K230 Unit.

When I return from vacation on 9/8/08, I will be reporting to what I lovingly refer to as "the haunted building." St. Joseph's Hospital is located on 26th and International Blvd. in Oakland. It is really close to the Fruitvale neighborhood and therefore LOTS of Mexican food! In a month or so we will be moving into Eastmont Mall. How fun! I actually don't think it will be bad and it makes a lot of sense for our clients.
Oh, yes, our clients... I will be supervising the Independent Living Skills Unit. Mostly what this means is that I will have a lot more interaction with the clients who are all teenagers. 15.5 - 19 and then the emancipated kids up to 25. I will also be intimately involved in developing different programs for our teens, as well as various programs that have already been developed, such as the various independent living classes, youth adult partnerships, contracts with outside agencies that serve the youth both before and after emancipation, and a growing movement toward finding permanent connections for the kids/adults who are emancipating into the big wide world. It is a very exciting move for me at a pivotal point in the history of the Agency and ILSP. There are many inspired changes afoot in the program that I will be a part of.
Furthermore, I am totally thrilled that my former first supervisor when I arrived at the Agency, then co-worker, will once again be my supervisor! Sonya was promoted to Program Manager over the ILSP and Group Homes Section. I am really really excited to get started!!

Until then,,,

Training

I have started training again. I have a triathlon Sunday September 28 - The Mermaid in Santa Cruz, and the Nike Women's 1/2 Marathon in October. I started a training group which has been pretty successful. I can usually find at least one person to train with most days which truly keeps me motivated. First of all, I am accountable to more than just myself and second, I am more likely to get out there when I have someone else to go with. We have been all over too, which is nice. I go to Danville on Sunday mornings at 8m generally. Then on Wednesdays we have been to Inspiration Point/Nimitz Trail, Lake Merritt, Lake Chabot, San Ramon, and today I was at Cesar Chavez. My running has improved significantly. I am actually looking forward to it some of the time. This is a huge improvement. I am going to start putting in the biking and swimming next week. And I really need to make my runs a bit longer as well. September will be here before I know it.
Angel's Camp Triathlon was killer and really kicked my ass. I almost passed out on the run. I was completely dehydrated due to the heat and obviously not having enough water. It was quite an ego crusher, because I have usually done pretty well. It was also much longer than most of the sprints I have done, so I expected it to take lots less time than it actually did. I want to be in better condition for the next one!