Extension for ao!

After almost two months of waiting to get the final word from Stanford Medical Library about Ariel's job and if/when she would start up again, we finally have an answer. And if you've read the heading for this post, you know it's good.

A little background first, though. Ariel first got the okay for her leave of absence to come to Paris for the year back in August of 2008, taking effect on September 1st. The leave was only good for one full year, though. After that, Ariel would have to ask for an extension, which would involve asking higher-ups at the library and human resources, etc. Despite that, Ariel was told that asking for an extra month wouldn't be a problem, provided that she made the request well in advance (like, in the spring of 2009, for example).

Of course, that was before the global economy was flushed down the planet-sized toilet.

Fast forward to early May. Around that time Ariel wrote her boss at the library checking in and (half)jokingly asking if, you know, ha ha, she still had a job when she gets back to Palo Alto. Turns out, the answer was, "We'll let you know in a week after the big meeting." Ominous much?

Thankfully, following the scary meeting Ariel still had her job (sadly, some of her friends didn't have theirs anymore). But the question of whether or not she could get the extra month extension was still up in the air. Obviously she wanted it, but she was scared to press too hard for it out of fear of endangering her job status at the library. And if she couldn't get it, she would have to go back to Palo Alto sometime in August, which be a royal pain in the ass because a) it's already the end of June and getting a ticket for August would be damn near impossible and b) I wouldn't be able to go back with her, since I wouldn't be done with my research, meaning Ariel would have to not only be in Palo Alto alone for a month and half to two months, but she'd also have to find a place for us on her own. Needless to say, not much fun.

At first, we thought we'd hear back from the library pretty quickly. Then a week went by, and then another, and another... We started getting nervous, and I for one was convinced that she was going to have to go back in August. Ariel, meanwhile, was preparing an email to send to HR asking for the status and gently pushing for an answer if only to get a plane ticket. And then, literally as we were talking about her email and when to send it, dear sweet Marcia from Stanford Human Resources wrote to let Ariel know that she could return to work on October 5th.

Victory! Huzzah! Woot!

So, that was an incredibly long and probably boring story to say that Ariel and I will now definitely be heading back to Palo Alto at the end of September. Or, at least, Ariel will be. I still need to find a plane ticket (but that's another story). Still, we'll both definitely be back in California by early October at the latest.

In the meantime, Ariel and I celebrated tonight by drinking a nice bottle of chilled white wine along with our tasty dinner and eating some ice cream to cool down from the 90˚ heat that we had in Paris this afternoon (yet another story).

Yep, it's been a pretty good night.