Friday, February 27, 2009

So... Close....

Just a few hours left, and nothing left to do. I processed out this morning, copied all of my important computer files to a CD for my replacement, wrote her a letter explaining the stuff I was leaving, and am about to go have lunch with a group of folks who are going to miss me.

You know, I miss the people I worked with at my last job, but I don't miss the job. I was well past ready to go when I left the bank. I was miserable. This is the first time I've ever left a job where I wasn't really miserable, just knew I wasn't supposed to be here anymore. It's been a good job, and I've made some more good friends. I feel like I'm leaving under better terms this time. I'm not running away from an impossible, insane situation. I'm just going home.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Nuthin'

I got nuthin'. Just trying to finish up a bunch of stuff at work that I don't want to deal with anyway. And dealing with another busy week at home trying to get ready for our trip and a baby shower Thursday evening. I feel like I'm in limbo between now and whatever comes next, and time is crawling by. See. There went another second, aimlessly walking across my desk at a leisurely pace. Move it, man! Come on! Go! Go! Go!

Sigh. It doesn't work.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

A Place I Was Meant to Be

We're going to Vegas, Baby! We should get married while we're there! Oh wait...

Yes, we're going to Disney next week, but more imporatantly, I get to go to Las Vegas with Greg at the end of April to lounge in luxury at the Rio while he does boring work conference stuff. Awesome! What's the most awesome part? The Rio is located on Flamingo Road. Heh.

The real reason for the excitement over the trip is the opportunity to visit a place we've both wanted to go for a long, long time. The Pinball Hall of Fame. Laugh if you want, but we luvs us some pinball. This place has pinball. 142 tables worth. Including my arch nemisis, Pinbot. As well as Greg's favorite, Monopoly. They also have a few I've played on the Wii and PSP that I'd like to get a closer look at, like Tee'd Off.

While pulling up the link to use in this post I read something I found really interesting on their website. They're an official 503(c) non-profit. Everything they earn over necessities goes to the Salvation Army. Here's a quote from the guy who runs the place:

Tim says, 'I like the Salvation Army a lot because they're kinda like us. They're downtown on the cheap side, and they put all their emphasis on the areas that need emphasis, and not a lot on hierarchy and organization. When the crap hit the fan with Katrina, the government failed completely, the Red Cross failed mostly, but everybody that was there said the Salvation Army was exemplary in every way. This is why we help the Salvation Army. They are unlike any other charity or government, very little overhead and helping lots of people that need it. Today's society is often too self-centered to bother doing community service. So I'm just giving them a vehicle where they think they're being self-indulging by playing pinball, but they are really helping charity.'
>

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Eggs, the Sequel

I like eggs. No, I don't mean the kind that make omelets, although I am a fan of those too. I mean the plastic vessels of goodness that show up in stores this time of year. Last year about this time the Valentine's Bunny went a little nuts while Greg was out of town. This year it's more about the Mouse.

We leave for Disney in one week. Yes, I know we just went in September but it's Greg's favorite place in the entire world so I accept the fact that if he's breathing, he wants to go. Sure. Let's go. Last time I started a countdown calendar. This time we're counting down my days until unemployment, so that would be redundant. Last week while Greg was bowling I got the bright idea to get the WDW Trivia book that my mom bought Greg at Christmas and find some interesting questions. I found quite a few and typed them up, not entirely sure what I was going to do with them...

Tonight it hit me. EGGS. I knew Greg had saved the big bag of eggs from last year, so I thought I'd use those. Except I couldn't find them. I knew I couldn't very well go ask Greg what he'd done with them, because he gets suspicious every time I even think about a plastic egg. I was about to get frustrated, thinking I was going to have to make a run to Walmart, when I stumbled over a spare bag of eggs I bought last year just in case I needed more during the year. Awesome.

I cut out each question in strips and stuffed them inside the eggs.




I'm only putting out one or two each day, so they'll last all week. I even thought to code each question with the corresponding question number from the book, just in case I need to look up the answer. The bunny strikes again!

Friday, February 20, 2009

Random Updates

My mother-in-law has been in the hospital with pneumonia since Wednesday, and it appears they'll be keeping her at least one more day. That really sucks. She doesn't sleep when she's in the hospital, so I imagine by today she's in quite the sleep deprived delirium. We're going to go check on her again tonight.

I have five more days to walk into my office before I am unemployed. That's about 4 1/2 more than I'm really motivated to deal with.

What I am motivated to do is play my new DS addiction - Spore Creatures. Yes, I know, but I can't help it. I've become attached to the little Oogie! Now I'm contemplating buying the Wii version. I almost bought the PC version right before Circuit City closed their doors for good, but I knew I had the DS version and hadn't played it yet so I figured I should wait and see if I really liked it first. Dang it. I should have gotten it.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Tangled Webs

Last week BFF Jen emailed me and said somebody who goes to church with her FIL had recognized me in one of the pictures from the hospital when Addyson was born. She didn't know who it was, just somebody that knew me from when I worked at the bank. I must admit, that made me just a little nervous.

Today I dropped off our tax info with my most favorite CPA in the entire world and no sooner than I got back to work he'd called me. Guess who it was that recognized me in the picture? Yep, my most favorite CPA in the entire world. Whew. Now if he can just be kind with the bottom line...

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Yes, I'm a Nerd

So I was going through as many summary reports as I could find regarding the tax breaks in the stimulus package that was signed today. Wanna know what I discovered?

Out of a $800 billion stimulus package, the only thing we qualify for is an $800 tax credit for having a job.

Why do I feel screwed?

(And yes, I'm a nerd who enjoys reading about new tax laws. Sue me.)

Monday, February 16, 2009

And by the Way...

Did I mention that both of my camera batteries are dead? And that the charger is nowhere to be found. Greg and I have both searched the house, every bag every drawer, every place we might have seen it. It's just gone. Greg, being the wonderful husband that he is, went ahead and ordered me a new one last night. I figure I'll find it as soon as we get back from our trip in March. Grrr.

But all of that to say, this is why I don't have pictures of the disaster that was left in my back yard over the weekend. Or of the really cool cows at the dairy farm across from Grandma's house that I've been trying to get pictures of for I don't even know how long and were finally hanging out at the fence talking to me on Saturday while I trimmed Grandma's rose buses. At least Grandma still has all of her rose bushes. Harumph.

Rage

You know, I wasn't happy that the tree removers we hired last week tore up part of my back yard trying to work in the rain with their equipment on Friday, but I got over that pretty quick.

I wasn't happy at all that they chose to enter the back yard via the side fence where my running rose bush lives, ripping it up in the process. This would be the rose bush that survived my neighbor's libral use of Roundup and my yard guy's free hand with the weed eater. It did not survive the Bobcat. As a matter of fact, there is now no sign that it ever exited. But I got over that as well. Eventually.

What haven't I gotten over yet? The fact that they left my fence down when they left on Friday. Both the front fence and the part we'd patched in the back after the tree fell. I get that they aren't done and have to come back when the ground dries up a little, but exactly what was I supposed to do with my pup in meantime????

We were leaving town Friday, so we ended up taking Casper with us. I wasn't happy. We cut our trip short and came back Saturday evening so we could figure out how to fix the containment breach in the back yard. After a couple of attempts and one escape, we think we have him jailed enough to run free for a while. He makes us crazy when we can't let him out to run. Now if I just had a clue as to when the tree guys were coming back so I could arrage to meet them in the driveway and give them a healthy dose of my rage...

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Congratulations

A big fat happy-dance goes out to BFF Lauren on her family's brand new status of totally debt free as of today. We should start a club. And get jackets.

Firsts - UPDATED

This was the first time I ever paid outright for a car. It was also the biggest single check I've ever written (although I made Greg write it, I just signed). **

This is the first non-Ford I've ever owned, thus also making it the first Toyota.

This is the first car Greg and I have ownded jointly.

This is the first 4 cylinder vehicle I've ever owned.

It's the first car I've purchased without my dad present.

It is NOT the first red car I've ever owned, as my 1988 Thunderbird was red.

It did make me a little sad to trade in the first car Greg picked me up in for a date, which was also the only car we'd ever taken to the beach. This year we'll be taking a new one.



However, we may have to take this one back. We realized when we got home last night that it didn't have a stick antenna. What am I going to do with my collection of antenna hats? And how will I ever find it in a parking lot without a hat???

** I lied. I didn't mean to, I just forgot. We wrote a bigger check for federal taxes last year, but that wasn't actually to buy anything. And there is currently some debate as to whether or not our house payoff counted, since we didn't actually write the check, we requested a bank check. So I dunno if those two count or not. It was still a honking big check.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Gratefulness and Car Shopping

Remember last Friday when I was whining about having to take our car into the shop because it nearly died in a bad part of town on the way home from work? Well they couldn't find anything wrong with us and told us when it happened again to bring it back in. Great. Yesterday we got an instant replay, except this time the power never came back and the engine finally just died.

In our driveway.

Yes, we made it over five miles with all the warning lights on and the dash gauges flatlined, behind some very slow drivers, all the way to Clinton and right as we pulled in past our mailbox the engine died. Greg had to push it a few more feet to get it enough out of the way for us to get his car out of the carport. The wrecker was supposed to pick it up this morning. I was beyond grateful that it made it all the way home. Really, I was giddy with happiness.

So we went car shopping last night. Ironically, we don't really want to trade my car, we want to get it fixed and trade Greg's. The problem is whether or not they can find what's wrong with my car and if they do, what the heck are we going to buy? I hate car shopping. There's nothing on the lot that really makes me say, "Ooh! Pretty! I want that one!" Ok, that's a lie. I said it about a Corvette I saw on a lot last night. But we're not buying a Corvette, so it's irrelevant.

We've looked at low mileage Accords, Camrys and the like. I don't have a clue what we'll end up with. I don't really want a compact, I like the mid-sized four doors, like my Taurus. I do not really like the new Tauruses. We're not planning to finance it, we're planning to trade in the Mustang and write a check for the balance, so we won't be spending a huge pile of cash here.

We did have fun looking at some of the nicer cars and laughing like lunatics at the price tags. Call me crazy, but I'm not spending $40,000 on a car. Ever. I don't like cars that much.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Torture

I can't even describe how much I absolutely do not want to be involved with selecting candidates and doing interviews for my replacement. Really. I don't. So why, why, why did I get the email with the applications and the information about scheduling the interviews today? Blech.

Saturday, February 7, 2009

What I'm Reading

So I've been talking about how much I love being a member of Paperback Swap, but I haven't told you what I've been reading. Now I will. Here are some of the books I've gotten from PBS that I've read and enjoyed:

Charms for the Easy Life by Kaye Gibbons - This is one that Nicole had mentioned, so it was one of the first ones I looked for. I loved it. It's a celebration of the relationship between three generations of Southern women. It felt like I was wrapped up in a warm blanket listening to stories about my Grandma.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini - This isn't a book I ever would have picked up in a store, but it had gotten some interesting reviews for it on the site and I figured, eh, I'll give it a try. It's about a boy growing up in pre-Taliban Afganistan and the way his life is torn apart by war and family secrets. I'll be honest, I got so angry at the main character during the first half or so of the book that I almost put it down and didn't finish it. I'm glad I picked it back up. Wow. But it's not for the faint of heart. There are some very disturbing scenes in this book.

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger - I'll be honest here, I didn't expect to like this one as much as I did. I saw the review on the PBS home page and it caught my interest just enough to request it. It's a love story about a man who finds himself spontaneously traveling in time, not by choice, and ultimately begins to use this opportunity to get to know the woman he will marry as she is growing up. It took a couple of chapters to get the sequence to make sense in my head, but once you get over that it becomes this amazing love story. It is one of the top three books I've gotten from PBS.

Marley and Me by John Grogan - I've already talked about this one. Hysterical and very touching for anybody who's ever loved a pup.

The Poisonwood Bible
by Barbara Kingsolver - This one was very popular several years ago, but I was never willing to pay for it. It was good, although I think it could have been a hundred or so pages shorter. The story revolves around an crazy, eclectic Southern preacher and his family of daughters living as missionaries in the Congo during the 1960's. It's not my favorite, but it was worth reading.

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer - Again, I wouldn't have paid for this one, but I was curious about all the hype and since it was free... I did find Twilight to be interesting, but thought the series went downhill from there.

Those are the highlights. Now the question is what to get next. I've started reading The Shipping News, but so far I'm not impressed with it. I have a few piled up that I haven't read yet:

Empire Falls
The Greatest Generation
Water for Elephants (which I've heard is excellent)
Bee Season (on it's way, but hasn't arrived yet)

But I've build up a few credits and want to request a few other things. Some of the books on my reminder list to choose from are:

Beloved
The Friday Night Knitting Club
Girl with a Pearl Earring
Jewel
Life Expectancy
Mile Zero
My Sister's Keeper
The Secret Life of Bees
Shoot the Moon
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
Tuesdays with Morrie
Year Zero

Anybody read any of these? Suggestions? I need some travel reads for the next two months!

Another Favorite

Speaking of favorite pictures, here's one that was taken today.



Yep, that's me and my new BFF, Addyson.

Tagged

Mayberry tagged me for the photo meme, so here goes:

1) go to the 4th folder in my computer where you store your pictures. 2) pick the 4th picture in that folder. 3) explain the picture. 4) tag 4 people to do the same.



Sunset in Vicksburg. This was actually taken right after we got our new camera. We went to Vicksburg to play with it and test out some of the settings down by the river. This is actually one of my favorites.

I'm pretty sure most everybody's been tagged, but if not feel free to tag yourself!

Friday, February 6, 2009

Medical Emergency

We had to take our car to the car hospital this morning for some diagnostic surgery. The alternator went out on our way home yesterday, in a questionable part of town. Luckily, just as the entire dash was losing power we hit a bump and everything came back on long enough to get us home. Hopefully it's just a bad connection somewhere that can be fixed without replacing the alternator, which is not cheap. I've walked that path before.

It's almost like somebody is poking us with a stick. What, you want to up and quit your job? Fine, let's create some financial strain to make you question that decision!

It's not working. I wouldn't be leaving my job if we thought that would be a problem. We can afford a new alternator. Not only that, we told them to go ahead and replace the seriously cracked windshield while they have it under anesthesia. And we plan on swapping it out with Greg's Mustang when we pick it up to have some work done on it, including another windshield since his inspection sticker expired last month. Becoming a one income family only works if we can do better than survive on that one income. Thankfully, we've spent the past two years creating a lifestyle that makes it possible.

Now, anybody want to start a betting pool on how long it will take one or both cars to get another major crack across the new windshields? I'm going to go ahead and say under a week.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Careful What You Wish For

My office moved again last week. I'm not in my third space in 2 years. My last space was sorta shared with four other people, and very noisy. Insanely noisy at times. At first the noise made me crazy, but I eventually got to where I could tune it out. I would periodically join in on conversations with the other four people, giving me a little break in my day. Then out of the blue last Thursday they said, "Oh, you're moving. Today. Pack."

So now I'm back across campus, in what used to be a patient room in the old hospital. I share my office with one of the nurses, but the cubicles are set up so that I can't see her and can barely hear her when she's here, which isn't often. She is in clinic most of the time. So I'm in my little office area (smallest area yet) all alone all day...

I'm trying not to start too much stuff that I can't finish before I leave at the end of February, so things are a little slow at the moment. I have plenty of time left to sort through things and organize, but not enough to really get going on something new... I'm bored. And it's so quiet. And this is exactly what I've been asking for over the past couple of months. Sigh. I nearly nodded off at my desk mutliple times yesterday. Today I've just given myself a headache.

If every day moves this slow, I may not survive until the end of the month.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Memo

To the socially inept moron who thought it would be fun to sit around and code some idiotic computer virus that would take down hundreds of computers at a business, such as a major hospital:

I'm not actually wishing you any harm, but if you happen to be in some traumatic accident while traveling through the city where I work, I would find it ironic if your treatment were dealyed due to the fact that the computers necessary to process you into the only certified level 1 trauma facility in the state were temporarily incapitated. I'm sure that in that event those computers would have been fixed faster, but my husband wasn't there to fix them because he's on the 4pm to midnight shift all week trying to clean up your little mess.

And if that were to happen, and you end up having to wait, I hope you get to sit next to some really scary person in the waiting room. And catch a cold while you're there. And if that cold happens to get bad enough that you end up with some bronchial infection and have to be admitted to our hospital, I hope you're on a service with a lot of interns and first year residents who are clueless. And a mean nurse.

And I probably wouldn't feel bad for you if you ended up with some type of terrible skin infection where you lost use of all of your fingers, or had to have a hand amputated or something. At least then you'd have to find a new hobby and I'd get to see my husband again.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

I'm In Love





Welcome to the world, Addyson Grace. You have a lot to look forward to. And quite the fan club, judging from the mood in the waiting room all day. That silly football game took a back seat to your arrival. You're beautiful, and we all love you very much.

Jen and Rob - you do good work. She's precious.

Waiting

At the hospital waiting on Figment! Getting closer but haven't started the real action yet. I could just explode in excitement! Come on Figment! You can do it!
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