The Cat’s Meow

This Caturday’s post should look familiar to those of you who’ve seen the movie Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas…

I finally decided to update my version of Wordpress since I managed to lose over a year’s worth of posts on my domain site.  Luckily I think most of those were saved on LJ.  I also had hundreds of comment spam I had to delete.  Gawd, how I HATE comment spam!

I’m still trying to work out all the kinks and get things back the way I want, but I think the site is at least functional for now.  I don’t know if I’ve managed to prevent further comment spam or not.  There are a few plugins for doing that, but I’ll have to try some out and see.

Please let me know if anything is acting really funky or not working…

=^. .^=

Originally published at The Cat’s Meow. You can comment here or there.

Cat Video

Originally published at The Cat’s Meow. You can comment here or there.

Just to warn you, it’s a little over 30 MB so if you’re on dial-up, it might take too long to download.  Also, I took this with my compact camcorder and the video quality isn’t as good as my other camcorder.  This video also has not been edited at all.  It was my cat’s one year birthday and I had been meaning to put this video up before, except I had planned on editing it, but I haven’t really had time to mess with it.  So I uploaded it ‘as is’.

Video_of_My_Cat

Originally published at The Cat’s Meow. You can comment here or there.

I had started writing a post about some of my classes which I am finding very interesting and about some other things I felt the need to about. But I’m finding that I just don’t have the energy right now to finish that post so I’m posting this one instead and will finish the other one tomorrow if I can. We do have a tropical storm (Ernesto) which is heading straight for us. It always seems that the storms seem worse when they come from the west instead of the east. Supposedly the wind isn’t going to be as bad as they first predicted, but I’m sure we’ll get hit with lots of rain and winds of 40-50 mph at least.

I spent most of the day stowing and putting away things outside that might blow around and cause damage. The university has canceled classes tomorrow, which disappointed me. I was really looking forward to class tomorrow night. I have another class on Thursday and the storm should be done by then. That’s the class that only meets every other week. The other half of our class time is done online. That is my Legal Research class. But I’ll go into more detail about my classes in my other post. I’m just so exhausted right now.

Part of it is that I’m so broke and I’m worried about bills. It’s hard to do other things when you’re worried about stuff. I’m waiting on my financial aid still and I had hoped I would have at least my short term advance by now. I’ve had to put off some bills but now this week is the final, no more extensions week and of course it isn’t a week that hubby gets paid. On top of that is the approaching storm which meant I had to get a few other things I hadn’t planned on, just in case. Consequently, the k account is overdrawn and my unemployment check isn’t even going to cover it. It wouldn’t have been so bad if the k hadn’t processed the debits the way they did. Several came through on the same day and the very last one that we did was for the car insurance bill because it couldn’t go another day otherwise they would have canceled us. So I knew it was going to overdraw it, but the other ones we had, which were for gasoline and groceries should have gone through with no problem. But even though the insurance was the last one done, they put it through first, which caused the other debits to incur charges as well. So instead of one overdraft charge, we were hit with several. I hate ks. I know they do that on purpose. I have no problem with paying an overdraft fee when the account is overdrawn. I just have a problem with paying several of them when if they had processed the debits in the order in which they were e, we wouldn’t be paying over $100 in friggen k fees. And of course this is at the worst possible time because I have to pay two other bills by Friday that add up to another $500. My unemployment check would almost cover that, but if I don’t try to cover the k deficiency, then they add $6 a day as well for each day the account is overdrawn. My financial aid advance was supposed to be available last Friday and of course it wasn’t. Then it was supposed to be today, but that didn’t happen. Now I’m being told it should be tomorrow. It’s $600 and would easily cover the bills I have to pay, plus I’d have $100 left over. After all that, and my unemployment check arrives probably Thursday or Friday, I still don’t know if I’ll have enough to cover the k deficiency, but I hope so. Of course that means I won’t have any money at all for a week for gas, food or anything else. At this point if I can just pay those 2 bills and stop the increasing deficiency in the k account, I’ll be happy. Originally that $600 was going to go to help fix transportation, but now it’s having to be used for damage control. All of this is simply because I cannot bring myself to ask my mother for help. I know I’m getting financial aid and will have a little over $1000 left after tuition so I know I can pay her back if she were to give me a short term loan. I just don’t want to go through having to hear her bitch incessantly about why hubby can’t take care of all of this. I felt that overdrawing the account was the lesser of the two evils. Hubby’s working two jobs right now, one full time and one part time (when they need him). He’s exhausted when he gets home and many times I see him for a very short period of time where we eat dinner, then he goes to his second job, comes home, takes a shower, and is in bed and asleep by 9:30 because he has to be up at 5 a.m. to drive an hour to work.

Until we can get our transportation woes taken care of, there isn’t much point in me accepting a job offer unless it’s very close by. We only have the one vehicle running right now. I get it the two days I have to go to class and he takes it the rest of the time. If I need to go anywhere during the day, I have to ride the bike. I’ve already managed to get caught twice this month in torrential downpours on the Interstate. Lots of fun. I had to slow down a lot just to be able to see and then I was worried about someone coming up behind me and hitting me. It’s hard enough to see taillights on cars when it’s pouring. Try seeing a single motorcycle taillight in a storm. So I don’t really feel that I have ‘reliable’ transportation at this time.

I did get a call about the Demon today and the guy is supposed to come Friday or Saturday to look at it. He asked me about making payments on it. I didn’t really want to do that, but I’m in desperate need of funds that I told him I might consider it. It would have to be a lay away type of deal, though. I’m not about to let someone take possession of the car until I have all the money. I also don’t want to be waiting forever for the rest of it. I can understand if someone needs to split it up between a couple of pay periods or something like that, but I really don’t want to go any longer than a couple of weeks or so to get the rest of it. That money is hopefully going for a downpayment on a newer vehicle so we can get rid of the truck that is starting to have major problems, needs tires and gets 18 mpg tops on the highway.

I just am tired of worrying about money and bills. We were stretched thin enough to pay the bills before, but now it seems like every single bill has either doubled or gone up from a year ago. Gasoline is much higher than it was and because of the fuel costs, our electric bill is double it used to be. It’s not that we’re using more, either. I looked at the amount we used last year versus this year and we’ve actually used LESS, but yet it’s costing more. Our water bill went up, phone bill went up, and even our grocery bill has gone up. That’s because it’s costing more in fuel to get things to the stores and the costs get passed on to us. The only problem is that while all of this stuff has gone up, salaries have not. Salaries are very stagnant down here. Hubby’s company is having a freeze on any raises or new hires. If you account for inflation, salaries have actually gone down, not up. That means there are more and more people who are having trouble making ends meet. I know we’re not the only ones in this predicament. We have many friends that are having similar difficulties. I just wish there was some way I could get a loan against I’m expecting to receive in financial aid. I thought about asking my Mom and telling her I’ll pay her back an extra $100 along with ever.gif” alt=” ever” class=”wp-smiley” /> I borrow. But it wouldn’t matter how much ‘interest’ I paid her for a loan, I’d still have to hear her bitching and even then I still don’t know if she would help me out at all. So I might have to listen to all the bitching and STILL not get any help.

Well, I wasn’t going to get into ing about this but it appears I did anyhow. Sometimes it just seems it’s taking all you have to keep your head above water and then when the waves of unexpected expenses, higher bills, vehicle breakdowns and delayed funds happen, you just feel like you can’t take anymore and it would just be easier to let yourself drown.

Anyhow, sorry this is such a downer of a post. I’ve been worried a lot about it, and it doesn’t make it very easy to get good sleep. I’ve been so excited about my classes yet all this has really put a damper on my good mood regarding my courses. Oh yeah, and to put the icing on the cake, Aunt Flo came to visit this week as well. Another night of being up until 3:30 or 4 a.m. Joy. Guess I’d better go and at least get the little bit of sleep that I can get. I’ll try to finish that other post tomorrow about my classes, that is, if I still have power or Internet connection with the eye of Ernesto aiming right for us.

Originally published at The Cat’s Meow. You can comment here or there.

Since my full name is printed on the degree, I had to edit it so I put my nickname on it for the picture. I put the picture behind the cut since this gets crossposted to LiveJournal. I started the new semester at UCF this week and so far my classes are very interesting. One class is completely online, one is half and half (we meet face to face every other week and the rest is online), and one class is entirely face to face. I will post more about the classes tomorrow. I managed to wrench my back somehow and I’ve been in constant pain so I’ve been on muscle relaxers. They tend to make me feel like I’m trying to move through thick molasses. I think it’s time for me to go to sleep anyhow.

Originally published at The Cat’s Meow. You can comment here or there.

http://www.vidilife.com/video_play_296787_Barking_Cat.htm

This post is password protected. You can read it at The Cat’s Meow, where it was originally posted. You can comment here or there.

Originally published at The Cat’s Meow. You can comment here or there.

This meme has been going around some and I thought it was hilarious. So, I snagged it.

The name of the game says it all…. all you have to do is copy this bulletin into a new one. Take the name of a movie and replace one of the words with PENIS. Don’t forget to put your name on it so that we can all see how perverted our friends are. NO REPEATS!

• Jennifer - Pulp Penis
• Cara- Gone with the Penis
• Monica - Dude, wheres my penis?
• Ivy-Alice In Penis Land
• Jennifer — Crouching Jenna, Hidden Penis
• Amanda — Lord of the Penis
• Jennifer– Harold and Kumar go to Penis
• Luis– American Penis
• Ginny–The Penis
• Angela - Bridget Jones’ Penis
• Melanie - The Penis Trap
• Annie - Penis Mountain
• Amy-cheaper by the penis
• Mandy- Dirty Penis
• Katina- What Penis May Come
• Donna - Robinhood: Prince of Penis
• Roxanne- Escape to Penis Mountain
• Will ~ Night of the Living Penis
• Mandy - The Passion of the Penis
• Tessa- Willie Wonka And The Penis Factory
• Wayne - Penis of the Caribbean : Dead Man’s Chest
• Hunter - Wild Wild Penis
• Adam - Snakes on a Penis
• Nic - House of 1000 penises
• Rachael - Big Mommas Penis
• Kristy - Diary of a Mad Black Penis
• Melanie~ Get Penis or Die Trying
• Lisa- Ace Ventura; Penis Detective
• Amanda - Grandmas Penis
• Brian-Saving Private Penis
• Kelli ~ For Your “PENIS” only
• Jayson- Along Came Penis
• Aubrey~How to Lose a Penis in 10 Days
• Ern~ Finding Penis
• Crystal - Mr. and Mrs. Penis
• Josh - Million Dollar Penis
• Travis - The Hunt for Red Penis
• Ash- Meet the Penis
• Jason - Die Hard With A Penis
• Joel - Crimson Penis
• FLo-phantom of the penis
• Seb-a-You’ve got Penis
• leilani lei– 101 penises
• Jenn-Penis Junkies
• Jason-Penis in 60 seconds
• Erika- Raising penis
• Jaime- Penisface (Say hello to my little friend!)
• Rebecca- Penis Gump
• Jeremy-South Penis The Movie: Bigger Longer and Uncut
• Brian - Top Penis
• Brian - Penis 49
• John - The Penis Collector
• Claudia ~ Penis Juice
• Miguel - Scent of a Penis
• Heather~ The penis and the tramp
• Tiffany~ My favorite Penis
• Chad~Edward Penishands
• Kerri~Oh Penis, where art thou?
• Erik: A Penis on Elm Street
• Lisa: Attack of the 50 foot penis
• Joy: ST II: The Wrath of Penis
• Sarah: Teenage Mutant Ninja Penis
• Kristi: The Longest Penis
• Crystal: The Neverending Penis
• Trika: Three Men and a Penis
• Sorcha: A Midsummer Night’s Penis (okay, one more: Indiana Jones and the Penis of Doom)
• Catgirl: Me, Myself and Penis

I also thought of a few more:

• Ghost Penis
• The Taming of the Penis
• The Big Penis
• A Few Good Penises

Originally published at The Cat’s Meow. You can comment here or there.

I’m keeping my s crossed for the moment, but I think my site may be functional again. Please let me know if you have any problems navigating the site. A big thanks goes out to Orb for her help. It was a problem with permalinks and changing to the default cured it. The only thing was that then any incoming links were screwed up so I had to redo my .htaccess page and a few other things. It still has a few quirks from the admin side of things, but seems to be functional from the user’s point of view. I guess now I can actually work on something that I should be working on…

I just uploaded about 30 pictures to my scrapbook in case anyone is interested.

A stolen meme:

#1
Comment with a letter, and I have to find five songs beginning with that letter.

#2
01. Comment here and I’ll pick one of your LJ interests and make you an icon.
02. You have no say in I choose.
03. Put this in your journal along with the icons people make for you.

#3
Alphabet meme

A is for age:  40

B is for of choice: Sea Dog Blueberry Wheat Ale, Michelob Ultra, Spaten Optimator

C is for career right now: Student.  Want a legal career.

D is for your dog’s name: Buddy.  He was hit by a car a few years ago.  I still haven’t gotten over it, totally.  I don’t have another dog right now.

E is for essential item you use everyday: Hairbrush or comb

F is for favorite TV show at the moment: I don’t watch much TV lately.  Maybe Family Guy, Moral Orel and My Name is Earl…

G is for favorite game:  Poker, as far as card games.  Football for major sporting event games.

H is for Home town: Born in Fairfax County, VA

I is for instruments you play:  Piano, flute, guitar, bass guitar, violin

J is for favorite juice: Orange or Tomato

K is for whose butt you’d like to kick: Hmm…

L is for last place you ate:  Home

M is for marriage:  Yep.  Already did that.

N is for your full name: How about…N is for No Comment…

O is for overnight hospital stays: Too many to count

P is for people you were with today:  Do cats count as people if they think they are?  Other than my cats, I was with hubby today.

Q is for quote: “You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is a white guy, the best golfer is a black guy, the tallest guy in the NBA is Chinese, the Swiss hold the America’s Cup, France is accusing the U.S. of arrogance, Germany doesn’t want to go to war, and the three most powerful men in America are named ‘Bush’, ‘Dick’, and ‘Colon’.”
– Chris Rock

R is for Biggest Regret: No comment

S is for status: Unemployed?

T is for time you woke up today: 8 a.m.

V is for vegetable you love: Green beans.  Oh, and red, yellow, orange, and green peppers.  (I make good stir fry with those)

W is for worst habit: Taking things too personally or being too impulsive and not thinking before I act or say something

X is for x-rays you’ve had:  Again, too many to count.

Y is for yummy food you ate today:  I really didn’t.  Unless you count strawberry protein s…

Z is for zodiac sign: Pisces (the fish)

I had to redirect traffic from my domain here to my LiveJournal temporarily.  I’ve been having some site problems and am trying to get some help from WordPress support.  Until I can get it straightened out, I figured it was better to send people here since none of my categories or comments pages were working on my site anyhow.  Any WordPress gurus out there that want to take a stab at helping me out, leave me a comment and I’ll explain in detail ’s going on.  I wasn’t going to bore everyone else with the details of my website woes here.

Sheesh, I felt rejected many times as a kid.  Hell, I still do at times.  These kids are not going to be prepared at all for real life, though.  Everyone doesn’t win, everyone doesn’t get invited to parties or groups, and criticism is heard far more than praise in the real world.  Here’s the article:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/08/08/parenting.protecting.ap/index.html?eref=yahoo

I wanted to let people know that I’m still alive.  I’m having huge problems with my website right now.  It started a while back when I was beginning to get weird script popups when I’d go there and then my virus software went nuts.  Then it quit doing that and everything was fine for a while.  Three days ago none of the pictures or images would show up on my site and then starting yesterday, all I’m getting is a total blank page.  My cpanel still says everything is there, but it’s not showing up.  I have a post in to support because I have no clue the problem is and I just haven’t had the time nor the inclination lately to try to fix it.  So until then, I guess I will have to post here.

I haven’t been in a very good mood lately anyhow so I just really haven’t felt like posting in the first place.  It just seems that whenever things seem to be falling into place and getting better that something always has to throw a monkey wrench into it and screw it all up.  And that’s happened last weekend BIG TIME.

First of all, I got let go from my job.  No real reason given except that it just wasn’t working out.  After talking some with friends and thinking about it, I’m fairly sure I know happened.  I was hired to help out the real estate paralegal but when I interviewed, I didn’t interview with her, but 2 of the real estate attorneys.  She and I didn’t click too well.  She was always frazzled and stressed and gave out those vibes all the time.  She had too much work and that’s why I was there.  The only problem is that she was too busy to take time to show me how to do she needed, and if I asked questions, she’d either snap at me or tell me she didn’t have time to answer right then.  I never talked to anyone about it because I was afraid she would get angry at me if I went over her head, so instead I tried talking to her.  I thought things were better for a week or so, but then she was right back to not having time to show me anything or answer questions.  So I think she ended up talking to the attorneys and telling them I wasn’t working out because I didn’t have the commercial real estate experience and she didn’t have time to train someone.  They specifically hired me because I had not come from another law firm and they felt that they would not have to untrain me from a different place and then train me on how they wanted things done.  

So it sucks and I’ve been very depressed about losing that job.  The place was great and I was excited to be working there.  I do feel that they are going to have a problem with anyone that has to work with that paralegal because she isn’t much of a ‘team player’ in the first place.  And even someone with commercial real estate experience from another firm will have to be trained on the procedures at this firm.  I hope they don’t have to ask her too many questions because if she snapped at people like she did me, I’d be surprised if they stuck it out as long as I did.  

Well, there’s more than just the job, but I have to fix dinner now so I’m going to post this and perhaps I’ll have time to write another entry later.

Well, Saturday was Mr. Peabody’s birthday. He’s a year old now. I took some pictures and video, but haven’t edited the video yet. Here are some pictures, although I wish the quality had turned out better.

Body: Below is Dr Phil’s test. (Dr. Phil scored 55; he did this test on Oprah-she got a 38.) Some folks pay a lot of money to find this stuff out. Read on, this is very interesting!

Don’t be overly sensitive! The following is pretty accurate and
it only takes 2 minutes. Take this test for yourself and send it to
your friends.

The person who sent it placed their score in the subject box.
Please do the same before forwarding to your friends. (send it back to the person who sent it to you) Don’t peek but begin the test as you scroll down and answer.

Answers are for who you are now…… not who you were in the
past. Have pen or pencil and paper ready. This is a real test given by the Human Relations Dept. at many of the major corporations today. It helps them get better insight concerning their employees and prospective employees.

It’s only 10 Simple questions, so….. grab a pencil and paper,
keeping track of your letter answers to each question. Make sure to change the subject of the e-mail to read YOUR total. When you are finished, forward this to friends/family, and also send It to the person who sent this to you.

Make sure to put YOUR score in the subject box.

Ready??

Begin…

1. When do you feel your best?
a) in the morning
b) during the afternoon and early evening
c) late at night

2. You usually walk…
a) fairly fast, with long steps
b) fairly fast, with little steps
c) less fast head up, looking the world in the face
d) less fast, head down
e) very slowly

3. When talking to people you…
a) stand with your arms folded
b) have your hands clasped
c) have one or both your hands on your hips
d) touch or push the person to whom you are talking
e) play with your ear, touch your chin, or smooth your hair

4. When relaxing, you sit with…
a) your knees bent with your legs neatly side by side
b) your legs crossed
c) your legs stretched out or straight
d) one leg curled under you

5. When something really amuses you, you react with…
a) big appreciated laugh
b) a laugh, but not a loud one
c) a quiet chuckle
d) a sheepish smile

6. When you go to a party or social gathering you…
a) make a loud entrance so everyone notices you
b) make a quiet entrance, looking around for someone you know
c) make the quietest entrance, trying to stay unnoticed

7. You’re working very hard, concentrating hard, and you’re
Interrupted, do you …
a) welcome the break
b) feel extremely irritated
c) vary between these two extremes

8. Which of the following colors do you like most?
a) Red or orange
b) black
c) yellow or light blue
d) green
e) dark blue or purple
f) white
g) brown or gray

9. When you are in bed at night, in those last few moments before going to sleep you are …
a) stretched out on your back
b) stretched out face down on your stomach
c) on your side, slightly curled
d) with your head on one arm
e) with your head under the covers

10. You often dream that you are…
a) falling
b) fighting or struggling
c) searching for something or somebody
d) flying or floating
e) you usually have dreamless sleep
f) your dreams are always pleasant

POINTS:

1. (a) 2 (b) 4 (c) 6

2. (a) 6 (b) 4 (c) 7 (d) 2 (e) 1

3. (a) 4 (b) 2 (c) 5 (d) 7 (e) 6

4. (a) 4 (b) 6 (c) 2 (d) 1

5. (a) 6 (b) 4 (c) 3 (d) 5 (e) 2

6. (a) 6 (b) 4 (c) 2

7. (a) 6 (b) 2 (c) 4

8. (a) 6 (b) 7 (c) 5 (d) 4 (e) 3 (f) 2 (g) 1

9. (a) 7 (b) 6 (c) 4 (d) 2 (e) 1

10. (a) 4 (b) 2 (c) 3 (d) 5 (e) 6 (f) 1

Now add up the total number of points.

OVER 60 POINTS: Others see you as someone they should “handle with care.” You’re seen as vain, self-centered, and extremely dominant.

Others may admire you, wishing they could be more like you, but
don’t always trust you, hesitating to become too deeply involved with you.

51 TO 60 POINTS: Others see you as an exciting, highly volatile,
rather impulsive personality; a natural leader, who’s quick to
make decisions, though not always the right ones. They see you as bold and adventuresome, someone who will try anything once; someone who take chances and enjoys an adventure. They enjoy being in your company because of the excitement you radiate.

41 TO 50 POINTS: Others see you as fresh, lively, charming,
amusing, practical, and always interesting; someone who’s constantly in the centre of attention, but sufficiently well-balanced not to let it go to their head. They also see you as kind, considerate, and understanding, someone who’ll always cheer them up and help them out.

31 TO 40 POINTS: Others see you as sensible, cautious, careful &
practical. They see you as clever, gifted, or talented, but modest.
Not a person who makes friends too quickly or easily, but someone who’s extremely loyal to friends you do make and who expect the same loyalty in return. Those who really get to know you realize it takes a lot to your trust in your friends, but equally that it takes you a long time to get over it if that trust is ever broken.

21 TO 30 POINTS: Your friends see you as painstaking and fussy.
They see you as very cautious, extremely careful, a slow and steady plodder. It would really surprise them if you ever did something impulsively or on the spur of the moment, expecting you to examine everything carefully from every angle and then, usually decide against it. They think this reaction is caused partly by your careful nature.

UNDER 21 POINTS: People think you are shy, nervous, and
indecisive, someone who needs looking after, who always wants someone else to make the decisions & who doesn’t want to get involved with anyone or anything! They see you as a worrier who always sees problems that don’t exist. Some people think you’re boring. Only those who know you well know that you aren’t.

Now forward this to others, and put your score in the subject box
as: “Dr. Phil’s Test - I’m a __”

This was taken with a camera phone so it’s not the best. I liked the picture, though, so I messed around in Paint Shop Pro with it and this is the result:

Well, I finished my first week at the new job and my new classes.  I am bushed and looking forward to a relaxing weekend.  Today is my wedding anniversary of 11 years and we are headed out here soon to go surfing, shopping and then get a few things done around the house that I just haven’t had time to do all week.

The job is going great so far.  Everyone at the firm has been very nice and helpful.  In fact, everything about it is so good that I’m just wondering if there is some bad side to it that I just haven’t discovered yet.  This firm has a very good reputation in this area and they go all out for their clients and they do have some fairly large and well known clients.

They took me out to lunch at the Olive Garden my second day there.  I really feel like they rolled out the red carpet for me.  It’s something they do for any new employees.  Our scheduled work day is 8:30 to 5:00 with an hour lunch, so we end up with a 37.5 hour week.  The premiums for my health, dental, vision, and life insurance are paid for.  I get 8 PTO (Personal Time Off) days after 6 months and another 8 days at the end of a year for a total of 16 paid days off.  Every month they help out with a local cause and anyone who donates gets to dress casual (jeans) the last Friday of the month.  We’re actually getting both Monday and Tuesday off next week, so I have a long weekend.  I got paid yesterday after working the week.  That’s almost unheard of in any job around here because most places hold back a week or two weeks pay.  We have just about every flavored and creamer imaginable.  They also have green tea, regular tea, an ice machine, a soda machine that only costs a quarter, 2 refrigerators (one full of nothing but different kinds of , which is just for the attorneys), microwave, dishwasher, 2 libraries (one is the regular law library and the other is a library of all kinds of novels and books the employees have brought in) and some of the nicest bathrooms ever.  The first day I had in a company mug, even, plus I’m on the email list of ever.gif” alt=” ever” class=”wp-smiley” /> the flavored is for the day.

I got my computer in my office the first week and yet they were apologizing they didn’t have it set up for me before I started.  It was short notice since I interviewed on Thursday, was offered the job on Friday and asked to start on Monday.  Yesterday they took me to the office supply room and loaded me up with all kinds of stuff, unlike other companies that you have to beg and borrow just to get your basic essentials.

Also most companies I’ve worked for give you this huge employee handbook full of things you are not allowed to do and will happen if you do them, etc.  This employee handbook is actually quite thin and doesn’t list out a bunch of rules you must follow or get written up for.  Their attitude is that we are all professionals, we are all on the same team and work together and that as long as you get your work done and don’t do anything that is unethical, they aren’t going to be nitpicky about whether you send a personal email, take a personal call, or are a few minutes late back from lunch.  They said they’ve only had a couple of employees that have ever taken advantage of the fairly lax atmosphere and taken longer lunches or left early, and they did start observing more closely when they noticed it.  But they also noticed that they weren’t getting their work done in a timely manner as well, so usually the two go hand in hand.  In other words, they treat us like grown-ups, not like a bunch of kids.

I’m working closely with two different attorneys.  The one I’ll probably be dealing with the most is fairly young (late 20’s I think) and he just e partner.  Therefore, he is extremely busy and generally keeps his door closed so he can work.  From I hear, he’s great to work with.  He gives good instructions on he wants and he thanks you for every little thing you do.  He already let me know that just because he keeps his door closed doesn’t mean I can’t come into his office if I have a question.  Plus he already has given me quite a bit to do to see how I run with it.

Friday I had to go into his office to drop something in his inbox for review.  He stopped working for a minute and talked to me some.  I noticed he had quite a bit of sports memorabilia so the conversation naturally turned to sports and specifically football.  It turns out that they have a fantasy football league and when I showed interest, he told me I was welcome to participate this year.  So I may be in two fantasy football leagues this year because I’ll probably still want to do the Yahoo league with some online poker friends that I did last year.

School is going well.  Speech class is interesting so far.  I have to write and give a speech Monday night regarding a hobby or how to do something.  I think I’m going to talk about fantasy football.  The professor is a huge NFL fan too, so that will probably be a good topic.  My other class is Statistics and so far it’s fairly easy.  He is going to let us use Excel for things and I am pretty good with Excel.

It didn’t take me long to figure out I wanted to do for our anniversary.  We’re going to see about getting one of these bricks with our names and wedding date inscribed and placed along Flagler_Avenue.  It’s called the “Walk of Fame”.  Here’s a picture of the form for buying one of the bricks.  Not a bad deal for $50…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, that’s all for now.  :biglaugh: