Light at the end of the tunnel

The day is almost done and my time here is almost done. In 24 hours I should be a free woman. I say should, because there is a chance it will be 25 hours, but hopefully a greater chance it will be 23 or less. My boss is leaving early tomorrow (he hopes 1pm which means closer to 3pm) and he thinks I will have to turn my computer in to him. A big part of me is hoping that the HR lady takes my computer at my exit interview (10am), but that might be wishful thinking.

There is only one person I will miss here and we went out to lunch today and will probably keep in touch, at least a little, via email. It was a mistake for me to ever come here and I've dealt with that for 5 months. I'm ready to move on to bigger and better things. And it's SO CLOSE I can almost taste it!

New Levels of Boredom

I knew this last week was going to be a struggle. I don't want to be here....my supervisor doesn't really need me to be here and his manager doesn't want me to be here. Luckily, my supervisor has found some tasks for me to do. Generally really boring things like typing numbers into a spreadsheet (instead of giving me the original document to cut and paste), etc. Even though it was tedious and stupid, it passed the time. Well, today, time has stopped. A pointless task occupied me from 8-11:30 and now I am sitting. I've read the news, I've read blogs, I've balanced my checkbook, I've made appointments for next week, I've done Alfredo's requests...and I've got absolutely nothing left. For about 5 minutes I was just staring. Looking at a clear spot on my desk...almost as if I was willing some work to show up. Luckily I have a dentist appointment so I will be leaving in less than two hours, but using the words dentist and lucky in the same sentence should illustrate just how bored I am.

A friend that I have here knows how bored I am. She helps me out when she can and this morning that meant walking to the cafeteria together. THAT is how bored I am. Hopefully she will take another walk this afternoon because I'm fresh out of ANYTHING to do. Two more days of this?!?!?!

The Decision Part

Wow...I should stick to one topic per blog at a time because when I try to do multiple, it just doesn't work. The Decision part of blog "Decisions, Wedding and Bike Lesson" was that I decided my next career move. I accepted the position with Kohls this morning. I will be a financial analyst in the financial and capital planning group. I'm really excited about this position. I am confident I will be busy a lot and really enjoy the people I am working with. My future boss even called this morning to congratulate me and let me know how excited they are to have me! AWESOME!!!

Next week I am taking off to enjoy the last part of summer and I will start there on August 28.

Bike Picture

He's going to really love me for this

Decisions, Weddings & Bike Lessons

This weekend flew by, as most of them do. Friday was spent celebrating my job offers and Alfredo's being in town for three nights. We went out for Indian food AND Ice cream. It was really yummy and really nice just spending some time together after a messy car rental return and luggage not fitting in my bug. Saturday we went to a wedding for a family friend's daughter where my brother was definitely THE drunk guest. He went from seeming fine to being crazy drunk in less than 5 minutes. It was unbelieveable. Luckily, for the most part he's a funny drunk and amused most of the guests. We also did a lot of dancing and in general just had a really good time:
Me & Mom















Me & Alf















Me & VERY drunk brother















Me & Father of the Bride















On Sunday, after Alfredo went golfing, he decided it was finally time for another bike lesson. About a year and a half ago we made a deal that if I learned how to golf, he would learn how to ride a bike. He never learned as a kid because his mom told him he'd have to wear a helmet and he refused. Now, I've learned how to golf (still have a lot to learn, but I'm getting out there and trying). So, he realized he was going to have to give the bike riding stuff a shot. My dad gave him his first lesson a few years back on my brother's old bike (from when he was like 10). We took the bike home with us and it has sat in the garage ever since. After a whole golfing vacation Alfredo realized he really should hold up his end of the bargain so here are pictures from lesson #2:

When It Rains, It Pours

I did receive another offer today. It's better than I expected, but now I have a very tough decision to make. When it rains good news, it pours!!! I'm definitely not complaining! :)

6 and 3/4 business days

6 and 3/4 business days is all I have left here!!! WOO HOO!! I'm so excited about my new job and excited to be done with this place as well. The biggest problem at this point....surviving these 6.75 days. I've decided that the best way to do that is to have a lot to look forward to. So....I'm trying to schedule a lot of lunches and fun stuff to do after work. Alfredo is out of town next week, so I can't make him take me out to lunch, but I do have two lunches planned so far and a bunch of stuff for after work next week, including...PEDICURES with Deanna! It's going to be an AWESOME week.

Super Day

It's been no secret that my current job has caused me to be bored to tears...sometimes literally. Today I found out that one of the positions I was interviewing for, I got! I got the offer at 7:40 this morning on my way to work! What a way to start the day. I officially gave my notice today, and while I have not confirmed my start date, I am very excited to move on to this next stage in my life. I had narrowed the search down to two possbilities. Both amazing opportunities with amazing companies. The second company has been stringing me along a bit. They did finally call me back today, so maybe I will have two offers this week, but I am VERY happy with the one that is currently on the table. I think it will be a great opportunity and I will be much happier than I have been the last 20 weeks (yes, I counted...because I have THAT much extra time on my hands).

I also found out that all the arguing with the Cingular people was worth it...they are waiving a termination fee of $175 and even APOLOGIZED?!?! IT'S BEEN A GREAT DAY!!!

Well on my way

One of my goals for the summer was to complete a half-marathon. My deadline is quickly approaching - the half-marathon is on Sunday, September 3. I've been following my training plan - sort of. Bad weather and being on vacation have hurt my long runs. Last week's long run was a 9 miler. Sunday is my long run day and it was raining all morning, so I tried to go at night. After about 2 miles I learned why I usually do my runs before eating a full day's worth of food. I got nauseous, dizzy and had to walk home - WALK, couldn't even fun the 2 miles back home.

Last night I went out again, determined to finish the run. Armed with a bottle full of gatorade to avoid dehydration I headed out. Nine miles and less than 90 minutes later, I was home! I did it! I could have probably even gone further. It was awesome. I was so excited to hit the turnaround point, I jumped up and hit the stop sign! When I got home, my legs quickly revolted and I had about an hour to shower, eat and clean up before I pretty much lost the ability to walk! :) Luckily today they feel fine and I know I am well on my way to being able to cross that finish line after 13.2 miles. YAY Me!

Such a Tease

Going out for lunch on a beautiful day is such a tease. I met a good friend for lunch since he is moving away soon and since he was easily convinced! We enjoyed the warm summer breeze and chit chatting...and neither of us wanted to go back to work! Now that we are both back at work, we decided we're both morons for not just sitting outside and drinking the afternoon away! It sounds much more appealing than sitting in front of my computer...that's for sure! Oh well, at least we got to enjoy the weather for a little while.

Being A Kid Again

Vacation was absolutely wonderful! While I enjoyed every minute of it, my favorite part, by far, was Noah's Ark. For the seven hours we were there, we got to be kids again. Our biggest concerns were when the wave pool started the next set of waves and which ride we were going to go on next. It was awesome. I don't think the two of us have giggled, squealed or really felt like we were 8 years old in a very long time. It was probably the most fun we've ever had together.

The rest of the trip was golfing and the spa which were all so relaxing. We planned well and were home in time to spend two days laying around. All this fun made Monday a very bad, reality sucks, sort of day...but it was all worth it. We've already got our next trip to Kohler booked and should have our December vacation booked soon as well!!! Hopefully there will be some acting like 8 year olds again in the near future.