October 27, 2004

Big day...

Here's how my day went yesterday:

  • 9:30 a.m. - arrive at house (remember, closing is at 11 a.m.) - it is still not done.
  • 10:30 - settlement company does not have documents but would like us to come anyway and wait in their office. As I tell the lady on the phone, when pigs fly.
  • 1 p.m. documents arrive at settlement office. Realtor cannot make the newly scheduled settlement at 4:30 - they refuse to move it because that would be "inconvienent".
  • 11 a.m. - arrive at day 2 of my new job and have to tell boss I'm leaving @ 3 p.m.
  • 3 p.m. pick up son to goto settlement (nothing like doing something like that w/ 2 year old in tow)
  • 4:30 - arrive at settlement
  • 5 p.m. start settlement
  • 6 p.m. While leaving settlement to goto newly purchased home, dumb bimbo in a metallic Chysler Concorde LXi rear ends me. We were in stop and go traffic, between 0 and 5 mph. She pushed my huge truck (Yukon XL) into the Honda Pilot in front of me. The police estimate she was traveling at 30-40 mph...based on her huge skid marks. How'd she get going that fast? Anyway, rear bumper is toast, as well as lift gate and rear side window. Front bumper also toast. Nice. People were nice enough to honk at us to move while I was trying to call 911 for the lady that hit me since she had chest pain and could breathe. Nice.
    Her car is quite damaged at caught on fire.
  • 12 a.m. - get to bed after moving stuff all night.
  • 8 a.m. - Get call that Grandfather having chest pains and just rushed to hospital.
  • 12 p.m. - insurance calls. Since I couldn't get the lady's name that hit me or her insurance info, they can't fix my car or get me a rental unless I pay for it and get re-imbursed later. Nice. BUT I can provide them the police report this week to speed that all up (if the police send it, it takes 28 days)...So some of my free time will be taken up to go over to the station and get a copy. Nice.

    Can I send her a bill for
  • my deductible
  • my hourly rate to talk to insurance people, 1 hour with police last night, my drive to the police dept and back, etc
  • my time to clean the shattered glass out of my car
  • the value that my truck loses because she is too busy to watch the f-ing road in front of her?

    As a side note, the house is GREAT if a little sparse. It is so nice to have our own space again!!!!
  • October 25, 2004

    A New Day...

    I started my new job today! We had 8 hours of orientation. Whew, what a long one! But it was good and I got to meet my new managers and some of my team. I am also being supplied w/a tablet PC! How cool is that!

    Also - had a "final" walkthru for the house - (having another tomorrow, since lots of stuff still not fixed)...it's beautiful though...we can't wait to move in and to prove it, we're moving in tomorrow even though we have not one chair to sit on...how dumb are we? But we're so excited - so we'll be sleeping on the floor until Friday and eating dinners out, who cares!

    No internet access at work though...so expect posting to be light!

    October 21, 2004

    Last Day...

    So today is my last day at my company. The company where I am employee #6. Where I have been for almost 5 years.
    Where I got to manage, officially, for the first time.
    Where I got to make a huge impact on the user interface and had serious input to it constantly (being the first UI person hired for a new product tends to do that).
    Where people really listened to suggestions and then implemented them.
    Where I did usability reviews and people actually fixed usability problems.

    It is very sad for me. Even though I'm excited about where I'm going...I love the team we have here. I love the product. I love the friends I have gained...E, M.H., R, M.Y. ...well, you guys know who you are.

    So long guys, keep in touch! I will be trying to get my new company to purchase licenses, don't worry!

    October 20, 2004

    Red Sox vs. Yankees...

    What an exciting game! I watched until the end, and like I said before, I don't usually like to watch baseball on TV!

    BUT - to the idiots throwing sh*t onto the field (including items like baseballs, which could severly injure someone if thrown from high enough up)...grow up. Now the security are out on the field to protect the players from fans...wouldn't you prefer that they be focused on security...making sure no one is taping C4 to the stadium support columns? And what about good sportsmanship and the example you're setting for your children? I understand not being happy about some of the calls (Rodriguez did swat the ball out of that guys hand, it was a good call) , boo and hiss if you want, but don't put the lives of the players on the field in danger, dumbass.

    UPDATE: I am not pointing fingers at the fans of either team ... I believe "items" were thrown on the field when both teams were having their "at bat"... I just want people to think more clearly before they act and say..."hey, this could really hurt someone, maybe send them to the hospital or end a career" and not throw harmful stuff. Throwing things like paper cups is still childish, but not really going to hurt anyone...

    October 19, 2004

    Life is so interesting...

    So I'm sitting in my Allergists office yesterday waiting the mandatory 20 minutes after your shots to make sure you don't keel over...usually this is very boring...

    Then this guys name is called, he gets his arms checked for reaction signs and he leaves. Then he comes back in..."anyone here the owner of a black Ford minivan?"... a woman who had recently come in said "yes - that's mine".

    He said "Could you please move your van? You parked so close to me I cannot get in my driver's side door at all.". I could tell he was quite agitated (as I would be as well) but much more polite than I would've been, I can assure you.

    She replies..."I'll be right out after I get my shot and wait to have my arm checked."...

    WTF? He should wait until she's done when she mis-parked him in? Come on...He walked out slamming the door - and after being glared down by everyone in the waiting room she walked her butt out there to move her van. I'm thinking words were exchanged in the parking lot because she was gone a while before she came back in...

    Life is never boring around here!

    A$$hole... (cont'd)

    So....luck being what it is, guess who cuts off my father-in-law in traffic the other day??

    He's thinking...hmmm...obnoxious driver, yellow car, what's familiar....bingo! This asshat threw rocks at my grandson! So he gets the plates....

    We've submitted the info the state police, but haven't heard anything back yet...stay tuned!

    did anyone see that LONG baseball game?

    I hate watching baseball on TV and even I watched it.

    had a great topic...

    in my head while driving today, but forgot what it was :-(

    don't you hate that??

    October 18, 2004

    and more breaking news...

    I'm starting a new job Monday! For those of you that know me and knew me before I had this job, I'm going back to my old company, though w/a different group...will I be seeing any old faces? Speak up!

    More Breaking News...

    our house is done next Tuesday!!! Isn't that fabulous!!!

    Breaking News...she updates!

    Hi there! I am SO SORRY for the delays in updating! We finally took our trip to FLA but we detoured most of it thru DisneyWorld! It was a blast, though not restful at all and today I am exhausted! Not to mention sick from the cold son caught there and gave to me. Oh well...

    I was surprised by the number of Europeans in Disney...Don't they hate us? Esp French - lots of French people there. If they hate us so much, give up the Disney stuff and explain it all to your 4 year old little girl when you stop buying Disney Princess stuff, or shut-up about hating us. It's funny, countries where people claim to hate us seem to have an insatiable desire for our stuff - Disney, Levi jeans, our music, etc. Though the English (Britons?) that we met were all very nice and outgoing. Most of the American and English vacationers will say Hi and smile and generally be nice... I am generally more outgoing and smiley on vacation too - why not? I'm on vacation and happy about it so I'm terribly cheerful to everyone!

    October 07, 2004

    Back from Detroit...

    Some observations...
  • security at the Detroit Metro Aiport allowed 30 pilots/stewardesses in front of us in line - as soon as they walked up, they got put at the front of the line. Why is their time more important than mine? They should be capable of planning enough time to get thru security as well... Extremely irritating - especially considering hte sheer number of people that butt in line.
  • if you are a passenger that needs assistance, and I understand there are many conditions that can cause this, even if it is not easily visible to by-standers, I would think you would check baggage that you cannot handle yourself. Heck, I'm "able-bodied" and I check every damn thing I can.
  • George Bush flew out of Detroit right ahead of us so we got to see Air Force One and his three entourage planes on the tarmac. That was kinda neat.
  • Detroit in the morning is damn cold this time of year.

    That's it - signing off for now...again, blogging will be light this weekend because my brother is getting married and we'll be off doing cool wedding stuff...I will post a pic of son in his little tux though when I can!
  • October 04, 2004

    My little brother...

    is amazing!

    My Dad was renovating our house and was almost done when he passed away. Since then, my brother has done all the little things (like trim work) that he didn't do - but we had one problem. The main staircase was temporary plywood boards. Hmmm. Dad was going to finish it into a beautiful staircase. Well, he didn't have time before he died, so Mom's been looking at the icky plywood ones for 3 and 1/2 years. I had a contractor come in to estimate them and he had bad news. The way they were done, they passed inspection when they were done, like 6 years ago, but the way the new regulations were he could not possibly do them to meet today's code. Yikes - and he can't do them if he can't make them make code.

    What the F**K do we do now? No contractor can do it - to make them meet code, where the top of the stairs meets the upstairs, there are door ways on the right and the left, so the depth of the stair case cannot change, which means we can't make it make code w/out re-doing the entire front portion of the house - which my mother cannot afford.

    SO - 2 weeks ago Sonny and I goto Lowes - $1,100 worth of materials - step pieces and stain. Then he cuts and stains and seals the pieces and last week - put it all in... And I have to say, it looks fabulous! And then when you take into account that he's never done this before - amazing! And the edge work and trimwork looks so great! To top it off, he nailed his hand w/the nail gun to the stairs! He's ok though...but I bet that hurt.

    Sonny - you're amazing and Dad would be so proud.

    Lost...

    Is anybody watching this show? What do you think?

    I really like it - I went thru the message boards for it and there are some good theories out there about what's going on with the island and the mysteries...

    Thoughts?

    Anyone watching Survivor?

    I'm Baaaaaack...

    Ugh..but blogging will be light again this week as the sales gods are hi-jacking me to Detroit...Yuck, who the heck wants to go there??

    Overall, the trip to Corolla, NC was a blast. Grandpa & L even offered to babysit Son Saturday night so hubby and I could go out alone for a nice dinner. I love my son to pieces, but a nice dinner once in a while alone is fabulous...the reason I married my hubby (at least one of them) is that he's great company! So we had a good time and seems the son had a great time with Grandpa & L as well - when we came home, bearing sundaes, he ran right by us w/L to go play some more downstairs! Shocking, I know!

    Luckily, nothing eventful has happened since, so I'm signing off now, but I'll be back later today!