Roses, rainbows, and all that happy stuff.. not always the case

So after my post yesterday about how great life is, it went downhill from there.

First let me start by explaining what I do. My job is to take care of customers that have asked for help and for some reason or another, they haven't been able to get any where. It can be rewarding, but it can also be horribly stressful if the resolution that they seek is not the resolution that you can give them.

Well, yesterday I gave a resolution to a customer that he was not satisfied with. Instead of stating the normal angry or saddened response, this guy continued to verbally harrass me like I have never heard before. Evil, hurtful, and actually quite creative comments continued to spew out of his mouth. We have been instructed to never hang up on someone unless they are using profanity or yelling without stopping. I tried and I tried to get a handle on the conversation, but just could not. he eventually hung up and called back asking for my supervisor.

This was not the issue that was awful - he was a completely A-hole, don't get me wrong. The worst part about it was I screwed up. I tried to find the information he was requesting from a variety of sources, but was unable to locate it. My supervisor talked to him, and was able to locate some of his information within minutes.
Of course, I am new in the position, but this REALLY bothered me. I felt like a complete idiot. My boss is wonderful and caring, and told me not to worry about, and that the customer was a jerk anyways.

It just gets worse from there. No less than 1 hour later, I had to tell a deaf woman that we couldn't honor her claim. You know how horrible I felt about that? DAMN!!!

Oh, well. I try to the best of my abililty to help people, but it doesn't always have a happy ending.

I guess I'm back from an extended absence...

Yes, I got a job. It's different than what I was looking for, but probably more rewarding, and I like it 100x better than I thought I would.

Yes, I got married. It was the greatest day (with some of the greatest memories) that I can remember so far.

Yes, we had a honeymoon. It was fabulous and hard to come home.

Now that everything is going so great, I just keep wondering when the wheels are going to fall off? how did I end up so lucky? I always wondered what it meant to be truly happy, and I think I stumbled upon it without even trying. It's effortless, and fun.

I guess all the "bad" stuff that happened last year helps to appreciate when all this good stuff is happening.

I'll keep adding to this blog but it won't all be sunshine. Just today. :)

Tokyo, baby!

Well, we are in the final days before the Man and I embark on a our first international Christmas. My brother lovely paid for our tickets to spend Christmas with the whole family in Tokyo, Japan! I think the Man is finally getting excited, but we are both dreading the seriously long plane right. It's 14 hours to get there, then a 1 hour train ride to his apartment in Shinjuku.

The Man and I went shopping for my brother as he had quite a few requests for goods to bring from the states. Of all the things he wanted, the junk food is what cracks me up. We have literally about 30 lbs of junk food in a small suitcase, the majority of it is sweets. Pop Tarts, peanut butter cups, Hostess fruit pies, and Toffifay. He didn't ask for the Toffifay, but I know he loves it and it's hard to find. We went to 4 stores before we found it. Walgreens is the only place that carries it, if you can believe that.

Anyway, I can't wait to get there, see my brother and parents and spend the holidays aboard. How many people can say that they spend Christmas in Tokyo? It should be an experience, and I will try to blog while I'm there, but it might be difficult. Updates when we return!

The power of positive thinking

I traveled to El Paso on Tuesday to interview for a job that I am very excited about.  I think I did pretty well, but it's a very competitive position.  I prepared myself on the flight and then started reading the book "The Secret".  I had heard about this book and how it can really change your life, and I was curious first, how it works, and second if I would buy into it.  

I was really hoping that it wouldn't been preach-y, and it's really not.  After reading the first half of the book, I started doing some of the exercises on the plane, and changed my thought process.  The power of not only positive thinking, but also the law of attraction.  It's almost like "if you think it, it will come."  

After my interview I again, reflected on the day, and began again doing the exercises in the book, and envisioning myself working for that company in that position.  I went to bed and felt great.  

I went into work the next day, and received a phone call. It was from the same company that this position is at, but for another position that I interviewed for the week before.  They offered me the job at the same salary I am making now!!  I was totally taken off guard.  I told the recruiter that I would let her know by next week.  If I don't get the other job that I really want, then at least I have a job during a time when I very worried about finding something at all. 

I can't believe how fortunate i am, but I am somehow compelled to say that the Secret message will stay with me and i will continue to use it in my life.  

Wait, it SNOWS down here?!?!?

When I moved to Texas,  I was pretty sure that it was going to be warm.  Last year, we hung christmas lights on the house in shorts and a t-shirt.  I got the surprise of my life yesterday when it started SNOWING in Houston.  

I guess it happens occasionally, but it felt so strange to walk outside and have it be cold.  Of course it won't last long, it's supposed to be in the 70s this weekend.  It was fun while it lasted, and it made the month of December more like Christmas.  

Thank gawd!

I finally heard back from Big Bank, just like they told me. Whew!!

I have an interview in EL PASO (of all the places, wha?) to meet the group of people I will be supporting if I get the job. I'm so excited about this opportunity. I really want to land this position!! Everyone think happy thoughts!!!

Thank gawd!

I finally heard back from Big Bank, just like they told me. Whew!!

I have an interview in EL PASO (of all the places, wha?) to meet the group of people I will be supporting if I get the job. I'm so excited about this opportunity. I really want to land this position!! Everyone think happy thoughts!!!

Thank gawd!

I finally heard back from Big Bank, just like they told me. Whew!!

I have an interview in EL PASO (of all the places, wha?) to meet the group of people I will be supporting if I get the job. I'm so excited about this opportunity. I really want to land this position!! Everyone think happy thoughts!!!

Something important in the mail!!

Whoo hoo!! I FINALLY got my invitations in the mail today!! Whoopee!! There are two issues with the invites....

Firstly, I sent them out really early because most of the people we are inviting are out of state, and we wanted to make sure they had plenty of time to buy plane tickets and make arrangements.

Secondly, we sent them out early to see who all is planning on staying at our wedding location. We have to fill up those cabins, and tell the coordinator who is going where.

I think I might have made a minor faux paux (gosh, did I spell that right?) by asking people to get back to me really early, like the end of this month, but that was mostly for the out of towners that I hope to have staying at the Hideout.

Whew! I guess being ahead of the game is better than being behind it, I just hope people don't think I'm overly weird and anal for sending them out so early. I swear people, there's a reason for it!!

Yay!!

I finally got a call from the Big Bank for my third (and hopefully final) interview!!  I'm trying to not get too excited, but I just am.  They are flying me to El Paso for the interview with 3 people I'll be supporting.  

Say some prayers and wish me luck! I'm going to need it! 

Thanksgiving is a special time....

I know I'm a couple of days late on this, but for the first time in weeks, I was actually kinda busy this weekend.  Not with work stuff, but getting stuff together for our post-Thanksgiving party. 

I love Thanksgiving. I love everything about it.  I love the turkey, the stuffing, the wine (well, duh), pies, and even the can of cranberry sauce that by buddy NW brought over.  But the most important thing that I love about Thanksgiving is the gathering of people that you love.  I know I'm not the first person to write about what I'm thankful for, but I'm going to do it anyway.  It's been a rough couple of months, and it's time for me to realize what I am truly thankful for.  

In no particular order (with the exception of the first one).

I found the love of my life whom I will spend the rest of my life with.  He is first and foremost my best friend and I am blessed to have him in my life.  

I have a roof over my head and will not loose it during this housing crisis. 

I have a wonderful, caring family.  I am also marrying into a family that is absolutely lovely and I couldn't be happier.  

I have some of the best friends anyone could ever ask for  - some of them close by, some of them far away, but always within calling distance.

I am healthy (except for this miserable cold, but that's just temporary).

My mother and father are still alive and in relatively good health.  

Even though my job has been eliminated, I am lucky enough to have a paycheck for a few months, and will be granted severance pay. 

I'm sure there are plenty more, but these are the best things that i have got going at this time in my life.   I'm sure when I was 15, this list looked quite a bit different, so it's nice to see that I have grown up a little. Well, I could say something like "I'm thankful for the poo I had this morning".   There, now it's not so serious.

How can a cold last this long?

I have been sick for 10 days.  It's gotten better, but it won't go away completely.  As soon as I start feeling better, 8:30 rolls around and then I start coughing, sneezing and getting all stuffed up. Ugh.  Maybe I'll feel better tomorrow. 

Why won't they just call me back?!?!?

I am a VERY impatient person. Seriously, I'm a NOWNOWNOWNOWNOW person. I don't know if it's a generation thing, or if it's my family chemistry, or whatever, but I expect everyone else on the planet to be as eager beaver (huh, I said beaver) as me. I try to respond to people quicky, and also try to answer the phone on the first ring.

A person like me has a hard time with waiting for things (duh!). It is agonizing waiting to hear about a job that I applied for, interviewed for, and think I am still in the running for, etc. I seriously want to just call them up and say "Well, let's just get something scheduled, shall we?" I thought that through, and decided that I would look like a crazy, desperate girl, and decided against it.
I compare this to dating. You start to ask yourself questions, like,
"I wonder why they won't call me back?",
"why didn't they like me?",
"what did I do wrong?",
"Are they seriously talking to other people?", and the worst,
"How could they pick someone over ME?".
UGH.

Rejection is humbling, self-deprecating, and overall, one of those life lessons, to teach you about yourself. I am slowly learning patience, and humility (unfortunately), and I hope that this lesson will benefit me in some way in the future. Who knows? Maybe I'll be the next Ghandi of unemployed world and be able to pass on my infinite wisdom to all the other schmucks out there in the same position as me. Or I could help women in the dating world by writing a book called 'Patience is Now My Bag' to let them know that they are crazy for letting the above phrases enter their head for any reason, especially from a guy because it interferes with all other aspects of life.

But for now, I'll just breathe deep and count the blessings that I have, for I have many. Maybe I'll do some yoga and skip a couple of meals while I'm at it.

Job no more....

After nearly two months of limbo, I heard the word on Friday. It's the end of my job as I know it.... and I feel fine. Well, kinda. I had a slight meltdown on Friday. (Ok, I'll be honest, it was over the top, completely and utterly out of control, but I'm allowed to do that once or twice a year, right?)

I know that this will be a good thing for me. I have been looking for quite a while, so this just requires me to move ahead and find something that not only will I be good at, but also something that I will be happy with, and feel some stability.

The good news is that they are treating us "laid-offers" pretty good. I will still get paid for 60 days, and I have a small severance coming to me. That gives me some time to wind things down at the office while pursuing other things.

I know in the end that everything happens for a reason. I just have to have faith that this will all work out for the better in the end.

Congrats to all you racers!!

I can't believe it, but I got the Man to run 13.1 miles on Sunday! And he did fabulously! He finished in 2:03, which is a great time - especially since he's only done one other race and that was a 5-K. I could not be prouder of him. ~Swoon ~

Of course have to give shouts out to my friend KC who finished her first 1/2 marathon with a time of 2:22!! She wasn't even sure she was going to be able to finish, and she beat her own goal time by 8 minutes. WOAH!

And two of my other friends beat their previous Houston 1/2 time by 8 minutes also!! Way to go Jenner and Jules!!

I have to say the race was a great experience, and to see how well everyone did just made the day even better. I'll give my own account of how things went down later but for now, I just want to say congrats to everyone!!

My dog is a peeping tom...

A few months ago, the Man and I adopted a border collie, pointer and blue heeler mix from an organization in our area called "Twyla's friends". He a big goofyball, and we love him to death, but he's got some odd behaviors.

First thing about him that is totally crazy is that he slinks around at night while we are sleeping for no reason at all. Just walks around, goes outside, comes and goes as he pleases. He's totally restless. Weird, but what do I care, I'm sleeping through it most of the time.

In the morning at dawn and right after we get home, he is UBER hyperactive and can jump 5 feet in the air from a sitting position, then calms down after about 5 minutes and is fine. Ok, yes, I can deal with that.

He will come up behind one of us and poke you in the butt, or get his freezing cold nose right behind your knee. Super annoying, sure, but again, not a big deal, almost a playful thing.

If he's excited about something, like food or he sees you messing with his leash, he will start turning in circles. This sounds cute, but when you are trying to put a 55lb dog on a leash that's going 50 MPH in circles, it's rather annoying. But still, manageble.

Now this is the kicker - he recently started going outside and proceed to stare at us through our living room window. It wasn't so bizzare until it started getting dark earlier. Now, he just sits outside, in the dark, and watches us. You can see him staring at you because his face is mostly white. It's creepy as hell, and I don't know why he does it. I also don't know if I should try to stop the behavior, or just let him continue his peeping tom ways. I guess it's just something I'll have to live with and hope he's some sort of strange reincarnation of a serial killer or something. But I swear, if he starts carrying around a knife or a rope or something else to kill me in my sleep in his mouth, something is going to have to give. And what would I tell the obedience trainer? "Oh, my dog is trying to kill me."

Let's see if Cesar Milan can fix THAT behavioral problem.

Super dog got some new legs!

The Man and I went yesterday and got the little one's casts off!  He has two new legs! Of course, right now the look a little like chicken legs, and he's walking a little funny, but he's doing so well.  

I so wish I would have gotten a picture of him walking on his from paws all over the backyard before he got his casts off.  Some of the folks in my book club couldn't believe it, and said that I should have taped it and sent it into Ellen.  My dog could have been famous!! 

Eh, oh well.  I don't think he would have liked the spotlight anyway.  He likes to keep a low profile.  Otherwise Roxy the poodle down the street gets jealous.  

Wedding planning and the economy

When the Man and I began our wedding planning, we originally wanted to have a very small destination wedding with just immediate family.  I'm really not all that into the the wedding industry as a whole.  Of course, my mother didn't like that idea, and his folks said that they didn't care, but I knew that they wanted to see their little boy get married.  So, to accommodate the family and all of our friends, we decided to have a weekend wedding in Central Texas.  We thought that at least we could get everyone from both sides together in the same place, and it would be so great.   This of course was before we knew the fate of my job situation. 

I basically have been told to find another job because my department will be dissolved and absorbed by the Big Bank.  They have sent me a job description for a position with the Big Bank, but I have to interview against other people in my department and outside. there could be as many as 30 people in the running.  I don't know if I have a fair shot, or even if I want to work at the Big Bank.  I of course have been applying at other businesses, but so is everyone else and the job market is tight.  I am no losing hope, in fact, I see this as an opportunity to find a position that I will thrive in, and truly love, instead of just collecting a paycheck.  

Jumping back to the wedding topic - Not knowing what my future holds as far as a paycheck, makes me loose steam when it comes to the wedding planning process.  All the extra expenses are being looked at, and all the little touches that I wanted to do, will most likely not be in the budget so we don't go into debt and have a good start going forward in our marriage.  We probably won't be able to take a honeymoon, which was one of the things I was so looking forward to.  Such a bummer.  That being said, I almost wish we would have just eloped and done away with the wedding.    But, it's too late.  People are looking forward to it and many people have already bought air tickets, and made their travel plans.  Don't get me wrong, I am excited, but it's hard when if we didn't have this expense, there would much less financial stresses.   It's like this big dark cloud hanging over us.  

Another stress is how this will impact others that have to travel to get there.  Not only am I stressed out about how we are going to pay for it, but we are essentially putting this event on for others  - what if they can't afford to come because of their own economic situation?  I totally understand, but it makes me question the whole ordeal.  

I am excited to get married to the Man. I am excited to be his wife, and to have his children.  I am excited for our future together.  But it is so hard to get excited about our actual wedding without knowing how we are going to pay for it, and knowing it won't have all the details that I wanted to make it perfect. I know in my heart of hearts, that whatever we do will be perfect for us, because it is for us.  My friends and family will not care if the favors were cheaper, or if there is one less appetizer on the menu.  They will be there to support us, and I will be forever grateful for their presence.  And that's why we are continuing to move forward with our wedding.  

And I will be excited about it, damnit!! 

Obama haters

My friend DNA had a play date at her house last week, and all the other mommies saw her Obama sign in her front yard and they were all over her, personally attacking her because of her political views. She was quick to defend and quick to state her case. Maybe she even persuaded a few of the other RED mommies to the left hand side.

DNA also told me yesterday that someone in her neighborhood has been taking down all the Obama/Biden signs in her nieghborhood, including hers which was right in front of her front door. She quickly went in her car and replaced it with another sign. Good work, DNA!!

Can you believe that? Who does that?

Election Day!

I am so excited/nervous about this election. I can't wait to see the results. This will be the most historical election of my lifetime, and I am proud to say that I did my part and got to the polls. While I live in an entirely red state, at least I feel that I did my part for my party.

YES WE CAN!!