Short Lived

So yesterday I was all relaxed and de-stressed, and I thought this feeling would be like a vacation hangover and at least get me through today. Not so much. I went back to the total chaos that my job has become due to this whole "liquidity crisis" crap. I gave very bad news to some customers on the day before they closed their loan (think of when you closed on your house, now imagine that your bank called you while you were signing documents and said, "Instead of your mortgage for $100,000, we are going to give you a mortgage for $90,000"--I didn't do that but that's the only way I can compare it). So that involved some harsh words from my customer and some not-so-nice tones.

In addition, the water in my office tastes like crap. I'm not sure what happened to the filtration system (which I always thought was for show and that the tube just went through that big box to make us think it was being purified). Either way, the water tastes gross now.

Did I mention that while I have one imaginary move, I also have a real move happening next month. We are moving offices which also entails changing phone numbers with no forwarding capabilities. Did I mention that I am in sales which involves contact information and a lot of communication via the phone? Now when people call and are greeted with "This number has been disconnected with no forwarding number," I wonder if they will think that we are out of business due to the crisis mentioned above. So I have that going for me ...

Also, I haven't done my homework for tomorrow. I keep telling myself it is only 3 more months until I am done, but I really hate group projects and one of my classes is only group projects, so I have that going for me.

Lastly, now that my house has been on the market since Jesus wore short pants, 4 realtors called telling us that they could do a better job than our realtor. Fortunately Mike handled them because my response would have been something to the effect, "The commission is split 50/50, so if you want to get paid and think you could do a better job, then bring people to my house--that way you are guaranteed 50% of it. Otherwise, stop calling." There would other colorful phrases inserted throughout my comments, but I am too tired to go there, and I have a pounding headache.

Vay-Kay

We didn't take any pictures. We brought the camera and even brought it with us on our dinner cruise, but we didn't use it once. Regardless, Mike and I had a great time in Hilton Head, but it was humid. The town was cute; the weather was good. We ate some great food, and we both played golf pretty well-the courses were beautiful. It's definitely a place I would go again. I didn't see as much of the ocean as I thought it would (given that it is an island--who knew?). We met some interesting people... Just the perfect 5 days for relaxation.

We didn't do much this weekend. After my thankfully uneventful trip home from New York (no delays, no cancellations, no traffic, no upgrade--but I did get home on time, so I can't complain). I cleaned for our fantasy house showings and packed for our pretend move which made me feel productive. I ran a bunch of errands and practiced putting my contacts in (never had them before and I can't put them in without a good 10 trys per eye). I did some homework (back to school on Tuesday) and watched the first half of the dumb Bills game.

Here is the best part, I only have to work for 2 days before I go on va-ca. Yep, I'm actually taking more than a Friday off from work. Mike and I are headed to Hilton Head on Wednesday, and we have been threatening to do it for years (ask my aunt). We are going to play a lot of golf which I am not ready for, but I'm excited to be going away. Unfortunately, my loan will not be closed in time, but I guess I can handle taking calls from our balcony overlooking the ocean!

Learnings

In addition to the books, I learned the following while packing for my imaginary move:

1) I have way too many 3-ring binders. Back to school anyone?
2) I have enough gifts that I bought because they were on sale to last my trhrough the next 3 years of showers (baby and wedding), Christmases (sp?), and birthday. Can anyone call me Grandma Jean?
3) I kept my credit card bills and receipts and my car insurance policies (not just the cards but the actual policies) from the time I entered college in dated-order. Now I don't even know where my passport is. And did I mention that I must have had no life.
4) I get sucked into America's Top Model too easily.
5) Still can't find my passport.
6) Mike has 1,000 hats, including baseball teams that he doesn't even like.
7) I have enough cards to last the next 5 years of holidays, sympathy, thank yous and "Just thinking about you" moments.

Finishing What I Started

I've been packing in the hopes that my energy will will someone to buy my house. Just in case with get the full-price offer that wants to close all-cash in 2 weeks, we need to be prepared. As luck would have it, I have started use goodreads.com to recommend books to my friends and seeing what they recommend. As I was packing the books today, I decided to put them on goodreads and then donate them. As I was posting, I realized, I have never finished half of the books in the book case. I've started them and vaguely remember the storylines, but somehow, they made it from the nightstand to the book case without being finished. I doubt that I became bored with them; the stories were interesting (I remember that much).

Hopefully the weight of the world will be off my shoulders by December when I finish my MBA and these books. And it would be great if I could celebrate by moving (or at least that the crazy mortgage Gods agree to let me refinance).

PS I also realized that for virtually every big business meeting I've attended, I've been given books. I went through all the trouble to lug these hokey books about how to be a better salesperson, a better employee, the next CEO, and to learn how to effectively listen and adapt to people's styles and you get the picture and now they sit next to the books I actually find interesting, having never been opened. Yet, I'm not going to donate them. I feel compelled to keep them and go through the trouble of moving them. Maybe someday I will need them as a reference point...

Breaking News

Shocking news from the BBC

I am utterly appalled, I had no idea .....

The Paper

One of my all-time favorite movies is So I Married an Exe Murderer, starring Mike Myers who is absolutely hysterical. The movie is certainly lacking in some areas but cracks me up to no end every time I watch it.

One of my favorite scenes has Mike Myers sitting with his Scottish mother discussing his most recent breakup and she cites a story in "the paper" .... to which Mike Myers' character says something to the effect of "Mom, I find it very funny that you refer to the Weekly World News as "The Paper" and talks about it's lack of factual content. She goes on to show him "the paper" and reads the absurd headline of the day.

I am sad to report that The Paper is no longer .... it has been shut down