Amanda's Blog

Hello...Is This Thing On?

Let's see how long it takes for someone to find this post.  Does anyone even stop by anymore?  Leave a comment if you drop by!  Blogging seems to be a thing of the past for me anymore (anymore=since July of last year!)!  Twitter and Facebook and Foursquare seem to use my words for me.  I could say I'll try to blog more often, but it will get away from me and then I'd be lying so...I won't say that.

Monday Funday

It's Monday morning!  I don't blog too often but was having that thought while sitting at my computer getting ready for the day.  That never happens!  The weekend was a blur, but I do remember cleaning out the pantry and test driving a potential next vehicle.  The cool part is the car had a lot of neat safety features; the not-so-cool part was that the roof was all glass and it couldn't haul the kayak to the beach.  Have a wonderful week!

New Job, New Phone

It feels weird to not remember my login information to this site.  I think that means I can't really call myself a blogger anymore!  Too many sites to check and things to do lately, and I definitely don't wake up early enough to blog before going to work like my dad!  I only have 1 hour, 45 minutes to get ready in the morning and he has 30 minutes...what's wrong with this picture?  Oh, right, I have hair to blowdry! :)

The new job is wonderful.  The people are really nice, helpful, and actually enjoy what they do.  It's a huge change for me, being in a place with so much policy and procedure and automated everything.  Most of my job is truly paperless and I LOVE IT.  Working in IT has its perks since anyone I come in contact with knows the answers to my technical questions and can offer 3 shortcuts and a workaround to just about anything.  I've already done a few presentations and my boss seems pleased, so that makes me happy.

My office is 482 meters from S's office, so every morning, I drop him off on my way.  At lunch, I go to his office because his company has a beautiful cafeteria with 5-10 meal choices every day.  We usually sit outside and talk about our mornings, and then go back to work for a few hours. It couldn't be more convenient or enjoyable!  Also, the lunches are subsidized, so the employees get amazing meals for $4!

My cube is full of stuff from my predecessor, but I'm weeding out the good stuff and getting organized.  I like being by the window; sometimes it's sunny, but most of the time, it looks like it's storming because we're in a huge shadow.  I love it!  On Friday, I had my official orientation at our Learning & Development facility.  There were 20 of us, and it was long and filled with information.  Since I've already been working there for 3 weeks, winning at new-hire Jeopardy was relatively easy.  I won a coffee mug with the company logo on it, but I'm going to make it a tea mug.

My benefits are a blessing and a half.  Health coverage is Blue Cross/Blue Shield, 100% coverage after a $15/$30 copay for $24/pay period.  We lost our BC/BS through S's company when they switched providers to Cigna and have sorely missed the coverage we had.  Looks like we'll be getting it back on August 1! We also get discounts on personal vehicles through family plans with most of the auto companies, as well as discounts on hotels, rental cars, taxis, bookstores, gift companies, and my favorite...cell phone providers!  I now save 30% on my monthly AT&T bill, which saves us about $240 a year.  They offer a lot of perks, and it seems like they really try to take care of their employees.  I like that!

In recent news, I was really excited for the launch of the iPhone 4.  S and I woke up at 4am on Thursday, and arrived at the mall at 6am.  The line was a half mile long!!!!!  There was no way we'd ever make it to work, so we decided to give up and go to IHOP for breakfast.  After breakfast, we still had an hour, so we went home.  I took a half hour nap, and S had a conference call.

I went to work, and he worked from home.  After work, I ran errands to the bank and the post office.  I kept trying to call home, but my cell phone had no service. Odd, but with my phone, you never know.  I kept trying to reset it, but it had no service at all.  So, I hurried home and S met me outside, asking what had happened to me and why I didn't call as usual. I explained, but we were mystified.

On the way in the house, there was a note taped to the front door.  It was a rhyme that S had typed...something about "I love you so much, and if you don't know just how much, look on the hutch..." or something.  On the hutch was another note.  It said something about "the best stuff on earth" (Snapple), so I went to the fridge and looked where we kept our Snapple and there was another note!  It led me to my pillow, and then another note led me to the guest room, where I found the last note under the bed next to a brand new iPhone 4!  Apparently, he took a cab to Santa Monica and got in line at the Apple Store at the 3rd St. Promenade.  An employee saw him and he asked if they could assist him in moving with the line, and instead, a manager took him inside and sold him one right away.  He then took a city bus to the Green Line station, and then took a cab the rest of the way home!  Since I've lived here, he has never taken public transportation.  It amazed and scared me to know that he went alone, and carried an Apple bag on the launch day of the iPhone 4.  He must love me or something! :)  He's unbelievable.  I was SO excited!

Fast forward to tonight...I wanted to sell my old iPhone (2 generations old, not worth much) before everyone else started selling theirs when the new phone becomes easier to buy.  I found a website that would buy my old one for $93.  Not bad!  I expected to get much less.  Then I just randomly decided to check eBay and see what the going rate was.  $182.50! No way!  So I snapped some pictures and within an hour someone bought my old phone for $185!  The new phone was only $199 - how's that for an inexpensive upgrade!  I guess eBay is a good market for them because people overseas want them so they can be unlocked and used by other carriers.  With that sale, my total for eBay sales this week was $780 in used clothing, shoes, and purses.  It would be awesome if I had an endless supply of stuff lying around; sure makes for some fun rainy day money! Also, a lot of trips to the post office, but it's worth it I guess!

I think that's all for tonight! 

 
 
 
 

Finally Something to Say

Well, I can tell it's been a long time since I've blogged since I couldn't even remember which blog host I currently use.  I've been very busy and have lots of things and pictures to share, but can't seem to get organized.  In the news: 

On Monday, I was offered a position with the world's second largest entertainment conglomerate.  I won't say the name of the company since I don't want to become a search hit, so if you care, Wikipedia awaits!  I'll be working for the VP of IT, who is a very nice late-30's guy who worked his way up from the bottom and seems to be pretty insightful and pleasant.  It only took 3 months, 2 interviews with 6 different people, and 2 recruiters to get through the process and get hired.  Now I go through a 2-3 week background check process that will hopefully go well.  If it does, I should start around June 11th.  Today, I took the drug test (hope I got an A on that one!), and the rest is on someone else's to-do list!  I learned of the position through an alumni connection of S's - so of all my job searching over the past 2.5 years, my previous two positions have both come from alumni networks.  I hereby swear off of job posting websites as they really only seem to get me a lot of paperwork, useless phone calls, and the opportunity to converse with the world's worst recruiters.

While waiting for movement on that job, I decided to study for the 911 dispatcher exam as somewhat of a "Plan B".  As I learned more through the Citizens Police Academy and from actual dispatchers I've talked to recently, I'm actually pretty excited about that line of work.  This week, 2 of 6 applications were accepted and I was invited to attend the exams for two local cities; one in LA and one in Orange County.  I will take the first state exam this Saturday, and the second one on Monday.  I already committed to them before receiving the offer, so I might as well take them and see if I can at least compete skills-wise.  It would be a pretty amazing government position with permanent job security and seemingly better pay than what my degree is getting me, so it definitely is something worth looking at.  It's a very long process to get in the door and highly competitive, but it doesn't hurt to do a little investigating.  I know it's super high stress, but the instant gratification of wrapping up your day's work before you go home sounds like it'd be awesome.

Tonight is our Citizens Police Academy graduation ceremony.  It takes place in the council chambers and I have a feeling a lot of people will be there.  I was asked to speak about my experience in the class, and as of this moment, I have no idea what to say.  I hate public speaking and am trying to convince my much-better-with-words husband to write something for me and let me deliver it.  So far, no dice!

In other news, I've lost about 20lbs., volunteered at the RBPD K-9 Competition (very fun, but 8 hours on my still-healing foot was absolutely killer), survived a week without S while he was in Amsterdam on business, attended the huge annual Turkish festival with friends (and had lots of yummy foods I'd waited all year to taste!), and done a lot of organizing in preparation for rejoining the workforce after letting myself gather dust for 16 months! 

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Today is Dad's birthday and although I've slept through half of it, I still hope he's having a special day.  I am thankful for his health, happiness, and hopefulness!  Have many more wonderful years, Dad!