Stories from my life...

So, I decided our home wasn't clean enough to take pictures just yet, but I'll get those taken this weekend (hopefully) so I can get them posted. I started my first week of real work today. I've been working 8-10 hours a day and I'm learning fast because I've kind of been forced to. The girl I was supposed to be learning from has been out sick since Monday so I've had to step up and figure out how to do the work. It's been fun actually getting started, but it's been a hard adjustment after my long summer of absolutely nothing.

Now, on to my stories... I figured I'd share with you some of the funnier moments of my life in the last week. They aren't so funny for me, but I try to laugh to make them easier to deal with.

The first one isn't really a story, but more a problem. We can't find our iron. Seriously, how do you lose your iron?? I went to iron some clothes last night after doing laundry (I actually got off work at 4 yesterday so I had a few more hours to get things done around the house) but I could not find it. I looked everywhere that made sense...the laundry closet, the hall closet, the closet where we're piling everything we haven't put away yet, the shelves in the garage. I've looked in every logical place but I still can't find it. I'm sure I'll find it as we finish unpacking, but until then we'll just have some very wrinkly clothes.

Next, I planned everything carefully for my first day on a client (Monday). I packed a lunch the night before, I laid out my clothes, and I packed up my computer bag. I know, I know, it sounds a little excessive but I just wanted everything to go smoothly. I swear I had thought of everything and I had gone over the list in my mind. Well, as soon as I got to the client in the morning I realized I didn't have my wallet (that's a big one) or any form of paper to take notes on (and I'm supposed to do client interviews and stuff like that). Luckily, the people I were working with were very understanding and were able to compensate for the paper and I ended up not needing my wallet, but I was just shocked at how I could forget such a big thing when I worked so hard to be prepared.

Okay, this last story is a little funnier (at least probably for you). So yesterday I wasn't assigned on a client so I went downtown to the E&Y office to spend my day catching up on smaller personal items (like goal setting and expense reports) and doing training classes. Well, we have to pay to park downtown and the garage only takes cash. I actually thought that morning that I needed to grab some cash from our secret stash because I don't carry cash because I spend it too easily. Well, I ended up leaving without the cash and realized as soon as I got to work that I'd have to find some somewhere. One of my very nice coworkers offered to lend me some but since we don't see each other much I was afraid I'd forget that I owed it to him and never pay him back. I looked up the closest ATM and discovered that there was a Wells Fargo on the same block. I ended up working through lunch so instead of a lunch break, I took a bank break with another coworker who needed to go as well. When we got to the bank she went inside to make a deposit and I walked to the ATM. I slid my card in, as usual, and then looked at the screen. Now I swear this part happened in slow motion--as my fingers released the card into the machine, I realized that the screen said (in red letters I might add) "OUT OF ORDER". As I read this, I tried to pull my card out, but the machine pulled it in. I waited for a minute to see if it would come back out on its own, but it didn't. I hurried into the bank and up to the counter. The manager heard me explaining my problem to the girl at the desk and headed over. He said they didn't have control over the machine and that all cards taken into it while it was out of order would be shredded when the machine was serviced. So, they had to issue me a temporary card and are now sending me a new ATM card. I was so embarrassed until I realized that another man at the counter had done the exact same thing just before me and was going through the same process... Moral of the story: read the screen before you put your card in!!

Well, those are my stories. I hope you enjoyed them... I'll get the pictures up as soon as I can, but until then enjoy a laugh at my expense!!

Home sweet home...

I am finally back from my three week long training in Los Angeles. I get a two week break and then I head back out there for yet another week of training. I guess I can't complain since they're making sure I actually know what I'm doing... On Monday I get my first client experience, which is kind of scary, but I'll have two helpers who are about a year ahead of me in the job so they can answer all of my questions.

I guess I never made an announcement, but Shane ended up getting the job! He is now an employee of Medicis Pharmaceutical. Actually, he is technically a temp until the end of this year but it's all the same in the end. He started on Tuesday and has been receiving on-the-job training from his coworkers. So far, he really likes it and I hope it's just what he was looking for. Plus, it's in Scottsdale so he doesn't have to drive in the same rush hour traffic I get to deal with!!

While I was gone Shane went to work around our house! My job for today is to take pictures of the many new developments in our house so I can post them here. Because I'm going to be putting pictures up either today or tomorrow, I'm not going to mention what we've done so I don't ruin the surprise... I'll get the pictures up soon!

Happy Birthday Mom!!

Today is my mom's birthday. I won't mention how old she is turning because I don't think she'd appreciate it, but I just wanted to make a big deal of it since I won't be there to celebrate with her....
Also, because I'm at work and on my work computer I only have access to the pictures I've posted on picasa web. The only ones I have of my mom are from our wedding, but I guess they'll have to do.
So Mom, if you're reading this...HAPPY BIRTHDAY! We're really sorry we're not there and we hope to see you soon. To everyone else who is reading this and knows my mom, tell her happy birthday and give her a hug for me!

A quick update...

We're on a lunch break and I actually have a little time to update our blog!! I'm still in LA and will be here until next Friday for more training. After that I start with a client and then have more training in LA in the middle of October. They're definitely keeping me busy!!!

I want to make a quick apology to everyone who has been calling me (my family in particular) and haven't gotten a response back. My phone was dead almost all last week and I don't have much free time between training and dinners and such. I know it's not an excuse, but I'll figure out a way to return everyone's calls as soon as I can.

In other news, Shane has his third interview today with a pharmaceutical company in their market research department. They seem to like him and today he gets to shadow some employees to see exactly what he'd be doing. Hopefully he'll like what he sees today...

While I've been gone Shane's been filling his time with working on the house. He's been painting, moving furniture, and staining our cabinets. I'm starting to think I should leave town more often! Just kidding, he works hard all the time...

We also have Aden and Tamir visiting with us while they look for a place to live in Phoenix. I'm excited to have another friend around so hopefully they won't move too far away!!

Well, lunch break is ending. I'll write more later!

Welcome to the working world!

So today was my first day of work. It was really just an orientation day where we just talked about everything and got our schedules and such.

I leave in a few hours for LA where I will be spending the next three weeks (I'll come home on the weekends) for training. I guess we get our computers, our ID cards, and our business cards out there. It's crazy that I'm actually working! It's not just a summer job or a job to get me through school, it's my career... It's very strange to think, but it's exciting as well.

In other job-related news, Shane has been interviewing with various companies trying to get his foot into the door of the marketing world. He would really like to end up doing market research, it's just a hard industry to get into. he actually got called back by the company he interviewed with yesterday to spend a whole day with an account representative so that seems promising. We'll post more news as we move along.

As you can see, I didn't get the Hawaii pictures uploaded before work started. I guess I'll just have to do that on Saturday. I'll try and get it done soon...

The newest Hatch family additions...

This may be a misleading title, but really our two newest additions are Shane's new truck and our wood floors!

Shane has been looking for his own car for a while now because we both knew we'd need a second car once my job started since we'll both be working in different places all the time. He wanted a small truck and spent many hours pouring over the classified ads and cars.com. Luckily, Labor Day weekend happened to be at the same time so there were tons of good deals on cars all over the valley. We actually ended up finding a smoking deal! The salesman was shocked at the price they were offering in the paper. We got it for about $4,000 below the sticker price and almost $2,000 below blue book. Enough about the numbers, here's the truck:



It's a 2006 Chevy Colorado. Shane broke family custom and bought a Chevy instead of a Ford, but they aren't giving him too hard a time. It's a really light silver (they call it pewter) and I kept calling it pretty until Shane said it made the truck less manly when I called it pretty. We've been very pleased with the truck so far. It's got five seats so it's really roomy. The only drawback is that it was owned by a smoker before, but they're doing a free treatment to remove the odor so that should help.


The other exciting development is that our wood floors are officially done!! Except, of course, for cleaning the extra glue off the wood and for caulking along the walls and the transition pieces between the tile and the wood.
So maybe we still have some things to do, but it's so exciting seeing the floors down! I don't have any pictures of the final product yet, but here are some pictures from the process.

Other than the work on our house, I'm just trying to drag the days out as long as they can go because I start work on Tuesday!! I'm excited for it to start, but at the same time I'll never have another summer quite like this one so it's sad for it to be over. I guess there's not much else I can do. I'll be getting on a plane on Tuesday and spending the next three weeks in LA for training!

I'll try and get the Hawaii pictures and some newer pictures of our house posted before I start work...

Pictures, pictures, pictures!!!

I finally took the time to get the pictures organized and online. You can find them all here. They are organized by area and by time. There are tons of pictures, so we hope you enjoy them!!

We also created an overview album for people that don't want to spend all of their life looking at pictures from our trip. Those pictures are in the slideshow below... My next task is adding pictures of Hawaii and of the progress on our house!